Van pondered the idea of going somewhere else and starting fresh. A house, a real job, a new location. The ideas and dreams spun before him as he thought about what he wanted. All of his life, he had wanted to become a professional gamer... and now that dream was dead. Draco had killed it when they’d turned out to be evil aliens. He had never even imagined something like that could happen. He had staked his entire life on the possibility of working for them, but now everything he’d thought was real was burning away before him at once. Sivlander was gone, his circle of friends online was gone, and the ten years he’d slaved away to become a pro gamer had vanished in less than four days. His old life was over.
Van felt a few tears well up within his eyes as he realized that he really had nothing left. But he also realized something. Sang had been right, at least on some level. He had been wasting his life. Not because of what his chosen profession was, but because he had been living his life for the future. Everything that he had sacrificed had been in pursuit of some far-off future where his life was guaranteed to be better. But now? Now that future would never come. He paused as he reflected on Trefor’s words. Trefor had been just like him, he realized. The paladin had dreamed of being a part of something better in the future, but he had been willing to give up everything in the short term in order to get there. And one of the things that Trefor had been willing to throw away was the majority of the population... and for what? For some imagined future that wouldn’t happen anyway?
“I… I don’t want your offer,” Van said as he looked up. “There’s nothing out there that will make me happy.”
“Eh? What are you talking about? I’m pretty sure working in Malibu as a mystery diner would make just about anyone happy.”
“I’m tired of looking to the future... of looking for somewhere or some place that can make me happy,” Van said as he looked up at Neil. “I don’t want money, and I don’t want to be sent somewhere else. I want a job.”
“Come again?”
“I want a job working with you guys. This whole Draco thing isn’t going away, and I’ve more than proven myself to you. I know you’re going to have to go back in there, and I know there’s stuff that I can continue to contribute. I’m done waiting for a better future. Give me a job, give me a paycheck, and drop the blackmail routine.”
“Ha. Kid, that’s cute, but you don’t get a job with the CIA just because you want one. You gotta be qualified.”
“Qualified? Qualified! Who in the hell is qualified to play a video game controlled by evil alien overlords with plans to destroy and probably enslave humanity? I think I’m probably one of the few people out there who is qualified, just on account of the fact that I can play the video game.”
“But you almost died, remember? Do you want to just rush back into such a dangerous life? I mean, we don’t know what or who Draco is still. They have all the cards in their hands. The people we’re gonna be sending in next are the kinds of people who don’t mind getting shot at for a living. Not pudgy gamers who can’t even be motivated to go jogging in the real world.”
“I’m not taking no for an answer,” Van replied. “You owe me this.”
“I don’t owe you anything as far as the company is concerned, though!” Neil said, sighing as he ran his hands through his hair. “Man, do you have any idea how much paperwork it involves, to hire a cooperative specialist from the outside?”
“I don’t care, dude. I want in on this. I’m done wasting my life away on things that don’t matter. Today is the only thing that matters. I’m not going to stare into the future any longer. The future doesn’t come, Neil. Today is the place I want to be living.”
“So maybe you should be an inspirational speaker?” Neil suggested, shaking his head. “Okay, the best I can do is recommend you to my superior, but even then, it’s a stretch. I don’t have hiring powers.”
“Do whatever it takes. Or during my debriefing with your superiors, I explain to them how you threatened to kill me multiple times.”
“Damn it. Look, I’ll do what I can, okay? I’ll do my best. But I’ll get fired if I get one more assault complaint against me, so you have to give me time. And if you get a job, we call it even, okay?”
“Sounds fair to me, boss,” Van said with a grin.
“I’m not gonna be your boss, I’m gonna be your friggen coworker,” Neil said as he stood up. “Oh, and Sang’s out of the ER. Turns out they didn’t need to cut her open after all. We ain’t letting her stand up yet, so you should go visit. You owe her one hell of a thank you.”
Van nodded as he felt himself drift off into sleep for a few minutes.
His dreams were vivid and terrifying. He kept revisiting the same moment over and over again—the moment where he realized that he was trapped, and that he could die. He twisted to the left and right, trying to awaken, but he just couldn’t seem to come out of his slumber. The images, the screams, and the feeling of adrenaline surged through him for several hours until finally he awoke, dripping with sweat and feeling exhausted beyond all measure.
“Go figure. I’m traumatized,” he mumbled as he slowly staggered out of bed, ignoring the nurse who’d been quietly tiptoeing around his room, laying out medications on the table.
“Sir you need to stay in bed,” she said.
“Get me a wheelchair; I need to see Sang,” he said as he hobbled forward and put his hands on the dresser. He really hoped one of those pills was Cwake.
The nurse obliged him, despite her scowl, and then wheeled him to Sang’s room. She was sitting up in her bed, drinking a thick, green shake from a straw. The medical machines were gently beeping and she was wearing an oxygen tube around her nose.
“There he is!” Sang said cheerfully.
“You look good,” Van said. “At least for someone with half a dozen tubes sticking out of them.”
“I’m healthier than ever,” Sang said. “They can’t figure out how, but somehow my body has made a full recovery. Even my scar from when I was cut by some glass as a kid is gone.”
“Weird,” Van said. “To think they can heal so well with that technology. And what do they want to use it for? War? Purging mankind? That sucks.”
Sang nodded. “Yeah, but we did good, Van. We did really good.”
“You saved me, you know,” Van said as he rolled up to her. “I owe you my life.”
“In the field, it’s a little different, I think,” Sang said. “You watched my back and I watched yours. No one owes anyone anything.”
“You climbed back into this thing knowing it would kill you. You got kinda lucky with that alien healing stuff,” Van said. “I’d be a dead man without you.”
Sang shrugged. “Well, you’re welcome.”
Van smiled as he sat next to her. “So… what are you going to do next?” he asked.
“I have no idea. This whole thing was way, way beyond my pay-grade. I thought I could handle it, though, up until the last few days. I mean, things really got out of hand. Once the aliens stopped being a theory and started being real… I dunno. It’s too much for me.”
“I think it’s awesome,” Van said. “After all these years, we’ve finally found out that there’s life among the stars. And the best part is that at least some of them are friendly!”
“Why do you assume that?” Sang asked.
“Um, because they want to help us, duh,” Van replied.
“Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’?” Sang asked. “Because this could be the potential situation. What if these Others want to invade Earth for themselves? What if they oppose Draco because they want to eat all the humans instead of just killing them?”
“Oh... I didn’t, uh... I didn’t think of that,” Van said.
“Well, it’s all I’ve been thinking about. That Dragon had no qualms about attacking and killing that Messenger. They have access to technology we can’t even dream of, too. Just because they oppose Draco doesn’t mean they’re coming in peace.”