ELEVEN: Last and Least

ELEVEN: Last and Least

Look at what youve done to me, Alden said pitifully.

It was evening, he was sitting in the cricket-filled lobby with Gorgon again, and he was picking chunks of tofu and pieces of lettuce out of a naan wrap that had been incorrectly labeled vegan at a food truck hed passed on the way over.

Do you know why the bread at that place tastes fabulous? Its because its grilled in butter. Do you know how I know that? Its because my brain now has an anti-joy narc living in it.

How long do you think you will complain about this particular topic? the alien asked, licking coconut curry sauce from his own fingers.

How long is the narc going to be in residence?

Gorgon shrugged.

Alden eyed him suspiciously. Im not gonna grow horns, am I?

Perhaps if you try very hard.

Ha ha. Youre a comedian now.

You were telling me about your ambitions for your future, Gorgon reminded him. If you dont plan to continue, you can ride up and down the elevators again. Preferably in silence.

Alden slumped against the cushions of the sofa hed chosen for himself tonight. So youre a bossy alien now that youve drunk my blood? Thats just my luck.

But Gorgon had a point. Alden had been whining for a while.

He sighed. Ive pretty much told you everything, though. Hannah was a big influence. What happened to my parents was, too. I think battlefield support is a seriously important and underrated job. Plus its cool. As for more specific ambitionsId love to be a frost-focused Adjuster or a trap Meister or maybe something that was heavy on the buff abilities. But its all just idle wishes. Even if the System does choose me, its not like I can pick exactly the class I want.

The pre-affixation trade is always an option, Gorgon said. No doubt it will be a necessary one in your case, since you seem to have an uncommon vision for yourself. Im sure youve realized that most classes lean strongly toward improving an individuals personal offense or defense. Classes that do otherwise tend to be ill-suited to spontaneous combat.

Alden felt his eyebrows lift. When the System called you, there was a grace period of around three months before you had to accept your class. During that window, a selectee could trade classes with another willing person of equal rank who was still in their own grace period. It was the only time class trades were allowed.

Thats all true, he said, popping a cube of tofu into his mouth, but nobody trades good classes, do they? Isnt it just a bunch of unhappy people swapping the garbage classes around? Thats what the internet says anyway.

Gorgon made a humming sound. A reasonable percentage of new Avowed make trades. Its skewed heavily toward the lower ranks, of course, but its not rare.

Wait. You can tell me stuff like that?

Gorgon shrugged again. People who want to trade must do so with an approved witness at hand. Im the witness for this region. Its my job to tell selectees this kind of thing.

Oh. But no specific class advice?

None beyond what should already be abundantly obvious.

Alden grimaced. What do the Avowed need a witness for anyway? What do you witness exactly?

Its a safety measure to confirm that someone who agrees to a class trade isnt suffering from undue outside influence. Many selectees have superhuman parents with strong opinions about their offsprings class choice. Sometimes they attempt to manipulate the situation.

You mean the parents of island-born supers? Their kid gets a class they dont like, and theywhat? Threaten or mind sway someone into trading with them?

They attempt to. Sometimes. Its not the norm, but it happens.

Alden didnt doubt Gorgon, but he was surprised. Hed never heard so much as a whisper about something like that. Youd think it would be all over the place if heroes got caught bullying teenagers into giving up their powers for worse ones.

Whats the most traded class? Can you tell me that?

Its Brute. Obviously.

Oh, yeah. That is obvious. Sorry. Numbers matter. Roughly thirty percent of those chosen by the System were a Brute type, which was a much higher percentage than any other class. Of course it would also be the most traded one.

Of the Brute classes, longsights seem to be the least popular variety. They are often offered up for trade and rarely accepted, Gorgon added.

Well, yeah. Having a superpower that lets you see really far away isnt very special. Binoculars exist.

Gorgon made the clicking sound Alden had decided meant he wanted to say something but couldnt. He waited for a minute, but the alien didnt offer up any further comments on the subject.

Alden considered the different classes. Only an idiot would trade Healer of Body, and a person would have to be an absolute moron to trade the super rare Healer of Mind. Even Alden would shift all his future plans in a heartbeat if those were offered.

Sure, you were no good in a fight. But you could still help loads of people, and the class perks were the best.

Perhaps it was only Gorgons imagination but the echo sounded concerned.

I know, my teacher. Dont worry. Its not so far away from purging an infection or correcting an imbalance. Its just taking me a long time.

If the price has been paid, the work must be completed. The echo sounded more confident now. No matter how long it takes.

Oh, the price was paid, Gorgon muttered. It was paid and paid again, by those who could not refuse to pay it.

Beyond the cold glass, the sun was rising. It was a breathtaking sight on this planet. Such a near, warm star.

How you would weep to see me here, he whispered. The last and least of us, chained up in a foreign paradise while our home lies dead beyond the gates of space and time.

The echo had no response to that, which was something of a relief.

Gorgon headed back to his computer and clicked away from the security feed. His custom System access sigil was right in the center of the desktop, like always.

He clicked it, and lines of teeth-grindingly familiar text appeared on the screen.

[HONORABLE GUEST #231, NAME UNKNOWN, would you like to accept a Contract of Service in exchange for great power, future opportunity, and significant personal freedom?]

No, Gorgon said.

He liked to pretend that not cursing at his captors every time he was asked this question would bother them more in the long run.

[HONORABLE GUEST #231, thank you for your consideration.]

[Logging you in as PRISONER #12005794 PREFERRED ID: GORGON]

[How may I assist you in the completion of your duties today, Gorgon?]

Access all current pre-affixation trade requests.

[ACCESS GRANTED.]

Gorgon scrolled down the familiar list with a great deal more interest than usual.

A lot of it was the normal dross. The boy was right, to an extent. Even foolish teenagers rarely traded the obviously superior class assignments. But after decades of use, humans had barely scratched the surface of the System. They had such a poor understanding of all but the most simple classes.

Gorgon knew, though he couldnt explain it clearly to the boy, that there was no such thing as a weak class. Situationally weak, yes. Longsights really were uselessfor the first few years. On Earth.

But the System was designed from the ground up to create a theoretically balanced power trade between the Avowed and the Artonans who would summon them for various quests. The trick was in knowing how to use a class properly to take advantage of that.

Of course, the Artonans preferred not to help Earth along on that front. All the better for them to technically gift other planets every bit of the power they promised while offering meager or misleading instructions when it came to its usage. It kept the lower species in line.

Gorgons nostrils flared as he stared at the list in front of him.

Even he didnt have a perfect understanding of what all the various classes did. But the battlefield support role the boy desired should be manageable with a trade into

Yes, there it was!

Andit was gone just as quickly.

Ah. Frustrating.

The class Gorgon had in mind was seen as an extremely undesirable one for those who dreamed of being superheroes, and at the same time, it was a class certain other people longed for. In fact, some newly chosen Avowed waited through their entire grace periods trying to acquire it.

And it wasnt common. Less than two percent last time hed checked.

So it popped up at random intervals and was snapped up just as quickly. Much like the Sway class.

How was he supposed to point the boy toward it in the event that it became necessary? He couldnt just tell him to choose it. Or maybe he could, but he wasnt willing to pay the price for doing so. He liked Alden, but not enough to die for him.

The magic that bound him worked on a very clever spell framework that had a limited ability to read his true intentions. So it was more flexible than it might have been, but it was also better able to identify infractions on his part.

Well, he had nothing better to do with his time right now. He would work on the problem.

Scheming was as good a cure for boredom as any other.