D'Mok Revival 1: Awakening Read Online Free Page A

waiting in lines before a bank of consoles. Above the wall was a large sign that read, “Add-Ur-Skills.” A cheery voice filled his ears when he stepped out of the lift.
    “Welcome, Rhysus Mencari. You’ve reached the Derator Deck. Here you can find the Wanted Boards, where galactic citizens just like you have posted items they’re looking for. In the last five minutes, there have been 230 new postings, totaling over 50 hecta-coins to be earned! Or, add your own solicitations for items.”
    He scowled and touched his ear, and groaned. Free advertising with the ear-buds? Some gift , he thought.
    “And don’t forget to check out the Add-Ur-Skills Board,” the voice continued. “There, for a reasonably small fee, you can advertise your skills for potential employers to see. If you are an employer seeking specific skills or experts, we welcome you to search our vast, ready-to-hire resources—for free!”
    The Wanted Boards seemed like a good place to start. He peered over the shoulder of an alien using it and watched listings of data scroll across the display. Stopping on an entry of interest, the alien pushed a thin plastic card into the machine.
    What’s that card? Mencari wondered. I don’t have one of those.
    The display went blank again as the creature pulled out its card, turned and shuffled away. Mencari stepped up to the display.
    “How do I do this?” he muttered.
    A familiar voice rang out. “Greetings, Coalition visitor! You have called for assistance?”
    He looked around the floor for Bob somewhere underfoot, but didn’t see him. Then he noticed a small image of Bob in the corner of the display.
    “Uh, yeah, I could use some help.”
    “From your previous request, you were interested in money acquisition strategies. We have over 672,000 short-term postings requesting services for compensation.”
    Listings began to madly scroll across the display, far too fast to read. “Hey, slow down!”
    The scrolling slowed, and Bob’s voice said, “It would help to provide more concise search terms.”
    “How about the greatest value for the least amount of work?” he said half joking.
    The display flashed as a shorter listing appeared. “Due to your time constraints, I have found the top five entries estimated as best compensation for least effort. Of these, only the first one appears not to have a Statement of Intent required.”
    “What’s that?”
    “A Statement of Intent is provided from a prospective service provider, such as yourself, to the posting party informing of your willingness to fulfill their prospect.”
    Mencari nodded. “Like a job application. Got it.” He glanced at the first listing. “Fire marbles? What are those?”
    Bob’s voice turned cool again. “I’m sorry, you will need to visit an encyclopedic inquiry station for that answer. Would you like me to remember this inquiry for future use?”
    “Yeah. Do that.”
    “The nearest inquiry station is one deck above, Ein Level.”
    Mencari reviewed the posting, shaking his head at what seemed a lot of money being offered for a handful of “fire marbles,” whatever they were. He glanced to see who had posted the ad. “A gemologist from here?” he muttered under his breath.
    “Antar Deck, five levels up from your current position.”
    “Thanks, Bob. You’ve been very helpful.”
    The bug-bot happily chirped in response. He turned to leave, and Bob inquired, “Would you like me to remember the current listings so you can review them again later?”
    Mencari grinned. “Yes. Thanks. And nice meeting ya, Bob, you’re pretty handy.”
    “I am here to serve! But human pleasantry accepted. And the same to you!”

    * * * * *
    He slowed his pace, eavesdropping on passing conversations for anything that might be of use. If he hadn’t, he may not have noticed out of the corner of his eye the dark figure keeping pace with him. But when he turned his head to get a better look, the figure had disappeared.
    A cloaked alien stood