The sudden light made Rowan jerk and wake up. He covered his eyes with his arm. Half of the window was uncovered, letting the sun bathe his face.

  “Rise and shine, sleeping beauty,” Grace pulled the other side of the curtain and walked to the bed, patting his cheek, smiling. She was already dressed, a sign he had overslept.

  He smiled back, then remembered. “Oh!” he jerked, looking around. Isla was nowhere. “It was a dream?”

  “Did it feel like a dream?” Grace sneered. “Thrice?”

  “Oh… so it wasn’t a dream…”

  “Of course it was. Did you like it?”

  Women are so complicated… For a moment, he considered saying: It was so intense it felt like I was hit by a truck, only in a nice way, but kept it short. “It was special… One of the best dreams I ever had.”

  “You’re not to say a word about this… dream, do you understand?” Grace frowned at him. “I don’t want Lizzie to get confused… These things are complicated to explain. We’ll wait for the best moment.”

  “So… are these dreams… err… going to happen again?”

  “Do you want them to happen again?” Grace stared at him.

  “Yeah,” Rowan nodded energetically, only to stop and look at her sheepishly. “I mean… only if you want it too.”

  “Then, I bestow a quest upon you. You are to convince the alien to use the normal toilet. She’s on Earth now; she should use Earth-like facilities. If you succeed, your dream will come back. Now shower, dress up, and come downstairs. The beast wants to talk to you. Breakfast is ready.”

  After kissing him softly, even lighter than a peck, Grace snorted and left the room. Rowan took a little more time to shower, feeling sour after the previous day and night, noticing his muscles were perfectly defined. Not ginormous, like for a bodybuilder, but looking somehow… he couldn’t find a word. How he looked reflected on the outside and how Rowan felt on the inside. Assertive. A warrior.

  Arriving in the open space, he hugged Lizzie and smiled at Grace. He realized that his wife had also changed. Gone were the tired eyes, and she had more muscle and a straighter posture.

  “Morning, Isla, Dmitri,” he saluted, serving himself a portion of pancakes.

  “Morning,” Isla mumbled, looking into her coffee and avoiding his eyes.

  “She came early to say hi before her shift,” Grace offered unrequited information, as Isla was coming and going into their home as she pleased. Lizzie and Dmitri looked normal and indifferent, so Rowan guessed the secret of the night was safe.

  “So, where’s Cora?” Rowan asked aloud.

  “Coming!” the Nekojin yelled, descending the stairs two by two. “Sorry, I had to check my suit. It’s fully recharged, thank goodness.”

  “Grace told me you want to talk.”

  “Yes. Look at what my drone discovered while doing the routine check-up around the county.” With a brief gesture, Cora summoned a holographic map overlapping the table.

  “I don’t see anything,” Rowan said, leaning forward, squeezing his eyes. Maybe I’m tired after the… dream.

  “You’re not seeing the army?” Cora gasped, pointing at a cluster of dots.

  “That’s an army? I thought it was a village.”

  “It’s a camp. Thirty and some miles north of our border. It appeared while we were away, and it’s strange. I counted two hundred classed people, hanging out in groups, and over a hundred large mecha suits, various support vehicles, including Rezz tanks—”

  “Moment! You said mechas? Like in the Animes?”

  “Of course not. Like the real deal. Large individual armored vehicles shaped like humanoids, with great firepower. Not as great as my suit, but—”

  “Humans don’t have mechas,” Grace said.

  “They do now,” Cora said. “’Cause that’s not modern tech. It looks like stuff we used a couple of centuries ago.”

  “Could someone get an Engineer class and discover how to make those? Or make a Town Core do it?”

  “Yeah,” Cora nodded. “Which means there’s a Town we don’t know about.”

  “Why don’t we have mechas?”

  “All the tech you see there is old stuff,” Cora insisted. “Investing in it wastes our resources.”

  “That’s a live transmission, right?” Rowan asked.

  “Yes, why?”

  “They’re having a party,” he put his finger inside the hologram over a large column of vehicles approaching from the East, but there was another to the North as well.

  “It’s the military,” Isla said, looking closer. “Judging from the transport trucks, about two thousand troops, plus tanks and rocket launchers.”

  Rowan frowned. “So the government allied with an unknown Town?”

  “I guess so.”

  “You’ve said they have two hundred Classed? How can you tell ?” Isla leaned over the table, pointing at the first formation.

  “Because they are split into groups of four people, and I see their equipment.” Cora zoomed in to show them what she was talking about. “Parties. A Tank, a Healer, and two DPS, melee and ranged. Standard stuff. Not the best choice, which is six, for redundancy, but it still works.”

  “I feel worried,” Grace said. “My premonition says incoming danger, but not impending.”

  Strategic Sixth Sense activated. There are more dangers than can be seen at first sight.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  “It will become impending soon,” Rowan said. “There’s no reason for a large armed group to be here except to attack us; if they’re coming, they have a way to break in. And what if, once inside, they launch nukes? Core, can our shield absorb nukes from the inside? Show your answer only to the adults,” Rowan added. There was no point in worrying Lizzie, who was sitting on the couch, coloring in a book.

  “To some extent,” Cora started, then a voice interjected over her, sending a text simultaneously.

  [Randolph County AI Assistant]: Good morning to all. If I were level 100, I could detect and disable mass destruction weapons. At my current capacity, I can lower the forcefield’s height to two hundred feet above the ground, absorbing most of the energy. A secondary forcefield can be raised above Elkins City. The latter can absorb any number of nuclear explosions. Still, depending on the yield, the outer county will suffer major damage after a few strikes.

  Rowan grabbed his chin, beginning to walk back and forth.

  “How much time do you need to attune somebody for a Rezz?”

  [Randolph County AI Assistant]: ATM, I can execute that task in one hour and ten minutes.

  “Call Bree, ask if she made her choice, and if she decided to join us, start attuning her and her children, and tell her to come here. We’ll travel together. She’s stronger than any of our fighters, except Isla and I,” he told the others.

  “My suit begs you to differ,” Cora snorted.

  “Melee fighter, I mean. Grace, contact Rome and ask them to send reinforcements. Classed and normal military, as much as they can spare. Isla, we’re going up there; please arrange for transportation, a car or two big enough to fit us in. We’ll talk more on the way.”

  “But you promised to teach me how to ride a bicycle!” Lizzie’s voice interrupted Rowan’s feverish plans. “I don’t have school today.”

  “Sweetie, Daddy has important business to care for,” Grace said.

  “What about we have a half an hour lesson?” Rowan proposed.

  “Go, I’ll organize things,” Cora said.

  “I’ll help her,” Isla added.

  “Come, sweetie. I’ll make you a freestyler in no time,” Rowan said, taking Lizzie in his arms.

  “Don’t you even think about it,” Grace yelled as the two left the room.

  Two hours later, they were watching the wannabe besiegers from just a hundred feet away. The foreign groups had joined and approached the County. On the other side of the border, groups of technicians busied putting together a twenty-foot-tall contraption, which was obviously supposed to cause a barrier breach. Contrasting with the mild autumn weather inside, it was winter outside, a blizzard blowing at full strength.

  “Hello!” Thomas waved his hand. There was no answer.

  “They don’t see us,” Cora said. “The Core projects a false image on the outside, showing an empty road. That’s the beauty of a multitasking forcefield.”

  “They’re quite squeezed together,” Isla said. “If we—”

  “They have people on those heights, securing the sides and the back,” Rowan pointed to a forested hill. “They’re not stupid.”

  “I have brought good people with me. We can take them out.” Leading the reinforcements from Rome, Carla looked eager for a fight. A few hundred yards back, a large column of Carabinieri was deploying on their hills, carrying mortars and mountain guns.

  “Let them open the gate, allow some to pass, and we hit them hard while the rest are on the other side,” Grace said. “My Tactical Planning tingles positively thinking of it.”

  [Rowan to Grace]: Looking forward to tingle your Tactical Planning tonight.

  [Grace to Rowan]: Men! Life or death situation, and all they can think about is sex!

  [Rowan to Grace]: Love, not sex.

  “Cora, tell me, if we destroy that thing, how hard will it be for them to make another?” Rowan asked.

  “Not hard. See the trucks out there?” she pointed. “Portable Shields and Rezz tanks, and I bet parts for barrier breakers. Primitive but functional tech. They’ll move forward a shield and work from cover.”

  “I see…” Rowan nodded. The enemy's strengths began to roll in his head. Classed outnumbering them four to one, mechanized robotic weapons, well-trained US soldiers with good weaponry. The County’s assets were the terrain advantage, the superior numbers of normal fighters from the County and Italy, and Rowan. Their weaknesses were the fewer Classed and the unaffordable price of the county being nuked. That had to be avoided at all costs.

  He inspected the enemy again. A hundred yards down the road were a group of people and vehicles protected by a forcefield. Military and Classed, standing at the ready, guarding a smaller group, half wearing uniforms and half equipped with weird hazmat suits. Trucks were parked behind them, the Rezz tanks, giant translucent globes, four of each on each of the four trailers carrying them.

  “Cora?”

  “Yes, Rowan.”

  “Do you have Viscardi’s phone number by any chance?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Call him, please.” His furrowed brows made her stop asking questions. She extracted her phone from the inventory and made a call, which got through at the third ringtone, and then gave Rowan the phone.

  “Miss Shemeows?” the Vampire’s voice could be heard.

  “It’s Rowan Allinder. I accept your offer, but we must move fast and work together. It seems there are more players in the game. I’m besieged by an unknown faction and the US military. Do you know something about it?”

  “Neither.”

  “What do you—”

  “He means he’s not involved or knew about it,” Cora explained.

  “Do you want me to send you reinforcements?” Viscardi asked.

  “You said you have nukes?”

  “People that accepted my patronage have.”

  “Well… A nuke could be handy.”

  “Do you have ICBMs?” Cora spoke over Rowan.

  The Vampire paused for a few seconds. “I don’t think so… Victoria tells me they have planes with gravity bombs and cruise missiles.”

  “Too slow,” Cora said. It’ll take at least three hours to get here.”

  “Things will be decided long before they arrive. Don’t worry, Viscardi, I’ll take care of it. You think of a few people to help us find cores.”

  Cora was smiling at him with her cute face. Rowan patted her hair, an instinctive gesture he regretted immediately as she began purring and Grace frowning at him.

  “Thomas?” Rowan called.

  “AYE!” the boy roared, saluting with what he imagined was a military salute.

  “Isla and I will do a sortie. I need you to stay on this side of the border to protect Carla and the Italian officers. They’re our best shot if the sortie fails. Understood? Don’t come out whatever happens. We can Rezz, the Italians can’t.”

  “OK,” the boy rolled his eyes.

  Core, I want you to open passages each time one of our people tries to get through the barrier.

  [Randolph County AI Assistant]: Understood.

  “Bree, Isla, Cora, with me.” Walking back to their vehicle, a 4x4 Hummer, he searched for their eyes. “We’re going to attack their officers and the Rezz pods. After we take those out, hit the shield generators.

  “They already have a shield up. How are you going to pass through that?” Isla asked.

  “I have an ability that allows me to travel between dimensions. It holds for thirty seconds, but unfortunately, I have only one stack available today. I don’t expect us to survive, but we’ll be Rezzed back in town.”

  “Will it work?” Bree asked, her eyes showing apprehension.

  “The Rezz is guaranteed,” Cora said. “Your Mana and Physical Bodies have been painstakingly attuned to a pocket dimension inside our Town Core’s Inner Sanctum. The chance to be resurrected is over the Quantum certitude threshold. It means the System itself will make it happen. Only exceptional circumstances or environments can prevent a Rezz, and this is not one.”

  “Excuse her nerdish. Short version: yes, it will work. Now, let’s go. We’ll take the car.”

  “I want to come.” Grace had followed him.

  Rowan shook his head. “No. I’m appointing you my second-in-command. If they break through, follow your plan, but send some commandoes outside to harass their flanks.”

  “But I can snipe—”

  “Can you just do what I’m asking, please?” he snapped. “It’s not because I fear or doubt you. It’s because I respect your abilities. You’re the best tactical leader on this side.”

  “Very well,” Grace fondled his shoulder. “Sorry I doubted your orders, commander in chief. Please don’t court-martial me. Or spank me…”

  “Sorry I raised my voice, baby… Err… please don’t make me sleep on the couch.” They looked at each other and laughed, then Rowan looked at the Nekojin. “Can you take off the car’s doors? I need us to be able to jump out.”

  “Behold and be amazed.” Cora produced an extensible screwdriver, and in seconds, the doors were properly disassembled and piled on the margin of the road in an orderly manner.

  “Good job, that will make some car parts dealers happy. Everybody, get inside. Cora, put on your suit and get up on the roof. When I say go, jump out of the car and start bashing things.”

  “I’ll take the front seat; I’m car sick,” Isla hurried to occupy the chair.

  Rowan facepalmed. “For fuck’s sake, take off your seat belt. That’s the last thing you need.”

  [Rowan to all]: We’re going for a sortie. Everybody clears the road. Carla, coordinate further actions with Grace. Choose about twenty good people for a secondary sortie and hit them from the back when they concentrate on us.