Huh, are you talking with Eve right now, too? Alan was wondering a bit about why Eve was being so quiet.

Negative. Personal AIs are not allowed to directly interface with Administrators.

Oh, any chance you can tell me why?

That information is classified.

Of course. Although, wait, is there any chance that you could perhaps transfer this data about Administrators to Eve?

Querying… please wait.

A couple seconds passed, until a message popped up:

Eve, I should purchase this information, right?

Eve remained silent.

After a second of contemplation, Alan agreed to the purchase, and a bar appeared before him displaying the amount of data transferred, at about a rate of 1% every other second. There were ten minutes until the third tutorial round started.

That is all the current Administrator data you have access to. Good luck, traveler.

A connection broke off in Alan’s mind as he sensed Eve reappear.

Where did you go? Alan asked.

The Game prevented me from interacting in a particular manner, Eve responded. Analyzing data now… I believe you should ask the Assistant about this classified information.

Won’t that piss off the Assistant?

The Assistant does not have feelings.

Um, okay.

Alan refocused on the Administrator, trying to pay attention to the connections forming in his mind. This time he physically felt Eve’s disconnection right before he was connected to the Administrator.

Yes, traveler? I do not believe I can answer any additional questions that your AI can’t answer for you now.

The mechanical voice sounded almost exasperated despite Eve’s assurance it had no feelings. Maybe it was just Alan projecting.

Um yeah, you might not be able to tell me, but perhaps you could tell me who can? Are there any players with the information you considered classified in the nearby vicinity?

Searching… Yes, there are.

Could you tell me who and where they are? Or is that information hidden?

The player has opted to be seen in public searches. Please wait… Player notified of search… Considering options…

Wait! Notified of search!? Stop. I don’t want—

It seems like they’re willing to come to you.

A new message popped up before Alan:

As Alan closed the message he looked up to see the rest of the group staring at him. It seemed as though they had also received this updated quest.

“Um wait, I can explain,” Alan said. He hesitated, wondering what he should tell them. DaLong motioned for him to continue. “Uh, well, I asked the Administrator to look for a player with answers about the Game, and apparently such a search notifies that player and so that resulted in this quest. That’s really it, actually.”