When Bronwyn stepped away from the monolithic Colony Stone, she saw Arthur Ballard and two others walking up the hill from the gathered crowd. They were obviously coming to talk to her; she had known he’d come when she realized how large the obelisk was growing and when it started making such a spectacle with steam and golden lights, but she hadn’t known there’d be a System announcement. She was dreading this conversation, but she steeled herself and got ready to defend her actions. She stood up straight, the obelisk behind her, and planted her fists on her hips, staring at the trio as they approached.

As Arthur and his companions got about halfway up the hill, she recognized one of them as the older man from the night before who had been trying to calm the crowds. The other was a woman whom Bronwyn knew immediately. Her name was Olivia Bennet; she was a celebrity genius back on Earth. Olivia was the sole reason they could even travel to Tau Ceti; the cryo technology that kept them all alive and free from aging during the centuries-long flight was her crowning achievement. She had straight raven-colored hair running down past her shoulders, framing a pale, oval face. She walked slightly apart from Arthur and his other companion, and Bronwyn noticed, as she got closer, that in the palm of her hand, she was spinning around four different colored orbs of Energy, each the size of a grape. If Bronwyn were to guess, she had an orb for each base element: fire, water, earth, and air. She was causing them to spin and interact with each other in dozens of confusing patterns, all without seeming to concentrate much at all.

“Bronwyn,” Arthur said flatly, and the three of them came to the top of the hill and stood before her.

“Yes, Arthur, before you ask, I set up the Colony Stone here. It was one of my rewards for finishing the tutorial.” Bronwyn sighed, already weary of this conversation before it started.

“Don’t you think some sort of discussion would have been in order? Aren’t you at all concerned…” He abruptly stopped speaking as Olivia put her hand on his shoulder.

“Arthur, let’s give Bronwyn a chance to explain what she’s done. I think it’s clear that she has good intentions, considering the heroics she pulled off this morning, don’t you?” Olivia’s voice was soothing and not a little patronizing. Ballard frowned but nodded.

“All right, Bronwyn, do you mind explaining this stone to us? Do you mind explaining why the System just said you are the ‘leader’?”

“Okay, but first, let’s make introductions. I know you, Arthur; you’re the one who hired me. Ms. Bennet, I know you by reputation. Sir, I recognize you from the attack, but I don’t know your name. I am assuming you all know my name? Bronwyn Tallow? I was hired to pilot the Titan mech and provide security for the colony, long-term.” Bronwyn had decided to take this slowly and create the illusion of a formal meeting. Why should she let Ballard bluster his way through, keeping her on her back foot?

“Oh yes, I remember you, Ms. Tallow. Thank you again for your heroics. My name is Dr. Kerns, and I’m the chief medical officer for the Pioneer-9 mission,” the gray-bearded man replied with a smile. Bronwyn could see that she’d hit the right nerve by keeping things formal.

“Very good; I can see that we have three high-ranking members of the colony mission here. Arthur, you’re the nominal mission leader, and we have the Chief Science Officer and Chief Medical Officer. Is there anyone else we should have in this discussion before I go into what I know? Because I’m not someone who really likes to repeat herself a lot.” As Bronwyn made the last statement, her eyebrows drew together, and she practiced her “very serious” expression.

“Just what do you mean by ‘nominal’ leader?” Arthur spluttered.

“Arthur, relax; I’m sure she didn’t mean any offense. What about her question?” Again, Olivia used a placating tone, and Arthur stiffened but listened to her, actually responding to Bronwyn’s question:

“Chief Engineer Durant is missing. Several people from the area where he was camping seem to have been dragged off by the wolves. Because the wolves don’t seem to keep prisoners, we’re counting them among the casualties.” He paused for breath, and Bronwyn nodded for him to continue. “Well, we’re still taking stock of where everyone is in the meadow and at what stage of this absurd orientation they’re on. I really don’t know which of his lieutenants should take his place in a meeting like this, and none of them have come forward.” For the first time, Bronwyn could see the frustration and fear beneath Aruthur’s bluster. She actually started to feel a bit sorry for him.

“Yeah, I know, Arthur. It’s a clusterfuck.” Bronwyn began to pace slightly. “Well, what about agriculture? Husbandry? Anyone else?”

“Yes. I’m sure many department heads should be here, but, Bronwyn, we don’t have any of our tools or supplies or embryos; people are just trying to figure out how to adapt right now. I think we should keep it to this small group for now, and if you are loath to repeat yourself, I’m sure the three of us could help with that.”

“All right, well, here’s the deal. I was awarded the Colony Stone from the System. The System doesn’t give a fuck about what Ivy League schools we all went to. It doesn’t care what the people on Earth said we should do when we got here. The System seems to care about Energy and how well we use it, and that seems to be about it. Based on what happened this morning with the attack, I decided we couldn’t sit around and debate things for days on end, so I made a decision: I planted the Colony Stone, and the System assigned me as the leader. Now, I’m pretty sure that can be changed down the road, so don’t start hand-wringing and calling me a dictator. After we get things secure and people find their roles, maybe we can have an election or something, and I’ll be willing to adjust the settings. Assuming I can do so.” Bronwyn took a deep breath and paused. It was the most she’d spoken at once since they left Earth.

Before Arthur could respond, Dr. Kerns cleared his throat and spoke, “Arthur, dear man, you must be able to see that things are different than we planned? You can’t expect things to just go according to plan when we don’t know what planet we’re on, we don’t have any of our supplies, we don’t know what hostilities we face, and we’re dealing with some sort of omnipotent entity? For Christ’s sake, man, people are performing magic!” As he spoke, his tone continued to rise until his exasperation came through as a near shout. Arthur looked to Kerns and then to Bennet and then back to Bronwyn.

“You’re willing to relinquish leadership if people wish it? When things are settled?” Bronwyn stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “Very well,” he sighed, “Bronwyn, just what can this monolith do?” He stepped to the side and gestured to the stone. It stood there, unmoving save for the dim runic symbols that seemed to be inches beneath the stone’s surface, its immense shadow stretching down the hill and across the blue meadow to the east in the waning sunlight.

“Well, I haven’t had a chance to look it over,” Bronwyn said, following his gaze. She walked over to the stone and placed her palm upon it. It felt solid and cool, but she could sense the Energy within thrumming with potential. “Let me check it out. Be patient.” She could feel them draw closer to watch as she pushed forth a trickle of Energy into the obelisk.

The periphery of her vision seemed to darken slightly, and a System window, larger and with much greater complexity than she’d seen before, filled her vision. It was much like a user interface for any high-end business software back on Earth. There were menus and, within some menus, even three-dimensional renderings of buildings and the local landscape. When she explored some menus like “Optional Upgrades to Colony Stone,” she found dozens of subcategories. Within those subcategories were hundreds of menu items. It would, quite literally, take her days to explore all of the functionality of the Colony Stone.

One of the first things, she noticed, was that most of the optional upgrades to the stone, and then, in further menus, upgrades to the Colony itself, cost something called “System Credits.” Bronwyn noted that First Landing had a whopping zero System Credits. She explored some more until she found the submenu she was looking for: System Credit Exchange. Reading through the menu and the options, she learned that Energy users could exchange “Energy rich” treasures and items for System Credits at any Colony Stone or the upgraded versions, Town, City, Nation, or World stones.

Reading over the interface for exchanging System Credits, Bronwyn had a thought and reached into her pouch, calling to mind the little sack of green-colored beads she’d gotten from the Yeksa shaman. Holding it near the smooth surface of the monolith, she noticed that a green menu item had filled in on the menu, asking if she wanted to exchange 56 Nature Attuned Energy Beads for 1120 System Credits. Bronwyn selected the “yes” prompt and wasn’t surprised at all when the pouch in her hand was suddenly a lot lighter and quite empty. “Well, that was fast,” she muttered.

“What was?” Olivia Bennett’s voice was hushed, almost a whisper, but it still startled Bronwyn; she’d nearly forgotten she had an audience.

Not taking her eyes off the menu, she explained, “If you want to buy anything from the System, you need to have System Credits. I just traded some Energy beads I got from a monster I killed for some System Credits.”

“Huh, almost exactly as I had postulated to Arthur earlier.”

“What? You guessed there’d be something like this?” Bronwyn was distracted by the conversation, but she was also curious.

“Not exactly, but I’ve theorized that the System is something of a parasite,” Olivia responded and didn’t elaborate.

“Uh, can you explain what you mean?” Bronwyn wanted to keep exploring the menu, but the subject of just who or what the System was had been on the back of her mind since day one.

“Well, clearly, it wants to nurture Energy users and encourages growth and strength. I’ve assumed that it somehow gains in power as we do. This stone is the first concrete evidence I’ve seen, though. It wants people to exchange Energy for goods. Do you think it is benevolent, as it claims, and only asks for enough Energy to create the goods? Or do you think it keeps a percentage and grows in power?”

“Damn. A fucking parasite, huh?”

“Apparently, a very large one. The “orientation” spoke of many worlds and even multiple universes. Imagine!” Olivia sounded almost excited by the prospect. Bronwyn could see how a scientist would be giddy at the idea of multiple universes and some kind of inter-dimensional parasite, but she just felt creeped out. She snorted and continued looking through the interface.

“I’m checking out defensive options, and there are a lot of them, but, most basically, we can purchase walls. It looks like we can buy wooden palisades for 5000 Credits plus the required building material. For a four-square-mile area, it wants 800 fucking tons of lumber. There are other options, though: stone, living wood, marble, steel. Fuck, the menu goes on and on. They all require materials, but up near the top, there’s an option for a packed-earth bulwark that only requires 8k Energy. Nothing else.”

“Interesting,” Arthur said from her right side. “Why did you select a four-square-mile area? Is eight thousand a lot of Credits? How many did you get for that pouch of beads?”

“I was just looking at the prices, and it seems to climb exponentially. I figured that was plenty of space for us until we get a foothold. The System gave me 1100 credits for those. Gimme a couple of minutes, please. I’m trying to figure something out.” Bronwyn cut off his follow-up question. She’d realized that they didn’t have enough Credits to do much of anything, so she was looking for ways to make them. She’d found a submenu called “Contribution Store System” and was reading through it. It looked like she’d be able to set up a semi-autonomous process for the people in the colony to contribute to the bank of Credits she could draw on. The System would create a Contribution Store, and people could turn in Energy bearing items or perform tasks or “quests” in exchange for Credits. Bronwyn looked at the basic Contribution Store item list and was amazed at its depth. Anything from food, to alcohol, to clothing, to weapons, to potions, all the way up to “conscious” items and “natural treasures” that could improve your body in numerous ways. It was mind-boggling.

One item stood out to her, though, because it was the first thing on the item list and was offered for zero contribution points. It was a manual on how to refine raw Energy into Energy beads. At that moment, what Olivia had said earlier finally clicked for Bronwyn. The System was giving them, Energy cultivators, a manual that taught them how to harvest Energy so that they could feed it to the System through this stone. Sure, it was offering them prizes and treasures, but Bronwyn just didn’t believe that it wasn’t keeping more than it needed to provide the items on the list. Out loud, she said, “Fuck. I think you’re right, Olivia, but I don’t see a way around it. We’re going to have to play this game if we want to survive. For now.”

Bronwyn spent the next several minutes setting up a Contribution Store for the colony. There was an option to increase the cost of the items, thereby receiving a larger amount of Credits in the colony bank. Just like fucking taxes, she thought. She decided to leave the slider at the baseline Credit cost for now. She could customize the item rewards but couldn’t think why anyone would do that. She assumed that maybe some communities wouldn’t want people to buy alcohol or drugs, or certain kinds of clothing. She decided not to worry about that unless it became a problem, and she would rather that be an issue that was voted on later, not a mandate from her.

Finally, she turned away from the menu and looked at the three patient observers. “I set up a Contribution Store. Anyone in the colony can use the menu here to complete tasks, earn rewards, and thereby earn the colony System Credits.”

“Now I see why you said I was right!” Olivia was beaming, obviously pleased with herself for her guess about the System’s nature.

“Also, it looks like anyone who can channel Energy can create those Energy beads. There’s a manual in the Contribution Store for free. I think everyone should be told about that; it’s a way to earn points without risking your life in the forest.”

“Yes, we’ll spread the word. Also, if you don’t mind, we three will begin canvassing the population for ideas on what should be a priority after the wall. Does the System sell buildings?” Arthur was clearly trying to have a deferring tone with her, and Bronwyn saw the strain it was causing him.

“Yes. Everything from gazebos to libraries. I also earned a certificate for a blacksmithy doing a quest this morning. I’ll take your advice on where to place that tomorrow. In the meantime, I need to get something to eat and then shout for volunteers to keep watch tonight. It’s clear we won’t have walls up before dark.” Arthur blanched at the mention of darkness and nodded to her.

“See you later, okay, Bronwyn?” Olivia said as she started to walk past and down the hill.

“Yeah, for sure. We have a lot to do and talk about,” Bronwyn turned to smile, but Olivia had already turned to the obelisk, resting her hand on the stone. Stepping away, Bronwyn rubbed her dry and bleary eyes. She felt like she had been reading through lists and looking at graphs for hours. She stretched and looked out at the scene before her. Tents were sprawled out for acres in every direction in the short blue grass. People were congregating in groups; the largest was here, at the base of the hill where the Colony Stone rose above like a thick, dark finger. She walked down the hill toward the biggest crowd and mentally prepared to exhort them about the need to keep watch with a fire burning all night.