Just sitting there with nothing left to do, staring into space…or at least at my computer monitor…my mind kept churning. There was nothing I wanted to do. Checking Guild Chat didn’t show anything or anyone needing my attention. Everyone else was handling things just fine.

  Harry had a big notice pinned on the front pages of the city and county websites, linking to their Game information pages. They looked good. Honestly, he was doing a better job than I could have managed. The pages linked the Library of Congress Game System page and the US Geological Service Ley Lines page, along with a few other sites people had already thrown together about how to play the game. How to get started, leveling up, all of it. Everything I could have told folks was already there, and I even learned a few things I didn’t know.

  The Eddington System Response site itself had pages for the City of Eddington and Chandler County, plus a link to the state’s page. The state’s site listed nearly everything as “In Progress,” aside from a few federal links and one back to Harry’s page.

  Eddington now had guild pages showing a few guilds and their contact people, plus locations if the guilds shared them. They didn’t list individual members, only the date formed and sometimes the number of people in each. Most of the guilds were brand new, created today. The Irregulars were first on the list, and for some reason, that pleased me.

  Slumping back in my chair. All I could do was sit here, staring at the screen, feeling useless. Useless and overpowered.

  Harry was covering all the bases the town needed for now. There wasn’t anything I could think of that wasn’t there or wouldn’t obviously be coming. Even the national news sites were back to covering lots of other things beyond the game’s launch and its impacts on the world.

  The quiet in the house felt heavy as I sipped some coffee, the faint hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen was the only sound in the background. It wasn’t hot enough yet to turn the AC on. All I could do was think. There were problems caused by the game that I wanted to fix, but I couldn’t. I didn’t know how, and it hurt. It hurt more than I expected.

  “I feel like I should be the overpowered Main Character of some story, doing everything for everyone, but I’m not. I’ve just been luckier than I deserve.”

  Some of the old-world hot spots, where groups had been trying to kill each other for years, had restarted their fighting…but with new weapons now. The powers the System gave people were being used to kill each other in even larger numbers, with magic added to guns and artillery. The only difference was, now ordinary people could fight back, even without guns.

  Elsewhere online, I found a map showing communication blackouts in parts of Africa, Central and South America, and Southeast Asia. Other blackouts, aside from government-controlled media, were showing up in China, Russia, North Korea, and a scattering of other countries. The US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and most first-world countries were acting almost normal. Japan was confusing everyone in what they were and weren't doing. And whether they were sliding into historical or anime cultures.

  The net was full of speculation about what had happened, who caused it, what the reason was, and which group someone didn’t like was behind it all. Or how some other group or person people did like would fix everything by tomorrow, or next week at the latest. Those attitudes were the same worldwide.

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  One post caught my eye. The title was, In The Nursery.

  “They nailed it,” I shouted out loud.

  It started with, “Most games start in some easy location, usually called the nursery. You learn how to play the game and level up so you can go into the rest of the world. The creatures appearing are nursery level monsters meant for level one players.”

  Stretching and frowning, I realized that if I have nothing to do, I should catch up on work. I was two days behind on book editing.

  I opened the Analysis of Corporate Mergers in South Dakota, 1965-1995 file in my work folder, I skimmed to where I’d left off last session. A chapter and a half to go, plus notes and bibliography.

  “If I don’t go adventuring, I can have the text done before Blaze arrives, and the rest of it finished by tomorrow,” I told myself. “The author’s not a terrible writer. He just runs on and on, and doesn’t like using periods…unless they’re decimal points. He’s better with numbers than words.”

  I got into the rhythm and finished the text edit faster than I expected. When I checked the time, it was 4:35 p.m.

  “Blaze should be here by five, six at the latest. That gives us time for some food before spawn time.”

  I glanced through the open door toward the kitchen. “Maybe I should get some food ready…and a shower. I can finish this tonight. With what I’ve been spending, a little more income won’t hurt.”

  Deciding on the shower first, I headed for the bedroom, the wood floor cool under my stocking covered feet.

  Twenty minutes later, I was clean and dressed in clean clothes. I’d found my dark side T-shirt in the closet and pulled it on with a fresh pair of black slacks, ready for later. I gathered up the dirty clothes and my armor, carried them to the garage to dump in the washer. My fencer’s cloak went in too. It wasn’t a full load, but close enough.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [How are you doing? Do you have an ETA yet?]

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [We left a while ago. Not that much traffic, so should be there half-past five. Maybe later. Why?]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [Thinking about making dinner. Any food allergies or big no’s on food?]

  It took about a minute before she replied.

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [Nah. Matt says he can eat most things.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [How about beef and broccoli over rice? I got a bag of frozen beef and broccoli in the freezer. Best of all, I know how to make rice.]

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [He says go for it. Make a lot. He’s a hungry guy.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [Got it. Will do. See ya soon.]

  I pulled the bag from the freezer, dumping it into a big pan and adding the sauce packet and some of Blaze's garlic, stirring it well before covering it to let it simmer on low heat. My wife had bought a rice cooker years ago during an Asian food kick, and I still used it now and then. It had a timer, so I set it for fifteen minutes before they were expected. The rice would finish about the time they pulled in.

  The scent of sauce, vegetables, and garlic started to fill the kitchen, mixing with the faint clean smell of laundry soap drifting from the garage. I glanced around, checking for anything else I needed to do.

  Nothing else came to mind, so I headed back to the office, stretching my shoulders before dropping into my chair. I’d get at least another half hour of work done before Blaze arrived, the quiet hum of the neighborhood settling into the warm Midwest evening outside had returned.

  “One more bit of normal work before we get back to the not-so-normal tonight.”

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