Jim’s PoV

Jim was looking around to find another green portal but they all seemed to be gone.

Calling out he said “Anyone see any more of them?”

Choruses of “no” followed his question. Charlotte turned to him and said “Looks like that’s it then. I can exit now.”

He nodded and said “Any idea how long it will be till the next wave?”

Charlotte shook her head and said “Sorry, won’t know till I leave, why?”

Jim was in thought for a few seconds and then said “If you have over 12 hours, come here again. I think I have an idea.”

Charlotte muttered “Half your ideas turn out to really suck.”

Jim shrugged and said “Well, if you want then you can release all these guys into your city. Up to you.”

Charlotte said “It’s our city, even if you don’t remember it! Fine, just please make sure it's away from people. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. And Jim?”

“Yes?”

“Once this is over we owe the people of our city big time. A lot of people died because of this. Are you okay with that?”

Jim didn’t see why that would be a problem and said “Sure thing. But it’s still going to be a couple more days before I can collect all of the artifacts.”

“Okay. I won’t let this go. We can’t bring people back, but we can do our best to make sure that the ones that are left behind will carry a lesser burden.”

Nodding he said “I’ll make sure of it. Too easy!”

As he said that she nodded and then disappeared. Looking around to his team Forrest said “So, creator of this world huh? That make you a god?”

Uncomfortable Jim said “Could we not talk about that? Seriously I can’t even remember what I did, so commenting on that seems out of place. I don’t think I am, but who knows?”

Scarlet scoffed and said “Well, if you're a god, I get to be the high priestess. Dibs on collecting all of the money. I called it! Dibs!”

Forrest laughed and said “Sure thing Scarlet, but what does that make me?”

In a serious tone she said “You will make a great altar boy. Just think of how high pitched you will be able to sing when I do something like this!”

Jim winced as he watched the girl grab him in a tender place. She seemed to have worked around the scales and got a good hold of him. Poor guy.

Forrest yelped and said “Oh! Ow, ow ow! Stop!”

Laughing she let go and said “Good boy. Now let us pray to the Lord Jim, and then steal money for him in his name! Maybe we can find some good converts!”

Exasperated Jim said “Okay guys that’s enough. I think you’re taking this a bit too far. Come on, let’s see if we can get on top of one of these buildings. Hopefully we can flag Voss down for a pickup. Going through the gates will be a mistake.”

Scarlet said hopefully “Surely we can exit through the gate? There are plenty of people from Jacksberg and Shila who would make wonderful supplicants. I’m sure with a display or two like what you did earlier here in town and they would all be lining up to say your prayers!”

Jim didn’t know if he should be happy that she seemed to be in higher spirits, or worried that her mood changed so quick. Only a bit ago she seemed really angry. But after that she did seem to enjoy the fighting. What a weird one.

Shaking his head Jim said insistently “I'm going to climb this building here. If yall want to stay, then that's your choice. Good luck with your church! Peace!”

Once he said the words he made a mighty jump and vaulted towards one of the window ledges. Getting a good grip he forcefully pulled up trying to use it to keep his momentum going upward. Unfortunately the window ledge didn’t seemed to be reinforced very well and it broke. In dismay Jim found himself falling back to the ground.

Then Scarlet exclaimed “Praise be to Lord Jim! For he as fallen from the sky for us to bask in his presence.”

Forrest seemed to have enough of the bit as well and interrupted saying “We can always just take the stairs. If we go around to the side, it should lead to the top.”

Scratching the back of his head awkwardly he took the man’s advise and followed him. Soon enough they were on the roof waving at the airship in the sky. After a few minutes of cycling between jumping, waving and cursing Voss seemed to get the idea.

During the wait Scarlet seemed to go quiet and reflective. Jim asked “You okay Scarlet?”

Blinking she nodded and said “Found out some.. Stuff that I need to think about.”

Forrest put his arm around her and said “You grab me like that again, and I will ban cuddling for tonight. I swear, I’ll do it.”

Her face lit up and she said in mock horror “Oh you! You wouldn’t! Meanie!”

Smiling Jim was happy Forrest seemed to have the situation under control. Maybe sooner or later she would talk about it to him, but it seemed like she could use some space. Well, at least from everyone but Forrest.

Stepping off to the side he waited for the airship to get close. Not wanting to repeat his fall he made sure to have two points of contact before hopping over to the craft. Happy he didn’t fall he turned around to watch his friends follow him aboard.

Voss asked “Where to?”

“You still have that map?”

Nodding Voss presented it and Jim said “I want to go here as fast as possible. You think you can do that?”

Voss said confused “You mean to where the next temple is?”

Jim shook his head and pointed a little further north saying “I want to go here.”

Voss looked at him like he was nuts and said “If you say so. But I want off before we head in there. That's madness.”

Jim laughed and said “Sure thing. Let’s get to it!”

Charlotte’s PoV

When Charlotte exited Jim’s world she looked around to find that they were sitting next to each other on the couch. She almost wanted to talk to him, but then she remembered that he had died. It was so weird, she had just been talking to him, yet his lifeless body was sitting next to her.

Shaking her head she looked to find where the little timer would be. Happily she noticed that she actually had a full 24 hours before the next round started! Charlotte could actually get some work done.

Looking at her phone she saw that she had a dozen calls from the assistants at Milly’s lab. Why did they need to get in contact with her so bad? Dread filled her. Was everyone okay?

So far the deaths had just been something abstract. Something that she knew had happen, yet it had not had a direct impact on anyone she knew. Calling the phone number up she pleaded “please, everyone be alright. Please.”

The call picked up on the first ring and the assistant started chattering in a rush “Oh thank goodness Charlotte! I was getting worried that maybe one of those things had got you! I am over at the lab and Milly raided it! Seriously she took two thirds of our plants and chopped them up to make the new drugs! She was insistent that she would be able to get more, but we had to be sure. Because right now we are looking at a decade time table for productions instead of a couple years!”

Charlotte tried to digest the ramblings and said “How did Milly say that she was going to be able to get more?”

“She said she knew someone named Jim. Milly said that he would be able to get more of the plants. Do you know if that’s true?”

Charlotte started rubbing her temples and said “Milly is no longer allowed access to the growing room. Understand? Hire more guards if you have to.”

The tone on the other end of the line said sadly “Does this mean we won’t be getting more?”

Sighing Charlotte said “Maybe, but probably not. Plan for the worst. Gather up anything that is damaged and make sure it gets processed.”

Now that she thought of it she had no idea how the city was doing. She worried that she would look foolish asking a subordinate but she had to know.

“How is the city doing? How bad is it outside right now?”

“It’s not too bad. It’s been a couple hours since the last sighting of those things had been reported. Where have you been boss?”

Deflecting the question she said “Sorry, just too many things going on right now. Just remember, keep the rest of the samples safe! Only trusted personnel! Got it?”

“Can do boss! Leave it to me!”

Hanging up the phone she looked at her other messages and saw she had one from Greg, he was one of the lead techs pushing forward on the helmet research.

Calling him up she asked “What’s happening?”

“Good news boss! We've made significant progress! We can now watch full streams of video and audio! This is going to be big!”

Charlotte smiled and said “Good work. How's the team doing?”

“Everyone is fine. Most are actually here right now! The streets seem somewhat safe and everyone is so excited to work on this breakthrough! Some think this is just the beginning. Maybe in a couple more months we can isolate smell, touch and taste. We could make a fully immersive world! Top of the line VR simulations!”

And then the happy feeling was gone. Oh hell, what if they discovered whatever Jim did? Still it would take awhile. Trying to recover her enthusiasm she said “Good work Greg, thanks for your dedication. Give me a call if anything changes.”

“Sure thing!”

Hanging up she wondered what else needed her attention in the meantime. Then she looked over to Jim. Actually now that she knew he was still alive she felt a lot less guilty about doing this.

Balling up her fist she punched Jim in the chest several times. Once she was exhausted she felt a lot better. If only they could sell this, it was almost therapeutic.

Forrest’s PoV

It was getting late and Scarlet seemed contemplative again. Sitting next to her on the bed he asked “do you want to talk about it? It helps sometimes.”

Looking away from him she asked “Do you have parents?”

Forrest nodded and said “I loved them. They were the greatest parents in the world.”

Now making eye contact she said “Were? What happened to them?”

While rubbing her back he remembered.

“It was only a couple years ago. But you know King’s End. We live right by the caves, and some nasty things are there. They were outside the walls when the last attack came. I asked around after the battle and an old couple told me how they died.”

It still seemed to hurt as much as the day he found out they passed on. Trying to suppress his emotions he rushed on and said “They say my father protected my mother the best he could, but he fell in the end. When he did, mother died soon after.”

“Do you miss them?”

“Everyday.”

Forrest laughed and said “Do you remember how I told you Jim saved my life.”

Scarlet nodded and he went on saying “It was because of my stubborness to sell my old house. The potion maker wanted me to sell it so I could buy the cure for a disease that seems to run around in King’s End. I chose death over giving away the house that my father had built with his own two hands.”

“That.. doesn’t sound very smart.”

Smiling he said “Yeah. Probably not. Still there were too many good memories in that house. But hey, it turned out good. If not, I wouldn’t have met you.”

Scarlet gripped his hand and said “I don’t know who my parents are. I've never thought about it before. I was always told I was special and so many people took a personal interest in me. I always viewed myself as special and lucky.. But now.. I don’t know.”

Gently he grabbed her and pulled her in for a tender kiss. Forrest whispered in her ear “You’re special to me.”

That brought a smile to her face. Then the look in her eyes changed. He smiled too. It was going to be a good night.

Greg’s PoV

It was getting really late and Greg was still working. Well, if you could call watching his favorite action movies being sent directly into his head work. He totally counted it as work! As the movie ended he took the helmet off his head. Then he heard the sounds of passionate love making. Freaking out he realized that it was coming from his work station!

Panicking he instinctively tried to find the power button on his computer, but then he realized he was connected to the super computer. He couldn’t just turn it off, it would shut off every work station in the place.

The sounds of pleasure continued as he frantically searched for something else. Where was the noise coming from? His monitor had speakers! Finally finding the power button for it, the noise stopped.

But then he had a sinking feeling. Turning around he saw half a dozen people staring at him with angry glairs.

One of them said “Look, you can’t do that at work. You're making people uncomfortable.”

Plaintively he said “But.. but.. I didn’t! I have no idea how that happened! I was just watching Super Kill Everything 3 when that just started happening! I swear!”

A lot of skeptical eyebrows were raised. Finally one of them said “Look, just head home for a couple days. I’m going to give Charlotte a call about this incident. Normally you would probably be fired, but everyone has been under a lot of stress recently.”

As that was said the group started to disperse. In shock Greg could only catatonically say “But.. but.. But.”

Finally he hunched his shoulders and left the office.

???’s PoV

“Everything seems to have died down considerably. Do you think the tainted one died in the fighting?”

“No way to know. We will just have to keep monitoring the situation.”

“Has that one group made any progress towards obtaining the forbidden knowledge?”

“Yes, however we found the one responsible. As with your orders we sabotaged him. We're not sure how well it worked, however it has stopped him for now.”

“What did you do to him?”

Reluctantly he said “Uhh.. just a small prank. It seems the humans have replicated technology from long ago. They can access information about anything with this thing called the internet.”

“Go on...”

“Uhh.. we made it play something inappropriate for the workplace.”

“And this is.. Effective?”

“So far the results are positive.”

“Very well, keep up the good work.”

“Understood!”