Kudos

arms that Eternal meant. Rather, he meant the sense of melancholy that filled them both and Angel understood him.

  ‘Yes, while we were waiting for the others to develop, the only beings in the Metaverse.’

  ‘At least this time I know what it means that I should sigh so often.’

  ‘It means you are sad.’

  ‘Sad again. I am amazed. How did it happen? Twice in seven hundred years.’ He shook his head incredulously.

  ‘I blame Glitter.’

  ‘I suppose so, but it can’t really be all her doing. Several million people are concerned with kudos. Is there something in our natures that draws us to it?’

  ‘Not in mine.’ Angel gave him a kiss on the forehead.

  For a few moments EV rested, peaceful in Angel’s company, far above someone’s ochre-tinged world.

  ‘I suppose we should do something.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Eternal looked up to meet Angel’s purple eyes. ‘Those are good, by the way, Mellow’s?’

  ‘They are. But I was saying we should do something.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Destroy the kudos chart maybe?’

  ‘Really?’ Eternal was admiring. ‘You’d do that?’

  ‘Perhaps.’

  ‘Still,’ he became serious. ‘I don’t think that’s right, even if it was practical. You can’t force your views on everyone else. They’d resent it very much and I bet there are all sorts of back-ups and records from which they could quickly restore it.’

  ‘True.’

  ‘But you are right, we should do something.’ He paused. ‘Let’s form a society: Free From Kudos.’

  ‘Oh good idea.’

  ‘We can be a group of people who want to live the way we did before kudos.’

  ‘Great! That’s it. I bet loads of people will join us.’

  A new sense of purpose filled Eternal with energy. ‘I’m going to call a meeting, will you help me make a hall for it?’

  ‘Of course. Where shall we make it?’

  ‘How about Bent Street, where it all began?’

  ‘Very appropriate.’ Leaving behind a shimmering outline of her form, Angel disappeared. A moment later Eternal took the tag that had been offered him and was inside a large grey cube. Beside him, Angel had taken off her wings and had changed her long silver hair; it was now all tied up in a scarf. Her shimmering opal dress had been swapped for denim overalls.

  ‘Your work clothes are so cute.’

  ‘Thank you EV. Shall we have some music while we work? Electric Vision has a new symphony, shall we try that?’

  Eternal winced. ‘He’s a bit over the top for working. What about turning on Cast101 and seeing what they are playing?’

  As Angel paused, accessing the cast options, she sighed.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Ten kudos a day.’

  ‘Curse them then. We’ll work in silence.’

  ‘First thing we have to do is recruit some musicians to our society,’ muttered Angel and they chuckled as they began to rescript the space.

  Five days later, the room was perfect. It had a stage with a podium, but otherwise the whole décor was homely and warm. Long wooden planks formed the floors and walls, polished but with the grain still visible. Windows looked out on landscapes of rural idyll. After some discussion, they had arranged twenty chairs to face the stage, although there were more stacked up by the walls for if they needed them.

  At the suggestion of Angel, a smiling yellow sun in an azure field formed the flag of the society and several banners with the design hung from poles attached at an angle to the walls.

  Eternal lounged in a front row chair, fidgeting with the shape of his feet. He was never very good with feet.

  ‘Settle down.’ Angel was adjusting the height of the podium, pretending to be busy, although her nervousness was evident too. She stood up abruptly, breaking Eternal’s concentration on his shoes. ‘The Metaverse Liberation Front aren’t coming.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘They say kudos is irrelevant when the Metaverse is in danger from the General of Bow and the General of Sword.’

  ‘Can’t they see this isn’t a game?’ It irritated Eternal that the society members couldn’t put aside their involvement with the Epicfantasy sim for a moment and tackle a serious issue.

  ‘The Vampyre clans aren’t coming either.’

  Eternal let out a groan. ‘What do they say?’

  ‘Soon all the kudos in the Metaverse will be theirs. Want to hear the cast of their wicked laughter?’

  ‘No thanks.’

  Rather disconsolate, Eternal leant forward, head resting on his arms. ‘No one is coming. What did Stormrider say?’

  ‘No response. He’s not been taking private calls either.’

  This was true, Eternal hadn’t heard from his techie friend in a decade.

  ‘Hi Mellow.’ Angel spoke brightly as a pretty wood-elf appeared by the stage.

  ‘Hi guys, thanks for organising this, it’s about time someone did something.’

  ‘Mellow! I could hug you.’

  As always Mellow looked vibrant, bright as a button, and with the most delectable eyes in the Metaverse, currently radiating sparks like diamonds as she looked at him over a fashionable pair of amber spectacles.

  ‘Nice meeting room. Who else is coming?’

  ‘We asked all our friends and some of the societies we thought might be interested,’ replied Angel, joining them at the seats.

  The three of them sat in the front row.

  ‘So, let us discuss your aims and goals. They are to return at least part of the Metaverse to a situation where kudos is irrelevant, correct?’

  ‘Right,’ answered Angel, with a worried look at Eternal, who had just let out a heavy sigh.

  ‘It’s going to be hard at first, because there won’t be so many of us.’ Aware that his tone might sound dispiriting, EV tried to perk up, ‘but when we have a big enough community, we won’t miss out on the good things of life.’

  ‘That point troubled me,’ Mellow spoke sombrely, ‘but nevertheless, I came to the conclusion that it would be worth the initial hardship. No entertainment, no casts, no parties, perhaps for a century. After all, you have to give kudos for nearly everything right now. It’ll be a bit like when you and Angel were all alone at the restart of the Metaverse, having to make everything for yourself.’

  At that, both Angel and Eternal looked more cheerful and swapped a fond glance.

  ‘Actually, it’s a good bit better than that,’ Eternal observed, ‘because at least we can wear the best eyes in the Metaverse.’

  ‘Too kind.’ Mellow smiled. ‘But that reminds me, I’m not taking kudos for them any more right? So, what do I do if someone asks me for a pair?’

  ‘Well, it’s up to you. But what I was going to suggest at the meeting is that we all refuse to have any dealings with kudos and provide our skills for the society only. If someone wants your eyes, they can have them for free, but they have to join us.’ It was clear that Angel had been giving this issue proper consideration and Eternal nodded to back her up as she spoke.

  ‘Good idea. That’s how it’ll be from now on.’ Mellow glanced at a window. ‘Who’s that?’

  ‘Hey Lady Sorrow, what are you bobbing around out there for? Come in.’ Pleased that another of his friends had come Eternal stood up and waved at her.

  ‘Well.’ Lady Sorrow materialised in front of them, still levitating. ‘I really shouldn’t.’ She pulled a sheepish face. ‘Glitter is paying me a hundred kudos to see what’s going on here and report back to her.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Tut.’

  ‘Good grief. Lady Sorrow. That’s really rude of you. Go home.’

  ‘But what about my kudos? Let me stay please.’

  With another sigh Eternal slumped heavily back in to a chair. ‘Oh all right. It doesn’t matter anyway, we are done.’

  ‘Nice room.’ Lady Sorrow offered chirpily, but no one responded.
r />   After a month they had seventeen members, mostly recruited by Mellow in return for a pair of her eyes. Still, that was enough for a game of strike and they had gathered at a pitch that one of their members had made on the waste ground between some tall buildings. These structures had recently been converted into exchange zones for kudos. Giant garish posters adorned their walls and shouted slogans such as: give yourself the smile you always wanted – lips from 30 kudos; flowers, the perfect gift, come inside and see my displays; growwwwl, cat and fox avatars for you. And so on. It was quite depressing. Inside the rooms of the buildings were largely empty, but should someone want to swap kudos for any of the scripted items on display, they could do so via the universal kudos exchange machines that were everywhere these days.

  Turning off the clamour coming from the buildings around them, Eternal concentrated on the game. There was a tricky double shot option, tricky, but if it came off, he’d have Angel pretty much out of things. He was just giving it one more appraisal when Sol materialised.

  ‘Hail to the Free From Kudos Society. Mind if I join?’

  ‘Sol mate. Delighted to have you.’ Eternal dropped his mallet and gave his old star-riding friend a hug. ‘But I thought you were into the kudos thing.’

  ‘Yeah, it was good for a while, getting feedback on my casts, you know, felt sweet. But it’s a drag now. And have you heard the latest?’

  ‘No. We’re a bit out of the loop. What’s up?’

  Everyone ceased playing and came closer.

  ‘Hey, awesome eyes dudes and dudettes. Yeah, well, the rules of kudos have changed. The top one thousand on the chart now get a hundred kudos a day and they don’t have to spend ‘em to keep ‘em. It was happening like that anyway, people had deals to swap with each other, so it kind of makes