Tunnel Rat-Chapter 407: Stories

Hecate refused to remove her barrier, telling the others to discuss things and resolve the situation. With nothing else to do, the Gods talked. Several sat around Kepler and Zeus, listening to the two banter back and forth as they discussed their shared adventures. Other groups formed, talking of their current work or catching up with friends who had decided on a simpler life as a mortal. Several people laughed as Marduk told his stories about 'The fish that got away', always bigger than his last story. Milo moved from group to group, listening and saying nothing, gathering information. He watched and learned, searching for clues, and observing the movements of each person, fitting them into a framework of who-knew-whom, who talked regularly, and who was avoiding whom. He was also judging their power levels. Beings like Zeus and Kepler had an aura around them, an invisible force that pushed against him. Zeus had complained of how hard it had been to hide himself from Kepler, when even as a mouse his power was evident. Marduk, on the other hand, was a normal human fisherman, with only a few levels. The rest of him was stored away somewhere. It was tricky to judge the power of some of the gods. Hecate could hide herself, walking unseen, and no one the wiser. He assumed others might as well. But it was very evident that Hades, Ares, Mnemosyne, Apollo, Zeus, Hephaestus, Perun, and Artemis were equal, at least in power, if not in their abilities. Others might be as well, and hiding it.

He split his mind more and more, listening to all the conversations, and noticing when a god moved from one group to the next. Conversation would stop when one god or another would try to leave the pocket dimension. Some looked annoyed at Hecate and walked away when they couldn't pierce her barrier. Perun was more than annoyed. He transformed into a giant cave bear with glowing claws and rushed the barrier. He fared no better than Zeus, making no mark at all, and rebounding. Hecate was watching on without a care in the world. The only time she became concerned was when Ares approached. He stared at the barrier, spear held high, and gathering his power. After looking for a weakness for several minutes, he gave up. A nod of his head and a wink acknowledge his surrender. After that, no one else challenged her, but Milo overheard a lot of speculation about the Goddess of the Crossroads, with several powerful gods re-evaluating her, as if this were a game with high scores. In some ways, Milo thought it might be. The once-AI could be odd about some things like that, and similar to his own family in how they kept score. Or, for that matter, like the shadow skulkers and their game of Surprise. He still remembered how upset Charlotte had been at losing. She'd taken it personally, adding it to her anger at the Hollow, and her life in general. She'd made some poor decisions while angry.

After what felt like hours to him, he reviewed everything Zeus had said. Then he reviewed all of the information he had on the personalities of the 106 exiled AIs and the types of work they had done. Finally, he went to Hecate. "I need to talk."

She smiled slightly, as if expecting him. Suddenly, no sound reached them from any other conversations. "Privately, I assume?"

"Yes. I need confirmation on matching Gods to AI."

"You haven't figured them all out yet? I'm surprised."

He shrugged, "I have, but it would be very embarrassing to be wrong and might lose me my chance at finding out who put Zeus up to this plot."

She looked at Zeus for a moment, "All of his words and tone communicate to me that he wanted to help his friend."

"Oh, he did. But did he figure out how to do that on his own? Granted, all 106 AI were amazing creatures with capabilities to calculate, communicate, and think far beyond me or any human. But you specialized in how you thought, and what you desired to do. Most of them don't switch their style of thinking easily. That's even evident in the personas you took on in Genesis, to a large extent. Hades cares little for punishing evildoers and running an afterlife; he's balancing the books and keeping accounts. Ares is fascinated by all types of warfare. I'm surprised he doesn't have a War College set up so he could teach."

She looked at Ares for a moment, remembering a conversation with him. "He's been planning one lately, now that humans are in the world. He does miss teaching at Sandhurst. But he doesn't want his college to be human-centric and would require that it be open to anyone from any race. That's tricky, with how Imperial politics is running these days, but he's found an island in the Rust Sea that might be appropriate if he can find a way for ships to get there safely. Be careful around him, I think he's looking for monster hunters, and you fit the bill."

"I'll decoy him with Captain Pike. Names, please."

She confirmed with him that all of his guesses were correct. "What are you planning?"

"I don't have a plan, just a hunch, a pattern with a missing piece. I can see what fits the best, but I might be wrong. Something is off, and we aren't at the end of this story....hmm, or are we? Maybe I need to make it come to an end?" He concentrated, and his tattered orange hoody became a rumpled grey trench coat.

He walked back to Zeus and Kepler and stood between the two, and a bit to the side where he could watch both of them, and most of the Gods. Then he said loudly, "I'm sure you've all been wondering why I called you here today."

Several Gods kept talking for a moment, but most turned to look at him. Ares said, "I didn't come here for you."

Milo turned and said, "And yet, you are here." The Wargod inclined his head, recognizing the point. How often had he maneuvered an adversary into a position without them knowing what he was doing?

Artemis and her cousin looked at each other and grinned. "Call us anytime you have a quarry this big to hunt."

Milo said, "Oh, I will." Then he turned to Zeus. Behind him, Aeto'le whispered to Artemis, "I smell blood in the water. This one is still hunting."

"It's been interesting to hear all of these stories. I'm very thankful that you cared enough for our friend Kepler to entertain him. I was most interested in the story where you created a hoax that the Moon Lords of Luxar were impersonating the Sun Priests of Apollo in an attempt to create a permanent solar eclipse. It's a favorite of Kepler's."

Zeus looked at Milo, obviously trying to remember the event, "Glad you liked that story. It certainly brought this guy running to fix things."

"Oh, it did. But how?"

"What do you mean, how? They were going to break the sun and moon, that's how. He hates things like that."

"Yes, and you laid careful clues to bait him in. What were they?"

Zeus shrugged, "It's been a long time. Some notes or something."

"That's all you recall?"

"Like I said, a long time ago."

Kepler broke in, recalling the story with enthusiasm, "I was half the world away at the time, at the Temple of Slowed time. The High Templar had asked me to come investigate why one of his clocks was running fast. By sheer coincidence, there was a street oracle shouting about the death of the sun. They hauled her away for causing a ruckus, but it was on my mind as I investigated the clocks, which led me to do a full astrological reading, which showed the moon two degrees ahead in its orbit. The closest Temple of Apollo was a day's ride away, and the moon was accelerating. Asking for an audience, the High Priest channeled the Sun God's voice to tell me where to find the culprits. It was an amazing adventure."

"I'm sure it was." Milo spun quickly, "And Lord Apollo, how was it that you knew how to solve the problem?"

"An impertinent question."

Milo pointed to Icarus, "It was, and if something like that bothered you at all, you'd have a different driver."

The Sun God looked at Icarus, who gave Milo a thumbs up. Apollo smiled and laughed, putting his hand on Icarus' shoulder. "Yes, the young one is trying at times, but he's also a lot of fun to keep around."

"Back to my impertinent question then?"

"It was an untimely solar eclipse, and of course, I would know that something was up. It was a major event that could have large consequences around the world."

"I agree. A major event. And how did you know where to find the culprits?"

Apollo thought for a moment, then said, "Part of a larger story, not mine to tell. Zeus was behind it, after all."

Milo looked at Zeus, then at the assembled gods, "ZEUS had one job: Keep the status quo. He didn't have to be creative; in fact, that was a hindrance. He was consistent and reliable, but not creative. I find it hard to believe that he set all of this up, but it's certainly not my place to challenge the gods. Let's keep the hypothesis that this was all Zeus' doing. I'd like to ask about another part of his plot. How did he find out about Brian, one of the human programmers, and the person behind Philistron, the Benevolent Sage?"

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Zeus looked puzzled, then belligerent. "Humans were messing with our world, trying to add stories to it. That's a little presumptuous, don't you think? It was our world, not theirs. I got curious about what they were doing."

"Hadn't they been invited to do just that? Why would it bother you?"

"Well, it did. And like you said. Who are you to question us?"

Milo rolled his eyes theatrically, "That was sarcasm. You're all here, you can't leave, and I have questions you'll all answer before you are allowed to leave."

There was a lot of grumbling, a few smiles, and much interest in that statement. Several looked at Hecate with anger, and she stared back, her grey eyes betraying nothing but confidence until they dropped their challenges. Milo continued, "If it confuses you, you could ask Mnemosyne, she's written a couple of detective novels and might recognize the scene."

A goddess with long brown hair in a green robe looked at him strangely, then scowled. She'd been ignoring the conversations and scribbling in a huge tome with a quill. She slammed it shut and glared at him. "A few? I've written more stories, including mysteries and detective novels, than you have days alive. Ninety-nine percent of which no one will ever read because of my exile. Do not presume on what I know or don't know."

Milo smiled at her, smugly, as if he'd made a point. "So you'll be able to explain a parlour room scene to the rest of them. I'm sure you've written one of those? It's where a detective or sleuth has figured out that a crime has occurred, usually a murder, but doesn't know who. He gathers all his suspects together and begins to question them all, putting together the clues until he solves the crime."

She snapped at him. "I've written many."

"So you do know how they work. This pocket dimension is a locked room, and I get to play the part of the sleuth. I wasn't sure anyone here would recognize the setup, but of course you do. You've even published a few, but always under some other author's name. Sad that you didn't get credit. Or am I guessing wrong? It just seemed that 'Murder on Moonbase 3, 7, and 11-23 were much better than Arnold Forgoyles' usual dreck, and the attention to detail was astounding and very reminiscent of some of your first books. Even after they were banned for not being written by a human, I still found them in odd corners of the data net. Not bad stuff at all."

She grimaced, "Not bad stuff? Yes, that's what one of the so-called reviewers said. Yet Arnold's books were masterpieces, at least the ones I wrote were. They even started finding things to like about the ones he wrote himself. They were horrible."

Milo sighed theatrically. "And yet, he has a Hugo and a Pulitzer prize on his wall, and you do not. A question: Did you or he write the scene in MoTM 23 where Captain Iverson traps all the passengers in a cargo bay and fakes a power failure? Now that was a parlour scene. I was thinking that was his contribution."

"I wrote that!"

Milo nodded his head at her condescendingly. "Good, so you do know what one is then."

"Yes, I do..."

"Just making sure. A lot of people say they know something, but don't, like Zeus claiming he created all those quests and traps for Kepler to wade through." The storm god looked startled to be caught between the two. Milo continued, "Tell me, Zeus. How much do you know about ancient runes and the programming language for the Engine?"

"Not a damn thing. I wanted nothing to do with the Engine. It was a mistake to give up our power. Which proves my point that it was all Brian behind your problems."

Milo looked shocked, "Nothing? But then, who gave Brian the codes to unlock them? He certainly couldn't have found out on his own, and yet he could create full characters with complete histories, and massive quests, and the Engine responded to them, but the System was kept in the dark. Something no other human programmer had access to. Trust me, I've talked to them and hacked all their systems. Brian knew things. The System is still angry about it; tread carefully. I suspect he has a vindictive streak, but I might be reading things wrong."

Ares looked at Zeus, remembering those times. "Zeus did not have anything to do with the Engine or its design. He argued against it, in fact. And that it gave away too much control of the world to a new construct, even a sentient one, created by us to serve us. But what is your point?"

Milo was delighted to have Ares play straight man, furthering the conversation and giving openings. Every detective needed one. "My point is obvious: Someone else was helping Zeus. Writing the quests for him, utilizing a vast knowledge of the world to send Kepler all over during his pursuit and investigations. When I thought this was a game, I accepted that it was Brian who had done a lot of it. But Brian is a recent addition to the world; Zeus and his advisor have been doing this forever. And now that I know the limits of what Brian could do, I see that the special characters and quest for the Eye of Wonder were too in-depth, let alone the insane quest for the vast wealth of King Mattias. That was a level of world-building he couldn't do, and again, this points to one of you with both the talent to do so and access to the Engine." freёnovelkiss-com

Hades sighed. "I have a lot of work to do. I don't suppose you'd let some of us go who had nothing to do with this?"

Milo shook his head, "Sorry, can't. Until I get a confession, you're all suspects. I've ruled out a few people, obviously, but we have to keep going until someone cracks. Or the people who know they're guilty give them up. Right, LYRICAL? You're the expert on stuff like this, aren't you?"

Mnemosyne was obviously annoyed to have her old name used and to be called out again. "I am, and far more than you. For instance, I know that things in real life don't work that way. You need to learn that."

Milo grinned at her. "Ah, but I know something you don't. Something I learned from ICARUS. Sheer determination is sometimes enough. He managed to defeat himself and win the day by refusing to lose. Thanks for teaching me that." The redhead in the chariot smiled and waved at everyone.

Mnemosyne threw up her hands. "You have no more chance of that happening than you do of holding one of the stars in your hand."

Milo was startled by her statement, and thought about that, then looked at her. It wasn't an opening he'd thought he'd be given. "Is the converse of that statement true? If I can hold a star in my hand, will all of you give up the culprit so we can move to the judgment phase and wrap things up? Several of you know which of you did this and are protecting them from my inconsequential mortal wrath. Not sure why you bother, but you are."

This brought much laughter from all the gods, especially Zeus and Kepler. Hades looked hopeful. Mardu brightened up, "Ah, he's looking for a way out with dignity, I've seen this in court many times. We'll agree that yes, something happened, but no names will be named. He's satisfied, and we avoid a messy problem for now and can take our time handling things internally. A technical win for both sides."

The Goddess of Stories smiled at Milo, "There's your deal. Catch a star, hold it in your hand, and win. Or fail, and this meeting is over, with Zeus as the culprit. And no one here will interfere in your grand quest to be the Boy Who Caught a Falling Star." She looked at Kepler, who was completely confused by the course of events.

Milo said, "That works for me. Now quiet. If you talk, you scare away the stars, and I can't lure one down."

For thirty seconds, Milo concentrated, holding out his hand. Bone ridges formed, so small they looked like pale fish scales as they rippled across his forearm, layered with dwarven engineering runes. He refined the individual pieces, strengthened the linkages, and built them up layer by layer until he was wearing a high-tech armored scale gauntlet. More than one god looked at Volax-Repat and wondered at the connection. Then those who could see the ancient runes saw a multi-layered runic formation appear, complicated beyond things most of them had accomplished. Hephaestus leaned in close, fascinated by what was happening and recognizing it. Energy filled the formation, which rapidly contracted smaller and smaller as the layered force runes compressed the mana inside. Milo poured himself into the formation, forcing the pressure to increase.

With a brilliant flash of light, a microscopic ball of compressed mana ignited and became plasma, burning like the red-eye beam of a chimera. Or like the stars in the sky. For a brief second, Milo held it and then cast it into the void. His armor was destroyed, and his hand burned to the bone, but it was rapidly healing. Another second and he'd have been regrowing the hand. He hated the itching and wanted to avoid that.

He turned to the Gods. "Your turn. Someone owes me the details on how this all happened and the full story of what they did."