Amazon Apocalypse 5: Chapter 48

Lyra sighed. “Letting the living speak with the dead is normally against policy. I had to manually clear an exception for this item.”

“Thanks for that. If I could ask for another favor, could you put Ben on? He should be wandering around there somewhere. I just want to check in with him and let him know how things are going.”

Lyra shook her head and crossed her arms in a big ‘x.’ “Oh no. Don’t think I don’t know about your plan to cheat again! You haven’t escaped my hawk-like gaze. Some administrators might be lax, but I won’t allow any more rule-bending on my watch!”

“Okay, but what if I really needed you to?” I asked hopefully.

“No way, mister trouble-maker! You might be signaled out for special treatment from the System, but not from me!” Lyra crossed her arms again.

I drummed my fingers together, thinking quickly. I needed to get Lyra on my side somehow.

“Come on. I promised to resurrect a bunch of people. I even have a quest for it. That basically means the System approves, right?”

But still, Lyra shook her head. “Nope! There are a lot of vestigial processes in the System, and the whole process is very decentralized. Sometimes processes just give out quests without thinking about them. That's the sort of thing I'm here to correct.”

“Alright, fine. You don’t want me resurrecting dead people. But it’s not like I’m going to do that right now. I only want to talk with Ben and a few others. That’s a much smaller ask. Surely, I can do a quest or something for the System and earn it, right? I could tune up some functions, streamline some protocols, and do all sorts of things.”

“No way! I am righteous and honor-bound! You won’t bribe me into bending the rules. We stick to not just the letter of the rules, but the intent. This is how things... hey! Wait! Stop that!” Lyra waved her hands at some invisible console in front of her, but to no avail, because the System sent me another quest a moment later.

New Quest Available!

Improve at least 3 major pieces of System infrastructure around the Crownhill shard.

Reward: Bending of the rules around interacting with the dead.

“Hey! Don’t read that. It’s against the rules!” Lyra cried as she saw me scanning the prompt in front of me.

I fought to suppress the grin rapidly spreading across my face. I failed and let out a deep chuckle.

“I guess the System is a little more flexible than you are, Lyra.”

Lyra balled her hands into fists and stomped a foot. “Ohh... damn it! System, why did you have to go around my back? How are we supposed to uphold the integrity of the standard operating procedures if you’re going to so blatantly take bribes!?”

I held a hand over my face, trying and failing to cut my laughter off. “Anyway, it was nice talking to you, Lyra. I’ve got a quest to complete. I’ll be back to chat with Ben and the others sometime tomorrow.”

Lyra waved her hand in a grumpy, dismissive gesture, and the connection on the mirror shifted to a place that looked more like a clean city street. A few figures wandered around aimlessly, and I would have mistaken it for a view of a real place if not for the slight haziness around everything. The System’s dimension was much closer to the Kindling than the real world, so like the Shadow Realm, reality there was much more flexible.

“Hey, any of you guys run into a guy named Ben?” I yelled into the mirror. “If any of you have, tell him I want to talk with him through this mirror this time tomorrow. Thanks!”

A few heads turned my way. I waved and nodded at them, even as people started rushing over to peer through their side of the mirror.

I went to find Sir Sandon and Sir Trellis, but not before getting one of the acolytes to talk to the spirits on the other side of the mirror.

“Hey, you!” I pointed at someone at random.

“Yes, Holy Saint?” the acolyte asked nervously.

“Keep the dead people company. Also, keep telling them Carter wants to talk to Ben. Have someone let me know if Ben shows up.”

“As you will it, your holiness!” the acolyte said.

***

Sir Trellis’ whole order of holy knights seemed remarkably helpful. Maybe Sir Trellis had already spread the word of my supposed miracle. Whatever the case was, I was grateful for the help.

I bid the whole castle goodbye and then went about on my assignment from the System. The quest I’d been given was surprisingly open-ended, but Lyra did mention the local node had cognitive issues.

Would it be wise to help with that? I wasn’t sure.

The System node on Ladwick and I had an understanding. But it had taken a lot of work just to get it to think of me as a partner rather than a tool. I didn’t want to end up in the same position here.

And besides that, recent events proved that the System could be pretty flexible, given the right incentive. Perhaps this would be a little manipulative of me, but I wanted something that would help the System, but require my occasional intervention to keep running smoothly. I already had a ‘Don’t kill by accident’ stamp on my file, but I wanted something better. If the local System node wanted me alive, I’d be much more confident in my survival.

In the end, I settled on making something with the spare computers I had. These would be physical hardware in the real world that needed real-world maintenance. I’d be modeling the structure off the node I’d taken apart on Ladwick and was still waiting to recover. I’d have to cut a few corners without access to Architect-level components, but I was pretty sure I could make something that worked.

Only, instead of giving the whole thing to the System, I’d just give it processing time on my server. And I’d place the server under control of Governess.

Yes, that would probably work out well. And maybe Governess could even put a good word in for me with the System. Or preferably, lots of good words.

That project took me several hours and consisted largely of me setting up another computer near Governess.

“Alright, Governess, I want you to watch this computer here. You don’t have to do anything, just let me know if you see any interesting data flow through it.”

“How would you define interesting?” Governess asked.

I frowned and held my chin in my hands. “Good point. Given the amount of information we’re working with, that sort of thing is probably impractical. How about just whispering in the System’s ear about how much it likes me?”

“Orders received, my lord,” Governess replied.

The remaining two favors for the System were easier to fulfill. There were lots of metaphorical kinks in the wires running across Crownhill, so straightening them out and running new cables over the areas that weren’t well covered was more than enough to satisfy the System and complete the terms of my little bribe to earn a conversation with Ben and the others.

***

I returned to Sir Trellis’ fortress and to the mirror artifact. The same acolyte from before came rushing out to greet me.

“Your holiness, the spirit you requested an audience with has made his presence known. He awaits you on the other side of the mirror.”

I nodded and went straight there, where someone familiar awaited me.

I wasn’t sure if Ben could be considered an old friend. Despite working in the same building, I’d hardly spoken with him until the end of the world. He and his wife Margaret owned the law office next door.

“Carter? Is that really you?” Ben asked. He looked the same as I remembered, but I didn’t.

“It’s me.” I held out my hand to shake, but my hands brushed against the crystalline mirror that separated us. Ben was in another dimension altogether, and the only reason I could see him was this enormous crystal thing.

My gesture was taken in good spirit, though, and Ben pretended to shake my hand.

“You know, I’m surprised you were willing to talk to me first. I figured once you saw this mirror, you’d ignore my request and ask for Margaret,” I chuckled.

A smile touched Ben’s lips. “How is my wife holding up? Does she know about this?”

“She’s holding up. It was rough at first for her, but she pulled herself together. And don’t worry, there’s no new husband in the picture. I think she knows I made a promise to resurrect you and the others, but she doesn’t know about this.” I gestured to the mirror before us.

Ben nodded, and some tension came out of his shoulders. “Keep it that way. I don’t want to get her hopes up too high if I’m really gone for good. I’m glad she’s alright and don’t want to ruin that.”

My smile slowly faded. “If you’re certain, then okay. I’ll keep it private. I take it from your expression that you haven’t had much luck figuring things out on your end?”

Ben shook his head. “The others and I have a way to sneak a few extra stat points together. They might be enough to resurrect one of us the same way we brought you back, though none of us had your regeneration skill, so it’ll be risky unless our bodies are in really good shape.”

I winced at that. “I’m afraid not. Nowadays, we have a few people with powerful healing abilities, but back then, we had nothing. Your original bodies were burned to prevent them from coming back as undead. They're nothing but ashes and dust now.”

Ben sighed. “I told the others it was a long shot. We’ll need new bodies if we want to return to the world of the living. You know, the System has already made the offer to a few of us. All we have to do is handle a few odd jobs up here, and it’ll stuff our souls into new bodies down there.”

“Oh?” I asked, pleasantly interested. But I saw Ben’s expression and realized there was a catch.

“Except the System will strip our old memories from us as part of cramming us in a new body. And getting a human body seems impossible. There just aren’t that many new births with the apocalypse and all. Most people around here who call it quits and ask for reincarnation have to accept being reborn as a giant rat creature or a snake.”

“I take it you’re holding out for a human body? Memories included?” I asked.

“I have no intention of reincarnating as a rodent. A human body would be preferable, or at least something close to it. The System will grant that kind of boon after a few centuries of tedium, but by then Margaret will be long dead. Some of the others are willing to wait that long, but not me.” Ben’s hands curled into fists.

“I understand. I’ve made a bit of progress on stuffing bodies into souls. But your soul is far from me right now, despite how close it looks. And that still leaves the problem of finding a decent body for you. I don’t think Margaret would appreciate me stuffing you in a zombie or a golem.”

Ben chuckled and shook his head. “No. That’s no way to return to the living. I need to be able to hold her. To talk to her. And... um... other things.”

I chuckled and nodded in understanding. “And other things.”

Speaking with Ben was a bit of a weight off my shoulders. We talked for a while, starting with how Craig died and ending up with everything that had happened since then. Crownhill had grown stronger than ever, though the integration wasn’t over yet.

Ben’s life had been boring by comparison. He likened it to being interns for the souls that had been hanging around the afterlife far longer. He and the others were fetching the spiritual equivalent of coffee or doing the metaphysical equivalent of filling in potholes in the road.

He seemed a bit envious of my many adventures, but at the same time, I envied the day-to-day routine. His days wouldn't have been much out of place from life before the integration, though they were a downgrade from his high-flying lawyer days. I was surprised by how much we both had to share.

***

When I returned home, I told Reluna and Mimiko what Ben had told me, including tales of his daily life being dead.

“Truly terrible. The creation of the System was the ancestor’s greatest folly. Were it not for its existence, your friend would have surely been reincarnated already.”

“Or his soul carried on to whatever afterlife he was supposed to go to,” Reluna said.

“Yeah. But it doesn’t seem that bad. Just do a little work, and you get some influence on how you’re reborn.” I shrugged.

“Work? More like slavery. Years and years of endless drudgery, and your reward at the end is to lose your memories and entire sense of self.” Reluna shook her head sadly at that.

Mimiko nodded. “Loathe as I am to admit it, I agree with the blue one. I can hardly imagine having to report to the same task day after day.”

“It just sounds like any other job to me.” I shrugged.

“Not any other job. You have to show up and work every day with hardly any time off. What little time you have to yourself is taken up with personal matters to keep your life from collapsing.” Mimiko shook her head sadly as she repeated what I'd told her of Ben's life. “I suspect the ancestors of the System based the afterlife they made on mythical depictions of the underworld, where evildooers would have their souls sent for endless torment after their death. Except instead of evildooers it's every soul unfortunate enough to die in System space.”

I chuckled at that. “Don’t be so dramatic. Having a job isn’t some form of torture. I held one down for years before the System came.”

Reluna held a hand to her lips and rushed over to me. “Truly? You had to work every day? How terrible! No wonder you work everyone under you so hard.”

I shot Reluna a deadpan expression. I was pretty sure I hadn’t worked her hard at all.

“Plenty of people work on Glacia, Reluna,” I said.

But Reluna shook her head. “By decree of our God-King, the workweek on Glacia is three days per week, with three six-hour shifts. Working more than that just seems excessive, and according to him people need days off to spend time with their harems. I’m unsure how many other citizens have such large and sprawling harems, but everyone appreciates the days off.”

“Most jobs in my sect only involved a few hours of work per month. You would only stay on longer if you expected large bribes,” Mimiko said.

“Damn. I’ll have to ask Sakura what kind of hours people in Shadefall are working.” I shook my head while Mimiko and Reluna tried to comfort me over having endured a forty-hour work week for years on end.