Chapter 1

Lord Regal stared at the cluster of burnt out buildings that had been the new city power plant. At least there had been no casualties. There had been a few minutes warning for evacuation, and few people on duty in the middle of the night.

He had seen images of the ‘humans’ they were supposedly trying to help. He himself might have passed for a very tall and muscular human with deep blue skin. Humanoid they would have called him. A surprising number of the spacefaring species of the many worlds comprising the Eightfold were ‘Humanoid’.

Beside him stood Slidder, who was also crudely bipedal. Yet his scaly skin and the long thin tongue periodically darting out of his mouth suggested a different Terran creature entirely. Perhaps a lizard or reptile.

Slidder’s head turned back and forth as he surveyed the damage. When he spoke, it was in the common tongue shared by the many species of the Eightfold. “I don’t really see how this could have been done without inside help. Neither does anyone else I spoke to. Do you?”

Regal needed to answer immediately and casually to avert suspicion, but he also needed to think a moment. He would rather have kept open the option of blaming the sabotage on outsiders, but trying to do so if it were truly untenable would only draw suspicion to himself.

“No,” he replied.

Slidder’s toneless hissing somehow managed to convey emotion and intensity. “But why would one of us do this? All of us helping to build the city and power the portal will be wealthy when we succeed. And we will have the satisfaction of knowing we helped an entire species join the Eightfold. Who would do this?”

Lord Regal lied, “I … I don’t know.”

Slidder said, “I have trouble even imaging the level of greed or debt that would make a Harvester so discontent with our rewards that they would betray us.”

This time he could reply sincerely, “Me too.”

The other speculated, “If the saboteur believed we were to fail, there would be logic of a kind. If this venture fails we will all owe the Harvesters a great deal of money, and it is far from clear they will forgive the debt.”

Regal nodded silently. The Harvesters had leant them each a great deal of money to invest in building this city. If it supported a successful Portal to a new world, they would each be wealthy tycoons who could easily repay the Harvesters.

Suddenly it occurred to him how much easier things would be if he had an ally. Since he didn’t dare talk about himself and his thoughts openly, he had no real friends here. He sometimes spent time with Slidder though, and wondered if he dared sound him out.

He said, “But then we would wonder why he had joined the project in the first place if he expected it to fail. The Harvesters have long memories, and they would hunt a saboteur for the rest of his life.”

“True.”

“Let us assume some form of misplaced idealism.”

Slidder turned his supple neck to face Lord Regal. He knew he had the Eightfold’s full attention.

Regal continued, “I once read that the success of a first contact depended largely on how patient the Elders were. Since they have shed their material bodies, a few hundred years is normally as nothing to them – and they can travel through a portal even before a receiving portal is built at the destination.”

Slidder protested, “That’s not fair. The Elders have a difficult and dangerous job. They can be seriously injured despite their lack of material form. Sometimes it is hard for them to feed ethically on the mindstuff of a new species.”

Which actually led directly to Regal’s central point. “Then, desiring medical help and other expertise, they rush the first contact. The Elders on Earth, for instance, have been there less than thirty years. How could Earth be ready?”

Lord Regal knew of only one world which Elders had spent less than thirty years preparing before open contact. The promising planet had been consumed by war, as each nation there sought to gain a military edge by allying with the most violent elements of various Eightfold factions. The species had been ninety percent destroyed, and the remainder reduced to primitive struggles for subsistence.

Slidder of course replied to his previous comment rather than his thoughts. “The Elders say Earth is ready. What else can we go by?”

Regal sighed. “I’m the one who communicates with the Elders for us. Take it from me, they are very concerned about their own injuries. And the worst of those injuries are in the Blue Sword Honor faction, so factionalism is driving this as well.”

Slidder’s head stopped swiveling and looked straight at Regal. He had excellent peripheral vision, but only saw three dimensionally in a small area. He said, “It sounds almost as if you agree with them. You make a strong case.”

Lord Regal tried to remain outwardly composed, but the world seemed to slow down around him as his body sensed a critical moment. It would be nice to have an ally, and Slidder sounded almost sympathetic. On the other hand, something held him back from openly confessing his views. He spent more time with Slidder than anyone else here, but he didn’t really know him. If Slidder betrayed him to the others, they would kill him or send him to a Harvester headquarters. He shivered uncontrollably.

Then he said, “Of course not. But we’re trying to get into their heads, aren’t we? We have to trust our Elders, because together we’ve helped many worlds, haven’t we?”

Slidder’s head was not quite designed to nod, but he bobbed agreement. “Just so. And your insight will probably be valuable. Stinger wants us to meet at the Viewing tower in an hour to discuss the sabotage.

Lord Regal wondered if they already suspected him. Even if they did, he should probably go to this meeting. The portal they had built the city around was by far the best way off the planet, and he might well be trapped if he fled. Ideally he would deflect suspicion, eventually they would all retreat through the portal as the project failed, then he would quietly make his escape.

Something was funny about this though. Why had he just been told about the meeting now? It sounded as if the others already knew.

He asked Slidder doubtfully, “Can we even get there in an hour?”

“Indeed. I didn’t walk here, I took my hovercraft.”

If he refused to go to the meeting he might even end up fighting Slidder, who was resistant to his sorcery.

They walked together towards the groundcar, more advanced than anything being produced in the factories of the city they were building. It was black, shiny, and ostentatious. If Slidder had expensive tastes, that might be one of the reasons he was involved in this.

As the groundcar rode smoothly a few inches above the surface, the seat reshaped itself to his alien form. Regal had to admit to himself he could get used to this.

And what Slidder was saying was comforting as well. “Stinger thinks he knows who the traitor is. The traitor claims to suspect you. When Stinger starts the meeting he may seem to be focusing on you. Play along. I promised not to tell anyone who the traitor is before the meeting, so reactions will all be authentic.”

That was good news. If the team turned over the wrong member to a Harvester Headquarters as a traitor, all their work and the work of all the natives they had hired would be called into question. That should make everything much harder. Hopefully he could then perpetrate one last act of sabotage, hack the portal, and escape. If the party were demoralized, perhaps he could put an end to this project without having to kill anyone, or killing anyone by accident.

The vehicle made good speed, and they arrived in plenty of time for the meeting. The tall tower in front of them looked as if it were made of stone, though Regal knew more advanced construction materials were concealed within. He could barely see the huge plate glass window high above the ground, which would give a good view of almost the entire city.

There were a few more groundcars parked outside the tower, but nobody was waiting for them.

“Upstairs,” Slidder said in response to his unasked question.

They took the lift to the viewing room. Everyone else was already seated in hardbacked chairs around the ornate wooden table. The two chairs they had left empty were near the middle of the long rectangular table, between it and the wall. In one sense they were the best seats in the house. They had a great view across the room and out the plate glass window. On the other hand, Regal felt as if he would be trapped between the table and the wall. The lift was the only exit from the room apart from the window, and both were on the opposite side of the table and the room.

Rather than show any hint that he might feel a need for escape, Regal walked confidently towards one of the seats. Slidder sat next to him.

Stinger was seated directly across from the two of them. He had two arms and six legs and a round symmetrical body, making him vaguely reminiscent of an Earthly spider. Much taller though, about two thirds Lord Regal’s height, almost as tall as a human. He was their informal leader, sort of first among equals.

While he could not truly trust any of them, and they would all be enraged if they knew his secret, somehow being next to Slidder was comforting. Perhaps some day his companion would understand why he had had to do as he did. Either way, it was a melancholy triumph if he succeeded in framing someone else as a traitor. Presumably they would be taken prisoner and given to the Harvesters to interrogate. Hopefully they would realize he was not the one they sought. Presumably they would, since the sabotage would have to continue in their absence.

Perhaps they did not suspect Lord Regal. He had merely been given the best seat in the house. They all sat around the hand carved and engraved table. It was polished to a high gloss. Lord Regal had been given the seat of honor. No need to feel trapped.

He managed to keep his face impassive, but kept thinking how strange his choices had been. Yet even today he found he could have done things no differently. He had seen a promising world break into chaos and civil war because desperate Elders and overeager fortune hunters rushed into first contact. That world had not been dissimilar to Earth – and the intelligent species had even been humanoid, although shorter and hairier. He could not let it happen again, even at the cost of his life. With the help of some Guardians he had infiltrated the Harvesters.

Stinger began speaking. Although his mouth looked strange, his voice was clear and easy to understand.

“You’re our Seer, right? Yet all the visions you’ve related to us are dim and confused. They point every which way at one time or another, except at yourself. It’s almost as if you don’t want us to come to any definite conclusion that could be tested.”

So Lord Regal was under suspicion after all. Or perhaps Stinger was leading up to something, trying to catch someone by surprise. Regal decided to play along as he had said. “You will recall what I said in our private discussion a few days ago.”

Lord Regal had not accused Gorail to his face, but had implied his guilt behind his back. He felt a moment of shame, but he was convinced billions of humans might die for the Elders greed if this project was not destroyed.

“Oh, I haven’t forgotten. In fact, we investigated his past thoroughly, and his present. He has done many jobs for the Harvesters before this, and none of them have had problems with treachery or disloyalty. He has never made any attempts to contact the Guardians in the past.”

Lord Regal knew the subtle ways in which Stinger’s speech was inflected by emotion, although some would have been inaudible to those not familiar with his species. The word ‘Guardians’ was pronounced with irony and loathing. The Guardians were the arch enemies of the Harvesters.

Stinger continued, “While things directly related to the fate of our little project seem very clouded to the direct view of Seers, as you’ve said. However, they saw nothing that would indicate in past times he had made any contact with the Guardians prior to involvement with this project.”

The rest remained silent, letting Stinger do the talking. Lord Regal himself was becoming worried.

The other went on. “Having done that, it seemed only fair to investigate you too. It seems when you were younger you were something of a firebrand. You claimed that Elders were encouraging the Eightfold to look away while new worlds were contacted prematurely, to the detriment of immature civilizations. You claimed that this was done to satiate the hunger of the Elders.”

Lord Regal replied truthfully, “I don’t remember doing that.”

He knew those things were true, but did not remember speaking them aloud. When he was very young he had learned that most Eightfold did not want to hear those things. How young? He didn’t remember.

Then he lied. “I may have believed those things when I was much younger, but I certainly don’t believe them now. Someone is feeding you this to frame me.”

In his peripheral vision, he saw Gorail sit up straighter and more attentively. On a hunch he said, “Was Gorail involved in this ‘research’”? Did he research his own backround as well?”

Stinger countered, “Why? Do you suspect Gorail of hiding or falsifying something?”

“You remember what I suggested to you in our little conference. If Gorail investigated my past, who investigated his?”

The spideroid shrugged, which Lord Regal knew to be the equivalent of a human shaking his head in negation. Stinger said, “It was I who handled both investigations. You should probably accuse me right now to discredit my words.”

It would sound pretty lame, now that Stinger had anticipated it. Lord Regal said, “I, I don’t know. Did someone suggest all this dual investigation to you?”

Stinger countered, “Shouldn’t you accuse whoever you think it is, and give us the evidence, before asking that? This way nobody will think that you’re spreading around accusations to deflect suspicion from yourself.”

In point of fact Lord Regal had done that before, and had been collecting himself to do it again now.

The Spidoid lowered it’s voice a bit. “You want to know who suggested all this to me? Leo.”

Lord Regal was surprised. Leo of the feline countenance was normally quiet and unimaginative. But he had to say something, and say it like he didn’t need time to think.

He took a breath. “You remember after the electrical fire in the computer center? We were almost going to report Leo as the saboteur, but our credibility would have taken a big hit if we were wrong. I think we may have made a mistake.”

Stinger said levelly, “Do you? Because it wasn’t actually Leo who told me you were the traitor. He wasn’t convinced, so I needed to show him you were just spreading blame on anyone who said anything about you.”

Beside him, the great toothed head nodded up and down slowly.

Damn. Damn. Damn. Regal had allowed himself to be led so easily. He tried to keep the desperation out of his voice as he spoke. “Either you’ve already made up your mind, or I’ve been wrong about you. How many people here are already convinced I’m the saboteur?”

As Lord Regal looked around every single Eightfold signaled affirmation. He turned to Slidder and started, “So before when you said –”

Slidder interrupted him with a hissing noise. “Yes, I lied to get you to seat in the seat the rest of us had planned beforehand. You do know you get on everyone’s nerves, right?”

Regal stared blankly for a moment. He had thought they were sort of friends, despite his own deceit. He was entirely alone, and his fate might already be determined. Still he went on to the best of his ability.

He said, “This is a mistake. If you tell our sponsors that I’m the saboteur, and they take me as a prisoner and question me, I don’t know anything I haven’t already told you. Our credibility will be broken, and we might not be able to finance the next phase of our project. Especially when our backers see there is still sabotage. Have you thought of that?”

His logic didn’t make sense if they were right, but he had to say something.

Stinger shook his head slightly, for him the equivalent of a nod. “An excellent point. We’ve decided to kill you instead. If the problem ends, at most there will be a slap on the wrist for our ruthlessness. It will end, but if by any chance it didn’t, there are no witnesses but us.”

Immediately everyone at the table stood up. To his left and right, Stinger and Slidder drew their swords. Simultaneously they drew back a step. Sometimes for Eightfold swords symbolized a matter of honor, but he didn’t see how two versus one could be very honorable.

The issue didn’t arise though, because the other three Eightfold in the room readied blasters.

Stinger said politely, “Since it will make no difference anyway, perhaps you could tell us why you betrayed us.”

Lord Regal knew the fear on his face was plain now, but that was fine. Fear was perfectly natural in an Eightfold unjustly suspected.

“I didn’t. You’re making a double mistake. I’m not the Eightfold you’re looking for, and even if I was, you should turn me over to the Harvesters to interrogate. Anything else they did would be on them. You wouldn’t have to worry about the consequences of murdering someone to prevent them from interfering in your semilegal ‘mission.’”

Surely he would find a change to escape before they turned him over to their employers.

“Ah, no. Seers and sorcerers are tricky, and you’re both. Besides, you seem to have a fey connection to a certain human on Earth. We think opening a sorcerous portal using your blood might actually be faster than finishing the technological one.”

Blood magic. That too was illegal, but instead of letting himself be distracted Lord Regal said, “You asked me why I did this. It used to be that a new world would be given a couple of hundred years to get used to the idea of the Eightfold in games and fictions and stories before we contacted them in earnest. The Elders used restraint in planting these ideas. The results were much better then.”

Stinger said, “How idealistic. I think it’s all been discussed before though. Too bad you had to swear loyalty to us and then stab us in the back.”

Lord Regal could feel the last few seconds of his life running out, but how could he win a battle of five versus one with no advance preparation? He addressed the group. “You should let Stinger murder me. That way, if things go badly and you’re all questioned under oath you can testify you took no part in the killing.”

Then he said to Stinger, “It looks like you don’t really want to take responsibility for murdering me all by yourself.”

Then he reached, inside himself and outside, and put all the power he could into the vulgar sorcery. Instantly he felt drained. This was a low mana world, and he had never invested time learning exactly how magic worked here. Vulgar sorcery worked almost everywhere though.

He did not dive under the table, which might have broken the spell along with the air of confidence he had managed to project. Instead he walked around, giving Leo a wide berth without running. Much to his surprise, he made it to the lift and managed to push the call button casually.

After a moment he realized something was wrong. He didn’t hear the machinery bringing the lift to the top of the tower. Nobody could be holding it, this tower was only open to the six Eightfold whom the Harvesters were paying to build the city that would sustain the upgraded portal to Earth.

Stinger told him, “I may have omitted to mention that we reprogrammed the tower not to respond to you.”

While Stinger struggled with the not entirely irrational compulsion Lord Regal had implanted, Leo raised his blaster.

“I am not afraid,” he said.

Chapter 2

Simon blinked. Sometimes he felt like he was being transported to another world when he played Eightfold Invasion, but he wasn’t as crazy or strange as people thought. It wasn’t like a hallucination. He could stop any time he wanted.

He reentered the ordinary world of papers and dice and books. Beside him lay a copy of Generic Universe by Eve Jackman, which laid out the basic rules of the game. The Eightfold Invasion Worldbooks gave more specific details about the multiverse they were playing in, and the diverse species which inhabited it.

He didn’t even like Adam anymore, but the man still managed to transport him to an alternate universe as gamemaster. Simon didn’t know what his magic was, but somehow seeing all the arbitrary decisions had broken it. Oddly though, the fate of Lord Regal was still important to him, as if he had some sort of psychic link to a being in a parallel universe.

“I quit,” he told Adam. “This is cheap. You had NPCs point them in my direction while I was on my own.”

NPCs, or non player characters, were controlled by the Gamemaster.

Simon continued, “You even added specifics to the backround of my character to make it easier for them. I don’t remember anything about my character being publicly involved with any known organizations. You told me outside seers would be blocked from a cusp in history, but there’s no point if you tell the other players exactly where my character was headed just before the ‘cusp’.”

Simon was usually passive, and his own reaction surprised him. Nobody wanted to see their character die, particularly unfairly, but he had never felt so strongly about it before.

There was something strange here. People told strange stories about the game Eightfold Invasion, about it being real in a parallel universe. These stories were as much part of the game as ghost stories were part of camping out, or so he had heard.

Ghost stories or not, Simon really did not want his character to die this way. And there really was something strange about how much the others wanted him to. How much effort had they put into this, and what did they hope to gain? Just to mess with his head? Why him? He had never met any of them before Adam asked him to join the game.

Adam grinned at him obnoxiously. “Don’t be a sore loser. Let’s finish the session.”

Instead Simon turned to Craig. “And that part about Lord Regal getting on everyone’s nerves, was that just you role playing Slidder?”

“Heck no. I mean, maybe the other characters are annoyed by his making a big thing about being called Lord Regal, but you’re much worse. Between your lacking a sense of humor, your obsession with role play, and your weird way of talking and constantly correcting everyone about trivia from the Eightfold universe …”

Simon wondered if he really did all that. He knew he was strange and his social skills weren’t great, but still. He said, “It must have been pretty tough pretending to be my friend.”

Craig ostentatiously leaned away from him. “Well, I didn’t have to do that much. I didn’t hang out with you or anything on days we weren’t playing Eightfold. Just talked to you a little bit.”

“Good for you,” Simon said casually, while shoving the hurt and shame down inside.

Craig looked directly at him, making it clear he was speaking for himself as well as his character. “This was my idea, as was pretending to be friends with you. Don’t you think it was kind of a dick move, stabbing the whole party in the back?”

Simon started to lick his lips, then consciously forced himself to stop. He reminded himself it was only a game and said, “It wasn’t like that. Adam encouraged me to create this character as an interesting challenge for the rest of the party. If I hadn’t he would have given you a different one.”

Adam said, “Don’t try and rub any of the mess off on me. It was your decision to create Lord Regal.”

Simon stared across the table at him, as bewildered as he was hurt by the betrayal. What did Adam have to gain from it? Why even would he find it amusing? Technically there was no lie, it had been his decision, but the possibility had never even occurred to Simon until Adam had pointed it out.

Although Phil played Stinger in Eightfold, he said, “I’m starting to feel a bit funny about this. Nobody likes having their character die, and especially not having them killed by the other players. We don’t need to do this. We’ll turn him in to the Harvesters, and it will earn a lot of credibility for us when they interrogate them.”

Simon wondered if Lord Regal would have a chance to escape. He wouldn’t have chosen this, but it was nice of Phil to give him a break.

Craig said, “Even before Lord Regal’s sabotage, we were behind schedule on the technological portal. Lane the Prophet told us that if we found the saboteur their blood would create a magical link between this world and our target.”

Simon didn’t remember that from any of the Eightfold lore he knew, which was a lot. And Adam had had an NPC tell them to kill him? Not by name of course. He wanted it to look like the players found him all by themselves.

Phil said, “I think Simon is sort of emotionally involved in this, and he’s taking it kind of personally. We don’t need to do this.”

Simon didn’t want to be seen as a strange kid who needed to be babied because he wasn’t right emotionally. He even tried to say something, but couldn’t get his voice to work. He was surprised by the intensity of his reluctance to see Lord Regal die. In the end he remained silent.

Phil said, “Lord Regal, you need not die today. Surrender and let us take you prisoner.”

Somehow he had thought Stinger his enemy, but apparently not. He merely enjoyed the thrill of the hunt.

Before Simon could reply Craig said, “That’s not what we all agreed to.”

Adam turned to Mr. Sharkes. Simon did not think Sharkes had said a word today, but his quick eyes and ears missed nothing. Simon vaguely recalled hearing he was a lawyer, but something about the way he wore his expensive looking suit and gold watch made Simon think of a mobster instead. Under the suit were hard muscles. The little scars on his knuckles and forehead near the hairline testified that they hadn’t all come from working out in the gym.

It had always felt completely natural for Simon to call him Mr. Sharkes while the lawyer called him Simon. Everyone else did the same, even Adam. Simon often wondered why he really played Eightfold Invasion. He claimed it was to relax.

Now Adam said, “If you want to see what we discussed before, the group needs to go ahead with the original plan.”

What the heck was Adam talking about? More importantly …

Simon said, “You should at least let the players make their own decision.”

Adam sneered back, “You begged me to let you play this game, and now you can’t take the heat.”

Simon blinked, as much at the apparent pointlessness of the lie as at it’s meanness. He replied, “I seem to recall you talking me into it. I didn’t want to come because I would have to take two buses since we meet on Sunday.”

Bob who played Leo seemed uncertain. “Before it sounded like Simon was champing at the bit to prove he was smarter than us, but now –”

Mr. Sharkes interrupted so smoothly it almost sounded like he hadn’t. “I think everyone here has made up their minds except Phil, and he doesn’t have to shoot if he doesn’t want to. Or Bob, did you want to say something?”

Bob wasn’t too articulate at the best of times, and nobody was at their best when being stared at by Sharkes. “Not really, I guess.”

Craig said directly to Adam, “I’m doing this. Can I roll to hit?”

Without a word Simon picked up his character sheet and his other papers and stood up and turned to go.

Behind him he heard Adam say, “Walking out in the middle of the game would be very rude. Don’t worry, you can leave in a few minutes. Anyway, you should give me your character sheet. He’s dead, so you can’t play him again.”

Simon thought of saying he could do whatever he wanted with another Gamemaster and group, but then thought of a better rejoinder. “You kind of talked me into playing this character, and I think you may have hinted a bit to the other players. I think this death is kind of cheap anyway, so I’ll see. I wonder if it really counts if you kill an NPC you call Lord Regal while I’m not here?”

Simon was surprised how relieved the decision to leave before his character actually died made him feel. Given the other things Adam had done, would it even count if he wasn’t here, and the Gamemaster tried to play his character as an NPC?

Then he left the room before anyone could say another word.