That night, Joey had some new memories of Nessie that could have kept him warm. Almost, he gathered them around himself like a blanket. Almost. But he had to know more about human brains and dreams than Emerald did, and it seemed that elders didn’t normally dream much anyway. Whether they were dreams, visions, memories, or nightmares, Emerald seemed to think they had some relationship to another universe and his old ability to Travel. If so, they needed to meet some elders in this other universe, who might be able to communicate with Emerald’s home universe. You often dreamed about things you thought about just as you were going to sleep. Perhaps this didn’t work that way at all, but he still spent some time thinking about elders as he fell asleep …

He found himself in a rather expensively paneled room with a large rectangular conference table. Oddly, he wasn’t sure if he was Joey or Emerald. The men seated around the conference table were dressed in very nice suits, but one of them hadn’t adjusted the suit collar and tie quite correctly. He could sense that man’s thoughts, though all the other skulls in the room were opaque to him.

Johnny Rhine kind of liked working for Veer Gaming. Sure, you had more prolonged meetings than necessary, just like any other company he had ever worked for.

Veer Gaming had adopted augmented reality glasses during meetings though. No more ancient PowerPoint presentations. You could see three dimensional drawings and drafts moving thoughout the room.

You adjusted your own headset for best visibility. Johnny had turned the polished wooden conference table into ornately engraved gold. It looked so realistic that his hands were always surprised to feel wood rather than engraved gold when he touched the table. Shadow Wars Entertainment used the same headsets Veer did, with full compatibility.

They had come to the headquarters of their parent company, Shadow Wars Entertainment, for an important meeting. Johnny had been informed that the man at the head of the table, the Vice President of Shadow Wars, was an important man. Thus Johnny had turned him into a giant humanoid lizard. His long forked tongue went in and out as he spoke. He was so political he had to be a giant lizard in disguise.

Johnny’s own boss had the head of a giant badger. Nothing against him, he was just a stickler for the tiniest rules sometimes. On the other hand, when there was a real problem Floyd was all over it. Well, there were worse things to be than a human with a human sized badger head. After all, if Floyd badgered Johnny, it was only right for Johnny to badger him back.

Austin the giant lizard turned to Johnny. “So tell us about your plans for the green team.”

He managed not to look too startled at being called back to reality. “So far our biggest revenue source is from the River of Life trivia game.”

He materialized a giant three dimensional set of columns arranged in a circle on the table in front of them. They would still see whatever table they had selected, or the real one if they hadn’t bothered changing the default, but this part of their reality was shared, and it was controlled by him.

The tallest column lit up brightly, and the edges began to sparkle. “As you can see.”

The column grew muscular arms on each of two opposing sides and raised clenched fists towards the ceiling.

Most of the columns didn’t rival the revenue from the Shadow Wars television show, comic books, graphic novels, regular books, computer games (not based on the new VR technology) and tabletop gaming licenses. The trivia game was actually a televised gameshow with commercials and sponsors though, as well as a VR game.

Ignoring a few squares not worth itemizing, Johnny ended with something more like a square chip than a column.

“So far our revenues from Veer Shadow Wars games are quite small, however …”

As he spoke, the chip managed to arch its back, and shuffle out of the circle as if two opposing sides were long feet. When surrounded by clear space, it divided and subdivided into pieces which elongated into another set of columns. Johnny used them to illustrate how rapidly the VR segment of their business had grown, and urged that it was worthy of dramatically increased investment.

Austin the lizard said, “As short as your presentation was, both in time and in detail, you certainly use the technology well.”

Johnny heard the veiled criticism about his presentation being too brief and light on specific facts. He did not address it directly. “It seems that the ultimate decisions are made by the Angels.”

More than half of Shadow Wars Entertainment stock was held by angel investors who did not allow their names to be used publicly. Even Johnny did not know them. Shadow Wars Entertainment held about thirty percent of the stock of Veer Gaming, and the angel investors held another thirty percent directly. Oddly enough, the differences and disagreements between the anonymous owners were sometimes discussed within the company using code names. The eight largest angel investors were actually given nicknames from inside the science fictional mythology that the company used within its’ various products.

Austin said, “That may be so, but some of their decisions are based on our work. Even when they’re not, we get paid and they expect us to do our jobs.”

Johnny flushed.

A voice spoke up from the opposite side of the table. “Perhaps he’s partly right.”

Johnny exhaled in astonishment, because it was John Edwards speaking up for him. John E., as he preferred to be known, was usually Johnny’s nemesis.

John E. continued, “As he alluded to near the end of his ‘presentation’, even though VR gaming and the associated licenses are currently a tiny percentage of our revenue, given the high rate of growth they could be major players in a few more years. The only problem is, the blue team is winning most months, and the Blue Sword Honor faction is winning highest honors more than half of the time. Since Johnny is responsible for weaving together the storylines in various media for the green team, and for helping attract players to those factions, perhaps he could tell us why the lions share of the players have been attracted to the blue factions.”

There were so many truths and lies and half truths mixed up in that. John E. also refused to be called Johnny, said it infantilized him, yet had a sneering way of calling Johnny ‘Johnny.”

While Johnny was still trying to formulate a reply, his boss spoke up. “We discussed this last month. The primary difference is due to a small but enthusiastic group cluster of players and recruiters centered around Mrs. Morganna Leffley and her family.”

John E. said, “We also discussed –”

The badger was persistent. Maybe Johnny hadn’t mistreated him so badly when choosing his image. He cut John off smoothly, “A great many thing’s we’re not going to go over again today. We’re really here for Johnny to show us his plans.”

Now that he was here, Johnny’s presentation seemed flashy and short on substance, but he started it anyway. He was glad so much of it was prerecorded, his personal voice was a bit nervous right now.

A subtly altered version of Johnny’s voice began speaking to them all, deeper and more authoritative that Johnny’s own.

His presentation on the current and future games and minigames for their VR franchise was visually illustrated. A circular portal opened in front of Johnny, about a foot in diameter, with the bottom edge hovering a couple of inches above the top of the tabletop. Two armored knights riding strange six legged beasts ran onto the table and began jousting with each other. The larger one unhorsed or unbeasted his opponent first, then speedily dismounted and followed up with his sword. Even John E. watched the combat.

After a few blows the aggressive knight forced the other one to yield. Then he retrieved his lance, remounted, and charged straight towards Austin. A shame it had chosen him. This particular virtual object had a lot of interactive behavior packed into it, but the staid executive politician was unlikely to explore any of it.

To Johnny’s surprise the self-possessed giant lizard quickly took his silver pen and swiped it sideways as if to strike the lance out of the hands of the charging knight. Fortunately he had had Robby prepare it for this eventuality among others, but he had not made time to see a demonstration. It was a thrill to watch as the lance was twisted out of the tiny knight’s hands, although the pen did pass through the virtual lance first. The tiny knight drew his sword. Quick as a cat, Austin backhanded him off his horse from the shield side. He fell to the table in a metallic clatter, heard of course only through the headphones they all wore attacked to the VR glasses. His mount reared with two legs, while keeping four on the ground. Johnny was awed and grateful for the attention to detail and unexpected interaction put in by his programmer and animator.

Austin’s fist hovered above the prone knight. He said dramatically, “Yield, Sir, and tell me your name!”

Johnny was ashamed to have cast him as a lizard. He was more like a dragon.

“I yield my Lord! My name is Sir Flaxon! I will serve however you command!”

Austin grinned now, but he still wanted details. “So how is this going to work for our customers?”

Johnny said, “The hardware is based on riding simulators used for training, with a little modification for a six legged gait. While wearing glasses, the gamers will see the landscape go by. The lance will be virtual, except for the handle, which will shake and vibrate when it hits an opponent.”

The lizards head nodded solemnly. “Very good, but how many of our franchises have licensed these, and how much are they paying?”

Johnny admitted sheepishly that he didn’t have that information. A moment later he remembered reading somewhere how he should answer that question. “Sir, I don’t have that information now, but I’ll have it sent to your desk within an hour of the end of this meeting.”

It occurred to Johnny that Austin already knew exactly how the venture was going, from better sources than him. He wished he could get rid of the lizard head he’d given Austin so he could better read the expressions on the man’s face.

“Very good,” the lizard’s head told him, the forked tongue flicking in and out as it had been programmed.

Next Johnny spoke about the virtual pets that were being introduced in the next month. They could only be seen while wearing virtual glasses, or perhaps using a few tablet apps that created windows into their world. They could be fed virtual food. They could keep people company in their own homes, but could also serve as helpers and scouts while exploring virtual worlds.

Animals began coming out of the portal Johnny had created over the table. The raven that flew over to Austin was almost as tall as the miniature knight it landed next to, but the latter showed no reaction. They should have thought of that.

All the same, Austin inquired gravely of his new companion, “Nevermore?”

A harsh and gravelly voice replied, “If you say so buddy. I’m not into Poe.”

Again Johnny wished he could see the expression on Austin’s face. Meanwhile though, everyone was approached by some sort of animal they could save and play with later, except for John E. Most of them seemed pleased with their assorted miniature leopards, wolves, and bats. His boss eventually warmed up to his new badger, while Johnny smiled a private smile. John E. seemed to be making an effort not to look as if he felt left out. Good.

And since the new pets involved no new hardware or licenses, he would face no tough questions about them. Also good. Come to think of it, that applied to his third demonstration as well, which was very visually impressive.

On the table appeared a city, either miniaturized or viewed from a great height. Giants walked through it.

Johnny explained, “Up to fifteen green players can join a round. They cooperate to build a city complete with homes, stores, factories, and government buildings. They buy and sell raw materials, and compete to make the highest profit while working together to make the city grow and help defend it.

All except one or two, who are hidden traitors. This is also a social deduction game. Often the traitors will help out, to a point, since they are much more effective if they go undetected. If they succeed they win experience points and other bonuses for themselves and their faction, but also give a small benefit to the blue team overall.”

Austin stared at him intently. Johnny felt that what was being evaluated was not the future plans he had just presented, but Johnny himself.

Austin ended the long moment of silence. “Well, you wouldn’t have been my choice but you were Green River Friend’s. He wants to meet you, and I believe you can do so safely.”

Despite himself Johnny grinned at the use of the name of one of the aliens from the shared world of Shadow Wars Entertainment. He already knew that the names were sometimes used as code names for some of the biggest anonymous angel investors though.