“Sure!” Allistor was happy to help.  Especially since he’d caught so much grief over the years for always being in his VR worlds.  His dad actually enjoyed VR games as well, but he was a first person shooter guy, not an RPG gamer.

His mother cut him off before he could say more. “Let’s go back inside and talk.  This sky… scares me.”  She gazed nervously up at the sky, pushing Leah toward the door with quick steps.

Back in the house, they all took seats in the family room.  Allistor was just beginning to explain about attributes, having them each pull up their health bars, when his phone went off.  It was a text from a guildmate in his current VRMMORPG.  A moment later, his sister’s phone went off too.  Their father shook his head, and neither of them answered.  But it was comforting to know the network was still working.

For the next half hour, Allistor walked his family through their entire stat sheets, teaching them about how attributes could be used to boost each other, and how to specialize in certain classes or play styles.  And he learned a good bit himself.   For instance – Constitution was a factor in several things.  Overall health pool and regeneration rate.  Resistance to extreme heat or cold, poison resistance, and physical damage resistance.

His research also showed him that the attributes point scores weren’t based on ‘human’ norms.  The numbers were calculated based on the average base starting stats of all the species within the Collective.  So if a two in strength was slightly below the human average, it was much lower than the Collective average.  Humans in general ranked low in almost every attribute compared to their new neighbors.

There were obvious differences in his family’s stats.  His father was heavy on Strength and Constitution, while his mother favored Intelligence and Will Power.  Leah only had a one in Adaptability, but she had fives in Agility, Stamina, and Dexterity.

As they talked, Allistor’s attention was repeatedly drawn to a timer that remained in the upper right corner of his visual field even when he waved away his stats.  It was just over seventy-one hours and counting down.  The original message had said that Earth had three days to prepare.   But prepare for what?

“Hey guys, you all see that timer?  Something big’s gonna happen in three days. Maybe the something that’s gonna kill 90% of the human race. The voice said to read the ‘Details’ tab.  So I say let’s all focus on that and read up.  Right now.  So we know sooner rather than later what it is we’re preparing for.”

They all settled back in their seats as they located the correct tab and began to read.