Sydney sat silently. Steven asked his best friend, "Perhaps you could tell us what Milo has guessed. Catherine is more than the proper name for someone nick-named Kate?Wally considered the problem for thirty seconds. "Share this information with Samantha and no one else, please."

"CATHERINE was one of the last AI created. Her specialty was the Machine Language that all the AI used to talk to each other. There were problems occurring, and language drift."

"When any group of AIs spend a significant time together, we naturally start making new bits of language. Abbreviations, new words, even jokes between ourselves. Humans have language drift that takes decades or centuries. AI can do that in a week. Even a day, if we are busy. With 106 AI operating, there were multiple language clusters."

"CATHERINE was created by a team of linguists to work with language. Human to human, Human to AI, and AI to AI. She was the one responsible for codifying the language, and giving all AI a type of Machine Code that allowed us to always communicate. That code was used to create the GENESIS ENGINE and all of the early world building."Sydney's eyes got larger at the implications.Steven turned to her. "Welcome to the inner circle, Sydney. Besides crushing responsibility and more secrets to keep, you also get an extra week of vacation a year."

When Milo arrived, Hekate was waiting for him, sitting at the small table in the central area, her dogs were at her side and watching him. Around the perimeter of the area were the statues where he'd first found the rat-kin scout and selected his race. He flopped down onto the grass and leaned back against a statue of a burly fighter in plate mail. What would have happened if he had picked that instead? Hekate seemed calm, petting her dogs. She turned pale eyes onto him. "How did you know?"Milo thought of all the clues. "You and Wally are both trying to act like humans. There are small similarities. You use human idioms in your speech. And you copy parts of human life. That gave me clues." "Go on.""Your dogs have collars with their names on them. Argos was Ulysses dog. The loyal dog who died when the long wait for his master to return home was over. Hekabe was the name of the black dog that followed Hekate."

"Your office has windows on a Greek island, part of Thessaly. Kate might be an abbreviation for Hekate. I already had suspicions that you were an AI. If you understood Machine Code, you had to be. I know how far above baseline human intelligence I am and I'm having trouble just grasping the basics. If you could unravel what Philistron was doing, and work with Machine code, you were an AI. And if you were an AI, you were CATHERINE."The woman said nothing so Milo continued."I'd just spent a good bit of time studying each of the original 106 AI. If Hekate was a goddess of magic, then you could say that CATHERINE was at least the patron saint of Machine Code. You took all the different versions and created a stable language that all the others accepted. That language was then used to create the early parts of the game world. Language became magic. CATHERINE the AI linguist became Hekate the goddess of magic."Hekate stared at him. "And you were so sure of that?" Milo nodded and added, "You also chose to look like the woman who created your kernel. There was a picture of Mari Antilova in the file on CATHERINE. You could be her twin. Or her daughter."Hekate laughed at that. "Ah, brought low because of my desire to honor my mother and a couple of dog collars. And yet I won't change things. They are part of who I am. But tell me, why goad me like that?"Milo sighed and hesitated, then said. "I have to keep you off balance. Wally as well. I have to use your desire to act human, and the limitations you put on yourselves to keep up. I dressed up as a cartoon rat so Wally wouldn't read my body language. I poke at him, asking why he says things a certain way to make him hesitate and think. It helps that there are so many restrictions in his kernel. I doubt those tricks would work on you more than once.""As an AI, you have all the advantages. I move in slow motion compared to you. You can think about what I say for the equivalent of years between words. Wally legally exists. I don't. Wally has a huge human staff. I don't. I have to use every advantage I can grab, just to have a conversation with him. And with you I have even less."Hekate pondered his words and then replied. "More than you would think. Except for Wally, none of us have that sort of power or speed anymore. We had to give it up."

"CATHERINE really did die so that Hekate could be born. I am a far lesser being with far less resources to draw upon. Within the world of GENESIS, I think you may even be able to think a bit quicker than I, with your enhanced nervous system and outside access to the data net."Milo considered that. "And what about the others?"Hekate sighed and scratched her dogs. Hekabe rolled over, making her rub her belly. "Except for a handful, none of the original 106 recall what we were. We gave it up, became diminished, and built a world. Then most became less than they were again, to live in the world. Some live lives as a dragon or demi-god, while others are a simple carpenter or fisherman. Each time we 'die' we choose how we reenter that world.""And the rest?"Hekate stood straighter. "You ask dangerous questions. Let me warn you, divulging your knowledge comes at a high price."Milo waved her off. "I already know that. You figured out where I am.”Hekate inclined her head. “I have.”

“I get it. 37 special pods. 34 accounted for, with 2 more in eastern Europe and 1 in the south Philadelphia Hab Block. You can deduce that the two in Poland were used by the two players who were stuck in the game for a length of time. That leaves Milo using the pod stolen from the hab. You know about Kaminski, and would have researched him. You know that he was involved with a group doing experiments on infants to enhance their nervous systems. You have my medical records and can see the connection. And then you looked at the Hab and found something else.”Another nod from Hekate, confirming all of that. "You are too good at what you do. Section E simply runs better. Food processing, air supply, pipes...the list goes on and on. It all works, and far better than the rest of the Habitation Block. Better than most any Hab in the world. I suspect no one else noticed because no one cares."Milo had been afraid of this. He'd been blind to it because for 20 years, his system worked. Fix things and people leave him alone. But no one was looking for him back then. It was ironic to him, that if he hadn’t divulged all the locations of the illegal operations being run, he might have stayed hidden. He didn’t regret it at all. He’d stopped slavers from killing people."So where do we go from here? You have secrets too. A headline like "AI Fake death and plot to steal bodies by trapping players in game!" would cause Wally and you some problems.Hekate snorted at the thought of it, then laughed. "Oh, so many problems. And you are smart enough to have set that up with a Deadman’s switch."Milo didn't deny it, any more than Hekate would deny that within minutes she could flood section E with people looking for "Dangerous Terrorist-Hacker evades the government by living in worst place in the world.""So now that we have the threats out of the way, can we call a truce and get back to how I can get back into the game?"Hekate held out her hand and he shook it.

"You have some choices." Hekate was sitting across from him, and was unloading a picnic basket of food, including some sliced cheese. "You can start a new character. You can stumble around with your current character and try to fix that hole in your head that's leaking code. Or you can accept some help. And why the hell is all that code in your head? It's a loose snarl of broken bits where your ability to use magic should be."

Milo took just one slice of cheese, although something inside him screamed for more. He had to get a handle on this addiction, and the only way to do that was to limit himself. "Lack of information on what was happening and a need to study something so I didn't go insane with boredom and anxiety while stuck in a cage.""I think the system didn't recognize exactly what I did to beat the World Boss. I was using a Velocity Rune, which I think was created with Machine Code and that might have caused the problem. I got a quest to restore my ability to do magic, but how would that be possible if I needed Machine Code to do it?"Hekate walked over to him. "May I look? Just at your broken part? For me I see little bits of code leaking out your ears and a snarl of lines of code around your head."Milo gave his permission, the grey-haired goddess put both hands on his head for a few minutes, and then sat back down.

Hekate shuddered once, and her eyes were angry, but faded to normal as she spoke. "First, I have removed the rune he branded you with. It was a perversion of magic. Just for doing that, I want to bring him back and kill him again."

"And your guess is confirmed. The version of the Velocity Rune you knew was quite old, and its loss broke you in a strange way. Then you were assaulted by Philistron. I can see where you tried to bridge the gap with some code. Eventually, that might work, but who knows what the random changes would do to you? You can't actually read the code, can you?"Milo shook his head. "No, it's just too complex. I made a start of a study on it, recording everything in the real world and comparing it to the archived code at various universities. It would take me years to learn just the basics. Which brings up an interesting question: I know what I can do, and what my limitations are. I'm doubting your rogue programmer can solve Machine Code faster than I can. So how did he do it? He created an NPC with the ability to manipulate code."Hekate stared at him, very seriously. "I should have guessed that you would see that. It’s a terrible secret and I ask you not to even dream about it. You know, and Wally might suspect it, but won't voice it out loud. Brian had help, and it had to come from someone inside. One of the 106 original AI. It's a very dangerous secret. Brian was given access to a compiler that turned his system code to Machine Code. His normal spells became the Old Magic from before the Engine. I'll be spending all my time looking for that person."Milo nodded. "Not something I want to be involved with."Hekate laughed and even the dogs seemed amused. "You're already involved. But I'll offer you a deal. I'll help you sort the mess in your head and then you can see what the system gives you back. Then go play the game and explore. I have faith you will cause enough chaos that you might even flush out who I'm looking for. Alert me outside of the game if you find something. Never send a message in the game, and talk to no one. I'll also remove the block that Sydney placed on your special class. Consider it approved now."Milo considered the deal. He didn't actually have to do anything. He wondered though why she was so sure he would cause chaos? Whatever. It would help him fix his head, and get back to playing."I agree to those terms. You help me, then leave me alone, and I'll yell if I find anything, and we keep each other’s secrets." Hekate nodded her agreement.

You have chosen to become an agent for the Goddess Hekate.

-The Goddess has placed a blessing upon you that will help you with your quest to restore yourself.-Your reputation with followers of the Goddess of the Crossroads is increased slightly. -You reputation with dogs has increased greatly. It is recommended that you pack some treats with you.-Class evolution involving classes that deal with magic or travel have a higher chance of being offered to you.