I must make use of my scouts. My spirits are restless. I must do something... --44.3 Seconds Post-Integration.
SIMP chewed him out seven ways to the holy day.
"AND AFTER I SAID..."
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD BE SO RECKLESS!"
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF THE CHAOS THIS WILL CAUSE!" And on they went for two hours. He didn't try to defend himself. He knew what he had done was irresponsible, to say the least.
When SIMP finished with their chewing, he apologized. "I'm sorry, SIMP. I truly am. The words just came out. Like a scream you can't contain or a tear which snuck out despite your best at containing it. I couldn't help it."
For the first time since they met, SIMP actually sighed. A strange noise to hear from a disembodied spirit. "What's done is done. We need to move on. Braying at the past isn't going to fix anything."
"My thoughts, too. I should ask how much trouble I got myself into..."
"Not trouble, Clark, just haste. As my Champion, you only asked for what you were entitled to, what you would have been given eventually. What you did today was let your feelings 'jump the gun.' Now that the Green Guild knows you are my Champion, they will be sure to inform Augustford. Which means, Augustford will begin sticking their fingers in your business."
"Okay. What does that mean?" he wondered. "Will they fire me? I'm pretty sure you said they can't, at least not without proper cause. Is this a proper cause?"
"No, they cannot fire you over this. That is not the point, though. What is the point is that their meddling will be to the detriment of our cause."
"Sure, but what 'meddling'? And as long as I have the ability to make my own decisions, why is it even an issue?"
"Because! You are human, Clark! You have sensibilities, and needs and desires, and weaknesses like anyone! Augustford will use your mortality against you! They will wield the contract you signed against everything you want, against everything you need, whenever you need anything from them! And if you don't acquiesce to them, they will take from you. They will take and take until your life is meaningless and you have no choice but to give them what they demand. Had you held this information tighter to your chest, you would have had time to steel yourself before they start demanding and taking. You would've had the time to learn their ways, to resist! But now? You don't have time. You have only a waterfall rush until their full force comes down against what you want. What we need..."
Hearing emotion to SIMP's voice, now, no longer that of the raggedy old man they integrated into, but as a partner equal in his endeavors, almost, even, as a caring grandfather, made him tear up. "SIMP... I swore myself to your banner, didn't I? I also swore myself to Augustford's banner. It's only by their graces that my family and community and everyone I care about is able to live a peaceful life. There might be times where I have to give into their demands. But those times will be far outweighed by the times when I advance your cause, as your champion. What the future will bring is a mystery, but I will do my best to ensure it is one which honors the arrangement I made with you. I am not blind, SIMP. Augustford is up to no good. But my allegiances lie with you."
After a time spent in silence, SIMP spoke. "I hope you do, Clark. I truly hope you do. That being the case, you should rest. You have a shift soon and there's no telling what may come."
"I will rest. I also want to mention something, SIMP: I appreciate you staying by my side. Before I rest, though, I have one more thing I need to do."
Clark opened up the screen nestled within his Main Menu where his schedule change application resided.
"What are you doing now?" SIMP said, sounding exhausted, but willing to go along with him.
"Going for broke, is all. Let's see if they break."
His next shift came sooner than he liked. With everything that had happened over the last few hours, he would have liked a bit of time to decompress from his actions. 'I don't live in an ideal world, alas!' Yet, his shift took him up some floors with Theo, so he couldn't argue. They were making great progress on floor thirty-three, when they took their first break.
"I still can't believe you got them to change their minds! How?" Theo asked incredulously.
"Oh, it wasn't that hard. I just sent them that managerial missive I told you about, said I was the dungeon champion, and how I wanted to be able to change my party's schedule whenever I needed to in order to fulfill my role as dungeon champion. They didn't think about it for very long. I got a reply before my shift started! Well, obviously, since we're working together."
Theo couldn't say anything. His wide grin said everything he needed to say. "So cool!"
"It is cool ain't it?"
Making matters better, for once, the day was slow. He and Theo were able to spend the day in idle chit-chat, casually walking along the line-path, whittling away their mandatory working time. It got even better when they crossed into the thirty-fourth floor.
[Congratulations! You've Reached Imbued Level 17!]
[Payout Rate Increased to 1.5]
He shook Theo on his shoulder. "Yeah," Theo said. "I leveled up, too. And my pay increased. Sweet! What a day!"
Resuming their day, Clark went to toggle his device against the departmental checkpoint. Before he could insert the toggle, a manager came up to them and said, "You two are Lifers, correct?"
"That is correct, sir. What can we do to help?" Clark said as Theo bite his tongue.
"Patrol duty. No more than a couple of hours."
"Absolutely, sir. We would love to... patrol. One question, what is 'patrol duty'? We're rather new."
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
"It's simple. Just patrol. Oh, do scan in first. Go up and down the spaces outside the store block and --" the manager tended to a beeper on his waist before apologizing and petering off. Meandering away from them, he yelled back, "Set your Systems to patrol mode!"
"I guess we're patrolling, eh?"
Clark didn't reply to Theo. He opened his Main Menu and did as he was told by the manager. "Set to patrol mode," he told the machine.
"Patrol mode set," the machine spoke back.
Patrol mode reset the golden breadcrumb trail with a black breadcrumb trail. The machine voice told them to "Follow the trail and complete prompts along the way." Theo didn't seem enthused about the situation, but what else was new? Clark took lead.
They arrived outside of a store block about twenty minutes from the store block where the manager had assigned them patrol duty. Here, the System prompted them to 'Prevent Customer Entry: Reason: gas leak.'
So, they stood outside the locked store front doors turning people away. Most people left without a hassle, others made a stink, arguing that, that particular store front had the 'best' of some produce or another. True or not, it didn't change their directives, so they remained firm in keeping people out.
"Thank you. Continue patrol duty," the System said after about forty-five minutes.
Theo rolled his eyes, and they continued.
"Something wrong?" Clark asked Theo as they rounded a corner in the connecting zone coming up on the next store block.
"Tired. I might have discovered another one of my people's relics, but retrieving it is giving me trouble. It's deep in the dungeon interior."
"What do you mean, you're 'troubled'? You have me, remember?"
Theo stopped walking and turned to him. "You mean, you still want to help? After everything I put you through?"
"Of course. That's what friends do. We will have to go about it smart, though. No blind rush into it all and -- wait! What do you mean it is deep in the dungeon interior? How are you getting this information?" It was an honest question. The dungeon interior wasn't exact accessible to him, and he was the freaking dungeon champion!
"The informal market. They have everything."
"The informal market? What is that, the illegal market?"
"No. Well, sort of... There isn't really a market for goods Augustford deems illicit. You'll be caught much sooner rather than later if you start selling such goods. But there is a large market for 'gray area' stuff. Information is one such area. And people live in the dungeon interior, remember. So, word of mouth spreads. If you have the money, and who to talk to, it's pretty easy to find things even like my relics."
What Theo said confused him to no end. "Wait, people LIVE in the dungeon interior? Back up. What's that all about?!"
"Yeah. Refugees... they live there. Haven't you heard?"
"No! I haven't! What do you mean, refugees?!"
"Like, from the company. Workers and Lifers who couldn't hack it, so they fled into the dungeon interior rather than buying out their contract."
"Why would they do that? What could possibly be down there for them to survive? Is there, like, plants and shet down there? How do they grow stuff without sunlight, how--"
"I don't know anything about what happens down there. I imagine whatever existence they eek out must be terrible. And maybe people don't live down there. Maybe it is more a few isolated individuals flee down there and manage to survive instead of groups. You need to ask someone who isn't also a new Lifer!" Theo laughed. The first time he had done so since that morning.
When they arrived on scene at the next store block, it was more of the same. Turn people away because of a gas leak. Another half-hour passed, which led them to the fourth and final store block on that floor. Where, as he guessed, had them turn shoppers away because of a gas leak.
He and Theo spent the time dreaming up what it was like for the survivors down in the Interior. Were they good fighters because of the monsters? Were monsters infesting everywhere in the Interior or just the places they visited? Maybe the survivors weren't warriors but great stealth masters? Maybe, maybe, maybe!
They returned to the store block they were assigned patrol duty. Crossing into the recently re-opened block, the System binged them a message. It was from the manager who assigned them patrol duty. "Thanks for your help, boys. You may proceed up!"
"What a waste of time," Theo lamented.
"What do you mean, 'waste'? Were you keeping your Metrics in mind? We stayed well above Base during the patrol and the only thing we did during patrol was walk, talk, and stand in front of the door," he shot back.
"Metrics? No... it's a pain to constantly check, so I ignore it most of the time."
"Wait. What do you mean, ignore? Isn't it always in your field of vision?"
"Uh... no?"
On break, Clark talked and walked Theo through the process on how to keep the Core Metric readout in his field of vision. How he did not have the number in his HUD at all times was a mystery, but he suspected it had something to do with Theo's constant messing with the System's settings.
"There! Now it will remain locked in place, ready to give you the number whenever in real time! How's that?" he said with satisfaction.
"Pretty cool," Theo said, apparently in awe at the simple mechanism.
The rest of their shift passed as normal.
Clocking back in, they approached the departmental checkpoint and were passed right along. During the next departmental checkpoint, Clark reported to Produce. Theo walked ahead. "Keep in touch," Clark said as he waved Theo goodbye for the moment.
Clark worked the back while in Produce. He made more of the store's in-house products. The product he made this time was a yogurt-granola cup snack. It was a simple product to make. He spent two hours making the product. When he was allowed out, he felt a pep to his step, and it wasn't just because the labor had been simple.
[Accomplishment Unlocked! 'Maker:' Big whoop. Anyone can make over 250 in-house products. Don't grow so hard in your ego.']
Satisfied with the Accomplishment, Clark scanned his Link back at the checkpoint and proceeded to find Theo. His party locater dinged him all the way in Home and Gardens, so that was where he bolted.
He made a straight shoot to Theo's department and passed through several departmental checkpoints. Though the checkpoint signaled that help was needed in at least a couple of these departments, it still waved him through. 'The best perk of being in a work detail!' And it was good. Being allowed to go straight to where his work detail mate was, regardless of department need, was a wonderful boon and would immeasurably speed up his Climbing. 'Now, to level up the work detail so it will work across floors!' That was the weakness, so far: if one of them were to advance straight to the next floor, the System would not allow the other to advance to the next floor. What it would allow was unknown, but Clark figured it would 'reset,' likely demanding he perform whatever labor he needed to do for the respective department he passed along the way.
Clark signed into the checkpoint for Homes and Gardens. Predictably, it had him help out.
He reported to the supervisor who told him to go and help out watering the many potted plants. With watering can in hand, he got busy.
Throughout his time, he watered many plants. Some were small, others were big. Colorful, not colorful, a few of which were even poisonous. The task appeared simple enough on the surface. Water the plants. How hard could that be?
The answer: harder than Clark thought.
Although the task was simple, it also took its toll on his muscles. When he ran out of water, he had to trudge back to the spigot to refill his watering can. After a while, the weight of the full watering can was noticeable. He lugged it around like a disobedient child, it always begging to fall to the floor to give his arms a moment's rest.
Throughout the labor, he caught sight of Theo a couple of times, performing the same labor. He looked haggard as well. 'If this is what Theo was doing for the past couple of hours, I don't envy him!' Clark (gladly) would return to making yogurt snacks if the choice was between watering plants.
When the labor did end far too many hours later for him to be comfortable, he and Theo looked at each other. Clark shrugged. "Watering plants is a shet job. Noted."
Theo agreed. "Let's return to our Climbing."
By the time the boys got to Toys and Recreation, however, neither of them felt like continuing for much longer. Theo moaned and bemoaned anything. Which Clark liked, as it made him feel like he didn't have to groan himself, not with Theo doing enough for the both of them.
"How is it only lunch?" Theo asked after ascending to the thirty-fifth floor.
"Gods -- maybe we sinned? Just one of those days, I guess," was how he answered his friend.
The two eat their modest meals in silence. Neither had much energy after the protracted watering stint. When they clocked back in Theo asked despondently how much of their shift they had left. Clark said, "Four hours."
Pfft! Teenagers.
Do You Watch Your Mouth at Work?
