Bronwyn stretched her neck, feeling it crack and smiling at the release of tension. The conversation with the crowd that had gathered while the Colony Stone established itself went better than she had anticipated. People were generally in a rather good mood, even with the attack that had happened last night. They’d received her explanation of why she was announced as the “leader” of the colony without much argument and had seemed excited about the Contribution Store she’d set up. She explained how it worked and then asked for volunteers to stand watch at night and spread the word about the need for more people to do so. Almost the entire group had stepped forward.

The general euphoria in the face of a life-altering circumstance was puzzling to her, but she was starting to develop ideas. Could it be the Energy? When Bronwyn had received Energy influxes from the System or from fighting the attackers that morning, she’d felt an extreme rush of vitality and positive emotions, almost like an intense dopamine infusion. Could living in an Energy saturated environment have a more subtle effect on one’s mood?

It was hard not to wonder that something was going on. People were standing around cookfires, laughing, some even singing old-Earth camping songs. Younger adults were playing games, practicing with the tutorial spells. The game of frost tag that she’d seen earlier seemed to have spread, and several groups were doing something similar. As she passed by a cluster of tents, she saw several older women and men standing around a kettle and talking about the right way to use Energy to enhance certain flavors. Curiosity got the better of her, and she walked up to the group. “Hey, how’d you guys get a kettle? That wasn’t in my tutorial.”

“Oh, hello there. I’m not sure why you didn’t get a kettle. After I completed the third cooking tutorial, the System generated it as a reward and offered me a quest to teach five others how to prepare something called ithiak stew,” A woman with steel gray hair tied up in a bun replied, stepping forward. “Would you like to learn?”

“Wait, third cooking tutorial? I only had one!” Bronwyn scoured her memory of the orientation experience. Had she skipped something?

“Oh, really? That doesn’t surprise me. It seems the System adjusts the orientation to a person’s talents. Harold, there, got several lessons on how to shape living wood. It seems, with practice, he can make dwellings or other structures out of trees. Anyway, would you like to learn the recipe?” The woman gestured to an older man standing over the cookpot, concentrating on something; Bronwyn wasn’t sure what.

“Uh, no, thank you. I’m going to sleep a few hours so I can wake up and keep watch for part of the night. Do me a favor and spread the word. One person should be awake at all times near each cluster of tents.” Bronwyn started walking again as the woman nodded in agreement and turned back to her cooking lesson. Apparently, she hadn’t finished the orientation quickly just because she was more talented than everyone else. She’d just focused on getting it done quickly. Or had the System steered her that way? She doubted any colonist could perform better in martial skills than she had. Maybe the System had seen that as her main aptitude and pushed her through it? She was starting to feel more and more paranoid about the System. There was no denying that her main goal during the whole orientation was to get done with it. Maybe the System just picked up on that and didn’t try to bog her down with extra cooking tutorials or whatever. Regardless, she was dead tired and ready for some sleep as she made her way to her little tent, standing off from any others. She felt a slight pang of loneliness but pushed it down. There’d be time for making friends when they had some security and a sense of what was coming next. She crawled into her tent, making sure her gauntlets were close to hand and closed her eyes. She knew her body would sleep for about six hours, which should have her waking up right around midnight.

Bronwyn opened her eyes to darkness and silence. She sat up, noticing that she’d kicked her boots off at some point. She listened for any noise while she felt around for her boots, tugging them on and fastening the buckles. Then she slipped her gauntlets on and crawled out of the tent. She stood up in the cool darkness, and as her eyes adjusted, she realized there was quite a lot of light. There was a fat, orange-yellow moon about two-thirds toward the western horizon, and she could see the edge of the giant, ringed moon starting to rise in the east. It was bizarre seeing those alien bodies in the sky and facing them as a constant reminder that they were not on Earth anymore. She was pretty sure that there were just three moons: the nighttime orange-yellow moon that seemed about twice the size of Earth’s moon, and then the two other moons that were mainly in the sky during the daytime. One was huge with rings, and the other followed in its wake - a small pale reflection.

In addition to the moonlight, Bronwyn was pleased to see many campfires still lit up around the colony. She could also discern people walking with torches moving around the perimeter and through the encampment. They’d heeded her advice and maintained a watch! Bronwyn stretched, then dug one of her own torches out of her pack and used the fire starter that had been included in her pack to light it. The fire starter was a fascinating tool - it was a heavy metallic rod, just a bit bigger than her pointer finger, with tiny runes lining its length. When she’d first noticed it in her pack, she’d bonded with it and learned that she just had to channel a tiny bit of Energy into it to cause sparks to flare out one end, almost like a Fourth of July sparkler back on Earth. Torch grasped in one gauntleted hand, she began her rounds.

The night was uneventful. Bronwyn patrolled the camp’s perimeter, making several circuits throughout the dark morning into the gray light of dawn. The air was crisp but not too cold, and she rather enjoyed the pleasant exercise. She had several whispered conversations with other watch people and felt a sense of camaraderie in their shared duty that she hadn’t felt since waking on this strange planet. As the sky grew light and more and more people woke, starting their morning routines, she made her way to the center of the campground and climbed the hill to the Colony Stone. It was time for her to earn some contribution points.

Suddenly aware of the lack of a presence she’d grown accustomed to on her shoulder, she spun around, eyes darting back and forth. “Hops! Hops! Where are you?” she called out like she was calling her dog from back on earth. She heard a slight chirping sound from a nearby bush, and Hops came bounding out towards her, the white fur of his face splattered in purple. He also had managed to dye his little hands, and he was carrying what looked like a half dozen tiny berries. “Well, it looks like you eat more than hair after all. You had me worried for a minute there, cutie; I thought you’d left.” Hops stopped next to her feet and looked up at her expectantly, his arms full of berries. Bronwyn knelt and scooped the little critter up in her hands, depositing him back up on her shoulder. Once he was situated, Bronwyn watched as he started packing the berries away into his shell; evidently, it was more spacious than it looked. Afterward, he proceeded to lick his little hands clean and wipe them off on Bronwyn's hair. “Hey! That’s not a towel! If you dye my hair purple, I swear, I’ll make you ride in my backpack.” She awkwardly pointed her finger back at Hops as she made her faux threat. He chirped back at her in response and pulled her hair around himself, needing another nap after that strenuous eating session. She chuckled at the bizarre and adorable little creature and proceeded to make her way up the hill and up to the Colony Stone.

Resting her hand on the Colony Stone, Bronwyn accessed the Contribution Store and then selected the Quests and Tasks menu:

Contribution Activities for Bronwyn Tallow:

Forge earth attuned Energy beads.

20 contribution points per bead.

Accept? Y/N

Quest: Track the invading Yeksa to their origin and scout the vicinity.

1500 contribution points.

Accept? Y/N

Quest: Explore the northern plains and find points of interest.

200 contribution points per POI.

Accept? Y/N

Quest: Return Energy-rich natural materials to the Colony Stone

Contribution points awarded based on material value.

Accept? Y/N

Bronwyn had spoken with several volunteer guards through the night and learned that many people had already picked up the manual for creating Energy beads and were hard at work. The rumor going around was that people without an affinity for a particular type of Energy were being paid ten contribution points per bead, and those with an affinity were making twenty. That seemed to be confirmed by this menu. The menu didn’t mention that it took people almost a full day of channeling to form one bead. She imagined that it got faster as a person gained in strength or aptitude, but it was a pretty slow way to earn points.

Judging from the menu’s title, the System was personalizing contribution activities for individuals. She looked at her three options for “quests” and accepted them all. She had in mind scouting anyway, and they needed as many contribution points as possible. As she stepped away from the stone, a notification appeared in her vision:

*** Quest accepted: Track the invading Yeksa to their origin and scout the vicinity.***

*** Quest accepted: Explore the northern plains and find points of interest.***

***Quest accepted: Return Energy-rich natural materials to the Colony Stone.***

When she cleared the notification, she saw that Arthur Ballard had made his way up the hill and was standing to the side, waiting for her to finish her business with the stone. “Good morning, Arthur,” she said flatly.

“Good morning, Bronwyn. I was hoping to speak to you about some logistics.” Bronwyn didn’t know why he was being so agreeable, but she decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Oh, alright. I have some quests to work on to earn some contribution points and thereby some System credits for the colony, but we can talk before I head out.”

“Yes, of course. I’m glad you’re taking such an active role. I’ll be here to help oversee things while you’re out. In the meantime, I spoke with some of our Engineering staff, and we’ve decided that we should build our town center with the pond and this hill at the center. With that in mind, we thought your blacksmithy should be placed just to the north there, about fifty yards from the base of the hill. Do you mind trying to get it started before you leave?” Truthfully, Bronwyn had forgotten about the blacksmith building reward. She had planned to put it down before leaving, but a night of sleep had placed that thought a bit too far in the back of her mind.

“Oh, yes, I was going to do that before I left. Glad I didn’t have to hunt you down to ask about a building site.” Inwardly she grimaced at her dishonesty, but she just had a hard time letting her guard down around Ballard. “Right, right, let’s see here…” She dug the scroll for the blacksmith building out of her pouch and unfurled it. Nothing happened, so she stepped over to the Colony stone and placed one hand upon it. As the UI appeared in her vision, a new screen was already open, prompting her to select the location for the blacksmith building. She reached out to touch the three-dimensional, topographical map and found she could highlight appropriate building sites. She chose a spot just a bit north of the hill she was standing on and clicked the “accept” button. The scroll flashed in her hand, dissolving into white steam and yellow streaming fractals that flooded into the Colony Stone’s surface.

Bronwyn felt a rumbling sensation and could hear yells and people clamoring about to the north of the hill, so she ran around the stone to the edge of the hilltop to see what she’d done. Several people scrambled away from an area of about 2000 square feet of ground that was shifting like something was digging just beneath the surface. Bronwyn watched in amazement as a building slowly rose out of the earth, fully intact. It was a square, tan-colored, brick building with brown clay tiles for a roof. The building was a single-story and had a set of three massive chimneys along the eastern edge of the roof. Bronwyn was looking at the south side of the building, and she could see that it had a red-brick patio and a solid set of double doors facing the hillside. As the building settled, the displaced soil seemed to sink into the ground, and a smooth, grassless area of packed earth surrounded the building and the red brick deck.

“Wow, that is pretty damn cool,” Bronwyn said softly.

She was surprised when Arthur answered her, “Yes, it surely is.”

“Well, let's see what we’re dealing with.” Bronwyn started striding down the hill with Arthur in tow, a frazzled look on his face.