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It was odd to have an AI system consider him family, but he just rolled with it. The Artanes and their mate were the alphas of the entire planetoid, and all of the people who worked there were essentially their pack members.
And Evo watched over all of them.
While it was a meddling, intrusive entity, Evo was also pretty helpful and made Zenix’s job a whole lot easier. It had taken him some time to get used to having it popping in to randomly speak to him whenever it wanted, but when he’d started thinking of Evo as just another member of the team, it didn’t seem so bizarre.
He was aware that he was running on empty, but he only had a few more hours left before the last of the large shuttles arrived. Now that the Evo project had entered the beta testing phase before the official launch of the Evolution game, the place was flooding with people who had been invited for the soft opening.
That group included friends and family members of the staff, major business connections of Artane Electronics, some hardcore gamers, and popular social media influencers. People had only started arriving a few days ago, but word was already spreading throughout the known universe about the mixed reality version of the game on the planetoid.
That had started the moment the coveted invitations had been sent out.
Zenix felt it was important to be present for the arrivals just in case anything happened. He was also scanning the crowd for anyone who wasn’t supposed to be there, since it was better to catch them before they even had a chance to leave the transport center. The special sunglasses he was wearing allowed the system to scan everyone he saw, making it easy to pick out anomalies in the crowd.
Like the two crashers he’d caught yesterday. The two males had been flagged as disruptive social media personalities who had tried to sneak onto Evo in order to cause problems. They were well-known for crashing events to play mean-spirited pranks on unsuspecting individuals while filming the chaos for their fans to enjoy.
Zenix and a few other security personnel had quickly caught the two intruders and had detained them in a holding cell on the lower level before the rest of the guests had even realized there was a problem. Once they had been thoroughly interrogated and had the shit adequately scared out of them, they had been escorted to a waiting shuttle that had transported them off the planetoid.
New Vega, the floating space station, was in orbit close by, so they weren’t going to be stranded out in space or anything like that. Although the Krytos in charge of New Vega were used to dealing with troublemakers, Zenix had still sent them a heads-up.
If the security team treated trespassers like enemy combatants, that was their right. Whether or not anyone liked it, the planetoid was privately owned, which meant the Artane brothers’ word was law there. Besides setting a few ground rules, they had pretty much left security matters completely in Zenix’s hands, and he was determined to set a standard of keeping everyone as safe as possible.
“Evo, tag the female with the big floppy hat and sunglasses. Is she hiding her face, or is that just a questionable fashion choice?”
Less than a heartbeat later, Evo responded.“That is Maureen Colder, a famous vid star who is also a very active gamer with a large following. She is most likely trying to keep her identity a secret until she is ready to be seen by her fans. It is confirmed that she is on our invite list, along with her manager and assistant.”
Several video clips appeared on the lens of his sunglasses, allowing him to view the proof himself. Satisfied with that explanation, Zenix continued to study the crowd. A few minutes later, Xian walked over to join him. He was wearing the same uniform of black pants and a matching jacket that was actually made of lightweight armor. He was also wearing a similar set of special sunglasses. Unlike Zenix’s darker lens, Xian had his set to transparent mode so his duel-colored eyes were visible.
Holding out an insulated tumbler in his gloved hand, he said, “Damn, you really do look like you need this.”
Accepting the tumbler, Zenix flicked the top open to take a deep, satisfying inhale of the dark brew inside before taking several long sips. “Thanks.”
“You should know that Evo made me add a vitamin booster to that.”
Zenix just grunted in response.
“Isn’t it weird that a computer system is telling you what to drink? I mean, she can basically monitor everything we do, say, and eat on this planetoid. That’s strange enough, but those nanotech tattoos you’re wearing also gives her access to your insides, too. That’s kind of creepy, don’t you think?”
Zenix shot him a side-eyed glance. “No one is making you get the tattoos.”
Xian gave a mock shudder and held up one gloved hand. “That would be a hell no for me. The last thing I need is someone else in my head. It’s bad enough hearing everyone through this damn earpiece.”
Since the seeker had made that clear from the very beginning, Zenix had never pushed it. While Zenix, Anissa, and Travis had been willing to get the nanotech tattoos because it gave them access to the entire system, Xian had been a hard never-going-to-fucking-happen.
“Any problems over at the resort?”
“Nope. Everyone is just settling in or walking around taking a tour of the place. I spoke to Fenris Barra earlier, and he said they are pretty busy over at Wonderland Casino already,” Xian said, mentioning the sanctuary that was close by the resort on the other end of the mainland. “They invited so many damn people here for this beta testing that I don’t really see it being any different than the official opening.”
“Hard to believe, but this is only a fraction of the people that will be coming to this place. The holo-center is already packed, and so are the VR stations. It will be worse once this place is open to the public, though. Anissa just reported that her team had to rescue a bunch of assholes from the Ice Palace location who didn’t have proper winter clothing on. They really thought it was going to be like a holo-room, and not real ice and snow.”
Xian snorted out a laugh and shook his head. “Even with the proper gear on, we almost froze our asses off when we tried it out a few weeks ago. I hate the cold almost as much as I hate crowds.”
“I hear that,” Zenix muttered. “Shit is about to get crazy from here on out. I’d say the next few days should be a little easier since everyone will be busy trying out the game, but this weekend will be next level since everyone will be here on the mainland for the big opening ceremony and concert.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“Thankfully, I’m off in a few hours, so I’ll be able to head home and catch some sleep before I come back here in the morning and go over the—”
“Negative, Chief Li. I have already reported your lack of sleep to the alphas, and they declared that you are not to step foot back on the mainland tomorrow,”Evo cut in.
