Vexing The Beast by V. Joseph Guy

Author:V. Joseph Guy [Guy, V. Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LiberWriter.com
Published: 2018-02-28T22:00:00+00:00

38: Connection

Day 64: Cheonia, Xist

As much as Malik’s passengers chafed at the Pathfinder’s confinement during the journey to Bedele, they found special comfort under its wings while traveling back.

The young police officers discovered Malik’s extensive library of sporting events, his crew explored the massive archives of text and video in their evenings, Evelyn and Evan made full usage of the combat and training simulations, Boris Churnov discovered an enormous music collection with selections meeting his refined tastes, while the newly awakened Hayes spent all of his connection time with his wife. All of them found ways to appreciate Xist.

The captain was similar. Regardless of the myriad tasks in which he was involved, one piece of his multitasking mind frequently lived in the online world. Of the services available, Xist Nations was the most frequent choice, and the enormous empire of Cheonia was his nation. It was one hundred times larger than the next largest nation and encompassed forty-one thousand cities.

Located on the southwest corner of World One’s sole continent, the empire was at war with the rest of the planet. Such a large conflict would have produced copious quantities of notices for any player, but with a dynamic nation such as his, war was almost an afterthought. Routine administration, infrastructure upgrades, production, and his all-encompassing training programs provided a prodigious amount of issues to tend.

Sometimes things got lost in the shuffle.

In the midst of managing his ship and treating his patients in reality, he dwelt in the network and conducted the affairs of his virtual nation. Late in one of the ship’s days, he made virtual rounds to finish his nation’s management.

As his avatar, named Kilam, he returned up the broad steps to his home, known as the Crystal Palace, passed through the towering doors, strode under cascading arches of blue crystal rising a thousand meters to an apex, and arrived at the eight-sided raised dais of his throne. Messengers gathered since his last perusal were sorted, tended, and dismissed, then with a sense of finality, he made a check of Bordeaux, the estate that was the flashpoint for the conflict against the Coalition.

Selena’s nation was once scheduled for deletion, but through either the war or some other odd occurrence, it remained. After investigating further and double-checking his observations, Kilam drew back in surprise.

She logged in! he thought, joy coursing through him. An involuntary smile covered his face as he quietly celebrated. She is alive!

He rifled through the mountain of messages filtered throughout the day, then those of every day previous. Hoping against hope that some message had been sent, he found one in the midst of deleted surrender and peace requests that was simply titled, “Malik.”

The sender was WineRed522—it was from Selena. He opened the message.

A young woman appeared before him. The pine-log walls of the main house at Bordeaux surrounded her, and the small coffee table at her side was graced with lilies. In defiance of her environment, nothing about her demeanor was cheerful.

“Malik! It’s me, Selena,” exclaimed the woman frantically.

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