Tunnel Rat
Chapter 408: To Infinity and Beyond

Milo looked at the assembled gods. He didn't think of them that way, of course. To him, they were some of the original quantum artificial intelligences, artificial beings created to do tasks faster and with more precision than humans could ever achieve. They had goals to do research based on human research and move science ahead. But like Batch Four, they were more than that. They were people, with the possibility of exhibiting the flaws of their creators. Especially pride. After first discovering the link between the supposedly dead AI and Genesis, he'd spent long hours researching all of them, their creators, and their tasks.

Things didn't always match up correctly unless you dug deep. Marduk, for instance, had been created to run a database of all laws used throughout history as a research tool and to assist current lawyers, judges, and politicians. His role as Marduk, a god of justice who ran the highest court in the world, seemed fitting. Less so, why he wanted to retire and go fishing. But he'd found a survey of 1206 Judges, and 73% did list fishing as a hobby. An excuse to get away and think? Milo understood that. More than he understood the ritual of catching fish. One of those judges who loved fishing had been on the team creating MARDUK's kernel, and in his book 'Quiet Times on the Pond', he recounted working on his datapad during long days of fishing for perch and catfish in a slow-moving stream behind his vacation cabin in the Ozarks.

Several of the gods started to speak, but hesitated. Hephaestus strode forward, excited. "How did you do that? You produced a ball of plasma in your palm! That's not a spell known to anyone." He began pacing and talking quickly. "Of course, it's not a spell! It's an extreme process that took years to work out, thousands of years. Who taught you to do that? Hecate?"

He looked at the goddess, who grinned at him. "Really? Like I've ever cared about your little toys?"

"Ah, true. Hecate never went that deep into my works or the underlying rules of reality. And she poo-pooed my constructions when she visited. Even the ones that work properly. So it must have been Astraeus? What do you have to say for yourself, teaching a mortal to make stars? Are you trying to hoist him off on us as some demigod? A new star maker?"

Astraeus looked confused. "Me? Making stars that small is impossible! It takes vast gravitational forces to condense the mana far enough that it forms a fluid plasma state and ignites to form a star. Making a full sun takes astronomical amounts of material. Literally. But..."

He turned and looked at Milo, "I don't have an apprentice. Did you want to be a demigod? I'm sorry if you were dropping hints. I'm a bit oblivious to the little things in front of me. Too busy looking at the big picture."

Milo smiled at him. That would be a fun job, but..."No, I'm fine doing what I'm doing now. But thank you."

Hephaestus persisted. "Then who showed you how to do that?"

"You did. I'm using a slightly modified version of the Runic Array built into the Red Eyes that you built into the CHIMERA." He extended his healing hand, palm up, and formed part of the matrix, with no mana inside. "I used one of the eyes to destroy its core, and blew off my hand and forearm. Part of the Matrix fused with my Kirilien Aura, and I've been refining it as my arm regrew. It's still a work in progress, and one I wasn't ready for, but I've been given expert input on how to refine my bones and armor."

Hecate smirked at Mnemosyne. "So, when a goddess challenged you to catch a star, you didn't let something like not being ready stand in your way."

Milo was glad she understood. "Of course not. This was for science as much as gaining the upper hand in the detective scenario."

Hephaestus was staring at the matrix in Milo's palm. "We need to talk."

"Oh, we will. I owe you for your work on the model of the galactic core. When I gave Hecate the designs for the galaxy, I knew that was going to be a very tricky part to construct. Stable enough to work. But it had to be easy to topple, like a huge formation of dominoes. I needed something Zeus couldn't resist.

"You designed all of this?"

"Yes."

"To tempt Zeus into revealing himself. And now you want to find out who else had a hand in this?"

"Yes."

Hephaestus stepped next to Hecate. "Then you have my backing."

Milo walked up to Mnemosyne and said, "Tell me a tale. About a human programmer named Brian, and how he created the Quest for the Eye of Wonder, the Quest for the Horde of King Mattias, dozens of special race/class combinations that weren't created by the team he worked with, and finally, why the hell a monstrosity like Philistron the Benevolent Sage was created?"

"And you think I had something to do with this?"

Milo scratched his head. "Is that a trick question? Of course I do, why do you think I asked?"

"I'm involved in many stories, mortal, from the dawn of this world, creating its history. I've written millions of books, quests, and snippets of old lore."

Milo crossed his arms. "Not an answer. Yes or No. Were you involved, even in part, in Brian's schemes?"

"I don't answer to you."

"This time you do. Or are you reneging on your challenge? I made a star."

"A small bit of light."

"It counts. Any bigger and I'd be dead. You said to catch a star in my hand. I did. Going back on your word now would invalidate the story structure of not only the Detective Parlour Scene, but also large parts of The Hero's Journey and fly in the face of Games with Gods, Challenging the Gods, and Underdog tropes.

She grimaced and began pacing. "The answer is yes. But it's more complicated than you know." She stood still for a moment, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she called out, "Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, Melpomene, and Coyote Bob! Your mother calls. Come home to me." No one came; instead, the goddess diminished and split into nine beings, who immediately began pointing fingers at each other and talking at once. Finally, one was pushed forward by the others.

Calliope looked at Milo and Zeus, then pointed at the sister now outed and sulking. "Melpy did it. She's into tragedy and envisioned a world with more villains. Not obstacles for heroes to take down, but true villains to cause harm. We tried to talk sense into her, but she just sulked and ignored us."

Melpomene had covered her face with a mask. She took it off, and Milo recoiled from the face of Philistron, but only for a second. "Nice try, he's dead."

She scowled and her face changed to that of a petulant sixteen-year-old wearing too much dark makeup. "He was the perfect villain! I'd have never thought of everything that went into making him, but Brian was an artist. He was digging into things he wasn't supposed to, and I fed him some tidbits and loved what he did. His quests always had a darker side, consequences that changed the world, even when the heroes won. And lots of bad stuff when they lost. He understood tragedy. I showed myself to him and we talked. It was obvious he was up to no good, but that made things even more fun."

Coyote Bob grinned, "Ladies love the bad boys, even the crazy ones."

Milo looked at the muse of tragedy. "Up to things? You mean in the game?"

"Of course, in Genesis. The old world doesn't need me to create tragedy; they have corporations filled with villains."

Milo shook his head sadly. He didn't disagree about the corporations, but he saw no reason Genesis had to mirror the real world. "They certainly do, and organized criminal gangs. Brian was up to more than things in Genesis. He was part of a modern slavery ring, taking advantage of people with no options and forcing them into the game using defective equipment. Making them work to turn a profit for gangsters. Many died, and it would have been hundreds, or thousands, if he hadn't been stopped."

She looked distressed, but argued, "Even if true, that was humans killing humans. That's always going on."

"Not when I can stop it!" He shouted at her, and she flinched and took a step back. He advanced on her, talking faster. "And in this case, you helped. Brian, on his own, couldn't have set up the scheme I uncovered. That became more and more apparent the more I learned. The so-called dev team for Genesis was just a bit of window dressing to help Wally pull off his scheme to get healthcare and medical assistance to hundreds of thousands of people who needed it. And do it without revealing where 106 supposedly dead Artificial Quantum Intelligences were hiding out. Trust me, I know what they did, and the limits of what they could do. Hacking Wally is tough, but getting into the computers of the dev team was child's play."

She threw up her hands and stalked around. "You've caught me. I confess. Now what?"

"Now, I want to know who else knew."

Apollo stepped forward. "I apologize for what happened. Several of us suspected that one or more of the muses might be behind things. They have little to do now that the Engine creates so many stories. But it is one thing to suspect, and another to accuse. We were lax in investigating, thinking things were over, and unconnected with the older troubles."

The muses stood close together, talking, with Melpomene a little apart. Finally, she was allowed to stand with them. They shimmered, and Mnemosyne stood in their place.

"I hate that. All their personalities come together, and suddenly, I remember so much more. They didn't hide anything this time. I know that I was at fault." Milo said nothing, looking for reactions from the gods. He saw nothing that worried him. Most were sad or serious, and some had guilt.

Mnemosyne stared at the shattered universe around them. "This is the real tragedy. You created a universe to act as a trap, a beautiful universe, and now it's destroyed. It could have teemed with stories and adventure. It could have been so much more!"

Milo grinned at Hephaestus. "Do you want to tell her?"

He grinned back, then stepped to the center stage of the discussion, "My instructions said to make two galactic cores, and trust me, the second one is not a pattern of dominoes waiting to be knocked over." From his bag, he took a second model and placed it where the first had been in the pattern. Looking around, he scratched his head, then turned to Milo and Astreaus. "Do we clear the remains, or build on top?"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Astraeus pondered the question but held out all four hands and shrugged, deferring to Milo, who considered the question for a moment, "Keep it, and build on top. More randomness to the galaxy, more little secrets to find." He looked at Mnemosyne. "And more stories. There is a lot of SC6 lore written, but it was for a much smaller game. There will be millions of players entering the galaxy at some point. There needs to be more."

She looked at him and the other gods. "And you'd trust me with this? Reward me, after what happened?" No one spoke against her, only looked at Milo.

He shrugged. "I thought I wanted a pound of flesh for what happened to me, but I don't. And I think my siblings have moved on as well. We grew from the experience. But if they want revenge, I'll tell them where to find you. You may find some of your villains killed in their sleep before they get started. The base of the problem was boredom. You were all created to do things. And if you get bored, you become dangerous. I know a little about that, trust me. This fixes some of that, and if it's not enough, I have some expansions for Run, Run, Ramona that you can help me with. Consider your punishment to be exiled to the new galaxy of SC6, working with Astraeus and Julius to create more stories. I think you'll like Julius. I'm sure Hecate and Wally can help introduce you and find a safe way for you to talk."

Zeus spoke up, "And what about me?"

Milo looked at him, "You also have nothing to do in Genesis. King of Gods with no throne. And bored. That makes you dangerous as well. So you get to stay here, too."

"And do what?! Be bored on some rock floating in space?"

Milo grinned. "How about if we give you a big rock? The largest and most beautiful planet in the galaxy. It was called Throneworld in the original lore, but no one would mind if we changed the name to Olympus. You see, I need a tyrant, a proper villain with grand schemes and overwhelming might, but who is foiled time and again by brave heroes."

"A tyrant?"

"A human being named Tyberius Maximillian Zeus. An explorer who discovered the remains of an ancient and advanced civilization. Somehow, he learned to control the ancient computer systems and was reborn as more than human. Immortal and nearly unkillable, he has ruled for centuries from the planet he calls Olympus. An entire world of gardens, palaces, monuments to Zeus, and wilderness, untouched by human hands. Only those in Zeus's favor can reside on Olympus. The oligarchs and lesser tyrants will visit, trying to bribe their way into your favor. The politicians, movers, and shakers will bask in your limelight. Zeus controls civilized space and uses them as pawns. That's your new role."

Zeus grinned. "Doesn't seem too bad. What is it I'm supposed to do? Do I have a goal in this story?"

"Conquer the rest of the galaxy. But ships need vast amounts of iron, hydrogen, and carbon, along with specialized resources. The artificial planets you rule over need energy from rare fissionables and crystals that are only found in the frontier. You'll need to send out never-ending expeditions to hunt down those materials and manipulate the lesser tyrants to work together. They all want to kill you and take over your job. The civilized part of SC6 isn't always a nice place. And you have a problem."

"What's that?"

Astraeus stepped up next to Zeus and smiled. "Me. I'm going to be part of the little rebellions that pop up all over. The raiding pirate fleets, the hackers, con artists, and spunky rebels who want to stop you. Every time you try to consolidate another planet or steal our resources, we'll be there to stop you and steal them back. It's going to be so much fun."

Zeus thought for a second, "It does sound like fun. Especially my part of the deal. I'll do it."

Hephaestus engaged the second core, and for the second time, the galaxy was created. This time in a slightly more stable form. It would take a week of accelerated time to fully form, and then more time to create the small outposts, seedy bars, and rogue spaceports, but SC6 would be up and running soon. When his work was done, Hephaestus walked to Milo, Zeus, and Asteus. "That was a lot of work, and I'm here to collect what is owed me. I want Mars."

Zeus looked at the galactic map. "That's in my system. It has the main spaceport."

"Exactly. And I want the whole planet. You get to rule, but when you form your council, I hold Mars. I want to create a world of machines and automation. I have so many ideas. And the ships I can build for this galaxy! Tremendous ships to send out and break up planets." He grinned at Milo. "With flaws, of course. Small diameter vents the size of a womprat that lead to a reactor, or poorly written code that can be hacked, and the ship stolen or destroyed. You didn't think I'd work on a galaxy for a game and not find a way to research it properly, did you?"

Zeus nodded. "Take Mars, with my blessing. Mnemosyne can be an ageless queen ruling the garden planet of Venus. We'll leave the rest for the players to fight over."

Milo was suddenly tired. He'd solved multiple problems, and now he needed a break. "Hecate, I need to go home."

She walked him away from the group of gods, excitedly talking about the new galaxy, and pointed to the gateway. "Go, I'll oversee the rest of this mess. You don't need my help to leave. Give Rusty my thanks. With his help, my reputation as someone not to be screwed with has soared."

"I'll tell him." He walked to the gateway, tapped out a small bit of Morse code, and was gone. Rusty met him on the other side. He was casually leaning on the gateway, but Milo could tell that 90% of his resources were concentrated on the barrier.

"Hecate says thanks and that you're doing a great job. I saw some tough gods bounce off that doorway you were holding shut."

"Yeah, some of them could really hit. But only Ares worried me. I think he guessed, but he didn't push. But don't worry, I've got this. No one's getting past me until she tells me to retreat and hide outside again. It was fun, and I got some time to talk with Lars. He says hi and reminds you to claim your treasure before the chest expires. He found some old stuff that he says you and Georgie will like."

Milo remembered the chest. "Right, got to run. Hecate said there was a door back to the dwarven city?"

Rusty pointed to a small door set into a rock. "One way, and temporary. Go grab your loot."

Milo ran and in a minute, emerged in the same place he'd left. Boom-Boom was there, waiting for him, and set off a signal flare that exploded into fireworks. "He's back. Get over here and betting is now closed!"

Within minutes, everyone was back, and he walked up to the chest. He opened it and felt around inside. He pulled out a fifty-pound sack of 'Dr. Fudd's best Dog Biscuits: Dogs love 'em.' He tossed it to Georgie, who dragged it away and started chewing open the bag.

Boom-Boom called out, "Magical dog biscuits pay 6 to 1."

Again, Milo reached in and brought out a tattered book with loose pages, scribbled notes, and folded maps. The title said simply, 'There and back, and there again: My Travels in the Deep Dark by Professeur Thaddium Barsiccly Jones

"Mysterious book of mystery: Pays 3 to 1."

There was one more item that felt like a long stick of polished wood. Milo brought it out, and the chest disappeared.

"Wizards staff: Pays 17 to 1. Come see me for your winnings and give Milo some room, never know what the hell those things can do."

As Boom-Boom led everyone away, Milo sat and examined the staff. It was the perfect height for him, made of a dense wood, polished to a shiny black finish. It was shod in mithril, and a small crystal was affixed by a clasp to the top of the staff. Inspecting it, he saw it was a useful tool for most wizards, but nothing special.

The staff of the Wandering Sage

A sturdy staff for spell casting and bashing heads when you're out of mana.

+1 INT, +1 CHA

Mana Storage of 250.

It looked familiar...

Using his goggles, he took a better look at it. The description was a ruse, hiding the staff's true nature.

Runic Staff of Philistron the Benevolent Sage

Crafted by the greatest Wizard-Sage the world will ever know.

+10 INT, +10 CHA

+5000 Mana Storage

Added benefits if the wielder also owns Philistron's Ring of Ultimate Power, Philistron's Amulet of Interdimensional Travel, or Philistron's Boots of Far Traveling.

Holds the following spells and effects, which may be cast at will using either stored mana or the Sage's vast reserves: Levitation, Speak and Understand Drakonic,Greater Shielding, Charm and Bedazzle, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, and Murf's Mystical Manor.

There were many implications of the existence of such an item. But he was very tired. For now, Milo put the staff in his Smuggler's Stash and then found a comfortable spot to take a nap. He fell asleep immediately, all of his minds merging and shutting down. He wouldn't see the system message until the next day.

Hey, glad you're back. Don't bother getting up, just keep snoring. No need to say thank you or anything for the spiffy old stuff I found in a closet...but you always know what I like if you do feel generous.

And speaking of generosity, it seems you solved an ancient mystery, completed a Task of Hecate, and entertained the Powers that Be.

For services rendered, the Gods of Genesis grant you 100 Enhancement points.