A steady procession of trees flowed past Blix, dark phantoms against an even darker night. She lay her head on Alf’s shoulder and tried to process the centipede attack logically. It was already the stuff of nightmares. If she didn’t engage her memories with both hemispheres of her brain, the trauma would haunt her for the rest of her life.

She’d almost died. If Alf hadn’t gotten to her in time… If the monster had struck her a few inches higher… If there had been four centipedes instead of three… Too many ifs by far. And if the mobs really were leveling up, things would only get worse.

It would have been easier if she had died back there. But what would happen to Alf after she was gone? What would happen to humanity? Someone had to fight against the invasion. But in order for her to fight, she had to survive. And in order to survive, she needed to become a player. Which meant she’d have to trust the very aliens she was supposed to be fighting against.

She tightened her grip on Alf. “Is Jane there?”

After a few seconds of silence, he finally answered. “She says she doesn’t like when you refer to her as being separate from me. She doesn’t like having to delete sections from the feed.”

“Because she wants all her friends to think she’s in control. If we’re successful, she’s planning to take all the credit.”

“She says she is in control. She’s just delegating. Temporarily,” he added with a sigh.

“Tell Jane, she’s a shitty friend.”

More silence. “She says she’s not a friend. She’s a commander.”

“Whatever.” She needed a favor. This wasn’t exactly the best time for an argument. “Commander Jane.” Blix fought to keep the mockery out of her tone. “If one of your people quit the game, what would happen to their human character? Would they go back to being a native NPC?”

“What?” Alf sounded angry. It took a second for her to realize he wasn’t talking to her. “That’s horrible.” His voice was ragged with grief. “She says the host’s personality can only survive a couple of days without stimuli. Most likely, it’s already too late for them to function on their own.”

And she’s been threatening to do this to Alf. The thought of being imprisoned in her own brain chilled Blix to the bone, but if she were going to survive long enough to help Alf, she had to take that chance. “How did she figure out she could let you play the game for her?”

The trees thinned as they came out onto the narrow path that led to their camp. Almost home.

“There’s a control called Share Play deep in the settings tree. She was able to give me control, but she says others have tried to do the same thing but couldn’t because their characters didn’t have a unique ID.”

Blix nodded. “You have an SB neural implant, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“One more question…” Blix cut him off. They’d already reached the trail leading up to the camp. She was running out of time. “Ask her if players are allowed to play more than one character in the same game?”

Alf came to the end of the trail and started picking his way through the prickly hedge. For a minute she thought Jane wasn’t going to answer, but then, just as Alf stepped out into the open, he whispered, “She says it’s possible, but she refuses to pay extra for you because you, quote, already work for her for free.”

Blix snarled because that’s what the situation seemed to call for, but she had already switched her focus to the players milling around the cave’s entrance. “Okay, everybody,” she called out. “We’re back. Find your partners and gather around.”

By the time Alf had carried her down into the bowl and stood with her on the plateau overlooking the pond, all eighteen of their party members had assembled. The group buzzed with excited voices. They seemed to be competing to see who could get closest to their esteemed leader.

“It would probably be better for you to take charge,” Blix whispered in his ear. “I need to do something.”

He cocked his head like he wanted to ask, but then took a deep breath and turned to face the group. “How did it go? Anybody have something to report?”

Everyone started talking at once until Alf burst out laughing. Their enthusiasm was a very good sign. Blix had been worried someone would die.

“Okay,” Alf called out and waited until everyone quieted down. “This time I want the native NPC of each team to tell everyone in once sentence what progress you made today. Raise your hand and I’ll call on you.”

After a few seconds of discussion, Maddie raised her hand. Blix noted how Joseph stood at attention by her side, his arm wrapped possessively around his partner’s waist. An even better sign.

“Maddie and Joseph, second in command and party tank,” Alf called out. Blix didn’t know how he did it, but she could feel the affection in his voice. Based on the way Joseph ducked down and fluttered his hands, he seemed to feel it to.

“Joseph went up three levels,” Maddie said in an excited voice. “We put his points into DEX, health, sword, and shield.”

“Fantastic!” Alf walked over and gave them both hugs. Blix couldn’t help wondering if maybe he wasn’t a little too effective at their whole build friendship strategy.

“Okay, who’s next?”

Seven hands went up, and Alf was forced to choose. “Okay, Patrick and Hannah, stonesmith, metalsmith, and base commanders.”

“Um…” The stocky engineer swept a hand through his thinning hair. “Hannah only went up two levels, but she acquired a completely new skill: stonesmithing. It’s already at level 7, and it’s literally magic. She managed to dig out an entire new chamber in the cave.”

“Seriously?” Blix couldn’t believe it. “That’s the best news I’ve had all day. You may have saved all our lives.”

“Thanks guys.” Alf worked his charisma magic while Blix scanned the crowd. A few of the human women looked a little green, but that was to be expected. What surprised her was how jealous most of the aliens looked—everyone but William the Viking, Hopper the Assassin, and Joseph the Commander.

Kashelle the Chemical Engineer Farmer reported that William the Viking was able to magically shape wood with just a few touches of his knife.

Danielle the Anime-Loving Farmer reported that Marie the DPS Mage had gone up two levels, but still hadn’t figured out how to do magic.

Uther reported that Winston the Half Orc Tank had gained three levels and had put two points into swordsmanship and seven points into shield.

Both ranger teams had leveled up twice and become seventh-level archers.

Mouse reported that Hopper had reached a tenth-level stealth but was struggling with her her dagger.

And finally, Noah admitted that he and Darwin the Beautiful Xenobiologist were still struggling to acquire a healing skill.

“That’s great!” Alf beamed at the excited crowd. “Now a question for the players. How did you like working with your partners?”

Everyone talked at once, but the consensus seemed to be positive. In some cases it might have been a little too positive. The way Noah and Darwin were acting, Blix wondered if maybe their positive experiences might have been the reason they hadn’t made any progress with healing.

“I have a question.” Isabella stared at her raised hand like she didn’t know what to make of it.

“Sure.” Alf waited for everyone to be quiet. “Go ahead.”

“Which of the females is rank number one?”

A murmur of assent ran through the crowd. Apparently, the question meant more to the aliens than it did to Blix.

“I don’t understand,” Alf said.

“You’re obviously the number one male,” she said. “Who is the number one female?”

“Excuse me?”

“She wants to know who gets to mate,” Hannah said. “Is overall rank determined by the highest level, the highest skill, or some weighted combination of the stats.”

Alf took a step backward, a strangled gasp escaping his lips.

“Ah… I see.” Hannah fluttered her arms. “We seem to be experiencing some sort of cultural communication barrier. In our culture only the number one male and the number one female are permitted to mate. This is a serious matter that has a profound impact on the entire community, so it is an important consideration in every decision we make.”

Blix burst out laughing as Alf turned a deep shade of red. “I’ll let Alf handle this one,” she said when she finally caught her breath. “Maddie, could you and Joseph join me in the cave?”

Alf turned towards the cave, but she smacked his shoulder. “That’s okay,” she said. “Stay here and decide on your number one. Joseph can give me give me a ride, can’t you Joseph?”

After an awkward exchange, made even more awkward by Alf’s reluctance to let her go, Maddie helped Joseph piggyback Blix up to the cave.

“Thanks,” she said after they had helped settle her near the ledge overlooking the pond. “Joseph, I have an important favor to ask of you. Could you check your character’s settings to see if you can find the Share Play control? It should be several levels down.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said without the slightest bit of hesitation. After several minutes he announced he had found it.

“Okay…” She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “I brought you here because I trust you with my life. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think it would help everyone’s chance of survival—especially Maddie’s and Alf’s. I’d like you to purchase me to be your second character, but rather than play me yourself—which would end up killing me—I’d like you to use the Share Play option to give me all back my controls. I have a microprocessor interfaced with my brain, so I should have a UID to transfer control to. Do you understand what I’m asking?”

“Yes, ma’am.” His eyes lost focus several seconds, and then he let out a surprised gasp. “You’re listed as an exotic. It’s much more than I paid for this character.”

“Don’t be fooled.” She shot him a hard look. “The only value I bring to the game is my knowledge and experience—which you will certainly lose if you try to play me yourself. Your Mother AI made a mistake in calling me exotic. The only reason I’m different from everyone else is because I lost my legs and half an arm in an explosion. I’d be less than worthless as a character.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He looked to his partner.

“Everything she says is true,” Maddie said. “I think we should help her.”

“Of course.” He turned back to Blix. “I said your character is expensive, but the expense is nothing compared to the fame I’ve earned from being part of this group. I will purchase you and immediately invoke Share Play to give you control. You need not worry.”

“Thank you.” Blix nodded.

And then everything went dark.