Exodus: The Assassin's Path 35 Dead Tycoon

TAP Interface Acquired.

Synchronizing character data.....

Welcome Back Q, find your path!

He logged in on top Talon's city wall. Ren was waiting patiently for him.

Together they walked to the portal and a moment later appeared in the warehouse

alcove.

System Message: Ren has become one of your followers.

System Message: Ren has joined the Fora Development Group Faction.

Ren

Prodigal Musician

Level 1

Strength 19

Endurance 28

Intelligence 70

Agility 24

Luck 22

Charisma 30

Remmy approached Ren with a shy look on her face. "I'm Remmy, we really didn't get a chance to talk yesterday."

"I'm Ren, you are so cute! I love your hair."

Remmy blushed as she followed them. "Thank you!"

The three of them walked over to the conference table, Tal smiled at them as she brought up the 3-D map. There were four points marked in red. "These four points will mark the location of the survey camps. Thanks to Q, each camp will have one of the big dome tents."

Mojo had been talking to Yayia near the market hub, she walked over when the map display was activated. "Raven is currently surveying the western coastal region. I will be heading to the north survey camp. Yayia will go to the southern camp, that leaves the eastern to Tal and Remmy.

"I'll go with mom, if that's okay." As a musical genius, Ren had been talking in front of adults her whole life, she wasn't shy at all.

Tal smiled and nodded. "Obviously Pops will stay here. What about you Q?"

Q had been shuffling through some of the papers on the table, there were several sets of blueprints. He wasn't an engineer, but he had some basic knowledge. "Aren't these the papers we picked up from Shadetree?"

Remmy's face turned somber, "yes, those are the blueprints stolen from Innisfrae'."

Q nodded and put a hand on Remmy's shoulder, he knew Innisfrae had been a great gnome city.

"Innisfrae... that's a pretty name." Ren peeked over Q's shoulder at the papers.

"I'll be taking a trip to Fenway to recruit some tradesmen." Quinn brought up the remodel plans for Talon, "we are going to need more shops, we'll have sites for about a dozen."

"After I get the recruits settled and attend to a few other things, I will join Mojo in the North camp." Q glanced over at Lara Sy. "I want the Songbirds to investigate everything we have on Innisfrae. Why did Shadetree have these items?"

Lara Sy nodded her head. "Of course Commander."

"Mojo, I wonder if you wouldn't mind taking a trip with me." Q used his hud to bring up a map of the Zohai region.

"Zohai? I'm native to that area, what could you possibly be doing there?" Mojo reach over and adjusted his map. "When did you want to go?"

"Tomorrow, we'll be picking up my friends," Q replied. "I'm curious to see how they've been doing."

Q noticed the Mail light was blinking. "Hmm, Anna is filtering my mail so these must be the important ones."

TAP MAIL

Subject: Hey! Sender: Sinful Jinn Attachment:None

Subject: Today's Messages Sender:Jaded Ice Attachment:None

Subject: Thank you Sender:Bo Jangles Attachment:None

"Open first mail"

Dear Q,

It made me so happy to be there for you last night! Rhapsody and I need a day or two to wrap up some loose ends. Cya soon.

Jinn,

"I definitely owe you one. Open second mail."

Q,

Okay this is awesome. I can send and receive TAP

mail from my desk. That makes my job easier. I will filter

the contents of your mail, at least until it drops down into the

hundreds. Today I hired a specialist to build our website,

should be up in a few days. Remember, there is one day

left until Crimson Rose logs in.

Jaded Ice,

P.S. I had Obreen on hold for thirty minutes today.

"I hope his hair starts falling out. Open third mail."

Q,

I thought I was coming to Talon to do you a favor. I

was the one who ended up benefiting. I owe you one.

Bo Jangles.

"Nope, the debt is mine, whatever you need."

*****************

An hour later Q stepped out of the Fenway portal. He checked his map and began walking toward the Tradesmen Square, when he was close he stepped off into a blind alley.

"Activate Hiding Among Us, Foreign Diplomat Alto."

System Message: Appearance and voice are altered while using Diplomat skill.

"Activate Ma.s.s Quest Editor. 'Run and Operate your own Shop in Talon for 12 months.' Reward 100 thousand credits, mailed to you upon satisfactory completion. Limit 12 Tradesman, Two Hour Sign-up Limit, Top 12 Ranks chosen. Minimum Rank: Master Craftsman."

System Message:Designate Sponsor of Medium Ma.s.s Quest.

"I am sponsoring it."

System Message: 1.2 million credits has been removed from your inventory.

System Message: Quest created: A Year in Talon.

Quest: Run and Operate your own Shop in Talon.

Duration: 12 months.

Reward: 100 thousand credits

Limit: 12 Tradesmen

Minimum Rank: Master Craftsman

Additional Rules: 2 hour sign up

period, top 12 ranking tradesmen

will be picked.

System Message: Medium Quests can be a.s.signed to Job Boards or held separately.

"a.s.sign quest to Job Boards please."

System Message: Quest has been posted to Job boards.

Q arrived at the NPC Trades Auction. The Job sponsor would step up on the block and say what trades he needed, how many and what he was willing to pay. Anyone interested would raise their hands. It was a slow day so Q didn't have to wait long. He strode up to the block and waited for the auctioneer to give the okay. The auctioneer nodded at him.

"Diplomat Alto, representing the Fora Development Group Faction. I am requesting 40 tradesmen for six months. The pay is 50 thousand credits per person. 32 Stone Masons and 8 Carpenters."

There was a moment of quiet, followed by a sudden rush toward the auction block, the entire area becoming a waving sea of hands. Q glanced at the auctioneer who was taking down the names.

It took less then minute to completely fill up.

A few blocks away, the job boards were being mobbed by Grand Master Craftsmen from every discipline. Word had quickly spread through Fenway, the Fora Development Group were paying high quality Tradesman and Craftsman to work in Fora. The pay was the highest anyone had ever heard of, the compet.i.tion was so fierce that Master Craftsmen were being ignored.

After setting up the quests, Q once against found a blind alley and changed back into himself. "d.a.m.n.. that took longer then I thought. Enough for now. Log-Off TAP."

Q exited the VR chamber and glanced at the clock in his room. Still a bit of time before dinner. He walked to the railing outside his bedroom and peeked over. Tal was in the kitchen watching Ren maneuver around the island in her wheelchair.

"Hey.. how fast does that go?" Q yelled down,hanging over the rail.

Ren gave him look and then sped up. "Fast!"

"Careful Ren," Tal shook her fist at Q who was clapping.

Q mouthed a silent, "What?" Then headed in Anna's room.

Anna had several huds open and was busy mult.i.tasking. She looked up at Q when he stood in the doorway.

"Someone has been busy." She brought up a new hud and pointed to it. "Know what this is?"

Q squinted, "any reason why I should?"

"Its a website dedicated to tracking you." Anna spun her chair around to face him.

"You stalking me?" Q sat down at the chair next to her desk. She was wearing a comfortable looking t-s.h.i.+rt and light blue floral print shorts.

"Yep.. but that's not my website, there are a bunch of these." She handed him up a sheet of paper.

"What's this?" Q leaned back in the chair. 'd.a.m.n, her furniture is really comfortable.'

"It's your combined in-game out-game, net-worth estimate."

Q whistled. "Seriously? That's a lot of zeroes."

"Yes it is," she grabbed the paper back from him. "Oh hey, your closet is filled with your new wardrobe, courtesy of me." She started closing huds while they chatted.

"Couple quick things I want to touch base on." He watched her while she worked.

"Shoot!" She wrapped up all the huds and gave him her full attention.

"Some of my cla.s.smates are looking for jobs, there should be three or four who will make capable a.s.sistants. Ask Jinn for recommendations, you need to delegate more of this work."

"That would be nice, I don't have enough time to get to every little thing." She smiled at him as she ran her fingers through her short black hair.

"We will set you up in Talon at the warehouse, so you can communicate directly to your workers." Q stood up and walked to her window. "Hey, we have a pool?"

"Didn't you look outside when you moved in" Anna didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Should almost be time to eat, I'm going to head down and help Tal."

Quinn followed her out of the room, stopping at the railing to peer down into the kitchen below.

"Wait! That smells like meatloaf? For real? I love Tal's meatloaf!" Quinn bounded down the stairs, managed to stumble on the last step and slid face first into the carpet.

"Hahahaha." All four people in the kitchen burst into laughter as Q lay face down and spread eagled on the carpet.

"I'm okay," he laid there with his face mashed against the carpet, the words sounding like "M oyay," which caused the group to laugh even harder.

An electric noise buzzing near his head made Quinn look up. "Oh hey Ren.. I did that on purpose."

Ren hid a smile behind her hand. "Is that right?"

Q noted that her voice sounded much better today."Yep." He jumped up.."How else would I be able to see your underwear? Red is very daring for a school girl."

"They are blue dork-face!" She started driving into the kitchen and then stopped... "oh c.r.a.p."

Quinn smirked at her. "That right?" 'Yep, just like Tal.' He grabbed a chair and moved it out of the way so that Ren could wheel in.

"Don't be mean to me Quinn, no one loves you as much as me." She smiled sweetly and took the spot Quinn had cleared.

Quinn sat down and collapsed his head on the table. 'd.a.m.n, so easily defeated.'

"It's fine Quinn! Sorry for laughing." Ren smiled apologetically.

Quinn felt Renri's hand pat his back. He frowned at her, "don't console the bad person!"

Quinn popped his head up as Tal was putting the meatloaf on the table. She handed him a knife and sat down.

"I get to cut it? Nice.." He sliced thick slabs of Tal's special meatloaf as everyone watched.

"Hmm. You look like a husband when you do that." Anna smiled at him, her short hair was pulled back with a headband, her perfectly manicured nails clicking lightly on the table.

Quinn nodded in agreement, "I've become domesticated."

"Hahaha," once again the table laughed.

Quinn gave them a disapproving look. He held out his hands to Ben and Renri, and they all joined.

"Thank you for the meal."

"And G.o.d bless Quinn." Tal added softly.

Quinn stared at her, this time she didn't avoid his gaze. "I appreciate the blessing, but how many days are you going to do that?"

She looked at him with those pretty blue eyes. "Forever most likely."

Ben nodded.

"I've got a question Quinn." Anna came to his rescue, "The Quest giver ability, how's that work?"

"My low level Quest Ability lets me grant only xp and I can't exceed 300. That's great until you are above 15, then it's not worth it. My middle rank Quest ability, I can only grant coin, but I have to sponsor the credits myself."

Quinn bit into his meatloaf and closed his eyes in pleasure.

Anna noticed this and shoveled her peas on Quinn's plate.

Quinn opened his eyes and noticed his abnormally large stack of peas. He turned his eyes and smiled at Ren.

"Oh.. did you want to switch?" She offered Quinn the vegetable shake that she was sipping from.

Quinn shook his head and started wolfing down the peas, big mounds of green going into his mouth. He stopped suddenly staring at Anna's plate.

"Hmm?" Anna looked down at her plate, "what are you staring at?"

"You have mushrooms in your meatloaf!" Quinn made it sound like an accusation.

"Yeah I know, very good by the way Tal." She reached over and fist b.u.mped the blonde woman.

"I don't have any mushrooms, not even one!" Quinn narrowed his eyes as he scouted out the rest of the table.

"Bad luck Quinn, looks like you are the only one." Tal gave him a sympathetic look.

"We'd call that an outlier in Economics." Ben suddenly looked as if he was enjoying his meatloaf even more.

'Curse my rotten life.' Quinn continued to eat his peas until he had finished them off.

"I'd give you mine if I had some Quinn." Renri took a loud sip of her shake.

Quinn frowned at her. Common knowledge, Ren hates mushrooms.

Anna's hud started blinking at her. She looked up apologetically, "sorry, this should only go off in the event of something big happening in TAP or Exodus."

"Go ahead Anna." Q swiped her half-eaten meatloaf while she brought up her hud. "It's a Broadcast News Event in Exodus."

*******Broadcast Worldwide from Exodus Hub*******

Sidney Horn of HYLO industries died today. The forty year old Tech tyc.o.o.n had been sick most of his adult life with Saryn Syndrome, a terminal liver disease. Thanks to the help of modern medicine and HYLO's enormous resources, they were able to prolong his life decades past the initial prognosis. Although Mr. Horn was unable to take part in many business ventures, he is best known for his unstoppable Exodus Arena presence, Cyrus Blood. Cyrus Blood was one of the Mafia Lords of Civil Unrest, a Virtual Reality game which he has dominated for the past five years. We are at Exodus Hub Live for a scheduled New Conference.

A blond haired man of medium height approached the podium. "Good afternoon everyone" His arrival was met with complete pandemonium as reporters stood up and started yelling questions.

Tal looked over at Quinn. "Didn't they just say he died?"

Quinn felt a sudden chill go down his spine as he nodded, "an avatar maybe?"

"I see from your shocked faces that you are surprised to see me. Perhaps you think I am just an Avatar or even a recorded VR program. I can a.s.sure you I am myself, this morning at 0857, I died. Our team of experts have achieved numerous breakthroughs in the past two decades. This morning they achieved a new standard in medicine. I will let our Chief Neurologist explain the specifics."

The screen split and a second person joined the conference. Quinn recognized her immediately, Dr. Nora Salo. Quinn stared blankly at the hud, his hands clenched in fists, he missed the first few minutes of her speaking.

"We weren't trying to make a copy of human consciousness. We wanted to transfer it completely. We implanted t.i.tanium encased crystals into Mr. Horn's brain to send and received pulse messages. This enabled us to first code and then stabilize the neural signature of his brain. We used a sh.e.l.l AI program as the target vessel. Our first step was to imprint Mr. Horn's memories, science has been able to do this for quite some time. This isn't what you are looking at today. The second step was the successful transfer of Mr. Horn's consciousness. "I'll continue to answer any questions you may have, after this video."

A video of a sickly looking Sidney Horn laying on a hospital bed, was displayed on the hud.

"How are you feeling Mr. Horn?" Nora Salo was standing by the bed, she was looking an enlarged hud view of Mr. Horn's brain. The patient's entire head was enveloped in a complicated looking Neural Overlay, not the kind VR gamers would use.

"I'm a bit nervous." His voice sounded a bit raspy.

"Please log into the VR Sh.e.l.l program, we will stop any time you are feeling uncomfortable, I want you to talk to me the entire time. Tell me a story about Exodus."

Mr. Horn closed his eyes as he logged into the VR Sh.e.l.l program, his voice came from a wall speaker nearby. "I'm ready Doctor."

The video went on for several minutes. Mr. Horn gave an in-depth description of last years Arena Champions.h.i.+p, he paused several times to ask how everything was proceeding.

"You can stop there Mr Horn," Dr. Salo's voice sounded tired.

"We weren't able to do it?" Sidney Horn sighed heavily. "I appreciate the effort Doctor, where do we go from here?"

"We don't go anywhere Mr. Horn. Your body died seven minutes ago, we successfully transferred your consciousness to the imprinted AI Sh.e.l.l."

The video stopped and the split screen of Dr. Salo and Sidney Horn appeared back on the hud.

The dining room table was silent, Ren and Anna looked at the other three questioningly. They looked especially somber, Q was as pale as a ghost.

"Please pardon me." Quinn walked up the stairs, the usual bounce in his step completely gone as he entered his room and shut the door.