The old man looked over their armor and weapons. “All calm, but I have the feeling that you could deal with unpleasant situations well enough.” He chuckled.

  “Maybe, but we’d prefer if we didn’t have to… Can you help us? We’re looking for the following buildings…?”

  In no time, they had directions for the dorm and the two residences of professors living on campus and were on their way.

  The first residence felt like nobody was home—maybe it had been that way for a while. They left the letter in the mailbox and moved on.

  As they were depositing the letter at the second residence, the door to the small house opened and a man stepped out. He was clearly in his late sixties, if not seventies, but looked unbowed by age—lean and tall, wearing jeans and sneakers.

  “It looks like the postal service has changed uniforms… May I ask what brings you here?” he said curiously.

  “Good afternoon, Professor Gunther. We are friends of Deepika McIntyre. She asked us to drop off a letter for you.”

  “Ohh, Deepika. That is such a welcome surprise! Hand me the letter, please… Can I offer you tea, maybe?”

  Ben handed him the letter. “I’m afraid we’re a bit on a timer right now, but thank you very much for the offer.” He waved to signal his goodbyes and turned.

  “But tell me at least—is she doing well? She was always one of my favorite colleagues, and I was so disturbed when I learned that she was missing with her wonderful family!”

  “Yes, they’re all doing well. I’m sure the letter will provide a proper update. I’m sorry, but I really have to go.”

  “Sure. Thanks for the delivery. Stay safe, young man.”

  The dorm for the graduate students Deepika wanted to inform about her whereabouts was on the other side of the campus, so the team turned right at the next intersection. They had barely walked a few minutes when they heard shouting from behind them.

  It was Professor Gunther, jogging at a fast pace after them. “Young men.” He waved the letter they had just delivered. “Do I understand it right that you are with this ‘Protectorate’?”

  “Yes, we are.”

  “Fascinating. Really fascinating what my dear colleague is saying in her letter. Mhh…” He stared into the sky, sorting his thoughts. “Well, I guess ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained,’ right? Ok, so, can you give me ten minutes to pack my things?”

  “Pack your things?” Again, Ben was blown away by people’s willingness to just pack up their old lives and move on.

  “Yes, I think it would be fabulous for me to move to this Protectorate of yours. The way Deepika describes it, it seems like a great adventure.”

  “It turns out that adventures are quite dangerous and a lot of hard work… Are you sure you want to do that?” Adam asked politely.

  Gunther answered with a decisive nod. “Absolutely. If you can give me ten minutes to pack, I’m ready to go.”

  Ben and Adam exchanged a glance. “Sure. We need to drop off something at the graduate student dorm. We’ll pick you up on the way back.”

  Gunther didn’t hesitate a moment—he gave them a thumbs-up and jogged back to his house.

  “Why is everyone just so quick to decide and leave?” Ben asked incredulously.

  “Boss, I don’t think it’s ‘everyone’. The people we met earlier today had two weeks to think about it—two weeks in which life in the city probably sucked quite a bit. And the professor just seems a bit weird and also got a personal invite from a good friend…” Jamal said.

  “You’re right. It’s probably just that I’m still floored by having 80 or more people join us when I thought all we would get out of this trip is a couple of good conversations…” Ben chuckled. Then he stopped, turning to Adam. “I hadn’t even realized until now, but this means that we’ll hit Level 2 for the settlement when we’re back!”

  Adam grinned. “Now you’re coming up with that? I’ve been thinking about little else for the last hour or so. I’m so excited to learn what the Systems will unlock once we get there.”

  Thoughts raced through Ben’s head as they walked to the dorm. In particular, new infrastructure would be exciting. And adding 80-plus new citizens before the new month hit also meant they would get close to 500 additional SCs just from the citizen part of the monthly allowance from the Systems. Also, in their last—one-sided—conversation, Mesa had said that they would become useful to Meta on Level 2. Finding out what that meant was also exciting—maybe also slightly anxiety-inducing.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  In front of the dorm they were looking for, a diverse group of young people in their mid- to late twenties were sitting on the grass, apparently deeply engaged in a heated discussion.

  “…but why? Why stay here? There’s nobody turning up for school, all our research is lost—not that anybody cares about it anymore anyway…”

  “But what’s the alternative? Where do you want to go? I hate to break it to you, but there’s no flight home anytime soon…”

  “This discussion reminds me of a research symposium: everything has been said, but not yet by everyone…”

  “Excuse me,” Ben interrupted the young researchers before they could descend further into anger. “We are looking for Xiang Lu, Martin Smith, and Navneet Ravindran.”

  The group fell silent and looked at them warily.

  “Mhh, who’s asking?” one of the guys found his courage first.

  “We are here to deliver messages from Professor Deepika McIntyre.”

  “Oh, cool! I’m Navneet, this is Martin, and this is Lu over there.”

  Ben handed the three notes out and hesitated for a moment, “could we ask you for a favor? We are a bit under time pressure and we need to get these letters from our friends Liz and Zack to the student housing. Would you mind passing them on?”

  The man called Martin, who had been the most vocal in the previous discussion, nodded, “Sure, not like we are very busy these days. Where did you get the armor and weapons, though?”

  “It’s a long story. Unfortunately, we have to go. Maybe the note from Deepika will explain more.”

  Unwilling to get held up again, Ben moved quickly, and a few minutes later they were back in front of Professor Gunther’s house.

  “Boss, do you want to bring the prof to the hospital?” Jamal asked.

  “Oh man, I hadn’t thought about that.” Ben sighed and scratched his head. “I don’t think we should do that.”

  “Mhh, I guess I would probably not be the most useful person at the hospital, either… Why don’t I walk with the professor to Brickham’s, and then you meet up with us after you’re finished at the hospital?”

  “Thanks, man. That helps!” Ben said.

  “No worries. That way the prof will have a bit more time to pack, and maybe I can get him to make me some tea.” Adam grinned.

  With that, Ben, Jamal, and Michael were off to their confrontation with the Warriors.

  “Any suggestions on how we do this?” Ben asked his two friends as they looked at the Warriors guarding the entrance to the hospital.

  There were even fewer people in the area than earlier that day.

  Surprisingly, it was Michael who answered. “Don’t think a complicated plan would work. We casually go there, then hit hard and without warning.”

  Jamal smiled slightly. “Let’s hit them where it hurts…”

  Ben swallowed. Fighting wolves was one thing. Fighting humans—another. He took a deep breath. I have to trust that Barry’s training worked.

  “Ok, let’s do this. But no weapons, right? I will follow your lead in this. Jamal, will you do the talking?”

  “Yes, boss. There won’t be a lot of talking, though,” he said with a chuckle and beckoned them forward.

  They approached the entrance to the plaza in front of the hospital. The gap in the makeshift fence was about four meters wide. Two of the Warriors were lounging at a camping table slightly to the side of the entrance, sipping Energy drinks. One was leaning against the fence and chatting with the last one, who was standing in the middle of the gap.

  As they got closer, the one leaning against the fence noticed them and pointed with a fake laugh. “Hey guys, look at that, a bunch of clowns escaped from the zoo with their Halloween costumes.” The others turned to look at them and chuckled as well.

  “Circus,” Jamal said as he closed in on the joker while Ben continued to the center of the entrance.

  “What?” The man—only slightly above average height but with bulging muscles accentuated by a skin-tight black T-shirt—looked confused.

  “If we are a bunch of clowns, we escaped from the circus, not the zoo.”

  “Heh, heh, you really are a clown, aren’t you?” the goon said as he pushed himself away from the fence, his face slightly red from either embarrassment or rage.

  Just as they were within two meters, Jamal lifted his arms, as if to calm the situation down, but instead delivered a devastating blow to his opponent’s eardrums. The man lost control over his body and, as he crumpled, received a knee to the face that crunched his nose, taking him out.

  Ben reacted almost immediately. Enter. Stand. Breathe. Strike. He flowed through the motions Barry had taught them—it felt right. His strike hit the solar plexus, instantly forcing the air from the Warrior’s lungs. He didn’t relent. With a quick sidestep, he positioned himself to deliver a kick to the side of the Warrior’s knee, which shifted in a way no human leg should. I even remembered to strike through, not just at him! he noted with satisfaction.

  Meanwhile, Michael had delivered a swift kick to the table where the other two men had been sitting, sending them sprawling backward in their flimsy camping chairs. Then, with a leap over the table, he delivered two quick pommel strikes to the two men’s temples, knocking them out.

  Ben’s opponent was the only one still conscious—howling in pain and clutching his devastated leg. Michael looked at him questioningly, holding up his dagger. Ben nodded, and Michael promptly knocked the man out, too.

  “That was… insane. That was over in under fifteen seconds. I’m… I really don’t know what to say.” Adrenaline flowed through Ben’s veins, the fight being over so quickly that he hadn’t had a way to relieve the tension that had built up in the seconds before.

  He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.

  Jamal shrugged. “This was not a fair fight. You should never make a fight fair if you can avoid it, boss.”

  Ben’s laugh sounded a bit shrill in his ears. “You should talk with Barry and make that the sixth mantra…”

  Meanwhile, Michael pulled the shoes off the Warriors, removed the shoelaces, and used them to bind their hands. He put the big knives they all had on their bodies in his backpack. Jamal helped him, and together they carried the men to the side of the entrance behind the fence.

  Out of the hospital doors came Dr. Tauber, with a bunch of nurses, all in scrubs. The doctor stopped as he reached them, while the nurses dispersed into the wider area.

  “You came and succeeded. I watched from indoors, but it went so fast I barely saw anything. Violence… it’s a strange thing to witness.” The doctor walked over to the goons and checked that they were all breathing freely.