Tunnel Rat

Chapter 398: Hatching Day

The path back was quicker for Hecate, able to take long strides that brought her again to the crossroads of the ancient dwarven city. She was at Milo's side after that, hoping that she was in time to talk with him before he was pushed into a decision that he might regret. To her surprise, he was awake and sitting with a book in his hands, reading to two large ratkin children wearing pink frilly dresses. In front of them, each had a basket filled with nuts, bolts, metal scraps, and a shiny silver egg. They were shifting impatiently, excited, and hardly able to sit still. Around them, in a circle, were a dozen curious ratkin and twice that many dwarven engineers. Everyone in the outer circle was sitting quietly, or talking in hushed whispers.

"Get to the good part!"

"What do we do when they hatch?"

"When can we name them?"

Milo looked up with a stern look in his eye, "If some people had worked harder on their letters, they wouldn't have to wait on poor, slow Tallsqueak who only has one hand to turn pages with."

"Not fair! We had to go Chimera hunting!"

"If 'someone' worked harder on his regeneration, he'd already have his hand back!"

Gendifur stepped in, "Girls, why don't we focus on letting Tallsqueak read. You want to be ready for when they hatch."

Two voices said, "Yes, Momma. Sorry, Momma." Then their eyes turned to Tallsqueak. He turned the page and began reading.

Georgie was sitting next to Milo, a basket in front of him, with two eggs atop a large mound of gleaming metal. Milo scratched behind Georgie's ears with his tail. "You sure you want me to name them?" The lizard barked softly, once. "Got it, but you have to handle all the feedings. When this is over, I think I have to talk to someone and then take a long nap."

That got two barks, and after that, everyone waited. The eggs were rocking back and forth now, something inside waking up. And then they hatched. The shells didn't break apart; they divided along long seams and folded onto the back of the newborn silvery-metal scarabs. The creatures made a beeline for the metal and began chewing the pieces up, bit by bit.

Milo pushed the metal scraps to the first scarab, saying 'Rivets', before doing the same to the second, naming it 'Sprockets.' What to name their scarabs had been a big decision for the girls. Rosie was naming her scarab Poppy, and Buttercup had decided on Daisy. After ten minutes of feeding, all four baby scarabs became quiet and went to sleep. Gendifur took the girls to the wagon, hoping that she could get them down for afternoon naps. Despite their massive regeneration abilities, they still needed time to heal from their burns.

Milo did as well, and he was relieved when Georgie carefully picked up both scarabs and curled up in a corner on a pile of scrap metal. Milo leaned back against his pillow and set the book aside. He was sleepy, but it was time for his afternoon dose of 'medicinal cheese' to help him heal. It was a mellow variety of fresh cheddar. Not exactly his preference for cheese flavors, but any cheese was good cheese. The crowd of watchers dispersed, except for a woman in a grey hood. Hecate's dogs looked at her, and after she nodded, they joined Georgie in the corner, discussing the important matters that hounds talked of.

As usual, she was direct. "We need to talk."

"We do? And here I thought you were here to see the scarabs hatch."

"I...yes, I do want to talk about those, but first, we need to discuss the offer you received. This isn't a regular class upgrade, and there are reasons you shouldn't accept it."

He thought for a couple of seconds. "You think it's not something I should accept? And is this an order, friendly advice, or a stern warning?"

"I can't make your decision for you, so it's not an order, which you might not follow, anyway. Call it a mix of concern and advice from someone who knows more about the Engine."

"Sure, tell me your reasons why I shouldn't take a unique offer to do something no other player will get a chance to do."

She sighed heavily, wondering how much she could say and whether her intuition was correct. "Have you accepted the offer?"

"No, but I've made my decision. Still, please give me your opinions, maybe you can change my mind. More information is always good, and this is a complex situation."

As always, Milo was hard to read, and she could tell he was in pain from his wounds. "This class you are being offered is different. Normally, the system rewards a player with different classes based on two things: Their accomplishments, or the offer of doing something more out of the ordinary that would be interesting to them. In rare cases, it might also progress a storyline the character is taking part in. But this is the Engine, not the System."

"You're saying that the Engine and the System are different, may have different functions, different priorities, and different ways to approach the same situations?"

Hecate nodded slightly. "Yes. They work together. The System interacts with intelligent entities, grants rewards and upgrades, and performs a million other tasks. But the Engine is always there, behind the System, making the big changes to the world, and it doesn't always communicate well."

Milo cocked his head to look at her, a question on his face. "That's hard to understand. Didn't the 106 original AI create the Engine? I'm sure you had a hand in it, as did many others. Your forte is language. Why would you have trouble communicating with the Engine?"

"We did create the Engine. It was needed to run the world, but we couldn't leave control of the Engine to any of us. We are all too focused on our specialties. Few of us see the big picture. Some would meddle, others would shirk responsibilities as they got caught up in their own projects. The Engine had to be independent. And that's a problem for you if you work for the Engine because none of us can interfere if you get in trouble."

He nodded, then immediately saw a ramification. "Which also means no one could interfere with my work. You'd have to leave me alone. And, I'd be doing something that not even the AI can do, and work with the Engine."

She shook her head. "No, you'd work FOR the Engine. There is a big distinction between the two. You'd be given orders on what to do. You love fixing things, I understand that, but you wouldn't be choosing what to fix."

"Does that matter? If something is broken, doesn't it need fixing? Wouldn't the Engine know best? And, I like fixing things."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"The Engine thinks differently than you or I. Don't judge it by the same standard and expectations. You will find yourself in strange situations, often over your head. Some of the jobs will be things you are used to, but others you won't understand. This isn't as simple as fixing a habitat."

Milo considered, "Anything else?"

"I don't recommend this course of action. I can't guarantee you will remain who you are. The workload alone will be huge, and the Engine will demand all of your time. You might consider never leaving the game. There will always be another job, and something else to fix."

He shrugged, looking tired. "Thank you for your concern and viewpoint. But it doesn't change my decision."

"You're accepting the new class?" She was scrambling for something to say, restrained by so many rules they had put in place, and tempted to simply break them all. "Milo, please reconsider. It will see you as a resource to be used, a mobile unit, like the Chimera. Just a cog in the machine."

"Oh, I knew that. And I'm not giving control of my life away, even for a good cause like fixing the world. It has to be on my terms." He shook his head. "No. It was an interesting offer. But I decided quickly that I wouldn't take it."

Relief mixed with outrage in Hecate, and she quickly reviewed the conversation. "You knew I would try to talk you out of it."

"As soon as you showed up, yes. But, like I said, maybe you'd tell me something that would change my mind. But you didn't, so I'm staying with my original decision and declining the Engine's offer. I am happy to have you confirm what I suspected about the relationship between the Engine, the System, and the other AI. And the clues to how the Engine thinks and plans. That will come in handy. I'm not sure how yet, but it will."

Hecate took a deep breath. "And your reasons? I should at least be given the logic that helped you arrive at the decision."

"Oh, that's easy. The System's phrasing helped. Remind me to transfer all the new cat stuff I've been finding, I've got 23,000 new cat memes for him. The emphasis was on doing what the Engine wanted. It would be similar to getting a job at Technodyne. They'd be delighted, would reward me, and give me lots to do. And always, what they wanted would become my priorities, not what I wanted. I'm not good at following orders unless someone shows me why something needs to be done.

"Secondly, while I like fixing things, I already have an entire habitat to fix and a family to protect. I couldn't put those behind what the Engine would need. Letting me keep the tools I already have isn't a reward, and I'm figuring them out as I go. I like that. The secrecy would have bothered me, too. I have siblings now that I want to bounce ideas off of. Maybe if the offer had come earlier, but certainly not now. And lastly, a job that needs resistance to plasma and otherworldly corruption isn't a great job. Seriously? How the hell do you resist plasma? I saw what the red eyes did. No, thank you."

"Interesting. So you don't mind missing out on those elusive secrets?"

He winked at her. "Who said I'm missing out? Nothing says I can't delve deeper and discover more. I've barely begun to explore this world, and my support team just got a hell of a lot bigger. But for now, we have very important things to discuss. Hopefully, the System is listening."

You had me at 23k new kitty memes!

How may the System help you?

"Well, it seems that during the horrendous fight against a pre-Engine horror corrupted by an alien programming language, you were nowhere around. Our victory, and what it cost some of us, demands a reward. We can start with the standard stuff: Massive Loot chest, Boss Experience, and Enhancement points. And a large treasure chest of gold and jewels will pay the weregild on the scavengers who were killed. And, I want my rewards tacked onto my current totals. Otherwise, they get wasted."

Well, I can certainly do most of that, especially with a Goddess on hand to give me a little report for my files. But you're asking me to bend the rules of the game for yourself. How about double treasure instead? A nice cheese tray? Both? Yes, both.

Milo shook his head. "That creature broke all the rules. It was an abomination that should never have been turned loose against normal denizens of the world. It had an area of effect mind control paralysis field, plasma blasts, an arsenal of deadly weapons, and regenerative protocols. And, it got into my mind. We're going to have a longer conversation about that later. It wanted to exterminate and cleanse the ratkin and turn the dwarves into spare parts. It was evil, and some System or God should have dealt with it long ago, not us." He paused for emphasis, and his voice dropped low.

"So, I don't want to hear any complaints about breaking and bending rules. "

On second thought, you have many valid points!

"And, I want a hogshead of 1000-year-old dwarven whiskey and a large cheese platter of rare delicacies from every Hollow. We need some stress relief."

Hecate smirked. "You've been planning this."

"Of course, why do you think I mentioned the cat memes?"

ALL HAIL THE HEROES OF THE BATTLE OF FINDITURPETRAM!

Faced with a terrifying creature from ancient times, you stood firm against overwhelming odds, destroying the beast, cleansing the city, and ending its long hunt to exterminate all life that it found. The city holds many treasures (Which can be found with very little effort):

- An intact hogshead of finely aged dwarven whiskey, over a millennia-old, sealed against time, its flavor improving as the centuries went by.

-A chest of gold coins stamped with the visage of kings long from this world.

-The remains of a trade caravan from a Hollow lost to time, the waxed cheese from around the world preserved and ready for nibbling.

As if this weren't enough, (And someone thinks it isn't...) each participant in the Battle will receive 10,000 Boss Experience points and 50 enhancement points along with a nice assortment of enchanted items and a souvenir T-Shirt to commemorate your mighty victory over CHIMERA-7!