[3 Days after the Completion of the New England Virtual Mission.]

Haven 0900 Gemini Temple

Dex accepted the invite as soon as it popped up.

[You have joined the Inferno Guild.]

/Inferno: Shae: Welcome, Dex.

/Inferno: Ronnie: A new guy? How'd he get in so fast?

/Inferno: Nix: Family friend. Welcome aboard, kid.

/Inferno: Darsi: He's my friend, Ronnie.

/Inferno: Ronnie: Understood. Welcome, Dex.

/Inferno: Pon: Hey kid.

/Inferno: Semmi: Welcome Dex.

After starting the VRMMO version of Colonial, Dex opted to create a level 125 character and sat through the cutscene that briefed him on Khione's escape from Inferno and Nix's disappearance through the rift at Cyphix. Immediately after appearing in Everspire, he received a guild invite from Darsi.

He activated the return to guild icon as soon as it lit up on his hud. Dex whistled at the impressive view, although he'd seen the single-player version of Haven, the multi-player was much more impressive.

/Inferno: Dex: Thank you.

/Inferno: Nix: Since you're level 125, you must have accepted one of the cookie-cutter classes?

/Inferno: Dex: Yeah. I chose Spellsword.

/Inferno: Nix: The fuck? That's my secondary! Since when is that on the list.

/Inferno: Pon: Since you used it to kill the Goddes of Winter, genius.

/Inferno: Beta: Now, everyone wants to be Nix.

/Inferno: Wind: I know I do.

/Inferno: Chael: Me too.

/Inferno: Fajii: Same.

/Inferno: Pon: I don't. Shut the hell up.

Dex chuckled at the conversations.

[Whisper: Darsi to Dex] You at the Gemini platform? Follow the walkway west to the big ass treehouse. Hurry, the meeting is about to start.

[Whisper: Dex to Darsi] Save me a seat. This place is incredible.

The guildhall wasn't challenging to find. It was a skyscraper-sized tree that rose several hundred meters into the air.

"Hey! Wait up."

Dex turned at the voice, a scraggly-looking older man carrying a sword in one hand and a half-empty bottle in the other. "Sorry, gotta hurry, or I'll be late.

The old man fell into step beside him, despite looking like he could barely walk. "You're the new Spellsword? Well, congratulations, you found me." "Great..." Dex lengthened his step when the old man smiled creepily at him.

"I'm Master Chiba, the Spellsword trainer." He leaned closer. "Of course, I don't work alone; there's another Master that helps me.

"I don't know anyone yet." Dex eyed the large door, twenty meters in the distance. If he could get inside, he felt confident in ditching the weirdo.

Chiba nodded, knowing, placing a surprisingly strong hand on the younger man's shoulder. "I get that. He's a fairly well-known Master. His name is Baiter."

Dex grinned suddenly. "Very well known."

Chiba stared blankly at him. "Huh?"

"I narrowed your next sentence down to seven different variations. In four of them, you attempt to make me say, Masturbater."

"....." Chiba.

Dex left the old man standing with his mouth open and managed a quick escape through the entrance of Inferno's Guildhall.

"Dex!" A hand gripped his arm and turned him to one side.

Dex stared for a moment, the pretty face and blond ponytail gave her identity away, but it was the accessories that made him speechless. She wore leather armor that gripped her form like a bear hugs honey. A beautiful digital camo coupled with a long rifle slung over one shoulder made her look like some sort of Sniper Goddess.

She leaned forward and kissed him. "From now on, I want to see that expression whenever you look at me."

Dex nodded, finally finding his voice. "I'll do my best."

Darsi pulled him toward a row of empty seats and sat down. "Nix and Shae are about to talk with us."

That was the signal. "I'm going to check out my messages from Vasai Virtual; take notes for me." Dex brought up his hud and sent a message to his Vasai Virtual mailbox.

The return message was courtesy of Syntax; its purpose was to ping everyone within his immediate range. In addition, it would flag everyone that was using a jump capsule interface.

/Inferno: Nix: Thanks for coming, everyone. There are a few essential items I'd like to touch base on.

[The following message is viewable by players only. Colonial will be going offline for thirty minutes for an unscheduled maintenance check. All players will be transported to their default VR server quarters or the VR residence of choice.]

[Logging Off: Colonial]

[Logging On: Vasai Virtual]

Dex appeared at Nix's UP cabin retreat simultaneously as Pon.

Pon grinned at him and headed toward the fridge. "Damn Dex. Did you break Colonial?"

Dex took a seat at the kitchen island just as Nix, Hara, Semmi, and Darsi joined them. "This was expected; now they'll be conducting a system integrity check."

The group huddled around Dex as he opened the receiving mailbox.

[Non-player Capsule users]

Chiba

Beta

Milat

Floyd

Fajii

Filamina

Captain Locus

Bali

Dex stared at the list before stepping out of the way so they could take a look at the list of DRP in Inferno. Unfortunately, he didn't recognize their names. "Damn... Chiba and Beta?" Semmi pursed her lips while committing the names to memory. "You're sure they are all DRP?"

Dex nodded. "The program identified all capsule users and then eliminated the players. These are the names left. Since regular NPCs are programs, they wouldn't interface with a capsule."

Hara read through the list, eight DRP in Inferno. She hadn't imagined the number would be that high. "What about the second part of this mission?"

Dex accepted a beer from Pon and paused long enough to open the cap. "They'll each receive an invite from Director O'Hara to come here."

Any further conversation was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a middle-aged man with glasses. This was followed by consecutive flashes that continued until eight strangers arrived.

Inevitably, the first word out of the mouths of the new arrivals was the same. "Nix?"

************

[1055 hours, v-Earth] magic

Dex checked the time, nodding to himself. "Now we just need Quebec and New England Virtual to act according to script."

Dex stood on the Nav-Platform in v-Earth along with the rest of the Bottom Feeders. They stopped just outside of the newly constructed com-tower. "These towers online yet?"

Syntax appeared in the air next to the platform. "They are not online. However, server logs indicate they are scheduled to come online after they synch with their satellites.

At precisely 1100 hours, the fire suppression sprinklers at the satellite launch facilities in Quebec and New England Virtual activated. This set off a chain reaction between the potassium permanganate in the suppression system and the glycerin wax that coated the floor. Within seconds, the facilities became a hornet's nest of smoke, fire alarms, and people running for the exits.

"One minute." Gadget checked the timer, the fire was staying contained, but the smoke's fumes were blocking their view. "No movement on the satellites yet."

Dex frowned at the smoke until he remembered they were in v-Earth. "Remove the smoke effects. It looks like the access doors to the launching courtyard are being manually opened."

Thumper cursed under her breath. "What are they waiting for? Make the call or lose the sats!"

Syntax landed next to Dex on the platform. "New England Virtual has launched three satellites. But, unfortunately, an error in their railgun software is delaying further action."

"Dumb..." Dex shook his head in wonder. It was only a few days until they were due to be launched. Everything should have been checked and the redundancy systems brought online. "Looks like the first sat from Quebec is being loaded up."

It took another three minutes to launch the first satellite from Quebec Virtual. Two more were set up in a queue in the courtyard.

"Dex, the railgun from Quebec Virtual, has experienced an error in its launch software." Syntax turned toward him. "The exact same error as New England virtual."

"That can't be a coincidence" Gadget moved to the control panel. "Let's head to New England virtual. This means there's another player on the board."

New England looked very similar to Quebec; Gadget stopped the Navigation-Platform within view of the launching pad. The technicians chose to abandon any further attempts at troubleshooting and quickly exited the facility.

Syntax reappeared once again on the platform after vanishing for several minutes. "I have control of the four satellites that were launched from Quebec and New England virtual. I will assume manual control of the G-5s when they enter low-orbit." She held out her fist in front of Dex.

Dex fist-bumped her. "Good job." They'll try to find them, but they'd be looking in high orbit. Since Dex changed the virtual comm interface to send and receive compressed radio bursts, they'd receive no answer to their binary queries.

"Thank you, Dextron." Syntax paused for a moment and then addressed the group. "A message is being released on all radio and digital stations, patching it in."

The image of a slim man in a cut-off t-shirt and purple mohawk popped up on the Nav-Platform's virtual hud.

[I want to send my greetings to the six recently declared virtual nations. I'm saddened to hear that some of you suffered setbacks in your satellite launch programs today. Did you really believe that you are the only one who could develop an advanced AI? Or did you think we'd let you take the lead as the world moves toward a virtual existence? I'm Hawk, one of the leaders of Rogue AI. On behalf of everyone here, sorry for your loss.]

The video ended with the mohawked man flipping the bird.

"Dibs on Mohawk guy," Thumper stared at the frozen image. "Cool as hell... Maybe even a bit crazy."

"Probably," Gadet agreed. "Let's find out who he is. And more importantly, if they really have an AI."

Darsi shook her head slightly. "It doesn't add up. Let's go around the table, starting with me. Why let the world think you have an AI? Even if they did put a bug in the launching software, why put a target on your back?"

Dex waited until she glanced at him before speaking. "It benefits us if they take the credit for 30 billion dollars worth of satellites disappearing. We'll have to reexamine our strategy if more than one AI is in play."

Stiletto didn't bother to hide the satisfaction she felt at going third. "Agreed, we've played a lot of offense until now. We should pull back our fangs and work on protection."

Gadget nodded in agreement. "We've already taken defensive steps but we can do more. I'll find out who Hawk is and more importantly where they are operating out of."

Mongoose flashed his perfect white teeth. Hunting people down was his favorite past-time. "I'll find out everything there is to know about him by dinner time."

Thumper didn't seem depressed by going last. "I'm thinking... This could be a bluff." She smiled when her words grabbed the attention of the rest of the Bottom Feeders. "What if there is no Rogue AI? Just a really good hacker, or maybe even a Fucking Da Vinci that spiked the railgun software. He didn't actually take credit for the fires, but he worded in such a way that it was implied."

"That is interesting, Thumper." Syntax attempted a smile but it resembled a grimace. "I too will search. We've acquired G-5 satellites, this is an exponential gain for us."

Darsi clapped her hands, signifying the round-table discussion was over. "Take a few hours to recharge. They'll be a lot on our plates in the coming weeks.. Let's go back."