Origin ARS 6 (13 page)

"Ah, Lieutenant Jacobs. You're here," said Captain Johnson, before the lieutenant on duty at the front desk had a chance to greet him.

"Sir. It's good to see you," said Scott. He had to walk to walk once again. Ah, the life of an on duty soldier. Well, now a commissioned officer.

The duty officer stared openly at the blue haired weirdo. Scott had never met him before, but the man recognized him easily enough. Few people with bright blue hair walked into the building. Despite expecting his arrival, the duty officer could not help but stare at a commissioned officer with long luxurious blue hair.

"Lieutenant Danielson, is there a problem?" asked Captain Johnson after he noticed the way the man was staring.

"No, sir..."

The captain glanced at the man briefly then turned his gaze back to Scott. "I was about to call it quits in about ..." He looked at his watch. "Ten minutes. Can you wait till then?"

The duty lieutenant blinked stupidly for a moment. By his personal recollection, the captain was not one to wait on the needs of a lieutenant. Though, he did give a great deal of leeway to his warrant officers.

"Yes, sir. That would be fine," said Scott. It felt strange to him, calling a man sir after everything he had gone through. Years of military indoctrination had been tossed aside in only a little under one year.

"Alright. I'll finish up. Come on up to the office." The captain turned away smartly. Scott could not quite avoid falling into step. Old habits die hard sometimes.

Up in the office, Scott plopped himself down in one of the surprisingly comfortable office chairs at the request of the captain. "So, not to be rude and informal, but how do you like ARS?" asked Scott. Any pretext of being the captain's subordinate had disappeared the moment that they were alone.

Captain Johnson nodded, a slow smile spreading across his lips. "I have only just begun, but I'm thoroughly fascinated."

"It is addictive. I know," said Scott. He gestured toward the Grassrat on his shoulder. "Oh yeah. Herbert, this is Captain Johnson." He gestured to the captain. "Captain Johnson, meet Herbert."

"Ah, hello... Herbert," said the captain. Herbert waved at him then chittered in a friendly fashion.

Adam blinked then smiled at the small rodent. "You're not from around here are you?"

Herbert closed his eyes then slowly shook his head. No, he was certainly not local to the area.

Scott waited patiently while the captain finished a report that he had been working on prior. Why the man had not simply done them before going down stairs to wait for Scott's arrival baffled the blue haired man, but it was not really a big deal.

It was not long before the captain finished. But afterward he showed the report to Scott. It would need his signature. "Oh, so it's a candidate list," said Scott. He now understood a little of the captain's thought process. There was no point in trying to finish until Scott had seen the report, but he had not wanted to divulge information in front of his subordinate officer.

"Yes, it is also a transfer order. They have seen a little of what I could do, even without leveling up. We'll be moving shop to a new unit specifically set aside for this," said Adam.

"Sounds good. Meeting here would have been problematic if we continued for much longer."

Scott nodded while he looked through the list. He saw no sign of Sarah's boyfriend on the list, which was good. Most of the names listed were rangers or Special Forces, which was better. "What makes these guys eligible?"

"A few things. Mostly their home life situation and time in service. They are all single men or women without children who have undergone at least one full tour in the sand box."

"Says those selected will become a Special Forces unit." Scott looked up toward Adam. "Makes sense, but if I have to go through selection training it won't happen. They couldn't even begin to properly assess me with the standard tactics and it would take too much time away from ARS."

"Don't worry about that. Now that they know the possibilities, paperwork is to be shuffled. Besides, they know that it is entirely possible that you would shut the program down and simply leave the planet."

"How did you convince them that it was real?" asked Scott curiously.

"I showed them what it looked like when I logged into ARS, and I healed a man who had severe burns." Adam smirked then waved his hand dismissively. "They came around."

Before Scott could comment, his phone buzzed again. Upon checking it, he sighed. "Again? Damn, give it up woman."

"Trouble in paradise?" asked the curious captain, a sly smile on his lips.

"No, paradise is great. It's my ex-fiancé. Somehow her idiot boyfriend discovered that I was part of a new project that would fast track his career." Scott eyed Adam for a moment. "Despite the crap that was pulled last year, she keeps calling me to try and get him into the program."

"Do you want him in? Should we accept him?" asked Adam evenly.

"I
want
him to stick his head into the nearest pond and take a deep breath. What I'd
accept
is them getting a damned clue," said Scott, exasperated. "What part of my answer can't she understand? I can't trust a man who'd knock my fiancé up the night that she accepted my proposal, especially when he knew she was engaged."

"Damn," said Adam. "That happened and they have the nerve to even call you?"

"I know, right? Who does that?" asked Scott.

He looked like he wanted to continued, but after a moment he shook his head then waved the conversation forward. "No, we aren't accepting him."

Adam laughed loudly then said "Fair enough. I've not had any relationship troubles in a while. Although..."

"
Although
?" asked Scott. There was something about the way that the man had said that simple word that caused Scott to become intrigued.

"I can't show you because items don't cross over, but it seems Lord Blizrum wants to groom me to be his champion."

"That's great! I'm happy for you," said Scott.

"Are you? I still don't know why he would choose me. I barely know what I am doing there." admitted Adam with a tiny little laugh.

"I can't say that I've met him, but from what my fiancé has told me about the other gods..." Scott mused for a moment then nodded. "It's probably got a lot to do with the fact that you're a decorated veteran officer from Earth. Gods are sort of fanboys after all."

"Really? So, anyone would do?" asked Adam, slightly saddened by the admission.

"Not necessarily," said Scott. Adam looked askance at him, and the blue haired man continued. "They only really get one champion at a time. He works for the gaming empire, and knows the deal. If anything, the gods involved probably already know the names on your list and he still chose you."

The captain reflected on the words he had heard. His musings were interrupted by Scott asking a question. "What sort of item did he give you?"

Adam laughed a little then said, "A shield maiden summoning crystal..."

Scott blinked. "It... summons a shield maiden?"

"Yes, that's the theory anyway."

Scott's left eyebrow rose into an arch. "Was he trying to give you a badass girlfriend or something?"

"That's what I said!" Adam laughed loudly, so loudly that both Scott and Herbert joined in. The little grass rat had been quiet for most of the conversation, but even he was amused by the situation.

Once the laughter died down, Adam said, "I don't really know if that was the intention, but I appreciate the possibilities. I'll be able to see more of the world before I make my decision."

"Feel free to ask questions, but you'll probably enjoy it more if you just get out there and see what there is to see," said Scott with a smile.

"I will. I'm taking it slow at the moment. The priests have told me that it is much easier to develop my level if I master my basic skills first."

"That's true. I sort of ended up power-leveled and missed out on the slow and enjoyable part of the journey. I'm getting back into that now, though."

"Ah, I see. So, mastering my skills before going out to level is best?" asked Adam. "I haven't played many role playing games in recent years. Not much at all since college, really."

"I'd say so. Your spells will max out quickly enough over time, but there is probably a lot that you can learn about the world simply by hanging out with the priests." Scott reached up to scratch Herbert behind the ear since the little fellow had started to scratch with his paw. Hopefully he did not have fleas.

Adam nodded then placed his hand to his chin in a thoughtful display. "What about the situation with the board?"

Scott shook his head. "My fiancé and her family are doing a bit of hearts and minds to try and raise interest in ARS. She doubts it will keep the board at bay for long, but it might buy a few years."

"It's strange to think that in a few years everyone there might be dead," said Adam, his eyes narrowed slightly even as the expression on his face hardened.

Scott snorted then nodded his head. He gestured toward Adam in a casual way. "I know, right? The board is a problem."

"It's true that they are only doing this because they are pretending to be like business men from Earth?"

The loud and obnoxious laughter that issued from Scott's lips surprised Adam for a moment. "What's funny about that?"

Scott made a little circle gesture with his index finger. "That's the thing about the gods. Most of them are nice enough, but they emulate us so completely that they don't realize they are doing terrible things that even we shouldn't be doing."

"So, it
is
true." Adam frowned. "I can't believe anyone would murder the population of entire worlds just because of a loss in profits."

"It's not even a major drop from what I've been told. The board is a bunch of over-reacting asshats pretending to be draconian businessmen. No profits, no life." Scott shifted his weight to the side a little. The chair that he sat upon was comfortable, but he had been sitting a little oddly. One of his ass cheeks had started to go numb. It was a surprising revelation really. His overall durability should have made that an unlikely scenario.

"That's..." Adam shook his head slowly then curled his hands into fists. "Someone needs to put a foot in their ass."

"I agree. Most of the company agrees too. It's a ridiculous situation, really."

Adam looked askance at Scott. "You're so calm about this."

"I've become accustomed to the bizarre reality of my fiancé's people. It took a while, and they still surprise me on an almost daily basis, but I understand greedy asshats. There's something disturbingly human about how the board is acting."

"That's human? Killing off planets for profit?" asked Adam, surprised.

"Ever hear the story about how America came to be a country that spanned a continent? How about the last world war, or the rise of pretty much any large nation in the history of the world?" asked Scott flippantly. He leaned forward then said, "Fucking someone over to get what you want is about as human as it gets with some people."

Adam really had nothing to say to that. There were a lot of good things about humanity, but he had to admit that there were many terrible people in the world as well.

***

Inside the cozy living room of the Jacobs estate, Scott and his rodent brother from another mother were deeply engrossed in quality television viewing. Soon they would head back to ARS, but Scott had wanted to return just before first light on their part of ARS. As such a few more hours had to be spent on Earth.

Herbert munched happily on popcorn as he watched the epic fantasy show that had piqued his interest. It was a deeply philosophical tale of love and friendship between an adorable yellow murder-rat, and his mentally challenged human boy.

The Grassrat chittered happily when the yellow rodent unleashed a powerful bolt of lightning and his pet human cheered him on. For some reason the humans talked a great deal more than the main character and had more screen time, but Herbert assumed that the chatter was somehow integral to the story. There was also a certain appeal when the main character was the strong silent type.

Not long after the final bolt of lightning was cast, a quirky song began to play while the credits rolled. It was something about being the greatest master. Herbert nodded in respect. It made sense that the adorable rodent was a great master. His pet human praised him constantly.

Herbert unleashed a happy little sigh then glanced over to his human. Unlike the small boy in the story, Scott could actually fight. It was better that way. The grass dancer was no great master like the rodent hero in the story. He could not have kept a small and unintelligent boy safe through such dangerous experiences.

Thoroughly amused by television, Herbert realized that he could spend most of his day on any given day watching other people have interesting adventures. Briefly he wondered if that was something other people felt as well, or if he had started to become lazy.

A few more random stories were told on the story box before it was time to return to the world of ARS. Herbert was both excited and slightly saddened by the change. Television was quite addictive. There was something similar in the hotel room that they had been using as a base, but it was not quite the same. There were no rodent heroes on
C-Vision
, at least none that he had seen.