Scion of Humanity

Blake stepped inside the brightly lit, narrow room. On his left was a row of reclining chairs with short stools, and on his right a long table with chairs on each side.

Damn. She’s not here.

Only a single worker occupied the room. The young woman focused on a customer and had yet to look up at Blake’s entrance. He hesitated as he considered what to do. Finally, he came up with a flimsy plan.

“I have a meeting with Jessica, is she here?” he said confidently as he stepped towards the woman.

“She’s in the back office,” The young worker absently replied while engrossed in her work. “It’s the door on the left,” she gestured toward the back of the narrow room.

Relieved, Blake strode down the hall while the customer’s shocked eyes beheld his strange attire. He glanced down at his filthy leather armor. While the nanomachines embedded within ensured it would fully repair over time, they did not clean the grime from the surface.

Twelve hours had passed since he had been stabbed in the shoulder by a Stoltar. During that time, his Regeneration had mostly healed him, and nanomachines had nearly repaired his jerkin. However, the avians’ blood along with his own stained the leather hide.

He raised his arm and sniffed.

Eww. Maybe I should find some place to take a shower and get a change of clothes before I meet her. I bet I made the taxi stink, too.

Blake hesitated before the office door as he tried to remember if he saw a motel on the drive over. He still had over five hundred in cash on him, plenty to rent a room and purchase a new outfit.

Instead, the decision was taken from him.

The door opened, and a young Jessica appeared behind it. Not only was she ten years younger than the last time he saw her, but she wore expertly applied makeup as well. With only faint lines around the eyes and mouth, he felt she could pass for someone in their upper forties rather than mid-fifties.

Blake was not surprised that the stress from a worldwide invasion aged her. He also noted that there was not a trace of gray in her jet black hair.

I wonder if she dyes it?

She gasped and jerked backward in surprise.

He smiled warmly and extended his hand as he stepped into the doorway and blocked her exit. “Hello Jessica, I’m here for the meeting.”

His warm greeting and friendly demeanor must have overcome her initial concern at his appearance, as she almost reflexively extended her own hand to return his shake. Blake immediately spent a mega-nano to initiate her into the Collective. The nanomachines took only a moment to spread, and the deed was done.

She extracted her hand and asked with a frown. “Do I know you?” she asked in a slight Asian accent.

“We haven’t met in person,” he began.

Technically true.

Blake noticed a round table with two chairs in the small office and gestured toward it. “Let’s have a seat, and I’ll fill you in.”

Finally, her eyes flicked down to take in his worn leather armor, and her confusion was replaced with concern. She was suddenly alarmed at their proximity, and she backed away until her back hit a computer desk.

Jessica raised her voice and said, “I think you should leave. Now.”

Blake raised his empty hands before him. “Easy now. I’m just here to talk. Give me five minutes of your time, and you’ll be glad you did.”

Her eyes remained rooted on him as her left hand searched blindly through the desk’s drawer. “The cash is in a time-locked safe, and there’s not much here to begin with. Everyone pays with credit.”

Blake snorted and shook his head. “I’m not here to rob you. Like I said, I just want to talk.”

Finally, a look of triumph flashed across her face. Her hand left the door with a small pistol within it. She pointed it directly at his chest and repeated herself. “Leave.”

He shook his head sadly. “Sorry, but I can’t.”

Her jaw dropped in disbelief. “Seriously? I have a gun pointed at you! Leave NOW, or I’ll SHOOT!”

“Go ahead,” he shrugged, not concerned.

“I’m serious,” she insisted.

“I’m sure you are,” he replied. “So am I.”

Suddenly, she gasped. Her eyes crossed as they began to read words only she could see. She began to breathe heavily in a panic. “What is this?! What did you do to me?!”

He barked a short laugh. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Will you let me talk now?”

Jessica’s eyes alternated back and forth between the interface’s words, and his own open hands. Finally, she nodded.

“This is going to be hard to take in, so just listen until the end before you start with your questions. Otherwise, we’ll be here all day.” He nodded toward the small table and chairs. “And, anytime you want, go ahead and sit down. You can keep the gun on me if it makes you feel better.”

She remained where she was.

He shook his head. “Whatever. So, when we shook hands, I transferred a million nanomachines over to you. It took them a couple of minutes, but now it looks like they finished whatever it is they do to initiate you into the Collective.”

Blake saw that she still went occasionally cross-eyed as she re-read the notification before her. “You can make the words go away if you think, ‘dismiss’, or just concentrate on getting rid of them.”

A moment later, she breathed a sigh of relief. However, her arm remained raised with the pistol aimed at him. He admired her tenacity.

Just as I remember.

“Now, these nanomachines are not human made, they come from an alien AI known as the ‘Architect’. In about four months, everyone on the planet is going to join the Collective like you just did. But, unlike you, they won’t have a nice little chat to explain everything. Oh, and all electricity will cease to function. No cars, no phones, no AC, no anything.”

Blake could clearly see the doubt written across her face, so he decided to erase it. He glanced to his right, where the empty chair sat beside the small table, and activated Spatial Step.

The world blurred as he teleported, and his body changed positions. He no longer stood within the doorway. Instead, he sat comfortably within the chair with his feet extended and his hands behind his head.

Jessica gasped.

Her pistol swung toward him in a panic, and her arm began to shake. “How… How did you do that?”

“That was an aether spell called Spatial Step,” he answered. “It’s one of the perks the asshole AI gives us after we join. All we have to do to gain it is risk our lives over and over again and say goodbye to civilization.” He took a deep breath and forcibly ended his rant early. “Anyway, I know all of this because I’m from ten years in the future. There was some accident, and I somehow got sent back in time. Or, my memories did. I’m actually twenty-eight, not eighteen,” he added.

He paused his explanation for a moment while he waited for her thoughts to catch up. It was a lot of information to just dump on someone, and he knew her brain would likely reject it as impossible.

“Okay,” she said, and lowered her pistol.

“Wait, what? You believe me? That easy?” he asked, surprised.

“Why wouldn’t I? I saw the work of the nanomachines with my own eyes, and I saw you teleport to the chair.”

Blake laughed and shook his head. “Sorry. Everyone else I told this to was waaaay harder to convince.”

“Why me?” she asked, now calm and collected.

“What do you mean?”

“You said you are from the future. Why have you not gone to the government or authorities to warn them? Why instead have you come to me?”

“Oh, that.” He sighed. “If I go to the government, they’re going to lock me up to study me. I’ll be stuck in a cell trying to convince them of the future threat, and not leveling up and growing stronger.”

“You sound certain of their response.” Jessica said as she sat across from him. “Did this happen to you in the past?”

“Well... no,” he admitted. “But that’s the most common theory as to why no one knew about the AI before Invasion day. It doesn’t really matter, though. A few weeks after monsters start showing up, the government kind of dissolves. At least any kind of united government does. There will still be pockets here and there for years.”

“That still does not answer my question,” she said. “Why me?”

“Well, that’s easy. You were one of the Chancellors of my old faction. I knew you were a good person and wanted to invite you to my new one.”

“That is it?”

“Uh… that, and we need more money.”

She snorted. “Of course you do. It always comes back to money. Why do you believe I can help with this?”

“Because you’re rich. You have like ten or fifteen nail salons all across Phoenix, and you’re a millionaire.”

She sighed. “That is true. However, there is a difference between net worth and liquid assets. I have perhaps a hundred thousand in operating cash flow.”

“That would definitely help.”

Jessica leaned forward. “If I were to invest this money into your faction, I would need to immediately close all of my stores and fire my employees. That is over fifty people who would be without jobs for months. They have families who rely on their income to feed them. You would have me abandon my people?”

“Unfortunately, yes. They can survive losing their job. Humanity won’t survive the invasion. Fifty people may be devastated in the short term, but they’ll survive. The faster we can expand before Invasion day, the more people we can save when the world falls apart.”

Jessica paused as she thought over his argument. After a few moments of introspection, she asked, “How soon do you need the money?”

Blake exhaled in relief and surprise. “The sooner, the better. We have three hundred grand left, but I’m told that will go pretty quick if we keep on as we have.”

Her eyes widened. “That much? I suppose I am not the first you have approached, then.”

“Actually, you are,” he corrected. “I bet on the Mega-bowl and won a million dollars. But, after taxes and other expenses… Well, it goes quick.”

She shook her head. “I assume you being from the future made that possible. Why not approach as many wealthy individuals as possible and invite them to your faction as you have me?”

“Thought about that. But, in the end, people I can trust are more important than quick cash. A lot of factions will fall apart from within. That’s what happened to the first one I joined. The Chancellor and a few combat teams launched a coup and killed the faction leader. I don’t want my family to meet that fate. After the chaos, I got out and left for Phoenix, where I met you, someone I grew to trust.”

She nodded. “If you can wait a few weeks, I can secure a loan and side-step closing my stores. That way, my employees won’t suffer, and I will be able to offer you much more than I can now. Can you invite them to your faction as well?”

“That should be fine, and of course they can join. You can do it yourself once you’re a Chancellor. Once you’re in the faction, you can speak with my mother directly, to coordinate. She’s our main Chancellor and takes care of all the details.”

Jessica smiled. “If you can not trust your mother, who can you trust?”

“Exactly,” he returned her grin.

Blake invited her to the Terran Alliance and continued to hash out plans over the next thirty minutes. After they finished, and she promised to contact his mother, he wished her farewell and exited the nail salon.

The ease of the entire interaction encouraged him.

Outside, he found his driver parked in the lot, singing along with the radio with the air conditioner on max. To people without access to magic, the afternoon sun was brutal.

Not only did his high Physical Resistance protect him from the harsh rays, he also had his Flame Shield active. To him, the sun felt wonderful on his skin.

When he opened the back door to the car, his driver jumped in fright and whirled around. “OH! You’re back.” She quickly lowered the volume and turned to address him. “Guess what? After I ate, I called some more fire stations while I waited.” She smiled. “You won’t believe it, but I actually found your friends.”

Blake clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Excellent! Let’s go talk to them!”