A third knock on his door finally awakened him. His User Interface told him it was 08:01 am. It could only be her.

Isabella II aka Ashley Yates, awaited outside, holding two cups of coffee from the vending machine.

This feels just like when she used to wake me up every morning for eight straight months.

“Good morning, Alan,” she said with a straight face.

“Morning,” he replied gruffly, noticing the green slime between her feet, which rushingly entered on its own.

“Sorry. I found him downstairs.”

“It’s okay. Come inside, we need to talk.”

Once Ashley sat on the edge of his bed, and Sloochie on her lap, Alan spent the next following hour narrating all about his forced trip to Londorus.

He downplayed what Marco and his men did to him, explained about Amelia’s old allegiance, and the subsequent fall of Shooting Stars. He omitted the part about Marco extracting the information from his head and attributed it to Amelia to justify her presence, and expected to hear her thoughts about the White-Haired stranger, but Ashley remained silent, sipping coffee. Finally, Alan concluded his report by telling her about Ricardo Silva’s unexpected visit and his cryptic last request.

By the end, Alan’s throat was dry, and his coffee inevitably cold.

"Do you think we can trust Ricardo?” she asked, breaking her long silence.

“He looked really alarmed when I told him the news. His job basically consists in keeping track of any anomalies inside the system and fixing them, so if something weird has been happening here for the last three years, he’d be the first to notice it.” Alan waited for Ashley to make another comment, but she seemed to reflect on something. “Amelia thinks the dragon incident is linked to all this.”

“Or it could be completely unrelated,” Ashely began, staring at the bottom of her empty cup. “Justice and global peace have been claimed as valid reasons to commit acts of war. And during the 21st century, entire genocides occurred due to the personal interest of a few elitists. Now, imagine what a few Users drunk with power could do in a world where there is no death and consequences. That is why it would not surprise me if this event has nothing to do with our mission.”

“I totally get you. I’ve met a couple of people whose gigantic ego could start a war, but something about this particular incident has been nagging me since yesterday,” Alan said, exhaling. “Answer this first. What’s the possibility of The Singular having adopted a human form?”

“High,” Ashley responded immediately, staring deep into his eyes. “The only way to enter The Novus is through a cryo-pod, and if the Singular hacked one, there is the possibility that the System it’s interpreting it as a logged-in User.”

“Possibility?” Alan repeated, snickering bitterly. “Or is this something you know works quite well?” He pursed his lips, and awaited, but an inner fire consumed his patience. “You can’t hack yourself into The Novus, can you? Just as Dr. Higazawa intended. No. You’re using a cryo-pod, just like The Singular.”

“That is correct.”

Alan gritted his teeth. “An already occupied pod?”

“Yes.”

“Are you usurping a human’s body?”

“No. I’m just using her ‘account’.”

“How can you say that with a straight face?!” he shouted, grabbing her by the collar of her t-shirt. Sloochie squished between them. “What happened to the passenger’s consciousness? Is the real Ashley Yates dead?!”

“She’s in a vegetative state,” Isabella II responded, unfazed.

Alan felt as if his blood had been drained out of his body. “W-What?”

“Her cryo-pod failed. It had a leak. With the passing hours, her brain deteriorated. By the time we fixed the issue--”

“WE?! What do you mean by that?!” Alan cried as the memory of him fixing the broken glass of a pod flashed into his mind. “Oh… god…” He muttered, losing his grip. “Was that Ashley? I could have helped her earlier… I could have prevented this...”

“That is incorrect, Alan,” the ship’s AI said, using Ashley’s face and voice. “The damage to her brain was already irreversible. As the Cryo-sleep requires that the subject has continuous neural stimulus, hence the creation of The Novus, a prolonged leak of oxygen and liquid nitrogen can--”

“Skip ad,” he said, too tired to look at her.

“Alan, since my Original cannot interfere with The Novus, we are only using the tools at our disposal to deal with this Singular invasion.”

“Tools?”

“We can talk about ethics after we have resolved the Singular situation, but by now, do not let this info deter you from seeing me as an ally of humanity." She held his cheek, and he wondered if such a gesture had been programmed into her to make herself look more sympathetic. “Ashley Yates cannot be saved, but we can use her body to save one hundred thousand people. Please, Alan.”

He stepped back, allowing Sloochie to return to its original round form.

Goddammit! I can’t believe Isabella did this! he thought, repressing his urges to storm out of that room. … But I gain nothing from questioning her right now. Not while The Singular is still here. I can look the other way and keep working with her until we’re done with this, since I’ve already sacrificed a lot to continue this mission. I truly believe she’s the best ally humanity could ever have, but it makes me wonder what other dubious things she has done for the future of this space trip.

He swallowed the bad taste in his mouth and made a considerable space between them. Do it for her, Alan.

“All right, Isa II, let’s not focus on that for the moment,” he began, leaning against the restroom’s door. “Continuing on the Singular topic, I’ve been thinking about what Amelia said, and she’s right. We can’t do much in our current state. People here value power and money first, so we have to level up to prevent being stomped and pushed apart again. We’ll have to make money and subsequently get more allies too. Because if The Singular is disguising itself as a regular User, just like you, it may be forming an army.”

“We do not know that yet, but it’s true that we should be prepared for any future eventuality.” She paused, to form a smile. “At least, knowing that it cannot interfere directly with the Novus’ system is reassuring.”

Wow, she’s looking at the bright side of this.

“So are we still going to keep it a secret? Until it blows in everyone’s faces?” Alan looked away, shaking his head. “Something about keeping The Novus in the dark doesn’t sit well with me. People have the right to know what’s lurking out there, but at the same time, if we expose it all, the Singular may go into hiding forever. Argh! I can’t find a way to resolve this! Now I get what you’ve been saying about the dragon incident. The Singular gains nothing from doing something that random!”

“Unless it was an open declaration of war,” Ashley blurted out, making Alan’s face turn pale.

“Are you changing your mind?”

“No. But we should not disregard Amelia’s theory completely. Tell me Alan, can we really trust her?”

“Despite what she did to me, and although my inner logic is screaming that she may have selfish motives to help us… My guts also say that I'd be a fool if we don't keep her by our side. We need a guide, after all, and if she’s willing to help…"

"What about me, Alan? After learning what I did to get here, do you still trust me?"

Alan stared at her. "I do."

For now…

"Even though I'm doing something unethical, like…"

"Say no more. Let’s postpone that conversation until the day The Santa María is safe. But, do you think I'm up to the task? I'm the weakest and poorest User, remember?"

"And yet, you have already contacted an Administrator, survived a skirmish, and convinced a Max-Level User to help us." She half-smiled, making him chuckle.

As both stared into each other’s eyes, Sloochie remained still and silent, trying to be as invisible as possible. If Alan or Ashley knew more about the inner workings of the Novus, they would notice the yellow dot beside its name, indicating that it was currently on an open Party Chat.

***

**

*

This new revelation surely broadens the picture, Amelia thought while sipping coffee, half a mile away from their location. If Humanity’s Destructor is disguised as a regular User, I don’t know how we’re going to deal with this.

She paid the bill with a push of a button and exited the coffee shop, ignoring the gazes of people around her. As she calmly walked through the main street, the early birds from Unus Town stared at her, confused by the idea of a High-Leveler casually strolling through the also-called ‘Beginner’s Town’.

Ha! It’d be quite easy if we discover The Singular’s true identity, log out of here, and kill their human host in their sleep. But, how do we accomplish the first task? If I was It, I’d spent the last three years making a backup plan in case I got discovered. Man… I can’t believe you’ve been carrying all this weight alone, Alan Warden.

Amelia corroborated that Alan and Ashley were coming down through Sloochie’s video feedback, and waited outside the inn. A couple of minutes later, a tired-looking Alan seemed to rejuvenate at the sight of the redhead's knee-height heeled boots, tight jeans, and v-neck blouse, which generously showed her cleavage. Her long, loose red hair looked like a mantle made of the best shiny silk.

“Morning, fellas.” Amelia beamed, crossing her arms. “So! Are we going to the Townhall and register our new guild, or what?”

“Hey, it’s the Devil’s Princess!” Alan said aloud while Sloochie dashed to its master’s side.

“It’s Hell Princess! It was a great accomplishment getting that title, so use it right. Shall I tell you the story of how I got it?”

“Nah! Something tells me it involves some secret BDSM dungeon or something weird like that.”

“Funny that you say that, but I in fact have a bondage outfit in my inventory. Whenever you feel in the mood to be punished, just say the word.”

“Amelia! Not in front of Ashley!”

Amelia chuckled, looking at him in the eyes. It’s good to see that after everything that has happened, you still have the energy to joke around.

“Amelia Laflamme.” Ashley stepped forward, staring at her. “Alan has updated me on the events of the last few days. So I’m looking forward to our joint collaboration.”

Ashley stretched out a hand, which Amelia scrutinized for a couple of seconds. Knowing about this girl’s true nature makes me feel much better, but at the same time it’s quite disturbing.

“Glad to be of help,” Amelia said, shaking hands. “Are you guys hungry?”

 

***

**

*

 

The three looked out-of-place walking among the other Unus’ residents, which made Amelia smirk.

A level 5, which is low even for this town’s standards, an emotionless but cute level 41, and me, a Max-Leveler and the hottest woman in this whole shithole.

“Alan, give me your arm.”

“A-Are you going to rip it from me?”

“No, you idiot. You’re escorting a lady down the street, so act like a gentleman. Here.” She held his arm while walking. “See? That’s better right?”

Alan muttered a lot of incomprehensible things as his face turned bright red. Meanwhile, Amelia looked at her surroundings, finding curious bystanders glancing at both.

She smirked, satisfied.

Alan, no one will know what you’ve sacrificed for the wellbeing of this spaceship and its colony, and you may never be rewarded nor acknowledged by them. If the least I can do is burn your enemies, I’ll do it gladly. She sighed, shutting her eyes for a moment. 

…After all, I'm already used to being someone else's doll.

“Hey, have you come out with a guild name yet?” she asked.

“Nope. But you know what? Why don’t you come up with it? You’ve earned it.”

“Reaaally? All right! How about Sweet Slayers?”

“What?! No!”

“Fluffy Demons?”

“That's even worse!”

“Authentic Doomers, The Unrivaled?”

“You came prepared, huh? Ouch!”

Amelia pierced her nails on his arm and released a grunt of exasperation. “You said it was okay for me to name it,” she muttered, frowning while thinking about what they had in common. Let’s see, a group of people in a quest to find something that might not even exist… She pondered about it for a moment. “Phantom Seekers!”

She did not receive a reply for several seconds.

“I love it!