* * * FRAGATTA – IN ORBIT * * *

Johnny Stevens loved this job. It was probably the biggest thing Mother had ever attempted, and he was in charge. Luckily he was good at multitasking. The only thorn in his life was his fellow magical AI Will Gorgas who Mother had tasked with the well being of their workers and the people down on the surface.

Fortunately “Colonel” Gorgas was handling their base and the mines on Nin’rocha Fragatta’s second moon. That pinkish red orb was surprisingly rich in iron and other metals. Stevens watched attentively from his nest on the Neil Armstrong. The Colonel’s Yuri Gagarin was right here under the command of Crawford, the Colonel’s aide. Both of the large spaceships moved away from the first of Mother’s space mirrors. It was a little thing, a proof of concept, only a kilometre across.

Now to see if the program controlling its computer would work or if he would have to leave a dedicated command team. The flimsy satellite slowly tracked the sun, oriented itself, oh so slowly and almost seemed to catch fire as it caught the sun, deflected and focused the light and energy of the sun down onto Fragatta’s northern hemisphere, targeting a peculiar triangular cluster of hills.

Stevens looked out at the bright star that accompanied Fragatta’s sun. The two stars were less than a light year apart, which he suspected made this a double system. He spent a couple of seconds idly wondering if any sophonts lived there and what they would think in eight months time when the light of his mirrors arrived in their skies.

Then he watched as the small runabout Swift Voyager left orbit and headed back to the surface of Fragatta.

* * *

On the Swift Voyager Mike Silvestre found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the brilliant mirror that was beaming light down onto the surface of the icelocked planet below. Cindy and Oscar were likewise glued to the small windows as they tried to process the fact that their programs were controlling the satellite that was the forerunner of many more.

“God Mike, I still can’t believe this. Other worlds, terraforming,” murmured Oscar.

“And those AIs, The Colonel and Stevens. They are so... so human!” added Cindy.

“Well you’ve already met Moriarty and then there’s Mycroft. They all worship my little girl. They’ve got good taste at least.” Said the proud father.

= = O = =

Villius of the eyes gazed down on the frozen wilderness with shock. He sent a triad of his eyes back into the past to see what had happened to this world. When he last visited it, it had been really quite pleasant.

When his eyes returned he watched the ice advance. Still that was not the answer he wanted so he sent another triad of eyes further back, and another even further into the past.

Slowly three by three his eyes returned to him. And Villius saw. And what he saw he recorded.

He noted the moment the New Gods were installed and the meddling of Brinius of the Blue Host and Meera the Night. Shocked he noted how the teachings of the New Sages had led to disaster.

Further he noted the moment the rash youngster claimed primacy on this world. Her disdain for his fellows almost spurred him into action. Only the fact that the reckless youngster had already acted and that meddling in time tended to lead to disaster held his hands.

Then he saw the silver ships flying into space and once again two triads of eyes left him to search for the truth. When his eyes returned he studied what they had seen and he focused fifty of his sixty-six eyes on the new mini sun while two triads sped away to see the spot the beam arrived on the surface.

One triad had watched as the hills warmed, slowly and only by a bit. But they were warming. The other triad had moved through the hills and followed the small life signs. Then they returned to show him that deep under the surface where the planet itself warmed the stone, a small colony of dark elves struggled to exist. They had recently overthrown their god given overlords and had returned to their bloodthirsty spider goddess and... and...

Horrified and shocked, Villius of the eyes fled back to the gardens of paradise with a report for the Emperor of the Dawn.

* * * EARTH – THE GUILD * * *

Fidget was recalling their journey through this gigantic country with its unbelievable cities. The day they had passed in Washington while their guide had gone to handle a task for his mistress had allowed them to explore this world’s System files. They were skimpier than most, not that surprising really.

She met Swiftfall Sunhigh’s gaze and suspected he too was considering their journey. And the information they had mined. The guild they were bound for was truly in its infancy. They had a real chance to mould it into something that could help this world and its adventurers. And then there was Kent and his mistress. Fidget didn’t see any way that dungeon wouldn’t gain undue influence. It was ridiculous. So few dungeons on a world that hadn’t known the system for a year and yet one was Godlike and it controlled one other. And that was Elite.

As senior guild officials and ambassadors to a new guild the System had been surprisingly helpful. But still, Blue Lagoon scared her despite the fact that it wasn’t truly a dungeon anymore, or rather not entirely a dungeon. Fidget rather suspected that the Mother of Monsters would always remain both a goddess and a dungeon. And this was her home world. A world of technological marvels such as the Tinkerer could only dream of.

= = O = =

Jake had just finished his shift when his phone rang. He checked but didn’t recognise the number, half expecting a cold caller he answered.

“Good afternoon, am I speaking with the guild master of the adventurer’s guild? This is Lane Loisdottir speaking for Blue Lagoon.”

Jake scrambled to change gears, he scrambled for some facts and still more than half expected this to be a hoax call. “Uh, yes... Err are you the dungeon’s Voice?”

Lane laughed merrily, “No Mr Hennessy, Mother’s Voice is a delightful imp of a girl on Parthia. I’m her PA here on Earth.”

“Mother?”

“Mother of Monsters Mr Hennessy. And really, Mother fits her when it comes to her people. Well, I’m contacting you to let you know that the Adventurer’s Guild delegation from Tarifax will be arriving in your town early tomorrow with assorted gifts and more relevant information.”

“Um, why is a dungeon trying to help the Adventurer’s Guild?”

“Because a well run Guild acts as a buffer between dungeons and the public. And hopefully can act as a counter weight to the governments of our world. True you oppose rogues but your guild tends to flourish when balanced with healthy dungeons.”

“What does a godlike dungeon need with a feeble guild like ours?”

Lane laughed again. “Why Jake, Mother doesn’t want the headache of herding cats. Quite frankly Tarifax and Fragatta are more in need of her attention than Earth. And Earth has a, how can I put it, a jealous god.”

“One god right?”

“How can He be jealous of other gods if He is the only god.”

“...”

“So Jake, where do you want your delivery. Some gold is involved too.”

* * *

Next day Jinny and Wiz were waiting outside Wiz’s long-suffering parents’ house when a dusty old army truck pulled up on the road outside. It was being driven by a catman. He jumped down followed by an honest to god drow and a gnome woman. A wolfman security guard emerged from a huge crate that was taking up a third of the trucks cargo area.

Jinny blinked when she realized the cute catman was called Kent Clarkson. The guild reps were the gnome and the drow, Fidget and Swiftfall Sunhigh.

They all helped unload the truck and stacked all the crates in Wiz’s parents garage. Then they retired to the local burger joint for lunch and a conversation that soon attracted the attention of a couple of local nerds and gamers.

* * * EARTH – MARY * * *

« Hi Hawai’iloa, how are things going? By the way congrats on the French, that was amusin’. But how are we goin’ to explain Lewis’ Wonderland and the offices for rent? »

« Hi Mother, why I’ll just explain I was hired to build it by Lewis. »

« Huh. Na, tell ’em you were hired by a dungeon, don’t use Lewis’ name. An’ why don’t you throw in somethin’ ’bout how dungeons can be profitable. »

Mary sensed that Hawai’iloa was laughing. « You want me to continue with the French speaking aliens? »

« Yes. When you get to Mars, find a depression an’ build a Châteaux next to it. Lewis wants to visit Mars. An’ I want a nice lake to start. »

« Fun! Then what? »

Mary passed him the plans for her orbital mirrors together with a visual of Fragatta.

« See if you can set one or two of those up an’ then go explorin’ for a bit. Countin’ on you to keep the space agencies off balance for a bit. »

* * * EARTH – HOUSTON * * *

The mission director glared at the screen in disbelief. Their rover had just crested a small ridge and there in the distance was a fairy tale castle complete with slender towers capped with totally unneeded conical roofs.

In the background the French translators were speaking with the f’ing aliens. He noted some excited comments from them when the castle came into sight. Then silence as everyone looked at the screen in disbelief. It was an incongruous and ridiculous sight.

Then with its now usual crackling the alien responded to the translators unguarded uttering’s.

“Le château était une commission. Et franchement, les catacombes sont des sources de trésors et d’énormes profits, bien entendu j’ai décidé d’accepter la commission.”

He heard the translation through his ear-bud. “The castle was a commission. And frankly, catacombs are sources of treasure and huge profits, of course I decided to accept the commission.”

The rover made its careful way towards the castle. As it approached the drawbridge lowered and the portcullis rose. The rover stopped just in front of the open drawbridge even as the mission room slowly filled up.

After some argument, and with the knowledge that a Chinese rover was not that far behind them the command team decided to send the rover across the drawbridge.

Once it had entered the short tunnel behind the portcullis it dropped even as the drawbridge closed. Then some sensors nobody had really expected to be useful began registering.

“Breathable atmosphere! Thirty degrees centigrade and high humidity.”

Then the inner gate opened and the rover trundled its way into a luxurious looking lobby. A white rabbit standing on its hind legs and wearing a gaudy waistcoat was waiting for them. It was checking a large pocket watch. “Good, you aren’t late yet. We must hurry, the Queen of Hearts is waiting.”

Pandemonium broke out in the mission room.

Nobody saw the notice board behind the elaborate reception desk. At least not then. But later there would be intense speculation about the mostly empty board that was titled “Queen’s Court” and stated “Offices for rent, ‘-1 Portal plc.’, and ‘-2 MagiTech inc.’.”