SYSTEM MESSAGE: Good luck and play nicely with the new neighbors!
SYSTEM MESSAGE: General System Announcement Ends. System Time is 12:02 GMT, Monday, April 10, 2017.
“Son of a bitch,” I said, loud enough for Danielle to hear me inside the plastic box. “That was worse than the last one.”
I heard her moving around inside and she popped out a few seconds later. She looked as angry as I felt.
“Those bastards,” she said, face flushed. “They do think this is a game.”
“Normally I’d say to remember that this is some kind of subjective translation but I’m way too pissed off to care,” I responded. We walked back to the tent, fuming. When we got there I could hear people talking in loud voices both in our tent and in the next one over, though it was barely light and no one was in sight outside.
Inside, it was getting chaotic.
“It said transit through Trade Centers,” Samantha was saying. “Maybe we can use them to move around and get home. We should stay put and see what happens.”
“I don’t trust them,” Mandy answered with a sneer. “We should get away from it. There’s no knowing what will come out of that thing…”
Everyone looked up as Danielle and I closed the door behind us.
“Well, that was infuriating,” I said, to general nods. “In six hours God knows what is going to come out of that thing and they treated us like kids in a class with a new transfer student.”
This got a firmer nod from Mandy, and she looked ready to press her argument.
“But,” I went on. “Like I said before, the System is a bastard but it hasn’t lied to us yet. If it says we can’t attack them, and that they’re safe, then they probably are. Dave said that the Exclusion Zones have kept all the monsters out, and we know the System doesn’t think they’re dangerous. We need to know what they can do.”
Now Mandy looked ready to argue with me. I kept talking, not letting her break in until I finished my thought. I was tempted to activate ‘Indirect Suggestion’ but these were my friends. I hoped. Anyway, it seemed wrong.
“I’m not in charge. Anybody can do whatever they want. If you want to go, I wish you the best. But I’m staying. And I’m getting into that Trade Center. Before noon. I want to know what’s going on.”
This surprised everyone, Danielle included. There was a very short pause. Then all Hell broke loose.
“How are you…” “Why do you…” “Nobody’s going to…”
NOW it’s time for ‘Indirect Suggestion,’ I thought. I activated it.
SYSTEM MESSAGE: Indirect Suggestion active. Beings who can hear and understand you will be much more receptive to what you say. 100MP used (cast, one minute.) 160/260 MP.
“Everybody QUIET DOWN!” I shouted. Again, the entire room stopped in shock. Before they could recover, I went on, speaking in my most convincing tones. Which weren’t bad before I became a wizard.
“Everybody. Will get. To talk,” I said, looking around firmly. “But I’m not spending all day in here arguing. In an hour, I’m going over to that Trade Center and I’m getting in if I have to zap a few people to do it. Anybody who wants to can come with me. Now everybody take a breath.”
The entire room took a collective deep breath. It was inspiring, in a way.
“If you don’t want to come, that’s fine. If you want to leave town, that’s fine. But calmly, please. Samantha, you and Mandy were talking. You start, please.” I deactivated ‘Indirect Suggestion’ just in time to beat the tick.
“I was just saying,” she said, giving me an odd look, “that it seems like if people can come out of those things from somewhere else, they can probably go in them and go somewhere else. If there’s a Center anywhere there’s a thousand people, we could get close to our kids like that. And the rest of you could probably go home too.”
“Good point,” I said, smoothly working my way back into the leader-who-is-not-a-leader role. “Mandy, what were you saying?”
“The same people made those boxes who did this to us, who killed half the people on Earth,” she said, still sounding sharp but not quite so vicious. “I don’t think we should trust them. I want to get back to my parents too but I’m not going near that thing. And I don’t want to stick around to see what comes out of it.”
“Also a good point,” I said in a neutral voice. She looked surprised. “I already said what I thought about the System but you’re right, it obviously doesn’t care about us. At least not individuals. And just because it hasn’t lied yet doesn’t mean it can’t start.”
Now she looked really surprised.
“But I’m going to assume it’s not lying, because it has no reason to lie,” I added. “It can do anything it wants, as far as I can tell. Lying is for when you give a damn about what the other person thinks.”
“Maybe it doesn’t think like that,” said Joe. “Maybe that’s human logic.”
“That’s another really good point,” I said. “And I can’t argue with it. It’s not human, at least I don’t think so. There’s no reason to think it uses logic the way we do. But if you go down that path, there’s no reason to think we’ll ever be able to anticipate anything it does, and in the next ten seconds every Trade Center on Earth could blow up like an H-bomb and wipe the rest of us out just for their amusement. I am pretty sure they experience amusement, because somebody with a nasty sense of humor is writing the messages.”
“I’m not running,” said Sheila. “I can’t take my children back out into that. I have to stay where there are people. The more the better.” She looked like she wanted to throw up but there was steel in her voice.
“I want to go with Mister James!” came the unexpected voice of Sally, who was sitting up next to her brother on a child-size sleeping bag.
“You can’t go with me to the Trade Center, Sally,” I said, moderating my tone a little. “I might get into an argument and I need to know you’re safe. But I’ll come back as soon as I’m done.”
“That’s what Mommy said!” she almost screamed. “I want to stay with you and Miz Samantha and the catlady!”
Now it was my turn to be shocked. I had no answer for her. In the meantime, Dave looked at her with confusion. I could almost hear him thinking, ‘Catlady?’
“We’re going too,” said Samantha firmly. “We’ll watch her while you have your… argument.”
I shook my head. “All right. So who else has something to say? One at a time please.”
Joe looked at Mandy and shook his head. Obviously where she went, he followed. Anthony looked at the both of them, then at me, but didn’t say anything. Danielle just put her arm around me and gave me a squeeze.
“Do we get a vote?” asked Emily.
“We’re not voting,” I said. “We’re all friends, but none of us signed anything. People can do what they want. We’re trying to figure out what people want. If you have ideas, I’d love to hear them.”