Extract from the Cow River Crossing Dictionary

Conflict n. 1. Software ~ Where two programs do not or may not run as intended or at all at the same time on the same hardware. This is often caused by competition for the same resource (files, memory, peripheral devices, etc.).

Waking up again, Cable found himself wondering how he fell asleep. It seemed to be happening a lot lately – without intent. Facing the blue screen, he wondered what was going on. It seemed very similar to the last time he woke up, with a minor exception. Two .os files present and causing conflicts sounded like a sure way to brick the system. Not that that's hard to do to Windhurts. Ah, good times.

“Good morning Administrator.”

Faced with a new person in the black space of the core, Cable jumped out of his skin.

“Who are you?”

“I am Nova, Administrator.”

“I am not Administrator, I am Cable.”

“Very well, Administrator Cable.”

A smoking hot beauty faced him in the main core room. She looked somewhat Elfin with her pointed ears holding back her pearlescent white hair, but that was where any resemblance ended. Her rainbow draconian wings and tail were a dead giveaway something was different. All the same, generous proportions in the right places were a welcome sight for sore eyes.

“What are you Nova?”

“I am what was the dungeon core before you came, Administrator Cable.”

“Nova, please don’t call me Administrator. It doesn’t sit right.”

“Very well, Admin Cable.”

*sigh*

“What am I doing here, Nova?”

“You are the Dungeon Core Administrator, Admin Cable.”

“What is a Dungeon Core Administrator?”

Here Nova launched into an explanation. Like the best help files, she did her best to get the main points across without losing her audience’s attention.

First, control the dungeon core’s inner workings. Set scripts and macros for the automatic features, such as MP and HP bars on the HUD.

Second, control the dungeon. Set food chains, evolution routes, and general population control.

Third, expand the dungeon to make it nicer, better, and unlock more features. This would be crucial in later stages, as not everyone likes having a dungeon in their neighbourhood, especially if it’s an unkempt bogan cave.

Fourth, defend the dungeon from invaders. Some people want the core; some want the glory of defeating a dungeon. All of them want money. None of them are going to be nice.

Cable baulked at the last point. He was hoping to get a nice symbiotic relationship happening with the local population. After all, the dungeons he read about back on Earth survived if they were careful.

“Alright Nova, what now.”

“First, select what type of dungeon you want to be. Say ‘menu’ and you should see some options.”

“Menu.”

A menu appeared before Cable. It even had a message at the top.

Welcome back to Dystopia, New Dungeon.

Main Menu:

Dungeon Type Selection

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The rest of the options were greyed out.

‘Here goes nothing…’

“Dungeon type selection”