The girl stared into my eyes, trying to find something in them that would tell her the right answer. Her look was so intimate that I wanted to hold her and kiss her right then. Rita seemed to read my mind. She backed off half a step.
“I can’t. I’d like to, but I can’t. I don’t want to lose my best friend. Give her a chance.”
I did just that—I brought Karina into my room ’to show her my holographic model of the Solar System.’ I could have chosen Piper. She’d dropped hints. And in the state I was in, the who didn’t matter, but… I just wasn’t used to getting all this attention from so many cute girls. I couldn’t explain exactly why I chose Goosebumps. Maybe it was the alcohol going to my head. Some things just happen to you, and it doesn’t matter what your heart feels or your mind thinks.
I closed the door, switched off my comm, flicked the light switch and embraced Karina.
We needed no words; I liked her, she liked me. Instead of talking, we started kissing, and very soon I got to use the skills I’d honed with Beta.
We left the room long after midnight. By then, everyone was pretty well cut. Malik was strumming a virtual guitar and singing songs of his own making; Ed was hugging both Rita and Piper at the same time and drunkenly relating some story while they laughed; Hung and Alison didn’t come out of my parents’ room, where I learned they’d gone right after Karina and I had disappeared. The boys greeted us with raucous shouts of approval…
Dawn broke, and the guests got ready to leave. As she said goodbye, Piper hugged me and whispered in my ear:
“Pecheneg wants to meet. Can you do today?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged and glanced pointedly at Karina.
Piper laughed in understanding.
“Try to find some time anyway. Blackberry wasn’t his only mole in the Alliance, you know.”
“How’s she doing, by the way?”
“She left Modus. Pecheneg wanted to offer her to you. You need an analyst, right? But that’s not all. The old man has information.”
“Do you know what it is he wants to tell me?”
“No.”
“Then tell him I need two tons of Corrupted Adamantite. With the friendly discount he offered me, on top of a discount for bulk.”
The girl’s jaw dropped.
“Discuss it all with Crawler, he’ll make the payment.”
“Got it, consider it done.” Piper hugged me again and this time her lips touched my ear. “Shame you chose the blonde, Alex. That girl has no skills.”
Laughing, she kissed me on the cheek right next to my lips, so the kiss looked just friendly.
Piper and Alison were the first to leave. Hung went to walk them out, then Malik, Rita and Ed left. Karina stayed with me.
We stayed up for three more hours, talking, getting to know each other.
Toward midday, I woke to my comm vibrating. I pulled my arm out from under Karina and brought up the message.
It was an answer from Snowstorm: “Our support service has reviewed your ticket. The described issue is part of the gameplay. Good luck!”
The email was sent from a no-reply account. Reading between the lines, the message was loud and clear: “We won’t help you. Get out of this one yourself.”
Chapter 9: Zeitnot
KARINA’S LONG LEGS shone in the half-light of the room with its shuttered windows. A cute, kind and somewhat naive girl that I first met in the Bubbling Flagon. We met only once in real life, when we went to the Glastonbury music festival together. Now here we were, our second meeting, and Karina had become my first. Only a month ago, I and all my friends would have bet money that it would have been Tissa.
I shook those thoughts away, tore my eyes from Karina and read my comm again: “Our support sendee has reviewed your ticket. The described issue is part of the gameplay. Good luck!”
What now? Climb into my capsule to spend another few months in the Nether with that insane psychopath? No w^ay! I shuddered and jumped back under the warm sheets, but my comm vibrated again. Rodriguez’s face came up. I quickly left the room and closed the door, then answered.
“What’s up, Ed?”
“Trouble.” My friend’s sleepless face looked tired, worried and stressed. “Alex, check CrapChat! I had to call, you’re not picking up your messages!”
The news made me forget Karina and my desire to sleep.
“You aren’t here, so the lich recalled Sharkon and the guardians. Tiamafs temple is defenseless. A raid group from the Elites is attacking it. Looks like Mogwai has split from the Alliance. Do you still think Liam just turned up for no reason?”
I started to feel sick. I hadn’t slept long and now I had new problems, but with a killer hangover to go with them. My night with Karina weighed heavily on my mind. Was it worth it? I felt nothing for her, but how could I just break it off? After she told me how badly she’d fallen for me… At least she didn’t mention the L word, but all the same… Nether, what was I supposed to do?
Never mind. That would wait. First the most important thing was what was happening in Dis. If we lost Tiamat’s temple, then our already tough situation would get even tougher.
I decided to contact Kiran Jackson. If he refused to help me, I’d have to threaten to release information on the Nether. Ian would gladly take the interview, and his editor Clark Katz would dedicate a whole issue of Disgardium Daily to the sensation.
But first I had to figure out how much time I had, if I had any time at all. I answered Ed’s message with a question:
“How long will it take them to destroy the temple?”
“Mogwai is livestreaming it.
