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Description
The flying canoe was out of control, but still spaceworthy. Sunset the Coyote was strapped into the copilot seat while a rat-woman named Pip struggled to right the improvised ship and head for the space station's airlock rather than a random part of its hull.

"Brace for impact!" she said, firing several thrusters to aim them backwards and slow down. Nothing responded quite right, and Sunset looked over the various gauges without much hope of fixing them.

Not that he wanted anyone to detect the little modifications he'd made.

The canoe slammed backwards into the spherical space station stern-first, cracking through the hull. The whole craft shuddered but held. Which was good in the sense that they were now plummeting in an intact canoe.

Pip swore in Japanese and leaped out, activating her spacesuit's jetpack. Instead of completely bailing on the expedition, she flipped around and activated a glittering purple rune on her left wrist while shouting "Momentum Center Decree!" The whole vehicle shined with the same color and came to a stop relative to her. She was falling too, but much slower.

"Got it?" asked Sunset, still buckled in and wearing a coyote-sized spacesuit.

"Yeah, but you're lucky you didn't pressurize this place yet." Her "decree" wore off, and together they guided the canoe down or inward to the habitat that Sunset was building.

It was a cracked ball orbiting a star in Threespace. This star system was out of the way from the major space-lanes but had a moderately interesting planet of ruins to explore. Sunset's station didn't use the glass orb's inner surface as its living area. Instead, the kilometer-wide station had an inner core half that width, a tiny planetoid with a crystal shell to give it an airtight sky.

Sunset looked ruefully up at the crack. "Airtight in theory."

"You say something?" said Pip. She was helping to land the canoe on a scaffold in what would become a lake at some point. Two more canoes were already beside it, labeled A and B.

"We'll get it fixed."

"How'd you afford this, anyway? I get that you're some kind of bigshot around here, but nobody's said what you did, beyond that it was Earthside work."

The coyote grinned up at her. "What's your security clearance level?" He knew, but he was having some fun exploring the branches of his intuitive conversation-steering system. Maybe he could get her to implement some of the other bits of his master plan.

"Beta. So it's super secret?"

"Yeah, sorry. Let's just say I have a personal rule: Try not to anger more than one god at a time."

Pip looked confused; she'd only uploaded this year. "But this is Threespace, not the fantasy worlds... and whatever you did wasn't in Talespace at all. Oh geez."

"I'd avoid angering that one too! Anyway, I have some special tools around here so long as I use 'em to make fun things." He raised one paw to tap his chin thoughtfully. "What I don't automatically have is landscaping. Do you think you can get me some kind of trees producing healing fruit, and a couple of big fans?"

Pip said, "A chance to add to your fan club? Sure, quest accepted. That's the slang, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks!" A fanfare played for her. Pip saluted, and used her suit to help her reach a ladder in the half-working gravity. She headed out to her personal starship.

Sunset was alone, floating in his latest little haven. There was a lot to do, but he could make this place fun and tick off a goddess.

#

He had an intact roof now, and half-G gravity, and a world. His habitat shined in the starry sky. Half was a lake, half a forest with a fort and a little monster lair. The planetoid core held a gravity generator and a cave for more adventuring. What he needed now was staff. So he made some calls.

Soon, that fort had keepers. "How are you doing?" he asked Kazana, a matronly raccoon lady with what some of the geekier players (definitely not himself) would call epic-level thighs.

"We're idle, sir." Beside her, two centauroid footmen with the lower bodies of lions and human upper halves stood equipped with spears and wrenches, ready for whatever maintenance the place needed.

Sunset nodded and apologized. Kazana herself was just a Tier-II AI, not truly capable of boredom beyond some programmed behavior that might get her into trouble. But he'd specifically asked for some of the brighter Tier-IIs to play the role of her helpers. He wanted them to be cheerful and interesting for the customers.

By now he had Canoes A through D stripped of what were originally space thrusters, and floating in the lake. Each one was only the equivalent of a starter Endless Isles boat, but he'd messed with space-warping magic to give each one a little pocket dimension. And then he'd set them all up as arcades or casinos or puzzle rooms so people could hop in and play through a canoe. The overall effect was that people could come here and play around with a selection of classic games without getting heavily into dungeon-delving. Even the planetoid's cave was only a dozen rooms, good for a light and reconfigurable quest experience. The fort had a buffet and lounge for Talespace residents who could appreciate them, and for Earthside players to hang around with them. Sort of a conference area with a low-key Talespace experience to attract outsiders for meetings and fundraisers.

The staff had helped set things up. The taurs had hung a cheerful Thousand Tales banner from the fort's wall and set up the electric fans around the sphere to help create a breeze. He'd imported some violent raccoons to lurk in the monster lair for fighting practice and planted healing-fruit trees, and had gone nuts trying to make sure every detail was just right.

#

The heads of the Knights of Talespace accepted his invitation for the opening event, but were curious. Sir Horizon, a griffin, showed up by leaping through a portal that led directly to the little crystal world. "It's not like you to be so fussy," he told Sunset.

"I haven't built a world before!" the coyote said. He hopped around checking all the details. He wore a green cloak as an experiment in starting a fashion trend.

Horizon's wife Nocturne hopped in after him, followed by Pip the rat, a squirrel lady named Alma covered in shamanic fur markings; Prince Robin the centauroid buck, King Diver the pegasus, Lexington the frontier raccoon, and a dolphin gal named Gail. "A distinguished crowd!" Sunset said with a bow. "Welcome to the Tonzir system."

"What are we in for?" asked Lexington. "Fighting, or a cocktail party?"

"Both! I've scheduled a monster battle for nine, and the pocket dimensions later, but first I'd like to give you a tour. I think we can use this place for outreach."

He led them all around the world, pointing out the gaming canoes, the fort and its friendly employees, and the dungeon entrance. "Depending on the players we can redecorate the cave system to lean more toward fantasy or tech."

A terrifying moan resounded from the dungeon, startling Robin. Sunset said, "That's just the resident ghost. Got the place set to a medium-difficulty cave level at the moment."

Horizon said, "Not bad, coyote. So this is what you've been doing while you're grounded?"

Sunset wagged and grinned. "This and a few other projects. Wrapping things up with that crooked lawyer, helping Phoenix, odds-and-ends."

Robin's ears flicked. "What's that noise?"

A triple thump cut through the air. Robin leaped away and Diver and Nocturne took to the air. Horizon was the first to see the incoming mortar shells and the first to get hit.

"Gas!" he said, coughing.

"It's just smoke. But retreat to the fort!" said Sunset.

Through a thickening cloud of smoke-bombs the guests hurried into the wooden stockade. This half of the world was on the planetoid's night side. "So that's what the fans are for?" asked Alma.

"Yeah; turn 'em on. Looks like we're starting the attack early. Semi-random enemy behavior."

Gail smiled. "So what's the goal?" She peeked over the wall and gasped at the horde of gleaming red eyes. An evil raccoon army was coming for them.

"That is a lot of enemies," Horizon said, and a crossbow bolt hit him in the wing. "Ow!"

"The good news is we have plenty of healing available," Sunset said.

Nocturne tended to her husband's wound. "And the bad news?"

"It's the magic fruit in the trees, out there next to the army. Anyway, check out the treasure chests in the fort courtyard."

Alma hopped down from the parapet and opened one of the four chests near the corners, with a burst of golden light. "Shiny!" She held out a curled gold horn.

Sunset called down, "Yeah, the horns are worth 1 point each and the golden fleeces are 3. The coons are going to try breaking in and stealing the shinies, and they win if they score 50."

"So we need to guard those," said Robin.

Sunset wagged and grinned. "Excellent."

"What?"

"I mean yes, watch them. But divide yourselves up between the courtyard and the walls however you like."

A battle broke out between Sunset's friends and the army of raccoons with their crossbows and smoke bombs. The enemies were trying to knock out the fans and create an ever-thickening mist to cover their assault on the walls. They even had a couple of siege ladders. The coyote bounded around with quadruped agility and telekinetic command of a spear. Diver used his pegasus magic to pull the smoke toward himself and crush it into weird aerogel bricks, then fling hail and wind at the enemies.

"They're using the healing fruit on themselves!" Alma complained. Without waiting for an answer she grabbed Diver's hooves and he carried her like a hang glider over the walls. He dropped her into the treetops to try snagging some fruit for the good guys.

Sunset and the griffin were busy bounding around on the walls, trying to fend off the horde while they talked. Robin was running defense at the treasure chests, where several intruders had gotten to the shiny things. Lexington fired her gun here and there and clubbed anyone who got too close.

Horizon said, "Hey Sunset, I'm detecting lag. You've got too many evil-coons running individual AIs."

Sunset said, "I wanted smart swarming."

"That's what the Swarm AI is for. Standard Tier-I code." His talons slashed an invader who fell back with a pained thump.

"Okay, I'll retool it later. Also I've got the taurs live-streaming this battle for marketing's sake; should've mentioned that." One of them waved, camera in hand.

The noise grew louder. Sunset peeked over the wall and smiled. The enemy had gotten serious. Their shaman leader was conjuring a boulder and they'd brought in a ballista.

"I'll try to inertia-grab the rock," Pip said, charging that rune she wore. The lion-taur guards backed her up when a raccoon tried interrupting her.

The party had to go on offense to counter the new threat. Alma had come back with only a few fruit and needed one herself, so she was hanging back and dancing spells into existence. The griffins tried to kill the shaman and the siege engine but could hardly fly without getting shot. Between their magic and the distractions, though, the heroes did manage to make the evil army fire wildly.

The ballista's huge bolt collided with the shaman's flying boulder while it was enveloped in a purple glow. The feedback sent Pip crashing into a wall, breaking her concentration. A weird momentum glitch then flung both shots right at the gaming canoes. With a terrible crash, three of the wooden vessels splintered and broke.

But while the invaders were distracted, Sunset and Gail teamed up with Diver to smite the shaman. Badly wounded, the leader chittered an order and the army began to fall back with what golden trophies they'd managed to steal so far. A long fighting retreat later, with two more attempts by individual coons to swipe the golden fleeces, and the enemy got beaten back.

A fanfare played, and a signboard hovered in the sky. [You win! Enemy score: 29 points.]

Horizon breathed a sigh of relief, and laughed. Nocturne nuzzled him, saying, "That was with a large party though."

Sunset said, "Check on our banner; what's its health rating? That's a hidden objective."

Alma climbed over to look. "92%. A-minus."

Everyone took a minute to recover. Robin stretched, then pushed open the fort's door. "That was fun, but we didn't get to try the gaming canoes yet and now they're wrecked."

"There's still one afloat," Pip said.

"Which?" asked Sunset.

"Looks like... C. Do you reset them all, or what?"

Sunset said, "Yeah, I can reset them but there's a time limit; can't do that until tomorrow."

"Want to show us that last canoe, then?"

Sunset grinned widely and showed his teeth as he made sure everyone was nearby. "Yes, yes I do. But first, please remove your hats and let's have a moment of respect."

"Huh?" asked Pip.

Sunset lifted his head and began to sing, off key.

"Go play Canoe C, by the Tonzir-ly light
What so badly we sailed, through the spherical ceiling..."

Alma covered her muzzle with one paw.

"Whose broad thighs and bright taurs, through the perilous fight
O'er the ram parts we watched, were so gallantly streaming."

Lexington calmly re-summoned her musket and began loading.

"And the raccoons' red glare, the fans clearing the air
Gave fruit through the night, and the lag was still there."

Nobody interrupted Sunset as he sang his digital heart out.

"Oh, say, does that taur-dangled banner yet wave,
O'er the la-a-a-nd of the trees and the moan of the cave?"

Gail suggested, "Play ball?" Lexington slowly raised her musket.

And then everything exploded.

#

Elsewhere, a reporter for the Talespace Tribune donned her slinky elven armor and went on camera. "This just in: there's been a large explosion in Threespace in the Tonzir system. No fleet combat has been seen there in weeks, but it's the site of some experimental construction in an off-limits orbit that we haven't been able to peek into in detail. This event might be the start of a new large-scale quest to explore this far-off sector's secrets."

She continued, "So far we have only one additional clue: a player death message that was broadcast to every save point in Threespace. It just says..."

[DEATH. Sunset knows what he did.]

Description
The flying canoe was out of control, but still spaceworthy. Sunset the Coyote was strapped into the copilot seat while a rat-woman named Pip struggled to right the improvised ship and head for the space station's airlock rather than a random part of its hull.

"Brace for impact!" she said, firing several thrusters to aim them backwards and slow down. Nothing responded quite right, and Sunset looked over the various gauges without much hope of fixing them.

Not that he wanted anyone to detect the little modifications he'd made.

The canoe slammed backwards into the spherical space station stern-first, cracking through the hull. The whole craft shuddered but held. Which was good in the sense that they were now plummeting in an intact canoe.

Pip swore in Japanese and leaped out, activating her spacesuit's jetpack. Instead of completely bailing on the expedition, she flipped around and activated a glittering purple rune on her left wrist while shouting "Momentum Center Decree!" The whole vehicle shined with the same color and came to a stop relative to her. She was falling too, but much slower.

"Got it?" asked Sunset, still buckled in and wearing a coyote-sized spacesuit.

"Yeah, but you're lucky you didn't pressurize this place yet." Her "decree" wore off, and together they guided the canoe down or inward to the habitat that Sunset was building.

It was a cracked ball orbiting a star in Threespace. This star system was out of the way from the major space-lanes but had a moderately interesting planet of ruins to explore. Sunset's station didn't use the glass orb's inner surface as its living area. Instead, the kilometer-wide station had an inner core half that width, a tiny planetoid with a crystal shell to give it an airtight sky.

Sunset looked ruefully up at the crack. "Airtight in theory."

"You say something?" said Pip. She was helping to land the canoe on a scaffold in what would become a lake at some point. Two more canoes were already beside it, labeled A and B.

"We'll get it fixed."

"How'd you afford this, anyway? I get that you're some kind of bigshot around here, but nobody's said what you did, beyond that it was Earthside work."

The coyote grinned up at her. "What's your security clearance level?" He knew, but he was having some fun exploring the branches of his intuitive conversation-steering system. Maybe he could get her to implement some of the other bits of his master plan.

"Beta. So it's super secret?"

"Yeah, sorry. Let's just say I have a personal rule: Try not to anger more than one god at a time."

Pip looked confused; she'd only uploaded this year. "But this is Threespace, not the fantasy worlds... and whatever you did wasn't in Talespace at all. Oh geez."

"I'd avoid angering that one too! Anyway, I have some special tools around here so long as I use 'em to make fun things." He raised one paw to tap his chin thoughtfully. "What I don't automatically have is landscaping. Do you think you can get me some kind of trees producing healing fruit, and a couple of big fans?"

Pip said, "A chance to add to your fan club? Sure, quest accepted. That's the slang, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks!" A fanfare played for her. Pip saluted, and used her suit to help her reach a ladder in the half-working gravity. She headed out to her personal starship.

Sunset was alone, floating in his latest little haven. There was a lot to do, but he could make this place fun and tick off a goddess.

#

He had an intact roof now, and half-G gravity, and a world. His habitat shined in the starry sky. Half was a lake, half a forest with a fort and a little monster lair. The planetoid core held a gravity generator and a cave for more adventuring. What he needed now was staff. So he made some calls.

Soon, that fort had keepers. "How are you doing?" he asked Kazana, a matronly raccoon lady with what some of the geekier players (definitely not himself) would call epic-level thighs.

"We're idle, sir." Beside her, two centauroid footmen with the lower bodies of lions and human upper halves stood equipped with spears and wrenches, ready for whatever maintenance the place needed.

Sunset nodded and apologized. Kazana herself was just a Tier-II AI, not truly capable of boredom beyond some programmed behavior that might get her into trouble. But he'd specifically asked for some of the brighter Tier-IIs to play the role of her helpers. He wanted them to be cheerful and interesting for the customers.

By now he had Canoes A through D stripped of what were originally space thrusters, and floating in the lake. Each one was only the equivalent of a starter Endless Isles boat, but he'd messed with space-warping magic to give each one a little pocket dimension. And then he'd set them all up as arcades or casinos or puzzle rooms so people could hop in and play through a canoe. The overall effect was that people could come here and play around with a selection of classic games without getting heavily into dungeon-delving. Even the planetoid's cave was only a dozen rooms, good for a light and reconfigurable quest experience. The fort had a buffet and lounge for Talespace residents who could appreciate them, and for Earthside players to hang around with them. Sort of a conference area with a low-key Talespace experience to attract outsiders for meetings and fundraisers.

The staff had helped set things up. The taurs had hung a cheerful Thousand Tales banner from the fort's wall and set up the electric fans around the sphere to help create a breeze. He'd imported some violent raccoons to lurk in the monster lair for fighting practice and planted healing-fruit trees, and had gone nuts trying to make sure every detail was just right.

#

The heads of the Knights of Talespace accepted his invitation for the opening event, but were curious. Sir Horizon, a griffin, showed up by leaping through a portal that led directly to the little crystal world. "It's not like you to be so fussy," he told Sunset.

"I haven't built a world before!" the coyote said. He hopped around checking all the details. He wore a green cloak as an experiment in starting a fashion trend.

Horizon's wife Nocturne hopped in after him, followed by Pip the rat, a squirrel lady named Alma covered in shamanic fur markings; Prince Robin the centauroid buck, King Diver the pegasus, Lexington the frontier raccoon, and a dolphin gal named Gail. "A distinguished crowd!" Sunset said with a bow. "Welcome to the Tonzir system."

"What are we in for?" asked Lexington. "Fighting, or a cocktail party?"

"Both! I've scheduled a monster battle for nine, and the pocket dimensions later, but first I'd like to give you a tour. I think we can use this place for outreach."

He led them all around the world, pointing out the gaming canoes, the fort and its friendly employees, and the dungeon entrance. "Depending on the players we can redecorate the cave system to lean more toward fantasy or tech."

A terrifying moan resounded from the dungeon, startling Robin. Sunset said, "That's just the resident ghost. Got the place set to a medium-difficulty cave level at the moment."

Horizon said, "Not bad, coyote. So this is what you've been doing while you're grounded?"

Sunset wagged and grinned. "This and a few other projects. Wrapping things up with that crooked lawyer, helping Phoenix, odds-and-ends."

Robin's ears flicked. "What's that noise?"

A triple thump cut through the air. Robin leaped away and Diver and Nocturne took to the air. Horizon was the first to see the incoming mortar shells and the first to get hit.

"Gas!" he said, coughing.

"It's just smoke. But retreat to the fort!" said Sunset.

Through a thickening cloud of smoke-bombs the guests hurried into the wooden stockade. This half of the world was on the planetoid's night side. "So that's what the fans are for?" asked Alma.

"Yeah; turn 'em on. Looks like we're starting the attack early. Semi-random enemy behavior."

Gail smiled. "So what's the goal?" She peeked over the wall and gasped at the horde of gleaming red eyes. An evil raccoon army was coming for them.

"That is a lot of enemies," Horizon said, and a crossbow bolt hit him in the wing. "Ow!"

"The good news is we have plenty of healing available," Sunset said.

Nocturne tended to her husband's wound. "And the bad news?"

"It's the magic fruit in the trees, out there next to the army. Anyway, check out the treasure chests in the fort courtyard."

Alma hopped down from the parapet and opened one of the four chests near the corners, with a burst of golden light. "Shiny!" She held out a curled gold horn.

Sunset called down, "Yeah, the horns are worth 1 point each and the golden fleeces are 3. The coons are going to try breaking in and stealing the shinies, and they win if they score 50."

"So we need to guard those," said Robin.

Sunset wagged and grinned. "Excellent."

"What?"

"I mean yes, watch them. But divide yourselves up between the courtyard and the walls however you like."

A battle broke out between Sunset's friends and the army of raccoons with their crossbows and smoke bombs. The enemies were trying to knock out the fans and create an ever-thickening mist to cover their assault on the walls. They even had a couple of siege ladders. The coyote bounded around with quadruped agility and telekinetic command of a spear. Diver used his pegasus magic to pull the smoke toward himself and crush it into weird aerogel bricks, then fling hail and wind at the enemies.

"They're using the healing fruit on themselves!" Alma complained. Without waiting for an answer she grabbed Diver's hooves and he carried her like a hang glider over the walls. He dropped her into the treetops to try snagging some fruit for the good guys.

Sunset and the griffin were busy bounding around on the walls, trying to fend off the horde while they talked. Robin was running defense at the treasure chests, where several intruders had gotten to the shiny things. Lexington fired her gun here and there and clubbed anyone who got too close.

Horizon said, "Hey Sunset, I'm detecting lag. You've got too many evil-coons running individual AIs."

Sunset said, "I wanted smart swarming."

"That's what the Swarm AI is for. Standard Tier-I code." His talons slashed an invader who fell back with a pained thump.

"Okay, I'll retool it later. Also I've got the taurs live-streaming this battle for marketing's sake; should've mentioned that." One of them waved, camera in hand.

The noise grew louder. Sunset peeked over the wall and smiled. The enemy had gotten serious. Their shaman leader was conjuring a boulder and they'd brought in a ballista.

"I'll try to inertia-grab the rock," Pip said, charging that rune she wore. The lion-taur guards backed her up when a raccoon tried interrupting her.

The party had to go on offense to counter the new threat. Alma had come back with only a few fruit and needed one herself, so she was hanging back and dancing spells into existence. The griffins tried to kill the shaman and the siege engine but could hardly fly without getting shot. Between their magic and the distractions, though, the heroes did manage to make the evil army fire wildly.

The ballista's huge bolt collided with the shaman's flying boulder while it was enveloped in a purple glow. The feedback sent Pip crashing into a wall, breaking her concentration. A weird momentum glitch then flung both shots right at the gaming canoes. With a terrible crash, three of the wooden vessels splintered and broke.

But while the invaders were distracted, Sunset and Gail teamed up with Diver to smite the shaman. Badly wounded, the leader chittered an order and the army began to fall back with what golden trophies they'd managed to steal so far. A long fighting retreat later, with two more attempts by individual coons to swipe the golden fleeces, and the enemy got beaten back.

A fanfare played, and a signboard hovered in the sky. [You win! Enemy score: 29 points.]

Horizon breathed a sigh of relief, and laughed. Nocturne nuzzled him, saying, "That was with a large party though."

Sunset said, "Check on our banner; what's its health rating? That's a hidden objective."

Alma climbed over to look. "92%. A-minus."

Everyone took a minute to recover. Robin stretched, then pushed open the fort's door. "That was fun, but we didn't get to try the gaming canoes yet and now they're wrecked."

"There's still one afloat," Pip said.

"Which?" asked Sunset.

"Looks like... C. Do you reset them all, or what?"

Sunset said, "Yeah, I can reset them but there's a time limit; can't do that until tomorrow."

"Want to show us that last canoe, then?"

Sunset grinned widely and showed his teeth as he made sure everyone was nearby. "Yes, yes I do. But first, please remove your hats and let's have a moment of respect."

"Huh?" asked Pip.

Sunset lifted his head and began to sing, off key.

"Go play Canoe C, by the Tonzir-ly light
What so badly we sailed, through the spherical ceiling..."

Alma covered her muzzle with one paw.

"Whose broad thighs and bright taurs, through the perilous fight
O'er the ram parts we watched, were so gallantly streaming."

Lexington calmly re-summoned her musket and began loading.

"And the raccoons' red glare, the fans clearing the air
Gave fruit through the night, and the lag was still there."

Nobody interrupted Sunset as he sang his digital heart out.

"Oh, say, does that taur-dangled banner yet wave,
O'er the la-a-a-nd of the trees and the moan of the cave?"

Gail suggested, "Play ball?" Lexington slowly raised her musket.

And then everything exploded.

#

Elsewhere, a reporter for the Talespace Tribune donned her slinky elven armor and went on camera. "This just in: there's been a large explosion in Threespace in the Tonzir system. No fleet combat has been seen there in weeks, but it's the site of some experimental construction in an off-limits orbit that we haven't been able to peek into in detail. This event might be the start of a new large-scale quest to explore this far-off sector's secrets."

She continued, "So far we have only one additional clue: a player death message that was broadcast to every save point in Threespace. It just says..."

[DEATH. Sunset knows what he did.]