Serenity hesitantly reached out to the phone. He tapped the button and felt the same dizzying amount of information wash over him. This time, the phone didn’t fall out of his hand, since it was on the table.

He sat there trying to figure out how to deal with the input. It wasn’t like anything he’d ever experienced; the connection to Nat’s camera that he’d assumed was due to the neural interface was nothing like this. That had been the way he’d expected the interface to work, with human-readable data available and the rest hidden, but this was everything.

It had worked the way he’d expected. If this were magic, he’d have said that meant it followed his Intent. Maybe that time was magic and this was a technological attempt to do the same thing?

He did have the Technology Affinity and he hadn’t gotten around to figuring out what it was.

Another item for the list. While he was at it, he should add working on his other Affinities, as well; some had changed enough that he needed to work with them and see how far he could push them. Using Affinities in unexpected ways was one of the ways he’d always succeeded, after all.

He thought he said something about it so that Rissa could add it to the list, but if she replied it was lost in the noise.

Serenity needed to call his boss - Thomas’s boss. She really wasn’t his boss anymore. He felt like he should resign, but at the same time he didn’t want to abandon her when she’d clearly gone out on a limb for him to not fire him.

And yet was it abandoning her? He was simply moving to a larger stage, where he would affect more people. Saving the world wasn’t just words; it was reality.

Bah. He was just putting it off because he didn’t want to call. Serenity concentrated on his vision and moving his hand, sweeping it across the screen, then flipping to the Phone app and the Contacts section. It seemed like the connection wasn’t broken as long as he kept his hand close enough.

It felt like moving something else, not a part of his own body. The feedback he normally depended on to move correctly was swamped by the phone and all he could depend on was his sight to let him know if he’d hit the correct spot. It was harder than it seemed like it should be.

Serenity initiated the call and pulled his hand away. While the phone rang, he was relieved to once again find himself only feeling the familiar sensations of his own body. The phone wasn’t unpleasant; it was simply completely different and unexpected. It didn’t help that he still didn’t understand what he was feeling from it.

“Rissa? Is that you? How’s Thomas?” Karen’s question told him that he definitely should have called sooner.

“I’m fine. Just - I don’t think I’ll be able to come back to work.” Serenity felt bad about that. He’d enjoyed the work; they gave him the freedom he needed to decide what needed to be done and the budget and team to be able to do it. It was an enviable position, but not one he could really go back to.

Even if his vision weren’t shot in his chimera shape - the only shape that was publicly his, and even if he got his Technology Affinity and neural interface working, it was no longer the right job for him. That was certain.

“I expected that; still, take all the time you need. You would not believe how overjoyed the CEO was when he found out we actually have Serenity on the payroll.” Even over the phone, Serenity could hear Karen’s grin.

“You arranged for him to find out, didn’t you?” That was absolutely something Karen would do. She’d consider it a win-win; good for the company and also keeping him employed. Serenity wasn’t as certain he needed it, but at the same time it was best not to burn any bridges.

“Maaaaybe.”

That was a yes.

Bright Future’s CEO wasn’t known for his generosity. “Why does he care?”

“Because I can say Serenity and everyone knows who that is. Everyone. I’m sure he’ll want to ask you to do something, but I don’t know what. If he does, remember that you’re on unpaid leave, not paid. There’s no obligation.” That was Karen, always looking out for her people, even when the threat was her own superiors.

He might have felt differently about it if money were an immediate concern, but it wasn’t; he had his savings and Karen knew Rissa had money; she’d been supporting him since he returned, but all of his things should still be accessible from his own computer and accounts.

Serenity’s thoughts skipped back to the list. He hadn’t yet made it to Thomas’s apartment. It probably wasn’t too big a problem, but at least he should go make sure there wasn’t an issue there. More than that, though, he needed to make sure that he could still access his own savings. He no longer looked like his driver’s license or any other ID he had. It was fortunate that he had everything set up for online access.

“Thomas?” Karen’s voice prompted him. He must have been silent for too long.

“Yeah, I was thinking about everything I need to deal with. I - well, thanks for trying to set things up for me.”

Karen laughed. Serenity wasn’t sure why; he hadn’t said anything funny. “No problem. It was simple enough. Hey, do you have a minute for Blake? He’s been having trouble with one of the server clusters, and I think it’s one of the ones you configured.”

Serenity sighed. He had a good idea which one it was. “Remind him that he has to reboot Asimov before Clarke. He’s always reversing those two; they’re in alphabetical order. The others are too, but he usually gets them right.”

“I’ll tell him. Don’t be a stranger!”

Serenity started to say “You too,” but Karen had already hung up.

That was either very good or very bad, and Serenity wasn’t sure which.

“What do you mean we’re leaving tomorrow? Your father is planning to head out and hunt something he knows is a trap. I’m supposed to be his backup; I can’t just abandon him!” Serenity stared at Rissa over the remains of dinner. He knew he’d told her what they discovered; wasn’t it obvious he needed to be here?

“Dad can take care of himself; Jacob can’t.” Rissa wasn’t looking at Serenity. “You don’t know him, but that’s because he tries so hard to be independent. He hasn’t visited in years, since he can’t afford the ticket and he doesn’t want to accept my money to pay for it. He wouldn’t have called if he wasn’t in trouble and sinking fast. That’s just not Jacob. As for Dad, didn’t he tell you that he wanted to take out the first few without you, so that whatever was setting the trap wouldn’t know you were there?”

“Yes, but what if something goes wrong and I’m not even here?” Serenity was unhappy enough at being told he couldn’t help deal with the Thassa. Even though he’d told Russ what he knew and Russ had said he knew how to deal with them, Serenity wasn’t confident the others were immune and he hated the idea of leaving them without support.

He also didn’t like having to change the plans he’d just made, even though Rissa had a good point. Change was annoying, and this felt like a second loss, after losing his argument with Russ about being the one to go in first.

Rissa pulled out her phone, set it on the table, and called her father.

“Rissa?” Russ sounded surprised.

Rissa smiled wryly and winked at Serenity. “I’ve arranged our trip. We’ll be leaving tomorrow midmorning; we should get to the Austin area by early afternoon. We can be there as long as we need to be.”

“That’s great! I wasn’t sure how you were going to manage it. I’m worried about Jacob. I assume he hasn’t called again?” Russ sounded happy, then worried.

Maybe there really was something wrong with Jacob; Serenity still didn’t feel right about abandoning Russ. “What about you? I was supposed to be your hidden backup; what if something goes wrong?”

There was a long pause before Russ said anything. “Hadn’t thought about that. I guess you can’t be in two places at once.”

Serenity blinked as it occurred to him that maybe he could with the right SpaceTime spell, but he wasn’t sure how well that would work. Probably not well, and he certainly didn’t have the practice to do it any time soon. It did sound like something to work on for the future. This would probably not be the last time he’d have to choose between things that all needed to be done.

“Go ahead and head towards Jacob; I’ve fought shards before, he’s never -” Russ paused.

“Hearing voices … that’s what my telepathy was like before I learned to shield. I heard everything. He’s never used it or learned to control it; he doesn’t even believe it’s real. As far as I know, he’s never heard voices before. If he really thinks he’s going crazy, he might-” Russ stopped again.

The silence stretched this time, until Serenity finally had to say something. “All right. I’ll go. I’m not sure how much use I can be; are you sure it shouldn’t be you instead?”

“You can shield your own mind, right? Prevent other people from listening to your thoughts without pushing? You’ve been very quiet ever since you came back; even that might be enough.”

Serenity wasn’t deliberately shielding his mind; the “very quiet” was probably the passive protection from his Mind resistance. If anything, it was surprising that Russ heard anything without pushing; Serenity’s Mind resistance was excellent. “Yes, I can, but it takes a spell. I normally depend on my Resistance; it’s usually enough. Sounds like it might not be for you.”

“Not if I wanted to hear,” Russ admitted, “But since I don’t, all I get from you is a feeling that someone’s there, words too soft to make out. Rather like Rissa; you’re both comfortable to be around. Which is why it should work fine for Jacob. For teaching him, you’re right, I’d probably be better if he’d listen to me. I don’t think he will, though, and Rissa knows enough to help. What I really want you to do is figure out why he doesn’t see magic even when it’s in front of him. Phoebe says it’s normal for the men in her family, but it seems more like a curse to me. If you can break it, maybe-” Russ broke off again.

He seemed to have a problem talking about his son.

“What about you?” Serenity had definitely lost now. He actually agreed with Rissa and Russ now that heading to Jacob seemed like the right decision, but that didn’t mean he wanted to abandon Russ.

Russ sounded much happier talking about his plans to deal with the Thassa. “Adrian should be here tomorrow. Red and I will spend tomorrow gathering more supplies. It’s more than I think we’ll need, but still worth it; the following day we’ll head out with Adrian as backup. It’s too bad you won’t meet him; he’s a character.”

Serenity thought he might be better off not meeting someone who was only described as “a character” and “interesting”.

Current To-Do List

Sterath - Tranquil Conviction (Challenge, not a Quest)

Building the dungeon into a home - Raz, Aki; input only

Tutorial Instruction (Quest, 44/180)

Other invaders - need a plan. Two Quests; 15/512.

Promote the Tutorial / popularity - is this still necessary? Ask Nightwitch

Rissa’s pregnant - what the heck do I do about that? Is there stuff I should do for a kid?

Decay creatures - Russ is handling, but needs my help?

Hiring an assistant

Finding the Lost Quest from Althyr - need to talk to Althyr

Probably should talk to Althyr anyway. Done with the Void book?

Dad has people mapping out the invasions they can find. Check with him about that?

Rissa’s brother! What was his name? Remember to ask. Also how to get there?

Echo. What the heck is that Serenity Settlement? She asked me to visit?

Recruiting people. Probably need to talk to Katya again. Can I recruit anyone from the Tutorial? Blaze opened up a lot this past Tutorial, but then again we spent most of the Tutorial together. Not Margrethe

Order’s Guild. Will they be a problem? Have time there

Look into the instructor-mages. Helga was pretty cool (I wonder what her real name is?) but the others were idiots. They ignored Josaiah because of what his Affinities were? He was a terrible healer but a quite competent battle mage, one of the best the students had at the end. Creative. What’s up with that? Or is it just more people like Entherys who don’t know what they’re doing? Is there a way to fix that?

Call my boss

Spend time with Rissa

Flying practice

Put a new group together? Should I plan to do a lot more delving or not? Much as I like delving, maybe I should work on other stuff and leave that to others instead? But I still need a group to help with the invasions, don’t I?

Figure out how to make money to keep this thing going - can it pay for itself or do we need to do something else (e.g. Rissa and the stock market)

Figure out Tek’s neural interface device

New Affnity practice - Technology, SpaceTime, Liminal, Nihility

Figure out the limits of Essence magic. Are there any? How is it different from Arcane magic?