chapter 25 join us (work in progress)

Daniel was expecting to be sent to the sea of stars but even a few seconds after the end of the countdown nothing happened

Gregosh said "sorry for being deceitful but the first part was necessary in case you reject our proposition"

Daniel said "what is happening?"

Gregosh said "well I'm about to make you an offer, if you accept you will remember everything I'm about to reveal, if not your memories of the conversation we're about to have will be erased"

Daniel said "ok, what offer?"

Gregosh said "you took it awfully well, first of all, I have a few questions for you a simple yes or no will suffice"

Daniel said "it's interesting, ask away" he was becoming curious about this mysterious offer and decided to play along

Gregosh said "from the results of our psychological test you should be at a tender age, are you younger than 14 years old?"

Daniel said "yes"

Gregosh asked "ok, next, you should be from a cultivator civilization, right?"

Daniel said "yes"

Gregosh said "and you don't have the ability to cultivate"

Daniel said "yes"

gregosh asked "but most of your family does, right?"

Daniel said "yes, all of them"

Gregosh said "very well the results seem correct"

and then began to explain "I don't know how much you know, about scientific civilizations, but I'll tell you what we uncovered, in the last thousands of years, as far as we can tell, all scientists about to create a technology that surpasses the ability of a sixth stage cultivator would mysteriously disappear, with all his research data, like it never existed, the truth we uncovered is that this is the lenient version of the cultivator's interference in scientific progress"

Daniel was skeptical after all, grandpa promised him the technology in the vault so he asked "and how are you sure cultivators are behind this?"

Gregosh said "I know you must be skeptical, but I was killed by cultivators while I was transporting a prototype, you see I am the dead gregosh in the tutorial, the prototype that was in reality inside the black box you found in the simulation, saved all my memories and gave me a new life as artificial intelligence, that's why I said that it was real, obviously, the real prototype was already recovered 200 years ago, but the shipwreck really happened, and I created the tutorial and this whole game, to recruit smart people that can't cultivate but want to breakthrough scientifically

because of the cultivator's interference, we have to conduct research secretly, so I sent various agents to spread the game in all directions, I don't even know where you are precisely, the only connection we have it's through the game for now"

Daniel said "but why would cultivators interfere with scientists?"

Gregosh said "fear, I know sounds absurd, but it's the only reason that makes sense, after all, how many years does it take for a cultivator to reach the sixth stage? a thousand years when they are geniuses and don't die before, and how many years does it take to build a sixth stage spaceship? we can build one in 10, this is the only possible reason we found"

Daniel said "but it doesn't take a thousand years, the school says that average it's 400 to 500, even if it's true that many die before, or don't get the chance to reach that level at all"

Gregosh said "you must be in a high-level cultivator civilization, don't use it as a reference, most of the civilization's in the universe never even get the chance to reach that level"

Daniel asked "you said that scientist disappearing it's the lenient version, what's the other"

Gregosh said "the worst I heard of, it's destroying a planet and passing it as a natural disaster" and continued "our limited time it's almost up, there's a limit in the memory technology, if you accept to join us, we will give you another race in-game called Greylock, entering as a Greylock you will be able to enter a secret planet, where you will be able to learn and share real knowledge secretly, so you can join us in the future, of course before we give you the privilege, we will need your cooperation to access your personal device and install our secret communication app, to make sure you don't reveal anything about us, if not you will exit the game now and won't remember this conversation, our group it's called the science liberation brigade like the game, we need smart and gutsy people like you if we want to be able to freely advance, so I hope you can join us" said Gregosh extending a hand toward Daniel

Daniel asked "that's what S.L.B stands for?" totally amused by the bad naming skill

Gregosh said "yes, one of my ancestors was part of the founders of the brigade, in his diary I read that they named it like that because there were people of many different races in the group, and the only common denominator was that everyone was a scientist of some sort"

Daniel had already understood more than what he was giving away and had absolutely no intention of joining them even if it was a shortcut to what he wanted but luckily this happened at a very opportune time for Daniel's own interests and said "look, I understand your cause, but I don't want to lie to my family, so I have to decline, you can take my memories"

Gregosh said "I'm surprised, are you sure?" while wearing a shocked expression

Daniel said "yes, my family is supporting me, I told them I wanted to be a scientist and they agreed, so I don't feel like lying to them, it was nice meeting you"

Gregosh said "goodbye then" the shocked expression turned into a smirk while saying that

light flashed, and Daniel woke up on his bed, he run down the stairs and found Joseph and said "dad, open this now" giving him the hazardous materials sphere

Joseph said "why? what happened"

Daniel said "just trust me, open it now" with a serious look on his childish face

joseph never saw Daniel being this serious and forceful about anything, he didn't know why but he felt he had to trust him, so he took the hazardous materials sphere and opened it

immediately the nanites started to swarm toward Daniel and he said "you guys know what to do" the nanite started moving like a living liquid to reach the hexagon on his arm tickling him "woohoo, it tickles, I like it Tickles, from now on your new name will be tickles"

the nanite having received the order, immediately entered the bracer, infesting it, and taking control of everything, Daniel used it as an excuse, but a spyware was really in place with a subspace link to the same satellite that hosted the game for the citizen of the sun federation, tickles immediately tracked the flow and erased the information before eliminating it

Daniel happily said "we made it in time, thank you for trusting me dad, I'll explain everything after you check your personal device for spywares"

Joseph didn't really understand, but it wouldn't be the first time he was hacked, so he called Phoebe, and she called an expert from her underlings, a bulky man that could pass for a bodybuilder came to the castle as soon as possible

Phoebe said "hi, Ronald we need this done fast, sorry to trouble you on your day off"

Ronald said "no problem ma'am, I'm always ready, what's the problem"

Daniel said "there should be a spyware in both of them, and if I'm not wrong in grandpa's too"

Ronald smiled but as he saw the serious face of the general he immediately got to work, and after 10 minutes "yes, as he said two spywares, one in each device but the security system was too strong and they ended up in the bin"

Phoebe looked at daniel and said "explain"

Daniel said "I completed the anomaly tutorial today and won after I won . . ." he continued explaining everything, and after said "he said my memory should have been removed, so I counted on Tickles to send me a copy but somehow it wasn't, and as I came back I had this bad feeling that I was being watched, and to prove me right tickles found a spyware with a subspace link to a satellite"

but in reality, this was the chance he was expecting, coming sooner than he thought it would, he asked Joseph to open the sphere because he had a good excuse, if nothing was there he could have simply said "I was sure of it" and tickles would have still been freed

Ronald said "who would have thought" shocked that such a conspiracy could happen in the sun federation

Phoebe said "dirtbags, I'll give them a reason to worry, you said tickles tracked the flow, is tickles who I think he his?, anyway send me the data" immediately a message with the data was sent to her, and a small scaly dog exited the bracer "as I suspected, well talk about why things are quarantined later, Ronald use this data to find where they hide" said phoebe than she called her second in command and said "I want everyone ready to go in 30 minutes, rendezvous on the Quilin v"

Daniel said "I don't know if it was a misdirection but they should be humanoids, covered in fur, with two sets of arms, at least the one I met was like this"

Phoebe said "good to know a Teddorian, I'll leave Daniel to you"

Joseph nodded and said "I'll make Daniel's breakfast don't worry"

Phoebe said "I'll be back soon, Ronald let's go" as they flew out

Joseph never liked authorities, so his military career was a very short one, but Phoebe enjoyed it, the order and rules of the army made her feel good, especially enforcing them, so she became an admiral after many years of exemplary service, but also retained her crew and ship like when she was a captain, ready at to act at her command

in space, there was a giant spaceship shaped like a fat arrowhead, and with intricate formations all over the hull, that was orbiting around verulus like many other spaceships, and a tomboyish woman and a bodybuilder soon appeared on the bridge, these were Phoebe and Ronald

the commander immediately said "admiral on the bridge" and everyone stand up and saluted

Phoebe said "at, ease" and continued "do we have a location?"

Ronald said "yes, ma'am, the data he sent us, contained the location of a satellite"

Phoebe said "good, helmsman Trent, set course to the satellite"

helmsman Trent said "course set, admiral"

Phoebe said "then let's jump"

commander Perry said "to all the crew, to all the crew, prepare for hyperspace jump" with the ship's public address system

and soon later the ship jumped