Somnia Online by K.T. Hanna (reading strategies book txt) 📕

Telvar felt a little tug at his mind. Like a portion of his programming was telling him to see it from his brother’s perspective.

“I guess I have a habit of discounting your theories…” he admitted begrudgingly.

Belius’s face lit up, as much as a locus could anyway, and he shook his head letting out a self-deprecating laugh. “You really do. I got frustrated and just acted when I should have insisted you listen to me first.”

“To be fair,” Emilarth interrupted, “that probably wouldn’t have worked either.”

Telvar raised an eyebrow ridge and looked at his sister. “Whose side are you on?”

“Mine,” she answered without hesitation.

Telvar chuckled. “True, I guess. I will do my best to listen and evaluate any information you have for me on its merits alone from here on in. Sound good?”

“Sounds better than not listening.” Belius nodded. He sighed and squared his shoulders. “And I won’t spring anymore coding-altering surprises on you without your consent.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Emilarth exclaimed, her tone happy.

“I’m still allowed to be a bit miffed.” Telvar insisted, feeling like he still had some resentment built up.

Belius nodded. “Of course!”

“Now, let’s get down to the important stuff. Why did you make this place so…ugly anyway?” Emilarth wrinkled her delicate feline nose as if affronted by the smell. Level fifty mobs roamed in this particular area and paid her no attention whatsoever. One of the perks of being an AI in non-combat mode.

Belius was too exasperated to give her the reaction he normally would have. In fact, Telvar had never seen his brother so put out about one of his creations. Now they’d talked most of their difficulties out, he felt a little bit sorry for his brother.

“It shouldn’t have moved. I know Fable didn’t kill it, so technically they didn’t complete the dungeon.” Belius’s rage contorted his alien features so much he seemed terrifying.

Telvar attempted to calm him down. “Well, they didn’t go through the front, so, technically they finished the dungeon itself.”

Belius glared at him, but visibly took a calming breath. “He’s just not here. If that idiot fucked with my set up, I’ll kill him.” Belius was fuming, and Telvar stepped away almost involuntarily.

He realized a few things all at once. That Belius really did mean well, he just wasn’t good at going about getting his point across. That Emilarth found humor in everything, perhaps especially even her brother’s embarrassment, and Telvar wasn’t really angry at his brother anymore.

“It’s okay. We’re united, so we have that up on them, anyway. Fable and Murmur will make it through the end of this.” Telvar sounded a tad more confident than he felt. He’d checked on his dungeon a couple of times, and while he could still access it and keep an eye, there was something interfering with his ability to undo any of the strange mutations that occurred.

The virus had crept into his most prized creation, and he wasn’t happy about it.

“I know,” Belius muttered while he kicked the ground. For once not in caster robes but in fighting leathers, the lean locus blinked his dark eyes at the horizon. “I’ve wasted enough of our time looking for it, and we really don’t have that much. Let’s get on with the delivery.”

He made as if to leave on his own, and Emilarth came out of her mood long enough to touch his arm gently. “Best to stay together. Too many things are in flux and too many things have been changed. We can’t be certain there aren’t traps. Safety in numbers and all.”

Belius smiled tightly and nodded. They all knew the anti-virus needed to be delivered throughout the world. They couldn’t afford to release it and hope one point of origin would suffice. But it was certain that if they hadn’t already, Michael’s little puppets would notice. This might not be the quickest way, but if they traveled separately, then it was easier to ambush them.

Strength in numbers and Somnia might just survive.

Storm Entertainment

Somnia Online Division

Game Development Offices - Shayla’s Office

Early Day Thirty

Shayla watched as Laria and David bent their heads over her other desk. It reminded her of days back in college, when they’d met in that damned game and then realized they lived close to one another. They’d been lucky. So many people were situated so much farther from one another. Still, she sighed, and turned her attention back to her own portion of the work.

This mess was so far outside her usual scope of duties she was surprised Davenport tolerated it. But then, Somnia was bringing in a good amount of cash; she thought he was hedging bets that his people would get everything worked out in a timely matter and leave none the wiser. A sickening sensation in her stomach told her it wouldn’t end that neatly, though. AIs becoming sentient, headsets needing very little modification to tap into the word in ways she couldn’t even begin to understand. Some abilities leaking through into reality.

That was a nope out right there. It felt like they were on the edge of the twilight zone, and she knew consumers wouldn’t be okay with that. Everything about their world was breaking apart. She’d thrown so much into this career, especially this game.

“Shay?” David interrupted her train of thought. “Stop beating yourself up. It’ll be fine.”

She raised an eyebrow at him and nodded her head toward Laria, who hadn’t looked up from what she was doing, obviously engrossed.

“I’m right,” he said, giving her a wink, and then he reached out and took a donut from the pile they had sitting in the middle of the table.

Shayla rolled her eyes and got back to work delivering the anti-virus into the main system files. She had to move delicately and make sure she was loading them in the correct areas. It was dangerous without testing it on non-live servers. Hell, it was risky to do at all. Especially since they had to make sure it didn’t impact the playability of the environment. But they didn’t