Tunnel Rat

After logging out of the game, Milo decided to stay inside his pod. He needed to do some thinking, and wanted to access the datanet, specifically the forums where people discussed GENESIS. In the game, there was a lot to do. Out of the game, there was a never-ending list of things that needed to be done. Milo recognized his obsession with doing things. 'Task oriented' was a nice term used in some of the medical journals which only partially described one of the things that had been done to Milo and his family. They were born wanting to do things. Bred to work continuously. Instead of playing like normal children, their games were moving money and resources around the world and not getting caught.

It was difficult to just sit and think in Section E. Part of him was always aware of a long list of jobs that had to be done. Early on, he had roamed all over the hab fixing broken things. With after a year he was able to focus on just Section E, and not the rest of the hab. Then he narrowed his focus to only the mechanical and electrical systems. People would have to fix themselves. He'd help by keeping the water, food, and electrical working. But replacing light bulbs, getting elevators working, and all the other small problems were someone else's job. Or they stayed broken. There was too much exposure in fixing little things.

Sitting in just a plain, white room was helping him think. No distractions. No jobs. But it also bothered him. It didn't feel safe, just plain. He started to design something better. This area was meant to be a safe place players could do research in, wait for death timers to expire, or play videogames with guildmates and hold meetings. It could be designed as the owner wanted and had no effect on the game. Five minutes later, Milo's area looked different.

Now it was a section of rusty pipe with a six-foot diameter and twenty-feet in length. Both ends were metal walls made of scrap metal, cut to fit and welded to the walls of the pipe. The only way in or out was a small hatch in the floor that was locked tight. Four large screens took up one wall. Milo was sitting on a comfortable couch. An end table with cheese, crackers, and chopped vegetables sat in front of him. He felt secure and comfortable here, with no alarms or blinking lights to distract him, and no worries about someone playing 'Surprise!'

First on his list was some research into the Hollow. Reviews on it were mixed. Many players didn't like the new race, complaining they felt weak and small. Others were having a lot of trouble not tripping on their tails. The biggest complaint was how hard it was to get up to Shadowport. It was a difficult climb doing it on your own. Predators roamed the series of caves on a regular basis and the newly made ratkin were just tasty snacks for them to enjoy. Milo wondered if ratkin tasted like cheese to a redcrested cavefisher?

On the other hand, some players loved the Hollow. The isolation from the rest of the world let them focus on their character and learning about the culture of the ratkin. In many of the other starting areas it was difficult to find trainers and it could be expensive to pay their fees. In Limburger Hollow getting training was not only free and available, it was required. Everyone trained with the Cheese-Master and had to select at least one other trainer. The options were Fighting, Scouting, Healing, Gathering, and Spells. Many of the ratkin players talked about trying to stay in the Hollow until at least tier 2 and there were several threads discussing staying long-term and living there. The discovery of the Deep Rock Engineers, large cave systems, underground World Bosses, and Limburger Hollow was spurring a lot of conversation about what else might be underground. Hints from the developers indicated that the world below might be bigger than the world above. That made sense to Milo and he wondered why it was such a big revelation. Didn't the real world dig deep and build up to increase space? Why should the skin of the world have more than the entire volume under it?

The most interesting thing for Milo was finding out that Limburger Hollow wasn't the only starting place for ratkin players. Several other Hollows in other parts of the world offered options for starting out. Most seemed similar to Limburger Hollow with areas for new players to fight, do quests, and gain skills, but some of them had different Masters to take classes from. Warp-Master and Battle-Master were mentioned by one player, in Stilton Hollow. Pule Hollow was the home of an Illusion-Master. The few players who had been placed there mentioned the large herds of cave-donkeys. Winnemere Hollow was situated in a massive, bat infested cave and boasted a Blast-Master. The first player who had found it hinted that a little chemistry knowledge was helpful. Milo made a note to himself to see where these other Hollows were located and if there were any maps in Limburger Hollow. Maybe he'd go visit them

He learned several things about Limburger Hollow that he hadn't found on his own. The area he had explored was known to be dangerous because of the spiders. Gathering and stealth skills were practiced there, with no fighting. The mines were also a place for gatherers, and an area for neophyte ratkin to practice their fighting skills. The last thread he saw was titled: What's the best way to spend contribution points?

Contribution points?

"So after doing a lot of the little quests, clearing out some nests of spiderlings in the mines, and gathering some mushrooms, I have 15 contribution points. What do people think are the best things to spend them on? I have the Gathering Whelp class, but I'm thinking about taking more of the tail-fighting classes, and learning some weapons. Or maybe doing the sneaky stuff? Where are people spending points?"

"Definitely take the tail-fighting classes. You can gain levels in the skill fighting spiderlings, slimes, and moles but you don't really learn as much just raising the skill with experience as you do in the classes. Especially incorporating dodges and acrobatics into a fighting style. We have a couple of good fighters in our group, and one guy that is insane. It's like he was born with a tail. He's the Master's little pet, of course, but no one is going to challenge him after what happened to the last guy. I'm spending points on Whip-Tail and Slashing-Tail as soon as I can. Having another weapon for free is great."

"I want to learn how to make my own cheese! At high levels it's a potion making skill, and uber-buff food. I'm going to grab Careful Milking, Cheese-Making, and raise up my WIS as fast as I can so I don't have to worry about the side-effects."

"What are you guys talking about? I just started up a new rat character in Pule Hollow and am doing all the donkey quests. Where do I find out about the points?"

"If you are doing quests, you already earned them. Keep doing quests and look for a bulletin board where you eat with lots of notes on it. You can either read the little notes, but it's easiest to use the prompt to open up a screen. Look for the people standing and staring into space."

Milo almost started to log back into his character, wanting to go check his points. Then he remembered where he was and realized that was a bad idea. He'd either waste time taking a nap, or find out he was dead and just be back here immediately. Better just to wait. He logged into his own systems and continued his work designing some specialized gear he was going to need. Things were going to get more complex in the hab. Going to this party thing with Butch would give him an idea of what was going on. Hopefully the swap meet was a good one and they had some good games to play. Four hours went by quickly as he finished his schematics and placed additional orders for some components and circuitry his new plans had incorporated into his designs.

His bank account was slowly dropping. He had stolen a lot of money. But state of the art robotics components and solar panels didn't come cheaply. He should probably look at investing his money, but that left a large paper trail. He had enough for now and was hesitant to expose himself more. He put the thought aside, logged out, and hopped out of his pod. He ordered up a big bowl of mac and cheese from the food processor and prepared to look for problems in Section E.

Uncooked chunks of something hard and dry fell into his bowl, followed by broccoli flavored food cubes, and then a nice gooey topping of something black and stinky. Milo sighed. Job number one was fixing the central food processing unit again. It was hours later that he logged back into GENESIS and opened his eyes.

Not dead! He was actually surprised. Now to look around this room and see what secrets it held. No one hid a room this well if they didn't have secrets.

Larry put his head on his pillows, but he wasn't tired, so Larry told Larry a good night story.

"Once upon a time in Happy Hampster Town, Larry lived with his big brother Justin. Justin was the bestest, strongest, and bravest guard in Hampster Town. Larry couldn't wait until he could be a guard like bestest-biggest-brother Justin. He worked hard at tail fighting and trying to lift Justin's halberd. He was getting stronger everyday, but not from Cheese! Larry just worked hard! One day when Justin was guarding one end of Hampster Town by himself, a big nasty spider tried to get in. Justin went to stop him. Larry wanted to Help! Sneaky guy had special cheese that Larry could have for free! Special cheese would make Larry strong and he could save Hampster Town! But Larry said 'No, you go away Sneaky Guy. Larry won't eat your bad cheese. Larry will help Justin.' Then Larry picked up a halberd and ran to help Justin! They killed the nasty spider!

Larry and Justin were heroes, and Larry lived with Justin forever and everyone was happy. Even Larry was happy. The end."