If not for the fact that I could actually provide food, Nise sold sour bombs and Phil had a few arrows for sale, no one would have visited our stall the entire day. On the other hand the two merchants, Lord and Lady Dust, had a lot of players coming over to walk away disappointed. They might advertise they were selling food, but they had none. Because no one had been selling them their rabbits just yet. Coin might be good, but an upgrade point was better.

I only had meat, because of the rabbits provided yesterday by the rest of my guild. I was happy to cook and sell to them. Petals was one of the customers, and I asked her to wait around for a bit, because I wanted to talk with her when the rest of the party would be there. I had already counted five instances of guild points ticking in, so it should not be long.

Shortly after the party arrived, with Ed in front looking grumpy. However, he had been looking grumpy a lot since we joined the game. I had still not found a good moment to talk with him. He was about to speak, but Blaze beat him to the punch, “We just unlocked some classes.”

“What happened?” I tried to play dumb, but was quite aware of what had happened.

“The hooded guy always playing that weird chess game with the sergeant, it turns out he’s the commander of the Imperial soldiers,” Blaze started, and then started listing the difference between the soldiers and the guards.

Robin interrupted him, and continued, “He was impressed by our tenacity to continue training for that long every day. He invited us to come speak with them when we reach level ten and can gain a class. He also said he would allow us to take quests issued by the Imperial army and so on.”

“That’s great news,” I smiled. I knew that would happen if they did it for seven days straight.

“But you already knew that,” Ed accused.

“Yeah, I kinda knew that would happen,” I decided not to hide it. There was a reason I had them training there every day, “So you can stop spending time training if you want. But I would advise you to continue. It might not earn you a lot of XP, but it’ll hone your instincts, which I’m sure Kira will attest to as being just as important.”

Kira just nodded her agreement, then asked, “But what’s different about the classes you can get with the soldiers.”

“The classes you can get with the guards are basic. Like Wizard, Sorcerer, Fighter and so on. They’re broad classes that most people can find a use for. The ones available with the guards are not necessarily better, they just have a narrower focus. Meaning if you find one that fits your playstyle, it’s better. If you pick one that don’t fit, it’s worse.”

“Well, you could have told us that to start with,” Ed harrumphed, then changing topic, “Anyway, what was so important that we’d have to run the Sewer Dungeon at once?”

“Well, you needed to do that, because Robin will be going offline for a while,” I smiled and started cooking up some food for them.

“I’m what now?” the lady in question asked confused.

“You’re going offline.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Well, if you don’t want to go pick up your girlfriend, I guess I can do it alone,” I said trying to keep a straight face.

“Don’t even joke about it, it’s not funny,” she glowered at me.

“I’m not kidding, I just sold most of the coins you guys collected this morning. We’ve enough to bring her out of that hellhole.”

“Seriously?” she stared at me without blinking. When I nodded, I was attacked by what seemed like a screeching banshee. Not one screaming in agony or sorrow, but pure happiness. She was hugging me so hard I actually expected to see my health bar starting to go down.

“Wow,” Kira whispered, “I know I’ve had my doubt, but this is faster than I had expected.”

Getting out of Robin’s death hug, I grimaced, “If not for the Bears’ generous donation, it would’ve taken a while longer.”

“We should hunt them down some more then,” One-Eye suggested.

“Yeah, let’s bend them over and f—” Blaze started, but then caught sight of Nise, before lamely adding, “—spank them.”

Ed the ever the downer, “Shouldn’t we spend that money more wisely?”

“You’ve been advocating expanding, now we’re expanding with both Robin’s girlfriend and Petals, if she still wants to join,” I added and turned to Petals, “So are you still interested?”

“Uhm, yes,” she hesitantly answered, “But there’s only two people. Not enough for a party.”

“I know, but the longer you delay, the longer it’ll take for us to actually get to that point.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re already back to level 5, even with a newbie to follow you, you should be able to clear the Sewer Dungeon five times every day. Might take you a while. Each time you clear it, it’ll earn one guild point per person in the party. That’s an extra ten points per day. Meaning we can have a new member joining every three days instead of four,” I explained, “And when they join, it’ll start snowballing from there.”

“That’s not a lot of guild points. Isn’t there any better way to earn some?” Ed complained.

“Not that I can think off,” I answered. Which was a lie, but I had had enough of Ed’s probing questions and suspicious looks.

“That’s a first,” he muttered. Earning an elbow from Kira.

“Okay, I’ll join you,” Petals said after a few moments of silence. Giving her a big smile I sent her an invite to the guild.

When she accepted I offered her my hand, “Welcome aboard.”

“Hope we don’t sink,” she said, then grimaced, “Sorry, didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s okay, we hope the same,” I waved off her concern.

“Can we go already?” Robin asked impatiently.

“Just need to pack up the last few items, then we can head to the inn and log out,” I grinned at her impatience, and debated momentarily if I should work slowly on purpose. I quickly came to the conclusion that it would have been cruel and unnecessary. So with as much haste as possible, I packed up the last few items.

Before we left, I said to Ed, “Take Petals with you on a run to the sour joys and the forest edge. We need some more materials if we’re going to compete with the Dusts over there. They look like they’re serious.”

The last comment was because they had just offered five silver for a single rabbit. No matter the level.

“She’ll get fifty percent of the XP then,” Ed whispered angrily.

“Yes, and so what? She deleted her character to join us. We need to help her regain some of that time,” I stared at him, daring him to argue more with me. When he did not challenge me further on the issue, I left together with Robin.

I was standing outside the door to Ainsley’s room, waiting for her to come out. It did not take long. She was practically bouncing in place, happier than I could recall seeing her. Even before the whole being disowned and kicked out of school.

“You’re going to have a problem with Ed,” she commented as she linked her arm in mine. She practically started dragging me toward one of the elevator pods.

“I know. I didn’t think he would be this much of a problem. The thing is that he’s brilliant, just look at how he turned the fight against the Bears,” I said as I pushed the button to open the door.

“It’s not that brilliant a strategy, I looked it up. It’s not an uncommon one,” she said, stepping into the elevator.

“I know, but to be calm enough to execute it under pressure.”

“True,” she said and sighed when the doors finally closed. A small jerk and thud as the clamps disengaged was all we felt. I knew that we were floating to one of the big platforms, but I could not feel any movement at all.

“I feel like I need him, at least at the moment. I just don’t know how to turn it around. He seems to challenge me at every turn,” I said after a minute of silence.

“He feels like you’re hiding something from him, he doesn’t like that,” she said. Before I could say anything, she added, “We all feel you’re hiding something. Ed is just a control freak. I’m nosy, and I’d like to know, but I can live with not knowing whatever it’s you’re hiding. As long as you keep us out of the— what did you call them? Coffins?”

“Yes, coffins,” I replied. I really wanted to tell them, it would solve a lot of problems. However, I did not think that they would actually believe me. Which would exacerbate the problem with Ed even further.

We lapsed into silence again. After another minute, the doors opened and we were on one of the large platforms we had arrived at only a wee— no, four days earlier. The time dilation was something that was a bit confusing, even after years of playing in it. The trip up the main elevator shafts was much quicker than our descent had been. Then again, the first time they always slowed down the elevators, to allow the customers to see the massive scope of their operation.

Stepping into the lobby, we were greeted by one of the receptionists, “Good morning, Mister Pryce and Miss Everett, your chauffeured car is waiting for you.”

Taken aback, I quickly said, “I just ordered a cab.”

“We took the liberty of cancelling it. We saw the destination, and put it together with the new account and changing Miss Everett’ room to a double. There’s also the fact that you said what your goal was in the interview. You’re going to get a loved one out of those dreadful buildings,” she informed us, and then whispered, “Did you know that people have started to refer to them as coffins?”

“Oh really?” was Ainsley’s comment, and she looked at me weirdly.

“Yes, really. To many it’s probably an apt description, but we’re glad that you’re getting Miss Edwards out of there. So Perennial has decided to provide you with a proper chauffeur and vehicle,” the receptionist smiled.

“Thank you, and please thank your bosses for their generosity,” I said.

“Nonsense, Mister Masters was against the damn Initiative and he saw your interview. He likes what you’re trying to do, and we’ve been instructed to try and ease your burdens in the real world if we can,” the receptionist had shown us to a side exit, “I’m looking forward to greeting our new guest when you get back.”

Outside was a black sleek stretched hover car. It could easily accommodate six passengers or more. A nicely dressed chauffeur stood by the open backdoor. Tall, muscular and chiseled jaw. The only imperfection on his dark brown skin was a small tattoo under the eye. It was almost imperceptible, but was of a P in a circle.

I was actually taken aback. This was not a person, but an android. The android was run by the same kind of AIs that they used in the game. There had been robot and android servants before, but none was so lifelike as the ones that Perennial made. However, as far as I knew they had not been put into production for another four years. In my previous timeline they had just been released a year or so before I died.

“Mister Pryce, Miss Everett,” the android greeted us. Ainsley appeared to not have seen anything out of the ordinary about him. And neither would she. The only thing that would make one of the latest gen androids distinguishable from a human was the tattoo.

“Thank you,” she smiled as she entered the car.

“Yes thank you,” I quickly said, and entered as well.

After the door was closed, Ainsley turned to me, “What the heck is going on?”

“I’ve no idea,” I protested.

“Don’t give me that bull. I’ve seen the interviews, not once did you mention the word coffin. You referred to them as boxes. But now people suddenly uses coffins to describe the Initiative,” she used a very accusing tone.

“Seriously, I don’t know what’s going on,” I lied.

“Fine,” she said with a huff.

After three minutes of uncomfortable silence, I tried to start a conversation, “How did you meet your girlfriend?”

Scoffing, she said, “You really want to know?”

“I actually do, I know little about her. I only had her CIN because it was in our contract,” I said, and realized I could have used her Citizen Identification Number to look up her name.

“Her name is Sarah Edwards,” she finally said after another minute of silence, “She’s an orphan like you. Grew up with Miss Elleby, so that’s where I met her. She’s a year younger than me.”

At first she was still talking with some anger in her voice, but it gradually bled away, “You should’ve seen us. We were fighting from the moment I arrived. You know how I love to argue, and when I arrived, I was pissed at everyone and the world. First we were arguing on which movie to watch, then it went onto who would sleep where. When we started on who had the crappier life, Miss Elleby had enough.

“She forced us to read old stories, and we were only allowed to talk with each other if we talked about the books. Of course that didn’t lessen the amount of arguing, but at least it was constructive.”

She lapsed into silence, a happy smile on her face. After a long while she finally said, “I learned to respect her, and from that respect grew love. I don’t think I could be happy with just anyone. I need someone who’s not afraid to stand up to me, or argue with me.”

“Sounds like a remarkable young woman,” I said with a smile.

“She is. She’s the only one that can make me admit that I was wrong when I’ve taken a stance on anything.”

“Now that’s an impossible task, I’ve tried many times,” I laughed.

“Yes you did,” she laughed with me, but then turned serious, “You still need to tell us what’s going on. How do you know so many things?”

“I can’t,” I said.

“You’ll have to, or you’ll lose us all.”

Before I could say anything, the chauffeur announced on the intercom, “We’re here.”

A moment later the door opened. Exiting we found ourselves in front of a large squat building. Ugly and made from cheap materials. Heading into the building went smoothly. Inside we found a bare waiting room, with only a couple of SecuriBots, as well as a terminal for scanning CIN chips and comparing it to a DNA sample.

Placing my right hand in the scanner, I felt the prick of the needle withdrawing a sample of blood for analysis. A minute passed, when finally an emotionless computer generated voice informed us, “Identity confirmed. Minimum Welfare Tax paid. No outstanding debt. Meeting for picking up new employee found. Please proceed to Interview Room One.”

As it finished speaking, a section of the wall slid to the side, revealing a room. It was almost as bare as the reception, with only a table and a single chair. The rest of the room was just as stark and cold as the rest of the building. When we stepped inside, one of the SecuriBots followed us. The door, or panel, whatever it was, closed again. Leaving us in the room, lit up by a cheap light source that hurt the eyes.

“The interviewee will be here momentarily,” the inhuman voice informed us from the SecuriBot.

Momentarily turned out to be ten minutes. A glass tube descended from the ceiling. When it had made contact with the ground, it hermetically sealed if the whoosh of air was any indication. It was then Sarah finally made her entrance. A pair of mechanical arms lowered her into the tube, and bright lights lit up, aimed at her.

She barely seemed cognizant, and the bright lights made her shut her eyes tightly, trying to bring her arms to block the light, but unable because of the tight confines of the glass tube. The SecuriBot spoke up once more, “Confirm that this is Sarah Edwards, CIN 2—”

“It’s her, get her out of there,” Ainsley demanded.

“Primary employer need to confirm id—” it started to say.

Seeing where it was heading, I repeated Ainsley’s confirmation, “It’s her.”

The rush of air as the tube unsealed and turning off of the sharp light happened at the same time. With a whoosh the tube retracted, followed by the arms after releasing Sarah. Which made her fall to the ground in a heap.

“Sarah,” Ainsley called out and rushed to her girlfriend.

The SecuriBot started talking, “You’ve ten minutes to sign a contract, it’s all the time the subject has been alloted.”

“Ainsley, what are you doing here?” Sarah asked fearfully, sounding very groggy. Ainsley didn’t answer, instead she pressed her lips to Sarah’s. I decided to give them a few moments of privacy and turned around.

I had managed to get a look at Sarah. She was taller than Ainsley, and awfully thin. Almost unhealthily so. Her hair was dyed a dark green and cut short; not even reaching her ears. She was dressed in a set of thin white scrubs. They looked like they would become transparent with the slightest bit of precipitation. After about a minute, I heard Sarah asked, “How long was I in there?”

“It’s the January fourth,” Ainsley whispered full of affection.

“Oh god, a whole year, I lost a year!” Sarah started crying.

“No, no, no, no. It has only been four days,” Ainsley hurriedly consoled.

“Four days, how’s that possible?”

“It’s a longer story, but the stupid bot told us we don’t have long. I’d like you to meet Damian,” Ainsley said.

Hearing my name, I reckoned it was safe to turn around. They were still sitting on the floor, but both were looking at me. A handshake would be awkward with them sitting on the floor, so I settled on a wave and a “Hi.”.

“Hi,” Sarah was looking me up and down, “At least I don’t need to be afraid of you eloping with him.”

“Ouch,” was my immediate reaction to that burn.

“Sarah!” was Ainsley’s.

“Uhm, sorry. Sometimes I just say what pops into my mind,” Sarah looked embarrassed.

I waved it off, “I guess that’s a fair assessment. And don’t worry about it. I would never dream of eloping with her.”

“Is she not good enough?” Sarah asked combatively.

“She’s a former student of mine. She’s been placed in the off limit zone long ago,” I shrugged.

“Oh.”

“Can we stop talking about me hooking up with my old teacher?” Ainsley pouted, and then immediately added, “I didn’t mean old, old. I meant former.”

“You girls just keep stabbing with those daggers. Did I change name to Julius?” I shook my head at their antics. They would be a handful, no doubt about it.

“Can I be Brutus then?” Sarah smiled.

“This is getting derailed, let us get the contract signed and get her out of here,” Ainsley demanded.

“Sure, let us get it over with,” I agreed. Sitting down on the chair, I noticed that the table had a built in holographic unit and CIN identification kit. Which would make it much easier getting the contract signed. After a few seconds of fiddling with my wrist device, I got the contract transferred to the table’s holo unit.

“Is this the same contract you signed?” Sarah asked Ainsley.

After taking a quick glance, Ainsley nodded, “Appears to be.”

“It’s our standard contract for those we pull out of here. The same that Ainsley and the other four signed before New Years,” I said.

“Let me just read over it real quick.”

“Sarah, we only have a few more minutes,” Ainsley said nervously.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”

“Don’t give me that! I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to see you again,” Ainsley’s voice was thick with emotions.

“I wasn’t worried,” Sarah smiled.

“You weren’t?”

“Not when I got you to look out for me.”

I turned to the Bot and asked, “Can we get some of her clothes down here.”

“The subject no longer has any possessions, everything was confiscated at her internment. To help offset the cost and her debt,” it explained.

‘I had forgotten that part, crap,’ I thought before turning back to the girls with an apologetic smile.

“I should’ve thought of that. We didn’t bring any clothes, sorry,” Ainsley mumbled.

“It’s okay, I just want to get out of here,” Sarah shrugged, before placing her hand on the table. A few seconds later, she said, “There, signed and sealed in blood. Now you own my soul, oh ruler of the seven hells.”

“Sarah!” Ainsley squaked, giving me an embarrassed look.

“Funny,” I deadpanned, “If that’s the case, I say we get out of here, and put you to work in a mine somewhere.”

“As long as you let me slave away next to this beauty, you can put me to work in a sarlacc pit,” Sarah put an arm around Ainsley when she said that.

Raising an eyebrow, I had to ask, “Fan of the classics?”

“It’s the only thing that we could watch where I grew up, on account that it was gratis.”

“Yeah, I know what’s that like,” I smiled wistfully. It was those old movies that had gotten me interested in history and social science.

We waited for the door to open, when Sarah asked Ainsley, “So is the game as awesome as advertised?”

“Better.”

“Awesome, I can’t wait to play the evil witch and run around transforming everyone into sheep.”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t stir up trouble like that,” I commented on that particular idea. Not that it could not be funny, was just not the kind of guild I wanted.

“Aw, you’re no fun,” Sarah pouted.

“Yeah, better not stir up trouble. We already have enough trouble because of Damian.”

“Oooh, sounds salacious, gimme details,” Sarah had a devilish look in her eye. Yeah, she would probably bring me some trouble. Luckily the door had cycled through its security routines, and let us leave the room.

We started walking towards the exit of the building, when I asked Sarah, “So what skills do you want?”

“Magic,” she grinned, “And swashbuckling, I want to be a pirate. I’ve always wanted to see the sea and sail on it.”

“I sense an outlaw theme,” I chuckled.

“What do you mean?” Sarah asked confused.

“Do you know what Ainsley’s ingame name is?”

“No.”

“Rob—” I started to answer, while I held the door open for the two.

“You didn’t!” Sarah interrupted with a laugh, “So I’m the fair maiden that needed rescue from the evil sheriff, and you donned your trusted hood and grabbed your bow. You stole from the rich, and gave to poor little me?”

“Stop it,” Ainsley protested weakly.

“I’m totally gonna be Lady Marion then. But with magic,” Sarah hugged her embarrassed looking girlfriend, before entering the car.

Ainsley gave me a look that had a bit of panic in them. Grinning at her, I whispered, “You wanted this.”

She just shook her head, and entered after her girlfriend. I was halfway into the car, when something grabbed me from behind, throwing me to the ground. My head slammed into the ground, making everything go woozy. The last thing I remembered before everything went black, was the startled scream of someone.