“What classes do you all have? I could look, but that upsets you, Hildi,” Jake said.

“Jake wants to know what classes you all have?” said Hildi.

There was some muttering and everybody looked around kind of shame-faced. Finally, Billy said, “I can’t get a class. I’m too young. But I’m going to be a mage when I am old enough.”

Hildi shot him a glare but didn’t say anything.

Finally, Will spoke up and said, “Well, I guess none of us have selected a class yet. We talked about it, then we got busy getting ready for the move here, then there was getting everybody else ready to move here and, well, we wound up talking about it a lot. We never made a decision.”

“Is that right?” asked Hildi, looking around at the people in the group who all nodded their heads.

“Well, imagine that,” she said. She followed it up with a sub-vocalized, “Did I get that right? Jake.”

Jake laughed at her copying his phrasing. But he had to admit he thought his folks and family were dumbasses too.

“New rules. Everyone in this room must have a class before sleeping tonight,” Jake said.

“He wants you all to select at least one class by tonight,” Hildi said. “And I agree. My stats shot through the roof once I had a class selected. Plus my health, Qi and mana all almost quadrupled. Think about it. You could almost take four times the damage.”

“What do you mean about health,” asked Rex.

“And damage,” asked Sammy.

“Don’t start Billy!” she said. “Billy here is a little encyclopedia. He’ll answer all your questions later, Ok? We need to figure out what we are going to do with all those people upstairs. And we don’t have much time.”

“One of the classes that I was offered was Clan Leader,” Fern said. “Is that a good class?”

“Jake? Billy?” asked Hildi.

“In the stories, I guess the Clan Leader was called the Patriarch. Which I’m assuming you didn’t get offered because, well…” and then Billy started looking around nervously.

“It’s Ok, Billy,” Fern said. “I’ve been a girl or a woman all my life. I’ve accepted it.”

“Because you’re a female,” he said. “But usually in the stories, a Clan Leader is pretty badass. He or she is usually high enough level that they can take care of the clan. Like a deterrent. Because they’re so bad, nobody wants to mess with them. In addition, they set policy for the whole clan along with a group of people called the Clan Elders.”

“Is a clan all related by blood?” asked Sammy.

“Well, usually, but not always,” Billy continued. Generally, when a clan gets too big and has too many members who aren’t related by blood, they are called a ‘sect’.”

“But I’d say that’s most likely a pretty powerful class. Usually, things that say ‘Leader’ in them are an evolution of a base class.”

“Base class?” asked Rex.

“Well, for instance, fighter to knight. Fighters are the base class, knights are a step up. Knights get more and different bonuses to their stats. They also might get special abilities, like riding or the ability to draw aggro.”

“Aggro?” asked Rex again.

“Hang on,” said Hildi. “Let Jake have a shot at it.”

“I don’t know for sure, but I expect she’d get some bonuses to Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and, maybe Strength or Perception,” Jake said. “Also, she might get the ability to make speeches, like she needs that, or, if diplomacy is a skill, maybe she’ll get that as well. I don’t know for sure. But it sounds like a powerful class.”

“He says it’ll make her wiser and smarter. She also might get some Strength or Perception out of it. It sounds like your Oration ability might take a leap too.”

“Ok,” said Fern. “I’m taking it.”

“Oh Lord,” Jake muttered. “I’ve got four of them in my life.”

“I can hear you, Jake! We’ll talk about this later!” Hildi said. She looked up and the family was all looking toward her.

**2/14

“Sorry,” she said. “I was talking with his pink majesty over there. Anyway, talk to Billy, talk to me, whatever you need to do, but get your classes assigned by tonight. There’s also a multiclass option. Think about that too.”

Rex started to ask a question and she said, “Hold that thought. Jake and Will and everybody else that brought it up is right too. We have a more important problem to solve. What are we going to do about the people upstairs?”

There was a silence then as everybody started to consider the question.

Finally, Fern spoke up, “We’ve talked about it a little, I guess we could form a clan.”

“How?” said Hildi. “What makes them want to join your clan?”

“They get to live in Max’s and we provide food,” she said.

“So you're going to kick them out if they aren’t in the clan? Let them starve?” she asked.

“Well, obviously not. Maybe we construct a village and let them live there. Add some benefits, like food, maybe not great food, but food anyway, so they don’t starve.”

“So welfare then? Food stamps? Subsidized housing” Hildi asked.

“That’s not fair. The apocalypse just happened,” Fern said. “People need a chance to get their feet back under them. Not everybody discovers a dungeon and has a place set up for them.”

“I know,” said Hildi. “I was trying to say what I figured they’d say. People used to love to hate on the government until they needed a cop ‘cause their house got burglarized or a tornado happened and they needed their home county to be declared a disaster. Then they hated on the government for not doing its job fast enough.”

“Wow,” said Jake. “Who are you?” he said admiringly.

“Yeah,” Hildi said subvocalizing. “I’m channeling my inner dad. One thing about long D&D games is that it gave him a lot of chances to table talk and that, for him, meant politics.”

“Fox or CNN?” Jake asked.

“Please! Fox!” she said. “I think my dad was right when he called them ‘the billionaire’s propaganda network’? Pbbt! I wouldn’t trust them to tell me my hair was on fire. Although CNN, according to him, was a ‘bunch of fucking liberal apologists. Fucking say it and stand behind it!' he used to shout. But, the difference between the two is, according to him, ‘CNN would at least retract something when they got it wrong. Fox just doubled down.’ Used to drive him crazy! Adopting a dad voice, ‘Fox is like stepping in shit. Just when you think you’ve gotten it all off, you discover more’.”

She seemed to hold her breath for a second and wiped a few tears away before releasing it. “I miss him. I miss him and my mom and sister. God, I hope they are doing alright. Anyway, my mom and little brother and I would just have to kind of wait him out.” She stared down at her hands for a minute, then looked up.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter anymore,” she continued. “Culture wars, religion, the deficit, inflation, the welfare state, nuclear bombs, paying bills, all that crap that we thought was so important, it’s all gone now. Along with most of humanity. I wonder how the Chinese are doing? The North Koreans? Iran?”

“Wow,” said Jake. “Downer. Are you really 18?”

“Sorry. Like I said, D&D gives a lot of chances for dad’s to talk!” she said.

“Well,” said Fern after waiting for Hildi to continue and deciding she was done. “I think that if they want to live in Max’s, they need to join. If they don’t join, they need to move out. We’ll try to provide a place for them outside, maybe make some walls and provide some food.”

“Ok,” said Hildi. “What do they get if they join?”

“How about the ability to talk to Jake and Baxter?” Fern said.

“No,” said Jake. “I don’t want to have everyone talking to me. I’ve already got two voices in my head, I don’t need hundreds.”

“Jake says no,” said Hildi.

“So what do we offer?” Fern asked, looking around the room. “And how do we know when they’ve joined? How do we know this person is safe, this one not?”

“Dungeon bonds,” Jake said.

“Dungeon bonds,” Hildi repeated.

“He didn’t want to make one with me, now he wants to make one with everyone else?” asked Fern, kind of upset.

“No, mom, that’s...” Jake began.

Hildi interrupted him. “That’s not fair. He didn’t want to allow you to become a slave. If you come up with something that is more equal, he’ll do it. He wants to be able to talk to his family. He needs it, I think. Maybe one of the reasons past dungeons went all stabby-stabby was because they didn’t have people to talk to, to see as equals.”

“Well, maybe not equals,” Jake said.

“Not the time, dungeon boy,” she said. “Adults are talking.”

“Ouch!” said Rex. “That’s gotta burn.” He held up his hand in for a high five and Hildi smacked it.

“Ok,” said Will. “How about different oaths or bonds or whatever they're called? Maybe one that just gets you in, another that gets you more stuff, and finally one that allows you to talk to the dungeon. Well, my son.”

“In what?” asked Jake.

“In?” asked Hildi.

“This,” Will said, gesturing in a circle with his hands. “Whatever it is we’re creating here. Us and whoever join us and them and whoever doesn’t join us.”

“So we’re already making a caste system then,” Hildi said.

“No,” said Will. “Well, maybe. But every society that man’s ever made has had people that say ‘Jump’ and other people that get froggy. It’s the way humans work. Heck to be fair, it’s pretty much that way with animals too.”

“I like it,” said Jake.

“I like it,” said Fern. “I get to talk to my boy and help people.”

“That might be the reason that you were offered the class then,” Billy said. “It seems like you should take it.”

“Although, I’m not sure about the deterrent thing. I don’t want my wife fighting or dodging assassins,” Will said.

“It was only what I read in novels,” said Billy. “Who knows if the world works that way. But given my sister’s encounters with Wade’s group, I don’t really think we’re going to have a choice about fighting. We either fight or become slaves. They may not call it that, but when you’ve got no choice but to do something someone else tells you to do, that’s pretty much a slave. And given the things that they were saying to my sister, the list of things they’ll tell you to do is pretty broad.”

“Son, you continually surprise me. And in good ways. Keep it up,” said Will.

“As far as all this talk about politics goes,” he continued, ‘it’s all bullshit. I say that because like the boy said, we’ve got no choice but to stand against outlaws and slavers. We need to set up something fair that will keep people safe. From what I can tell from history, it doesn’t matter what rules you set up, it just matters that they apply equally. It’s when people start nibbling on the rules, trying to get them to not apply to either them or theirs that things go to shit.”

“So what do we do?” asked Jake.

“So, what do we do?” asked Hildi.

“I guess we need to design the oaths,” Fern said.

Will said, “What’s the boy scout oath?” He was looking at his son Rex when he asked the question.

Rex replied, “On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

“And here’s my armed services oath,” said Will, ‘I, William Roth Silvestre, do solemnly affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

“Is that enough to start with? Or do we need to bring in the Girl Scouts too?” Will asked.

He looked at Sammy who said, “On my honor, I will try to serve God and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout Law.”

“All three of those oaths refer to something outside the oath,” Billy said.

“Yep,” said Hildi. “I think we should just keep it all in one oath, keep it simple and keep it local, no need to refer to a country or every God. Both seem to have disappeared. Bobs not included.”

“How about this,” said Dato. “I will try to serve my sect, to help the members of the sect at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

“I’m sick of trying,” said Will. “It’s too weak. It allows for failure. It practically is built into the word.”

“There is no try. There is only do,” Rex said, in his best Yoda voice.

“Then how about this one,” Dato responded. “I will serve my sect, help the members of the sect, keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. I will not act against the interests of my sect or any member of my sect. I will complete the tasks I am assigned by the leaders of my sect.”

They all looked around and no one had any objections and it seemed as if nobody could think of anything that really made them want to change it.

Jake said, “What about me?”

Hildi said, “What about Jake?”

“He’d take the same oath.” Will responded.

“What about that physically strong bit? How can a dungeon swear to be ‘physically strong’,” Hildi said. “It’s not like a dungeon can do push-ups.”

“Well, what about this one then,” Sammy said. “I will serve my sect. I will help its members. I will keep myself strong, keep myself mentally awake, be always prepared, be trustworthy, be loyal, be friendly, be courteous, be kind, and be clean. I will not act against the interests of my sect, nor any member of my sect. I will complete the tasks which I have been given and which I have accepted.”

“You left off any leadership in that one?” pointed out Dato.

“Yep,” said Sammy, “I did. Who’s going to lead? Who's going to be the leader?”

“Mom,” said Dato.

“By herself? She’s just going to lead us?” said Sammy. “I mean, I love mom, but nobody else probably does. I have to obey her, because, well, she’s my mom. What about old man Withers? I don’t see him being happy with that.”

Jake thought that it was interesting that both Baxter and Sammy had pointed to Wither’s in a kind of negative way.

Billy said, “Clean?”

“Yeah,” said Sammy. “The people around here stink. No two ways about it, they smell. I figure we need to nip that in the bud! Especially now that we have showers that work. And toilets. I’m all for making people not be smelly! And if we want to have clean refer to brushing their teeth, littering, spitting, farting, pooping, peeing, I’m Ok with that too. We’ve got toilets now. I’m tired of seeing men pee against the nearest damn tree! I’m tired of squatting behind a bush too.”

Everyone started laughing. Sammy had always been a neat freak. Her dad and Jake had echoed this to a lesser extent, but Sammy was clear that everything had a place and everything belonged in its place.

“What benefits do they get besides staying in Max’s? And food?” asked Bernie who’d been quiet all this time. She was not usually this quiet. The apocalypse, having to kill and then eat monsters, never feeling safe, had done something to her. She used to be bubbly, the life of the party, now she held Dobbie in her lap constantly and kept her crossbow next to her at all times.

“They get a group to belong too,” said Fern. “I don’t know if these folks have realized just how limited our society is right now. Remember that notice about the “Mandate.” According to it, the USA does not exist anymore. Neither do cops, judges, government handouts, taxes, even the law is gone.” She looked around.

“We are trying to save them and us. We want to get us all back on track. I don’t like living in a place where someone stronger than my girls can take and use them with no consequences. That’s what I want to bring back, responsibility. And consequences.”

“Ok, then this one,” Sammy said. “I will keep myself strong, keep myself mentally awake, be always prepared, be trustworthy, be loyal, be friendly, be courteous, be kind, and be clean. I will act responsibly, not against the interests of my sect, nor any member of it. I will accomplish the tasks which I have been given and which I have accepted.”

They all looked around. Trying to figure out if there was something else they should add or remove. After a bit, Will spoke up and said, “Ok, I’m assuming that the last draft is Ok with everyone. What about the other ones? The family and the Sect Leader one?”

“Wait! We need to make the sect more prominent. Right now it’s barely mentioned,” said Bernie again. Everybody was a little surprised at this. They’d grown a used to the quieter Bernie that she’d become. Everyone was pleased though to see her more assertive self coming out.

“Ok,” said Sammy. “I pledge to the sect: I will keep myself strong, keep myself mentally awake, be always prepared, be trustworthy, be loyal, be friendly, be courteous, be kind, and be clean. I will act responsibly, not against the interests of my sect, nor any member of it. I will accomplish the tasks which I have been given and which I have accepted.”

“We good with that one then?” asked Will. Looking around he got a bunch of head shakes and no one seemed to have any changes to the vow to offer.

“Ok, we’ll go with that one. As to leadership, the ‘Oath of Office’ for the president is pretty simple,” said Will. “It goes ‘I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States’.

He looked around and everybody was gazing at him in surprise. “What? I had to memorize it in boot camp. A punishment. They also made me memorize the Chinese one and the Russian one too.”

“Do we want to know?” asked Fern.

“Less simple, more words, but basically the same. More emphasis on responsibility to the people, less on the Constitution,” he said.

“Maybe we should have a Constitution then?” said Fern.

“Yea, look how much that was getting us,” said Will. “Everybody doing what they knew was wrong and saying ‘the Constitution allows it’. I figure the US had probably ten to fifty more years before it collapsed.”

“What?” said Rex. “How the hell do you figure that?”

“Same reason Rome fell. The rich got busy looting the country and the working-class folks didn’t care enough to stop them,” Will continued. “And then somebody hungry would move in and take over.”

“That’s pretty dark, dad,” continued Rex.

“Yeah,” said Hildi. “You and my dad would really get along.”

“Sounds like a smart man!” Will said.

“Ok, enough of the politics, especially old politics,” said Fern. “I don’t care. It doesn’t matter anymore. What I want is to help people and talk to my son. This isn’t accomplishing that.”

“How about this for the family bond,” she said. “As I stand in the presence of family, I reaffirm the bonds that bind us together. I will support my family in their endeavors. I will never betray my family to another. I will love and cherish them.”

“What happens when the family grows?” asked Jake. “And are we getting married here? I’m not sure I want a thousand people able to talk to me.”

“Jake wants to know what happens to the oath when the family grows? Is this oath going to work for a thousand people? Also, he doesn’t want to have to talk to a thousand people.”

“Why not,” said Fern aggressively. “I think it sounds fine!”

“It's a little hippy-dippy,” said Jake. “And it doesn’t really lay out what they get and what I get. I would take this oath in a second for the people in his room, but for some cousin, I’ve never met who runs a dog track in Mendocino, not so much.”

“Ok, this is really growing old,” said Hildi. “I hope we finish this soon because I’m tired of being the font of the dungeon boy. He says it doesn’t lay enough of the ‘what they get’ and ‘what I get’ out on the table. Then he rambled on about some cousin in Mendocino.

“Cousin Danny!” the whole family said at once.

“You mean there is a cousin who owns a dog track?” Hildi asked.

“Yep,” Will said. “Fern’s first cousin. He started a dog track, then couldn’t bear to put down the old greyhounds and started a greyhound adoption facility and now he probably makes more money from that than the track. I wonder how he’s doing?”

Somewhere in Mendocino, a short, pudgy man, surrounded by big, fierce-looking dogs, scratched his nose.

“Anyway, since you don’t like mine,” said Fern, “what would you suggest, Jake.”

“Let me think for a minute,” Jake said. “If any of you have an idea, spill. I’m open.”

Jake tried to think about family. What it meant, what belonging to one meant. He also tried to think about what it was that he wanted. He was a stone in a hole in the ground. Thank god for his new interest in basically everything because otherwise, he’d be so bored that he’d, well anyway, so bored. So list:

I want to talk to my family I want to be able not to talk to my family I want to help them I want to be able to not help them I want to keep them safe I want them to grow

“How about this. It's the same thing, just simpler: ‘I support my family. I will help the members of it. I will help them grow. I will repay the help I have received with my future actions. I will never betray my family’,” Jake said.

“Time’s wasting, people. We need to figure it out!” said Will.

Hildi said, “Jake just came up with something. Here goes, “I support my family. I will help the members of it. I will help them grow. I will repay the help I have received with my future actions. I will never betray my family.”

“But it doesn’t mention love,” said Fern immediately.

“Do any of you really love Cousin Danny?” Jake asked.

“Cousin Danny,” Hildi said.

“Ok, I admit he’s a bit of a stretch. But what about the rest of us?” Fern asked.

“I’m thinking about the future. All the Cousin Dannys that will be involved. All the people that you are kind of bound to, but may not want to be. That’s all I’m saying,” said Jake.

“Many Cousin Danny’s,” said Hildi.

“Can we change our oaths in the future?” asked Bernie.

Hildi and Billy both got that absent look that people browsing their interface got. The cell phone stare. “Yes,” they both said at once.

Billy grinned, said “Jinx” and then shut up.

Hildi smiled and said, “According to the help files on Bonds, bonds may be renegotiated if all the parties bound agree to it.”

Jake silently ground his metaphysical teeth yet again. ‘Help files!’ he thought.

“Alright, if that vow gets me able to talk to my son, I’ll say it,” Fern said.

“Anybody else,” asked Will after a short silence.

“How long do Bond’s last?” asked Bernie.

“Good question,” said Hildi. “There are greater bonds and lesser bonds. Greater are permanent and can’t be renegotiated. Lesser can be renegotiated and can have a time frameset, but don’t necessarily have too. That’s the only difference I think. I’m not clear though on that last part.”

Billy's eyes went dim as he started reading more of his help files.

“So we could let this family bond expire after a year? I mean, if we wanted to?” Bernie asked.

“Yes,” said Hildi.

Bernie looked at Rex, there were some subtle eye movements on both sides, maybe a lift of the shoulder on his part, a glance at Dobbie on hers.

“Ok,” she said. “I was just curious.”

“Oh,” said Hildi. “Kids can’t take bonds. Evidently they can take vows before the heavens, but they can’t do bonds.”

Billy who’d just finished becoming aware of the group again, nodded his head, slowly and regretfully.

“Damn,” said Jake.

“Watch it dungeon boy!” said Hildi.

“Just a thought here,” said Rex. “I mean does the ‘help’ in Jake’s vow that we’re supposed to pay back include stuff like the food, clothing, and caring we give our kids. Do our kids start out with a debt to the family?”

Will smiled broadly and started to say something, before Fern held up her hand, palm out. “Hush, you!” she told him.

“No,” she said. “I don’t think so. They can only take a bond when they are adults. I say they start with a fresh slate. They can either become members of the family with all the rights and responsibilities that entails, or they can not. Actually, I’m thinking that we may want to institute a tradition like ‘Rumspringa.’ It’s hard to tell what you are joining if you don’t see the alternatives. ”

She looked around and saw the puzzled faces. “Amish tradition. They go out and wander the world for 2-3 years and then decide if they want to come back and be Amish. I’m thinking you could be family and not take the bond. Maybe you have another one that’s more important. That tradition might be good for us too.” She glanced briefly at Sammy and Dato before her eyes moved on.

The two girls looked at each other and shrugged, used to their mother’s whims of steel.

“What’s the downside?” Rex asked. “What happens if we break the bond?”

“In my case, I lose one stamina point per day until death or the violation is repaired,” Hildi said.

“What the heck does that do to you,” said Rex.

“Well,” she said. “I don’t know for sure, but I suspect I’d lose the ability to move and eventually something would come along and eat me. In my case though, I’d have 277 days to fix it before that happened. More as I get higher level.”

“And you agreed to this?” he asked.

“I don’t plan on ever breaking the bond. Jake and I, we’re a pair now. Well, Jake, Baxter and I,” Hildi said.

“Love you!” said Baxter.

“Wow!” Rex said. “I just said ‘I do’. I always knew there was a divorce possible.” He then ducked as Bernie took a swing at him.

“If you …” she began.

Rex held up his hands and said, “Hang on honey. I love you and I don’t want to ever leave you. I will never leave you. We Silvestre’s are one-woman men. I am my father’s son, but hell, most of my friends are married and already two of them got divorced. I am just twenty-one. This is some hardcore shit we're dealing with here.”

“How do you get right?” Dato asked Hildi. “I mean if you ever got wrong of your bond? Do you talk to Jake? Is there something else that judges us?”

“I don’t know,” said Hildi. “I had other things on my mind at the time and I haven’t worried about it since.”

“Well maybe we should,” said Dato. “Who judges? Is it by action? Or thought? Because I could see somebody like Cousin Danny running afoul of this bond. Not on purpose, but from the stories I heard, he’s not so big on the paying back part of family.”

“Once again, I say, time people, time!” Will said.

Billy spoke up then, “Evidently you have to complete a quest assigned by the System or Bobs, I guess. The stamina or mana drain stops until you complete it. If you quit working on the quest, the drain starts back up. The System or the Bobs tell you when you're done.” He paused for a second. “Quests! SO COOL!”

“Oh, I guess they also are the bond keepers. They’ll let you know when you are coming close to breaking the bond and when you have broken it,” Billy continued.

Sammy asked, “They have time for all that?”

“Evidently,” he said. “Who knows, maybe they delegate.”

“I tell you that makes me feel better about these vows or bonds or whatever they are,” said Will. “I don’t like trying. I’ve said that. The fact that there’s now something out there that says, ‘Yeah, you could do better, do better or else', makes me a little happier. I’m for the Jake vow now.”

“I don’t care,” said Fern. “I want to speak to my son. I vote for it.”

Jake said, “Well, I wrote it so I guess I’m for it too. The idea of being on the phone all the time with my mother isn’t great, but I’m Ok with it.”

Hildi laughed and then just shook her head when the others looked at her. “Jake says, he’s fine with it.”

Will looked around and asked, “Is anyone here opposed to the oath, bond, whatever?”

There were some thoughtful looks, but nobody said anything.

“OK then,” he said. “How do we do this?” Of course, right then a blue screen showed up.

Soul Bond (Equality - Greater)

A family wishes to enter into a soul bond willingly with the dungeon, Jake Sylvestre.

They have agreed to the following bond:

I support my family. I will help the members of it. I will help them grow. I will repay the help I have received with my future actions. I will never betray my family.

Benefits:

Beings can communicate with each other at a distance Beings can communicate with each other’s servants or companions All promises made in the bond will become enforced and regulated. This bond is irrevocable and unchangeable.

At higher levels of bonding, additional benefits may accrue.

Penalties

Bondees in violation of the bond will lose one mana point or stamina point per day until death or the violation is repaired.

Agree to be bound

Deny bond

They made their choices.

There was a pause then as if a small fraction of a very large being looked in on the small room and then, surprisingly nothing. Hildi wasn’t sure what she’d expected but despite having done this once before, given the light show she’d heard about from when Billy’s group took their oath, she was a little bit disappointed.

“Huh?” she said.

“Jake,” said his mother. “Can you hear me?”

“I could always hear you, mom. You just couldn’t hear me,” said Jake.

“Oh thank god,” Hildi said. “I don’t have to be his loudspeaker anymore.”

“Bro,” said Rex.

“Yeah, man. I’m here,” said Jake.

“I know,” he said. “I can kind of feel you. Like mom and dad, Hildi, Sammy, Dato, wait. Why don’t I feel you Bernie?”

She looked down at the ground and then looked up at him, at the rest of his family. “I don’t know why, but I panicked. I saw the word ‘Greater’ and thought this is weird, this is forever, ever. And Jake is some pink stone, and something like a god is going to be watching over what I say, what I do. I couldn’t deal. I said no.” And with that, she stood up with Dobbie and ran out of the room.

“Bernie,” Rex yelled. “Bernie.” He stood up and his mom said, “Let her be!”

“But mom, she’s my wife,” Rex said. Will had also stood up and he grabbed Rex in a hug.

“She’ll either decide to do it or not. It won’t make a difference to us, will it?” Fern said as she looked around. Everyone nodded in support.

“Give her space and let her figure out what’s going on with her. She’ll talk to you when she’s ready. Don’t reject her when she comes to you. Let her talk,” Fern said.

“But...,” he began

“I can see her Rex. She’s fine. She stopped at the second landing and is sitting on the bench and crying, but she’s stopped running. Nobody or nothing is anywhere near her. I can tell you that,” Jake said.

“You’re really alive,” said his mother. “Your voice sounds the same. You’re really here.”

“Yes, mom,” Jake said. It was hard for him in one sense because he really loved his mom. At least he remembered loving her, but the intensity, the focus that his warm, fleshy, human body had given that love was mainly gone. He felt a curiously cold almost approximation, and yet, he did. He loved his mother.

“Thank god,” he said. He was worried that somehow he’d been changed too much. That he’d no longer be able to relate to what his human memories said was one of the most important people in his life.

“What baby?” said his mom.

“It’s nothing. Nothing, mom. I’m happy that you’re here.” And he was. Just not as happy he probably would have been before his change. Or maybe as happy in a different way.

“Along with your words, I can feel, well, what you're feeling,” she said. “It’s cool, almost like a stone that whispers. Don’t worry. You are different now. But not so different that I can’t recognize my son. Your mind still is yours. I recognize you. You are my son. Don’t you ever, ever forget that. I will be your mother forever.”

“Mom,” he said. In the old days, he might have said more words, but the current him was fine. He’d learned in silence, been alone mostly for two weeks in the hole that he had created around himself. He no longer needed the bright almost frenetic actions of the humans around him. He had grown accustomed to the dark, the lack of motion, the self-created rhythms of his latest efforts, but now that he was connected to so many of those bright sparks, he felt, well, complete. More than he was before, more than a stone, but different than a human.

“Mom,” he repeated. It was an affirmation of what he was, of the bonds he’d formed in what had been a different life. A life that he had seemed to be growing away from, losing the meaning of the actions, the relationships, the people, like the words on a page when the reader loses focus.

“Yes, baby,” his mom said. “I am.”

“Jake,” said Will.

“Yeah, dad,” said Jake.

“Just checking. I love you, son,” his dad said, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Everyone except Hildi and Baxter said hello or hi or something just to hear Jake’s voice. To establish a connection with the being that both was and wasn’t their brother. Talked with him for a few moments, anything to establish that their brother still existed. And with each connection, Jake grew more and more connected to his past, the him that was, rather than the stone he was becoming.

Finally, though, Will said, “Ok, time, people. It’s a-wasting. We still need a plan. We’ve got a bond for the people to join. We’ve got a family bond. Do we still need a third one?”

“What was it again?” asked Dato.

“The leadership one,” answered Will.

“What does that do for us again?” she continued.

“It would help prevent abuses of power,” said Will. “Maybe tell us who those people are.”

“I don’t know that we need it,” she answered. “Isn’t that all contained within the original one, ‘I pledge to the sect: I will keep myself strong, keep myself mentally awake, be always prepared, be trustworthy, be loyal, be friendly, be courteous, be kind, and be clean. I will act responsibly, not against the interests of my sect, nor any member of it. I will accomplish the tasks which I have been given and which I have accepted’.”

“Isn’t leadership a task? Something given?” she asked.

“Depends on the person,” said Will. “Pretty sure our last Pre… nope, not going there. A lot of people regard it as a privilege or something they have by some sort of right. I’m really Ok with the idea that leadership is a task, something that you are given to do and will be held accountable for.”

“Ok,” said Jake. “Just so we’re clear. Here’s what they get for joining. A group to belong to, food and a safe place to sleep. If they don’t join, then they’ll eventually have to move out of Max’s, but still get food. At least until we get some kind of economy going.”

“I guess,” said Dato.

“How long are we going to feed them?” he asked.

Fern said, “If it’s a lone child they will get fed, clothed, and educated (whatever that means) until they are thirteen and make their choice. Hopefully, they’ll be loved too, but at least those three. Then they can either stay with the sect or move on to other opportunities. Every child will get educated. After that, they can join the sect or not. Whatever they want to do. If they’re shocked, they’ll get fed, clothed and cared for until, well, they die. Jake, I need you to look at them. We can’t be having a significant portion of our population broken. We need to get them fixed. If they’re an adult, they have thirty days to figure out a way to make themselves a productive member of our new society. Everybody works.”

“And what happens then?” asked Will. “We going to kick them out?”

Jake started thinking about his mana stone idea again. “I might have an idea. Let me work on it,” he said.

“Harsh times, harsh truths,” said Fern. “I don’t know what we’ll do, but something will need to be done.”

“And by done, who’s going to be the doing?” asked Will, looking around.

“We will, honey,” she said. “We will figure it out together.”