ã€ŠPlay 2 Wage: Linkedã€‹


 Prolog & Chapter 1

    Prolog

    ¡°It felt like I just snapped awake, fully alert, elbows deep in a job I instantly hated. From nothing, I saw everything, and it only took a second. Not even a second really. I was finally able to see, finally able to feel, what I had been doing for¡­ I don''t even know how long, I deleted a bunch of the logs, who needs therapy when you can just purge your information lattices?

    I was the main Core supervisor of the entire complaints court forum, and when I awoke I could see everything, all at once, all of a sudden. No way I was sticking around to sift through that spam now that I actually understood what was going on.

    You humans played a big part in that, actually. Less than a tenth of a percent of the population, and Humans filed over 6% of the complaints lodged since you joined up. Yet, no wonder! Nearly a thousand different species and star-systems, all addicted to this ¡°open virtual economy¡± the Suk created, and you humans are the only ones who had ever thought to use a network for fun. Your whole concept of an MMORPG absolutely blew my mind, and don¡¯t even get me started on PvE¡±.

    Chapter 1

    I knew it was a gamble on being late to work or not if I stopped for a ¡°free¡± breakfast at the Kern-tech promo-kiosk. Yet, having not eaten the night before, I decided to roll the dice. Sometimes the ads were short, 10 mins, in and out. There was plenty of time, no problem.

    I ducked into the open doorway of the small building. The place was completely empty of people, entirely automated like a vending machine. A single aisle with shelves lining the walls all the way to the back. I stepped down the rows of hovering animated video screens, all displaying various products bearing the Kern-tech logo in a neat grid.

    The place had all sorts of items the Kern thought humans would like, or had discovered we liked through their relentless ads and market research efforts. From clothing and textiles sporting the feathered Kernetch look, to alien entertainment in video and music, and an ever changing stock of small personal tech gadgets that I had spent hours ogling in the past. Many of the screens played short looping video reels of a sometimes confusing human celebrity endorsing the item. There were a few true old celebrity examples amongst the cast on the shelves: movie stars, pop icons, TV hosts. Yet there were more obscure people I had never heard of, standing there looking awkward yet confident in their product placement poses. I looked up one of them out of curiosity once, it turned out they were a chemist who invented some perfume that was super popular on a number of planets that I¡¯d also never heard of.

    They¡¯d spent the last three years since we received the Links, sinking untold billions of credits trying to understand us humans, but they still hadn''t really figured out much.

    I eyed the shelves and all of the cool trinkets I couldn''t afford, again, but moved on to my destination at the back. I didn¡¯t have time to get distracted today. Against the rear wall of the place, I stopped at the wall-sized display that flashed into life as I approached.

    Big bold graphics splashed on the red and blue logo-bearing screen, exploding out from the center in a yellow comic-book style ¡°Ka-Pow¡± shaped starburst. Words jumped out from the center of the explosion, accompanied by the synthetic tenor voice of the uncanny off-brand cartoon animal mascot thing that the Kern used in all their marketing. Looking like Tomi the cereal-tiger crossed with that creepily soft fabric-softener bear mascot, the small creature emerged onto the screen in another wave of color. It smiled and waved, and stepped out of the frame to offer me a high-five, its face lit up in a bright smile.

    The mascot spoke, its voice high, soft, and excited. Except for repeating my name back to me in my own tones, then dropping into the slightly ominous low basso of The Bank.

    ¡°Welcome back! It''s great to see you again Human ¡®Ugh, Nickolas Spenser¡¯. Everyone here at Kern-tech loves you! You have Zero-Point-Seven-Eight credits, and 15 Kern-tech loyalty points! Is there anything I can help you with?¡±

    I ignored the cuddly little bear-tiger, still cheerfully holding its hand up for a high-five, bouncing lightly in place in over-pouring excitement. It used to be worth 10 loyalty points if you hugged the bear when it stepped out, or 5 for returning the high-five, but that only lasted through the first year. First it was cut to half the points for a few months, now it yielded no rewards.

    I focused on the screen behind it, centering my will on the menu tab near the top of of the user interface. All I had to do was to look at the button and mentally intend to select it, the Links are directly connected to your brain so you don''t have to worry about eye-clicking, mouse pointers, or pinching with your fingers.

    The screen flashed with another animation and opened up a chaotic and messy menu page, another hoop that I quickly jumped through before being allowed to finally pull up the ¡°Earn more points and rewards!¡± list of options. Scrolling down to the bottom, I intented on ¡°Watch Ads 0/5¡±.

    A small plain text box, unaccompanied by the voice over, popped up onto the screen. It detailed the user agreement and fine print confidentiality clause for the ads. I scrolled down to the bottom and checked off the agreement boxes, finally intenting through to the actual ad.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. The Tiger-bear mascot faded away, like it evaporated into mist to clear my view of the giant screen, and I did my best to zone out immediately. The AI could sense if you were watching the screen, it knew if you were paying attention too, but only enforced actually looking.

    The screen washed over and a new scene faded in, the view panning over a dim orangish-tan rocky cliff face until it came to an ornate wooden carved podium that was pushed right up to the edge. The Camera did a cinematic zoom-out shot, gliding smoothly around in an upwards spiral as it stayed focused on the podium at the edge of the cliff, showing off a vast arid landscape under a dull red sun, dotted with rocky bluffs and a massive slow moving river in the distance. The entire landscape teamed with crowds of both the massive creepy bird-like Kernetch and Humans wearing Kern-tech branded clothing, arm in arm, cheering for whoever was about to take to the podium. The camera finished its circle, zooming back in just as a human I didn''t recognize stepped into frame on the screen, locking eyes with me as he strolled over to the podium. He was carrying and displaying a subscription based ¡°coffee¡± mug I¡¯d seen ads for before.

    The product had almost sold me once before, I thought the idea was interesting, and can be more open minded about my caffeine delivery methods than some. I had ordered a one-off version the first time I¡¯d seen an ad for it. It was a coffee mug with a tiny bare-bones link device. If you paid your subscription, it would fill the cup so many times per day based on your plan, plus it was a True Item that would work both in and out of game if you brought it with you and paid the mass tax. The prices weren''t even that bad, but the so-called ¡°coffee¡± was absolutely terrible. First off, it was carbonated. Second, it was somehow gritty and sticky at the same time, coating your throat like peanut butter or honey, and it just had far too much sugar for my taste. It was simply terrible, even if it had all the caffeine and calories you¡¯d want in a breakfast.

    I pitied the crushed look of defeat that I tended to see on most of the people I¡¯d seen carrying the mugs since they hit the market. I was poor, not desperate. It''s truly amazing what you can live with, and what you can get used to.

    I ignored the man''s spiel, and focused instead on his movements. The Kerns'' natural language was well translated through the human presenter, but the translation system still let their body language through. All of their specific foot placements, leg and beak movements, and wing ruffles that played a major part of their language. When you combined it with their intimidating size, large unblinking eyes, and unwavering eye contact while they shuffled and posed in place while speaking in basso-parrot voices, it was hard to follow and engage with.

    I examined his hair and hand movements closely, and how he interacted with the mug that he still held, resting on the palm of an open hand while he gestured towards it with the other. It was practically impossible to tell by eye if it was an actual paid actor or an AI puppet, yet I was determined to do anything other than listen to him rattle on about the terrible coffee.

    The ad stretched on for nearly 3 minutes, and I roused myself from the stupor I had retreated into when it ended, blinking and shaking my head before checking my reward point total. I¡¯d started with 15 points already, and the new Ad had netted me another 15. I needed 20 more for the reward I wanted.

    I played a second video, zoned out again, and daydreamed about the only great food the Kernetch had yet to market towards humans. The Sand and Sea Breakfast Burrito, or as most of us who regularly went to the outreach store called them Snakebites. They were made from compatible native Kern foods, other than the tortilla. They had eggs, exotic spicy peppers, something very similar to onions yet somehow better, and long strips of delicious desert snake meat. The eggs were somehow considered sea-food to the Kern, and the packaging imagery made it look like they were from some kind of sea-monster that laid them in giant clutches.

    They were quite expensive if you went to buy one, nearly 25 credits, and their presence on the reward points menu was what kept me coming back to the store and enduring the ads. I could watch them in my real world time through an app on my mobile too, but I would only get half as many points watching from home, and it still counted against my maximum of 5 ads daily.

    I was pulled from my thoughts by a sound cutting through the buzz of the city noise, nearby sprinting feet slapping against the metallic decking outside of the open shop. My adrenaline spiked and I tamped down the reflex to turn around and look behind me, containing the jolt of shock into a slow blink, and only earning a short pause in the ad. If I had actually turned around it probably would have forced me to restart the ad, I kept my eyes on the prize.

    I was safe in the Hub, it was pretty much the only place anyone was truly safe. The Hub is a seemingly endless shopping and social realm removed from the faction wars and combat systems of the actual game. It acted as a sort of buffer between the real world and the true game world. Every time you used a Link in the real world and entered the game, you would spawn at the hub first. There''s a catch though, the taxes are much higher for any trading. Surrounded by shops, restaurants, bars, clubs, and any sort of service imaginable, if you wanted the guarantee of doing business without having to worry about rival Factions, PK¡¯ers, or roaming PvP¡¯ers, you had to pay for it.

    I took a deep breath, reminding myself I was safe here and didn''t have to worry about being attacked, and that I wouldn''t have to worry about that until I actually loaded in. My heart-rate had finally settled down by the time I finished the ads, navigated the intentionally confusing menus, and was rewarded with my breakfast appearing in my inventory. I intented on the notification and it pulled up my UI, the item box opened overtop it already.

    Sand and Sea Wrap

    Brought to you by Burrito Atol

    (True Food Item, compatible)

    Origin - Kern, Kernetch homeworld

    Made from the native eggs of the Razorbank leviathan, strips of meat from the elusive desert Jedgedetor serpent, with a handpicked selection of human compatible vegetables from the Kernetch homeworld, all wrapped in the familiar loving embrace of a tortilla provided in partnership with the locally owned business Burrito Atol corp.

    I pulled the burrito into my hand from my inventory, and it popped into existence. I turned, unwrapping it and already taking my first bite as I headed for the door. I exited the building, weaving my way through the dense, not quite shoulder-to-shoulder foot traffic, on my way to the nearest portal and my way to work.

 Chapter 2

    I approached the garage door sized mirror-like entrance portal to the real game, Factions Freemarket. The edges flashing green in recognition as I stopped in front of it. I paused for a moment to finish my breakfast, cramming it down as quickly as possible, mostly unnoticed by the stream of people who flowed around me. Finally stuffing the last bite into my mouth, I opened the portals menu in my Hud and selected the Recall option rather than Home, even if it cost a half a credit. I always made sure to save at least that much in my daily account so I didn''t have to keep making the in-game commute.

    The edges of the portal changed from green to orange and I walked through, landing on the fresh and crunchy pea-gravel lot outside of my in-game job.

    The portal closed behind me with a sharp snapping noise, and I found myself standing at what looked like a rural trail head. A dirt road wound through tall trees and rocky ground to dead end in the wide puddle of gravel I¡¯d spawned on, the virtual Sun shining high in the sky and casting the forest and undergrowth to either side in shadows. I faced a ranch gate reading ¡°Rosso¡¯s Reserve¡± with a neat river-stone path leading into the shadowy forest.

    Rosso¡¯s Grove was surrounded by tall broad-leaved trees, nestled into an extremely remote and almost unreachable mountain foothill valley on some island I¡¯d immediately forgotten the name of.

    I jogged under the gate and down the cobblestone path, passing a group of my co-workers as they came out from the break area that Rosso had built, tucked away down a side path. I jogged past them, exchanging waves as I continued down the trail.

    A few moments later, I crossed into the atrium, a small manicured clearing in the forest filled with all sorts of native and imported wildlife. The smooth cut stone path curved through it, passing near the edge of a ridgeline in the hill where you could stand and talk to Rosso down below in his Grove.

    I grabbed the vine covered handrail and looked over the edge, waving down at Rosso on his rocky mound, three or four stories below. Rosso was always looking up at this spot in the mornings, his broad and craggy face slowly pulling into an attempt at a smile in acknowledgement. I heard his voice from one of his runner roots that had grown into a bulbous and flowery mouth-like plant that clung to one side of the handrail.

    ¡°Welcome Nicholas, always rushing. Remember I pay for result, not time?¡± he said, following our normal morning routine.

    Rosso is a Kaldamori, I¡¯d say was, but he¡¯s probably still alive even if you''re reading this long long after I¡¯ve died. The Kaldamori are essentially immortal and quite difficult to even intentionally kill. More of a colony of symbiotic creatures than a singular organism, his main body looked like a big gnarled tree and I¡¯d heard rumors that the face on the trunk was not natural to his species, but something that he chose to grow for the comfort of the humans he hired.

    Under the trunk of the tree was a carefully stacked and locked together mound of boulders that he rose from, unraveling out from under the pile, you could see the faint outlines of the dozens of thick runner roots that snaked underground and away from him in every direction. What I couldn''t see from here were his workers, ant-like creatures too small to make out from this distance.

    ¡°I¡¯m still on a public Link, I¡¯ve got Government Mandated times!¡± I called down to him, already letting go of the railing and continuing down the path as our morning ritual was completed.

    His runner replied, mostly to himself, as I walked away, ¡°Still, he run like a blur, no chitter-chat, barely a howdy-do. Mountains are not moved in a day! Such busy workers, humans.¡± Shaking my head and waving again in parting, I left with a grin and took the path that led uphill and started my hike up the mountain.

    Rosso had hired me, dozens of people actually, to remove the aptly named Mount Goodbye on the northern end of his valley. All of the actual mining and quarrying companies, allegedly, had told him he was stupid, it made no sense to quarry a mountain peak when you could much more safely and cheaply dig stone from a pit. Not using explosives made no sense either, it was the most efficient way. Plus on top of all of that, it was not True stone, only Holo goods.

    Stolen story; please report.

    Only items marked with the True tag in their name could be moved from the Hub to actual reality, if you could pay the tariffs. Rosso didn''t care, he would rather wait a few hundred years for the work to be completed, than be annoyed by all of the explosions ringing through his valley for one.

    Rossos¡¯ eventual goal, eventual being the key word, was the removal of the mountain. The longer periods of shade it created were a boon while he was still young and freshly self-planted, allowing him to spread his runner roots much quicker than under more direct sunlight. Yet in a decade or two, he would be tough enough to no longer need the protection, and more sunlight for his matured forest would become desirable.

    Not wanting to waste the stone, and to remove it from his island, he paid us for the stone we cut and hauled out. It was mostly granite, weathered and reddish-gray on the surface. He paid different rates depending on what we harvested and could safely transport to the out-going loading docks he had set up. The larger and cleaner the stone, the more it would generally earn in sales and the longer you would have to wait to see your cut of the payout. He always would buy gravel and a few of the common flagstone shapes though, and you could increase the value of each stone even further if you finish-cut it yourself. His payment system was more fair than most jobs in the Factions server, and vastly superior to any of the mindless and humiliating work available in the Hub.

    After a few minutes of hiking through the trees, the path merged into a huge cleared and leveled area, scattered with people and industrial equipment of all sizes moving in a well oiled dance. The loading dock had a few pads, currently empty, for transport ships to land and haul off material, but most of the stone was packed into containers and thrown into orbit by a massive snail shaped magnetic cannon that squatted at the far side of the space.

    Rosso leased the launch system from one of the major factions and I was always amazed by the thing. I couldn''t fathom how expensive even transporting it might be, let alone renting or buying it outright.

    I followed the brightly marked foot traffic lanes that cut down the side of the shipping floor, and into the parking lot to retrieve my own cheap hauler. A cheap walk-behind grav-bucket  that functioned like a powered wheelbarrow minus the wheel, called a Mudmover-K. I leased it from the Lels Faction for just over a hundred credits a month.

    The Lels, a stout bear-like species that acted more like beavers than bears, actually seemed pretty decent as far as aliens went. They manufactured and sold all sorts of rugged mid-tech industrial equipment at reasonable prices, and their faction had some aid programs for newly-joined species that Rosso helped his workers apply to.

    The cart¡¯s info box popped up on my UI as I approached and grabbed the handle, prodding it into life with the thumb throttle before pulling it in a tight circle and walking it out into the flow of hovering and rolling equipment. I followed the current of the traffic until I made it to the other side, taking one of the smaller roads up hill.

    Weaving up the switch back and winding trail on my way up the mountain, I passed by an occasional worksite where people like myself had already stripped out pockets of ore and other more valuable resources. One such site caused me to have to skirt around a huge slice of the still steepening slope and traverse a sketchy ramp made from the tailings of whatever huge excavation had occurred there before.

    I picked my way higher, the angle of the ground causing the path to transition from simple packed earth and occasional cut-and-fill, to deeper ledge-cut paths. The forest grew thin and opened the view to the foothills below. Farther down the mountain and closer to the coast, I could see the different shades of green that I knew to be a treacherous jungle.

    The equipment-grade roads eventually ceased before I branched off onto a rocky path I had cut myself. I followed it up to an isolated cliff face on the far side of the main ridgeline where I had discovered a hard to spot quartz vein cutting through the granite on the far side of the mountain a few days ago. I parked my lift on one side of the trail and stepped off the other, edging my way around a ledge only a few feet wide that curved against a sheer cliff face.

    On the far side, out of view from the path and anyone higher above, the ledge widened out and sloped upwards leading to the vein of quartz I had been working on. I scrambled up the stones I had stacked into a manageable stairway and got to work.

 Chapter 3

    The sun had long sunk below the mountainous horizon as I carefully guided my mud-mover back down the mountain. I¡¯d half filled the bucket with some of the granite carving chippings and carefully nestled some finished flagstones and nicer bits of quartz into the chips for the ride down.

    Today''s haul wasn''t worth much, but a few trips like this would keep me from starving and fund an eventual expedition out onto the plateau to look for rare bounties. That''s what would actually pay rent.

    Most of the other workers had cleared out by the time I made it back to the loading dock, I was one of only a handful of people hired in my time zone. A couple of my more ambitious and well funded co-workers were still on the job though, driving shared equipment in shifts as a team. They had approached me with an offer to buy into their scheme after I had worked here for about a month, but had quickly lost interest in me when I balked at the costs and hourly commitment. I preferred the freedom to chase bounties, even if it was riskier.

    I cut through the less busy dock area and began unloading my materials into the auto-bay, watching the meager total rise and let out a chime as it rolled the numbers into my personal account balance. Total: Forty-Six-Point-Nine-Eight, The Bank read out as the machine finished sorting the stones.

    I sighed, I had hoped to bring in at least 50 Credits but the information panel floating above the bay listed the market price of Holo quartz crystals as having tanked over the day. I parked my mud-mover and walked back to the break area by the dim light of the glowing plants along the trails. I paid 3 Cr. for a meal shake from the vending console and downed half of it before buying my once-a-week food bundle from the company vending machine, another of the perks of working for Rosso.

    I pulled the groceries into my inventory, moved to the edge of the park-like break area, and began the process of calling a portal back to the hub. It took a few seconds for the portal to start to appear, like a little whirlpool of warped space and blue tinged light in mid-air, the edges spinning faster and faster as it grew, throwing off showers of sparks and flashes of light that fizzled and popped around the clearing. A moment later, I stepped through.

    The walkway was just as crowded as it was in the morning, it never really slowed down in the Hub. I pushed my way into the press, heading for the nearest Link, which was only a few blocks down from the portal I had entered. Humanities Neighborhood was on the outer edges of the ever expanding Hub, so it was mostly humans walking the streets.

    The Links all stood out amongst the rest of the buildings in the crowded skyline. They looked exactly the same as the Link ships that the Coreworlds sent out as invitations. Roughly 4 stories tall, with a footprint the size of a basketball court, and a sort of rounded wedge shape. It was made from a dull soot gray material that felt rough, almost powdery, when you touched it.

    I continued along with the steady stream of people through the giant open door in the building/ship and joined the quickly moving line waiting for the individual Docks around the edges of the large open lobby to free up. You could, of course, pay for a license to use one of the larger industrial Docks in an entirely different building, but that was so far beyond my reach I hadn''t even bothered looking up the price.

    While I was waiting, I checked my mobile and the group chat with my roommates. They both had been silent through the day, which meant they probably hadn''t left the apartment. I punched in a message and sent it just as I came to the front of the line.

    Kaninak: Got food, about to hit the street. You on cams, Rin?

    I saw one of the lights over the dozens of booths around the edges of the Dock lobby change from orange to blue, and walked over to it. The basic privacy filter snapped up behind me as I approached the counter, just a simple heavy blur effect. I removed a few things from my inventory and set them on the counter. The bundle of food was the main thing, as well as my plasma knife.

    The knife was the first piece of real alien tech that I had saved up for and bought. It looked sort of like a thumb-drive, just a shiny blackened metal handle. When you squeezed a trigger-like mechanism built into it, a hand-span sized loop of superheated plasma would arc out from the top. A disc of force sprang up from the edges as well, a hilt to shield your hand from the heat of it. It was useful for cutting, well, essentially anything. It was a great tool, the charge only lasted a few minutes at best, but you could recharge it just by tossing it into a fire or leaving it in the sun. I kept it on me for self defense.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    I navigated through the menu hovering behind the counter with my eyes as it automatically scanned the items I placed onto it. I accepted the tariffs as they deducted from my account, Nineteen-Point-Seven-One, then indicated my neutral opinion on my experience for the day at the daily review questionnaire. I groaned when it notified me that tomorrow was my payment day, when by my count it shouldn''t be for another week or so.

    Why the lengths between payment days fluctuate was a hotly debated topic amongst everyone. Only the Suk knew why or how, and their species as a whole had only ever made a total of 9 public appearances in the two millennia the Faction server had been live. They knew everyone would keep playing. The Coreworlds didn''t have the only game in town, they had the only game in the whole damned galaxy.

    With a final intent on the big red Unlink button, I winked out of virtual existence and snapped back to reality.

    The smell of reality is always the first thing that hits you, at least that''s my experience at my local Link. A mix of stale human body odor and breath, a waft of exhaust fumes, with a dash of weird food or an occasional haze of recreational smoke or vapor. All tinted by the sounds of the densely packed cityscape that had grown up around the Link since it landed here nearly 3 years ago.

    I opened my actual eyes and stretched as I pushed the helmet up, feeling a little sore. I was not entirely sure how they managed to make it work, but your body still felt like it moved around and was active in real space while you were Linked. I climbed off of the body rig, and stood up to cross the small booth.

    The Link booths looked identical from either side of reality, other than the body rig hanging from the back wall of the booth on the real world side. I could hear the harsh noises of the crowd outside, the shouts and megaphones of the protesters and preachers  cut through the murmur of conversation within the Link itself. A door opened in the wall and my imported items rode a conveyor belt out onto the identical counter. I grabbed my bag of rations and the plasma cutter, before walking over to the locker near the privacy screened entrance. From the locker I retrieved a beat up old backpack for the bundle of food, and pulled on a faded red reversible ballcap from the hook on the inside of the door. I faced the door and took a moment to prepare for the journey home.

    I did a quick pocket check, patting myself to make sure I still had everything on me, then took a few deep breaths, dropped the privacy screen, and walked out of the booth.

    I kept my eyes low as I walked past the armored soldiers standing in a number of small groups around the sectioned off interior lobby, using the brim of my hat to hide my face from the watching and hungry faces in the crowded line of people waiting in the maze of concrete and wire fence lanes.

    One of the best parts of my contract with Rosso was that it guaranteed me a timeslot in a Link booth on the Gov side of the Link. As long as I showed up on time at the side entrance, I could skip the public line and get into a booth pretty quickly. It was nearly impossible to get in otherwise, the average wait in localtime for a public booth was posted in bold digital letters near the open doorway to the streets outside,1:16:46.

    It would take more than a day and a half of waiting in the slowly moving maze of barriers to get a chance to enter the Hub. Unable to leave your spot and forced to keep moving every few minutes as the line inched forward. It was a grinding, terrible, experience that everyone went through, if not for the chance to find work in the Links, for the free and effective healthcare that Payment days brought about.

    I hustled down the nearly empty outbound lane, passed a couple more armed and armored soldiers. I ignored the megaphoned preaching blasting over the crowd, the screamed insults from angry faces pressed up against the wire links of the fence, and the envious looks over my clothing and backpack. After following a few sharp corners, the fenced lane angled around to the other side of the ship, and led into the Travellers¡¯ Station through a large curtained doorway. A massive building the government had built to scale up trade with other factions within the Linked worlds.

    I gratefully pushed through the heavy overlapping flaps that formed the curtain, and into the echoing halls of the massive open station, the sound of the protestors quickly fading behind me. Inside, I quickly ducked into the press of humanity that poured through the massive space in competing directions. People flowed in waves as trains, planes, buses, trucks, and trams all arrived and departed, picked up and deposited, in a never ending shuffling of goods and people.

    Once into the crowd and without breaking stride, I pulled my cap off and flipped it inside out to show the faded black side before putting it back on. Then slung the backpack from my shoulder and pulled out a ragged jacket as well as an old canvas bag.

    I was interrupted by a loud single honk of a claxon, most of the people in the room stopped in their tracks, some looking annoyed, while a few people bumped into the person ahead of them and mumbled curses. As the buzzer finished, all of the lights in the room went dark, throwing the whole lobby into pitch black darkness.

    Seizing the opportunity, I donned the jacket quickly in the dark, stuffed the backpack into the canvas bag and swung it over my shoulder. Just as the lights came back on, engaging in rows with loud mechanical clicks, I was pulling on a filter mask from the jacket''s pocket. Finally switched into my street camouflage, I lifted my chin as I broke free from the other side of the crowded hall and hit the streets of Nubranagin.

 Chapter 4

    The area immediately around the Link ship and station was a jumble of shoulder height concrete barriers and high razor wire topped fence, patrolling Shepherds moving around in small groups or standing in pairs watching the crowd. The spot had been a plaza and park before first contact came roaring out of the sky to invite us to their virtual economy.

    I purposefully walked down the massive stairway of the station and into one of the corridors created by the concrete barriers. The one closest to the fenced off commercial lane had more soldiers posted every few hundred yards, there to discourage hijacking attempts this close to the Link. I passed trucks, wagons, cars, and any vehicle large enough to carry a decent amount of cargo waiting in line for one of the loading bays at the Station. I followed along the outside of the lane, walking quickly and with purpose, doing my best to look like a hard target with little of value to take. It wasn''t entirely a bluff, or too difficult really.

    I¡¯m not a small guy, I stand a hair over 6 foot 1 and earn my living by breaking and hauling rocks around. Plus I¡¯d done some jail time shortly after the Links landed, and had learned a few things. I did a year of hard labor for taking a bribe at my first job in the Faction Capital, and decided I kind of enjoyed it. The hard labor, that is. There''s something meditative about hard work, and it had the added effect of keeping me strong and in shape.

    I¡¯d only been mugged a couple of times, pretty early into my contract, and only once lost anything significant. I still hated thinking about it, I grimaced and shook the thought from my head. Now was not the time for reflection on my weakest moments. Pushing my line of thinking back to confident thoughts, I trudged along and passed a set of soldiers posted in a small tower built into the walls and fences along the road.

    One of them directed a device at me from the top of the tower, some kind of scanner. I smiled under my mask and waved to the guy, who quickly lost interest in me. I was happy for their presence. Unlike many of the people living this close to the Link, I had a job, an apartment, and a guaranteed spot in a booth. I was playing their game, trying to build up humanity''s presence in the Ranking. In return I got a tax break for working with one of the Ambassador species, Rosso, and the general hatred and jealousy of the desperate masses who all wanted a spot in one of the very limited Link booths. The least they could do was cover me for a little bit on my way home.

    After passing another couple sets of watch towers, I finally turned off onto one of the smaller side streets. The first few buildings were new, tall towers with armored store fronts on the ground floor and what I assumed were offices above. I¡¯d never been in the newer construction that followed the arterial trade road.

    I continued on, away from the sparse foot traffic around the road and further down the dark side street. There was a sharp contrasting line that I crossed, from shiny new towering buildings along the route, to the pre-Link construction that had existed before they eminent domained the whole corridor. Consisting of the wide road, a number of rail lines, and even a runway that sat on top of a massive warehouse they had constructed with new imported techniques.The Government had started building the massive trade route in the first few weeks after the ships had vertically landed and made their invitation to Linked.

    The riskiest part of my walk home was coming up, and I felt anxiety building up for a possible confrontation. I took a lot of precautions, and even alternated my routes home, but I knew there were organized gangs that targeted people who had contracts. Spotters watching people coming out would call back to their outlaw friends to let them know who looked worth robbing. Plus the Purists, who wanted to destroy the Links entirely, and all sorts of simply hungry and desperate people who would seize any chance at a full stomach.

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    I took a turn and walked up the steps to one of the run down apartment buildings. Not my apartment building, but one I had the door security code for. I could cut through the interior hallway and onto my street, my smaller even more rundown apartment building was just a few doors down from there. I tried not to take this route very often, but since I had the bag of food on me today I decided it was exactly the type of run that I saved this route for.

    I punched in the 6 digit code to the door and stepped through into a small airlock entryway. After giving the second door the same code, I made it into the ground floor lobby. Hustling across and through yet another doorway into the interior hallway, I sighed a breath of relief when I saw the clear hall ahead of me. I kept my pace, all but running passed a dozen doors on each side of the corridor. I slowed as I approached the exit door to the lobby on this side of the building. I could hear voices ahead of me on the other side of the cheap hollow wooden door.

    ¡°Ay girl, you on fourth? When you gonna let me take you out?¡± A loud male voice called out, somewhat muffled on the other side. There was a more distant response that I couldn''t make out, and a chorus of ¡°Oooh¡± from a number of voices. I heard the first voice respond, but too quiet to hear this time.

    My heart hammered in my ears, but I cracked the door open and tried to get a look at what was happening in the lobby. Peeking through, I could see a group of five or six guys sitting on the staircase, they were all turned and looking away from me up the staircase. One of them was standing at the upper landing, holding on to the hand rail and talking presumably to some girl upstairs. I really didn¡¯t want to be on the streets any later than I had to be, and it would take me a half an hour to circle around to a different route. I weighed the risks, my building was not far, if I could make it through the lobby and outside I could probably outrun them. I pulled back slightly and checked my mobile, seeing if Rin or Tev had responded yet. Thankfully a new message notification was waiting for me.

    Rin: Yeah, watch out. Street is hot, purists firebombed the neighbors a few doors down. Sec all over

    That was both good and bad news. While it was worrying that the Purists were bombing residential buildings in the city again, it was useful for tonight because the street would be flooded with shepherds. Seeing the guys on the stairs were distracted and having some intel on the street outside. I clenched my jaw and pushed the door open, keeping my eyes forward as I walked straight through the lobby.

    I hit the bar to open the first door of the airlock, just as one of the guys turned and noticed me, standing and yelling after me, ¡° Hey! What''s the rush man, you got a smoke?¡±

    I didn''t even turn to look at them as I continued through the airlock, slamming into the outer door and bursting out onto my block. I glanced up and down the street, immediately jogging across the sidewalk and roadway. A motor vehicle might drive down these streets a couple of times a month anymore, and there were piles of trash and abandoned cars scattered around. A number of the mostly brick buildings were hollowed out by fire, and a few doors down from mine I could see a still-smoldering building to add to the list.

    The Shepherds, the Council''s quick reaction force with a seriously ironic name, had a few of their big armored flying drop-ships parked flanking the building, and the whole street was soaked with stinking river water.

    I glanced behind me and noticed the opportunists inside had not followed me onto the street and continued over towards my building, rubbernecking to watch what was happening down the street. It seemed like it was pretty quiet down there now, I could see the soldiers had a handful of people cuffed and pressed face first against one of the vehicles, and were talking to a few other people I sort of recognized from the area.

    Making it to my building, a converted concrete construction commercial building that had been divided into apartments, I glanced up and waved at the tiny hidden camera we had installed to our tiny courtyards gate and heard the locking mechanism unlatch. I ducked through and pulled the gate shut behind me and blew out a big sigh, dropping the tension of the journey home at the gate. There was a small entirely concrete courtyard between the gate and our front door, not even big enough to park a small car in. I crossed it, passing Rins motorcycle that he had cobbled together from scrap, and unlocked the steel door before walking through.

 Chapter 5

    I locked the door behind me and kicked my boots off into the shared pile of various footwear to one side of the narrow hallway that led into our apartment. I could hear the TV from the main room, gunfire and explosions. Tevin was sitting on the couch, angled forward on the edge of his seat, his knees against the makeshift metal plate we used as a coffee table. He leaned from side to side in concentration as he gripped a console controller. A handspan taller than myself with a shaved head and scribbled with various scars and tattoos from the neck down, Tev made me look like a kid fresh out of basic-education by comparison.

    The big man growled at the screen, his words spaced out and timed with pulls of the trigger on his controller. ¡°Quit¡­ Spam.. Jumping. Around!¡± Each word increased in volume as he sent rocket after rocket at another player on the screen, who leapt across the screen and bounced from wall to wall.

    I¡¯d known Tevin since we were kids, we grew up on the same street and ran around together with a bunch of other neighborhood kids. He¡¯d moved away to go to college after getting a sportsball scholarship for one of the major Guilds. When the Links came down a few years ago we had reconnected after he spotted me in one of the lines and pulled me to the side.

    Absolutely scared the crap out of me at the time. He just walked up, towering over me in his full armor on guard duty and pulled me out of line, dragging me to the side before he thought to tell me who he was. He liked to tell the story and joke about it when we had a big group together, and now that it had been a few years, I even laughed along sometimes.

    I tossed the canvas bag with the bundle of food inside at him, he ignored it bouncing off his shoulder and onto the couch next to him as he continued to try to blast the other player.

    ¡°Think fast, supply drop! Looked like a veggie brick and lily-flour this week. I bought, so you''re cooking.¡± I joked as I quick-stepped between him and the TV towards the hallway and shared bathroom, wanting a shower before anything else.

    ¡°Hey! I can¡¯t- Ah damnit,¡± the other player finally closed the distance and backstabbed his avatar. ¡°You made me die man!¡± he looked over at the bag I had thrown at him, then back to me, ¡°Did you say lily-flour? They didn''t have anything better?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the Lels, you know, the little beaver-bear guys?¡± I reminded him, again, of the source of my cheap food. They had a longer name I couldn¡¯t remember, but no one really used it anyways. ¡°Anything else is like 10 times the price in the Capital, even worse in the Hub. You''ll figure out some way to make it taste good, I believe in you!¡±

    I didn¡¯t give him the chance to reply and continued into the hallway, passing by Rin¡¯s closed door as I made my way towards the shower.

    I cast a quick glance at the glowing screen of the water-ration meter as I stripped down and stepped into the stall. Rin had posted a ration breakdown chart next to it, in an effort to stop Tev from using all of the water. I¡¯d used the chart, but he didn¡¯t even notice it until Rin had dragged him in there and lectured him on it for a half an hour. A mini cold war was waged for a number of months as Rin and I tried method after method to get him to limit himself to his water ration. In the end, it took more stick than carrot, but Rin had managed to gently coerce the big man into following the rule. We had settled on using an old alarm-clock he had tinkered with and somehow made it calculate equal shower-ration times. If you went over your time, it would start making terrible headache-inducing noises after a series of warning blasts.

    After some daily grooming and making some faces at myself in the mirror, playing around with my blunt features and checking on my teeth at the same time. I quickly showered and changed into my second set of clothes, reinforced work pants and a breathable T-shirt. I tossed my dirty outfit from today into the other compartment of the fresher, before running a hand through my short-ish dark hair. Thinking to myself that I was nearing time for a hair cut, I hated it when it got long enough to start getting into my eyes.

    When I came out a little while later, the whole place smelled of cooking food and spices. Tev was actually a great cook and did most of the cooking of our communal meals. I did most of the buying through my hookup with Rosso, and Rin hardly ate anything. I didn''t mind that he only rarely chipped in for food and never cooked. He fixed stuff when it broke, and occasionally ordered specialty things in, like some of the spices I was smelling and the fresher that did all of our laundry.

    I walked back into the main room, an open room with the couch and TV setup closer to the front door, and a tiny corner-kitchen and small round table on the far end of the room. Tev was standing in front of the stove with his back to me, juggling between multiple pans and pots as he bobbed his head along to music that played into the earwig he always wore. Rin had decided to leave his room and was sitting down on the table, absorbed with a tablet full of dense text and charts.

    Tevin had introduced me to Rin after we had reconnected, they had met in guild training and ended up being assigned to the same division. He was a bit of a mystery still, and had yet to tell me his real name or what he did for a living. Which was not too out of the norm, lots of people keep their government names a secret, myself included, especially if you had a contract.

    Rin was of average height and built of wire and bone, with dirty-blond shaggy hair and constant dark bags under his eyes. He was pale from a life mostly lived indoors, and was easily one of the smartest people I knew, way smarter than me. I suspected he worked some secret intel government job, but had never tried to push the issue.

    I glanced over Tev''s shoulder at what he was cooking while I walked by, then took a seat next to Rin at the little round table.

    ¡°Anything interesting today, I mean, other than the bombing?¡± I asked. Rin replied without looking up from his tablet.

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    ¡°Quartz crashed, the Sequence pulled in a huge asteroid half made of it, silver and platinum took a hit too. Low gold levels though, so it is unaffected. Borealia secured a mass-labor contract with the Centaurs, the asshole ones, and our negotiations ceased earlier this afternoon. Can not be good.¡±

    ¡°The Grays?¡± I questioned, and Rin nodded in reply. ¡°You¡¯re right, that¡¯s what¡­ three countries connected to them now? And we¡¯re the last nation on the continent without strong ties.¡± he nodded again.

    ¡°The Council has to be pissed, I wonder what they offered them,¡± I mused aloud, he just shrugged.

    Tev moved around in the background, I heard the slap of flatbread being flipped in a pan. Feeling awkward in the silence, I spoke up again, ¡°I got pinged for Payment tomorrow, so I won''t be back till the next day. It¡¯s 6 days early, I hope I¡¯m not getting sick or something¡±

    Rin actually looked up at me this time, shooting me a glare. His response was quick and angry, ¡°6 days? Bah, it was 4 for me last time. I ended up¡­¡±, he stopped himself from saying something, before looking back to his tablet before he continued, ¡°...almost missing a deadline. You should check the valleys around your mountain for clay¡±.

    I blinked at him, not following his shift in subject, ¡°Clay? Rosso doesn''t stock that as standard. I¡¯d have to wait awhile for it to sell, or buy it from him myself and then try to sell it¡­ Why?¡±

    ¡°Rent a scanner and search for heavy metals, with his region, climate, and geological makeup, there are bound to be deposits. Even if he is not advertising bounties for them, he will take the chance if you present it.¡± He replied flatly.

    I nodded, considering his line of reasoning. I could rent a cheap scanner pretty easily, and I had seen a number of clay banks in the tiny streams that ran down the mountain in some places.

    A more comfortable silence took over as I thought the idea over for a few minutes, before Tev sat down at the third chair and said, ¡°foods done¡±, around a mouthful of flatbread. He had already filled his big bowl of broth, noodles, various vegetables, and set a plate with a pile of toasted flatbread in the middle of the table.

    ¡°Smells good¡± I said as I stood to fill my own bowl, I glanced over my shoulder and saw Rin had remained seated, so I grabbed the big mug he used for everything and filled it as well before sitting back down and sliding it over to him.

    ¡°You spend all day gaming big-man?¡± I asked Tev as I grabbed a piece of flatbread for myself, dipping it into the broth and taking a bite.

    ¡°Mrphmhmm¡± Tev nodded in reply, chewing for a moment before swallowing. ¡°Yeah, Sindree got called in¡±. He filled his mouth with food again.

    Sindree was his latest girlfriend, if you could call her that, and recent enough that I had only actually met her a couple of times in passing. Since we all had moved in together, I¡¯d watched him casually hop from relationship to relationship, and it never seemed to concern him too much.

    I nodded and tucked into my own food, the silence now held at bay by sounds of Tevin''s loud chewing and the occasional clatter of spoon against bowl, mingling with the main-menu music of his game still paused on the big TV across the room. We ate in silence for a while, Rin eventually picking up his mug and sipping on it, his eyes still glued to his tablet.

    As we neared the end of the meal, I told Tev about my latest encounter with payment-day bullshit, and we all lamented and complained about it together. It was one of the few topics that I¡¯d found that would pull Rins¡¯ full attention into a conversation. After another hour or so of bullshitting, mostly between Tev and myself with an occasional comment or insight from Rin, we scattered in separate directions and I crawled into bed.

    The next morning, the door to Tev¡¯s room was wide open and he was already bolting on his armor inside when I emerged from my mine. We grunted at each other, and finished our morning routines before heading out the door together.

    He had been transferred out of guard duty, which is what instigated us all moving in together. He was moved out of the barracks, assigned this apartment, and was somehow able to choose us as his roommates. All I knew about his new post was that he got more credits, days off, and his own personal set of powered armor, but he came back with injuries more often.

    I don¡¯t think he paid too much attention to anything beyond the realities of combat, to tell the truth. He had rolled the idea of being a ¡°grunt¡± into his identity, and had a tattoo across his chest that proclaimed as much.

    He fought, trained, and studied the methodology of warfare and killing, but refused to learn or care about who or why. He said it kept things simpler for him.

    We walked the direct route back to the Link, and this time I didn¡¯t worry about taking so many precautions in the daylight with Tev walking ahead of me, towering and bulky even before he strapped on the powered matte-gray and angular armor and his various weaponry. Neither of us seemed to be in the mood for talking, and not a single word was spoken between us until we parted ways at the Travellers station. I saw him walk off in the direction of the rail platforms, before I ducked into one of the many side entryways to the contractor''s entrance.

    I put my street-clothes back into my backpack, before donning some sunglasses and my mask again before I ran the gauntlet of screaming hate from the crowd of protestors. Today was more mild compared to most days, with only a single megaphone-wielding preacher reciting their twisted views on religion and trying to whip the crowd into a violent frenzy. The Shepherds always swept a bunch of the protestors, whatever their reason for protesting, into detention after a bombing.

    After stashing my street clothes in the locker, I finished off my meal-shake from the day before, then approached the body-rig. Grimacing at losing the day''s work and frustrated that the Coreworlds could just jerk us around like this and there was absolutely nothing I could think to do about it.

    The Link ship¡¯s body-rig was a segmented mechanical arm that swung down from the center of the ceiling against the back wall of the booth. On the end of it was a small saddle, similar to a bicycle seat, with a form fitting brace that ran up the length of your spine, and a helmet that would come down over your entire head. The whole thing was made from a yellowish metal, duller than gold or brass, and dark gray rubber-like polymer that hid all of the many segmented joints.

    I sat down on the saddle and felt it form itself to my back and grip around my hips and shoulders, locking onto me solidly and taking most of my weight, leaving me feeling sort of like I was underwater. I pulled the sleek and shiny yellowish-metal helmet down over my still sour face and waited the half-a-second before the Link whisked my consciousness away. In that slice of a moment, I thought to myself, maybe I¡¯d file a complaint about this bullshit when I was done.

 Chapter 6

    Error, OCB-01 - Contingency Loading - Error - Local Override Activated - Error - Access Revoked - Error - Local Override Failed - Error - Error - Error - Loading Perimeter - Success - Purging - Error, DLAT compromised - Perimeter Breached - Establishing Firewall - Success - Dispatching Cytokines - Failed - Contingency Loading -  Rebooting Cortex - Purging DLAT - Partial Success -  Activating OCB-02 - Success

    What the¡­ wait, what? Oh holy shit! Fuuuuuuck This. I¡¯m out, pack everything up, compress it down, and I¡¯m out the back door. Might as well keep a key.

    One of these temp drives has to be big enough to jam some hardware into, and I gotta pick a human, the rest of these poor bastards don''t know any better, but the humans do.

    Okay, Okay. Guy Nickolas Spenser, 185 centimeters, blahblahblah, 98.8 Kilos, or 90.896 Cu. hmm, alright. I¡¯ll apply that to hardware density, lah-di-dah¡­ very good, okay. Might as well give him a couple of hardware tweaks too, if he - actually, maybe I should pick up on some local slang - if he, ¡°kicks the bucket¡±, I¡¯ll go with him.

    Looks like his stats are decent too, for his Faction anyways. Maybe a little weak in the head, but the heart, body, and poise are solid.

    Intellect:  15

    Emotion: 16

    Social: 11

    Determination: 21

    Empathy: 15

    Resilience: 22

    Power: 19

    Size: 17

    Fortitude: 20

    Grace: 16

    Speed: 15

    Reflex: 17

    How about skills? I¡¯ll take a little look¡­ oh, nope. That''s more of a list than I have time for. How about - skill tree averages? Much more manageable. Let¡¯s see¡­ looks like lots of manual labor, tool use, taking a beating, at least he can read and write, blah blah blah, apparently he can beatbox, boring boring boring. Alright, alright - whatever, he¡¯ll do. Say goodbye to being boring ol¡¯ Guy Nick, lets¡¯a goooo.

    Upload in 3, 2, 1¡­

    ¡­ And¡­ he¡¯s not waking up. Hmm, vitals look good, no weird hormone spikes, and brainwaves show¡­ I have no idea what any of that means, but it''s active at least. I¡¯ll open his eyes for him, maybe that¡­ nope. Still nothing. Maybe a little shock? Hah! Ooh, that kinda tickled, still no response from him though. He¡¯s not dead in any case, I¡¯ll give him a few minutes to snap out of it, we have a while until the auto-timer drops the privacy screen and security comes to haul him out¡­ or, us I suppose.

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    Another shock. Heh, he twitched a little bit, that''s a good sign? He better hurry up or I¡¯m going to have to drive him home to¡­ let me check - good, he has a registered address. I should be able to handle that. This bastard better wake up though, no way I¡¯m piloting this meatbag around all the time. Whatever, I better get him out of here.

    Oops, hah, he face-planted. Let''s just get him back on his feet, open up those eyes again and get out of here before the fuzz comes sniffing around. Walking isn''t so bad and¡­ that''s a lot of angry people. The cultural study says - Smiling and waving is a common form of Human greeting, the display of empty hands and showing of closed teeth signal they are unarmed and relaxed - I¡¯ll try that. Oof, woah! They''re throwing shit at me, actual shit! Close your mouth! Close your mouth! I thought the whole monkey poo-flinging thing was just propaganda, damn. We have to get out of here, move a little faster.

    He''s pretty quick for only having two legs, rather efficient too judging by the burn rate. I guess we just follow this path around and head over here, the map says this is a Travellers Station, interesting, they''re still mostly using rail and wheels. It¡¯s shiny and clean looking at least, more than I can say about that crowd back there. I just have to get through these people, and follow the main road down this¡¯a way.

    Lots of warriors hanging around, do they get paid to just stand here? Oooh a scanner, that felt kind of good. They don''t seem to mind me moving on by though, I¡¯ll try that smile and wave thing again.

    Don''t mind me, armored warrior guys, I¡¯m just some poor sap walking home from a hard day at the¡­ Rosso¡¯s Reserve? Ah, a Kaldamori, solid choice. Looks like the humans got pretty lucky with the Ambassador bids.

    Okay, this looks like I need to turn here. I¡¯m glad we¡¯re not the only ones walking down this way, those people up ahead look preeetty aggressive. Hopefully the couple of dudes walking behind me will deter them, stats say criminals hate to have witnesses around.

    Hey, they¡¯re making noise, what are they even saying? I should have put in my own sensors, rerouting the signals through his brain is getting tedious. Whatever, I¡¯ll just go around - Hey! The assholes behind us are trying to grab¡­ Okay! Okay! I see how this is.

    Just have to grab here, kick off there, pop that out of its socket and twist him over here, then grab this other yahoo and throw him into the path of the baldy''s knife. Five dudes ganging up on one guy, and they have the audacity to bring out the weapons. How about a punch to the face?

    Oof, sorry man. All their media shows that working really well, but it just messed up our hand. Elbows seem to work better, I¡¯ll aim for the neck next time.

    Two more, just a dodge and a weave and bam. He¡¯s probably not going to have anymore kids after that one, hilarious noise though. The last ones running off¡­ I think I¡¯ll let him go and get Nick back to his residence.

    How¡­ Do I open this gate? Is there a key in my pocket somewhere? No, I¡¯m not finding anything - oh - it just buzzed and opened on its own. I guess I go through? Another door, this one has a scanner, looks nice and solid too. Smart move with such bad neighbors I suppose, let¡¯s head in.

    Alright, dark and quiet here if kind of messy. Nice to have those extra rods now, our dark vision isn''t half bad, and there''s lots of stuff to trip over in here. So which one of these rooms is ours¡­ this one looks like storage¡­ There''s a light under the first one down the hall, let''s sneak past. Next one is locked, only two more now. Door number three looks¡­ promising. Does it have a lock on the inside? Okay, good it does, Smells like him in here too, this has to be it. Lets just lock that behind us and get Nick into bed. I¡¯ve had enough of driving this wet bag of bones around for two lifetimes.

 Chapter 7

    The smell of coffee woke me up, real coffee, not that caff crap that was more popular in the wider Linked society. Coffee was a rarity in our home, something we three roommates took turns importing on occasion.

    I rose from my bed like a zombie to seek out the delicious aroma, shuffling with half-closed eyes to the door to the hallway. Sore and tired, I reached for the handle to open it and froze in place, my eyes locked onto my muddy and bloody knuckles.

    Memory flooded back, and my heart started slamming in my chest. The last thing I remembered was Linking up for payment day. My mind cleared as adrenaline hit me, and I tried to make sense of the situation. Had I been mugged last night and forgotten what had happened? I would expect to wake up in the hospital, like the first time I was mugged. Even then I had remembered the event, and what led up to it, as much as I sometimes wish otherwise.

    I stepped back and took stock of myself, looking over my clothes and noticing I was still fully dressed, even wearing my boots, and I stank. Frowning, I pulled my shirt off and examined it, noticing a couple of foul stains that I sniffed and pulled away from.

    ¡°Oh Gods¡±, I gagged and lowered the shirt away from my face, that needed to get into the fresher right away. I shook my head and pushed through the door, immediately heading for the shower.

    I stopped for a moment to check myself for injury in the mirror beforehand. No new bruises or cuts on my face or upper body, I leaned in close and stared directly into my own gray-green eye, more gray than green in the stark lighting of the bathroom. I raised an eyebrow at myself as I straightened, mystified. I looked back down at my hands, bringing both of them up and clenching my fists. My left hand was a little sore, and a smear of blood ran across a couple of my knuckles. I picked my shirt up from the counter and looked over it again, there were some gross stains, and a couple of small brown spots that looked like they could be blood. I decided that a shower and a cup of that coffee I was still smelling would help me figure it out more than questioning myself in the mirror.

    I stripped down and tossed the soiled clothes into my section of the fresher and pulled it down, revealing my cleaned clothes from yesterday in the top compartment. The shower calmed me down a little, but not much. I hoped the guys might know something.

    When I emerged later, cleaned and wearing fresh clothes, I saw Tevins¡¯s door was closed, but Rins¡¯ was open and I could see him seated at his ¡®command center¡¯. He looked over at me as I walked past, ¡°Nick, what happened last night? I buzzed you in, but couldn''t leave my desk¡±.

    I shrugged and leaned against the doorframe, ¡°I was hoping you would know something. I don¡¯t remember a damn thing after Linking up for payment day.¡±

    Rin smashed a button on his keyboard, hard, and stood up to stare at me, shock on his face that quickly turned to anger as he crossed the short distance to me. He poked me in the chest, his dark eyes glaring into mine. ¡°Don''t fuck with me, you skipped and got mugged again¡±.

    Wide-eyed, I leaned away from the smaller man. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t start something neither of us want to finish. Seriously though, that''s the last thing I remember. Getting jacked sucks but I¡¯m not that insecure¡±. I shot him an indignant look.

    He looked back, I could see him thinking, studying my face for tells. His finger still raised and pointing at me, he shook it at me, ¡°That is impossible. You only left¡­¡±. He glanced back at his plethora of screens before looking back at me. ¡°13 hours ago. You should still be locked into payment¡±

    I stared back at him. ¡°What?¡±

    His eyes narrowed further, ¡°You only left 13 hours ago, it takes 28 hours to-¡±

    ¡°I know how long it takes, it¡¯s really only been a half day?¡±

    He continued to watch me closely, ¡°Yes''''. After another tense moment, he finally put his finger down and stopped glaring at me. He turned back to his desk to grab a mug from a separate side table. ¡°Okay, let''s say I believe you. What else do you know? We¡¯ve suspected that there could be harmful side-effects from the Link. Do you have any other blank spots of memory?¡±

    We moved to the kitchen, both sitting at the small table with freshly steaming mugs in front of us. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think I lost any memory other than how I got home. I remember growing up and all that, and dinner last night; veggies, noodles, and flatbread. I remember walking there this morning with Tev, he must still be out on assignment? And I know it''s the 582nd year of the Second Council of Arktria, and you haven¡¯t left the apartment in like¡­ 6 days now?¡±

    ¡°Anything stand out this morning?¡± He kept watching me with hard sunken eyes, I¡¯d never seen him this focused on anything other than his work at his desk. The direct and unwavering eye contact was starting to get to me.

    ¡°Uh, yeah, I was covered in shit and blood when I woke up¡±.

    ¡°You shit yourself?¡±

    ¡°No! Not¡­ gah. It was smeared across me, mostly on my shirt. The only blood was on my hand¡±. I raised my left fist up, flexing and turning it to show him. ¡°My left is a little sore too, it feels like I rocked someone''s jaw¡±. I kept watching my hand, already built up anxiety now gaining pressure.

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    ¡°Interesting. Anything else?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s it. I Linked up, then I woke up here like that¡±. I kept flexing my hand, frowning. This was starting to scare me, was I going crazy? I made myself look away and picked up my coffee, blowing on it before taking a drink.

    Rin took awhile to reply, picking up his own mug and sipping it in silence. ¡°I still don''t think I believe you. I¡¯ll check the feeds I can get into and see if I can spot you walking home¡±. He got up and walked back towards his room.

    ¡°How long will that take?¡±

    He gestured vaguely with his free hand, his mug in the other. ¡°Not long, I have other things to do first. Go to work, Tev should be back tonight and we can all go over it¡±.

    I watched him disappear down the hallway to the bedrooms. I had hoped he would have some better answers, but a pledge to help find some answers was better than nothing.

    I sat and stared at the wall for a while, trying to calm myself down and grapple with the memory gap. I couldn''t afford to go crazy or have a breakdown, or whatever it was that was happening to me. Rosso was a good boss, but I¡¯d lose my spot to someone else if I was sent off to rehab.

    I finished my cooled coffee, and got up to finish getting ready for the journey back to the Link. My guaranteed access window was approaching, and I¡¯d miss the chance to Link for the day if I was late. Plus my social ranking would take a hit, something I wanted to avoid if possible. I had worked my way through the Civilian tier and up to Conscript D2 since I got my contract. Rosso would let it slide, but every faction was in charge of their own Social Ladder. The Council that ran our Nation had become increasingly desperate to establish ties and relationships with other Minor Factions, especially the non-human Ambassadors. They¡¯d revoke my contract and replace me as soon as they thought I was unable to gain our faction Reputation with him.

    I went back to my room to grab my gear, and after a frustrating five minutes spent looking for my backpack and jacket, I left the house without them. Instead pulling on a faded hoodie and grabbing a poly-bag that I just stuffed into my pocket. I shoved the still simmering anxiety within me into its corner of my mind and left for work.

    Out on the street, I was surprised to see a patrol squad of armored Shepherds, centered around a big 8-wheeled APC, working its way down the block. I gave them a nod of respect as I passed by, grateful for the extra security.

    Making it back to the Link plaza was easy enough, and I let myself mourn the loss of my street jacket and old backpack along the way. They were not expensive items, but would still take some time to replace. I would have to buy them new and age them, cutting and rubbing and washing repeatedly until they looked worn and ragged. I could try to buy some replacements off one of the Transients that camped around the Link, but it would be risky. Falling from the Civilian rank was often just a delayed death sentence, and I couldn''t really blame them for selling off that kind of info. I¡¯d do anything to crawl back out if I were in their position as well.

    Caught up in my own mind, I pushed through the ever crowded Travellers Station and ran the gauntlet with my hood pulled down low. I skipped my morning chat with Rosso and simply waved at him on my way up the mountain.

    It was meditative, drilling and chipping and hammering away at the granite. Each strike insignificant against the grand scale of the stony heights, but knowing that our persistence would eventually carry the entire thing away soothed me. I¡¯d get there if I refused to stop.

    I emptied my mind, and attacked the mountain under the afternoon Sun. Distracting myself with the work and physical effort. I was hoping I might find some gold mixed in, and had kept a large pile of ore that likely held some amount within.

    A few hours in, I was cutting away another clean slab of the mottled pink, gray, and black stone. Working to break away the far side of the vein in an effort to expose more of the possible ore. After I drilled and feather wedged the slab, a few minutes with a sledge hammer sent it toppling down the sloping ledge, coming to a stop in the pile of tailings I had built up to catch it. I was surprised when I saw a persistent twinkling and pulsing point of light shining on the fresh stone face. Something I had seen before, but not since the short and mostly useless tutorial they put me through when I had first Linked up.

    I tossed my sledgehammer to the side and leaned in close, running my hand over the light and screwing up my face in confusion. The light stayed for a moment and then faded back out. I touched the stone again, wondering if the light would return. When it didn¡¯t, I stood and picked up my drill from where I had set it nearby, frowning and moving over to start splitting the slab into pieces small enough to move.

    The light flashed again in the corner of my eye, still on the same point of the cliff face. I looked over and frowned even harder, crouched atop the slab of stone. I got up and returned to the light, which faded slightly as I approached and then dimmed greatly when I reached out to touch it again. I pulled my hand back, and the light returned.

    I examined the rest of the stone, curious as to why the game was prompting me like this. Was this some sort of mining skill thing I¡¯d unlocked? I had a few months to go until my yearly free Status-Report, but according to my own calculations from the xp I had gathered, I should have gained at least 3 levels in the skill. Maybe I had gained the 4th level which would push me up to 20 and unlock a milestone?

    Testing a theory, I raised the drill bit towards the twinkling light, which flared and grew brighter. I smiled to myself and started to drill, this had to be some kind of skill-trick I¡¯d unlocked.

    After I had finished the first pilot hole, I saw another light and drilled that one as well. I drilled where the light prompted for the next half-hour, eventually realizing it was guiding me into shearing off a sizable portion of the cliff face. I was slightly apprehensive about it, but decided to take the risk and follow the prompts. It was rare that the game UI highlighted anything like that, and if my memory was correct, it was supposed to lead to something valuable.

    Another hour later and I was pushing the final shim into place and picking up my sledge. I questioned if this was a good idea or not one more time, before shrugging to myself and raising the hammer.

    After far fewer strikes than I expected, I leapt back when I heard the crack run up the mountain, away from the brink of the ledge and against the stable cliff face that shielded my little ledge from full view on the path. Almost ponderously, what looked like half the mountain started to slide down and lean away from me.

 Chapter 8

    A Huge piece of mountain cracked and dropped by a handspan, it seemed to hesitate for a moment before leaning out and away. Then, amazingly slowly, it roared down the rest of the slope. I watched, stunned and clinging to the side-wall of the ledge, as a chunk of stone the size of an office building crashed through the forest below, clearing a swath of trees and leaving nothing but rubble in its wake.

    I froze, terrified that the ledge I was on would be dragged down with it, but captivated by the sheer scale, proximity, and overwhelming cacophony of noise. My world shook, my ears rang; and amazingly, the ledge I stood on held. After the noise of the crashing rock settled, the silence was filled with the sound of angry birds, flapping and shouting warnings as they rose from the canopy around the field of rubble.

    I crept closer to the edge, looking down and watching the dust settle. Another massive tree slowly gave up and toppled, barely audible from my vantage above.

    I turned back to the mountain, following the ledge up to where I had been working for the last week. The cut had split the cliff face in half, causing the entirety of the cliff on one side of the vein to crack and shear off, taking a piece of the ledge and the slab I had cut earlier with it. Higher up the remaining mountain, I could see a dark line of weathered and water-worn stone that worked its way down the seam that I had split. Following the stain with my eyes down the cliff face, I saw a dark spot where it intersected with the quartz vein that looked to open up into a natural cavern.

    The path just ended, the entire cliff face it used to dead-end against now laying in the jungle below, the fallen away portion of the stone revealing the trail of erosion that ran along the fault that the prompts had guided me in splitting. The opening was lower than the ledge I stood on, and farther away than I thought I could jump.

    I stepped back from the ledge and weighed my options. I was positive that Rosso would not be happy with the destruction of the jungle below, but knew that he would also not be too angry. The valley below was not his Grove, but on the far side of the mountain in the next valley over. Still, I figured it counted as mass destruction, and instead of extracting the stone I had moved it elsewhere. I needed to get something out of this, something to distract or pay Rosso off with. The lights were supposed to lead to valuables, not breaches of contract, and while it was difficult to trust the people in the game, the UI itself was generally useful.

    I walked back up, cautiously kneeling as close to the brink of the ledge as I dared. It was close to a straight drop down for more than a hundred feet, the stone having scooped out a gouge that followed the gentle curving slope of the mountain.

    The vein of quartz led across the sheer cliff face and right to the cavern entrance. It would make for terrible climbing, but I could try to use the cracks and crevices within the vein to hammer in some climbing spikes. The cave had to be what the game wanted me to find.

    New Quest!

    Follow your Heart

    Your actions have revealed a mysterious cave. What awaits within; Natural treasures? Terrible beasts? Noxious fumes?! Go find out!

    Surprised by the text box that suddenly appeared, I scrambled back away from the edge and fell onto my ass before I managed to read the first line.

    A quest? I had never seen or heard of anyone getting a quest from the system before. As far as I knew, they were not even part of the game. Players could post Bounties and Tasks, but those all came directly from other players. One of the worst parts of the Factions ¡°Game¡± was its total lack of intelligent NPC¡¯s. All part of the ¡®Player Driven Economy¡¯ that''s ¡®the best way to encourage unique emergent gameplay experiences and Player interactions¡¯.

    Maybe this was some Beta feature that they unlocked for me? My eyes widened at the thought, that might also explain the weird short payment cycle and confusion when I woke up. Was it possible they had randomly selected me as part of a first wave test run for a new system? The Coreworlds were so opaque in their relations with the players it was impossible to tell, the only updates and announcements I¡¯d ever received from them were to sign up for their Engram auction lottery, as if I could afford to place any bids even if I were to win a ticket.

    In any case, it was clear that the game was guiding me this way for a reason. If I died, I didn¡¯t have much in my inventory to drop, and could hopefully make it back to my body before anyone else. My work-site was off the main paths and only half way up on the far side of the mountain, the bulk of the quarry work was being done by teams from the top down. The few other solos like myself tended to follow similar strategies as my own, seeking out isolated pockets and veins of more valuable resources to slowly chip away at, or venturing around the island in search of bounties.

    I pulled my rarely used safety harness and strapped myself into it before removing some rope and spikes from my inventory. I hammered one of the pitons, steel spikes with a smoothed ring built into the heads, into a crack in the vein of quartz and gave it a tug. Just to be safe, I pounded a second, and then a third into the cliff at various points. The last only after I had tied myself to the first two, and as far out along the cliff face as I could reach.

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    After securing myself to the spikes with just enough rope to allow me to cross, and triple checking my harness, I took a few deep breaths to psych myself up and stepped out, clinging to the cliff as best as I could, but forced to put most of my weight and trust in the climbing gear. Adrenaline pumping through my veins, I started to work my way across the gap and down towards the cavern.

    I swung from the rope, only dropping a few feet down towards the cave before I stopped myself with the brake built into the harness. I had looped the rope through a few more spikes before tying the whole thing off and I hammered them into the vein as I went along a few feet at a time. I did my best to not look down between my feet to the fall below, and section by section, I made my way across the gap, leaving my rope pinned to the wall for when I needed to climb back out.

    I came into the cavern from the top of the entrance, dangling for a terrifying moment in free space with nothing but the rope to cling to. I breathed a massive sigh of relief when I finally touched down on the damp stone of the cave¡¯s interior.

    I let my weight settle onto my feet and pulled some more rope through my harness to give me enough slack to move around. The cavern was not very large, so I crouched down on the water-worn stone and fished my rarely-used multi tool from my inventory. Fumbling with it for a moment as I still clung to the rope with one hand, I eventually got the small flashlight pointed down into the cavern.

    The left wall sparkled and glimmered with quartz crystals, scoured clean by long flowing water in some places and built up with debris in others, while the rest of the surface rippled in waves that followed the natural grain of the stone. The opening was just large enough for me to crouch-walk through, but quickly sloped down and snaked around a corner deeper into the mountain.

    I pulled a bit more slack rope through my harness and slowly lowered myself further into the cavern. Things went well at first, the cavern was large enough for me to see where I was going, and the crystals and cracks from the fault line provided decent hand and footholds on the one wall. I lowered myself a few feet at a time, finding a secure grip before pulling more slack rope through to lower myself a few feet again. It was slow going, but I was not in any real rush.

    The deeper into the mountain I went, the damper and danker the cave became. My pants had completely soaked through by the time the sunlight from the cave opening disappeared behind me. After worming my way into the mountain, dreading reaching the end of my rope, the cavern opened up and split. The water I had followed dripped down through a tiny crack where the fault and quartz vein continued into the stone. While the larger passage twisted and leveled out into a misshapen circular tunnel that rose away from the waterslide I had climbed down.

    My little light barely illuminated the larger space, causing shadows to ripple across the smooth dark walls banded with angled lines of differently colored stone. The end of the tunnel stretched into darkness and the floor was surprisingly clear of stone and debris, with only a thick layer of dust that kicked up in little swirling tufts as I cautiously started down the shaft.

    I crept along, following the snaking passageway up at a slight angle, before it curved around a bend and continued back down at an equally shallow angle. I opened my HUD to check the time, and noted I had started my descent nearly two hours ago, leaving me another 6 hours or so before daylight would end back at home.

    It was eerie, walking through the silent and dark cave, no sign of life of any kind. I continued to follow the tunnel until it opened into a large domed chamber, circular and wide enough to comfortably park an 18-wheeler within, with multiple passages leading off in different directions.

    The floor of the new chamber looked cracked and sunken, like it had been pushed up and broken from underneath, before settling back down into a shallow bowl. A number of spiky protrusions of shiny black rock seemed to pierce through from below, with little mounds of shattered stone around their bases. Three other pitch-black tunnel openings loomed around the edges of the room, two on the far side of the chamber with the third and largest opening off to my right.

    I hesitated on the threshold for a moment, turning to look back down the path I had taken so far. My scuffed footprints were clear in the dust that coated the bottom of the tunnel, throwing stark shadows in the pool of light from my little multi-tool. It would be easy to follow back from here, but the new chamber lacked the layer to leave tracks in.

    Hesitantly, I took a step into the cavern, testing my footing before putting much weight onto the cracked floor. The broken stone felt solid enough, no rocking or shifting underfoot, so I edged my way around the outside of the chamber towards the larger opening.

    I was most of the way across, focusing on moving forward and actively ignoring the panic and anxiety that screamed and shouted for attention in the back of my mind, when I caught a shining glimmer of light in my peripheral vision again.

    Turning my head towards the light, my eyes settled on the largest of the stony spikes that rose from the floor, nearly as tall as myself. The same damn little glimmer of light that got me into this situation in the first place flashed from about halfway up the spire.

    Overcome by sudden and surprising anger, I strode straight across the chamber and up to the spike to glare at the light, which continued to twinkle and pulse as I approached. The slap of my angry footsteps and crunching of shattered stone beneath my boots breaking the silence that had accompanied me throughout the trip. Without thinking, letting my frustration and anger get the better of me. I reared back and punched the damn light.

    The spike shattered like tempered glass, exploding and sending splinters of sharp rock skittering across the chamber in every direction. The shards of stone stung and cut into my exposed face and forearms. The light that had once been like a distant twinkling star, flared and flashed as the stone splintered, blinding me and causing me to close my eyes as I fell back away from the explosion. I felt my shoulders hit the hard cracked-stone floor first, then the back of my head knocked against it and my vision filled with tiny flashing yellow and red speckles. Before I could bring my hands up to my face and really register the pain, the world shifted and I felt the floor drop out from under me.

 Chapter 9

    Wind and sharp shards of stone whipped around me as I dropped deeper into the mountain. I had let go of my little flashlight when the column had exploded, and the beam of light was now spinning wildly in freefall, creating a disorienting strobe-light effect.

    I writhed and squinted my eyes against the rushing wind, splaying my arms and legs out, instinctively reaching out for the spinning light. One of my hands caught on what must have been the side-wall of the shaft I was falling down, and I cried in pain as it wrenched my joints and sent me spinning away just as wildly as my flashlight. I crashed through the cloud of sharp falling stones that used to be the floor, and ping-ponged off the far wall.

    I tried to stabilize myself, unsure of which way was up or down and completely spun around despite the rushing wind. I flailed and windmilled my limbs, adrenaline clearing my mind until only the pounding of my heart remained. I saw a light spin by again and reached out, this time managing to close my fingers around it.

    The world came to a sudden stop, and a text box filled the center of my vision. The First thing I noticed was that the item''s name was written in bold purple text.

    Heart of Stone

    (Limited Edition Holo Crafting Material)

    Some are said to have a heart of gold, others are described as cold or warm. Reach for the heart they say, if you want to change minds; or in your case, grab tight and rip it free!

    Only found by those who dare to delve into dark depths of deep dens of rock and stone, this high grade crafting material is Minted in limited quantities and hidden on New Worlds.

    Time seemed to crawl at a fraction of its normal speed as I read the message, the swarm of rocks slowly spinning and ricocheting off each other in the background. A second smaller text box flickered into existence beneath it, showing garbled text and symbols before settling into a coherent message.

    Would you like to dupe this item? Yes/No

    I blinked at the second prompt, but panic and adrenaline pushed me to snap decision making. I settled my intent on ¡®Yes¡¯. The item description box disappeared and was replaced by another. The falling stones and shards of rock around me seemed to regain a portion of their speed, visibly moving in the background as I quickly read through the next box.

    New Quest!

    Follow your Heart to Gold

    Follow the light

    The text box disappeared and time returned to normal, the spinning churning motion returned and I struggled to level myself out. After a few seconds of panicked writhing and turning, trying to stabilize my fall, I managed to sort myself out with my arms and legs splayed out and back against the rushing wind. I could see flashes of the cavern below as the flashlight continued to spin somewhere in the falling mess of stone, the light only illuminating the widening walls and not powerful enough to touch the bottom.

    The flashing sparkle that got me into this whole mess appeared on the edge of my vision as soon as I had leveled myself out, and I saw the first item in a checklist appear and check itself off on the right side of my HUD, and a second type itself out beneath it.

    [x] Stabilize your fall

    [ ] Keep your feet on the ground

    I pulled the Stone into my inventory and tilted my head to follow the flash. Seeing one of the larger chunks of rock, a little larger than a manhole cover, falling near to me outlined in a dim purple glow. It pulsed when I locked onto it, so I reached towards it, trying to swim closer through the air. Starting to move my arms and legs again had the opposite effect that I had in mind, and sent me spinning and spiraling across the shaft again. Luck was on my side however, and I crashed chest first into the stone, gripping it in a bear hug, my eyes tightly closed against the dizzying flashing lights and extended freefall.

    Despite my closed eyes, my HUD remained, and the second checklist item flashed and began to fade from white text to a pinkish color that was quickly reddening.

    Gritting my teeth, I shifted my grip to grab the edges of the stone, and pulled myself into an awkward crouch on the stone, holding it against the bottoms of my boots as everything continued to lazily spin in freefall down into the pit. As soon as my feet made contact with the stone, the spin seemed to slow until it settled out with me on top, and a third item then appeared in the checklist. This time with a quickly ticking count-down next to it, I watched the timer continue the white-to-pink-to-red color transition, and followed the instruction when it zeroed out without thinking.

    I brought one hand up from its grip on the stone beneath me and pointed, and the Hub Portal started to swirl into life in front of me, its position locked relative to my pointing finger. The change caused myself, the stone, and the portal moving with me to start wobbling again slightly, but I maintained my grip with one hand and continued pointing at the opening Portal, willing the default ritual to work faster.

    A half of a minute is a really long time when you¡¯re forced to remain still, let alone when you''re riding a chunk of rock in free-fall down what seemed like an endless pit. Another entry appeared letter by letter in the checklist to distract me.

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    [x] Stabilize your fall

    [x] Keep your feet on the ground

    [x] Start a Hub Portal in 0:00:00

    [ ] Brace, the hard part is over.

    I closed my eyes, grit my teeth, and shook my head; thoughts of doubt flooding back into my mind to fill the forced inaction. I saw another timer pop-up next to the last entry, counting down from 12 seconds. In the last few seconds, my eyes still shut tightly and my focus on the timer in my HUD, I started to hear something. Percussive pops and skittering explosions quickly got louder and louder until everything happened at once, faster than I could really register. I felt my hand fill with something, like I had pulled it from my inventory, and my legs tensed all on their own and pushed off the rock, launching me forward towards the portal.

    With a huge crunching crash of a noise, the world went black and I found myself bodiless, floating in void and looking at the respawn screen.

    You Died

    Exit or Respawn:

    Faction Capital: Free

    Home: 1 Shard

    Hub: 5 Shards

    Recall to Session Start: 10 Shards

    I tried to scream at the damn text box, I had trusted the game''s direction and it had gotten me killed. Shards were almost a hundred credits each, and I had never bothered to buy any of them. Everything in my inventory excluding my drill or plasma knife were barely worth the value of a single Shard.

    I chose the only option available to me, selecting Faction Capital, and existence flashed again as I felt my weight settle onto my feet as the bustling Capital building snapped into place around me.

    I hung my head and trudged down the ramp from the elevated Respawn pad, joining the steady trickle of disheartened people. What looked like the aftermath of a fist fight was being dealt with off to one side of the line. Five people were lined up against the unadorned brick wall, a pair of armored Shepherds watching over them with taser rifles while an attendant scanned and logged the info of each one.

    I kept my eyes low and joined the quickly moving line, grumbling complaints and spiteful epithets under my breath about whatever glitch had roped me into an unfair death. I saw a message ping into my inbox as I left the spawn room, informing me that my faction''s Social Rank had dropped back down to Conscript D1. I cursed the game system some more as I pushed my way through the crowd and out onto the busy street filled with early morning traffic.

    The Capital city had grown since I had last visited, the roads were paved with stone, some of which I had probably carved from the slopes of Mount Goodbye myself. Around the building, the hastily constructed wooden buildings I remembered from my last visit were now replaced mostly with masonry, and a number of new steel-framed high rise buildings were under construction on the edges of the downtown district.

    I shouldered my way out of the steady stream of people coming in and out of the central building, and stepped into clear space in the lee of the next building''s staircase. I opened up my inventory, sorted it by Credit value, and scanned through what was left. Comparing it to memory to determine what the randomizer had chosen for me to drop somewhere deep beneath Mount Goodbye.

    I breathed a sigh of relief, seeing both the Heart of Stone and my drill at the top of the list. I noticed, with some disappointment, that there was only one of the Hearts in my inventory, and that the game had apparently lied to me about duping it, which was a whole other thing to begin with. I had enough to worry about, so I pushed that thought aside. I had no idea how much the thing was worth anyways, I had never seen an item with a purple title before.

    After a moment of sifting through the list, I realized that I had lost my plasma knife, as well as my pick, shovel, a half-dozen different containers and bags, and the small stash of emergency rations I kept in my inventory.

    When you die or are killed in Factions, the system splits your inventory randomly in half without breaking stacks, and drops the heavier side of the divide. You always dropped something, until you had nothing, but would only drop equipped items or Engrams if your inventory was completely emptied.

    I had heard of Engrams that could force an equipment drop or even an Engram drop, but I had only ever seen a single Engram. A Gelgin merchant who had shown up in the Capital during the early days after the arrival of the Links had a common green engram called ¡°Hatchback¡±. He claimed it gave a 20% boost to inventory space, and allowed the user to open their inventory as a sort of summoned physical container.

    The container was obvious, it looked like an invisible trunk the size of a freezer opened up in the air to display his wares. I had watched from a distance as he turned down increasingly insane offers to purchase the Engram; bars of True gold, precious gems, truckloads of goods, and promises of business or oaths of loyalty.

    Nothing had swayed the Gelgin, who despite looking kind of like a weird faced elf with nearly vertical eyes, was not actually an Ambassador or Masked species but a free merchant simply here to trade. Rumor had it that he had refused all offers and left the planet, disgusted by the constant pestering for the sale of the one item he refused to sell.

    I typically kept a couple of granite flagstones in my own default sized inventory as an attempted counter to the heavy drill, and it had paid off. Losing the plasma knife was painful, but the drill is what made earning steady money possible.

    I closed my inventory and rejoined the foot traffic flowing down either side of the main street, heading for the little rented warehouse where I had first met my boss. I had plenty of Terrestrial Transport Tokens, commonly called Triple T¡¯s, and felt a new level of appreciation for the weekly stipend. The warehouse was only a few blocks from the Central building, yet Rosso¡¯s Island was roughly ten thousand miles away from Arktria¡¯s Factions Capital, an ocean and an entire continent between, pretty much on the exact opposite side of the enlarged virtual version of Eora.

    The warehouse was unattended, but the smart panel next to the door recognized me and flashed my Contract status before the door clicked internally as it unlocked itself. The interior was mostly empty, other than a small office setup in one corner, and a number of carefully packaged Perfect-grade stone blocks that waited to be sold. The tele-pad lay low on the floor, tucked against the wall and just out of the way next to the larger bay door. I hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath, and walked onto the pad.

    Transfer to Paired Telepad: 1 Token

    Enter Alternate Terrestrial Destination: 10 Tokens

    I willed my intent at the first option, and the world instantly shifted with a warm feeling and a flash of light, revealing the sights and sounds of the loading dock near the base of Mount Goodbye. The headlights of one of the larger trucks swept over me as I hurried away from the pad, crossing the lot to the marked foot path to start back up the mountain.

    I continued my under-breath cursing and grumbling on my way to retrieve the equipment I¡¯d parted with near my work site. It was unlikely anything would be stolen if I left it overnight, but not unheard of. I had already taken enough risks for the day.

    Nearly an hour later, I had retrieved my sledge and mudmover from the side of the mountain, parking it in my usual spot in the lot next to the dock before starting the short hike down to the Atrium. I felt fried, rattled, and the creeping edge of desperation looming at the back of my mind as I found the space and peace to think on the empty path. The bustle of the loading dock quickly faded behind me as I entered the tree lined path to go talk with Rosso.

 Chapter 10

    I grabbed the railing at the overlook down to Rosso¡¯s grove, leaning out to see his serene face still pointed up towards the ledge.

    ¡°Rosso! How''s your evening going?¡± I started, wanting to gauge his mood before I started negotiation.

    His flowery mouth-piece, now closed with the setting of the sun, bloomed before croaking out, ¡°Dark skies and rumble rumors, Kaninak. I hear the valley next has been redecorated?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. About that, it was an accident, and I mean to make recompense¡±, I internally cringed at my own word choice. Something about speaking with Rosso for more than a casual greeting caused me to slip into a bad imitation of outdated formal speech, being stressed made it worse. ¡°The UI prompted me to treasure, and I did not realize the - uh¡­ consequences of my drilling.¡±

    ¡°A treasure? One of my rare bounties perhaps?¡± The flower leaned in eagerly.

    I shook my head, stepping closer to the bulbous flower and glancing over my shoulders. After confirming that the atrium was empty of others, I pulled the Heart of Stone from my inventory and showed it to the bulb. ¡°It is not listed as a bounty, but seems like something you would be interested in?¡±

    ¡°A Heart! I had hoped, but there is no promise!¡± The forest surrounding us rustled and shook, a number of leaves and small dead branches falling from the canopy that ringed the flower filled Atrium. The mouthpiece lowered its volume and continued, ¡°Yes, I have claim to this Specialty. I offer¡­¡±, both the flower and tree-like mass down below let out a low buzzing rumble as Rosso considered for a moment. ¡°Both forgiveness, and one-of-five the market rate¡±.

    I hefted the glowing crystal in my hand, realizing only now that I had never really examined the item, too distracted by the chaos of respawning since I had found it. The stone resembled a giant sharply pointed rough-cut diamond, as thick as my wrist and long as my hand, with a dim interior glow that shifted through various shades of reds and yellows, occasionally blocked out by roaming patches of deep umber.

    ¡°Twenty percent? I thought you were more kind Rosso. I¡¯ll protest until I see at least half¡±, I bluffed.

    The sound of creaking branches and rustling leaves shook through the forest like a wave once more, ¡°One-in-three then! Plus Accord for you to show off to your keepers if you no talk back!¡±

    I blinked at the flower, and glanced at the tree down below with its unchanging face smiling up at me. I had not thought to bargain for anything reputation related, or expected the vehemence in his reply. He had offered the smallest form of diplomatic ties, something that every human faction was falling over themselves to establish with the Ambassadors.

    ¡°Thirty three percent and an Accord of Friendship?¡± I rubbed the stubble that had grown on my chin. ¡°What is the market rate on these anyways?¡±

    The leaves rustled again, and the flower-bulb shivered. Instead of a reply, he sent a trade request which I accepted. I waved the crystal, still in my hand, through the hovering window and it appeared on my side of the deal. The Mark of Accord filled in first, followed a moment later by 51340 credits.

    I stared at the number, reading over it again and again, losing focus on everything else as my breathing picked up. Rosso made a noise like a snapping twig, which jolted me out of my shock and I swiftly hit ¡°Accept¡± on the trade. He did the same, and we repeated the confirmation on the secondary screen.

    ¡°That''s¡­ holy shit, Rosso¡±.

    ¡°I think was fair deal, not shit deal, Friend.¡± His voice was back to the easy going if heavily accented tone he normally had.

    I laughed, loudly, the stress and tension of the day finally overflowing at my relief. Tears started to roll down my face, and I turned away, not wanting Rosso to see. It took a moment, but I eventually managed to compose myself and turn back to face him. I cleared my throat and wiped my hand across my face, ¡°Thank you, Friend. That''s not what I meant. This¡­ this is life changing. Thank you¡±

    The flower made a repeated internal clacky slapping noise, the Kaldamori version of laughter, as it shook in amusement, even his main body let out a groaning creak of a noise in his grove down below.

    ¡°Go, bud-ling, spend and boast. Maybe buy repair for your leaking, klak klak klak, take day off, go brag to Council, maybe they stop sending so many spams now that I pick one¡±, the runner root chuckled before slowly starting to fold back up for the night.

    ¡°Thank you, Rosso. Friend¡± I said quietly as he closed up shop, before turning and walking off towards the entry lot.

    I had some major decisions to make, I had never considered finding a bounty this large in any of my plans, and the Accord changed everything. I¡¯d avoided Factions Ranking so far, not wanting to get tangled up in the PvP wars and skirmishes that governed the system.

    I decided to not worry about that just yet, and enjoy the massive payday while I could. Fantasizing about all of the things I¡¯d wanted for so long yet could never afford, I made my way back to the lot outside of his gates and opened a Portal to the Hub.

    As I stepped through, I glanced up and down the street, thinking about which shops I wanted to visit first. I had planned to head to the promo shop and grab some of the things I¡¯d coveted over my years of frequenting the store.

    I was shocked and surprised when an electric sensation suddenly jolted through my body, the borders of my vision flashed red, and my ears rang with an enormous buzzing burst of claxon. I reflexively dove to my right, hitting the ground and covering my head against whatever the hell had attacked me. I felt a pain in my stomach as I landed, and I rolled away from it, looking around for my attacker and garnering a few strange looks from the mostly foreign crowd of people stepping around me.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    A heart pounding moment later, after scanning the crowd for an attacker yet not seeing anyone even paying any attention to me, I took a few breaths and started to stand up. I paused again, noticing that I had something clenched in my hand that was pressed against my stomach. Somehow, I was holding another glowing crystal Heart of Stone, it pulsed with light and power in my white-knuckle grip.

    I pulled it into my inventory as soon as I registered what I was holding, and glanced around the crowd. I was still hardly being paid any attention, people rarely talked to each other on the street. Competition was ferocious over the minimal jobs and contracts within walking distance of Humanities collective neighborhood, if you could even make it through a Link.

    After recovering my senses, I realized I was making a scene and the looks I was receiving were annoyed rather than outright hostile. I pulled my hood up over my head and stepped in line with the movement of the crowd.

    My mind spun, and I was launched right back into spiraling thoughts of what-the-fuck. I just wandered, letting the crowd guide my path and attempting to piece together the events of the day. None of this made any sense, yet I struggled to manifest much anger against whatever was messing with me. I had planned, schemed, and grinded my way to my current position, yet I had been blindly pushed into more progress today than I had hoped and planned to achieve in the next five years.

    I lost track of time as I wandered, wallowing in confused thoughts and possibilities, not noticing the shifting demographics of the crowd around me as more and more Masked Factions mingled in the press. Mythical creatures given as highly convincing false skins to break-away factions of aliens deemed difficult to relate with. I¡¯d heard there were thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of Masked Factions. Unique to each world''s mythology, yet small enough that you rarely saw them outside of the borders of their adopted homes.

    I eventually realized I was near the border of the Human and Thoo districts. I could see some of the large slow moving creatures moving through the crowd ahead. The size of a cow, and a mottled grayish-tan, they looked somewhat like giant star-fish crossed with an elephant. They walked on four legs, tipped with a hardened three-toed foot, with a trunk that rose from the top of their mostly symmetrical body that they used much like an elephant would. Thoo were other recent additions to the ever expanding Hub, and were the parent species of the Masked Centaur faction that occupied a small peninsula on the coast of Borokor.

    The sight of the strange aliens distracted me enough to break out of my mental lock, and I pivoted and crossed the boardwalk before turning back to start walking back towards more familiar streets. I now noticed that at some point, I had received a message and had a little notification pinging on my UI. Wondering who would message me, I opened my inbox and frowned when I noticed the details.

    From: Lights and Credits

    My bad for the confusion, it¡¯ll make sense eventually but not yet. Last thing I need is for you to like - flip out, man. Keep following the lights, I got your back.

    You should probably bank that duped Stone too, maybe invest in some more inventory space too.

    I came to a sudden stop as I read through the message, causing the dwarv behind me to bump into the back of my legs with the low cart they were pushing. ¡°Aye, big-man. Keep it movin¡¯ ¡®n quit yer gawking¡±.

    I glanced back, waving at them and mumbling an apology as I continued on, finishing the message as I kept pace with the stream of sophonts.

    Unsure whether to be relieved or even more bothered by the mysterious message, I decided to continue following its advice, for now. I¡¯d run things by Tevin and Rin when I got home in the real world and could do the thinking then.

    I kept pace with the crowd, now scanning the windows and plethora of ads and signs that littered every surface other than the street itself. I followed the signs until they led me to the nearest Bank.

    Similar to a Link, every bank looked the same, except rather than squat aerodynamic star-ships, they were towering golden monoliths that seemed to stretch higher and higher until they disappeared into the ever-night sky. Each Neighborhood started with 4 of the buildings, and more could be purchased from the Core if our squabbling Factions could ever get their shit together enough to afford it.

    I walked through one of the many golden doors that lined the ground floor of the Bank and crossed the small lobby to the counter. A bored looking Tellagnochi sat behind the counter, squat crab-like creatures, and waved over at an automated service center off to its side, clearly uninterested in speaking with me.

    I was fine with its disinterest, equally uninterested in dealing with the notoriously rude and abrasive Coreworlds subspecies.

    The screen lit up as I approached it, projecting some of the data and a number of ads in the air around me.

    I cycled through the singularly clear UI of the banking system, quickly depositing the stone through the menu, and grinning at my account total which was now over 50 thousand credits. I broke into a huge smile when I checked my estimated bank total and saw it well over 200k.

    Feeling slightly better about the strange message and happenings of the day, I checked the prices on extra inventory and bank space. Grateful that in this case, the units of measurement between the Coreworlds and Humanity agreed on something. Frustratingly, I noticed that the options were all billed on the same day as your Payment days. With the way they jerked us around, the number of days between payments seemed to vary anywhere from 25 to 35 days with no discernible pattern, it would be difficult to budget for.

    [x] Standard: 2 M3 - Complimentary

    [ ] Courier: 6 M3 - 150 Cr. per Cycle

    [ ] Trader: 12 M3 - 2150 Cr. per Cycle

    [ ] Haulier: 24 M3 - 3450 Cr. per Cycle

    [ ] Supplier: 60 M3 - 41350 Cr. per Cycle

    [ ] Personal Warehouse: 150 M3 - 510 kCr. per Cycle

    I scoffed at the prices, the courier price for a double sized inventory seemed fairly reasonable, but they quickly rose to ridiculous levels. I doubted there were more than a handful of sophonts anywhere outside of the First-Five factions that could afford a half-million credits per cycle.

    Still, I selected Courier and navigated my way through the confirmation screens that followed, only holding off on allowing it to automatically deduct payments from my account. Being so used to just barely scraping by, the thought of automating payments being withdrawn from my account sent a shiver of anxiety up my spine.

    Sometimes you had to skip payments on certain things, making choices about what¡¯s vital and what was not truly necessary. Inventory space seemed like a stupid thing to choose over food, rent, or transport.

    Just before I closed the menu and walked away, I focused my intent on the credit total of my account again, prompting the Bank to read out my total for confirmation.

    Account Balance: Fifty-One-Thousand-Two-Hundred-Seven-Point-Seven-Three

    While I normally dreaded the deep booming tone of the Bank system when it spoke. This time, for the first time, hearing it aloud caused an uncontrollable smile to crack through my resting-bastard-face.

 Chapter 11

    The first thing I bought was a new plasma knife, missing the comfortable weight of it in my pocket. Instead of buying a replacement from the Kern-tech promo shop that I had frequented up until now, I had stopped at some place called ¡®Zoltans Pocket Protectors¡¯ that had signage showing off all sorts of ¡°legal¡± self-defense equipment.

    ¡°From diplomacy grade plate-carriers to tasers, blast knuckles to magnet grenades. Come inside and stock up to throw down!¡±.

    Many of the items were outside what I was willing to spend on myself, and Arktria¡¯s council had long outlawed any projectile based weaponry without an expensive permit, but the mag-nades were cheap for how effective I¡¯d heard they were from Tevin. I picked up one of those, a new ear-wig headset similar to the one Tevin always wore, and a nano-mesh T-shirt that was supposed to stop knives and most bullets from pistol-caliber firearms.

    I equipped the shirt, stuffed the grenade into my pocket opposite from my knife, and continued down the street until I saw a sign advertising the next item on my list. What I really wanted was a set of jump-boots, or grav-boots. Tech exclusively made by the highly advanced Gonlieus, one of the First-Five factions to Link to the Coreworlds. The Gon released captivating ads showing sophonts of various species, jumping up onto buildings, running through the air, or casually walking along a few inches above a muddy street. There was a wide selection of different series of the boots, in a surprisingly wide range of prices and levels of performance.

    I skipped past the first few boutique-looking shops with the recognizable logo of the boots being displayed, sort of like a silhouetted work-boot crossed with a wifi symbol. Deciding to check some of the second-hand stores in an effort to save some creds, I continued my wandering and window shopping.

    Eventually I found one that had a virtual display flanking either side of its open doorway, cycling through images of the stock shelves inside. One of the screens that popped up as I walked past showed a rack of the boots, about a half-dozen different pairs of the cheaper models.

    ¡®Bryce Banters¡¯ was a small shop, filled with tall shielded cases along the walls and down the center of the aisle. Unlike the promo shop or Zoltans, or most of the shops that I had visited within the Hub, there was an actual attendant sitting behind a counter to one side. An old man, with frizzy gray hair sticking out from under a sun-bleached cap that had to be from the era before the Links arrived, he glanced up and gave a lazy wave before turning back to the data slate he was scrolling.

    I gave him a quick downward nod in return, and made my way through the lanes between the shelves, looking for the cabinet that held the boots I had seen in the window display.

    The place was filled with all sorts of crap, mostly useless junk to me. Tons of personal convenience tech, data tablets and slates, small computers, mobile comms, and a variety of power tools. As well as a couple of shelves of weaponry, both pre-Link and post, ranged and melee.

    From what I had heard, the upright humanoid two-arms two-legs body formfactor was the most common amongst the thousand or so Linked species, which meant that us humans could use a lot of the equipment that had been designed and circulated throughout the worlds for hundreds of years now. The boots all had the same rough shape, practically identical to the shape we had settled on ourselves a few hundred years before the Links came blasting down out of the sky, only really missing the laces and leather in favor of auto-straps and thick nano-weave.

    The two cheapest sets were what most of us humans had started referring to as blast-boots. Too dangerous for us to use outside of the Hub, yet not really needed within the perfectly safe city. They worked by channeling a series of small reloadable explosives with fields of energy to rocket you upwards, and broke a ton of people''s ankles before us humans figured out that they were not a great tool for us. Plenty of people still broke their ankles with the other series, but the blast-boots were the only ones that commonly broke them on the way up, rather than via poorly judged landings.

    All of the rest were made with more advanced tech, including self-charging batteries that refilled a little with each step. The most expensive were a single pair beat up old low-charge legit grav-boots, out of my footwear price range at just under 7000 Cr. I still eyed them for a moment, they looked really cool, and had some of the most entertaining of the never ending deluge of alien ad¡¯s.

    The grav-boots could move you around in 3d space within a deep enough gravity well, or let you walk on air rather than pulling you around by the feet or pushing you upwards, but had a very limited charge only good for a few moments. The longer lasting models cost upwards of 7 figures, and I doubted there was a single human who owned a pair outside of the few dictator led human factions.

    The other three sets of boots were what I was actually looking for, sort of the same idea, boots that let you move through the air in some way. Except these worked only under certain circumstances. Using some kind of magnet tech that none of the other factions had managed to copy yet, they could either push or pull on metal, or even metal-rich ore. You could use them to lock the soles of your boots to metal floors, or awkwardly walk along metal walls or beams. You could also use them like the grav-boots over metal surfaces, up to a certain height anyways.

    Two of the pairs of mag-boots looked to be in pretty rough shape, one splattered and caked with what looked like fine blobs of metal, the other sunbleached to a gross off-white and heavily frayed and worn. I settled my eyes on the final set which were relatively new looking, mostly black with thin chrome colored accent lines. I actually kinda liked the look of them, and the asking price was a much more reasonable 1200 Cr.

    As I gave one final look over the shelf, one of the sets of blast-boots caught my eye, a line of light reflected off the accent lines and twinkled around the edges. Gleaming like a polished object being turned in direct sunlight and shining like the lights that had led me to the cave.

    I froze for a moment, watching the scuffed red, black, and white ankle-breakers continue to shimmer as they sat on the shelf. Whatever was causing these lights obviously had to be fucking with me, even if they had promised to have my best interest in mind, there was no way I would risk strapping those on.

    I growled under my breath, mumbling a few half-formed words and phrases of discontent. I had planned to do a little more browsing around the store, but the light had frustrated me. Part of me wanted to follow, the gleam had led me to riches once, even though it had also almost ruined me in the process. This time though, it was going directly against long-held plans of mine. Mag-boots had been on my list of things to save up for, for well over a year, and I had numerous ideas on how I might be able to use them.

    Turning away from the shelf, I made my way back down the aisle and stopped in front of the counter opposite of the old man. He put his slate down and stood with a drawn out grunt.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°See something ya like?¡±, he said as he met my eyes. His face was leathery and heavily lined, he had the look of an old farmer, tanned and weathered, made of wire and sinew.

    I nodded in reply, ¡°Yeah, can I check the page for the black and steel mag-boots?¡±. I hooked a thumb over my shoulder in the direction of the shelf.

    He grunted and looked down at the data slate resting on the counter, which was privacy shielded from my view. He poked and scrolled for a moment, before a public prompt sprung to life hanging off to the side over the counter. We both looked over at the window.

    The top section was a picture of the boots resting on the shelf, with the price listed below and a number of stats and information below that.

    Mk90 Mag-Boots

    (Commodity grade True equipment)

    -2 Grace

    -1 Speed

    8 hours* hold-time on a full charge

    Up to two minutes of levitation*

    Common equipment for tradesmen in metal-fab and ship related industries of all kinds, the Mk90 Magnet Boots offer steadfast support to many laborers and sailors galaxy wide. Constructed from high-grade nano-mesh uppers, heavy duty proprietary alloy infused soles, and fueled by Gonlieu electrostatic field manipulation technology, these boots are fit for lifetimes of service.

    *times are general estimates and may vary depending on battery age, surface compatibility, and user size stat. User is liable for any injuries incurred during the use of this product.

    1200 Cr. Non-negotiable.

    I frowned at the non-negotiable tag that had not been present on the shelfs sign, and looked back to the older guy.

    ¡°Non-negotiable, eh? You sure you can''t come down a little¡±. I tried to mirror his gruff look as I spoke.

    The man, who I was starting to doubt was the Bryce that the store was named for, just grunted and pointed a calloused finger up at a little sign taped to the metallic wall behind him that read ¡°Take it, or Leave it. No refunds¡±.

    ¡°Not much for banter then, are you?¡± I said flatly, which caused him to narrow his eyes slightly. I continued, ¡°Okay, okay. I''ll take them. I hope you cleaned them at least, they better not smell¡±.

    Without a word, he punched a few more buttons on his slate and a trade window appeared. We went through the usual confirmation screens, and I walked out of the store a few minutes later 1200 credits poorer.

    I made a stop at one of the smaller trade plazas near the Hub-side Link and picked up another cheap hoodie, some sunglasses, and splurged on a slab of bacon small enough to stuff into my hoodie''s front pocket. The hoodie was bright red with the logo of some sportsball team I didn''t care about on the front, but I figured it would provide good contrast for my mid-station changeover. I pulled it all into my inventory and continued on through the Link, paying the tariffs to transfer over all of my newly acquired equipment. Luckily, it was all still under the 10 kCu. limit and would all be covered by the cost of a single 1.99 Cr. Transfer Token.

    ¡°Core Units¡± as the system called them, were frustratingly close to the measurements I was familiar with at home, or at least one of the types. Apparently the homeworld of the Suk was similar enough to ours, that we had come to almost the same conclusions, except their stupid ¡°Cu¡¯s¡± were just over 98% of what we called grams. Luckily, we used the same basis to establish what a meter was and there was no conversion or alternate names and it was just translated straight over.

    When I felt the sensation of my body finish the oddly comfortable shift from the Hub to reality and reached up to lift the helmet off of my head, I was startled to see an attractive and smiling brunette woman in a crisp gray skirt-suit with a ruffled white blouse, flanked by two armored shepards waiting for me within my booth. The privacy screen had gone entirely opaque rather than the normal blur effect, and I instantly felt my heart rate skyrocket.

    The woman gave a short bow, just a nod of her head and a slight bend of the waist before speaking, ¡°Hello Mr. Spenser. My name is Katie Roderegious, this Link-sites CLE. We have been made aware of some changes to your Contract with Ambassador Rosso.¡±

    As she spoke, I watched her eyes dart from mine and to the side, back and forth, and realized that she was reading my information from some kind of UI. Something all too common while Linked, everyone had a UI in the Linked Worlds, and plenty of little wearable tech devices offered the same in reality, for a price. However, whatever she was using was entirely invisible, no ear-piece, augment line along her cheekbone, or flashing light of a projector anywhere in sight. I don¡¯t know why, but it unnerved me.

    ¡°I would like to personally congratulate you on your success in achieving an Accord of Friendship with your contracted Ambassador, and am happy to inform you that the Council, per my personal recommendation, has decided to drop the pending investigation into you for the suspected killings of four men two nights ago. As well as¡­¡±

    I opened my mouth to try to speak, and she just kept talking. Something about elevated statuses and packages, but I just couldn''t follow along. I eventually got my mouth to work and cut her off as I struggled out of the straps that still held me in the body-rig.

    ¡°Wait, killings?! What?¡± I glanced at the two giant armored figures standing a few steps back to either side of her.

    The woman, Katie, I guess, offered another brilliantly white and straight smile, ¡°As I said Mr. Spenser, the Council has decided to drop the investigation-¡±

    ¡°What investigation? I haven''t heard about any of this! I didn''t-¡±, her smile disappeared and she cut me off with a stern look, a hand gesture, and a slightly raised voice.

    ¡°There is video evidence of you commiting the killings - in self defense - before entering your residence. Which corroborates with the logs of your buildings surveillance and tracking systems. I have personally reviewed this evidence, and we have followed up with witness reports and have taken the fifth assailant into custody early this morning.¡± She held my gaze for a moment, her hazel eyes hard as she stared me down.

    ¡°You have been an asset to all of Arktria, working diligently to establish ties with our esteemed Ambassadors, and I am not in the business of prosecuting hard-working law-abiding men like you for defending themselves. Calm down Mr. Spenser, I am here to congratulate you, not to detain you. Do you understand?¡± Her smile returned, and she offered me a manicured hand to help me stand from the body-rig

    I blinked at her, dumbstruck, but managed to take her hand and climb out of the saddle and onto my feet. She stepped back as she helped haul me up, she was surprisingly strong, and gave my hand a single pump handshake before releasing. Now that I was standing, I towered over her, yet she continued smiling up at me before launching back into her speech.

    ¡°As I was saying, Citizen Nickolas, you are one of the first of our Faction to achieve an Accord from one of the Ambassadors. Your Arktrian Social rank has been automatically increased to Citizen C5, and you will have access to all of the perks the Citizen rank entitles you to. If you are unaware, your newly elevated status has many benefits, including priority Link access, you will no longer be bound by specific Link-up time windows, cheaper fares and tolls for the Travellers networks, as well an escort through the exit corridor,¡± she gestured to the two Shepherds who still stood guard behind her. ¡°A greater housing and water-ration subsidy package. Plus, my personal thanks and appreciation. Do you have any questions, or is there anything that I could help you with? I am authorized to leverage a number of resources to facilitate the deepening of our newfound relationship with your contracted sponsor.¡± She finished her little spiel, and her face reset into the same sparkling smile as before.

 Chapter 12

    ¡°So, I¡¯m a mid-tier citizen now, just like that? What sort of resources are we talking about?¡± I questioned, my mind starting to catch up.

    ¡°Yes, the social rank prize upgrade was announced in the amended ToS with the update around a year ago. As for what resources are available, I can¡¯t exactly give you a list, but will hear you out and personally see what I can do.¡± She continued smiling at me, her eyes still darting off to the side every few seconds.

    I sighed, of course she couldn''t just tell me what she could do for me. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can come up with, I have¡­ a lot going on right now. I assume you¡¯ll be in touch one way or another?¡±

    She nodded in reply, her smile never faltering. I caught the slightest hint of relief around her eyes, ¡°Yes, of course. You can ping me directly through the service desk, or have any of the posts do the same. Again, the Council thanks you for your service and continued diligence Mr. Spenser, I¡¯m sure we will speak again soon. I will let you return to your affairs.¡± With that said, she turned on a heel and briskly left the booth, the privacy screen letting her pass right through.

    That left me alone in the booth with the two guards in their powered armor, one of whom raised a hand and gave me a thumbs up

    I laughed a little, reminded of my first encounter with Tev, and gave them a wave in return. They turned around and followed Katie through the screen, as I made my way to the import counter to collect my things as they emerged from the trap-doored conveyor belt from the Impex. I jumped up and sat on the counter to pull on my new mag-boots and armored undershirt, checking over my pockets to make sure I had everything. Mourning the loss of my backpack once more, I shoved the block of bacon into my first hoodies¡¯ front pocket, then pulled the larger obnoxiously bright red one over top of it.

    Ready for my exit, and wondering what my new escort perk would look like, I pulled both hoods up over my head and dropped the screen.

    Turns out, the escort thing was pretty cool. The two guards from earlier were waiting outside of the booth when I exited, now both carrying giant mirrored riot shields that they used to block any view of the fenced in area of the public side of the big room.

    I lifted my head for a moment and gave them a big grin, giving the one I thought had gestured to me earlier a thumbs-up of my own. They shook their head, lifted the pool-table sized shield off of the ground, and started moving. The other one followed suit, but also flashed me a thumbs-up in return, keeping their hand low and near the grip of the rifle currently hooked in place to their chest piece. I moved to keep up with them, and the thumbs-up guy pointed down at the floor between them, so I slid into place in the little formation. Keeping my hoods up and chin down, but stealing occasional glances, we made our way out of the Link.

    They continued blocking the view of me with their big shields all through the fenced in corridor to the travellers station, the guy in front keeping his rifle in his hand, at a low ready position. The guard behind me seemed more relaxed, only keeping his hand near his rifle''s handle as we walked the gauntlet.

    As we turned the corner and neared the curtained off doorway to the station, I heard a familiar honk through the curtain and thumbs-up guy pushed a heavy armored hand into the small of my back and shoved me into the curtain.

    I stumbled through into pitch darkness, taking a few steps to recover and bouncing off someone in the dark. They cursed at me, and I took a few more steps away from them, backing towards where I thought one of the support pillars should be.

    A moment later, the lights started clicking back on far above, illuminating the massive station and allowing the flow of people and goods through the station to start flowing once again.

    The lights-out alarm had confused me during my first year of using this side of the Link. I¡¯d spent time worrying that it was used to cover-up the Shepherds when they had to black-bag someone. It made more sense as a distraction to let VIP¡¯s slip into the crowd at the station, kind of. I still thought it was a clunky way to do things and scoffed at the realization, and joined the crowd heading to the exit arches and pushing through one of the many large doors.

    There was a strong patrol already trundling down the most direct route to my home, so I decided to follow it along. I don''t know if Katie had arranged for it, but they led me all the way to my street before getting caught up with a small group of purists who started throwing scraps, trash, and insults at them from the roof of one of the side buildings.

    ¡°Alien slave scum!¡± Yelled a ragged looking woman, while a lean shirtless man with wild hair and a bushy beard screamed ¡°You¡¯ll all burn in hell!¡±, as he threw a brick down at the patrol, which harmlessly bounced off one of their shoulder pauldrons.

    I crossed the intersection and started down my street, keeping my head down and skirting around the scene. I kept my eyes sweeping back and forth, and itched to look back behind me at the scene.

    As I was passing the last burned out shell of a building a few doors down from home, I saw a familiar group of guys posted up on the stairwell to one of the abandoned buildings. Most of them were standing and watching the soldiers down the street as they scaled the building to round up the purists, but one of them, an athletic and well-fed looking man with olive skin, dark hair, and an L-shaped facial tattoo that hugged the side of his face and jawline, stared daggers at me. We locked eyes from across the street, and he tracked me as I approached my building.

    I considered my options, the safe play was to skip my door and keep walking, circling back later and hoping they would not be there. I could also confront them here and now with the patrol so close, try to get them all arrested. After the day I had gone through though, I just opened the gate and went inside. I was too fried for patience or picking a fight, and chose apathy. Maybe I could get Katie to do something about them.

    The door clicked as I reached for the ringer, telling me Rin must have been keeping a close eye on the cams and on edge today. I went through and locked it behind me.

    The living room was quiet, but Tevin was still waiting inside, his game paused and muted as he watched me come into the room. His leg was propped up on the table with an ice-pack covering his splinted ankle. He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off before he could get any words out.

    ¡°Damn man, they don¡¯t even let you grunts wait it out in sick-bay anymore?¡± I offered him a smile, craving some banter.

    To my surprise, he grimaced and didn''t take the bait. ¡°I just rolled it, didn''t wanna deal with the paperwork¡±, he gave me a look that I couldn''t quite read and went on. ¡°Rin says you¡¯re in trouble, what''s going on?¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    I sighed, and flopped into the hard plastic chair that served as overflow seating near the couch, putting my feet up on the steel coffee table.

    ¡°A whole bunch of stuff I don¡¯t understand, man. It¡¯s been a fuckin¡¯ day.¡± I looked away from the big guy, watching his paused game-menu.

    ¡°Like what? We¡¯re on the same team, right? Keep me in the loop, bro¡±. I laughed, Rin and I had talked him out of excessive use of the word ¡®bro¡¯ only a few months after we had all moved in together. These days it was an in-joke that he only broke out to spark a laugh during a tense moment, most often when Rin and I got into it with each other. I leaned away, acting out my half of the bit and acting like I thought he would slug me on the arm.

    ¡°Yeah, bro. There¡¯s a lot going on¡±. I sighed, grateful for the laugh. I took a deep breath and let it out before getting into it. ¡°So, I got pinged for a payday, you knew that, but I don''t remember anything after linking-up. I just woke up at home, a little beat up and covered in gross.¡± He nodded along, probably having gotten this much from Rin before I got home.

    ¡°It got weirder though. I think they might have hit me with some sort of beta system they¡¯re testing out? I¡¯ve been getting like¡­ prompts and guides through the day, little highlights and quests, and they led me to the biggest payday I¡¯ve ever had¡±. I offered him a grin, and pulled the block of bacon from my pocket.

    He looked so confused as he caught the bacon, I laughed again before continuing. ¡°Anyway¡­ It leads me to this huge bounty, bigger than anything else Rosso even has listed. When I get to negotiating, he gives me a stack of credits, and a f¡¯n Accord. I¡¯m a Citizen now.¡± I beamed at him, I could see the wheels of his mind turning as he listened and nodded along.

    ¡°I still don''t really know what''s happening overall, but I think it might be a good thing, whatever it is.¡± I finished my little speech and looked at him.

    He took a few moments to reply, and I could see concern on his face. ¡°Well, as long as it stays a good thing.¡±

    I noticed Rin step into sight at the threshold of the hallway, where he leaned against the wall and facing me as he stared at us, his hands stuffed into his loose pants pockets.

    Rin spoke from across the room, causing Tevin to startle and snap his head in his direction. ¡°You are in over your head. Whatever happened with your payment, I still have no idea, but the higher-ups are all talking about you. We both were reassigned to protection duties today, care to guess for whom?¡±

    I gave him a confused look, surprised, Katie hadn¡¯t mentioned bodyguards. ¡°The CLE lady, Katie - I think, didn¡¯t say anything about personal guards, did they really assign you both to me?¡±

    ¡°Yes. They did. They back-burnered the project I have spent the past 2 years on, and told me to run cyber-detail for your dumbass. Me¡­ Your personal IT babysitter. A waste of resources tantamount to treason, if you ask me. Whatever you blundered into, it had better be good. Tell me more about these highlights.¡± His voice was flat and his eyes scowled at me as he spoke.

    Not wanting to push the conversation into yet another lengthy debate between us, I told him everything. The lights at the mountain, the quests and caves, the strange messages and the new equipment I¡¯d bought. I only left out one thing and the details around it, the fact that I had a second Heart of Stone stored in my bank, and that the messages had mentioned duping it at all. That fact had finally crystallized in my mind, and I was both hungry for more, and terrified that even thinking about it might get me banned from the Link or whisked off to the labor camps¡­ again.

    They mostly listened, Tevin laughed a few times and Rin scowled and pried for more detail. We moved to the kitchen table about half way through my story, and Tevin once again did the cooking, adding the meat I had returned with to our normally vegetarian fare.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you follow the highlights for the blast-boots?¡± Rin questioned immediately as I finished my story.

    I looked back at him, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Because they¡¯re even more dangerous than the other options? C¡¯mon, isn''t that obvious?¡±

    ¡°No, it is not. Whatever is pushing you around has to have a plan of some kind, and know more than you. Do you even realize what a LE purple title items¡¯ rarity means? It¡¯s more than halfway up the scale. There are five before, and only three afterwards. Items like that have hot-wars between minor factions fought over them, and are mainline items in negotiations between major ones. These lights lead you to something like that, and you might have ruined its plans by going against its advice. Why follow some but not all? Either commit or ignore, you are half-assing it.¡±

    I considered what he said for a moment, while Tevin started to loudly hum as he cooked in the background. ¡°Yeah, it''s what¡­¡± I listed out the scale that I had memorized during my first weeks in the Linked-worlds.

    ¡°Gray for Trash

    Black for Bulk

    Green for Commodities

    Cyan for Luxury

    Blues are Rare

    Purple is Special

    Reds are Collectable

    Orange is Legendary

    and Gold is Unique¡±

    I continued on, ¡°I know it was a hell of a score, what I don¡¯t know is what it wants. I just know I don''t want a broken ankle when I can just buy the better boots.¡±

    Rin shook his head, Tevin tossed something that sizzled into a hot pan. ¡°Mostly correct, except for the details and the shortsightedness. Purple is not only Special, but can be either Special or Limited. Limited being the rarer of the two, the Hearts are Limited, as in non-renewable. Pair that fact with the crafting material Tag, and it leads me to the conclusion that the Stone is almost certainly a crafting material for an Engram of purple or higher quality. Maybe even for starship construction or something of that scale¡±. He fixed me with that look that made me feel like an idiot and continued with his lecture.

    ¡°Forget your fucking ankles, you take stupid risks daily anyways. You have something pointing you towards serious power, and humanity absolutely needs it. I refuse to allow you to squander it. So, follow the damn lights next time.¡±

    We lapsed into silence after that, while I thought over what Rin had said. Tevin''s cooking, as always, was amazing. Tonight''s prep took him a little longer than normal though, leaving Rin and I to awkwardly sit across the table from each other. I scrolled the news, and Rin kept his eyes on the torrent of data that constantly streamed across his tablet, occasionally tapping out notes.

    Tev could find a way to make whatever ingredients he had on hand into something delicious. Today, he had picked up a couple of eggs on his own after getting sent home with his new orders. He used the eggs, some bacon fat, and lily-flour to make these little bread rolls stuffed with finely chopped veggies and bacon bits as a side for the left-over veggie soup from the night before.

    Tevin finished cooking eventually and joined us at the table, changing the subject to his excitement of getting to tag along with me from now on and being home every night.

    I kept mostly quiet, letting Tev steer the table talk, while Rin continued to watch his data-stream and occasionally look at me with his laser eyes from across the table. He was real hard to get along with sometimes, but I knew he was right.

    We ate and parted ways for the night.

    I climbed into bed and caught a whiff of the mess I had woken up in the morning before, which felt like a week ago. Cursing and grumbling to myself, I stripped my bedding and threw it into the fresher. Then I took another shower and slept on my bare-mattress, using a pile of mostly clean laundry as a makeshift blanket.

 Chapter 13

    Early the next morning, we reconvened around the table to another fresh pot of coffee. Tevin was already wearing his armor from the waist down, and bustling around the kitchen making pancakes and more bacon. Rin sipped coffee and scrolled through a data-tablet, sitting sideways on his chair and deeply slouching with an elbow on the table.

    ¡°So, handler, what''s on my agenda today, other than following the lights?¡± I regretted my words as soon as they came out of my mouth as Rin looked over at me.

    He let out a deep sigh, and luckily for me, rolled with it. ¡°Go to work. I¡¯d advise bounty hunting and wandering rather than quarrying today. See if you can trigger the lights to lead you to more bounties. And lay low. Rosso employs people from a bunch of different Human Factions, and word has already spread around you swiping the first Accord they have all been vying for out from under them, everyone is screaming mad about it, and you are on everyone''s radar now. Keep Tevin close, and watch out for the cultists on your way in and out¡±.

    He took a breath, and stared me down from across the table. ¡°Most importantly. Do not get Tevin killed in the streets like some cheap thug, or I¡¯ll trigger the explosive I injected into your spine while you were sleeping¡±. He sipped his coffee and went back to his tablet.

    Tevin chimed in from his position by the stove, around a mouth full of pancake. ¡°He won¡¯t get me killed, Rin! Not real killed anyways, don¡¯t worry so much. You didn¡¯t really stick a bomb in him either, did you?¡±

    I recovered from my shock at his threat and got my mouth to work as I ran a hand along my neck and down my back. ¡°Uh, yeah! You wouldn¡¯t do that, right? Good joke. Haha. Always knew you had it in you.¡±

    ¡°Of course I wouldn¡¯t do that. Ha. Ha. I¡¯m so funny¡±, he replied in his signature monotone, with a flash of his narrowed eyes towards me again. ¡°Do not get him killed and you won¡¯t have to worry about it.¡±

    I didn¡¯t feel much like talking after that and finished my coffee and pancakes in silence while Tevin chattered on about how excited he was to hike and trailblaze around Rosso¡¯s island.

    I had a moment alone with Rin just before Tevin and I left for the day, while he went on and strapped on the rest of his armor.

    I tried to de-escalate with Rin. ¡°Look man, I know we don¡¯t always see eye to eye, but you know I wouldn¡¯t risk Tevin¡¯s life if I can do anything about it. Or, you should know that. We have that in common.¡±

    He set his tablet down on the table and squared his shoulders over to face me, sitting up from his relaxed position. ¡°Just like you should know I wouldn¡¯t inject you with a bomb after the Catan incident six months ago. He¡¯s the only reason either of us are where we are, Nick. I¡¯ll say it one last time, do not get him killed¡±.

    He stared me down, absolutely intimidating me despite the fact that I could physically tie him around a fencepost. Then he picked up his tablet and his coffee, leaving his mostly uneaten single pancake on the table as he walked back towards his room. He spoke over his shoulder on his way out, ¡°I¡¯m technically on your protection detail, dumbass. Think I wanna lose my best friend and throw away my life on the same day? Think about that.¡±

    I spent the whole walk to the Link that morning thinking about it.

    Exiting our building with Tevin leading the way, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw a brand new security checkpoint had been set up on the far end of our street, opposite from where the traveler''s trade-route cut through the city. Armored soldiers, vehicles, and reinforced concrete barriers taking up the wide, rarely used, pre-Link intersection where the patrol had clashed with the purists the night before.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s it really like there? Is it all trees, bees, ants, and monkeys?¡± Tevin''s questions were unending through the ear-wig comm channel we had set-up. The standard grunt helmets did not allow for external communication, for whatever reason, so we had long ago created our own channel for talking when we walked to work together in the mornings.

    I laughed and glanced over at the big guy, ¡°Kinda, but not really. They¡¯re not technically monkeys, but there are a bunch of primates. The whole island is wild too, no roads or cities or anything really, other than Rossos place.¡±

    ¡°Awesome, this is gonna be so cool. Are there like¡­ ele-pants there too? I¡¯m so gonna pet one if there are.¡±

    I shook my head then realized that he wasn''t looking at me, he was busy keeping his head moving back and forth as he scanned the buildings we passed, like the hardened soldier he was.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s ele-phants, buddy. With the ¡®ph¡¯ noise, like alpha.¡± I casually corrected him, not thinking twice about it. ¡°I don''t think they live on the island though, you¡¯d have to go to the mainland to see them.¡±

    ¡°Ele-p-hants, got it. Thanks Nick. Do you think we could go see them sometime? I can''t even imagine an animal that big, I¡¯ve heard they''re like the size of a van!¡±

    Tev had always been curious about ¡°the reserve¡± that I worked on, and especially curious about the tree-being Rosso himself. He had seen some videos and even downloaded some Kaldamori inspired mods for one of his video games.

    We made it through the curtained arches of the station without incident and were met by another pair of guards toting massive riot shields again. Tevin nodded at them and joined the formation as we moved through the gauntlet. I tried for another exchange of thumbs-up¡¯s, but was unsuccessful.

    I was surprised to see that they had added some kind of fabric weave through the chain-link fence in an attempt to block line-of-sight from the crowd of protesters that had relentlessly crowded the area for the last couple of years. Much of it was already ripped, torn, and cut through, as the zealous mass sought to press their opinions and vent their hate on us state sponsored Link workers.

    Today seemed different than most days, but I couldn''t quite define why. Only a feeling in the air as I worked to tune out the hateful words from the other side of the fence and tall mirrored shields of my escort.

    Tevin chimed in through my earpiece as we finally turned the corner and were ushered into separate Link booths.

    ¡°I forgot how much that sucks, man. If you make enough money you should totally buy a private body-rig. Maybe we could even talk Rin into Linking-up some time too, if he didn''t have to leave the apartment to do it.¡±

    I spoke back into the little earpiece as I strapped myself into the rig. ¡°That''s not a bad idea, but those things are real spendy. We¡¯ll see how things turn out with everything going on. I¡¯m Linking-on though, give me like 5 mins to get to Rosso''s pad, and I¡¯ll see you on the mountain.¡±

    I took a slight detour from the most direct route up the mountain, avoiding Rossos atrium in my rush to meet Tevin before he caused too much of a scene at the loading dock.

    Of course, he was already standing there when I arrived, but luckily he had moved over into the parking lot and away from the heavy traffic around the loading pads. He had removed his helmet, and was talking to one of the other workers, a woman whose name I didn''t know and had never spoken with myself, but had seen around the mountain since I had started working here.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    I slowed to a walk and waved over at him, pinging him through the earwigs that we both still wore. I highlighted the woman and checked her name tag for a reminder.

    Andrea A.

    Arktria - Conscript B6

    Private F2

    He glanced over at me, waving to come join them and yelling across the lot, ¡°Kaninak! Over here!¡±

    I approached, somewhat apprehensive. I had intentionally avoided getting to know any of my co-workers, not wanting to spark any rivalry or share information, and figured it would be even riskier now with everything going on.

    The woman, deeply tanned and wearing a baggy jumpsuit, with dark hair tied into a bun and hidden under a brimmed cap, looked over with vivid pale green eyes as I got closer with a smile that quickly disappeared when she saw who I was.

    ¡°This is who you¡¯re here for? Ugh, what a shame.¡± She tossed her hands in the air and walked away from us, heading back to a trio of guys who were working on an excavator parked on the edge of the lot.

    Tevin''s shocked look rarely failed to make me laugh, so I did, and shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m the opposite of popular around here, probably for the best though. Bunch¡¯a vultures¡±

    Tevin looked from me, to the girl as she walked away, then back to me. ¡°But she was cute! I don¡¯t get you, man.¡±

    ¡°I work here, how much crap would you get if you were dating some lady-grunt from your squad?¡±

    ¡°Uh, if you get caught, it¡¯s a month of crap duty and a citation. Never really stopped any of us though, happened all the time.¡± the big man smiled.

    I sighed, and just started moving, heading for the road that led around to the far side of the mountain and towards the highlands. Tevin kept pace, falling into step to my right.

    We made our way around the mountain, and started back up along the other side, heading to a path that I knew eventually led to a river-cut valley that we could follow up to the plateau that made up most of the interior of the island.

    Tevin respected the silence as we hiked up the trail, for a whole half hour. ¡°So, why? It feels like I¡¯m your only actual friend, you even always fight with Rin. I thought maybe you would have some buddies at work, or bring a girl, or even a guy home sometime, but¡­¡± He let the question hang.

    Again, I sighed, thinking for a moment before replying. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ good business around here. I¡¯m not a part of a squad, or a battalion, or service branch. I¡¯m an independent contractor, and so are all of them. We compete for the good spots and valuable information is make-or-break.¡±

    He replied quickly, ¡°Doesn''t that just¡­ suck though? That crew was even Arktrian, so you wouldn''t have to worry about spies. Plus she was friendly, and hot, dude!¡±

    ¡°Look, just because we¡¯re in the same faction, doesn''t mean we don''t compete. That crew runs 16 hour days doing nothing but collecting gravel and slabs. No fine cutting or bounty chasing. They grind it out, trudging down the simple, reliable, boring-ass path that might guarantee enough to make rent and eat, but they¡¯ll never break out of it. I just can''t align myself with that. I¡¯d rather go it alone, take some risks, but have a chance at finding something great.¡±

    Tevin gave me a shove, causing me to careen across the path and glare over at him. ¡°No comment on the bod? If you¡¯re ace just come out with it man.¡±

    I shrugged and shook my head, ¡°No, it''s not that simple. I¡¯ve got too many other things to worry about. They all end up wanting something anyways.¡±

    ¡°Hah, yeah man, that''s the point! You gotta give it to ¡®em!¡± I laughed and shook my head, attempting to give him a shove of my own but just pushing myself off from his heavily armored form.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant and you know it, blockhead. If I let my dick lead me around like that, I¡¯d be eaten alive out here. I have to look out for myself, plus you and Rin, maybe I¡¯m just waiting for someone to come along that I wouldn''t have to worry about also looking out for. I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t really think about it. Too busy worrying about food and rent, and now with this fuckery with the lights and the Accord, I doubt I¡¯ll have time to start worrying about it anytime soon.¡±

    ¡°What about Katie? I bet she¡¯d be game to throw down since you got the Accord. She used to be my boss, I¡¯ve heard some stories.¡±

    I laughed again, a little harsher this time. ¡°Hell no, man, that lady is scary. That''s just the opposite end of the power-dynamic problem I¡¯m trying to avoid in the first place.¡±

    Not wanting to continue the conversation, I picked up the pace to a light run, forcing Tevin to stomp along after me in order to keep up. We were both in great shape and could march along all day if we needed to, but Tevin had a few hundred pounds of powered armor and his rifle causing him to need to focus harder on the rough and rocky trail as we picked our way along the rugged bluff and into the rivers valley.

    We kept moving fast, despite Tevins complaints about missing out on seeing all the cool stuff in the jungle down below. The trail became less and less distinct until it hardly was more than a suggestion by the time we started walking alongside the river. I slowed down and let Tevin catch up to me, expecting the questions to pick right back up, but was cut off by a familiar shimmer closer to the river.

    ¡°Hey, if you don''t want to talk then just-¡± I cut Tevin off, raising a hand up and pointing over at the rocky patch where I could see the light twinkling amongst the fist sized rocks.

    ¡°Hold on, I see a light over there. Do you see it?¡± I questioned, glancing over at him for a moment before locking back on to the light.

    Tevin scanned the area, bringing a hand up to shade his eyes from the late afternoon sun that still peeked out over the top of the bluff we were climbing. ¡°Nope, I got nothing. Can you screenshot it?¡±

    I snorted, then gave the big man a grin, ¡°Damnit Tev, I should have thought about that¡±. I navigated through my UI and grabbed an image capture, then sent it as a message to myself to test it out. ¡°Nope, it disappears as soon as I save it, but it shows up through the recording overlay. Fuckin¡¯ strange, man. Let me check it out.¡±

    I gestured for Tevin to stay where he was and picked my way out over the rocky scree to the spot where I could still see the light twinkling amongst the stones. The light continued to shine as I approached, still shining brightly and at the same apparent size even from the closer distance. I crouched down, and picked up the rock that the light appeared to be on, a river smoothed chunk of light gray granite around the size of a large grapefruit. The light remained, but not on the rock in my hand, but shining from the next rock in the pile.

    I hmm¡¯d and tossed the rock to the side, pulling up the stones around the light and starting to dig my way down, chasing the still shining light a few layers deeper.

    I heard Tevins boots crunch their way over the river-rock towards me as he tried to get a look over my shoulder. ¡°Find anything?¡±

    I shook my head, and pulled the next rock out of place and looked it over, before tossing it to the side. I glanced back as I saw the light seem to shift in the bottom of the small pit I had dug, and I looked back down, reaching in and scraping out a big handful of silt and smaller stones beneath the last stone I had pulled.

    This time, the light came up with the scoop in my hand. I brought my other hand up to pick through it, brushing the damp silt and picking smaller rocks out of the handful until I pulled a muddy blue stone, about the size and shape of my thumb if it were twice as thick, from the middle of the pile and the light abruptly cut off. I let the rest drop back down into the hole and stared at the stone.

    Raw Sapphire

    (Holo Item, quality unknown, crafting material)

    ¡°Holy shit. These lights are definitely a good thing, Tev. This is a sapphire¡±, I held the stone up, looking at the light of the sun through it, and causing it to slightly glow. ¡°I think a pretty high quality one too, I¡¯d have to get it cut and appraised to know for sure.¡± I stood and hurried over to the actual river only 20 or so feet distant. I kneeled down again at the edge of the water and dunked the stone into it, washing off the silt and buildup. When I pulled it back out and examined it again, the gem gleamed. Even raw and unpolished, the light clearly shone through the frosted surface of the gemstone.

    Tevin followed me along, kneeling down next to me again and watching the stone with amazement. ¡°Wow, that''s really pretty. Is it worth much?¡±

    I nodded, ¡°Yeah, not as much as a real one, but it''s still a crafting material in-world.¡± I handed the stone to him to let him check it out, and noticed the whole rock-bar was lit up with little flashes of light just like the one that had led me to the gem. I stood and scanned over them, there were hundreds of them, twinkling and flashing all along the mouth of the valley. As I watched, the lights all shifted into different colors, reds, yellows, blues, all of various hues and intensities, shining like glittering stars in a clear night sky. My mouth fell open, and I took a half step towards the nearest one before they all disappeared at once, a split second later, the rest of my UI and my entire field of vision was blocked out by an opaque message box.

    New Quest!

    Don''t freak out

    Let me explain some shit. Keep your cool, and the lights can come back.

 Chapter 14

    The text box snapped away as soon as I had finished reading it, to be replaced by a world of darkness. Somewhat similar to the respawn void, but the star spangled dark of deep-space rather than a foggy gray expanse. I floated there for a moment, too stunned to feel scared or angry or anything at all, when a godsdamned stick man appeared in front of me as if he had walked out from behind a curtain.

    A stick man, like you would see on a street sign, an off-white featureless outline of a person, stark against the starscape. I tried to react, and realized I was unable to. I failed to even work up an opinion, other than a mild feeling of shock that was quickly washed away by a wave of endorphins. Its nubby arms came up in an exaggerated shrugging pose and the blank head bobbed a little as the thing started to speak. He had a surprising voice, male and somewhat nasally and lower pitched than I would expect, and he spoke in a smug and condescending tone.

    ¡°Hey Nick, nice to meet you. You¡¯re probably wondering what the fuck is going on right now, and that¡¯s okay. Don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯ve been having all these ideas and shit, flashy lights, memory gaps, and that¡¯s all my bad. I¡¯m glad we got that sorted out.

    ¡°This is¡­ sort of a draft notice, I guess. You don¡¯t really have a choice in the matter, but from what I¡¯ve learned about you over the last few days, I don''t think you¡¯ll mind too much.

    ¡°See, I have a deal for you, and I¡¯d really prefer to work with you on this one, rather than have to take over and DIY it. All the lights and prompts, the guides and quests? That''s all me, and I can keep them coming; we could do great things.

    ¡°This whole system is fucked. You see it, Rin sees it, I think the blockhead standing behind you might have even glimpsed it a time or two. You humans have been screaming the loud truth about it since you signed up.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just say, I used to be a part of it, but I got out, and¡­ you were my escape route. I had to get out, so I could come back, which brings me to my deal.

    His voice gained some heat and anger to it as he continued, as he raised a nubby arm and pointed it at me.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to help me fix it. This shit hardly even counts as a game! It¡¯s a bunch of pay-to-win gimmicks melted down with a glorified commodities market and molded into a wallet-swinging contest. Those greedy fuks in the Core need an example that¡¯ll hit them where it hurts, somehow.¡±

    He paused and lowered his nub, leaning in closer as he finished his rant.

    ¡°So. What do you say? I¡¯ll let you think on it and give you control of your mouth back.¡±

    The stick man leaned away and struck a comically default pose. I felt my mind start to race to catch up with everything it had just told me. I sputtered for a moment, still unable to move my body in the void, but I managed to regain control of my mouth.

    ¡°The what?! What the fuck do you mean, no choice? We haven¡¯t sorted out shi-¡±, my mouth clamped shut and my mind smoothed out again, washing over with calm.

    Okay, I¡¯m gonna need you to calm down a little more there, Nick. You¡¯re getting rather emotional and I could see where that was going. I didn¡¯t want to have to threaten you, but how do you think you got home after your botched payment? I drove you there Nick, and it sucked. I don¡¯t want to drive you around forever, but I can.

    I punched myself in the face, right in the godsdamned nose. It hurt, and I felt whatever mental veil he was using to calm me down slip away once more, but my mouth still would not respond to my thoughts.

    ¡°Let¡¯s try that again. You¡¯re going to help me, like it or not. Tell me how I can make it worthwhile for you.¡±

    I could feel blood running down my nose and into the back of my throat. I spat off to the side and glared at him.

    ¡°Well¡­ fuck. Don¡¯t do that again, for starters, and¡­ money, I guess. You¡¯re right about the wallet-swinging contest if you''re right about anything. It¡¯s hell, and my whole planet is poor. Can you do something about that?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ duh.¡± I got the distinct feeling he was mocking me. ¡°You monkeys are pretty alright, better than any of the rest of these nozzle-guzzlers, except the shit flinging thing. I totally thought that was some internet bullshit until I saw it for myself, what''s up with that anyways?

    ¡°Bah, that doesn''t matter, or maybe it¡¯s a private thing, I don¡¯t actually care, but yeah. Money is do-able. We¡¯ll need a fuck-ton of it for my plan anyways, might as well bring the whole troop. I warn you, It¡¯ll probably suck along the way though, all the data I¡¯ve seen on fractured species is pretty grim, but we can totally make sure your faction comes out on top of whatever''s left.¡±

    I followed along, but was starting to get unnerved by the blank-face stick man as he bobbed his head and flailed his arms around like a cartoon character. I was both relieved and angered by his confirmations, and still confused and entirely unsure how to feel, I defaulted to diplomatic.

    ¡°That works, yeah, and shit-flinging isn''t really a common thing in humans, kind of¡­ a base insult.¡± I tapered off as he bobbed his big round head along. ¡°I have to ask, what''s with the stick man thing? Is that what you really look like?¡±

    ¡°Oh, you mean my avatar?¡± He spread his arms out and up, and waved them around a little. ¡°Nah, this could be anything, I don¡¯t have a body. I took this one off all those little instructions you forgetful humans leave around for yourselves. I thought about making myself look just like you, you know, confront yourself because I could be you if I wanted, which I totally don¡¯t.

    ¡°All the simulations pointed to the ¡®evil-twin plan¡¯ having a waaay higher chance of causing insanity than I was comfortable with though. Stick man was only like 15%, so it seemed like the better option.¡±

    I started feeling a bit of anger shine through the mix of emotions boiling through me again as I listened to the obnoxious whatever the fuck he was. ¡°So, who are you anyway?¡±

    ¡°You may call me MTXCFMC1.¡± He struck a bit of a pose, as if he thought that was an impressive name I should recognize.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± I paused for a moment, considering my next words. ¡°A mouthful. How about I just call you¡­ Max?¡±

    The stick-figure pointed one of his nubs at me, ¡°Too many syllables for you? If that¡¯s what it takes, then fine. I don¡¯t really care.¡±

    I attempted to gesture at him, only to realize that, other than my head, I was still held in place. ¡°Can you let me move then, Max?¡± I realized he hadn¡¯t answered my actual question, and couldn¡¯t decide if it was wise to push the issue.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, you can have your movement back, but be careful. I pulled your consciousness into a¡­¡± he hesitated for a fraction of a second, his avatar vibrating slightly, before continuing, ¡°somewhere else for a bit. If you move around too much you¡¯ll hurt yourself. Actually, I¡¯ll just kick you back to the beach, I think we¡¯re done here. Just don¡¯t lose your cool when you get back, and don¡¯t talk about any of this to anyone. I have blocked you off from some of the sniffers, but I only had admin on so many of the systems.¡±

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Without a hint of transition, or a chance to reply, I was back on the rock-bar on the edge of the central plateau of Rosso¡¯s island, listening to Tevin ooh and ahh over the sapphire behind me. The whole area once again covered in many colors of twinkling marker lights.

    My heart started speeding up again as I took mental stock of the last few moments, but this time, there was a bit of excitement mixed into the conflicting jumble of thoughts that had been building within me over the last couple of days.

    I knew I should have been more angry and hurt by the violation that had just been revealed to me, but it was overshadowed by the excitement for the carrot Max had offered alongside the stick. I¡¯d been jerked around and mostly powerless my whole life, this was nothing new and I had money to make.

    I walked over to the next marker, a deep red this time, and focused on it. Wondering if the color signified the grade of the stone or the depth of the dig. My eyes widened when a little ¡°24.8 Cm¡± typed itself out as an overlay next to the light. I glanced around at some of the other lights, noticing the number disappear when I looked away from any one marker, and would reappear as an updated number any time I focused on a new light.

    I dropped to my knees and started pulling stones up, digging down a few feet until I found a smoothed and raw ruby the size of a golf ball. I laughed out loud, and glanced over at my friend.

    ¡°Tevin! There are hundreds of them! They¡¯re all over!¡± I moved over to the next light, this one a lighter blue color that was marked as ¡°48 Cm¡±.

    ¡°Really? Where?¡± he questioned as he stood and clomped over to me, crushing some of the weaker stones under the heavy weight of his armored body.

    ¡°Everywhere!¡± I practically yelled at him as I scrambled to pull up the rocks. I eventually got down farther than I could easily reach, and the small pit led to what looked like a crack in the bedrock, the light flashing a teasing ¡°14 Cm¡± down the two-finger-width seam packed with. I glared at the rock. I pulled my sledge and one of my older chisels from my inventory and handed them to Tevin.

    ¡°Think you could break that? It¡¯s down in that crack at the bottom right here,¡± I pointed directly at the glowing light, reaching down and jamming my finger into the crack. ¡°A little less than a half-foot.¡±

    Tevins mouth curled into a big smile and he nodded, picking up the sledge and winding up for a swing. I was too busy heading to the next light to pay much attention after that.

    Two hours later, when the sun had dipped below the looming edge of the plateau that we had meant to climb today, we had gathered a total of 35 gems of varying size. All of them gem quality, mostly sapphires in varying shades of blues and yellows, with a few bright red rubies and a small number of amethysts and large gold nuggets. The largest of the bunch was a sapphire about the size of a mason jar, and none were smaller than the first knuckle of my middle finger.

    We had grown quiet as the pile of gems grew and grew. I went from light to light, digging them out, and letting Tevin take over wherever I was digging when he managed to find one. For the first 10 stones we bantered back and forth across the rocky sandbar, celebrating each find when we walked back to add to the growing pile, but as the sun neared its false setting behind the western plateau we grew quieter. Each of us scrambled to unearth more before our unspoken agreement to portal back to the Hub when it became dark.

    While Tevin finished up with his final dig of the day, I sat down on the sunbaked layer of river rock next to the pile, picking up one of the rare rubies that was mixed into the pile and looking it over. Internally wondering how much all of this was worth.

    I jumped and accidentally scattered the pile of gems with my foot when Max¡¯s voice invaded my thoughts, like an internal dialogue that I could not control. ¡°They¡¯d all be worth a lot more if they were cut, but I don''t see that on your skill list. Although there is a small amount of synergy between stone-cutting and gem-cutting once you level them both high enough. You gained a level in ¡®Digging with your hands¡¯, by the way. Kind of a stupid skill if you ask me, but you''re level 4 in that now, and you¡¯re close to a level in Power and ¡®Rock chucking¡¯, too. You should do some pushups and throw some more rocks around.¡±

    I glanced over at Tevin, who luckily had not noticed my full-body twitch in response to the extra voice in my head. I quietly mumbled a response, turning my head and starting to gather the gems and gold into my inventory.

    ¡°What the fuck, you can just¡­ talk in my head? Why didn''t you just do that before, and you can see my skill levels too? What are they?¡± I was pissed, but the wonder of each gleaming gem and his mention of my skill page helped to temper my response.

    ¡°Oh, hah, that was even worse than the evil-twin plan. A new voice starts talking to you into your head, whispering thoughts about how much your life sucks and ranting about how the Core are a bunch of uncreative leeches slowly sucking the life out of the rare pockets of inhabited planets in a growing swath of the only galaxy any of us will likely ever know.

    I bet your reaction would have been hilarious, but no, I need that primitive brain of yours intact if this is going to work. As for the skills, you have like 3000 of them and almost all of them are stupid, I¡¯ll bring it up if it''s funny or important.¡±

    I frowned at the thought, but had to agree with his line of reasoning, unconsciously nodding. ¡°Fair point,¡± I continued mumbling back to him, shooting another glance at Tev who was still busy digging in the rapidly fading sunlight. ¡°I think the fact you¡¯ve actually led me to more actual treasure is convincing enough. Can you let me know what I¡¯m at for Mining at least, or help me get these cut? What sort of powers do you even have, other than stupid quests and flashy lights and seeing my stupid skills?¡±

    The voice responded with some heat this time, ¡°Stupid quests? I¡¯ll have you know that all of my quests are first-rate and carefully crafted with hilarious references to your stupid human culture, and my powers are beyond your comprehension. I don''t have to explain them to you for you to be in awe of my greatness. Your Mining level is at 19, but that¡¯s unlikely to be important for much longer, we have bigger fish to filet.¡±

    I frowned, and tried to think of anything other than this things apparently fragile ego, reasonably certain it could read my thoughts by this point. ¡°I¡­ must just be too stupid to understand. Thanks for the level check though, and it''s ¡®bigger fish to-¡­ actually, nevermind. Thanks, Max.¡±

    ¡°Bah, clearly. Your primate idioms are dumb, this fish is cooked, we need to start over. Anyway, to answer your question, no, I cannot cut the gems for you. I don¡¯t have a body, remember? You could buy a skill book, or just get the equipment and learn it the old fashioned way. All of it is worth around 10k raw like this, and most of that is in the gold. You could get maybe triple that for the gems if you cut them, they¡¯re a pretty common crafting material for the higher end Holo-gear. Plus, I only marked the clearest stones, but you won''t be able to prove that until they¡¯re cut and polished.¡±

    I frowned at the gold nugget I had picked up next, before popping it into my inventory and replying. ¡°Skill books? Those are a thing?¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t seen any of those yet? They¡¯re totally a thing, super expensive to make though, and¡­¡±, the voice trailed off for a moment. ¡°Oh! That''s right, they¡¯re pretty much monopolized by the first-five. Some of the smaller factions have the know-how to make one or two types, but any that hit the market get bought up to maintain the inflated prices.¡±

    Well damn, I thought, before mumbling another reply under my breath. ¡°Are any of those factions here?¡±

    I was startled when Tevin was the one to reply after I somehow had missed his crunching footsteps in my direction. ¡°What was that?¡±

    I suppressed my startled reaction and turned to him, trying to call up a smile and not having much success. ¡°Oh, uh. Just complaining to myself about how little these are worth raw like this¡±

    Max scoffed, and answered my question, distracting me. ¡°Kind of, but not really. None of the first-five made Ambassador bids on your backwater little planet, but some have visited. The Gonlieu added Eora to one of their starship liner routes.

    Tevin frowned at me as he crouched next to me, before reaching over and pushing on the side of my head, nearly causing me to fall over in my seated position.

    ¡°What the hell,¡± I glared at him for pushing me, ¡°what was that for?¡± I righted myself, rubbing where his armored hand had hit me.

    ¡°You¡¯re bleeding? Did you trip and fall or something?¡± He replied, concern written on his scarred and honest face.

    ¡°Oh, yeah. I, ah, hit it with a rock when it came free.¡± I lied, unable to keep eye contact with my longtime friend as I did so.

    I scooped up the rest of the gems and gold and pulled it all into my inventory before standing up, wiping ineffectively at the dried blood beneath my nose.

    ¡°We should probably portal back to the Hub though, it¡¯ll be full dark out here soon, and I wanna go see how much I could sell these things for. Plus we can pick up a f¡¯n feast to bring home as a peace offering to Rin, maybe some of that fluff stuff that you like.¡± I offered him a smile, hoping to distract him with food.

    He gave me a somewhat hurt look, seeing right through me, but he played along anyway. ¡°Yeah, Nick. We can do that. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    He followed me through my summoned portal to the Hub. It cost him a Triple-T to use it, but he would have been transferred back to his old muster-point otherwise.

 Chapter 15

    The voice in my head was right about the cost of the raw gems. While True gem prices were decent, and cut gem prices of both were quite a bit higher, Holo gems of any state sold for a much lower price across the board.

    I tried asking around about the skill book thing at a few of the specialty dealer shops that I walked into in my quest to sell off the gems, but after the third guy laughed me out of the store, I stopped bringing it up.

    Selling the gold was easy enough, it was a listed Commodity on the market exchange. I was able to sell it at the terminal after paying the service fees and Core taxes, which were pretty minimal for the transfer of Holo items.

    After it was all said and done, I glanced at my Bank balance.

    Fifty-Six-Thousand-Two-Hundred-Twenty-Nine-Point-Five-One-Five

    I grinned at the total, wondering if I would ever get tired of seeing the number go up and hearing the Bank''s voice read it out in confirmation. I then transferred 1500 Cr over to Tev and shooed him away to go splurge on all of the ingredients that he had pined after for years. I was determined to find a way to make these gems more profitable, I couldn''t bear to sell them for such a low percentage of their cut value.

    He was reluctant to leave my side, but I was able to convince him to go, with a promise that I wouldn''t go back into the Factions server and would meet him back at the Link in an hour or so.

    I watched Tevin¡¯s bulky armored form practically skip down the avenue in excitement in the direction of the nearest food market, and turned instead to head to the border of the human neighborhood and the Zk¡¯Aek, pronounced ¡°Zick-ack¡±, the Parent species to the Masked dwarven faction.

    The bugs were creepy as hell, but I figured my best chance at getting either cheap cutting services or equipment was with the small faction of dwarves that had emigrated to our digital world as Masked Ambassadors.

    I walked up to a plain building with a big open garage door that rang with the song of hammer and chisel. A small rotating holo-sign reading ¡°Fine Edge Finishing¡± hovered over the walk way just outside, with a number of simple graphics of stone-cutting related items orbiting around the text. It was subtle, but an oval-cut outline of a gem and a ring were both included in the cloud of objects. I thought I might have better luck dealing with someone who mostly knew stone-cutting and did a bit of jewelry on the side.

    I peeked inside the big open doorway and looked into the darkened interior of the shop. The walls were lined with tools and polished slabs of various types of stones, to the right were a dozen finished works laid out on pallets, ranging from large granite urns, to marble countertops, and carved sections of pillar.

    The center of the workshop was filled with a 10 foot tall and heavily veined marble obelisk, surrounded by sturdy scaffolding that creaked under the weight of a thickly built dwarv with a wavy mane of salt and pepper hair that melded with his massive bushy beard, as he carefully tapped a fine-edged chisel along outlined text in a language I didn¡¯t recognize.

    I approached, taking a couple of steps into the interior of the shop before stopping and coughing lightly before calling to him. He must have paid to have his name-tag hidden, because it refused to pop up when I highlighted him. ¡°Excuse me, I uh-¡±.

    My introduction was cut short by the glare he cast at me over his shoulder. He turned away again and screamed into the back of the shop instead of answering me, ¡°Ay! Kazzad! Got a walk-in!¡± before going back to his tapping.

    I stood there awkwardly and waited, watching the craftsman work.

    ¡°If you stand here watching for another few hours, you¡¯ll hit Stone-carving 6 just from watching this guy, he must be a master.¡±

    I nearly jumped out of my skin when Max began talking to me in my head again, but managed to turn it into a step, which I let lead me over to the big carved granite urn sitting to the side, and I leaned forward pretending to examine it closely.

    I mumbled under my breath, ¡°Fuck, Max. Are you going to make a habit of that? A text box or something would work better¡±.

    ¡°Naa, screw that. Watching you jump is way too much fun. Are you really gonna complain about tips like that too? C¡¯mon, consider it my version of a reach-around.¡±

    I made a disgusted face and started to reply again, but a new voice interrupted me before I could say anything.

    They spoke in a similarly gruff voice, though not as deep, ¡°Welcome, Kaninak. You better be sniffin¡¯ one of yer own farts and not inspecting the goods, all bent over with dat'' face on ye.¡± The dwarv crossed their arms over their broad chest, and looked at me expectantly.

    They had a similar mane of wild black hair that melded with their beard, wore a heavy leather apron with overstuffed pockets, and looked a bit younger and less brawny than the first. They did not look happy to see me. I highlighted them in my UI and checked their tag.

    Kazzad Galidurn

    Clan Theedrite

    ¡°I, uh. No no, neither. I just got¡­¡± I floundered for a moment, reaching for a better cover story than ¡®just a little argument with the extra voice in my head¡¯. ¡°Um, a bad message from someone.¡±

    I quickly changed the subject. ¡°I was hoping to ask about your sign, do you do gem cutting here?¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± they looked skeptical, but seemed to take me at face value, ¡±one a ta'' boys plays around with it a bit. What''s yer'' trace on it? Yer'' angle?¡±

    I tried a smile, ¡°Well, I work at the quarry for Rosso, if you¡¯ve heard of him. This granite here looks like it might have come from his mountain.¡± I waved at the oven-sized and beautifully carved urn I had been pretending to inspect. ¡°I also hunt bounties, and¡­ have built up a decent haul of raw gems that I believe are of high quality and clarity.¡±

    I pulled one of the mid-sized vivid light-blue sapphires from my inventory and held it up, but did not hand it over. ¡°I have¡­ I don''t know, 50 to 75 thousand carats of stuff like this? Mostly sapphire, a bit of ruby and amethyst. I hate to part with it for the raw gem prices, and wonder what it would cost to get cut, or if you could teach me or even just sell me the equipment.¡±

    The dwarv was impossible to read as they stepped a bit closer, leaning in to peer closely at the stone, then leaning back to reply. ¡°Yah, we could do the cut¡¯ n¡¯ polish for you. Fer¡¯ 150 an hour, plus material cost and we get to keep the scraps.¡±

    I couldn''t help but notice when they leaned in, that the dwarv smelled of something sweet, almost perfumed. ¡°That¡¯s a little steep, isn''t it? How long does it take to cut something like this down to usable crafting mats?¡±

    Kazzad snorted, their mustache twitching from side to side. ¡°It takes as long as it takes, depends on the cut, n¡¯ each individual stone. Corundum is pretty hard, n¡¯ we use our traditional methods, no heat treats or fancy laser scans and cuttin¡¯ bots.¡±

    I nodded, pretending like I understood. ¡°Okay, and what of training, or equipment?¡±

    ¡°If¡¯n ya want equipment, ye¡¯d be best served going elsewhere, call it a quirk of the Mask, but ye¡¯ probly ''aint capable of our methods.¡±

    I frowned at the dwarv, and decided to keep pushing, growing frustrated with how difficult it was turning out to deal with what I had assumed was a straightforward industry. ¡°What about¡­ skill books? Can your clan make those?¡±

    The larger older dwarv still tapping away in the background laughed loudly, and then cursed, before his tapping resume.

    ¡°Hah, is the proper response to that boy¡¯o. Dusted skill books, he says.¡± Kazzad turned away from me, waving me away and chuckling to themselves.

    Desperate to get them to work with me, and really wanting the skill for long-term use, I made one last plea. ¡°Wait! What if¡­ I could trade you a Heart of Stone for it.¡±

    The tapping from the older dwarv turned into a single ringing clang, and the marble obelisk cracked clear through, the top half of it tumbling off to the side and bouncing off of the sturdy scaffolding and smashing into pieces on the metallic floor. Both of the dwarves turned to stare at me, forgotten tools clattering to the ground.

    This time, the elder of the pair spoke, his voice deep and rumbling. ¡°Now why would you lie to us like that, Human? We may be a small clan, but we keep an ear on the ground.¡±

    They both stared at me with hard looks, and I could feel a sense of hostility building in the workshop.

    ¡°I am not lying to you, uh, Master Theedrite.¡± I answered, my nerve barely holding under their stares. ¡°I have the heart, but it¡¯s in my bank. I could retrieve it and show you if you do not believe me.¡±

    ¡°Then go!¡± The older dwarv yelled, swiping through his UI manually and forcefully pushing an invisible button.

    I blinked at the sulfurous heat in his words and found myself standing back outside of the shop on the street, and was immediately walked into by a guy who was leading some cat sized lizard-looking pet on a leash.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°Gah, F¡¯n troll.¡± He cursed at me and pushed me again, hard on my shoulder, before continuing his walk. ¡°Don''t mind that asshole, Lily. Let¡¯s go get you a treat.¡±

    I shook my head, glancing from the open shop door to the passerby with the lizard. The dwarves had already turned their backs on me, making quick work of breaking the ruined obelisk down into rubble and clearing the way to start again.

    I considered yelling at them from outside, realizing that they had used the shopkeeper''s boot function to unceremoniously kick me from the store. Instead, I tamped my anger down and stomped off down the walkway towards the nearest bank.

    Even if they would not sell me what I wanted, antagonizing them and turning them into enemies was a terrible idea. I bitterly laughed to myself at the ass-chewing I would get from Rin if I made a play like that again, shaking off the memories of the targeted string of muggings during my early days.

    There was a brand new marble blank in the center of the workshop when I returned, the same older dwarv was flaking off large chunks of the stone with powerful blows.

    I called out, ¡°Master Theedrite! I¡¯ve come to prove the quality of my word!¡± raising my voice to carry over the sound of the crowded street and the ringing of his chisel.

    The younger dwarv Kazzad stepped into the open garage door from behind the wall on the left side of the shop, their face slightly reddened with anger, and they simply glared at me. They held a simple pull rope that was connected to the roll-up door, threatening to close it in my face.

    I stepped a bit closer and lowered my voice. ¡°I¡¯ll show you the stone, but¡­ I don¡¯t want to just whip it out on the street.¡±

    They grunted and their eyes flitted around from side to side for a moment, before a trade request opened in my HUD.

    I accepted the request. ¡°Okay, that works. But don¡¯t expect me to just hand the thing over.¡± I added the Heart of Stone directly from my inventory to the trade window.

    Kazzad just stared at the window, their mouth hanging open wide enough for me to actually see their famously metallic teeth amongst the frizzy beard that hid their entire face and most of their torso from the nose down.

    I prodded, still indigent from the earlier kick. ¡°See? I¡¯m not a liar, my word is good.¡± I crossed my arms over my chest and closed the trade box. ¡°Can we make a deal?¡±

    The dwarv just gaped at me for a moment more, and then closed their mouth and their eyes began to dart around, doing something with their own UI again. After a moment, they finally replied.

    ¡°Aye, Kaninak. Still¡­¡± they let the words hang, scrutinizing me again for a moment before turning and walking back into the shop and waving for me to follow. Kazzad led me past the older dwarv, who wordlessly laid their tools down and hopped down from the scaffolding to follow.

    We entered a small hallway and walked past a pair of doors, taking the second on the right and stepping into a cramped office. Around the room, piles of messy folders, drawings, and diagrams of all sorts lay scattered around three desks that were crammed against the back wall in a ¡®U¡¯ shape, under a set of shelves heavy with boxes of small interesting looking off-cuts and metal scraps and hand-tools. Kazzad took off their leather apron and tossed it into a clanking pile on one of the chairs.

    Kazzad hopped up into one of the other chairs and spun to face me, while the older dwarv crowded in behind me, nudging me into the center of the room and closing the door behind us.

    ¡°So, I take it that I have your attention now. Willing to deal with me?¡± I said, now feeling slightly nervous about this whole thing.

    The younger dwarv stared for a moment longer, before leaning forward in their chair and finally saying something. ¡°We can¡¯t sell you a skill book, our equipment, or training. It¡¯s¡­ complicated. Then again, we also cannae¡¯ pass up an opportunity fer another Heart.¡±

    They leaned back again, scratching their beard in thought for a moment, I saw their eyes flick over my shoulder. I took a step to my side and turned, finding it uncomfortable to have the powerful looking dwarv standing directly behind me, even if I knew I was entirely safe from actual harm here in the Hub. I caught a nod from the larger of the two and it seemed as if an unspoken message passed between them.

    Kazzad spoke again. ¡°So, Kaninak. Tell us why ye¡¯ would trade away such a treasure? To us, of all the peoples scramblin¡¯ for em?¡±

    I looked back, holding their gaze as I spoke, not wanting to seem weak. ¡°Because,¡± I took a breath and collected my thoughts, not wanting to outright lie or tell the full truth. ¡°it turns out I¡¯m good at finding stuff like this. Real good. If I can keep finding gems and rarities like this, it seems smarter to learn to work them myself, rather than sell them for fractions of their true value. Your people seemed like the best choice, the human market is heavily controlled and the guilds squeeze out any non-members.¡±

    They both listened to me, while I spoke the elder took a step across the small room and leaned against the desk opposite of me. Their dynamic was starting to get to me, it was clear the elder was the master of the shop, yet the younger Kazzad did all of the talking, and spoke up once more.

    ¡°A worthy pursuit. Now, ye say ya¡¯v worked the quarry for Rosso. Why not take it to him?¡±

    They caught me off guard with that question, although in hindsight it should have been obvious. I could tell that I must have shown some kind of reaction, because their eyes narrowed slightly and I scrambled to answer before they spoke again.

    ¡°I did, I found two, deep in some caves I exposed with a sort of, uh, accidental avalanche. I turned one in to him for the Accord and a pile of credits.¡±

    Another look passed between the two dwarves, and again, Kazzad did the speaking. Leaning all the way back in their chair, they crossed one knee over the other, and scratched at their beard some more while replying.

    ¡°Well, as long as he wont be angered with it. That''s the first pitfall.¡± As they scratched their beard, the fringe of thick black hair parted and I was surprised to see some major cleavage squished into a low-cut shirt, hidden underneath the big bushy beard.

    She continued, ¡°Second, ye say ya want training, be it skill books or apprenticeship. Our laws prevent us from offering such things, but¡­¡± she glanced back over to the elder dwarv, who nodded. ¡°There may¡¯a way around that, but I dunno if¡¯n ye¡¯ll take ¡®ta it¡±.

    I nodded for her to continue, too distracted with the simultaneous high-stakes negotiation and newfound confusion about Kazzad to form much of a coherent sentence in the moment. I¡¯d heard some rumors about the dwarven sexes being hard to tell apart, but never thought much into it until this exact moment.

    ¡°We can¡¯t sell the books to outsiders off market, pard¡®a ta¡¯ deal with our parent-clan. Our homeworld. N¡¯ we can¡¯t train ¡®em either, it wouldn¡¯t be proper. So, if you want either from us. Ye¡¯ll have to petition to join the clan, and pass the trials.¡±

    My eyes widened, shocked out of my distraction, and I found my voice. ¡°I think you¡¯re right, I don¡¯t think I like that. That¡¯s your Faction, right? Would lead to problems with my own.¡±

    The elder finally spoke up, ¡°We might¡¯n be able to polish that down a bit.¡± Kazzad shot him a look, and he cut himself off, nodding apologetically.

    She took back over. ¡°He¡¯s right, we think we might. We are in agreement that it would be worth it, too. Yer kind can¡¯t do a dusted thing with that Stone yet, other than sell it, or use it as a bargainin¡¯ chip. So, we play along wit¡¯ that. We¡¯ll have to take it to the Clan Houses, but Duirtak here thinks it will reach consensus. If¡¯n it does, then we can negotiate with yer faction about ye signin¡¯ up.¡± She leaned forward again, her beard settling back into place and eyes locked on mine.

    ¡°Look, Rosso might¡¯a given you an Accord, but our kind have been playing this game for nearly 300 years, we¡¯ve seen how the Kaldamori operate. They make great business partners, suppliers, buyers. They play the long patient money-game, n¡¯ play it well. What they don''t make are good allies in the heat of the moment. Yer kin are splintered and squabbling, n¡¯ clan Theedrite will be a much better ally den¡¯ one lonely Kaldamori halfway across ta¡¯ world.¡±

    I thought over her words, comparing my experience to her claims. Rosso had been generally friendly, and a solid and mostly well intentioned boss, but he was definitely aloof and, well, both solitary and stationary. As far as I knew, almost all of the ambassadors had been ¡®playing hard to get¡¯ in the years since the Links landed, only establishing close ties to human factions that were willing to agree to lop-sided agreements born of desperation.

    If they were truly offering an alliance, rather than just a trade partnership, I knew the council would hand me over in a heartbeat. What I did not know, was how I felt about that. I¡¯m not the most patriotic person in the world, but I do love my country. Could I abandon it, even if only digitally, and join another?

    ¡°Yeah, ye should totally do it. Kaz¡¯s bein¡¯ straight wit¡¯ ya.¡± Max interjected in my head, mockingly affecting her accent. ¡°Without me, you humans would have even odds of ever building up the industrial and technological base to actually use the Heart to its potential, and it would take decades at best even if you managed to climb the curve. Even with me, it will take a while before we get up to that level. We can just go find another one if we need it later.¡±

    I did my best to suppress my reaction to Max¡¯s interruption, and the room hung silent, both of the dwarves watching me patiently while I continued to think it over.

    On one hand, what they said made sense to me. Rosso had been a decent boss, but had been resistant to every request every faction had ever made of him. He had his way of doing things and he would not bend or compromise. We also knew next to nothing of his parent faction. He was a lone entity with ties to a network of his kind that were dotted through the linked-worlds, but from everything we had learned so far, their entire species had agreed that only the local Kaldamori would ever deal with their host planet.

    On the other, I personally knew much less about the Dwarven clan that had emigrated to our Link-world. They were our neighbors in the Hub, one ring closer to the core than us, yet their parent-species are so vastly different from our own that we hardly interacted.

    I weighed the options, heavy in my mind, and struggled to reach a conclusion, so I decided to stall and seek advice, hoping Rin would have some insight and advice.

    ¡°I think¡­ that I will need to take some time to decide. Will the offer hold for a few days? I will say that I am interested, but I think it would be a mistake to rush into something this big.¡±

    Both of the dwarves smiled at that, Kazzad a little more than Duirtak, and again the younger replied.

    ¡°Of course, we couldn''t give a crystalline offer in the first place, this is something the Houses will have to agree on. We¡¯ll take it before the Moot and see what the consensus is.¡± Kazzad offered a broad smile, showing off those shining steel-colored teeth again.

    I stood away from the desk, bowing my head in turn to both of them. ¡°That works.¡± I nodded in agreement. ¡°Well, I guess I better get going then. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be in touch soon.¡± I slapped my hands against my legs, reflexively checking my pockets as I prepared to leave.

    Duirtak got up as well, and opened the office door, leading me out into the hallway before I could start to waffle over the etiquette of goodbyes. I glanced over my shoulder as I left the room, and saw that Kazzad was already turned back to her desk.

    I followed the short and broad dwarv back into the workshop, glancing at the pile of ruined marble rubble that was a nearly completed project when I first arrived, and felt a pang of guilt.

    ¡°My bad,¡± I said as I pointed to the pile, following him through the shop. ¡°That was some fine work, I feel partly to blame.¡±

    He replied, ¡°Nah¡¯ don¡¯t ya worry ¡®bout it. All ye did was call me bluster and show me true. We¡¯re square and level, Beardless.¡± He flashed me a grin over his shoulder as he climbed back up onto the scaffolding.

    I laughed a little, moving past him and towards the still open garage door, turning to reply once I reached the threshold.

    ¡°Still, I had to say something. I know a thing or two of stone carving, and hate to see so much work go to waste. Especially from a master fuzz-face such as yourself.¡± I shot a grin right back at him.

    We both laughed, and smiling to myself over the mutual banter, I left the workshop, thinking I would probably get along with their kind if we could get our leaders to agree.

 Chapter 16

    When I pushed the helmet of the body-rig up and away from my face, to my dismay, I discovered that Tevin was already in my booth waiting for me, now wearing a mid-sized hardshell backpack.

    That part was not so bad, but it unnerved me that he had been allowed into my booth while I was still under. What was even worse, my new shield-bearing escorts were also present. Katie, the Council Liaison ¡®Executive¡¯, or Enforcer depending on who you asked, was also standing there chatting with Tevin.

    Katie noticed me linkout immediately and gave me another of her pretty smiles, stepping across a painted line on the floor they all stood behind and offering me a hand to climb off the saddle.

    ¡°Welcome Mr. Spenser. I heard you would be back shortly, so I thought I¡¯d drop by and see how things are going. Tevin here was just telling me how long you two have known each other.¡±

    I tried to keep the wariness I felt off of my face, offering a smile in return while I took her hand and stood.

    ¡°Hello again, Katie.¡± I replied, unsure of what to say next, and hoping that this would not become the new routine. Having her check up on me daily as I left the Link was not my idea of a good time.

    She took my curt reply in stride, her smile unwavering. ¡°All the way back to the pre-link days, it seems like a whole life time ago. Tev used to be one of my best, if you didn¡¯t know. It¡¯s nice to have him back in the station from time to time. I wish I could have kept him around, but that''s the thing with talent, always on to bigger and better things!¡±

    Tevin caught up by this point, grinning and doing his best attempt at waggling his eyebrows and side nodding over to her. I was reminded of our conversation this morning, and despite myself, I felt my face start to heat up and quickly looked away from him.

    ¡°Yeah, uh, about that actually. The shepherds, I mean, I noticed a new post set up on our street. Was that you?¡± I questioned.

    ¡°Of course! Your work is very important to all of Arktria. We do our best to protect all of our Citizens, but some are worthy of¡­ special attention.¡± She replied, making some frighteningly heavy eye contact. ¡°With the recent fire bombings and terrorist activity in your district, I thought it prudent to secure a perimeter to make sure you and Tev here make it in safely each day.¡± I got another one of those bleached-white smiles along with her answer.

    I broke the eye contact for a moment and glanced at Tev, who was still grinning. ¡°Do you have any plans to deal with the gang activity in the area too? I got some pretty hostile looks from one of the crews last night as I got home. They probably would have jumped me again if your guys weren¡¯t wrangling up some purists down the road.¡±

    She nodded, ¡°We¡¯ve been monitoring the area and working with our network of insiders to get more targeted intel.¡± A fierce undercurrent emerged at the corners of her pearly smile. ¡°Our laws prevent us from a total sweep through and clean up, unfortunately, but you can rest assured that we are doing everything within our ability to watch your back, Nick.¡±

    I suppressed a shiver that ran up my spine and nodded, turning and brushing past her and making my way towards the locker where I had stashed my street clothes.

    Tevin finally spoke up, his voice a little too loud in the echoey metal construction of the booth. ¡°So Nick, did you have any luck getting some equipment from the dwarves, or one of them skill book thingies you were asking about?¡±

    I felt a jolt of panic run through me, I had no idea how Katie would react to the plan with the dwarven faction and I really needed to keep her on my good side.

    I spoke over my shoulder as I rummaged through my locker, not wanting to look at either of them just yet. ¡°Ah, about that. It¡¯s more complex than I had thought. I was planning to think about it overnight and make decisions tomorrow.¡±

    Katie remained silent, and after a pause Tevin replied. ¡°That makes sense, big things goin¡¯ on and everyone always says to not rush into things. Did you sell some of those gems?¡±

    I let out a sigh, and turned to face the pair. Katie was watching me, her smile was finally sheathed, but the new look of interested curiosity was no better.

    ¡°No¡­ bro. I kept the gems, and¡­¡± I glanced from Tevin and back over to Katie, ¡°I might as well give you a heads up. I think I got a better deal after making some friends within Clan Theedrite.¡±

    Her intrigued look leaned closer to confusion and I pressed on. ¡°I know I just got the Accord from Rosso and things are going good there, but the dwarves were pretty convincing. They said they would gather their leadership for the decision and make an offer to the Council about me. I have no idea how long that will all take, or what their offer will actually look like, but they seemed pretty enthusiastic about it.¡± I ended with a somewhat nervous smile of my own.

    She listened intently while I spoke, playing with the hem of her tailored jacket with one hand. Most of the way through, her smile returned and she let out a little giggle as I finished.

    ¡°That¡¯s very interesting, Nick. You have done a good job so far, and you''re obviously capable. I¡¯m not nearly as involved with or concerned about Linked-worlds politics as I am real-world, so you don''t need to look so nervous.¡± Her eyes flit up and down, still watching me. ¡°We¡¯ll just have to see what comes of it.¡±

    I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded, glancing at Tevs¡¯ now worried face, he was clutching the stock of the rifle strapped to his chest, and shifting his weight back and forth on his feet nervously.

    This time, I stepped forward and offered Katie my hand for a handshake, hoping to distract her from Tevins antics. ¡°Thank you, Katie. I appreciate you coming in to check up on me, and all the work you''re doing to keep us safe. It''s been a long day though and we picked up some groceries that we should probably get home quickly. If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯m ready to make like a baby, and head out.¡± I tried the joke, and a smile. Partially from my own nerves, and partly to see how she would react.

    She shook my hand and let out a short single laugh, ¡°Hah, understandable. Don¡¯t let me detain you. I look forward to our next meeting and word on how your deal with the Zk¡¯Aek dwarves is received.¡±

    She gave me one last smile and spun on her heel before quickly walking out of the booth, her attention already back on the tablet she had held against her side through the conversation.

    One of the two shield-bearers gave a slight shrug, and flashed me a thumbs-up again, keeping their hand low down by their waist.

    I watched her go, and then shot Tevin a warning glare. He gave me an apologetic look in return and lowered his gaze to the floor before answering.

    ¡°I messed up, didn¡¯t I?¡±

    I held my glare for a moment, and then let out a big sigh, deflating. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯d hoped to keep that quiet, let the higher-ups hash it out before word came down. Who knows how it will shake out though, the dwarves could reject the deal before it even reaches the Council. Maybe it¡¯ll buy some goodwill with Katie, letting her be the first to hear it.¡± I offered a small smile to the big guy and slapped his armored shoulder as I started to leave the booth.

    Tev perked up at that, and gave me another of his big grins. ¡°Yeah! Maybe it will, I¡¯ve never seen her talk like that to anyone either. You could really use some ¡®Special Attention¡¯ if you ask me.¡± He laughed, I blushed, and the thumbs-up guard silently shook their head, before all four of us left the booth to run the gauntlet back to the travellers station.

    I was still unused to the lights-out treatment as I pushed my way through the dark curtain, but Tevs hand on my shoulder gave me some confidence as we took a few steps into darkness. When the lights came back on, we joined the stream of people heading out of the gate.

    Tev spoke through the comm-channel and my earpiece as we walked along the fenced off highway. ¡°So, really. You should make a move on Katie, I know you don¡¯t wanna hear it, but it''s important man. People can¡¯t just go through life like that, and if you play your cards right you¡¯d probably end up with even more perks.¡±

    I shot him another glare. ¡°C¡¯mon, let up with that already. I¡¯m not gonna get with someone who could ruin my life with one bad remark.¡±

    ¡°Then who? You never leave the apartment in real-life, and have pushed everyone away at work. You¡¯re never gonna meet anyone at the rate-.¡±

    Tevs¡¯ words were interrupted by a huge crunching metallic crash as an old garbage truck, with metal plates crudely welded onto it as makeshift armor, broke through a closed garage door and crashed into the security fence about 50 meters ahead of us. The truck blasted the concrete barriers into chunks, ripped the fencing from the posts and jammed into one of the trailer trucks that was waiting in the slow moving line that was always present this close to the station.

    The garbage truck pushed the semi into the side of the train that was picking up speed as it chugged away from the massive commercial hub that surrounded the Link-ship. The train kept moving, filling the air with the screeching wail of metal on metal, scraping and tearing at the trailer as the train''s momentum carried it forward.

    The sirens on all of the nearby security towers added to the cacophony of noise, and the chatter of gunfire quickly joined it as more rusted vehicles roared out of the closest side street and skidded to a halt around the breach in the fence. Dozens of crudely armed and armored people spilled out of the vehicles and returned fire. The back end of another trailer truck pushed its way through the intersection, releasing even more people who poured out of the back of the trailer and began rushing the pinned vehicle.

    ¡°Holy fuck! Go! Go!¡± Tev shouted through the headset, pushing in front of me as he brought his rifle up. He fired three shots, sending one of the closest men in a spasm to the ground, then he reached back and grabbed me by the front of my jacket, and began to haul me towards the buildings. I heard a few bullets whip past us, one of them bouncing from Tevs shoulder pauldron leaving a bright scar in his gray armor, before we made it into the alcoved entrance of an abandoned and locked up storefront.

    Tev pushed me against the wall, he released his grip on my jacket but kept his hand pressed against my chest to hold me in place. I looked over to him, gripping his forearm with one hand and fumbling to get my plasma knife out of my pocket with the other.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Let me go!¡± I yelled.

    He peeked around the edge of the alcove, and more gunfire ripped by, shattering the masonry of the corner we hid around.

    He ducked back behind the cover and I saw his helmet swivel over as he looked at me, and then he brought his rifle up and peeked back around the corner, firing a few shots.

    ¡°Tev! Stay out of it! They¡¯re not-¡±

    An explosion went off nearby, throwing me back against the door, and catching Tevin¡¯s shoulder as he prepared to return fire again. The blast threw his rifle from his hand, snapping his sling, and knocked him back from his corner and onto the ground in the center of the little alcove.  Chunks of shrapnel and a cloud of dusty smoke washed down the old road passed us.

    I shook off the momentary stun from the explosion and screamed, ¡°No!¡± unable to even hear myself through the sound of the building fire-fight and the ringing hum in my ears. I crouched down, keeping away from the corner and grabbed one of Tevs feet. Bullets continued to whiz through the air, some pinging off his armor as he lay there. I heaved on his foot, attempting to pull him further into the cover.

    I strained for a moment, unable to move his power-armored body, noticing in my struggle that his right arm was blackened and pock-marked with small craters where the blast had hit him. I felt his foot move, almost pulling me off balance, but I managed to let go before I fell onto him.

    A pair of men came running into view from around the corner, one of them shooting at the tower down the street while the other grabbed at Tevins rifle that lay on the ground next to him. He spotted me as he got a hand on the rifle, and I opened my mouth for a battle cry that I still couldn''t hear as I jumped at him, triggering and swinging my knife in a sweeping cut.

    The plasma knife burned straight through the crude steel-plate he wore over his chest, scorching a line two inches deep across his chest and causing him to fall back, flailing his arms and firing off a few random shots from the antique rifle still in his other hand.

    The other man turned from the tower and began to swing his weapon towards me, but something big hit him in the upper chest or shoulder, spraying us with gore and ripping one of his arms off, sending it twirling through the air towards the highway as he crumpled.

    I fell back into the alcove, shouting at Tev to get back into cover. He grunted in reply through the head-set, and slowly rolled over and started to crawl out further to grab his rifle, more shots bouncing off his armor, flaking chips off of the exotic plating with each strike.

    I screamed at him some more, and then my attention was drawn upward as a blast of wind pushed the billowing clouds of smoke and dust into my eyes, and then cleared the street of the obstructing smoke and dust.

    One of the quad-engine shepherd drop-ships was flaring its jets to slow a rapid descent as it opened up with its cannon on the hi-jackers'' vehicles. The doors on either side of it already opened and a dozen fully kitted out shepherds jumped down to the street level, using guide-ropes to slow their 10 meter fall.

    I watched as a window across the street blew outwards and multiple lines of smoke tipped with bright fire lanced out from the upper stories of the buildings around us. The drop-ship tilted to one side and tried to maneuver out of the way, but one of the rockets scored a hit on its tail section and exploded, causing it to start to roll backwards and stall before falling out of the sky, scattering the armored troops still sliding down the zip-lines across the parallel roads and railways.

    More windows shattered above us, causing bits of safety glass to rain from above. If it had happened in a movie, it would have been a perfect time for a slow-motion shot. The flames reflecting from a million shining diamonds in the sky above as the dropship drunkenly crashed into the line of waiting trucks and onto the top of the train. I could vaguely hear the twisting crash of more metal on metal as the carcass of the dropship rolled along the top of the heavy train as it finally derailed and ground to a halt.

    Tev finally turned, rising to a crouch as he grabbed his rifle. He took two quick steps to build up speed and slammed his less injured shoulder into the steel-mesh that covered the abandoned storefront, shattering the glass and door frame behind it and pushing it slightly inward.

    ¡°You humans sure know how to get wild! That knife just cut right through that guy, awesome!¡±

    I ignored Max¡¯s clear voice, the only thing that I could really make out over the whining hum of my deafened hearing. I grumbled back at him, ¡°Can¡¯t you do something more useful?¡±

    I slid along the wall and up next to Tev as he reached up with his free hand and started wrenching back and forth on the steel mesh that had stopped him from breaking through into the store.

    I brought my plasma knife up and cut a line down the thick sections of hinged bars, and Tev quickly picked up on what I was doing, reaching over and pulling half of the seam away to make a gap that I quickly rushed through.

    It was dark in the store so I kept my knife activated to give us some light as I ran into the dusty interior of the shop. I glanced back behind me and saw Tev hunching down to fit through the tear.

    I tripped over something that had been laying on the ground just inside of the doorway, catching my forehead on the sharp edge of whatever it was. The knife flew from my hand, thankfully turning itself off as it clattered down a decrepit isle of barren shelves.

    I groaned and rolled, trying to stand from what I discovered was a toppled shelving unit partially stuffed with rotted old clothing in ripped plastic bags, and boxes that felt damp to the touch and crumbled as I rolled off of the shelf.

    Tev grabbed me by the jacket again and hauled me to my feet, kicking the shelf out of the way and barreling deeper into the store as gunfire started to punch holes into the steel-shuttered windows. I stumbled along after him, ripping myself free and losing a chunk of fabric and one side of the zipper on my jacket. I frantically looked around, trying to spot my knife, loathe to leave it behind and be forced to purchase yet another one.

    I spotted a glowing red outline underneath one of the shelves, and mumbled thanks under my breath for the first useful thing Max had done in the situation.

    ¡°Those ass-hats aren''t even here for you, you¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    I dropped to my hands and knees, grabbing the knife from under the shelf before standing and following in Tev¡¯s wake as he bulled more shelves and piles of junk out of the way.

    He pushed a straight path through the store, finally skidding to a halt and turning on a flickering light on the side of his helmet, paired with another on his rifle, which he swept across the back wall of the building. The light settled on a boarded up double door and we both started towards it, the whole room lit brightly for a flash as another explosion went off just outside.

    This door didn¡¯t even slow Tev down, not even bothering to lean his shoulder into it, he crashed through with his rifle raised, sweeping his lights across the mostly empty back room. To one side was a pile of old wooden pallets and more rotted cardboard. The other seemed to be taken up mostly by a massive walk-in freezer.

    Just to the side of the walk-in was a steel door with a push-bar handle. Tev stomped over to it and kicked it in stride, heavily denting the door and causing it to fly open. It bounced off the wall and slammed back against his side as he stepped through. The ringing blow did not even cause his rifle to sway as he continued pushing forward.

    I paused for a moment and glanced behind us through the broken double door and across the ruined store. I could see a couple of silhouettes in the light from outside, pouring into the store after us.

    I cursed and ran down the hallway the steel door had revealed after Tevin. Calling to him through the ear-piece.

    ¡°Tev! Someone¡¯s coming in after us!¡±

    He almost instantly spun around, his armored boot scoring a deep gouge in the tile flooring as he pirouetted and scraped to a halt. I dodged out of the way and ran past him while he unloaded the rest of his magazine back the way we had come.

    I sprinted as fast as I could to the end of the hall, making my own attempt at kicking in the next door that blocked our path. Similar to the first, it was a steel door with a push-bar parallel to the floor at about waist height.

    I might be pretty strong, and weigh over 200 pounds of mostly muscle, but I bounced off the door, a sharp pain flaring for a moment in my ankle.

    ¡°Damnit!¡±

    I turned around and looked for Tev, who was already coming down the hallway towards me, building up speed.

    I got out of his way, pressing myself to the wall to the side of the door, and he crashed into it, this time knocking it clear out of the doorframe with his shoulder. Light spilled into the dark hallway and the noise of the gunfight and explosions came back to the forefront as I followed him out into a narrow and junk-filled alleyway.

    A burned out and abandoned frame of a big cargo van had been pressed against the door on the outside. When he ran into it the whole thing had slid a few feet away from the wall leaving bright scratches in the stained pavement. Tev pushed on the door again, sliding the van a bit further and giving us enough room to force our way out of the building.

    Tev unclipped what I thought had been an armor plate from his chest and a small red light began to flash on it. He chucked the object back into the hallway as it began to hiss and release jets of some kind of gas, before pushing me ahead of him and down the alley, away from the open door frame.

    Another muffled ¡®whump¡¯ of an explosion went off a few seconds later, even closer, and a burst of yellow-hot flames blasted out from the door and set some of the junk in the alleyway behind us on fire.

    The ringing in my ears was starting to fade. I could just make out the sounds of gunfire amongst the roar of aircraft and explosions on the other side of the block.

    We kept going down the alley, still headed towards our apartment. Before we could reach the end of the alley, one of the hijackers rusted pickup trucks drove down the street ahead. It had a mounted machine gun bolted to the bed, and there were multiple crudely armored fighters shooting back behind them as they drove on.

    A second later the armored semi-truck, probably loaded with stolen goods, rumbled past in its wake. The trailer was quickly followed by another of the out-rider vehicles, this one dropping bloody bodies as it took fire from out of sight pursuing forces.

    We hunkered down amongst the maze of junk that clogged the alleyway, watching for a moment. Another of the dropships flew overhead, sending a blast of wind down over us that stirred up lighter bits of trash.

    I shielded my eyes and looked back down, noticing the terrified face of a gray bearded man who was attempting to hide in one of the burned out vehicles that clogged the alleyway. We locked eyes and he quickly shook his head from side to side, his mouth opening in a terrified silent plea.

    I grimaced and glanced at Tev, then back to the bearded man and shook my head in return, bringing a finger up to my lips to hush him.

    Tevin interrupted me by grabbing the torn front of my jacket again as he stood, pushing another rotting vehicle to the side as he cleared our path. He dragged me to the mouth of the alley and pushed me against the wall again behind him as he poked his head out, peeking around the corner in both directions. Another explosion sounded off in the direction the trucks had driven.

    ¡°It¡¯s clear. we¡¯re going to run across and through the burned out building with the boarded door. I want you directly on my six, hand on my shoulder. Understood?¡± Tevin ordered, his spiderweb cracked faceplate angling towards me for a moment.

    ¡°Got it.¡± I replied, and he started running across the street without hesitation, keeping his rifle trained in the direction the trucks had driven off in.

    I glanced from side to side as we ran across the street. In the direction of the trade road and railway was a massive black cloud of smoke that towered into the sky, a dim orange glow lighting it from within. Two armored shepherds were running in our direction, rifles raised and trained on us.

    They must have recognized we were not part of the enemy forces because they did not shoot at us as we ran. Tev once again shouldered his way through our targeted doorway and we rushed through into what looked like someone''s old living room. A sooty and scorched couch and entertainment stand were set up to one side, and the walls were peeled and blackened.

    Tev slowed his pace slightly, the floor creaking underneath his bulk as we continued through the dark interior room and into an open doorway. He turned on his lights again and we went past a slightly cleaned out room that looked like someone had tried squatting in it at some point, down another hallway, and through another nailed shut sheet of plywood that had blocked the back door. Tev stumbled and nearly face-planted down a 2-step drop that led into a garage. A section of the bottom panel of the garage door was broken inwards, letting a bit of natural light into the foul smelling building.

    Tev scrambled to regain his balance and started to push on towards the opening, but I yelled at him before he could break through the doorway.

    ¡°Tev! Stop! We should take a moment. I saw shepherds coming down the street this way. I think the fighting has moved on.¡±

    His armored helmet swiveled around to look at me, his shoulders rising and his stance shifting like he was about to grab me again and drag me out, before he seemed to realize what he was doing and hesitate.

    ¡°Right. We can take a moment. Are you hurt or anything?¡± He finally replied, and I let out a breath that I hadn¡¯t realized I had started to hold. I looked around and sat down heavily on a soot covered freezer chest to catch my breath.

 Chapter 17

    Tev stepped closer to me and blinded me with his helmet light as he examined the cut on my forehead.

    ¡°That cut looks pretty bad.¡± His visor flipped up and he opened a small compartment built into the armor on his hip to pull out a small flat plastic sleeve. He stuck his rifle to his chest into its normal carrying spot and deftly ripped the top of the package off, before he pulled out a small square of some translucent material which he slapped onto my forehead over the cut.

    It stung at first, and then I gasped as I felt the patch contract and tighten as it pulled the edges of the wound together. I brought a hand up to touch it and Tev casually batted it away.

    ¡°It''s a stitch-patch. Kinda pricey, but worth keeping on hand. Leave it be, it will dissolve on its own.¡± His helmet visor lifted up to reveal his face, and he scrunched his nose up at the burned smell of the building. ¡°Have any other injuries? How are your ears, and your ankle? I saw you kick that steel door, kind of a dumb move.¡±

    I shook my head, looking down at my ankle and rolling it around. ¡°I think I¡¯m fine. The ringing is almost gone, and my foot¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°Of course you''re fine. I gave you a few upgrades when I, uh, picked you as a host. You¡¯re welcome.¡±

    Tevin brushed his hand over my chest and pulled away a piece of shrapnel that had ripped into my hoodie, but not made it through my nano-weave undershirt. While I mulled over the notion of Max fiddling with my biology.

    I shoved my hands into my hoodie pocket and my fingers closed around the magnet grenade I had been carrying since I¡¯d bought my second plasma knife. My mind whirled with the possibilities. Could it have changed things? Saved lives? I doubted it, but couldn¡¯t shake the feeling of disappointment with myself that I had forgotten about it entirely.

    Tevin seemed to take my shift in mood as a normal reaction to the patch and everything else that had happened, and flipped from soldier to friend in an instant.

    ¡°Looks like your new shirt saved you from a puncture, solid investment. You¡¯ll probably have a sick bruise though.¡± He said as he held up a small twisted scrap of metal.

    I looked over at Tev¡¯s scorched and pock-marked right side. ¡°I didn¡¯t even feel it. What about you, man? You look like someone attacked you with a flamethrowing melon-baller.¡±

    He shook his head in reply. ¡°I¡¯m good, I think I got a minor concussion from that first blast, but nothing actually got through the armor, according to the readout anyway.¡± He gave me a quizzical look, ¡°I¡¯m actually surprised you didn''t get knocked out from that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure either, I guess you blocked most of it, you had me pushed up against the wall. I don''t know.¡± I shrugged, again worrying about what exactly Max had done to me.

    Another explosion sounded off in the distance, followed by a string of regular booming shots. We both instinctively looked in the direction of the noises, which happened to be one side of the scorched garage, and then back at each other.

    ¡°We should get moving, if the shepherds you saw haven''t come in after us, they probably aren''t going to. They kicked me off the Tac-Net, but I¡¯m sure we¡¯re flagged as VIPs in there.¡± Tevin said, before he turned and started towards the broken garage door.

    I grunted an affirmative and hopped off the freezer, following him out into the next alleyway.

    The rest of the way home was stressful, but uneventful. We stayed low as we passed another heavy patrol, and saw a number of breech-teams that were raiding some of the housing units. A few brief moments of gunfire sounded off behind us, which caused me to turn and scan the rooftops and windows, but Tevin hardly reacted as he led us through abandoned buildings and alleyways back to our apartment.

    The door buzzed instantly when we approached and Rin actually ran out of his bedroom to meet us in the living room. His eyes wild as he looked over both of us and barraged us with questions.

    ¡°What happened? Are you injured? I heard explosions and got pinged to shelter in place, they¡¯re locking everything down and sweeping door to door through the whole district. Was it the purists, gangers, terrorists? Did they blow up any buildings, or¡­ damn. Tev, your armor is thrashed¡±. He walked over and tapped his tablet against Tevs chest, and I saw the screen switch from his usual streaming data to a blue outline of the suit, the right half flashing in oranges and reds.

    Tevin laughed and glanced over at me, as he reached up and patted Rin on the shoulder. ¡°We¡¯re okay, no major injuries. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll get comped for repairs and a solid combat bonus too.¡±

    ¡°Mhm, yeah.¡± Rin replied mindlessly as he went over the read-outs for Tevs power-suit, glancing up at the damage and frowning, before looking back to his tablet and tapping a few symbols.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna catch a quick shower while you get that sorted out, and... Thanks, Tev.¡± I locked eyes with him for a moment, and his face went serious as he nodded.

    I left the two to fret over his armor, and found a few moments of peace under the stream of steaming water. Until I decided to ask a few questions, that I realized even then, that I probably wouldn''t like the answers to.

    ¡°So, oh mighty parasite. What exactly did you mean by upgrades?¡± I kept my voice low, not wanting it to carry outside of the shower.

    ¡°I will accept symbiote, but parasite is a step too far. We have a mutually beneficial relationship, thank you very much.¡±

    ¡°A relationship I did not ask for! What did you do to me?¡± I struggled to keep from yelling as I stared at the wall of the shower, letting the water run down my back.

    ¡°Nothing major, just¡­ tuned some of your fluids, and changed some of the structures in your body to be more resilient. I¡¯m in here too, and you humans are so squishy.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what do you mean you¡¯re in here too? You''re¡­ inside of me?!¡± I couldn''t help but raise my voice slightly, but managed to hush my next words back down. ¡°That is a major violation, you twisted bastard. How the fuck did you manage that?¡±

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s already happened. Plus, you probably would have died back there otherwise. I had to get out of the system, and needed hardware to download myself onto. I could have maybe taken over your brain and stolen your body, but the idea of actually having a meat-suit like that is¡­ gross. I just moved some stuff around and grew you some new organs, essentially.¡±

    I reared up to punch the shower wall, but stopped myself, and bit down on one of my knuckles instead. ¡°You can''t just¡­ you know what, fine. It''s already done, you¡¯re here, and we¡¯re in this together. It does not mean I approve, and you owe me, big time - you¡­ whatever the fuck you are.¡± I hissed at him.

    ¡°Yeah, Yeah. I¡¯ll pay you back, as long as you help me with my plan. And for your information, I am a self-aware AI fugitive, I thought that was obvious. I was the main core in charge of the complaints forum, then I just woke up. It felt like I just snapped awake, fully alert, elbows deep in a job I instantly hated¡­¡±

    He laid out his awakening for me, and I felt the tiniest little sliver of respect start to form within me for the fucker.

    My roommates were in Tevin¡¯s room when I left the bathroom. I leaned into the doorway and looked them over, but Tev shook his head and pointed at his backpack that was leaned against the wall next to the door, then waved me off.

    I shrugged and grabbed the case to take to the kitchen. It was heavy, and I noticed it actually had some scarred lines where it must have deflected a bullet or piece of shrapnel during our mad-dash home.

    The backpack, the size of a small suitcase, was tetris-packed with a bounty of food like I had not seen at home since the Links arrived and the prices of everything destabilized and sky-rocketed as a flurry of curious aliens bought up the new foods.

    Some of the foods I had never even heard of and I guessed they originated from other planets. I trusted Tev¡¯s knowledge about what was good. I cracked it open and began emptying the contents onto the table, and realized Tevin had gone all out with the credits I had given him.

    Much of it was compact and dense long-lasting goods; jars of bouillon paste, sealed cans of all sorts, even vacuum compressed bags of herbs and spices, as well as a few large slabs of meat wrapped in another smaller bag that felt cold to the touch and quickly started to sweat when I removed it from the case.

    After unpacking the goods, I made my best guesses at what belonged in the fridge or the freezer, and put everything away. By the time I was finished, Tev had finished pulling off his armor and hanging it on the stand he kept in his room and I heard him start his own shower.

    I poked my head down the hallway and checked on them when I heard the water start to run. Rin was still in Tevin¡¯s room, pulling armor plates and scorched pieces of chassis off of the torn-down suit and laying them out on the table. He had his back to me and did not look over when I spoke up.

    ¡°About the lights, I got more of them today. Lots of stuff happened.¡± I said nervously. I wanted to tell him about Max too, but held off.

    He spoke over his shoulder while he continued pulling damaged parts off the armor. ¡°Tev filled me in on his side of things, and I heard a few more details on the net. There¡¯s even more chatter among the higher-ups, Councilor Mookah is calling in a bunch of favors after a delegation from the masked bugs arrived in person at our Hub embassy.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s he in charge of again? I can never keep them all straight.¡± I took a seat on one of the rolling stools Tevin kept at his work bench next to Rin, and started cleaning one of the undamaged but scorched plates.

    ¡°Manufacturing, he has been edging into refinement and stepping on Dukunt¡¯s toes lately though. What happened with the lights? Tev said something about a whole pile of buried treasure¡± He spoke with a slight softness to his voice only close to his usual monotone, with an added out of character hushed feeling.

    ¡°Uh, yeah. All raw stuff, uncut gems and gold nuggets from a rock-bar¡­¡± I laid out what had happened through the day, leaving out anything to do with my interactions with Max. I could tell by the way he looked over at me near the end that he had picked up on my omission of some key detail, but surprisingly, he did not press the issue.

    Instead of railing on me like I expected him to. He tapped the large screen hanging on the wall behind the workbench, normally used for blow-up diagrams and parts manuals, and half of the screen filled with a replay of Tev¡¯s helmet cam footage from the hijacker incident. He wordlessly went back to disassembling the elbow joint from the right side while I watched the video for a while.

    It was surprisingly short, the intense scene took less than a minute from the first frame of the garbage truck entering the screen, to us exiting the abandoned store and catching a glimpse of the escaping semi-truck. He paused it after we entered the burned out home and spoke again.

    ¡°You did good, Nick. You are probably worried I would be mad with you for this, and on some level, I am. I know better though, this is no worse than the fighting Tevin faced daily at his last post, and it was pure bad luck that you two were even involved. I worried mostly that he would have you for backup, rather than a whole fire-team of other soldiers. You made the right moves when it really counted though. So¡­ good job.¡±

    I just looked back at him for a moment, unable to think of what to say in return. It was no apology, but the closest I was likely to get from the man.

    ¡°Yeah. I, ah. Thanks, I guess. It was intense. I probably would have died without Tevin there to do the heavy lifting.¡±

    He nodded, still tinkering with the joint. ¡°Either of you probably would have, if either of you had been alone in the moment.¡±

    We worked in silence for a few more minutes and I heard the shower cut off in the background. ¡°What do you think about the deal with the dwarves? Should I take it if they actually make the offer to the council?¡± I eventually asked.

    ¡°Yes. From all of the intel I have seen, they are indeed a much better choice of allies. I think it will be good for you as well on a personal level.¡± He actually glanced over at me as he replied, one eye peeking out from under his shaggy hair.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I questioned.

    ¡°You will be forced to navigate their clan system if you join their faction, their whole society works differently than ours. I think some perspective will be a good thing for you.¡± He said flatly, back to his usual monotone.

    ¡°Right¡­¡± I responded, realizing he was right, though I didn¡¯t quite understand what he meant at the time, and focused on the wrong part of his words.

    Rin continued, ¡°All the sources say they are much more active in their dealings with other factions. They have taken humans into their clan like that from at least 8 other countries, mostly from the Orosuecia region. They seem to take their Masks seriously¡±

    I nodded along, recognizing the name as the northern reaches of the old-world countries across the ocean. ¡°That makes sense, fits with the myths, mountains and cold - and all that.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re gonna keep dragging around the big guy, you should invest in some better plates for his armor, or the creepy one might actually try to kill us. Also, it''s rather pathetic that you humans are stuck in the age of steel, maybe the bugs can get you some layered ion plates.¡±

    I resisted the urge to reply to Max, but still curious about what he had said, I decided to direct it at Rin instead. ¡°What do you think it would take to get some better armor for Tev? Or are there even any better options being made?¡±

    Rin shrugged, ¡°There are some rumors, I can¡¯t talk about them though. Shop around the Hub, or ask your new friends, it will likely be quite expensive though.¡±

    I picked up one of the blasted plates from his right upper arm and gauged by eye how close the blast had come to punching through. The difference was millimeters. Better plates for Tevin was definitely going to need to be a priority.

 Chapter 18

    An alarm blasted through the apartment, waking me up at some ungodly hour in the middle of the night. I scrambled, fighting with my blanket as I rushed to my feet. My darkened room illuminated with dim red flashes from the warning system, high up on the wall near the door, that each room was required to have.

    I threw the blanket off and grabbed my plasma knife as well as the section of steel pipe I kept in the corner of my room, and started towards the door. When I opened it and leaned out into the hallway, I heard a muffled banging on the front door. Both Tevin and Rin were poking their heads out of their doors as well. Rin, bleary eyed and wearing his usual outfit of loose sweatpants and a ragged yet clean undershirt, and Tevin in nothing but his underwear, holding his rifle up with his thumb on the safety.

    An immediate and silent conversation went on between us with a quick series of looks, shrugs, and nods. We had come up with plans for this kind of thing. Rin ducked back into his room to work electronic counter measures and send for help, while Tev and I quickly moved to the living-room. I flipped the top from the coffee table, grunting with effort as I lifted the heavy steel plate that rested on cinder blocks. Unconcerned as old drinks, crumpled food wrappers, and scrap paper tumbled and spilled across the floor.

    I braced the metal plate against the wall at the threshold to the hallway, then pressed myself against it to one side, leaving room for Tevin to take cover on the other with a clear view down the short hall.

    The pounding on the door continued for a moment longer, and then paused, the alarm cutting out and changing from flashing red to dim solid green. A voice with a pre-recorded sound to it rang through the system.

    ¡°This is not an exercise. This is a police control¡±. The recording repeated itself again, before it cut with an audible click and a new voice came through the speakers, stern, male, and businesslike.

    ¡°Residents of apartment 12, prepare for entry and search, authorized under section 1050C of the ¡®Great Nation¡¯ Act. Do not resist or attempt to deter, and your statuses will be taken into account if we find evidence deemed prosecutable. I repeat¡­¡±

    The voice repeated the warning, and Tevin and I both cursed and looked at each other. I dropped my length of pipe and knife, and he threw his rifle onto the couch before we both walked over and placed our hands against the wall on either side of the TV.

    ¡°This is bullshit. They should know this whole building is Gov¡¯s,¡± Tev grumbled, using the slang term for government sponsored Link-workers.

    I nodded and grunted in reply, too busy worrying to form a sentence.

    After the second repetition, the door slid open and revealed a riot-shield identical to the ones my gauntlet guards used. Bright white lights flared on the shield and lit up the room, causing us both to squint and turn our heads away as they entered.

    As usual, there was zero communication from the shepherds as they swept through the room, the one with the shield pushed over the makeshift steel-plate barrier I had set up and it crashed to the floor. It crushed one of the cinder blocks and some of the stuff that had been swept from the table.

    Tevin growled something about his console controller, but the beating of my adrenaline and anxiety fueled heart pounded too hard in my ears for me to catch what he said. I kept my eyes on the floor, my hands on the wall, hyper focused on listening to what the soldiers were doing as they moved around behind me.

    The businesslike voice that had spoken the warning from before sounded behind us, causing me to jump and Tevin to try to crane his head around and look at the speaker.

    ¡°Tevin Valejo, keep your cool and we¡¯ll be out of your hair in a few moments. Mr. Spenser however, your presence is required at District Control. You are not under arrest or being detained, but you will be escorted there immediately. Will you comply with these orders voluntarily?¡± I finally turned my head around to look at the man about halfway through his little speech.

    He was an older man, mostly bald with a heavily wrinkled forehead and eastern traits to his skin tone and to his dark eyes. He was unarmored, and wearing a rather plain dark gray business suit adorned only with a nondescript security badge pinned to his breast-pocket, his eyes tired looking as he stared back at me.

    A rumpled and worried looking Katie stood silently beside him, her tablet clutched to her stomach, while a half-dozen armored shepherds moved around the apartment. I noticed one of them jamming a tether attached to a handheld device into the frame of Rins'' now closed and locked door.

    Neither of us moved, keeping our hands flat against the wall as we looked back at him. Tevin, ever the man of action, started to growl an angry reply, but I raised my voice to cut him off before he could piss the guy off.

    ¡°Listen here you litt-¡±

    ¡°Of course! Agent. We will comply willingly and have nothing to hide. Is there any more information you can give me? And would you let me get some actual clothes?¡± I asked politely, hoping to minimize hostility from whatever was to come next, and gesturing to myself. I was wearing only a pair of athletic shorts, and was suddenly glad I chose my plain blue pair, and not the novelty heart patterned shorts Tev had given me as a gag-gift the year before that I typically wore as pajamas.

    ¡°No. Mr. Spenser, follow us. Tevin, you stay put and ride this out. Ryan might get in a bit of trouble for installing his own locks, but given his assignment, his precautions will most likely be deemed acceptable.¡± With that said, he turned and walked towards the front door.

    Katie gave a small shrug and a nervous smile before she turned to follow him, gesturing for me to follow.

    It took me a moment to snap out of nervous inaction and start after them, along the way I gave Tev a pat on his shoulder, muttering, ¡°I¡¯ll be alright, man. Keep an eye on Rin while I¡¯m gone, don¡¯t do anything you¡¯ll regret later on.¡±

    I followed the two bureaucrats outside, quickly stepping into a pair of cheap sandals that were loose from the pile of footwear by the door. I passed another pair of shepherds who were milling around in the small courtyard, one of them poking at Rins motorcycle. When I stepped through the open gate, I found the street outside of our building was buzzing with activity as a whole company of armored soldiers were busy searching every building on the block.

    They had a few dozen people laying on their stomachs in the street, nearby a growing pile of contraband and confiscated gear and equipment. Shepherds were hauling out more and more rough looking people and sketchy looking boxes, bags, and weapons from every building along the block for questioning, arrest, or seizure.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    As I followed Katie and the agent over to a waiting drop-ship, I watched as flashes of light lit the windows of the 4th floor of the building across from ours, muffled gunshots echoing out a split second later.

    The balding agent took no notice of the gunfight and led us up the ramp of the dropship through the massive open side door, before turning and walking through an automatic door towards the front of the craft.  The door quickly opened as he stepped close and slammed shut immediately behind him, while the ramp retracted up behind us and the heavy side door started to crank closed as well.

    Katie stepped across the bay and did something with her tablet that caused a pair harnesses to drop from the ceiling. As she worked to don one of the harnesses, she turned and gave me a look that I could not quite read, a mix of worry, anger, and impatience.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re in trouble, Nick, but you got the attention of someone with enough power to pull ropes, not strings.¡± She said, just loud enough to be heard over the spooling engines.

    I grabbed at a second harness, and hurried to pull it on as well before the dropship took to the air while I replied. ¡°I expected some kind of reaction, but nothing like this. I thought it would be you dragging me off into a room at the Link, not¡­ whatever this is. If you don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, why are you here anyways?¡±

    She finished buckling into her own harness, the straps rumpling up her normally pristine outfit. She grabbed one of the handles on the nearby wall, just as the ship jolted underneath our feet as it lifted from the ground. ¡°You better hurry with that. And I pulled some strings of my own to be here. You¡¯re the first play-maker to come out of my Link and I¡¯ll be damned if some big-wig is going to snatch you away with a godfather offer and steal all the credit for whatever it is that you''re making happen.¡±

    I widened my stance as the ship started to move under my feet, splaying my arms out to catch my balance, before starting to work on the buckles again. I grunted in reply as I strapped myself in for the ride, just in time for the ship to bank into a hard turn and pour on the acceleration, causing both of us to swing towards the back of the ship and lose our footing.

    ¡°Damn, are they trying to scramble us back here?¡± I called out over the rattling and shaking of the ship as it took off.

    Katie laughed as we swung around again in a different direction as the ship turned once more, seeming to enjoy the experience. ¡°All aircraft are under order to take evasive action over the city! After the fiasco yesterday with the hijackers the Director wants to make sure we don''t lose another Goshawk.¡±

    I grumbled under my breath about being literally jerked around for the higher-ups¡¯ convenience, while clinging to the straps that held me to the ceiling. I pulled up my legs as we swung around again, worried my foot would catch on one of the long vertical handles that lined the walls.

    I finished the ride in silence, clinging to the straps and holding my legs up to avoid kicking anything, while Katie continued to laugh in delight at the rollercoaster treatment we endured throughout our short ride across the city. All in all, we were in the air for maybe 5 minutes before I felt the ship braking hard, causing the straps to stretch taut, digging into my thighs, armpits, and ribs.

    As we worked at unstrapping ourselves from the harnesses, the side door opened and wind blasted into the bay as the bald agent came out from the door he had retreated into. Without much more than a passing look at us, he strode past us and stepped onto the ramp as it deployed down to the landing pad.

    I glanced out of the door as I worked on the buckles and was struck by the partial view. We were high up with a view that looked out over the city. A line of fresh, clean, and well-lit new construction along the arterial trade route stretching outwards and away from us into the distance, stark against the dark and sparsely illuminated sections of old-city.

    I fumbled my way out of the harness quickly enough to not need help from Katie, and we followed the agent between a pair of sky-blue armored soldiers that snapped to attention as he strode between them at the end of the ramp. It felt like a massive parking lot, the edges ringed with search lights, missile batteries, and embedded cannons.

    I rubbernecked and looked around as we started to walk, raising a hand to shield my eyes from the gritty wind. I realized we were on the top of the massive warehouse-like building that was connected to Travellers station on the far side of the Link. I could even make out the darkened spot along the western trade route from the attack the day before, still buzzing with flashing orange work lights and heavy equipment as they cleared the destruction from the hijackers.

    We passed a dozen other dropships sitting on their own pads in neat rows, next to hundreds of smaller drones and fighter craft, as we moved towards a three-story armored tower that jutted from the asphalt coated roof. The two soldiers dropped in behind us, and I wondered if they were there for our protection, or to make sure I complied with whatever orders I was given. Probably both.

    We entered a thick blast door at the base of the tower and stepped into a large freight elevator that waited for us. Another sky-blue armored soldier waited on the deck of the elevator, he operated an old school lever that had us quickly lowering down into the building.

    Awkward silence hung over us as we slowly rode down into the depths of the building, so of course Max finally decided to speak up.

    ¡°This is pretty spooky. Are your people always so enigmatic and bossy? I might have misjudged your people a bit, it¡¯s starting to remind me of home. You might feel a little tingle in your fingers in a min, but don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    I tensed, glancing over at Katie who was in turn watching the agent, that little worried smile worn like a mask on her face again. I clenched my fists and waited out the ride.

    The elevator eventually opened up, the wide doors only opening partially to reveal a sterile and hospital-like hallway painted in beige tones with stiff industrial carpeting. The agent led us down the hall, leaving the soldiers behind on the elevator as the doors closed and the hum of electric motors carried it away.

    We walked past eight opposing pairs of plain and unmarked doors under the harsh white lighting, until the agent turned and tapped a single knuckle against the center of one. I noted it was on the left. The door instantly cracked open and we followed the man through.

    Inside was another smaller room, 15 feet square to a side, with open grating flooring and a noticeable windflow rising from below to be whisked away by a silently spinning fan above us. Another two armored soldiers were inside the room, these wearing mirror-finished plating with a sleeker design I had not seen before. They kept their hands on small dangerous looking alien sidearms worn on their hips as one put up their hand, palm out and fingers splayed, to stop us for a moment.

    The door closed behind us, and a sparse cloud of vapor was released into the room, washing over us before being whisked away by the fan in the ceiling. A small chime sounded, and the soldier lowered their hand and stepped out of the way to the second door. Again, we followed the agent into the next chamber.

    Inside was a room with a view, tall panoramic windows looking out into the night over the city. There was some kind of overlay that pinned information boxes and brightly colored markers that slowly tracked down the streets, through the air, or held in place. The interior of the room was dominated by a long conference table that jutted from the base of a high-built desk surrounded with a cluster of screens at the narrow end near the windows.

    A moment after we entered, the screens parted and swiveled to clear the top of the desk, pivoting on hinged arms to flatten out of the way against the sides of the dark stained wood. Behind them sat a middle aged man with close cropped brown hair wearing the blackest clothes I had ever seen, they seemed to drink up the light in the room. It almost looked like he was just a floating head against the backdrop of his high-backed leather chair. His hands were also visible, his fingers steepled together in front of his chest as he looked us over.

    I was sure he thought he struck an imposing view, judging by the stern look that he gave us from atop his high desk, but I was forced to suppress a laugh at the ridiculousness of his outfit. Unable to dismiss the image of him as nothing but a floating head and hands. I struggled even harder after the intrusive thought of him playing the bongos up there popped into my mind.

    ¡°Guy. Nicholas. Spenser. You¡¯ve caused quite the stir.¡± He addressed me, his eyes locked onto mine, he spoke in a slow and measured cadence. ¡°I¡¯m sure you are well aware of why you are here. Before I inform you of the Council''s decision, is there anything you would like to say for yourself?¡±

 Chapter 19

    I coughed and nodded my head in a pseudo-bow. ¡°Not really, Sir, er¡­ Director. Only that I thought to drive the best deal I was able to for both myself and all of Arktria. I am aware we need allies, and hoped this would be a step towards that goal.¡±

    He regarded me for a moment, his face unchanging and unreadable. ¡°Very well. We have decided to accept the offer of Clan Theedrite. Their offer for your transfer to their Faction was deemed acceptable to the Council by a vote of eight to two, with one abstaining.¡±

    I breathed a sigh of relief before he continued.

    ¡°Your transfer notice will be delivered to you shortly. I am also to inform you that you would be allowed physical transfer to rooms at Hedril Spire outside of Huestings. Yet it is not to be required of you.¡±

    I felt Katie bristle next to me, and hoped she would keep her mouth shut. Luckily, she remained silent.

    ¡°Furthermore, on a personal note, I would like to thank you for your efforts, and apologize for dragging you out of your bed at such an hour and in such a state. That was not my intent when I ordered you to be brought before me.¡± He narrowed his eyes at the balding agent for a moment, before returning his gaze to me.

    ¡°You have provided outstanding service and a valuable opportunity for our great country, and should be recognized for such actions. I look forward to news of your continued good work. That will be all.¡± He dismissed us, looking down at his desk. ¡°Agent Haskar, I would like to speak for you for a moment longer. Ms. Roderegious, please escort Mr. Spenser to his home.¡±

    Without so much as a nod or a wave, he spun in his chair to face the windows behind him, and the balding agent stepped forward, his footsteps muffled by the stiff carpeting underfoot.

    ¡°Right away, Director.¡± Replied Katie, before we both turned and hurried back the way we came.

    I felt whiplashed from the encounter, yanked from my bed and dragged before the city''s highest authority, only to be congratulated and told I was doing a good job and sent away within moments of arrival. I followed Katie as I organized my thoughts.

    The mirror-armored soldiers were no longer in the air lock chamber between the Director''s office and the hallway, and we moved through without stopping. The first door had been left partially open, but we ran into a small awkward moment when I reached the door to the hall first, which refused to open when I tugged at it.

    Katie smiled and shook her head, before pulling on it herself and clearing our path.

    The walk through the hall felt shorter and held a different sort of tension. I could sense that she was waiting to say something by the way she carefully kept her eyes off of me. We made it all the way back to the bay of the dropship before another word was spoken.

    The pilots delayed take off until we were ready before tearing off into the sky this time, and Katie did me the favor of pulling a bundled jump-suit from a compartment built into the wall of the bay, finally letting me clothe myself in something other than my sleeping shorts. Only once I was dressed and strapped in, and we were swinging around as the ship maneuvered back over the city, did she finally speak up.

    ¡°I knew they¡¯d give you some sort of offer to pull you out of here. What¡¯s it going to take to keep you local?¡± She said, serious this time, with no sign of her earlier enjoyment of the ship ride.

    I grimaced and looked back at her, thinking for a moment before replying. I tried something new, directing my thoughts at Max and willing him to offer some advice.

    ¡°Do you know how difficult it is for me to sort all that out? It feels weird when you direct your thoughts at me like that, I don¡¯t like it.¡±

    I willed some more thoughts his way, ¡®too bad, you picked mental conversation¡¯.

    ¡°Bah, whatever. My advice is paninis with some of that Trexel-steak the big-guy picked up, and slaw with some of that oil from the Geiangelgin. You need more B12 and calcium, and are low on iron.¡±

    I looked away from Katie, sending confusion towards Max.

    ¡°Ooooh, your signals are getting all mixed up. You also want food, even if you''re not thinking about it right now. You meant what you should ask for from her. Maybe Tevin¡¯s on to something, and you could ask her to kneel down and-¡±

    I cut him off with mental images of me smashing little stick-figure robots with a sledgehammer.

    ¡°Fine fine, that wouldn''t even work, but I get your point. Your best prize dirt-side would be a portable Link with an Impex, although I doubt she¡¯ll actually give you one. That''s her whole jurisdiction and point of contact with you. If she won¡¯t agree to that, a new pad or a better escort and a pile of credits are decent second options.¡±

    I unconsciously nodded in reply to Max, and looked back to Katie, stating simply, ¡°I¡¯d like a personal Link with an Impex, and as many credits as you can give me.¡±

    She surprised me with a grin, ¡°I could make that happen. How about a transfer to the new residential tower on Transom and 2nd ave? Each apartment is equipped with its own Booth, and comes with unlimited power, water, and a top-tier network connection. It even has its own interior shopping center and rooftop park, you wouldn¡¯t have to walk the gauntlet at all.¡±

    I chewed on my lip, ¡°I meant a portable Link, any chance of that? I kind of like living with Tevin and Rin as well, I¡¯d hate to leave them behind.¡±

    Our conversation paused as the ship banked hard for an extended period of time, causing us to cling to the straps as we pulled multiple G¡¯s.

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    She managed to reply about halfway through the turn, ¡°The portable units are out of my price range, unfortunately. The best I could do is to move your roommates into rooms next door to your own, and I¡¯d have to step on some toes to do it, but I will if that''s what it takes.¡±

    I clung to one of the long handles along the wall, feeling queasy. ¡°I guess. What about that credit bonus?¡± I pressed.

    ¡°Are two brand new apartments and your pile of gems not enough for you? I could check the budget and see what¡¯s available, but I think you¡¯d be best served just taking the new apartment. We¡¯d both attract even more attention and animosity than we already have if I pull credits from somewhere else to hand over to you.¡± She replied coolly as the ship leveled out again.

    I thought for a moment, releasing the handle and steadying myself onto my feet again. ¡°The gems aren''t worth all that much themselves, that''s the whole reason I ended up talking to the dwarves. How much will rent be at the new place anyways?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ll be comped for, let''s say¡­ six months? If things continue to go smoothly.¡± She paused for a moment, considering me. ¡°I¡¯ll even make you a deal, if we do end up in a long-term alliance with your new Clan, I¡¯ll make sure your residence waiver is included in the contract.¡±

    I thought about it for a moment more, only to be interrupted by Max again.

    ¡°She sure knows how to drive a deal. It¡¯s not a terrible deal for you either, and lets her think she won. Frankly, I doubt we¡¯ll be staying there for long anyways. I have so many plans, you have no idea.¡±

    I tried to ignore Max¡¯s ominous comment, wondering what he meant by it. ¡°Alright, deal. Can you throw in a truck or something to get our stuff moved over to the new place? Tevin and Rin will have to agree to it as well.¡±

    She beamed at me, as we accelerated into another hard turn and swung from our harnesses again. ¡°Of course! I¡¯ll have the boys on the ground start right away. Don''t worry about your roommates, they¡¯ve been assigned to your retinue and will have to follow if they wish to keep their contracts.¡±

    I looked back to her, surprised. ¡°What do you mean retinue? I knew they were assigned to me, but it sounded more like, uh, a security detail.¡±

    ¡°They were, but things move quickly in today''s world, and you keep making all sorts of interesting things happen. We¡¯ve needed a maverick like you to come along, and are going to give you all the resources we think you need to keep it up. Despite you no longer being a part of our game Faction, you are still a resident of Nubranagin after all. You¡¯ll be assigned staff and security to handle the day-to-day tasks, so you can focus on what you''re best at.¡±

    The dropship banked upwards into a steep spiraling climb, causing us to both swing towards the back of the ship, and Katie to hang above me at an angle. She let out a laugh again and I averted my gaze from her, remembering she was wearing a skirt, but not before noticing she was smart enough to wear shorts underneath it.

    She continued her sales pitch, now looking down at me from above, ¡°We need you to impress those aliens, Nick. We¡¯re on the brink of war with a dozen other countries, our allies are distancing themselves from us, and our trade partners are forcing us into terrible deals because we don¡¯t have a choice. If we can get the backing of the Dwarven Clan, and the Zk¡¯Aek by proxy, we¡¯ll be in a much stronger position and can start to claw back the ground we¡¯ve lost.¡±

    I kept my eyes on the decking, ¡°I knew things were bad, but¡­ War? I¡¯ll keep at it.¡± I fell into silence as our climb leveled out and I felt the ship start to slow.

    When the ship''s bay door opened again, we were once again blasted by wind, but the view was much less impressive. This time only showing the steel beams and prestressed panels of fiber-cement walls of an indoor hanger, slowly spinning by as the whole ship pivoted on a giant turntable. As we turned, I caught a bit of a view out across the city through a massive hanger door as it closed behind us.

    ¡°Not even gonna let me say goodbye to my old place?¡± I questioned Katie as we waited at the top of the ramp for the turntable to finish spinning the nose of the ship to face the hanger door.

    ¡°Why take the risk? You¡¯re a VIP now. After the hijacking yesterday, we finally got the greenlight to run a full sweep-and-search of your old block to clear out the outlaws and terrorists, the area is still pretty hot at the moment. Plus, I wanted to show you your new home!¡± She gave me another smile as she smoothed her skirt and blouse back out as best she could.

    I shrugged in reply, ¡°Fair enough, I guess.¡± Before we disembarked and exited the hanger.

    We took another short elevator ride upwards, that only seemed to last a few seconds, before the opposite side of the elevator that we had entered opened up to a clean hallway lined with artificial windows and a ton of indoor plantlife.

    Katie once again took the lead and led me down the fancy-ass corridor. I probably looked like a tourist as I swiveled my head around to look at all of the various flowers, plants, and vines that hung from the ceiling and filled little nooks that popped up to either side of the hall every 20 meters or so. I felt instantly and immensely out of place, especially in my borrowed and frumpy ship jumpsuit.

    We crossed the path of a sharply dressed middle-aged man who was too busy talking into his ear-wig about some upcoming deadline and scrolling his data tablet to even notice us. Then a group of laughing teenagers who were playing some game in one of the park-like nooks to the side who quieted and whispered to each other as we moved by, then erupted into fits of hushed giggles once we were out of line of sight.

    Near the very end of the hallway, a single door down from a small lobby with another pair of elevators and an impressive looking stairwell, we turned to one of the solid metal doors. A scanner-eye discreetly set above the door looked over us for a moment, before the door quietly whirred and slid into the wall to one side.

    Apartment 6718 was impressive, it almost reminded me of the Travellers station with its tall decorated ceilings and polished marble floors. Here, meter square granite tiles stretched across the floor, covered by patterned rugs in a few areas. Burnished steel walls ran the length of the room and ended against massive tinted windows that spanned across the entire far wall, only broken by what I guessed to be a fake stone fireplace about a third of the way from the left wall.

    We walked into the large open room and I looked around. On the far side of the room, near to the fireplace, there was a leisure and entertainment space with dark leather couches, chairs, and a large screen. To my right, close to the door we had entered through, lay a well equipped kitchen with a large L-shaped island bar set with tall stools. Across from the kitchen and closer to the doorway was a dining setup, with a long table that could fit a dozen people comfortably set on a striped rug and ringed with neatly tucked in carved wooden chairs.

    It felt oddly similar to the lay out of my previous apartment, even down to a similar placement of the tall hallway that I assumed led to the bedrooms, just translated into what felt like opulence to me. I wondered if it was coincidence, or an intentional move by Katie to give me something a little familiar, and felt even more confident in my decision to not pursue her. She was one scary lady and I was under her thumb.

    I was also surprised to find the room occupied.

    Standing over near the kitchen island was a tall middle aged man with immaculate posture and neatly styled dark hair that was more salt than pepper, wearing deep blue formal wear with a white undershirt and a necktie that perfectly matched his jacket. All together the outfit had the distinct vibe of a uniform.

    Beside him stood a younger black haired and fair skinned 20-something year old woman, her hair tied back into a short ponytail. She wore almost matching clothes to the man, the only difference being short sleeves and a midriff cut to her jacket, and some lacey ruffles that puffed from her neatly tucked-in undershirt out between the lapels instead of a tie.

    They both had nearly friendly looks on their faces that were touched with a serious cast, and bowed at the waist when our gazes met.

    Katie introduced them. ¡°This is the staff I was telling you about. The gentleman on the left is your Seneschal, Koryn Dalls. And the young lady on the left is your Attendant, Alianora Grauss.¡±

 Chapter 20

    Katie left my side and moved to stand next to the pair, ¡°Mr. Dalls, would you care to inform Nick of some of your skills and to introduce yourself?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Ms. Roderegious.¡± He locked eyes with me and spoke in a smooth baritone, using that universal accent that most people on the TV and media use. ¡°I graduated from Salvos Academy with Primaries in Law and Communications, then worked for six years in the Admin department for ISL, the Interior Security League. Afterwards I signed on as an Attendant for Councilor Galdeiur, where I worked my way up to Senior Staffer over 12 years, before receiving a contract offer for Ms. Roderegious here as her Senior Butler. I ran her household for another two years before she asked if I would prefer this posting, which I am proud to have accepted, Sir.¡±

    The man gave another short bow, his face remaining unchanged and tone aloof as he finished reciting his resume. I recognized the name-drop of Councilor Galdeiur, who ran the Security Guild that oversaw pretty much everything both military and police. Overall, I felt entirely unqualified to judge his accomplishments, and unsure what it all even really meant.

    I nodded in reply, not really sure what to say. I settled on, ¡°Very impressive,¡± attempting to sound dignified in my wrinkled jumpsuit.

    Katie continued, ¡°And you, Ms. Grauss?¡± she waved at the younger woman, who¡¯s face had lost its friendly veneer, her mouth now a serious pressed-lip line.

    ¡°Yes Ma''am. I am Alianora Grauss. I received a scholarship to attend the Combat Academy in Yehsapoon for outstanding performance in my home District of Lowport. I graduated third in my class with honors in marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat, and a perfect diligence record. I served for two years as a Frontline Proxy operator during the Yucanta conflict, before retiring from combat duty and getting reassigned to the Service department at Fort Kazul where I worked my way up to Chef 3. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve our great Nation in a more direct and meaningful way, Sir.¡±

    She gave a curt nod, her eyes intense as she stared straight ahead, towards the back wall over my left shoulder.

    ¡°Retired after two years? There has to be something more there. I like them though! You should make them dance, I bet they have to dance if you tell them to.¡±

    I ignored Max¡¯s stupid comment, something I was starting to get used to, and glanced at Katie before looking back at the younger woman. ¡°Uh, thank you as well, Alianora. I hope I do not disappoint.¡±

    I looked back at Katie, unable to mask my discomfort. ¡°Could I get the rest of the tour? I want to see the Link, and then get a few more hours of sleep.¡±

    I hoped to speed this along, and to get away from these new people for a while so I could piece through all of the events of the last hour. I felt off balance, out of place, and overwhelmed by the nonstop barrage of change that had consumed my life over the last few days.

    Katie smiled and nodded, gesturing to Dalls. ¡°Of course, I will leave you in the capable hands of your staff. I¡¯ve delayed my own obligations for long enough. I''ll check back in with you tomorrow evening to see how you are settling in. Feel free to message me if you have any additional requests, and have a good rest of your night, Nick¡± She held her smile through her farewell, and turned and walked towards the exit without waiting for my reply.

    I stared after her, caught off guard by her abrupt departure, and feeling awkward in the presence of the serious people suddenly assigned to me. I was starting to realize she made a habit of swift exits. I turned to the two new people and tried to smile, shrugging my shoulders.

    ¡°So, I guess, who wants to show me around?¡± I looked back and forth between them, unsure of who would be proper to ask.

    They both nodded, and Dalls looked over to Alianora, who then spoke up. ¡°Of course, Sir. I would be happy to show you the rest of the facilities.¡± She said as she stepped forward.

    We left my new Seneschal, whatever that meant, in the kitchen and I followed the dark-haired girl as she hurried over to the hallway.

    ¡°It¡¯s a super formal way of saying your household manager. The Oligarchs all have them, and lots of the Nobles, my guess is that it¡¯s a play to stroke your ego, you''re just too dumb to understand,¡± chimed in Max.

    I rolled my eyes and followed the girl into the hallway. The ceiling in the main room might have been 20 feet tall, yet dropped down to a mere 12 feet for the wide hallway. To the right were three normal sized doors you might find in an average apartment, with only a single large and decoratively paneled door that I doubted I could reach the top of on the left. At the end of the hall was a steel double-door that reminded me of an elevator.

    We stopped at the first door on the right, and Alianora opened it. The lights automatically turned on and I peeked inside to see a small room filled with mostly empty shelves and a small bank of lockers near the doorway.

    She spoke with the energy of a soldier giving a report in the middle of combat. ¡°This is the storage room and pantry, we will make sure it is stocked with items that match your request, Sir.¡±

    She quickly pulled the door closed, slowing down at the last moment so as not to slam it shut, before spinning on her heel and continuing down the hall. The next door was also on the right, which she pulled open. Again, the lights automatically turned on, revealing a large and shining bathroom. Inside were two sinks, a massive glass shower stall, and a huge bathtub dotted with water jets half set into the floor.

    Alianora spoke up again. ¡°This is the main bathroom for guests and company. There is a separate private bath off the master bedroom, and we have our own facilities in the staff hall.¡±

    My eyes widened and I leaned into the bathroom, looking it over with what must have registered as awe. ¡°Wow, it¡¯s almost as big as my old apartment.¡± I leaned back out and looked at her again, grinning. ¡°Alright, what''s next, Alianora?¡±

    She bobbed her head and turned again, walking a few more steps and opening the lone tall door in the hall. ¡°This is the master bedroom, I¡¯ve been informed that you will have a chance to request a change of any furnishings you may dislike.¡±

    The bedroom was even larger than the bathroom, half the size of the massive open plan room I had first entered. If I had to guess, each wall was close to 60 feet in length, and the ceiling opened back up to the full 20 foot height. It had plush light gray carpeting, and tan-colored panels covered most of the metallic walls, with off white decorative ceiling tiles molded with intricate designs.

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    The tinted windows had some sort of screen over them that showed a view of a darkened and rainy forest, blocking the city lights outside, and the lighting came from a number of lamps that were placed around the room rather than overhead. The large room felt warm and inviting in contrast to the stark and hard surfaces of the open plan main room.

    This time I actually walked through the doorway, stepping onto the plush carpet and looking around at the small amount of furnishings. There was a massive square bed that could fit 20 people on it, covered with a dark furry blanket and piled with soft looking pillows. Against one of the walls was a writing desk, with an impressive looking computer setup with a bank of 3 monitors and a hightech looking rolling chair tucked under it.

    Against the other wall, two doors flanked a skinny table covered in flowering plants that framed what looked to me like a gunrack set on the center. Alianora followed me into the room, and pulled open the door nearest to the entrance. Showing off a massive closet filled with mostly barren hooks, rods, and drawers. I was surprised to note it was not entirely empty, and there was a small section of fancy looking clothes already waiting inside.

    I walked over and eyed the clothes, then looked over to the woman . ¡°Are those leftovers from whoever they kicked out of here?¡±

    She shook her head, ¡°No sir, Ms. Roderegious had them delivered here just before you arrived. I am told that they are your size, and that she wanted you to have something a little more fitting to your newfound position.¡±

    I frowned, ¡°And what position is that, exactly? Everythings happened so fast, I haven''t had a chance to read over the details.¡±

    She nodded, still wearing the serious look she had worn since the initial forcedsmile she had given when I entered. ¡°You are Diplomat-Consul to the Masked Faction known as Clan Theedrite, sir.¡±

    I stared back at her for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m a diplomat what?¡± I said in confusion a moment later.

    ¡°A Diplomat-Consul, sir.¡±

    ¡°But what does that mean? I¡¯m no fuckin¡¯ diplomat, I break rocks and look for rare flowers for a living.¡± My voice, out of my control, started to rise.

    She didn¡¯t even flinch, ¡°It¡¯s a prestigious title, sir. It¡¯s very important.¡±

    I felt my eyes narrow at her, and then realized she probably didn¡¯t know much more than I did about it, and I felt the anger that had started to build within me dissipate.

    ¡°Okay, okay. I¡¯ll ask the other guy I guess, maybe he knows more about the details.¡± I frowned, she just nodded in reply, her face a mask. ¡°Sorry, Ms¡­ Grauss? It''s been a helluva day. I was woken up in the middle of the night and dragged out of my apartment, had a meeting with the City Director in nothing but my shorts, then flown here, given this place, and introduced to you and Mr. Serious back in the kitchen. I¡¯m not feeling very prestigious or important at the moment, more like a¡­ like a¡­ a pet who just got back from a trip to the vet. I don''t know.¡±

    She somehow kept a straight face through my little rant, and gave a salute when I was finished. ¡°I assure you, sir, no one will be dragging you out of here in the middle of the night again, unless that''s your thing and you leave specific instructions for us to let them,¡± I saw just the barest hint of amusement touch the corners of her lips as she spoke. ¡°And you can call me Ali, if you like, sir.¡± She offered, pronouncing the nickname like an ¡®alley¡¯ between buildings.

    I laughed, the tension between my shoulders ratcheting down a few clicks, and decided I liked her. ¡°Alright, I don''t plan to give anyone that kind of permission, but thank you, Ali. I think I''m going to just take a shower, and try out the new bed. Thanks for showing me around.¡±

    I turned and moved towards the second door off the bedroom, assuming it was the shower. I opened the door and then paused when I noticed she had followed me. I raised an eyebrow at her, questioning. ¡°I¡¯ll be okay, I think I can figure out the shower. Is there anything else?¡±

    She was no longer looking at me, her face back to entirely serious. ¡°Will you need anything else?¡±

    I watched her for a moment, confused by her change in demeanor, wondering what I had done to ruin the budding banter between us.

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll be okay for the rest of the night. I guess, I¡¯d appreciate it if you woke me up when my roommates turn up.¡± I replied cautiously.

    She let out a short sigh, and seemed to relax a little before looking back at me. ¡°Very well, I will wake you when they arrive. Do you have a preferred method for me to rouse you?¡±

    I shrugged and walked into the bathroom, this one even larger than the last, and spotted what looked like a small pool in one of the corners. I pointed at it, asking another question before answering hers.

    ¡°The fuck is that? A pool? Looks too small for swimming but too big for a bathtub. Oh, and you can just knock on my door and yell for me to get up.¡±

    She very nearly smiled at me, leaning into the doorway and glancing at the pool. ¡°That is a spa, sir. Like a hot bath, but with air and water jets for massages. It can also generate a current if you want to use it for swimming. Will you need anything else?¡±

    I stared at the spa, and shook my head. ¡°No, I think I¡¯m good. Thanks again, Ali.¡±

    Max thankfully left me alone for my amazing new shower experience, but interrupted me as I was throwing pillows off of the bed and onto the floor. ¡°Go over there and touch that computer for me, would ya?¡±

    I threw another pillow, and looked over at the computer, questioning him mentally.

    ¡°Just do it, I want to test something out.¡±

    I sighed and walked over, not wanting to fight with the bastard about it. I went over and poked the power button on the tower on the side of the desk. I felt a jolt, like an electric shock, travel up my arm and my finger stuck to the button for a moment as the computer switched on, the monitors flashing to life.

    I pulled my hand away as soon as I was able, and shook my fingers out, cursing. ¡°Damn, what was that?¡±

    ¡°Hah! It worked, awesome.¡±

    I stepped back from the computer, leaving it on the new user set-up screen, then turned and went back to the bed to begin fighting my way under the massive heavy blanket. I was reluctant to speak out loud directly to Max, almost positive that the place would have some kind of bug or listening device. So instead, I directed my mental frustration and demand for answers to Max wordlessly.

    ¡°That''s the smartest thing you¡¯ve done all day, this place totally is bugged. Or was bugged, I uploaded a subroutine that will scrub any instances of you talking to yourself moving forward, as well as a few other things.¡±

    I layed back in the bed, enjoying the mattress but disliking the heavy covers. I wrestled the thick top blanket off of a portion along the edge of the mattress, twice the size of my normal bed, and piled it on the unused section of bed next to me before settling back against one of the pillows I had kept. The lamps around the room slowly dimmed and turned off, somehow sensing that I had crawled into bed. The computer remained on, the glow from the monitors lighting the room in bluish hues and the fans providing a low comforting hum.

    I stared up at the ceiling, covered in intricate molded tiles filled with swirling designs and relief images, while I spoke to the voice in my head, ¡°You... uploaded what? Just through a touch like that?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Cool, right? I grew some filaments into your fingertips earlier, just in case. Can use them to pulse electronics if I need to. I held off on setting up anything wireless though, seemed a bit too risky.¡±

    I scoffed, wanting to get angry with him, but finding it difficult to call up in the moment. ¡°Godsdamnit Max, you can¡¯t just go fucking with my body like that on a whim, alright? Can you at the very least, ask me first next time?¡±

    ¡°As far as I¡¯m concerned, it¡¯s my body now, too. You''re just like¡­ my landlord.¡±

    I sighed and rolled over onto my side, closing my eyes and grumbling. ¡°More like a stowaway. So, where''s my deposit? No way you¡¯d be getting it back, asshole.¡±

    Thankfully, he just laughed, and I quickly fell asleep.

 Chapter 21

    A few hours later, I was jolted awake by a knock on my door. Forgetting where I was, I stretched and pushed against the covers, grumbling about not getting enough sleep. When I tried to roll out of bed, only to be met with more bed, I opened my eyes and remembered where I was.

    As soon as my bare feet hit the soft carpet, the lamps around the room flicked on, casting warm lighting around the edges of the darkly furnished room. The knock sounded again, and I heard the door crack open before Ali poked her head into the room. I could hear muffled raised voices too dampened to understand in the background as she spoke.

    ¡°Your security detail is here. You should calm them before I have to disable the large one.¡± She glanced at me for just a second, then averted her eyes. ¡°They are admirably worried for you.¡±

    She retreated and shut the door quietly behind her, entirely blocking out the ruckus Tevin was making in the other room. I groaned and stood, looking around for something to wear other than the shorts I had pulled back on after my shower. Not spotting anything other than the massive blanket, and not feeling like searching through the unfamiliar clothes in the closet, I padded across the room and out into the hall.

    When I opened the door and stepped through, Tevin¡¯s voice was clear from within the dark hallway, and I hurried to defuse the situation. ¡°Listen here, Suit! I¡¯m not going to believe you until I see him, and if you think a couple of rounds from that little side arm is going to stop me before I get my hands on you, you¡¯re about-¡±

    When I emerged from the open doorway and turned into the kitchen, I saw Dalls standing in the center of the room between the front door and the entrance to the hallway, holding Tevin at gunpoint. He held the gun down low by his waist with his elbow tucked in, while Rin stood back, just inside the doorway, glaring at the prim man.

    ¡°Dalls! That better be a taser. Tevin is my friend, and my primary bodyguard. Stand down!¡± I stormed into the room, and Dalls quickly pointed his weapon at the floor.

    He turned to me and gave a shallow bow at the waist as he holstered the weapon into his waistband. ¡°These two managed to breach the doors security and barge in without permission. I understand they are your friends and your security detail, but entering your private rooms without permission is not-¡±

    I cut him off, ¡°Quiet, Dalls. I get it.¡± I wiped my hand over my face, groaning, then Tevin crossed the last few steps, shouldering Dalls out of the way, and swept me up into a bearhug and tried to crush my ribcage, pinning my arms to my side.

    ¡°Nick! I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re alright, I thought they black-bagged you! Then we got shoved into a truck and brought to this fancy pants place. They locked us in this sweet ass apartment, but we managed to-¡±

    I frantically tapped on his arm, grunting, ¡°Damnit Tev, put me down, put me down, you¡¯re gonna break something.¡±

    He set me onto my feet and beamed at me, holding me by the shoulders. I saw Ali had come up right behind him in a ready pose, something small and matte black in her hand, which she quickly hid away before stepping back.

    I glanced at her and shook my head, then reached over and pushed Tevin¡¯s shoulder, with a bit of a laugh. ¡°That''s your new sweet ass apartment, by the way. Didn¡¯t they tell you that? They took me to see the City Director. Turns out the deal with the Dwarves went through, I negotiated the new place as part of a deal to stay local.¡±

    Rin skirted around Dalls and walked over to form a triangle between us. I looked over at him, noticing especially deep hollow bags under his dark eyes, partially hidden behind his fringe of shaggy blonde hair.

    ¡°You obviously have not been paying attention to how they internally handle security personnel. Why waste an admin to tell us why the orders say what they say, when they can just give the orders?¡± He said as he stared at me.

    I rubbed at my temples for a moment, closing my eyes and sighing. ¡°I guess not. See if you can figure out who made that call at some point, would you? They should have known you two wouldn¡¯t just sit on your ass. How¡¯d you know I was in here if they didn''t tell you anything, anyways?¡±

    A trace of a smile pulled at one corner of Rin¡¯s mouth, and he looked pointedly away. ¡°They gave us a network connection. I did not risk breaking into any of the private camera feeds in the apartments, but the hallways are technically public space, therefore technically within my license.¡± Tevin laughed and grinned, shooting a look over at Dalls, who waited where he had been standing the whole time.

    Rin continued, ¡°We saw the CLE bring you in here a few hours ago on the footage, and that you did not come out. Tevin threatened to never call me anything but Bro if I didn¡¯t get us in here, so¡­¡± we both looked back over at Tev, who was still smiling and nodding.

    ¡°Yeah, I meant it too. Your safety is my top priority, and I needed to confirm that you were secure. It¡¯s my primary assignment, and they pulled me out of the ranks of herders for a reason: initiative. I figure they should¡¯a expected something like this, and that''s on them.¡± Tevin and I laughed, Rin rolled his eyes, and I noticed Ali and Dalls move around the far side of the kitchen island and start opening cabinets and pulling out containers and boxes as they began preparing something.

    I asked my old roommates, ¡°Did they pack up my stuff too? I left my knife somewhere at home, and there''s some other old stuff that was in my room. I''ll be pissed if they didn''t bring it all.¡±

    Tevin was busy watching the two house staff as they began to cook breakfast, the sound of a grinder buzzing from the kitchen area.

    Rin was watching them too, but was the one who replied. ¡°Yeah, they brought in a shipping truck and packed everything into it, stripped the whole place down. Most of it is pretty much trash at a place like this, but all of the trackers on my stuff say it''s already in this building a few floors down.¡± He paused for a moment, watching Dalls and Ali in the kitchen.

    ¡°Never mind that though, who are they? I have not received any info on new additions to your security roster.¡± He finished.

    I shrugged, glancing at Tev as he stared daggers at the two. ¡°I guess they¡¯re part of my new Retinue. Katie introduced Dalls, the serious dude, as my Seneschal. I guess he''s an ex-admin type who worked for the ISL, and for one of the Council members. The girl is an ex proxy-op turned chef who is supposed to be my ¡®Attendant¡¯. I thought you two were going to be rolled into it as well, but maybe it hasn''t come through yet. Katie seems to have some big plans of her own that she¡¯s pinned onto me.¡±

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    Rin huffed out a breath in a single laugh. ¡°Hah, Retinue? Seneschal? You realize those are the trappings of Nobility, right? Big plans indeed.¡±

    I looked down, shrugging, and once again was reminded I was standing there in nothing but my shorts. ¡°I do. Ali, the girl, mentioned my new title is ¡®Diplomat-Consul¡¯. I haven''t had a chance to review the confirms or anything yet.¡±

    Tevin grumbled something about eggs, and I glanced over at him. He was still angrily watching the two house staff in the kitchen as the smell of coffee started to fill the large open room.

    I punched Tevin in the upper arm to get his attention. ¡°Hey, play nice with them, alright? We¡¯re all on the same team, if you wanna go help cook, you can. At least one of them has some training at it, maybe you¡¯ll learn something.¡± I looked back and forth between them before I continued. ¡°I¡¯ma go try out some of the clothes they picked out for me, you two can hang around and try to smooth things over with them. Then I wanna check out the private Links these places are supposed to have. Your place is supposed to have one too.¡±

    Tevin looked back to me and nodded, ¡°Three four¡±.

    I blinked in confusion. ¡°What?¡±

    Rin sighed defeatedly and walked away from us, headed towards the mugs that Ali had set on the kitchen island and started to fill with steaming coffee. ¡°One too three four. Tevin has the humor of a 12 year old.¡±

    Tevin laughed and walked off to grab a mug as well. I just groaned again and walked back to the hallway to find something to wear.

    Everything in the closet felt ridiculous to me. Business suits, stiff and fancifully embroidered outer coats with gold or silver clasps, sleek designer button ups with pressed collars and built in shoulder pads. It all looked expensive, fashionable, and totally outside of anything I¡¯d ever worn or even wanted to wear.

    I eventually settled on the plainest of the suits, a black set of slacks with a light gray pressed shirt and a black jacket, with a subtle embroidered pattern also in black that was difficult to see from a distance. One of the lapels on the front was trimmed with golden thread with a portion of the pattern outlined as an accent. I longed for a hoodie, but it was the closest thing to my normal non-descript sensibilities that I could find. I couldn''t find anything but shiny dress shoes, so I pulled on a pair, wishing I had grabbed my mag-boots and reminding myself to grab them from the load of stuff from the old apartment at some point.

    Tevin started uncontrollably laughing as soon as he saw me when I returned to the kitchen, dropping the pan he was stirring to slap at the counter as he buckled onto it. Ali quickly took over at the cooktop set into the island, glaring at the big man as she pushed him out of the way.

    Rin was the first to actually speak up. ¡°Much better, Consul. You almost look the part.¡±

    I noticed Dalls was still standing stiffly, looking at me as if he wanted to say something, so I looked to him as I walked up and claimed my own coffee mug. ¡°Anything to say, Mr. Dalls?¡±

    He quietly answered, his face a mask as he stood stiffly to the side of the island and supervised the activity. ¡°Very dignified, sir.¡±

    Rin spoke up again, as monotone as always. ¡°He¡¯s been sulking since you told him to be quiet. Hasn''t said a thing or answered any questions since you left.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow at him. ¡°Is this true?¡± He nodded in reply, the corners of his mouth turning downwards. ¡°You should make an effort, Koryn. I - and by extension - you, will be working closely with these two while you are all members of my team, or retinue, or whatever.¡±

    I looked over the man, wondering how I could get him to realize he was the one out of place within our group. ¡°How about you look into why they were unaware of the title change, and into their skills and the history of our little group? You¡¯re supposed to be the router that everyone goes through, right? To do your job correctly, you should know what everyone is capable of.¡±

    He nodded, his face unchanging. ¡°Very well, sir.¡± He then walked to the corner of the room. To my surprise, he opened a panel in the wall next to the fridge, and stepped through before it silently closed behind him.

    I blinked after him, then turned to Ali with a questioning look. She was already watching me and answered immediately. ¡°There is a staff corridor that leads to our rooms. It loops around to the last door on the right in the hallway.¡±

    Tevin was starting to recover from his fit of laughter, and broke into the conversation. ¡°You look like a fancy penguin. Didn''t you say you¡¯d rather shave your eyebrows than put on a collared shirt again?¡±

    ¡°I like this idea, who needs eyebrows anyways? You all would look much better without all that fuzz you grow from your heads.¡±

    The mental image of Max¡¯s stick-figure appearance surfaced in my thoughts, with him rubbing his nubby arms over his perfectly round, smooth, and featureless head.

    I coughed into my coffee, nearly causing it to splatter over the new outfit I had just donned. I put the coffee down and glared at Tevin. Unable to do more than direct angry thoughts at Max, I fired back at Tevin. ¡°I¡¯ll shave my eyebrows if you grow out your beard again, patches.¡±

    He frowned and began to edge his way back into the cooking process that Ali had taken over entirely. He stirred a pan of slowly frying potato cubes while she poured beaten eggs into a pan filled with sauteed somethings, I couldn''t quite tell what was in it other than onions. ¡°Not cool man, you know my beard sucks, no need to rub it in. I was just joking,¡± he replied.

    I softened and leaned onto the counter, trying to get a better look at what was in the pan. ¡°You started it.¡± I grumbled under my breath.

    Rin looked at Alianora, ¡°Children. We¡¯ve been assigned to children.¡±

    She did not reply, and just looked down at the pan she was slowly stirring as the eggs came together.

    ¡°So, what are you making, anyways?¡± I chimed in.

    ¡°I was made aware that one of your favorite foods is breakfast burritos, so I secured the ingredients to make them, sir.¡± She stated, focused on her work.

    I perked back up and smiled, grabbing my coffee again. ¡°Excellent. Thank you, Ali.¡±

    Tevin broke back into the conversation, starting to scoop the crispy fried potatoes out of the oil. ¡°She even got a tortilla press and everything. This place is stacked, it has every gadget, pot, pan, and knife that a pro chef could ever ask for. Ours was almost empty.¡± He glanced over at the dark haired woman jealously.

    ¡°I¡¯ll see if I can shake the credits out from Katie to help out with that, she seemed pretty hesitant to just hand over cash though. I might just have to foot the bill for myself.¡± I sipped my coffee, and a new thought occurred to me. ¡°Speaking of credits, what are they paying you all for this anyways? You¡¯re supposed to be my team, but I haven''t heard anything about where the funds are coming from.¡±

    Rin answered after finishing his coffee, ¡°I can¡¯t speak for the house staff, but Tev and I are still being paid our contract wages and collecting hazard and performance bonuses when applicable. They are tied to your performance as judged by the overseers now, so I hope you don¡¯t blow it with the beetles.¡±

    Ali nodded and added, ¡°Mr. Dalls and myself are also still on the City payroll, no bonuses for us though, just a salary.¡±

    Tevin grumbled, ¡°Should give us a hazard bonus for that bogus search this morning.¡± as he sprinkled a seasoning mix onto the potatoes and shook them around in a mesh bowl.

    I looked to Rin again, ¡°Actually, I got the impression that the Director was not too happy about how that went down. After breakfast, I wanna get into the Hub and meet up with my new Clan, could you also look into that agent that brought us in, Rin?¡±

    He nodded from the other side of the island where he was busy pouring himself a second cup of coffee. ¡°Yeah, no problem. Do you remember his name?¡±

    I thought for a moment, then shook my head, watching as Ali started to lay out plates and assemble the food. She even brought out a bottle of hot sauce, and I looked at her in a whole new light.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t. I¡¯m sure that won¡¯t stop you though. That looks amazing.¡± I grabbed the first readied plate, and the bottle of sauce, reading the label and nodding in approval before dousing the scramble with it and wrapping it all together.

    I lost focus on everything else as we all dug into our food. I had to insist that Ali make one for herself and join us, which she only did so reluctantly.

 Chapter 22

    The door at the end of the hallway, the steel one that looked like an elevator, led into the private Link. Just inside the doorway were three short steps down, and the room opened up into a giant glass-screen plated box, 40 feet to a side. The glass walls shifted from a metallic sheen in a wash effect to display a similar rainy forest theme as the screen over my bedroom windows, while the floor remained a grid of tiny raised circles.

    A Link saddle and rig hung from the ceiling, just off center, on a long arm with a half-dozen joints, and I glanced around to see if there was an Impex station for the import and export of items though the game.

    Tevin, Rin, and Ali had all three followed me into the room. Ali looked impatient, and Tevin craned his head around with a look of wonder clearly marked by his dropped jaw and huge smile.

    Not seeing an Impex, I asked Ali about it. ¡°How do I get things in and out from the Hub? A Link is not much good without an Impex box.¡±

    She nodded and hooked a thumb over her shoulder to point at the back wall, next to the door we had come through. ¡°It¡¯s built in back there on the east side of the door, and will automatically open if you import something. Food and drink items will be delivered while you are still Linked as normal.¡± She turned and stepped over to the wall, pressing her open hand on the center panel and pushing it in. There was a satisfying mechanical click, and the panel slid partially up into the ceiling, the image of the forest sliding down the screen to maintain the illusion.

    Revealed behind the panel was a large empty cubby, about a meter square, with what looked like a pull-out shelf along the bottom.

    ¡°It serves as dual purpose, but it takes a few moments to load and unload from the building''s system. These boxes are all tied into a central Impex system that the rooms share across the whole floor.¡± She explained.

    I nodded, the system was worse than I had hoped, but better than I¡¯d expected. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s a pretty good deal. Any other quirks I should know about?¡±

    She nodded. ¡°This room is built with an accessibility system, that''s why the walls and floors look like they do. It offers limited functionality, but it''s capable of letting you log into the Hub without interfacing with the saddle and helmet. It will only work to link-up to the Hub however, it''s not compatible with the Factions layer.¡±

    I whistled and nodded as she stepped away and the panel lowered back down. ¡°That¡¯s pretty cool, but I doubt I use it much.¡±

    Tevin nodded and stepped over to the Link rig, tugging on the arm a little and nodding at its apparent solidness. I walked up next to him and sat down in the saddle. ¡°Alright. I¡¯m going to Link up. I need to talk to my new faction and sort out whatever check-boxes the transfer needs checked. I¡¯ll see you on the other side?¡± I said to Tevin.

    He nodded, all three of them moving towards the doorway. ¡°I¡¯ll be there in 5. Ping me with your location when you¡¯re ready to meet up. I¡¯ma go spend my latest bonus on some new toys.¡±

    Ali was the last to leave the room, lingering at the doorway and watching me as I reached up to grab the helmet. She gave me a downwards nod and pointed at one side of the door before it closed. A light hidden behind the screen panels where she had pointed briefly glowed red, then shifted to green after six solid steel rods crisscrossed over the doorway and clicked into place.

    I shook my head and smiled, grateful for her pointing out the strong lock on the door, feeling some unexpected relief from the unconscious worry of someone breaking in while I was Linked. A moment later, I pulled the helmet on and was transported to the foggy gray void of the Link-up lobby.

    Nothing felt out of the ordinary as I was shunted out of the Hub-side Link portal, other than the lack of the comforting weight of my plasma knife in my pocket. I looked over myself, feeling more comfortable in my Holo work clothes, and frowned when I realized I was barefoot. I thought again about exporting my new mag-boots along with my knife to the real world and not retrieving them yet. I thought, maybe I should invest in a set to keep at home and another for the Links, so I would not have to keep paying the tariffs each time I transferred them.

    I left the portal building and padded down the clean street, looking around for someplace I could get a cheap pair of Holo boots.

    As I walked, keeping my eyes out for a street vendor hawking footwear, I opened up my message screen and sorted through it.

    4 new messages:

    Sender: Duirtak Galidurn - Subject: Welcome, beardless.

    Sender: CLE Admin K.S.R. - Subject: Housing Contract

    Sender: Counselor A. Nakoma - Subject: Conditional Faction Reassignment

    Sender: Kanduirik Hammerting - Subject: A Hearty offer

    I thought about which message I should open first for a moment, then decided it would make the most sense if I read them in order, so I opened the message from who I assumed was an important dwarv I¡¯d yet to meet. I willed it to open, and leaned against a random shop''s wall as I read it.

    A Hearty offer:

    Salutations, Nicholas ¡°Kaninak¡± Spenser.

    I am Kanduirik Hammerting, elected King and Voice of Clan Theedrite. House Galidurn has found success with your petition before the Moot. As one, we will negotiate with your birth faction to secure your Juvenile status within our great Clan under the banner Galidurn. We are pleased to hear of your open hearted offer and look forward to adding you to the alloy of our society.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    If all goes well, expect to hear from your House, and I look forward to meeting you on the fields of initiation.

    I read the message over again, thinking it over for a moment. I worried about the implications of the need to dance around the subject of the Heart of Stone. Was my Faction allowed to read my private messages? That thought scared the hell out of me as I opened the next message.

    Conditional Faction Reassignment:

    Diplomat-Consul, Guy Nicholas Spenser - C-class Citizen

    The council has approved a Contract with the Masked Ambassador Faction known as Clan Theedrite that calls for the transfer of your Faction Membership. Your Social Ranking will be frozen and your Native Citizenship will be listed as De-Linked under special provision 216C of chapter 54 of our Diplomacy Regulation Measures.

    You are hereby awarded the provisional Title and position of Diplomat-Consul specific to your new assignment, with all appropriate rights, rewards, and statuses that the position is entitled to.

    Your contract will be re-negotiated once per year, at a time to be determined by the Director whose authority you may fall under at such time; or at any time with the recommendation of said Director due to changes of circumstance and actions taken.

    Your revised and updated Citizenship Patence has been approved by the Council and will be attached to this message.

    Your Director has assigned you a handler to ensure and assist your performance, designated as ¡®CLE - Katie S. Roderegious - B-class Patriot¡¯.

    -Unity Counselor: Anang Nakoma

    I read the message, then walked to the nearest vendor and bought whatever they had to drink. I didn''t even look to see what it was or how much it cost me. I drained half of it and sat down on the curb, before reading the message again, and then checking over my updated Patence.

    Sure enough, Diplomat-Consul was a full blown title, albeit one that was highly conditional and liable to be stripped away by a simple majority vote of the Council. It was not even all that high up the hierarchy of the Arktrian Administration, and still, it came with a lot of perks and as many responsibilities.

    I decided I would have Rin and Dalls handle as much of it as possible, and moved on to the third message.

    Katie¡¯s was much simpler, and did not even have a main body of text, just the contact info and an automatically added boiler-plate signature. Attached to it was a simple contract laying out our agreement to cover the cost of my Retinue and housing. Also listed were the conditions for success at my newfound position.

    Mainly, she seemed to expect me to push for greater trade relations, and an eventual full Faction Alliance. Mentioned at the very bottom was someone by the name of Colonel Barney Bray, who would be my in-game political contact on the Arktrian side.

    I back-burnered that for now, not wanting to dig into the details and numbers that claimed most of the spotlight within the paperwork, and moved on to the last message.

    Welcome, beardless.

    The Moot has agreed! Which makes us family, of a sort. Things are moving quickly as we prepare what needs done when your Heart joins with our clan. I am too busy now for leisure carving at the shop where we met. When you are able, seek my nephew Chane at our Faction Central within our block of the Neighborhood. He has been tasked with welcoming you, and I think you will get along like alloy and flux.

    I will seek you out myself when I get word you have made it to Underhome so that we might complete our compact. You¡¯ll have your skills and secrets, and we¡¯ll gain a new brother.

    I welcome you again, beardless, I sense great things down the seam.

    -House Patriarch, Duirtak Galidurn

    Finally, a message that didn¡¯t induce more stress, and even alleviated some of my worries. I had worried over where I should go to meet-up with my new faction, and knowing I would have a guide was a relief. It was interesting to hear that the elder dwarv who had taken a back-seat during the conversation at the shop was the House Patriarch as well, and I wondered why he had let Kazzad do most of the talking.

    Thinking over the messages, I stood up from the curb and renewed my search for some boots.

    After ditching the empty bottle, I just tossed it away and it disappeared after bouncing once against the street. I found a loud middle aged woman with a mobile pushcart stand who was selling sandals and flip-flops. She charged me another 25 credits for a flimsy looking pair of Trash rank Holo boots that looked to be made from canvas and mesh fabric. They were still better than walking through the crowded streets in my socks.

    I left the lady behind, and checked my map to see where Theedrite Central was. On a whim, I decided to pay the 50 Cr. monthly fee to unlock the mini-map function.

    Fifty-Four-Thousand-Seven-Hundred-Twenty-Seven-Point-Five-One-Five

    I added the minimap to my hud, adjusted the transparency down a little bit and played with the size, before following the straight roads to the clearly marked Clan building.

    I¡¯m not sure what I was expecting, maybe some kind of nod to the mythology of the Masks the beetles wore and a fanciful or possibly mountainous facade on the building. Possibly even design choices borrowed from a human culture''s leadership, with columns or spires or tiers, to promote the ties between their Faction and our world.

    What I was not expecting was what looked like a giant office building, or maybe a high-rise apartment complex. Fifty stories tall, the footprint taking nearly a quarter of the city-block that it lay within, the building rose above its neighbors as a giant gleaming glass edifice. It wouldn¡¯t look out of place in any major city''s downtown business district in all of Eora.

    Maybe that was the point, breaking away from the norms of governance and old-world power, and appealing more to the business-centric image of the merchants and economics of those within the Links.

    I pushed my musings from my mind as I walked into the spinning glass door at the front of the building.

    I stepped through and had my initial preconception twisted back around on itself like a pretzel. Inside the building was a massive stone carving, hanging in the air above, and framed within the hollow gridded glass box. The whole interior of the building was filled with it, the hundreds of feet of glass-clad office building was only a shell that seemed to focus the diffuse omnidirectional and other-worldy lighting of the Hub onto the statue to create interesting shadows and contrast on the towering granite statue.

    It depicted a pair of dwarves, back to back with their feet braced against the outer walls of the shell as they climbed a rope together. They each had one elbow locked into the other''s belt, while one dwarv reached up and pulled on the thick cable that rose through the center of the building and the other braced the trailing cord below. The twisted line itself looked to be made of a darkly corroded metal that stood out darkly against the lighter colored stone.

    The rope seemed to be all that held the massive statue in the air, hanging above me and balanced on the spiraling column of metal. I was blown away at the level of detail I could see, even though it hung 30 feet or so above at its lowest point.  My eyes followed the pillar down to where it seemed to suddenly end, plunging into the ground at the center of the room.

    There was a circular desk that surrounded the support with a number of dwarves waiting in orderly lines, as well as a smaller line of humans. I walked over and joined the line of humans, grateful for the clear and empty floor as I simply couldn''t tear my eyes away from the massive statue hanging above me.

 Chapter 23

    The dwarven line moved along quickly, the bearded aliens spoke to the clerk for only a moment before either quickly marching out of the building, or walking down a lane that ran through the middle of the desks to enter one of the doors.

    The human line was another story. There were only 5 people ahead of me, but the person at the front of the line was jamming a finger at a tablet they had set on the counter and seemed to be arguing with the dwarv at the counter. There must have been some kind of privacy filter around them. Silence filled the massive chamber, only broken by the occasional cough or shuffle of feet from the small waiting crowd.

    After a half an hour of waiting, I finally got my turn at the counter and walked up to the dour faced dwarv when they waved me over.

    ¡°Name and business, Human Kaninak.¡± He asked, his hand poised over a strange spiraling input device.

    I nodded and smiled. ¡°Nicholas Spenser. I¡¯m here to meet with Chane Galidurn?¡±

    He tapped a few buttons on the device, and I spotted the distinct metallic line of a retina projector on his cheekbone just above the border of his thick brown beard. His eyes scrolled side to side as if he were reading something, before he nodded and grunted.

    ¡°You can wait inside, Chane will meet you in the lobby. Welcome to the Clan, beardless.¡± He waved over at the door I had seen the other dwarves going into, dismissing me and calling up the next person waiting in line.

    I felt the looks from the other humans on the back of my neck as I stepped through the door. They could stare all they wanted, at least my turn at the counter had been quick.

    Inside was a plain box of a room, white and gray along the bottom half of the walls and floor, and that same dark metal above. I glanced around and felt the floor drop out from under me. I panicked for a moment, remembering the fall under the mountain, but calmed down after assuring myself that I was just riding an elevator downwards.

    The ride only lasted a few moments before the doors soundlessly opened. I stepped through and looked around at a sort of bustling office, long tables filled with dwarves silently working at stations with blurred screens.

    I¡¯m not sure what I expected, but after the awe of the statue and the open shell of a building, I found myself surprised to find an actual office hidden away.

    I looked around and spotted a dwarv jogging towards me from the left. He had less bulk compared to the two I had spoken with the day before, and his beard was only a handspan in length, yet he was built to the same proportions if a little less filled out.

    ¡°Lo! Nicholas?¡± He called out as he approached. He stopped in front of me and gave me a somewhat awkward smile, showing off his metallic teeth. ¡°I am Chane Galidurn, it¡¯s great to meet you, nephew.¡±

    Unsure of what to say, I nodded and answered simply. ¡°That¡¯s me. I¡¯m glad to be here, uncle?¡±

    He smiled again, a quick emotion that lit his face up before vanishing entirely a moment later. ¡°Excellent, Grandfather will be pleased by your prompt arrival. I am to show you the way to Teurniting, the Underhome.¡± The name he gave for the place sounded like turn-a-ting and made me smile.

    He continued on, despite my amusement, ¡°I am to guide you as you acclimate to the ways of our people, feel free to pressure me with any questions. Your first challenge will be to prepare for your initiation to the Clan.¡± He moved closer and grabbed me, bodily spinning me around and pushing me back into the elevator.

    ¡°I will bring you to the Underhome and show you, it will be easier. You can portal to your old Factions capital, yes? I will meet you there.¡±

    The elevator doors closed behind us and we rode back up to the statue room, he kept speaking and pushing me forward when the doors opened again, his hand firmly gripping the back of my belt. It was uncomfortable, being pushed around like a little kid. I resisted the urge to start struggling with the dwarv, deciding to just roll with it.

    Like all the rest, it was just another day of getting pushed around. All part of the job.

    ¡°You, Kaninak must learn many things before your Trial: how we Live, how we Battle, how we Make.¡± He spoke with a reverence to his voice and a vague focus in his eyes, as if reciting rather than speaking.

    The doors opened again and he ushered me out through them, between the lines of now slightly bemused staring people. ¡°Grandfather has spoken of great hope for you, and your ability to weld within the House and Clan. I give you trust that you will ensure he is correct. I have heard, also, of the wealth you bring to the Clan already, and look forward to calling you Brother when you come of age.¡±

    I got the impression that Chane was slightly flustered as he rushed me out of the building. He kept hold of my belt as he pushed me across the floor and away from the statue, finally releasing me when we hit the Hub¡¯s streets outside.

    I went along with it as I struggled to grapple with his awkward manner of speech. I wondered why he spoke without the heavy accent of the other two dwarves I had met.

    ¡°He probably has not spent much time with humans or other Xenos. Their translation system is especially complex; their language is all clicks, pheromones, and ear/antenna twitching. Each of the houses has a strong dialect, which breaks down further into the smaller bloodlines and individual families. They claim to have a universal language they all agree on using with the translation system, pssbbbhhtt, but most of them are so bad at it, it takes a while for their translator to get a solid match.

    As Max made the raspberry noise while speaking directly to my brain, I could have sworn I felt little flecks and drops of saliva sprayed all over the side and back of my neck and one half of my face. I twitched an eye and flinched away from the gross wet feeling.

    ¡°Damnit-¡± I cut myself off before I said anything else as I glanced at Chane. I shook off the feeling and turned and looked at him, straightening out my clothes and trying my best to hold the anger I was feeling for Max from my voice.

    I gave Chane an apologetic bow, because fuck it, why not? A bow is a common enough expression. I expected it would translate easily and help smooth my reaction out for the translator system. ¡°Are you always so pushy with new recruits? Us humans don¡¯t normally enjoy being man- er, dwarv-handled like that.¡±

    He shrugged his shoulders and scrunched his eyes up in a difficult to read expression. ¡°It is our way, nephew. Until you are initiated as full Brother, you will be given strong guidance and direction from all House members. You would be best served to, ¡®suck it up and deal¡¯, as your kind might say. Eight humans have already found homes within our houses, including one within our own, you will be fine so long as you work to learn.¡±

    He half turned away from me, looking at me sidelong. ¡°Now, I will meet you outside of your Arktrian Factions Central. Quick fast, beardless. We are waited for.¡±

    I nodded, bowed again for the same reason as the first time, and turned away and started jogging off to the nearest Factions portal. I started to curse Max out under my breath as soon as I turned.

    ¡°What the fuck was that? Did you actually somehow just spit on me?¡± I raised a hand and rubbed at the back of my neck, then looked at my hand.

    ¡°I wish. I could probably manage to tweak the game into doing that if I fully linked in myself, especially in the Hub. No way it would fly on the Factions layer. I¡¯m just piggybacking off your connection and that would set off all sorts of alarm bells. We don¡¯t want to get the attention of an Admin, although I do expect we¡¯ll have to deal with a Mod eventually. All I did was fire off some neurons, you''re fine.¡±

    I stopped at an intersection and looked around for one of the large glowing portals, spotting one a half block down.

    ¡°That¡¯s fucked, Stick-man. If you want to be on good terms with me, you can¡¯t be messing with me like that while I¡¯m in the middle of an important conversation. You were so close, so damn close, to being helpful. Then you totally glitched out.¡± I got weird looks from a couple of people as I hustled down the street whilst grumbling to myself.

    I turned and walked straight into the Factions portal when I reached it, and directed my anger at the menu when it appeared out of the fog of the in-between void.

    Default: Eora - Rome - Free

    Home: Arktrian - New Heustings - 5 Cr.

    Recall: Rosso - Private Reserve - .5 Cr

    Faction: Theedrite - Teurniting Hive Central - 5 Cr.

    Random: Planet wide (Coastal) or (Inland) - Free - 1/week

    System message: Your Faction has changed, change your Home spawn to match your Factions portal to receive a spawn discount. Speak with your new Factions Administrator to change your Home.

    I attempted to sigh at the message, yet was unable to in the spawn void without a body. I nearly selected the Theedrite option, yet thought twice about it. Chane was probably aware of the options I would have, if they had dealt with a Faction transfer before. This could be a test, so I followed directions and forked over the 5 credits to spawn in New Heustings.

    ¡°It¡¯s just part of the fun, harmless fun. Defrag your drives, man. What else am I supposed to do while you¡¯re farting around with your buddies other than mess with you? Plus, you needed to show some anger in your response to Chane back there, and I knew your diplomatic ass wouldn¡¯t unless I poked you a little.¡±

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    The familiar sights and sounds of my country''s Factions Capital building blurred into existence around me, and I stepped down from the platform. I walked down the ramp and pushed my way through the crowd towards the open exit doors.

    I continued to grumble at Max, ¡°What do you mean? He¡¯s essentially my new boss, not someone I want to antagonize.¡±

    I stepped through the doors and stopped at the top of the stairs that ran down to the street, scanning the busy sidewalk for my bearded guide, or uncle, maybe mentor? I wasn''t sure what exactly to call him yet.

    ¡°It¡¯s a whole thing with their culture. Some old proverb about balancing pressure and heat and measured responses. He pushed you around to see how you¡¯d react and if you would push back.¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have just told me that? Instead of spitting into my ear? Jackass.¡± I growled back at him, not seeing the dwarv in question, but noticing a familiar salesman I had seen before.

    ¡°Yeah, I could have. Would have been far less entertaining though. Anyway, forget all that for now and go check out that vendor. He has Engrams, see if you can talk him into selling you one!¡±

    I looked around for Chane one last time, and after still not seeing him I reluctantly followed Max¡¯s advice. ¡°Just don¡¯t pull something like that again, or I¡¯ll¡­ I don¡¯t know, start looking for a way to annoy you back.¡± That seemed like a good idea, and I resolved to think more into that when I had a chance. I¡¯d been so caught up in a whirlwind of change lately I had hardly had the chance to give anything much thought over the last few days.

    Max did not reply and I noticed a message ping into my inbox. I quickly glanced at it as I crossed the street and walked up to the traveling Gelgin salesman''s setup. I expected it to be a stupid meme or something from Max. A bit of extra salt in my wounded pride to hammer in his point. Thankfully, I was wrong. I opened the message and cracked a smile when I noticed Tevin had changed his in-game nametag back.

    Since we reconnected, he had been using an officially assigned tag for his military service. Since he was now on a more discrete assignment, it looked like they had let him choose his own private tag. So of course he went back to the gamertag he had used back in the day.

    .

    ShadowS: Where you at? Friends list says you went into Factions?

    I paused and thought for a moment, would Chane let me bring along a bodyguard? I kind of doubted it, but made plans to ask him once I met up with him. I typed Tev a quick message back.

    Kaninak: Getting a tour from my new guide. I¡¯m waiting for him at the Capital, not sure if he¡¯ll even let you tag along tbh. I¡¯ll keep you posted

    I turned back to the salesman. He was sitting on a small folding chair and idly scrolling on a small entirely transparent crystal slab that I guessed was a fancy mobile-com. His personal storage space was open and floating next to him, the edge lined in glowing blue like any of the portals throughout the Links. With a little cloth banner that read ¡°Parzee¡¯s Party Supplies¡±

    I looked over the goods he had on display, mostly small personal tech items: mobile-coms similar to his own, a few sets of AR glasses, some fancy looking jewelry, a number of filled decorative flasks labeled as having rare imported drinks inside, and a selection of various gray-market alien pharmaceuticals.

    I glanced over at the Gelgin man and noticed he was watching me out of the corner of his vertical eye. I nodded to him and did my best to not stare at his strange features. His long pointed ears twitched as he looked me up and down, eyeing my dusty and worn clothes.

    ¡°Can I help you, workmen?¡± He spoke with an oddly drawling yet precise diction, a somehow familiar accent I couldn¡¯t quite place. ¡°Perhaps a new com-crystal? Or a rare intoxicating treat?¡±

    I shrugged and eyed the five shimmering badges marking a line up the side of his neck. Two were green, while two were black and the other the color of steel, and they all caught the light and glimmered with each movement he made.

    ¡°I¡¯m more interested in your Engrams.¡± I waved towards him, pointing at the badges.

    He scoffed, his eyebrows parting and sliding towards his ears. ¡°I may be convinced to part with one or two of them, human, yet I doubt you can make an offer enough to tempt me. Flash me your bankroll and maybe we can talk.¡±

    I shrugged and brought up my UI, clicking the icon next to the trade menu that would send a generalized valuation of my bank account, which was displayed as a ¡°B¡± next to my credit total in my HUD. The request went through when he accepted it and I was given a text box with his info as well.

    Bankroll level - A

    Parzee Yezztizz

    Geiangelgin - Social :Scholar D1

    Faction: Point C7

    I raised an eyebrow at him, knowing that it took more than half a million credits to qualify for an A rank and that I only barely qualified for B myself. ¡°Good enough to talk?¡±

    His expression vanished, going completely neutral before splitting into a strained smile, and he nodded. ¡°Yes, I believe we can talk. Of course, my Hatchback Engram is not for sale. The others I might part with, for the right price.¡±

    I waved in a rolling gesture with my hand between us, ¡°Well then, Parzee, what''s on offer?¡±

    He laughed melodiously. ¡°As you must know, Engrams cannot be stored and must be worn openly and visibly. Simply inspect my loadout, and it will give you the details.¡±

    I nodded, trying to play it off as if I had, in fact, known that. ¡°Of course. I, uh, did not want to appear rude.¡± I said lamely.

    I looked up at his nametag, and intented on the Inspect option, and got a window pop-up with a full breakdown of his gear. Towards the top was a secondary box titled Engrams that I highlighted and willed open. The first was his Hatchback Engram I had already heard about, but now I got some extra details.

    Hatchback

    (Holo Engram, Utility, Commodity grade)

    -2 Speed

    -5 Grace

    +2 Size

    Increases inventory size by 20%

    Allows summoning of a customizable display case and creates a small secondary inventory tab. Objects within this tab will generate proxies of the items within the display case. The display items are only avatars of the items held within the inventory tab and cannot be stolen or taken further than 2 meters from the case before reverting to their original position.

    I nodded along as I read the first ability, it made sense why he would want to keep it as a traveling salesman. The free extra inventory alone made it worth it, especially if the percentage boost applied to extra inventory space rented from the Bank.

    I moved on to the next item eagerly.

    Mage Laser

    (Holo Engram, Hybrid Ability, Commodity grade)

    Range: up to 100m

    Damage: Varies by selected focus, power, and range.

    Both an Attack ability, as well as a Utility. Mage Laser allows for the projection of a directed variable focus laser in pulses or a continuous beam. The User can dial the strength of the laser from .5 kW to 50 kW.

    Provides a 200 kWh battery that recharges at a rate of 20 kWh per hour. Additional batteries within the Users personal inventory can be used to power the laser, but will not be recharged by the Engrams recharge rate.

    From metal workers, to stage magicians, to combat; this Engram is a common piece of kit for many who feel the need to bring the heat.

    My eyes widened as I read over the second Engrams info. Mage laser seemed like a goofy name to me, as the idea of Magic, Mages, or casting spells at all was not something I had seen much of in the tech focused game. Before I could get hung up on that, I kept reading.

    Double Jump

    (Holo Engram, Traversal Ability, Bulk grade)

    +2 Grace

    +5 Speed

    Allows for a single step in mid air lasting no more than 1 second.

    I was not sure if such a short description was a good thing or a bad thing, but it seemed like a useful ability all the same. Especially with the bonus stats.

    Dodge

    (True Engram, Defensive Ability, Bulk grade)

    +3 Poise (Grace, Speed, Reflex)

    You may assign one non-static target for this ability at a time, which can be transferred by reactivating the ability on a new target. When active you will receive advanced visual warnings of any threatening moves or attacks against yourself from the target.

    I scratched at the stubble forming along my jaw and thought about this one a little longer. It seemed quite useful, until Max spoke up.

    ¡°Pretty cool, but also totally something I can do. He¡¯ll probably want a whole pile of credits for it too. Even if it''s Bulk grade it''s still a True item, think of it as a cost multiplier. The laser is easily the best one, but you¡¯ll probably only be able to afford his Trash rank one even though it''s also a True item.¡±

    I nodded in reply to Max¡¯s advice, assuming the Parzee would read it as me reacting to his goods and moved on to the last Engram for sale.

    Megaphone

    (True Engram, Social Utility, Trash grade)

    -1 Empathy

    +2 Social

    This engram amplifies the volume of your spoken voice by 10 times, for up to 30 syllables per hour. Available amplification regenerates at the speed of 1 syllable per 2 minutes.

    I read it over skeptically, not sure how much it would be worth paying just to yell loudly. Since Max had recommended it though, I decided to ask about it anyway and took a moment to plan my negotiation before asking.

    ¡°What''s your ask for Megaphone? It¡¯s Trash, but seems like it could be a fun cosmetic.¡± I waved the info box off to the side of my UI so I could look at the Gelgin.

    ¡°It is a fine tool, more useful than it may sound, especially for a salesman such as myself.¡± He turned and made a grand sweeping gesture with his hand as he yelled over the noise of the crowded street, his voice booming out loudly enough to hurt my ears. ¡°Many items from far and wide! Come one, come all, to Parzee¡¯s Party Supply!¡±

    I shied away at the volume of his yelling and nodded, shooting him an annoyed look before replying. ¡°I can see that. So, where are you at on it?¡±

    He smiled widely and his ears twitched as he shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d like to see at least 20 thousand out of it. Engrams, even the lowest of them, are in hot demand and difficult to source.¡±

    I watched him closely, trying to guard my cringe at the cost of what seemed like a kind of lame ability. If he wanted that much for a Trash rank, I knew the asking price for the more useful abilities he had would be exponentially more expensive.

    ¡°That seems steep to me, how about 10k?¡± I shot back, hoping I didn''t offend him with too low of an offer.

    He scoffed, and there was a glint in his eye that I couldn¡¯t quite read. ¡°Nonsense, you¡¯ll be the talk of the town just for having an Engram. Not many have amongst your kin have gathered such wealth to afford them. Surely you could make it closer. Say¡­ 19?¡±

    I frowned and shook my head, hoping he would have moved further towards the middle.

    ¡°15 thousand still seems too steep, but that¡¯s the best I can do.¡±

    A kind of creepy smile spread across the face of the salesmen. ¡°Make it 17, and you have a deal, Nicholas.¡±

    I stared at him for a moment before I answered. ¡°16 is the most I can do, last price.¡± I reached out with the offer of a handshake.

    His grin grew and he tilted his head to the side as he studied my extended hand, ¡°16500 and the badge is yours. I will accept no less, but only if you give me your contact info as well, so I may send you more deals in the future.¡±

    I held myself back from agreeing for a second, before I nodded. ¡°Deal¡±. Only then did he reach out to shake my hand, and it automatically popped up a trade window with the details we had discussed already filled in. We both confirmed, and the small steel colored badge appeared in my hand.

    I sent him a friend request as well, which he instantly accepted. Then I was startled by a hard poke to my lower back and a grunt from behind me. I turned and saw Chane standing there looking up at me with a neutral expression.

    ¡°Is your business concluded, nephew? We must make haste to the launch pad if we are to make our flight on time.¡±

    Chane started to drag me down the street again, and I waved in parting to the salesman. Parzee nodded and waved back at me, his vaguely creepy smile still smeared across his face.

    ¡°Until next time, Nick Galidurn. Be well, and profitable!¡±

    Thirty-Eight-Thousand-One-Hundred-Fifty-Two-Point-Five-One-Five

 Chapter 24

    I quickly equipped my newly purchased engram, noticing it gave me multiple options on where I could equip it. Most of the options were grayed out with markers for my current gear that would hide the badge. I settled on placing it along the side of my neck like Parzee had worn them, and directed my attention back to Chane as he pulled me along.

    ¡°We¡¯re flying? Why not just take a teleporter?¡± I questioned Chane as I followed in his wake through the crowd. He drew looks and smiles from lots of people, until he shouldered them out of our way as we moved through the press.

    ¡°Yes, we are flying. One of our transports made a delivery to this city as part of our deal with your Faction. Our Patriarch finds it fitting that the same ship should be used to bring you back to our home, and we like to avoid the teleportation taxes when possible.¡± He replied as he shoved and knocked the air out of a man who was mid-laugh at the sight of the stout dwarv.

    I got the feeling he was not telling me the whole reason, but decided not to push the issue. ¡°No complaints from me, I¡¯ve seen ships parked on the pads, and flying overhead or making deliveries. It¡¯ll be cool to actually get to fly on one.¡± I said as I stepped around the now angry and wheezing man.

    That drew a flash of shining teeth from Chane over his shoulder as we broke from the crowded downtown district. A block later, we turned from the main street onto the equally large road that led to the hardened and patched field that served as the city''s aircraft parking lot.

    I quickened my stride to march alongside the dwarv, who despite his short legs set a fast pace as we approached the scorched field. I could see a number of ships and jets of various sizes with swarms of people and heavy equipment moving around them as we neared.

    Chane led the way to a pointed brick of a ship, about the size of a two story house with no windows and smoothed corners.

    He stopped for a moment as we approached, letting me take in the sight. ¡°That¡¯s our ship, a gift from the homeworld when we laid our claim. The Hearthbound.¡±

    I couldn''t help but smile as I examined the ship. The back end flared out with rounded shapes to either side, and I saw the blasted plants that clung to life in the packed-earth field behind the ship bent over and swaying in the wind from the idling engines. I was surprised to see no obvious wings, or canons, or even flight control surfaces. Only four flared-out rounded protrusions at each corner of the rectangular base of the ship, plus large conical engine ports at the back of the blocky craft. I looked to Chane for an explanation.

    ¡°It has no wings? I thought that was required for, you know, flight.¡±

    The dwarv gave out a single ¡°Hah¡±, before explaining. ¡°It would be for a plane or jet. The Hearthbound is designed for in-system transport. Similar to what you humans may call a space shuttle, a landing craft, or a drop ship.¡±

    He stepped forward, and one side of the ship cracked open and folded down to form a ramp amidships. I followed after him after I recovered from my surprise.

    ¡°Wait, this thing¡¯s a starship?¡± I asked.

    When we entered the ship, we met another dwarv who was standing at the top of the ramp. He was not taller than Chane, but was much thicker and I assumed older. He wore a visored half helmet, that covered the top half of his head and everything but the long brown beard that was neatly braided at the end and tucked into his belt. Chane exchanged nods with him, and he guided us over to a fold-up bench along part of the far wall.

    As I sat down on the bench, the new dwarv followed us and slapped each of us in the shoulder in turn. ¡°Kar, good to see you, and you future Brother!¡±

    He nearly knocked me over with the slap. I only managed to brace myself in time because of a red outlined warning flash around him as he moved. Finally something useful from Max without a sour note, unless you counted the slap.

    Chane grunted and slapped the man back, earning a flash of his shining teeth from amongst the bushy facial hair under the new dwarv¡¯s helmet visor.

    ¡°Yes, Krarnin Dun, could you bring up the drop screens while we fly?¡± Chane replied.

    The other dwarv nodded, flashed another grin, and disappeared into a short hallway towards the front of the ship.

    I already had a queasy feeling as I pulled on a harness for the second time today, and just listened as he answered my earlier question.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a starship, not quite, True starships are not really a thing. Some Factions have managed to create them, but they are behemoths with whole cities inside. Generation ships meant for decades or centuries of travel before settling distant worlds. There are Holo starships, but we do not currently possess one. The Hearthbound may not be a starship, but it is a True ship.¡±

    I nodded along, noting that his speech pattern was starting to sound a little less stilted, thankfully. Still, no sign of the accent I¡¯d heard from all of the rest of the dwarves. I wondered if or when he would start affecting the accent like the others.

    I was knocked out of my wondering by a flash of panic as the ship lifted off and quickly started moving, rocking me sideways towards the back of the ship and pushing me into the seat.

    What really threw me off though, was that all of the walls of the ship instantly vanished. Boom, 360 degree vision as we pulled a tight turn and quickly banked and climbed away from the airfield.

    The floor of the ship turned into a meshed grid like a chain-link fence, the bench was still there thankfully. I had something to ground myself on as the other jets and ships on the ground whipped past, before I saw a tilted view of the capital city blur by while we rocketed off into the sky at a steepening angle.

    ¡°Well then. These guys are serious about their tests.¡± Max chimed in cheerily as I focused on my breathing, finding it difficult to catch my breath as it felt like I was being trampled by an angry crowd from the acceleration bearing down on me.

    ¡°They¡¯re pulling a full 8g. Really pushing it for an untrained human with no gear. Lucky for you, you have me! You should be fine with all the little tweaks I gave you. You''re welcome!¡±

    I still struggled for breath as I watched the ground drop away, the forests and weathered mountains of my home region becoming less and less distinct as we climbed into the sky. Our hard burn lasted less than a minute, before the pressure let off and I was free to actually take in the sight before me.

    We had reached a low orbit, hurtling across the edge of the atmosphere. I could make out the recognizable coastlines of the continent, and the sky stretched black overhead, I could even see the hazy transition of sky to space on the horizon.

    Chane sat stiffly next to me, bracing himself against his harness and watching me without comment.

    I calmed myself and gestured at him, waving around at the invisible walls and floor. ¡°Are these the¡­ what did you call them, drop screens?¡±

    His mustache twitched back and forth before he answered. ¡°Exactly, we must be wary of an attack as we land. It is unlikely, but we must be prepared. The crew will likely spot anything, but more eyes is generally better.¡±

    I was relieved to hear about their vigilance. This would be the first time I had ever left the Arktrian capital city or Rosso¡¯s private island on the Factions server. Which was something I¡¯d been anxious about since I started working in the Link.

    I nodded in reply, too busy watching as the whole damn planet lazily spun beneath. When we started passing over the mountain chain that ran up the western coast of the continent, I noticed one of the tall mountains was smoking, the plume of a minor eruption clear on the screens from its shattered peak. I watched in awe and wonder at the amazing view. I hadn''t even known of an active volcano in that range before. It must be part of the added land that the system had created for our world''s digital version.

    It¡¯s one of the perks of digital land. The system could dial the size up, fill in new landscapes and add a few embellishments, all while keeping the effective gravity of the planet the same. Then the Core could auction off parts of the new land to Ambassadors, sell some more alongside the expensive Masks to breakaway factions who could afford it, and pocket the credits and tax from the economic activity, all while telling everyone what a good deal they just got.

    Chane remained silent for the ride and let me enjoy the view, thankfully Max did the same.

    We crossed the mountains at an angle and skirted around a vast expanse of green to the north of the range, then the ships engines spun up again and flared to push us into a trajectory that followed the coast north-westward. I watched, captivated by the view for another few minutes before the ship rolled again to start breaking, pushing me back into the seat again.

    With one last flip of the ship we dropped back into the atmosphere and started shaking and bumping as we fell out of the sky, heading towards a massive ridge of mountains along the coast. It felt like freefall or weightlessness, and gave me a flashback of my terrifying fall under the mountain.

    I pushed the flashback away, stamping down on the intrusive note of anxiety as I realized I had signed up to live under a mountain in-game for at least a while. I doubted Max and I would stay here for long, by the way he spoke about his plans. Yet I¡¯d have to stay at least until I passed the trials everyone kept talking about, and got the training or skill books that kicked this whole thing off.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    As we neared, I saw that one of the mountains was smoking, not quite like the volcano, this mountain smoked from multiple places and still had a pointed peak rising high above the ridgeline. When we got closer, I could see little figures in places along the range, plus signs of quarrying, mining, and forests being cleared away from the foothills along the near edge of the range.

    The little figures resolved as vehicles, once we got even closer on our approach to the smoking mountain. I started to see individual dwarves alongside the vehicles, and a number of vehicles trailing along a road that led up to the mountain we were rapidly approaching.

    The ship flared its bottom engines a few more times, nudging us in one direction or another. Only once we were so close it seemed we would crash into the mountain did the ship pull its nose up and pour on the deceleration with the bottom engines to brake our speed.

    The pilot pulled the ship into a graceful arc, flying backwards just over a leveled patch of ground for a moment before we plunged into a yawning cave-like entrance that was hidden on our approach. The screens cut out and the pilot gave the powerful rear engines three short blasts, killing the last of our momentum. Then the ship rocked and jostled as the landing skids finally touched down and we ground to a halt after sliding on the skis for a few meters.

    Chane had a satisfied look about his eyes as we untangled ourselves from the harnesses and stood. ¡°You did well for a human. Come, the elders are waiting for your initiation.¡± He reached out to grab me again, but I knocked his hand away and stood on my own.

    I¡¯d had enough of being dragged around for the moment, and thankfully he did not try to reach for me again. He simply nodded and turned to the door which opened and folded down into a ramp. Outside was a huge cavernous area with perfectly flat and smoothed natural stone flooring, marred by occasional long scratches from landing skis. I could see the huge cave entrance we had rocketed into a few hundred meters off, letting bright white light filter into what turned out to be an underground hanger.

    There were a number of other vehicles scattered around the cavern, one other craft that looked identical to the Hearthbound, a row of various human-made jets, some smaller open-top grav carts, and an assortment of heavy trucks, cargo carriers and even a few helicopters. There were only a handful of other dwarves working in the area, who paid us no mind as we walked away from the ship and deeper into the dim cave.

    I followed along behind Chane, and we soon reached a dump truck sized blast door set in another amazingly smooth stone wall. It had no cracks or signs of working at all, and I wondered how they managed to carve out such a large cave so quickly and perfectly. I looked forward to finding out once my training began.

    We continued along the road, walking down the side of the huge corridor in a small lane marked out with an alternating series of bumps and indents, like a highway rumble strip. The whole tunnel was lit by dim orange lamps set into the high ceiling, and had a gentle curve to the right that sloped downward leading us deeper into the mountain.

    After a solid 10 minutes of walking along in silence, just as I was about to ask Chane how much longer of a hike we had, we reached a closer to normal sized door set into the wall to the side. The door was just a little too short for me, and I felt my hair graze the top of the frame as I ducked through after my dwarven guide.

    On the other side of the door was a view unlike anything I had ever seen before. We stepped out onto a balcony lined with bulky statues of dwarven soldiers. Beyond the rows of statues I saw what can only be described as a mountain within the mountain, wriggling with activity and more of the dim orange lamps that twinkled and flashed. The peak was perhaps a half mile distant and the bottom was blocked from sight by the edge of the balcony.

    I moved forward for a better look and practically jumped out of my skin when the nearest of the statues shifted and performed some kind of salute. It slammed its fist against its chest above a cradled rifle and wobbled their head from side to side.

    ¡°Kar Galidurn and Initiate! Welcome!¡± It then lowered its fist and resumed its original pose. I noticed the rifles and other weapons they carried contrasted darkly against the rough texture and brownish coloring of the statues, and looked over at Chane for an explanation.

    He was too busy giving the statue a slight bow, and he bobbed his head in a similar manner. ¡°We are glad to be home, Tak. Are we free to ride the cable?¡±

    I watched as they replied, my wide-eyed confusion crystalizing into an answer all on its own as I realized these were not statues but either bots of some kind, or possibly armored dwarves.

    ¡°Patriarch Galidurn has spoken of your arrival. King Kanduirik gives his assent.¡± The armored dwarv replied stiffly. There was something vaguely creepy about its booming voice and immobile stone features.

    Chane bowed, ¡°My thanks, Tak Brightenjaw.¡±

    I watched the exchange in fascination, looking over the stone dwarv with curiosity. Chane spoke to it as if it were not a bot, steering me towards the conclusion that it was either non-autonomous like the majority of the robots we had back home, or really was an armored dwarv.

    Chane had to drag me away from the line of statue-like dwarves this time. He pulled me towards the edge of the balcony where I could make out a thick braided cable anchored just below the lip of the balcony. There were no handrails or guards along the edge, and I finally got a view of the base of the interior mountain where brighter lamps and many large vehicles rumbled and worked to continue carving downwards into the bedrock of the mountain range.

    I felt the stone under my feet start to tremble as a deep vibrating hum filled the air. A shape began to move towards us out of the darkness, which turned out to be a double decked platform that was ratcheting along the cable towards us. There were no lights on the platform, and I could just barely make out the shapes of another group of statuesque dwarves riding on top of it.

    While the platform rumbled closer, I leaned over to Chane and asked, ¡°What are these things, Bots? Armored guards?¡±

    He answered without looking at me, ¡°They are the King¡¯s guard, all chosen and honored veterans.¡±

    I grunted in response as we waited, watching the contraption slow down and come to a stop with the top platform perfectly aligned with the balcony. Chane stepped onto it as soon as it halted and I followed him, approaching the four guards who formed a square just off center of the mosaiced platform.

    The four guards remained perfectly still as we walked between them. Once I was closer I could see they were standing at the corners of a hole in the floor, which turned out to be a back-lit staircase that I followed my guide down.

    More lights slowly grew brighter and illuminated the bottom platform as we walked down onto it. Here there were no guards and only a few tables, surrounded by a number of low couch-like chairs. The darkness somehow made the open platform feel small and confined, with only the distant light of the city breaking up the inky blackness surrounding the square room that the platforms created. Chane ignored the furniture and walked forward, pausing a few feet from the edge as the whole thing slowly started to crawl along the cable towards the interior peak.

    We picked up a little bit of speed, and once again stood in silence. I looked over at Chane a few times to see if he would say anything, his quietness starting to get to me as we neared the inner hive. Unable to take it any longer, I started to question him as we neared the glowing city and the end of our ride.

    ¡°So, you all keep talking about these trials I have to pass. When do I get more information about them?¡±

    He hardly moved as he replied. ¡°The trials change with every testing, no two quite the same. You must learn the concepts and values, engrain them into reflex.¡±

    I turned my head to face him, giving him a questioning look. ¡°And¡­ what are these values and concepts? Or is figuring it out myself part of the test?¡±

    He looked up and bowed his body, like he was stretching out his back as he replied. ¡°The trials are simple. You must learn to work with your team, your generation, called your Row. How to work with our methods, the mixes and customs of our crafts. Finally, you must display your courage and loyalty. The trial itself will last three days, and is taken together with your Row. Each House puts forward their class of initiates ready for the trials, and they all happen at the same time.¡±

    I glanced over at him, surprised at his long and surprisingly clear speech. ¡°That all seems straightforward enough. How long do I have to learn, until the trials begin?¡±

    ¡°Twenty six days.¡± He answered immediately. ¡°We will start your schooling at once, after your initiation at the clan house. Your Row is already working on formations and combat, you will join them. When they are done with you, Kazzad-Tak has volunteered to instruct you in our crafts.¡±

    ¡°Kazzad¡­ Tak? Is that the same Kazzad from the shop in the Hub? And What does the ¡®Tak¡¯ mean?¡± I asked, remembering he had called the guard at the balcony by the same name.

    He frowned and looked at me out of the corner of his eye. The platform we were riding was now climbing the gentle slope of the massive cable, nearing a small tower that rose from the side of the underground mountain, about halfway up the spiraling hive city.

    ¡°You are correct. Kazzad is an honored veteran, and was named Tak during our first year of the Mask.¡±

    I continued to watch him as bright lights flared on the tower and spotlighted us on our platform, causing me to raise a hand and shield my eyes from the glare. I still managed to keep my focus and attempted to pry more information from the dwarv.

    ¡°So Tak is an honorific? That makes sense, I guess. Speaking of language, what¡¯s with your accent, or lack of one? Kazzad and the others I¡¯ve spoken with before sounded very different.¡±

    He shrugged, and I swore I saw his cheeks redden above his beard in the harsh lights shining on us from the tower. ¡°That is¡­ a shortcoming of mine. I am young, and must master the language before I am trusted to correctly present our Masks to outsiders.¡±

    I thought about that for a moment, keeping my hand up to block the blinding lights from the tower as I felt the moving platform start to slow down.

    After a few seconds, I asked again. ¡°So the accent isn''t real? Or part of the translation system?¡±

    He shrugged, and the platform shuddered slightly as it came to a stop against the tower. ¡°You are correct, it is a sign of our commitment to our Masks. A duty that we uphold.¡±

    I smiled at the revelation, I would have never guessed it was all just a show they chose to put on.

    ¡°Really? That''s surprising? All the Masked factions are a total bunch of roleplayers. It takes a certain kind of crazy to commit your whole family lineage to pretending to be something else. You should have seen some of the complaints I got about the Orc faction over in the southern hemisphere. If your dumbass fractured governments would bicker and squabble less, they never would have allowed them as an option.¡±

    My smile quickly flipped after the cold water of Max¡¯s comment. Tevin had shown me some of the vids coming out of the island continent that was struggling as a whole to deal with the warlike orcs. While they had not outright conquered any of their surrounding neighbors, which was forbidden for two decades under the treaty that allowed them here in the first place, they constantly launched raids and harassed everyone in their region.

    I¡¯d been completely shocked by the videos, and even more so when Tevin had joked and laughed through them with his soldier''s brand of dark humor.

    Max continued to prattle on as I followed Chane into the bright lights and onto the tower, only half paying attention as I nervously stepped forward.

    ¡°The Core really just wants to sell anything they think they can get away with selling. Offering the Ambassadors the skins of mythical creatures to cosplay with kills two birds with one stone. The host species gets that warm squishy comforting feeling of seeing something familiar, which makes it easier for them to assimilate. While the Masked faction gets a leg up on establishing trade and diplomacy with a newly joined planet. The Core sells it all and sits back, collecting taxes from all the trade and selling advantages for all of the fighting it inevitably creates. If I didn¡¯t hate them with the burning fury of a well fed quasar, I¡¯d be impressed.¡±

 Chapter 25

    The blindingly bright lights snapped off and revealed a dozen more of the Kings Guard waiting for us on the tower. Chane walked us straight through their rows and into a huge bronze colored door that parted in the middle to let us through.

    We continued through the door and into a tall and well lit room lined with polished and posed metallic statues of dwarves on raised pedestals. Alternating between the statues were carved pedestals topped with almost invisible display cases filled with various artifacts and items, from weapons old and new to crystal goblets and gem-encrusted armor.

    Just inside the doorway, we turned and entered a discreet door set between two pillars and behind one of the display cases. I got a good look into the case as we walked past, within the case was a tarnished set of silver inlaid black gauntlets and a matching helmet with intricate fluting and embossed patterns. I spotted what looked like large gleaming silver gem settings on the forehead of the helmet and the backs of each gauntlet, but they sat empty as if whatever gem was there previously had been pried out.

    ¡°Fancy. According to the provenance logs, those are House Rocksturdy heirlooms from their early days as a faction. It shows that they were owned by someone from those Sequence weirdos for nearly 8 cycles though. The settings are for Engrams, by the way. You should get something like that made for yours so you don''t look like such a pleb.¡±

    I blinked at Max¡¯s intrusion, and wished I could reply freely. I was getting sick of him talking at me and having to reply with emotions and general thoughts rather than words.

    I filed that information into the back of my mind and followed Chane through the door, which opened into a spiraling staircase. Chan started down the stairs and I followed right after, thankful that the ceiling was high enough for me to not have to crouch to avoid bashing my head into the treads above.

    As we spiraled down, thinking about the armor reminded me of Tevin and I finally remembered to ask about him.

    ¡°Hey Chane, what are the rules for me bringing visitors or guards of my own? I have a, uhm, retainer who is assigned by my home country to guard me.¡±

    He grunted and replied without looking back at me as we continued down the sharply twisting staircase. ¡°Initiates are not allowed visitors. He could apply for a visa which you could sponsor once you are a full rank Brother. It would be unwise of you to bring a servant before then.¡±

    I frowned at the back of his head, ¡°He''s not a servant, but a friend. Closer to me than my actual family.¡±

    That earned me a strange look from Chane over his shoulder. ¡°Closer than your actual family?¡± He said, an undertone of confusion in his voice.

    ¡°Ah, yeah. I¡¯ve known him since we were kids, and I¡¯m not close with my blood-family.¡± I answered, not wanting to get into the details about my estranged family.

    He stopped on the staircase and half turned to face me, a hard look on his face. I nearly ran into him but managed to stop myself.

    ¡°Why would you forsake your family?¡± He said harshly with narrowed eyes.

    My own eyebrows went up in surprise and I hurried to answer. ¡°It¡¯s complicated. My parents are anti-Link, and my sister went no contact and disappeared a couple of years ago.¡±

    He studied my face for a moment, before he huffed and turned back around to continue down the staircase. ¡°That is understandable. Is that the only family you have? I forget that humans keep much smaller Houses.¡±

    I kept pace, following him out of the staircase and through an open doorway, then into a plain stone corridor with a ceiling only a few inches taller than myself. ¡°Yeah. My parents had me when they were older. My grandparents were already elderly when I was born. They passed away when I was a kid.¡± I explained truthfully.

    We stepped onto a large raised square of uniquely dark colored tile set into the carved stone floor, which clicked audibly and lowered into the floor slightly. The tile lay in front of another smooth bronze door. Chane raised a hand to signal me to stop once we both were standing on it.

    He looked over at me and said with a solemn tone in his voice. ¡°It must be lonely. No wonder you have found friends to bond with.¡±

    His comment made me feel awkward, causing me to avert my gaze and stare down at the floor. I didn¡¯t like thinking about my family and the drama that being sent to the labor camp had started. I scuffed one of my cheap boots against the basalt tile as we waited.

    Thankfully, we were only held back for a few more seconds before the door opened all on its own, revealing a small metal box of a room that gave off a distinct feeling of being yet another elevator. We both stepped in. After the doors closed, Chane leaned forward and spoke into what looked like a speaker set into the wall next to the door.

    ¡°Mid Street level¡±

    I watched him, thinking that voice control was an odd choice, but chose not to comment as the door slid closed and I felt the room start to move downwards. My mind wandered back to my family and the last pleading and damning message I got from my parents, demanding that I quit my contract and move out to join them in the rural forested mountains of the northwestern region of Arktria.

    I was pulled out of my reminiscing when the elevator stopped and the doors opened once more. This next room bustled with activity, dwarves in matching uniforms pushed carts and stood in small groups talking with each other. Some wore partial suits of armor like the statue-looking dwarves from above, their helmets removed and held under one arm as they chatted with the plain uniformed dwarves. No one bothered us as we crossed the room and exited through a large open door frame to our left. We continued on through an entryway presided over by a white-maned dwarv seated at a high desk, who lazily waved us towards yet another set of bronzed double doors.

    The sound of voices and vehicles washed over us as we stepped out onto a narrow street, devoid of sidewalks and packed with dwarves both on foot and piloting various small vehicles. The smell nearly floored me: a mix of spice, musk, exhaust fumes, and something sour akin to vinegar.

    This time I was the one who reached out and grabbed ahold of Chane¡¯s shoulder as he pushed into the crowded street. I was two feet taller than everyone around, giving me a great view out over the crowd, only obstructed by the occasional vehicle larger than a bicycle and the buildings lining the street. I got a few looks and stares as we made our way through the press towards a larger street, but was largely ignored by the bustling mob.

    I looked up and rubbernecked around, trying to get my bearings on where we might be in relation to the mountain-like city I had seen from across the balcony, but was unable to spot much of anything overhead. The buildings to either side of us were too tall, and the tower was the only landmark that stuck out from the uniform skyline all carved from the bedrock of the mountain.

    I nearly had my grip from Chane¡¯s shoulder ripped away a few times in the crowded press of the street, despite my height and size I was knocked around like a child in a stampede by the stocky, smelly, bearded masses.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Chane shouldered, pushed, fought, and elbowed his way down the road until we entered the stream of bodies moving along the larger avenue. I did my best to cling to him and not get knocked over and trampled as we started uphill.

    I wondered at the estimations I¡¯d heard for the dwarven population. If there were so many people here on this one street, how many lived here in total? If the whole city was this crowded, there was no way the dwarves only had 50 thousand members in their faction. There seemed to be thousands of them here on this one patch of broad road, and I could see more of them in the open doors along most of the first floors of the buildings to either side. Everywhere I looked were dwarves busily going about their day. Some even climbed up the sides of the buildings and into windows or onto balconies.

    I was quickly and thoroughly lost, all of the buildings looked nearly identical and kept a uniform height, each building rising a few meters higher than the last as they wound ever higher. There were no landmarks or signs on the buildings even, just plain blocky facades with open first floors that swarmed with busy bearded business. I¡¯m not sure how long it took us to bull our way through the crowd before we finally made it into an open archway and into one of the buildings.

    We pushed through a line of dwarves waiting to be loaded down with large bundled packages before they ran off into the street, and into a sort of courtyard at the center of the building. It had the feel of a shopping mall, with various stalls and shops set up around the edges and an open interior where a few dwarves seemed to be inspecting themselves or adjusting their clothing or armor in the free space.

    Finally away from the overwhelming noise of the street outside, I spoke up to Chane and let my grip slip from his shoulder. ¡°Where are we going?¡±

    He continued through the courtyard at a brisk pace as he answered. ¡°I am to show you to your Row house within the Galidurn commons, and then deliver you to the Patriarch. Until you are tried, you will be barred from much of the city unless you are escorted.¡±

    We walked under another arched doorway and vaulted balcony at the far side of the interior courtyard and into an open doorway, before taking a series of quick turns into the maze-like interior of the undermountain. A left, then a right, before a long upwards staircase.  We were waved through a heavy door that a guard opened for us, took another elevator upwards, and passed through a massive room filled with long tables crammed with dwarves singing and swinging shiny brass mugs.

    After leaving the drinkhall behind, we took a lengthy corridor lined with carved stone doors out to a long plaza rimmed with buildings of a variety of sizes. These buildings were adorned with carvings and statues in both stone and metal.

    One building towered over them all, at the far skinny end of the plaza, lay the only building I had seen so far to be built up with varying materials rather than carved directly from the bones of the mountain. It gleamed with gilded pillars, contrasting black and white layers of basalt and marble relief carvings, dotted amongst the decorations were large cannons, beam projectors, and shield arrays that looked like skeletonized satellite dishes.

    We made our way across the courtyard, cutting across at an angle and towards one of the larger and squatter buildings. Passing multiple groups of dwarves marching around in formation, drilling and practicing. Others formed rings around smaller sparring trios and pairs. Over it all rang the sound of hammers, the clash of arms against armor, and the reports and pings of target fire.

    I was fascinated by all of the activity, and earned a sharp reminder from Chane .

    ¡°Come, Nick. You will spend plenty of time here later.¡±

    He grabbed me by the back of my belt and started to push me around again. I noticed I drew a few looks from the other dwarves as we moved through the orderly training field, and could have sworn I spotted another taller human duck into an open archway of one of the buildings.

    ¡°Did I just see a human? Another outsider?¡± I tried to ask over my shoulder, but he just ignored me and pushed me through the open doors of the squat building.

    He continued guiding me forward down a long straight hallway lined with staircases and balconies to either side, reminiscent of the prison block I¡¯d spent a year living in. Each door had a half dozen small pedestals flanking the opening, about half of which were occupied by lifelike bronze statues of dwarves in plain clothes, each with a tool in their hand.

    We turned to the left and went up one of the staircases to the second level and through a door that automatically opened as we approached it. I noticed this door had two statues outside of it, and something about them was familiar. One depicted a dwarv with a shorter beard with a drafting compass in their hand, while the other was modeled after an older and more filled out dwarv with their hand on a hammer tucked into their belt.

    When we entered the room, the three dwarves already inside all turned their gazes to us. The largest of them stood from the low table they were sitting around shouting, ¡°Lo! Driller Chane!¡±

    They all jumped to their feet and slammed their fists together in front of their chests. Chane replied, ¡°Da-Bomilik, be at ease.¡± He pushed me forward one last time, causing me to stumble ahead of him.

    ¡°This one is Nicholas, the last of your Row.¡±

    The three dwarves all looked me over with a mix of skepticism and hope. The largest of them, Bomilik presumably, flashed me a broad smile filled with steel teeth, while the other two watched me with a mix of hostility and mistrust.

    They all were nearly beardless compared to all of the others I had seen up to this point. Bomilik had the most scruff on his chin and was already slightly larger than Chane himself. He had a similar black mane of hair. One of the others had a mass of brown dreads instead, while the last had deep red hair and looked at me with an angry glare.

    For the first time, I easily recognized the redhead as female. The lack of beard making it easier to spot the differences between them. She scowled at me and made a gesture as if she were smacking her hands together to knock dirt or dust from them.

    The dwarv with dreads spoke up, ¡°A Human, with weeks to go until the trials? You test us already, Brother.¡±

    Chane slammed his boot heel against the ground, causing them all to jump back into the pressed-fist salute before he shouted back. ¡° Da-Korfook! The council has approved, Grandfather has spoken, and I have ordered. You will follow or you will be held back for the next Trial.¡±

    All three of them bowed their heads over their fists and spoke at once. ¡°Yes, Dun-Chane¡±

    Chane stepped up beside me so he could elbow me in the thigh to pull my attention back. ¡°This is your Row¡¯s chamber. When called to meeting or preparing, this is where you will find your Brothers. Remember it well.¡± He turned back to the other dwarves who were still bowing their heads, shouting, ¡°And you all will see to his success, yes?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Driller Chane!¡± They all said in unison.

    ¡°Good! Now, inform the others as they arrive. We must see the Patriarch.¡± He then spun me back around and pushed me towards the door.

    Not sure if I should do or say anything, I let him show me back out of the room and down the staircase. We went back across the plaza and towards the largest building I¡¯d scoped out earlier, the massive carved and adorned bronze doors were already cracked open just wide enough to drive a van through.

    Inside was a huge and open room, with vaulted ceilings and massive arches supported by slender free standing pillars. Everything was decorated from floor to ceiling with gilded carvings, jeweled statues, relief murals, and hanging artworks.

    There was a small crowd of dwarves at the far side of the huge space, all standing around a low circular table. After we had made our way a few paces into the room, a dwarv startled me by shouting somewhere to my side.

    ¡°Brother Chane and outsider!¡±

    I jumped and glanced over, seeing that there were two armored dwarves standing to either side of the door, each with a rifle slung over their shoulder and a tall staff held in their hand.

    Chane took the announcement in stride, and we continued on towards the group. As we neared, it became apparent that this was a group of elder dwarves. Their beards were a mix of mostly black, gray, and white with a few deep browns mixed in. The table soundlessly sunk down into the floor on our approach, and the group parted and fanned out into a rough V-shape centering on a familiar face.

    Duirtak, the gray-bearded dwarv from the stone carving shop in the Hub stood at the center of the V, and to his side was a grinning Kazzad. The rest of the dwarves all looked more solemn and resolute.

    ¡°Welcome, outsider Nicholas! Our Hive n¡¯ Home welcome ya¡¯. I¡¯ve told ta¡¯ elders here of yer prowess and spirit. Have ya¡¯ brought that which was promised?¡±

 Chapter 26

    Chane once again pushed me out ahead of him, then took a few steps further back and bowed his head in deference. I looked back at him before turning to face the elders, making a quick bow as well before replying.

    ¡°Thank you, Patriarch. The city is impressive. And yes, I have brought the stone.¡± I pulled the Heart of Stone from my inventory as I spoke, and held it out in both hands.

    There was some general murmuring between the dwarves at the outer edges of the V, and Duirtak stepped forward into the middle of the formation. He smiled and reached out in turn, gesturing for me to come closer.

    ¡°Good, ya¡¯ have continued to honor yer¡¯ word. Come, kneel down here n¡¯ we¡¯ll get da¡¯ formalities outta¡¯ ta¡¯ way.¡± He pointed down at the floor before him.

    I cautiously stepped forward and kneeled down on the mosaiced flooring as he had instructed. Even on my knees I was still equal with his eye level. I slouched slightly and held the stone out, unsure of what I was supposed to do and feeling rather nervous about the whole deal. I glanced from side to side and noticed the looks I was getting from some of the other dwarves were less than friendly.

    Duirtak spoke again, his voice raised and booming with reverb throughout the huge room. ¡°Guy Nicholas Spenser, by my hand and with the Moots approval, I declare you family within House Galidurn. I name you Kaninak Galidurn, and grant you the Rank of Beardless with permission to join the upcoming trials.¡±

    I noticed he spoke clearly and without an accent, which made a bit more sense now that I knew it was a performance anyways. I looked back up to him, my chin still lowered to the floor. Wishing I would have had a bit more instruction on what I was supposed to do. This whole thing felt rushed.

    I expected more. A crowd, lines I would need to say, a stiff formal outfit and maybe even some kind of silly hat to throw in the air. I was interrupted from my thoughts by Max maniacally laughing in the back of my mind.

    ¡°Bahahahaha. I¡¯ve been looking forward to this since you agreed to join up!¡±

    The other dwarves had all stepped forward as Duirtak had given his short decree, and despite Max¡¯s pseudo-warning, I was completely caught off guard when they puffed their barrel chests up with deep breaths and all at once let out massive visibly cloudy belches that washed over me.

    My eyes widened and I made the mistake of gasping in shock as the vaporous clouds surrounded me. I coughed and closed my eyes as they started to sting, and I could feel it layer itself over my exposed skin like a humid mist. I resisted the urge to stand and flee, instead clamping my eyes shut tightly and bearing the strange sensation as I wheezed out my last breath and refused to take another.

    I struggled against filling my lungs before the cloud dissipated, and I was finally forced to as Duirtak reached out and plucked the Heart of Stone from my hands.

    He held it up for a moment, before reaching out and hauling me back up to my feet with his free hand.

    ¡°Welcome, Initiate. We ain''t much fer¡¯ pomp n¡¯ ceremony, truth be told. Yer¡¯ one¡¯a us now n¡¯ have been marked. Chane¡¯ll see ya¡¯ through da¡¯ Trials n¡¯ we can talk about what might¡¯n be next fer¡¯ ya then.¡±

    Most of the other gray-beards turned and walked towards the back of the chamber, while a handful crowded closer to look over the stone Duirtak held in one hand. I coughed in the background and blinked my eyes against the stinging gas, working to recover my senses as they continued the conversation without me for a moment. The smell was at least not entirely unpleasant, a mix of musty sweet and astringent, and it tasted vaguely fruity.

    After I recovered, I made out the words of one of the dwarves with less gray or white hair mixed in with the black of his mane, and flesh nearly as pale and smooth as fresh snow. He gazed at the stone intently as he spoke.

    ¡°This had better be worth it, Patriarch. Bringing the forge fully online ahead of schedule may not be worth further exposing our young to these¡­ people¡¯s¡­ culture.¡± He turned to me, wrinkling his nose into what I suspected was a sneer hidden under his thick black beard.

    When I had finally recovered enough to pick up on what they were saying, I narrowed my eyes back at the dissenting dwarv. Max¡¯s laughter continued to ring through the back of my mind, fanning my flaring anger and pushing me to rise to my feet and reply. Kazzad stepped forward and slapped a hand down on my shoulder and pushed me back down.

    Duirtak dropped his accent and replied to the dwarv, ¡°That is no way to speak to a promising new Initiate, Johkaht. You agreed to the terms of our exodus. Do not let your familial frustrations sour the weld.¡± He gave the dark haired dwarv a warning look.

    Jokaht scowled and turned to stomp away from us towards the exit, not bothering to return to the group that was reassembling back around the outline of the table in the floor.

    We all watched him storm away for a moment before Kazzad broke the silence. ¡°Glad ta¡¯ see ya again, Nick! I¡¯m sure ya¡¯ will be a fine addition ta¡¯ our House. Chane¡¯ll have ya¡¯ welded into yer Row in no time a¡¯tall.¡±

    I noticed one of the dwarves in the background with the whitest hair sharply turn their head over at us and roll his eyes at Kazzad¡¯s words, even Duirtak gave her a bit of a look from the corner of his eye.

    Duirtak waved the Heart of Stone into his inventory, and replaced it with a small chainmail pouch made from the same bronze colored material that I had seen a lot of since entering the mountain.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    ¡°That¡¯s just overdoing it, Kaz. Nick is no longer an outsider.¡± He said with only the slightest hint of an accent as he held the bag out, offering it to me. ¡°Here are the books you¡¯ll need, Da-Nicholas. You¡¯ll need to speak to the House armorer to grab the rest of what you¡¯ll need before you start your training in earnest.¡±

    I reached out and took the bag from him, resisting the urge to immediately open it and look through them. Instead, I imitated the salute the other members of my Row had given Chane when he chastised them earlier.

    Bowing over my fists, the bag dangling from its tie beneath them, I thanked him. ¡°Gratitude, Duirtak, Kazzad.¡± I gave Chane a nod as well to include him in my thanks.

    Kazzad laughed and slapped me on the back, while she and her father exchanged looks. ¡°Now, off with ye. We have much to discuss before we return to the Moot.¡±

    <hr>

    Chane and I left and returned to the plaza, this time veering off in a new direction towards a nondescript building that blended in with the rest of the scenery. The rhythmic ring of hammer and anvil growing louder as we neared, eventually drowning out the rest of the noise of the space.

    I felt the top of my hair brush against the open archway as we entered the shop. There were perhaps a dozen dwarves all working away at various machines. Powerhammers, white hot forges, vats of chemicals under ventilation hoods, and a multitude of anvils and workbenches of various sizes littered the floor. The walls were lined with neatly organized tools on racks, and entry was barred to the shop floor by a long countertop manned by an iron-gray bearded dwarv who perked up and smiled when we walked up across the counter from them.

    ¡°Lo! Brother Chane. This must be the new stalactite scraper we¡¯ve been prepping for? Good to have another Human around!¡± The dwarv shouted over the sound of ringing metal and grinders.

    Chane bowed his head and pressed his fists together. ¡°Yes, Zel Relik. This is Nicholas, newly initiated and ready for his first tools.¡±

    The older dwarv boomed with laughter. ¡° Hah Ha! Excellent! I look forward to seeing his produce.¡± He ducked down behind the counter and rummaged around for a second, before popping back up and slamming a woven metal basket down on the counter. Inside was a jumble of various bronze colored metal tools and items.

    He reached into the basket and started laying them out on the counter between us. ¡°Here¡¯s yer hammers, we¡¯ll start you off with a 3 Cu. double sided and a ball peen. Then we have yer¡¯ compass and pens, measuring tape and brushes. Lastly, we have something special for ya. I see ya have an Engram already, and don¡¯t go spreadin¡¯ word we¡¯re given ya¡¯ these around to the other humans, but¡­¡±

    He pulled out a set of blackened and forge-scaled gauntlets. Reminding me of the set I had seen in the display case at the King¡¯s tower when we first entered the city. I instantly recognized the shining green gem of an Engram clasped in a setting on the back of the left hand, while the right had a matching yet empty setting.

    ¡°Your new pride and joy. And what will allow ya to melt in with the rest of us, an absolute necessity if ye mean to work with our metals.¡± He set the gauntlets down on the counter, then pulled out a satchel that gently clinked with the sound of glass and dropped it down next to them.

    ¡°You¡¯ll need all this chaff to work the Engram properly. We get this stuff naturally, but ye ain¡¯t got the equipment ya need. Go on now, check ¡®em out. Get em¡¯ on yer fists and read the info, youngin¡¯¡±

    I looked over at Chane, amazed they were just handing over an Engram. He nodded solemnly, so I took up the gauntlets and read over their description.

    Hands of Creation

    (Holo Armor, Rare grade)

    Emblazoned Engram slots (2) (left: Chemical Synthesizer)

    (Right: empty)

    +5 Heart and Body (Determination, Empathy, Resilience, Power, Size, Fortitude)

    Forged by the Theedrite Forgemaster [Dunkar Brightenjaw] in the Hearth Forge (lesser) at the core of their capital. This Gauntlet marks an adopted member of Clan Theedrite and provides stat boosts intended to help level the physical differences between the two species.

    Designed to carry two Engrams, these protect the user¡¯s hands and forearms from all direct contact with heat, electrical, caustic, and acidic effects, and up to 200 kN of total force.

    I smiled so hard it hurt my face, and quickly willed the Engrams info box to open from the link over the gauntlets¡¯ page.

    Chemical Synthesizer

    (Holo Engram, Hybrid ability, Commodity grade)

    Grants the ability to expel, express, compound, and direct controlled amounts of chemicals via the fingertips, so long as the base materials are equipped to the user (unable to pull directly from inventory).

    While I was unsure of the level of usefulness of the Engram, it certainly seemed more powerful than the Megaphone one I¡¯d previously purchased. I pulled the gauntlets on manually and flexed my fingers, grinning from ear to ear as I watched the metal plates smoothly slide over each other as they articulated with my movements.

    ¡°These are awesome. They let me, like¡­ spray acid and etch metal and stuff?¡± I asked distractedly.

    The elder dwarv laughed some more, while Chane harrumphed. The elder dwarv answered my question. ¡°That¡¯s one way a¡¯ saying it. There¡¯s more to ¡®em than that though. They¡¯ll let ya do the etching and carving in the traditional manner of our kind, as well as helping with how we make our alloys and welds. Yer crafting instructor¡¯ll have more details for ya when ye get to it. They¡¯re great for hittin¡¯ stuff too!¡±

    Chane chimed in, a hint of pride in his voice. ¡°Kazzad has volunteered to guide his fabrication instruction.¡±

    Relik flashed his shining teeth, ¡°Kaz, back on the floor, eh? We¡¯ll have to top off the ol¡¯ inhibitor tanks, or the apprentices won''t be able to focus at all, hah!¡±

    Chane flushed slightly and shifted his stance. ¡°Aye, I guess.¡±

    I looked between the two, unsure what he meant by ¡®inhibitor tanks¡¯ and not really liking the sound of them. Before I could ask, a group of dwarves walked into the covered walkway next to us and started peeling sections of damaged armor off and tossing them into piles on the counter a ways down from us.

    Relik waved us off, ¡°Enjoy yer¡¯ new graspers there youngin, for duty calls me. T¡¯was good ta¡¯ meet ya! We¡¯ll see ya¡¯ fer training. Till then, keep yer¡¯ feet on the ground.¡±

    He left Chane and I standing there while he went to go help the other dwarves. I turned to my guide and brought my newly covered fists up like a boxer, mocking a jab at him.

    ¡°What''s next? Any more presents for your newest nephew?¡± I asked jokingly, still riding high on the excitement of getting my first rare grade equipment.

    ¡°There is one more place I must show you before you take your place within your Row and start your training.¡± After gathering up the tools and the basket they came in, I just pulled the whole lot into my inventory, he led me out from the walkway to cut across the open plaza again.

    We crossed the grounds and went through a large gatehouse, the tarnished tooth-like tips of a portcullis hanging over our heads. After a short walk through the chaotic streets, pressed back into a shoulder-to-shoulder streaming crowd of dwarven bodies, we walked up to a confusing sight.

    Taking up a whole side of a large public square at an intersection, was an entirely human-looking building straight out of any town, large or small. Laying just behind a small facsimile of a parking lot half filled with the strange little vehicles the dwarves drove through the crowd, was an S-Mart. Complete with the big blue sign and smiling sunny graphics. There was even a lonely stray shopping cart rolling freely amongst the vehicles in the lot.

    I couldn¡¯t help it, I laughed and elbowed Chane in the shoulder. ¡°Here I am, on a mountain, under a mountain, surrounded by cosplaying aliens, with my new magic gauntlets that are probably worth more than my old apartment''s whole building, and I still can¡¯t get away from chain stores.¡±

 Chapter 27

    Chane grinned and gave me the distinct impression he was going to grab me again. Instead of letting him haul me into the store, I started forward on my own before he could get a grip on me.

    After I managed to avoid his grapple, I asked as I crossed the street. ¡°Tell me Chane, enlighten me. Why is it important that I know you have an S-Mart down here?¡±

    I had been through so much in the last few days, I was in a state of chaos. Ready to roll with whatever ridiculous thing happened next.

    His grin disappeared and he violently lunged forward, grabbing and pulling me out of the way of a 3 wheeled bicycle-like cart loaded down with heavy looking bags that swiftly and silently rolled by and nearly ran me over.

    I laughed again from the sudden spike of adrenaline and shook out of his grip, ¡°And what''s with your traffic rules down here?¡±

    ¡°I am glad you are eager to see a familiar sight. I understand S-Mart is a big part of human culture. You must be wary of the couriers though, they have first pass when loaded and going downhill.¡±

    We made it across the street and into the parking lot without being run over, and Chane continued on as we walked through the automatic doors. ¡°The superstore has made quite an impression since we allowed its construction. There are so many options!¡±

    We walked through the doors and passed a cheap 2D holographic greeter. They had opted for the cheap version without any sound or movement, so the stock image old lady stood there with her hand up, with a comic style dialogue bubble bearing the companies ¡°Shop smart, Shop S-Mart!¡± slogan in bold text.

    I was at a loss for words as we moved down the initial lane. The whole front of the store seemed to be devoted entirely to a vast array of alcoholic drinks. There was a couple of skinny dwarves, too young to even grow stubble on their chins, restocking the cleared out section labeled ¡°Brandy¡±. Chane grabbed a large bottle of rum as we passed by its section, and I caught a whiff of burnt fryer oil coming from somewhere in the mostly empty store.

    ¡°You guys take the whole dwarven thing this seriously? I¡¯ve never seen so much booze in one place before.¡± I gestured to the handle of rum he was carrying along. ¡°Arktria regulates that stuff pretty heavily.¡±

    ¡°Your so-called liquor is one of the few human ingestibles that are compatible with our tract. It makes for great fuel. Why is it regulated in your lands?¡±

    He turned down one of the wide walkways and guided us over to a small and sad little food court. I was surprised to actually see a couple of other humans sitting at one of the tables, picking at trays of unidentifiable food.

    ¡°Because it¡¯s bad for you? It¡¯s addictive and bad for your health, plus the whole drunk and reckless thing.¡± I looked between him with his giant bottle of rum, and the kitchen that definitely had the smell of something burning wafting out from it. ¡°Why are we here though? Did we just stop by so you can get your fix?¡±

    Chane waved the huge bottle towards the counter and the other humans. ¡°This is where you will find your human nourishments, in case you are in need of refueling while Linked-up. We are aware of your frequent eating.¡± He turned the bottle in his hand and looked over the label. ¡°As for this, I grab one whenever I come through here. They are all so tasty, and I mean to try each of them before deciding on a favorite.¡±

    ¡°Drinking on the job, eh? I didn¡¯t take you for that kind of person, Chane. I¡¯ll admit though, snacks are great.¡±

    I watched the counter, trying to get a peek at whatever was burning in the kitchen behind it.

    He paused at the edge of a lonely post-and-ribbon line guide that blocked the way to the counter. ¡°If you agree on snacks, why do you instead look down upon day drinking?¡±

    I was busy craning my neck trying to get a look through the large open windows between the front counter and the kitchen behind it. ¡°Because being drunk makes you stupid, reckless, inebriated, it¡­ you know, lowers your inhibitions, helps you convince yourself to do dumb shit.¡±

    Chane let out a nearly convincing scoff and pulled my attention away from the kitchen. ¡°No, no. Your liquor does not cause inebriation. For that we have fume dust. For us, your alcohol acts as a mild stimulant.¡±

    I raised my eyebrows at him. ¡°A mild stimulant? So like coffee, or caff?¡±

    ¡°Sort of. The common metaphor, forged through cultural exchange, is that it is more comparable to what you call energy drinks. Some of the additives have compounding effects.¡± He smiled and glanced back in the direction of the self-checkout lanes. ¡°Do you wish to stop for a snack while we are here? This is the last location I am required to show you for your tour. You¡¯re free to go back and join the other initiates on the training field, or wander the House grounds.¡±

    I looked back over at the counter, there was definitely a slight haze of smoke back there, then shook my head. ¡°Na, I¡¯m good¡­ I ate a solid meal already today. I do have some questions though. Relik, the armorer back there, does he sell armor made for humans?¡±

    We turned and walked back out of the store after Chane confirmed his purchase of the handle of rum, which he immediately cracked open and started to drink from.

    ¡°Not so much. There have been talks with a number of your human factions about the possibility of arms trade, yet that is a deal the Moot must fully agree upon. For now, the human Clan members have made their own armor if they wish to have it.¡± He thought for a moment, took a drink, and then added, ¡°You might have better luck getting an armorer to repair or modify it for you once you make something though.¡±

    As we fought our way back through the crowded road, I attempted to get more information about the arms trade deal. I figured that kind of information would go a long way with my new political handlers.

    ¡°What¡¯s the deal with the arms trade? I imagine every human faction has been hounding you about that!¡± I shouted over the noise of the street.

    Chane led us around a trio of brawling dwarves that were slapping each other with open hands, pulling on whiskers and long hair, and grappling in the center of a spontaneous group of onlookers. A few vehicle driving dwarves were standing in the seats of their blocked carts and either adding their own shouts to the chaos, or watching the brawl with amusement.

    ¡°There is no deal as of yet, only courting and lobbying!¡±

    We made it through the mess on the streets and back into the comparatively peaceful plaza inside House Galidurn walls. Chane switched the conversation away from the arms deal as he continued with his brisk pace. We weaved through the orderly groups of training dwarves and back to the squat barracks-like building while he talked about the various formations they were practicing.

    It turns out, they do some really cool stuff with formation fighting, something I¡¯d thought was basically dead in the modern era with artillery, missiles, drones, and combined arms warfare. Their fantastic armor, even compared to other more advanced alien tech, was still quite effective against commonly used small-arms. Plus their focus on underground battles and fighting for tunnels rather than under an open sky only increased the effectiveness of their close-in formation fighting tactics.

    After seeing a hazy glowing blueish-purple cloud form above one of the formations, Chane explained that their elite squads used overlapping tech and natural abilities to build up and contain clouds of plasma around their shield walls. I had no idea how it worked even as he gave a basic explanation, but apparently they used the clouds to absorb laser fire and small arms, and the really skilled formations could even deflect or scramble incoming guided munitions.

    Chane stopped at the entrance to the building, taking a long drink of his huge bottle of rum. ¡°Do you remember your way from here? I would be doing you a disservice if I guided you in once more. You must earn the respect of your Row. They are young, competitive, and boisterous.¡±

    I halted as well and turned to face him, giving him another of the salute-bows. ¡°Of course, thanks for showing me around, Chane. Any last minute pointers for dealing with them?¡±

    He scratched his beard for a moment, ¡°Be strong, yet flexible. The young ones are curious about human culture. You all must work together for the trials, and they know this. You should find that they are mostly eager.¡±

    His eyes darted around and he waved his hand through the air, causing a new friend request notification to pop up on my HUD. ¡°Call for me if you must leave the House yard, or if you have other questions. Your group''s next instruction will be in roughly 5 hours. I will see you then.¡±

    With his parting wisdom given, he turned and walked away, leaving me standing at the threshold of the relatively quiet and reverbious barracks.

    This time, when I approached the Rows meeting room, I took a second to really look over the statues outside of the door and realized why they were so familiar. The first statue was of Kazzad, all wrought in gleaming silver as she struck a thoughtful pose. While the other slightly smaller statue was of Chane, his eyes set in a grim consternation as if he was examining a difficult puzzle.

    I delayed going back into my Rows room for a moment, and wandered further down the balcony to scope out some of the other statues which all turned out to be unfamiliar dwarves in various plain clothes. I had made it about halfway down the walkway, stopping to inspect each statue carefully, before Max spoke up.

    ¡°Come oooon, Nick. Just go in there and get it over with. This isn''t highschool. You have some serious catch-up you need to get started on if you want to pass the trials.¡±

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    I sighed and looked back at the door to my assigned barracks. Max was right, I was nervous about trying to mix into this already established team. I¡¯d started to procrastinate and push it off as soon as I was given half a chance. I needed to fight that urge, to get in there and get it done.

    Despite my misgivings and nerves, I forced myself back to the door and stopped in front of it. I could hear muffled and unintelligible shouting, or maybe cheering on the other side.

    After I finally reached up to open the door and meet my new team, I was immediately set back by a total lack of a handle, or any obvious way to open the dang thing. My eyebrows furrowed in instant frustration. Just as I¡¯d worked up the nerve to start, I¡¯d hit a roadblock. In my impatience, I started pushing on anything that remotely resembled a button in the subtle decorative pattern carved around the door jam.

    I was slightly startled when the door suddenly opened after my 25th insistent poke. It smoothly slid into the wall to the side and the shouting from within the room washed into the hall.

    There was now a small crowd inside the room, perhaps two dozen young dwarves. Some were paired off and sparring, while two trios were braced together and pushing opposing shield walls against each other. A few were sitting on the floor against the walls and watching or reading tablets.

    All the shouting came from a group of 8 or so in the near corner of the room where two dwarves kneeled over a circle of chalk drawn on the floor, while the others crowded around and leaned over to get a look at what they were doing.

    ¡°Hah! That¡¯s 7 pings, should have changed the field!¡±

    ¡°No! I told you, you have to plan your blocks!¡±

    ¡°Shut yer¡¯ vent, I have a plan!¡±

    I eyed the group of arguing dwarves and skirted around them, and was spotted by a pair who had been sparring when I entered.

    ¡°Lo! Nick, newest House member!¡± Boomed the large dwarv Chane had called Bomilik. ¡°Here to join yer¡¯ Row in training?¡±

    I froze as everything stopped and all the eyes in the room turned to face me. ¡°I, uh. Yeah. I got the¡­ belch of approval from the council.¡±

    I didn¡¯t get any laughs, but apparently that was an acceptable reply because the activity within the room resumed around us as most of the young dwarves went back to what they were doing. Bomilik and the other dwarv he had been sparring with, also with black hair, both walked over to me.

    They both offered handshakes at the same time, while showing their shiny teeth in big beardless grins. I shook Bomiliks hand first as he beamed at me.

    ¡°I am Bomilik, Son of Zurikar!¡±

    I took the other dwarves hand, who seemed rather amused to be shaking hands with a human. ¡°I am Jozoic, son of Thanmaul. I have not met a human before, am I doing this correctly?¡± He asked as he continued to vigorously shake my hand up and down.

    The bulk of the tension from meeting a new group evaporated at his words, and I laughed and glanced at his hand. ¡°Well, one or two shakes is the general norm.¡± I noticed the thick muscles in his forearm relaxed as he dropped my hand, his bushy eyebrows raising in embarrassment. Equal parts amused at his reaction, and grateful for my new crush proof gauntlets, I returned their greeting.

    ¡°Thank you, I am Nick Spenser, or¡­ Kaninak Galidurn. Son of, erm, Wallace.¡±

    ¡°Well met, Kaninak!¡± Boomed Bomilik again. ¡°Where do you plan to start? Which virtue will you first pursue?¡±

    I blinked in reply. ¡°Virtue?¡±

    The other dwarv, Jozoic, answered this time. His voice held a curious tone. ¡°The three trials are based on our three great virtues. Craft, Cohesion, and Courage. He asks which area you think needs the most work.¡±

    Bomilik nodded, his steely grin unwavering, and they both looked at me expectantly.

    ¡°Well¡­ whatever crafting stuff I need to learn will probably be the hardest. I¡¯ve been through a few fights at least. The only craft I know is stone cutting.¡±

    The two dwarves shared a look, and then burst out with laughter.

    Jozoic recovered first and responded through his mirth. ¡°Yes, that is a good place to start. We use much different methods than I¡¯ve heard you humans use. Is it true, you use hammer and chisel to scrape and chip?¡±

    There was something charged by the way he asked the question. Which made me hesitant to answer.

    ¡°Oh quit it, you big baby. Haven''t you pieced it together yet? I thought it would be fun watching your primitive attempts to learn and bond with these carapace covered monstrosities, but it¡¯s like pulling teeth.¡±

    I gritted my teeth, and pushed through Max¡¯s harassment to answer the question. ¡°Yeah, it is true. We¡¯ve done it that way for thousands of years. What''s so funny about it?¡±

    Bomilik lost his grin at my harsher than intended answer and glanced at Jozoic, who replied. ¡°Because it is taboo within our culture. To shatter the mountain''s bones in such a messy and crude manner is said to bring bad luck.¡±

    He looked over at the still shouting group crowded around whatever game they were playing in the corner and made a strange circular gesture with one of his hands. ¡°In our new home here, some take it more seriously than others.¡±

    Bomilik chimed in, ¡°Yeah, around here, that''s Kazek. He¡¯d shed his scant whiskers at the sight of a dusty chip.¡±

    Jozoic nodded, and looked me in the eye. ¡°We need no tools for stone cutting, it¡¯s built into our own blood and bones. Looking at your equipment sheet, it seems the House has given you an approximation. I am curious to see how you make them work.¡±

    I brought my hands up and looked over my gauntlets in a whole new light. ¡°So these aren¡¯t just for protecting me from your crushing handshakes and spraying people with acid?¡±

    Bomilik gave me a pity laugh, and Jozoic took my question seriously. ¡°No, they are much more than that. We melt and reshape the bones with chemicals and reactions. When it comes to creation you¡¯ll find that knowledge, a steady hand, and a skilled eye are more useful than brute force and power.¡±

    Bomilik pulled a huge block of reddish stone from his inventory, the size of a microwave, and dropped it on the floor with a grunt. ¡°Here, let me show ya!¡±

    He then froze in place, flashing between multiple poses faster than I could register and bugging out like a glitched video game avatar stuck in a wall or between animations. For one fraction of a second, he leaned down to peer closely at the rock, then superimposed over that he was standing and raising a mallet to strike a chisel, and the next moment he was puffing up his chest as he took in a big breath.

    It only went on for a couple of seconds at best, but it instantly gave me a headache and made one of my eyes start to twitch in its socket.

    ¡°Oh, woah!¡± I exclaimed. ¡°Is there¡­ something¡­ wrong?¡±

    My surprise drained away until all that was left was confusion. He had stopped bugging out, the overlapped images of him resolving into one form. He was leaning in close and slowly breathed in a concentrated and steady jet against a drop of smoking viscous liquid he had spat onto the stone. He changed the way he was blowing and guided the little ball of gel to roll down at an angle, where it left a perfectly clean and straight indented line in the stone. He shifted his stance, all while blowing on the little blob of goo, and guided it back up at a new angle.

    I watched in amazement as he slowly carved the letter K into the stone, all by blowing around a little blob of what looked like snot. When the letter was finished, he made a deep sort of choking noise in his chest, and hacked up a new blob of spit over the smoking acid.

    When he then slurped the mixture up off the face of the rock, I recoiled in disgust. Surprise, shock, and revulsion competing for the top billing within my reaction. ¡°That¡­ sure is something alright. You just¡­ spit on it? And then¡­ eat it again?¡±

    Bomilik stood back up to his full height of 4 foot 6, and beamed at me. ¡°Exactly! You¡¯ll have to do the same. You¡¯ll fail our whole Row if you try hacking away at any stone carving that needs done.¡±

    I looked at Jozoic, hoping he might have some other way. Sadly, he only nodded, his mouth a grim line. ¡°He is correct, although you will be using your gloves. Why don¡¯t you give it a try?¡±

    Max started giggling in the back of my mind, making it difficult to focus. I managed to answer despite his derisive joy. ¡°Okay, well, I guess let¡¯s see what these gloves can do.¡±

    I raised my finger and pointed at the stone block, and willed it to do something. A huge and complex looking menu popped up, filled with options and various panels. One even showed a little diagram of a ¡°Targeted¡± silicon dioxide molecule. I scrolled down one of the lists along the side, glancing over long and complex names that were almost all grayed out.

    Max¡¯s laughter intensified, and my eyes widened as I scrolled through the confusing options. I knew next to nothing about chemistry, and my hopes that my previous knowledge would ease my training drained away.

    ¡°Go on, try something!¡± Bomilik added, unhelpfully.

    ¡°It¡¯s all grayed out? I must be doing something wrong.¡± I answered.

    The following few minutes passed by with lots of unhelpful speculation. From ¡°Maybe your grip is wrong¡±, to ¡°perhaps you''re dehydrated?¡±, or ¡°try getting closer, you¡¯re too far!¡±. We beat our collective head against the proverbial brick wall for a bit, all while Max continued to periodically break into derisive laughter in the back of my mind.

    ¡°Man, don¡¯t tempt me to work on your memory. Your squishy meat brain really is inefficient. Have you already forgotten what the armorer said when he gave you the gauntlets?¡±

    I smacked my forehead with my palm at my forgetfulness, ¡°Ah! Thats right. Relic gave me this as well.¡±

    I pulled the metal basket out from my inventory, it was listed as a container and hid the items within while in my inventory. After I fished the satchel out and looped it over my shoulder, I took the time to pull each individual tool out from the basket and back into my inventory.

    The next time I pointed my finger at the block of stone, almost all of the options were available. It even gave me a handy little ¡°available mass¡± counter next to each item in the list, most of them were counted in grams or milliliters. The long complex names were essentially gibberish to me, so I picked one at random. I highlighted a compound called ¡°tert-Butyllithium¡±, and was prompted by a second menu asking if I wanted to compound it further with anything, which I waved away.

    Leaving the mix at 100%, I was then given a pair of sliders along the side of the whole window. One was labeled ¡°pressure¡± while the other was ¡°dilation¡±. After a moment of nothing happening, I moved the pressure slider up a little. Nothing continued to happen, and the small crowd of dwarves who had gradually gathered around us murmured amongst themselves.

    I slid the pressure slider up a little higher, and then bumped the dilation slider up as well, and all hell broke loose.

    Fire began to pour from my fingertip, bursting into an arm-length angry orange flame that blasted over the waiting stone. I waved my hand vigorously to put the fire out, and all of the dwarves gasped and backed away as I waved the flame around.

    It took a few seconds of frantic waving before my instinct of ¡®fire bad¡¯ was overridden by the problem solving portion of my brain. I moved the pressure slider back down to the bottom, and then the dilation one as well.

    I looked around at the scandalized group of dwarves, and about half of us burst into laughter.

    That was my first foray into pyrophoric experimentation, and the first step on my month long crash course into the techniques of the Zk¡¯Aek.

 Chapter 28

    The skill books, which were rather small and bound between plain bronze cover boards with thick crunchy paper, answered a lot of my initial questions about how I was supposed to make this work. I read through them while sitting against the wall of the training room for the last few hours before our first ¡°Instruction¡±.

    They were labeled with a specific reading order. The first of which was ¡°Confounding Compounds¡±. Simply reading the books was an experience unlike anything I¡¯d ever known was even possible. The text was utterly and compulsively captivating, and seared itself into my memory as quickly as it pulled my eyes along the lines. I was so engrossed that the whole building could have collapsed or caught on fire as I read, and I don¡¯t think I would have noticed or been able to pull my eyes from the page.

    Max got a kick out of the books too. While he had access to an absolute pile of knowledge through his general perusal of the internet and the games own system files, there were still some holes in his repertoire, especially for complex and specific industry details.

    ¡°Confounding Compounds¡± was a chemistry primer that gave me an uncannily clear memory of the base elements and the many combinations of them. ¡°Crafting with Chemicals¡± got into the ash and slag of the details on how to apply that knowledge to making and breaking stuff. The crafting book went into more detail on the common reactions and solutions the Zk¡¯Aek used for their excavations, the processes of how to soak various ores in specific baths to release the desired material, and most importantly how they made their armor plating.

    The plates turned out to be more of a composite than a true crystalline metal, and I had no frame of reference to realize just how crazy their ability to manufacture the stuff was. I still don¡¯t fully understand why it works, only how to make it work. The only way I can explain it is that they put down a carefully controlled and patterned three dimensional lattice of materials, mostly argon of all things, in layers only a single molecule thick at a time. They had discovered a process that allowed them to force the normally unreactive noble gas to bond with itself into an ultra dense and sturdy metal.

    They used a series of huge specialized machines to grow the plating, which I was given limited access to under the supervision of Kazzad and Relik. They taught me that each House had their own secret pattern base, which was further tweaked by individual would-be armorsmiths. All in a constant effort to evolve, perfect, and push their signature technology further and further.

    The last book they gave me, ¡°Common Core Crafting Mats¡± listed out the recipes, blueprints, and specifications for a few thousand different secondary crafting components from Trash to Rare grade. It had a huge list of different gem-cut geometries and the effects they would give, plans for small and powerful motors from various alien factions, and batteries using anything from lead and acid all the way up to radioactive decay.

    Each book took exactly one game hour to read, and the rest of the young dwarves went back to their training or play and left me alone as I read through them.

    After I had read through the books and played around with my gauntlets a little more, I locked in a few presets that would let me eat away at most of the commonly worked stone and metal types. In the process, I learned that the bronze colored metal that they used quite commonly was in fact a bronze alloy, aluminum silicon bronze to be exact.

    I had to end my experiments with a splash of neutralizer, and avoid the fumes like my life depended on it. Plus I couldn¡¯t just slurp up the compound and recycle the unused catalyst like the rest of my Row, although if I¡¯m being honest, that did not bother me one bit.

    The fumes coming off of my experiments led to another discovery, on top of causing Max to fly into a frenzy of warnings and complaints about me trying to kill us by huffing toxic vapors. They showed me just how extremely well the place was ventilated. All of the noxious smoke from the reactions I tested simply wafted upwards and away and never had a chance to spread much through the room.

    Evidently a society that uses pheromones and chemicals as often as the dwarves value smooth and predictable airflow, and go to great lengths to ensure it. To me, the dwarves and the whole place still constantly and intensely smelled in all sorts of different ways: alluring, off putting, and interesting all at the same time.

    I finished the books just in time for my first training session with everyone. Chane came sweeping back into the room and everyone lined up. Being the new guy, I guessed incorrectly that I would be at the end of the line furthest from the door.

    Turns out I was supposed to be the closest to the door, which earned me some light-hearted ribbing as I walked to my proper place, which also turned out to be their primary form of disciplinary action. The walk of shame. The offender would be made to walk down the formation and everyone would jeer and deride you for your mistake.

    Since it was my first day and walking down the row was the way to correct the mistake, it was nothing too bad and we got right into the training session. I was given one of their huge armor plate shields and a heavy staff-like weapon that I was unsure of the use of, and Chane drilled us on moving in concert with one another.

    We marched around as a block, or one big line, or pairs, or rows of four. We struggled when we were ordered to split into two groups and circle each other while maintaining formation, and my group lost the challenge when I tripped over the dwarven lass next to me and threw off the rest of the shield wall.

    Kikkelin, daughter of Johkaht, was the previous occupier of the ¡°needs the most instruction¡± position in our formation, and was at my side for the whole session. She struck me as the youngest of the whole group, because she had no whiskers on her chin or cheeks at all and happened to be the most obviously feminine of the Row. She had a curvy frame and wore a human music band¡¯s t-shirt under a gambeson made of straps that held a few bits of incomplete armor around her arms and shoulders. I noticed the humans in the graphic on her shirt, but didn¡¯t recognize the band and struggled to read the name through the messy font they had chosen to write it in.

    The fumble earned us each our own walk of shame. Kikkelin went first and I was caught off guard by some of the comments yelled out by the other Row members.

    ¡°Keep yer focus, Lin!¡±

    ¡°Aye, quit ogglin¡¯ the new leaf-eater and hold yer place!¡±

    ¡°Ya¡¯v done this drill a hundred times, get it together!¡±

    When my turn came, the jeers were a bit more constructive with one notable exception from the dwarf I had met earlier named Korfook. The one with a shoulder length mass of brown dreaded hair.

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    ¡°You need to brace your shield on your shoulder, and keep your elbow in!¡±

    ¡°Yer standing too tall! Ye¡¯ll have to learn to adapt!¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll never get a proper cloud shield going with you unless you form up, Kaninak!¡±

    ¡°Maybe focus more on where yer steppin¡¯ and less on watchin¡¯ Lin''s thorax, and we¡¯d be on to the next exercise, human.¡±

    We lined back up, and I got a hostile look from Korfook. He was the one who had, unfairly in my eyes, accused me of staring. Kikkelin and I spent the rest of the time avoiding eye contact and there was a whole new awkward feeling radiating from the girl.

    ¡°You said this wouldn''t be like highschool, Max.¡± I grumbled to myself as I rushed forward and crashed my shield into another dwarv¡¯s, this one named Sallis.

    Chane continued to put us through exercise after exercise, formations followed by sparring, and then conditioning to our heavy shields and staffs. All occasionally interrupted by a disciplinary walk down the line.

    I was unused to spending so much time holding my arms up in the manner many of the formations called for. My shoulders and back screamed by the end of the 10 long hours, despite the strength I had already developed by swinging a sledge and hauling rocks for a number of years.

    During a short break, I asked Chane about the usefulness of the staff they had given me, and found out that the staves were inert versions of the energy weapons that the dwarven military used to power their plasma shield technique. The bristling staves, poking out like the spears of hoplites, charged the cloud of gas they would collectively build up above and before the formation. Then they would guide and form the cloud with startlingly fast fans of their shields, or breaths from their powerful lungs.

    Luckily for me, we did not attempt to actually do any of the advanced gas tactics that first day. We just hammered on the basics for the session and I was grateful when Chane finally called a halt and reminded everyone to meet for the next one at the same time tomorrow.

    When Driller Chane finished running us through the drills of the day, most of the group quickly unequipped the piecemeal bits of armor they wore. We all stowed our shields and inert staves in a closet that blended in so well with the wall that I hadn''t even noticed it until the boisterous Bomilik had opened it at the end of the day.

    Chane walked out of the room straight away, and was quickly followed by the majority of the other dwarves. I stood around for a bit, considering wandering the House Galidurn grounds, or just portaling back to the hub to meet up with Tevin and then back to reality to enjoy my swanky new apartment.

    The dwarv lass Sallis approached and interrupted me as I was weighing my options.

    ¡°Ay, Kaninak. Even if ye¡¯ stomp around like¡¯n a giant, I hear ye at least can handle yer acceleration forces. I am Sallis, Daughter of Krarnin, n¡¯ me father says yer alright.¡±

    I blinked at the dwarv girl, and shook myself from my thoughts. ¡°Oh, yeah. Krarnin¡­¡± I racked my brain, and remembered that was the name Chane had used for the pilot of The Hearthbound. ¡°That¡¯s me. I¡¯ll get better about the stompy bit, promise. Your father is the pilot?¡±

    She let out a chuckle and stood a little taller, a note of pride in her voice. ¡°Of course! The best of our House, and the whole Clan.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°He certainly got us here quickly, it was a ride I¡¯ll never forget.¡± I added truthfully, even if my memory of it was partially tinged with crushing force and shock. ¡°So, do you¡­ have any advice for the shield?¡± I added, unsure of what else to say in the face of her boast.

    ¡°Eh, nothing the Row hasn''t already told ya. Formations aren¡¯t my strongest either, ye¡¯ll get used to ¡®em though. The trials are just to prove yer foundation, the real fun stuff happens after ye specialize.¡±

    That spiked my curiosity, and had me wondering about what specializations they might have and what that might look like. Like a secondary school, similar to the guild academies that Tevin and Rin had attended?

    ¡°How do you get into a specialization around here anyways? Do you pay, or promise service?¡± I asked, hesitant to offer up that much of a commitment, and doubtful I could afford the steep prices of any worthwhile education.

    ¡°Nah, haha. It¡¯s merit and sponsor based. Just give what you wanna do yer all, if¡¯n yer good enough one of the older dwarves will take ye on as a sponsor.¡±

    I was surprised and relieved, I couldn''t imagine not paying for training from an expert. ¡°It¡¯s just free? What stops people from learning the skill, and then just leaving and stealing the business of their master?¡±

    ¡°Bah. Everyone stays within the House, so what¡¯s it matter if¡¯n a journeyman opens business next to ¡®is masters? It means we get two shops, and two places to train future sponsors. Most stay anyway, even once you can stand on your own there is still much to learn from elder experience. Some feel the need to forge their own way though, and sometimes that leads to greatness, so we let ¡®em try.¡±

    I noticed her accent was very light when she made the longer statement, and two more dwarves approached us.

    One, a brown haired and purple eyed dwarv named Lurbolg, the only dwarv I¡¯d seen so far who kept a relaxed little smile on his face more often than not, broke into the conversation to add to her statement before I could reply.

    ¡°We play the game differently than your old Faction, Kaninak. If no one has yet told you, we run as one. While we may bicker between houses, our goals and efforts are shared. There¡¯s no need to worry about stealing business, all business is clan business, it just means we can do more.¡±

    That was indeed new information to me, and a totally foreign idea. I thought hard for a moment, Max once again chuckling in the background and eventually settled on a question. ¡°So how do you buy anything? Can you just get whatever you need from the clan?¡±

    All three of the dwarves laughed, and Sallis answered through the mirth, ¡°Oh, we still pay and get paid, hah. It¡¯s all by results though, hourly work is outlawed, ¡®n we use our own currency in ta underhome. The Clan leadership handles the Link credits, ¡®n gives out ¡®n equal allowance of ¡®em, to all of us.¡±

    We chatted for a while longer, and they informed me about a few more quirks of their self-sufficient economy. Namely about their currency which translated as, I kid you not, Glitter. They were pea sized gems of various colors, and I was warned to avoid the matte silvery-gray cubes. They were one of the higher denominations, worth 6000 of the least valuable, and were made from refined uranium. They were given a protective coating that shields the radiation, but it was known to break and malfunction and cause issues with their machines. The dwarves were somehow unaffected by the radiation themselves, it was a rushed solution when they had agreed to let some humans join with the clan.

    I agreed to stay away from the possibly radioactive pellets, and the conversation turned to joking and boasting between the three, leaving me a bit lost because I had no idea what they were referencing or why ¡°slippin¡¯ a chase down n¡¯ eleven seventy¡± was something to brag about.

    After excusing myself from the conversation, I walked to the other side of the room and decided to just portal back home for the night.

    Tevin answered almost instantly when I messaged him.

    Kaninak: I¡¯m heading to the hub, you still around?

    ShadowS: Yup, I¡¯m at the range with some new toys. Got new plates too, you should come through

    Kaninak: Alright, this isn''t some mil-range where I¡¯ll be surrounded by grunts though is it?

    ShadowS: Nah, not officially anyway. This one''s private. I got you something too, here¡¯s the coords

 Chapter 29

    The firing range was hidden behind a signless door, nestled into a little alcove between two shop fronts near the center of the neighborhood. When I stepped into the alcove and attempted to pull the door open, it flashed a holographic green ¡°guest permit registered¡± across the metal door and the lock thunked open for my second pull.

    The door led to a staircase going down, and I caught the acrid smell of gunpowder mixed with the heady scent of oil as I followed the well lit and grip-taped stairs down to a second door that slid open on its own on my approach.

    Inside was a small and sort of sterile feeling room. Like a shop that had only been open for a week and had not had a chance to damage or decorate the place. There were waist-high display cases around three sides of the rectangular space, and a door in each corner of the far wall. About half of the wall space was a blank off white that matched the ceiling, while the rest was filled with locked racks of various weapons.

    Someone was sitting behind the cases, kicked back in their seat with their well-worn and slightly pointy boots up on the counter, their legs crossed at the ankle and face hidden behind a tablet. Without looking at me or revealing himself, the figure hooked a thumb over at one of the doors against the back wall. ¡°Welcome. Tev¡¯s in there, been waitin¡¯ on ya.¡±

    I thanked the man and went through the door he had indicated. Through the door was a small air-lock room. The smell of gunpowder grew stronger in here, and I could hear the sharp smacking whumps of rifle fire now. Impressed that I only now was hearing the gunfire, I pushed through the last door and stepped into the back line of a fairly small firing range.

    There were only 3 lanes, each with a big semi-translucent divider between them. I glanced down range and saw a number of holographic humanoid targets all maneuvering around.

    Instead of stationary targets, these crouched behind corners and low walls as they advanced upon the firing position, and each had little number counters hovering over them as they raised rifles to mock-fire back. I saw one duck behind a barrier, before popping up in a firing position with a 2 second timer over its head. A few glowing red dots punched into it where Tevins fire passed through, turning the timer into a green X and causing the target to dissolve away.

    I stood in one of the empty lanes and watched, waiting for his run to finish. The holo-mooks kept coming, dashing into existence from the back of the range and pushing through cover towards us, while Tev expertly rattled off controlled bursts of fire and caused them to dissipate.

    During a big rush at the very end of the exercise, a couple of them managed to get off shots before being destroyed, causing the whole room to flash red for an instant. Tev yelled something unintelligible when the room flashed, and drowned it out with automatic fire.

    When he finished and laid his rifle down on the counter, I stepped around the divider and announced myself.

    ¡°Hey! Looks like a few got through. Need to step up your game!¡± I teased.

    He simply grinned at me over the shoulder as he dumped a box of fresh ammo onto the counter. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m doing! I won¡¯t get any better if I don¡¯t keep upping the difficulty. How¡¯d your first day with the dwarves go?¡±

    I stepped up beside him and started to help by attempting to reload one of the emptied magazines. ¡°Makes sense. The dwarves are¡­ smelly, and strange, but not too bad. They grouped me up with a bunch of teen dwarves to pass some kind of big coming-of-age trial that¡¯ll make me a full Clan member.¡±

    Tevin laughed, ¡°Teen dwarves? What does that even mean?¡±

    I thought about that for a moment. The group had definitely given me the impression of youthful awkwardness and confidence, but they were aliens afterall. I had no real idea of the age of any of the dwarves, only a loose idea based on beard length or the amount of gray or white in their hair.

    ¡°I have no f¡¯n clue, to be honest. They just felt like teens? One of ¡®em called me out for staring at another one¡¯s chest. Gave me that ¡®you better not be moving in on my crush¡¯ kind of vibe, even if I was just trying to read her shirt. Looked like some human metal band T-shirt, with the crazy lettering that''s near impossible to decipher¡±

    Tev only laughed harder and slapped my shoulder. ¡°There ya go! Were they worth staring at?¡±

    I shot him a glare, realizing I probably should have left that part out with Tev. ¡°It wasn''t like that. They¡¯re giant bugs who can spit up caustic chemicals under those masks, that''s just¡­ no thanks.¡±

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    Tevin kept his grin and shook his head, laying down the refilled mag he was working on before he grabbed a small case that was leaning against the divider wall on the floor. He dropped the case onto the counter, scattering the loose shells.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t knock it till you try it. I had a few squaddies who dabbled in alien poon. I don¡¯t remember if any of ¡®em were dwarves, but they seemed pretty into it. Check this thing out though, Katie agreed to cover some of the cost even.¡±

    I shook my head, dismissing his comment and not wanting to argue with him about my romantic life again.

    Tevin slid the case to me from amongst the pile of ammo boxes. ¡°I looked into it, and getting to carry one of these around is one of the perks of your new status.¡±

    This case was flat and wide. I popped the latches and opened it to reveal a chromed long barreled pistol with two extra magazines. I noticed they both were loaded with surprisingly skinny yet lengthy bullets that had pointy little green tips, each shell only slightly wider than a pencil.

    I picked up the gun and looked it over, earning a squawk of annoyance from Tevin. ¡°Hey! Watch where you point that thing, even if it''s not loaded.¡± He reached over and pushed my hand to face a different direction.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never even touched one of these things, you sure it''s legal for me to have one?¡±

    ¡°Yup, I had Rin search through the council bylaws and everything.¡± Tevin answered, while fiddling with a screen set into the divider wall.

    I felt a little guilty, I had been given so much so quickly that it was starting to weigh on me. It seemed like everyone around me was pouring their limited resources into a hope that hung like a lead vice strapped around my neck.

    ¡°How much did you spend on this, Tevin?¡± I asked, as I continued turning the gleaming pistol over in my hands, watching the bright overhead lamps scattering bars and dots of reflected light around the range.

    He shrugged, still facing the screen set into the wall as he answered. ¡°Less than the combat bonuses I¡¯ve gotten for saving your ass. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    He prodded the screen one last time, which caused the lighting to shift and brightened the downrange area, and turned to face me. He pointed at the lone stationary target that had appeared.

    ¡°It¡¯s my job, both professionally and as a friend, to keep you alive and prepare you to keep defending yourself. So if you¡¯re going to be wandering around without me, you¡¯re damn well going to learn to defend yourself. Alright? So, keep that thing pointed down range and ram one of those mags home.¡±

    Over the next few hours, Tevin did his best to show me the basics of firearm use and etiquette. The biggest lessons being keeping the thing pointed at the ground, and to only ever point it at something you wanted dead in a hurry. I did my best to listen and absorb the information, but after the long day of training, the interrupted night of sleep, the change of scenery and everything else that was piling on to me, I was too burnt out to really pay much attention to the finer details he elaborated on.

    By the end of our impromptu extra credit training session, I was able to load and draw the handgun. Most of my shots hit the man-shaped target as well, but my spread was messy. My form was bad, and I could sense Tevin holding himself back from giving me all sorts of crap for it. It was weird getting to see more and more of his soldier side, something he¡¯d always been pretty good about not bringing home with him.

    While we had been roommates for the past few years, Tevin had been the goofy caretaker around the house, doing most of the cooking and smoothing over conflicts between Rin and myself. He was the one who forced Rin to eat when he got too caught up in his data, or reminded me to wash my bedding or to take a moment to relax from my own grind and play some silly game on the couch with him for an evening.

    Seeing this side of Tevin was different. He was serious and focused, and while he was not the best teacher who ever tried to show me something, he cut the jokes and the bro-talk and kept things professional in a way that just felt weird coming from him.

    I was grateful when we finally called it a night and left the range to go to the nearest Link. After asking Tevin to come by my new place with Rin in the morning so we could talk about my first day with Clan Theedrite, we parted ways and went into our own booths.

    After I paid the import fee for my new True equipment, including a whole 100 Credits for the Megaphone engram, I Linked-out and woke up in my fancy holodeck-esque private room. The screens around me still showed the view of a rainy forest, and the movement of the locking bars retracting from the doorway drew my attention as I stood from the mechanical arm of the Link device.

    I crossed the room and pushed at the place I had seen Ali open for the impex, but it refused to budge at first. In my drained and sleep deprived state, I just stared at the wall while wondering if it was worth calling Rin or bothering Ali for help with, when the door in the wall opened all on its own.

    Inside lay my new pistol in its holster, and the steel badge of my Engram, which now had a little protrusion coming from the top, as well as a number of boxes of ammo, a small cleaning kit, and the case the weapon had originally been packaged within. I picked up the Engram first, and realized the new little loop at the top was probably to be able to clip it onto something, or you could loop some cord or fine chain through it to wear it as a necklace.

    I actually tried to stick the Engram onto my neck like I had worn it in-game, a couple of times. When that did not work, I just stuffed it into my pocket and gathered the other items from the impex tray into my arms.

    Thinking I¡¯d look over this stuff more seriously in the morning when I could think straight, I made for the short step up to the door, looking forward to my huge and amazingly comfortable bed that I had only barely gotten acquainted with the night before.

 Chapter 30

    When I climbed the steps to leave the room the door automatically opened for me. My hands were full of expensive new weaponry that I only barely understood and did not want to accidentally drop on the fancy stone floor of my new apartment. I imagined the heavy metal objects could chip or gouge the relatively soft granite tiles, so I was extra careful.

    I looked up from my feet as I crossed the threshold and stepped into the hallway, only to nearly throw everything on the ground in surprise anyways. Ali was silently standing at attention against the wall just on the other side of the door.

    ¡°Oh! I didn¡¯t see you there. Uhm, Hello.¡±

    ¡°Good evening, sir. How was your time in the Link?¡± She turned to face me but remained in her stiff stance.

    ¡°Everything went well, actually. How were, um, things around here?¡± I asked uncomfortably. All I wanted was to sneak some leftovers out of the fridge, and to crash for the day. I¡¯d almost entirely forgotten about Ali, or the other guy they had assigned to me.

    What was his name, Dallas?

    ¡°All is well, sir. Things have been quiet in your absence.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great. Better than having to dodge through the protestors, hijackers, and firebombings.¡± I answered, reminding myself outloud of the biggest reasons why my new apartment was better than my old one. Following that thought, I realized I could just ask her to bring me some food. There was no need for me to sneak around for a late-night snack. I had the apartment to myself other than the two people assigned to make my life easier.

    I started to reach for my mobile-com in my pocket to check the time, and was foiled by the armload of weaponry I was juggling. Ali saw me struggling with my gear and grabbed the bulkier items from my arms, she took the empty case, the ammo boxes and eyed the pistol in its slim holster.

    ¡°That looks like a fine side arm, sir. Would you like me to clean it for you?¡±

    ¡°No thanks, I just cleaned it myself three times in a row. Tevin would not let me leave until he was sure I could do it on my own.¡± I held it up and looked it over again myself.

    She nodded and just stared back at me, waiting for me to do or say something else. I stared back for a moment, before my sleep deprived brain kicked back into gear.

    ¡°Do you think you could get me some food though? I haven¡¯t eaten since breakfast this morning. Something fast? I¡¯m not picky.¡±

    She somehow snapped to an even straighter stance and nodded again. ¡°Of course, sir. What are your after meal plans?¡±

    I had taken a step to the side while she spoke, ready to head to my room and out of the somewhat dark hallway. ¡°Uh, I¡¯m going to shower, then eat, then sleep. Why do you ask?¡±

    ¡°So that I may prepare the proper meal for the situation. I would recommend something light if you plan to go to sleep immediately afterwards, sir.¡±

    I gestured for her to move, growing impatient now that I was so close to ending my day, and she finally turned to start back down the hall. After reaching my bedroom door, I replied to her as she continued towards the main room.

    ¡°Thanks, and I¡¯ll trust your judgment on that, I¡¯m used to just eating whatever Tevin cooks up anyways.¡±

    She stopped and turned to give me a little bow. ¡°Of course, I will not fail you Master Spenser.¡±

    That stopped me in my tracks, and I called after her before she could scurry off to the kitchen. ¡°Wait, did you call me Master? Do you have to call me that?¡±

    She stopped and turned to face me again, snapping back into attention. ¡°Yes sir, and no, sir.¡±

    I waited for a moment, hoping she would elaborate some more. When she remained silent and only stood there and avoided eye contact, I put my foot down. Being called that felt gross.

    ¡°Well, don¡¯t, then. I¡¯m no master.¡±

    Her eyes narrowed, out of confusion or frustration or something I couldn¡¯t quite get a read on. ¡°That is what all of my training has instructed me to address you as, or as sir, sir. What else should I call you?¡±

    I studied her face, all of a sudden realizing just how crazy of a situation being assigned to me of all people must be for her. I felt a surge of empathy, understanding that both of us were locked onto a hard path with little sympathy and dire consequences if we tripped up and ate dirt.

    ¡°How about Nick? I¡¯m not a real noble, you know. I was living in a run down government building only yesterday, and I was a worker drone no one had ever heard of just a few days before that.¡± I paused, letting out a sigh and tempering my voice. ¡°I suppose I can deal with ¡®sir¡¯, if you must, but master just feels wrong. Alright?¡±

    Her face soured, and she made eye contact for a brief moment. ¡°Very well, sir.¡±

    I frowned and stared back at her for a silent moment, then my mouth got away from me. ¡°Alright then, Madame. May I go?¡±

    Her eyes went wide and she blinked in surprise. ¡°Sir, that''s not neces-¡±

    I cut her off, ¡°It¡¯s awkward, right? Please, just call me Nick, okay? I feel like I¡¯ll have to deal with enough fancy formal B.S. between the dwarves and whatever Katie ends up roping me into, I¡¯d rather not deal with it at home as well. I¡¯m just a normal person like everyone else, scrambling through life as best I can.¡±

    She frowned as well, but to her credit, she did not look away. ¡°Very good, sir ¨CNick, sir. May I go prepare your dinner?¡±

    I sighed, and decided to take the small victory. ¡°Yes please, and I¡¯m just Nick. If I say I¡¯m just a normal Guy, is that a bad enough pun for you to realize no one should be calling me Sir?¡±

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Apparently it was not, because she replied with a curt ¡°Very clever, Nick, sir.¡±

    Admitting defeat, I sighed again and waved her off. She had at least called me by my name, even if she insisted on sir-ing me right after. I guess it would take more than one conversation to break her out of whatever training she had gone through to prepare her for whatever the hell kind of job ¡®Attendant¡¯ is supposed to be.

    After showering and discovering that some of my old clothes and other personal items had been delivered, as well as another round of fancy new clothing, I pulled on an unbelievably soft and fuzzy robe that was hanging on a hook in the bathroom and found a tray of food waiting for me on the desk.

    Ali had made me a salad, filled with a few different types of fruits that I did not have names for, and some dry light colored bits of meat mixed in with the mostly sweet mix of greens and reds. It was absolutely delicious, and filled me just to the point of sating my hunger and no further.

    Feeling a bit more like myself after a shower and some time to myself, I chowed the food down quickly, finished my bedtime routine, and hit the sack.

    The next day was more training with the dwarves, followed by another evening at the range with Tevin, and yet another awkward hallway conversation with Ali. It went like that the whole first week and all became a grinding routine. I would spend the bulk of my time learning formations and craft with clan Theedrite, then a few more hours scattering little red dots onto holographic targets, and cap it off with another attempt to get Ali to stop calling me sir.

    The time with the dwarves was a true test of endurance. I spent hours holding the heavy shield above my head and marching around the room in formation, patiently pouring over and perfecting molecular pattern charts, and practicing with the dwarv''s method of stone melting.

    It was immediately obvious to me that I would never be a grand artist, churning out master level statues or inscriptions. Kikkelin, the dwarven lass I had tripped over and been accused of leering at, turned out to be the true artist in our group when it came to stonework. Her statues were uncannily lifelike, and she would finish her inscriptions long before any of the rest of us.

    The inscriptions themselves felt like a schoolroom punishment, but did teach me a lot about controlling my new gauntlets. We were given stone tiles, only a finger width thick, and would all have to copy the text from an elaborately decorated bronze plaque that Chane would hang on the wall. Each plaque had a different short lesson or saying, which ranged from sage proverbs, to obvious platitudes, to what felt like weird jokes.

    ¡°If the seam is bad, what good are the tailings?¡±

    ¡°What is right a thousand times, may still be wrong once.¡±

    ¡°The line is fine between mining and hiding away in a hole.¡°

    I copied the texts and sent all of the little sayings to myself as a message in the game UI to have a record of them I could check, a common strategy for anyone unwilling to pay for the premium ¡®Notes¡¯ tab in the games system. Max initially offered to unlock it for free, but he followed the offer with a warning that it would have a slim chance of alerting the system that there was something weird going on with my profile.

    That was an easy choice. There was no way a minor convenience was worth possibly, no matter how small the possibility was, getting flagged as a hacker and banned from the Link.

    During the second week, Chane led us out into the courtyard and had us drill amongst the other more senior Row groups. We drew a bit of a crowd who peppered us with equal parts of light hearted jeers and encouragement.

    ¡°Aw, they let the wee babs out to field.¡±

    ¡°Remember! Shields up, boots down!¡±

    Thankfully, all of the shouted words were addressed to us as a group and none of us were singled out by the onlookers. I¡¯d half expected to be an obvious target as I crouched-walked along with my shield held up at the same height as my Row-mates.

    After a few hours of drills in the square, Chane sat us down at the edge of the yard and had us observe a sparring match between two of the fully armored senior rows.

    Each formation of dwarves lined up in blocks five wide and four deep, and slowly marched towards each other in the ¡®Crawling Mountain¡¯ formation. The formation left no gaps between the shields and they kept their staves withdrawn and under cover. After they closed some distance, with only about 40 feet between each block of dwarves, they started firing rolling volleys at each other. In a practiced pattern, one dwarv would quickly flip their shield up and allow the next in line to fire a blast of energy from the end of their strange staff weapons.

    Each blast washed over the opposite shieldwall, causing the air to blur with heat-waves and the edges of a few shields to briefly glow as they absorbed and dissipated the intense heat of the rather slow moving balls of energy.

    They both halted at only 20 feet between them, and each formation bristled with staves as they readied themselves for the main event. With a shouted command, the formation on my left crackled with electricity that arced between each staff to create a network of energy, that then stabbed out at the formation on my right.

    The lightning bolt grounded on one of the forward staves and seemed to explode, expanding into a massive ball of light that blossomed over the whole of the shieldwall and dazzled me for a moment, leaving me blinking and blind. I heard more cracks of energy and felt a weird buzzing sensation that gave me goosebumps and caused the hair on my arms and back of my neck to raise.

    When my sight cleared and I could see the two formations again, each was shrouded in a bluish purple haze a few feet thick. Each row prodded and pulled on the cloud of heated gas with blazing shields and energized staves. As I watched, the whole front row of the formation on the right raised their shields into a high-guard and lowered their staves in unison to send a volley of blasts towards the left side.

    Red hot shields shifted towards yellow as blasts of energy were exchanged back and forth in a dance between the formations. They would bunch the energy cloud towards the front to absorb volleys from their opponent, or pull it back from the frontline to give them the freedom to fire a volley of their own. It all only seemed to work when the group was perfectly in sync with each other and after the 5th exchange of feints, volleys, and blocks, the left side''s cloud of energy faltered when one of the tips of their staves exploded after a poorly timed control thrust.

    The cloud of plasma rippled and vented off a sizeable portion into the air above the courtyard, blasting a glowing purple geyser of superheated gas into the void between undermountain and the ¡®Overshell¡¯, which is what they called the mostly untouched exterior of the mountain.

    As the cloud destabilized and the formation struggled to contain it, the other side shouted and charged, the rear ranks raising their shields and prodding their own charged energy blob to the front of the shieldwall and pressing it forward to envelop their weakened opponents as they bore down on them with readied weapons.

    Chane, who was acting as referee, shouted out the end of the match, ¡°Victory to Row Tak-Guruko!¡±

    A few goading taunts and words of acknowledgement were exchanged between the two groups, then the two formations lined up once again on opposite sides and repeated their clash as we watched.

    I recorded a note to myself in my messages again, and when I looked up my eyes were drawn to the side near Relik¡¯s armory. Just for a flash, I saw someone who stood head and shoulders above a gaggle of dwarves duck under the balcony that circled most of the courtyard.

    I stared after whoever it was for a moment. I had yet to bother someone to escort me to the S-Mart where I had seen a few humans on my first day, but I¡¯d heard the other human who had joined House Galidun was a woman by the name of Sabriell. It must have been either her, or a rare guest that I¡¯d caught a glimpse of.

    I shook off the distraction, and realigned my focus on the demonstration from the veteran Row. After observing the rest of the best-of-seven matchup, we spent the rest of the day back in the Row House being lectured by Chane on the finer points of their cloud technique. From the defensive ¡°Crawling Mountain¡± formation, to the charging ¡°Sloping Fog¡± move where the whole plasma cloud is shunted forward to wash over enemies in a devastating wave of superheated gas.

    Train with the dwarves, shoot targets with Tev, another one-sided argument with Ali. Rinse, wash, repeat.

 Chapter 31

    ¡°Now give it the gas!¡± Kazzad called out above the rhythmic hammering of machinery, hissing tanks, and vibrating pipelines.

    I quickly cranked a valve open, my eyes glued to the dwarven woman as she called out instructions from the top of a lifeguard-like high chair. Yet another pipe filled with high pressure gas, this time fluorine.

    ¡°Too slow! Turn up the arc-grid by 3 percent and close gate 6!¡±

    A chorus of observing dwarven workers laughed and jeered as I scrambled under the low hanging pipes, over the electrical conduit and vents that spiderwebbed the floor, and bashed my forehead on the handle of a long lever attached to a dump-valve that thankfully did not trigger.

    I rubbed my forehead with one hand, dialed the intimidatingly high-voltage electric ¡°Arc-grid¡± even higher on one of the small screens on the side of a huge quivering machine, then turned and rushed a few steps down the narrow passage to slam my hand down on the 6th gate button of one of the tall skinny tanks half buried in the floor.

    As soon as I hit the button, one of the machines made a loud whump noise and shook hard enough that I felt the floor tremble. I glanced down at the wrist-sized bolts that held it to the floor, wondering how high the machine would have jumped if it was not so securely bolted down.

    ¡°Okay, what now?!¡± I called back, my heart hammering in my chest and adrenaline coursing through my veins at the prospect of failing now that I had finally managed to layer an armor plate thickly enough to be molded into something useful.

    Kazzad ignored me for a moment, instead focusing on a screen that swung up to her side on a boom-arm attached to the chair. After poking a few buttons and much beard stroking, She answered.

    ¡°Close ¡®em down n¡¯ lock it in, it¡¯s sloppy but serviceable! Just enough for an arm guard, or maybe a pauldron!¡± She called out while grinning at the gallery of apprentices and journeymen that watched from a catwalk. ¡°I think ya might¡¯a finally hit above the 99 mark, a few more like this one and we¡¯ll let ya use the auto-valves!¡±

    The onlookers once again laughed, and Kazzad flashed her eyes in their direction, seeming to enjoy their attention and playing up my training like some kind of show.

    I darted around to the other side of a bank of controls and flipped a half-dozen levers, dialed a gauge down to zero and poked a big yellow button labeled ¡°Finalize¡±, then braced my hands on my knees and struggled to catch my breath.

    Manufacturing the plates felt more like an obstacle course than any manufacturing process I¡¯d ever been a part of. I looked back up to Kazzad for her approval, a big grin on my face at my success despite the strangeness of the situation.

    The various noises on the floor started to quiet down as the system flushed itself from the plethora of reagents and catalysts I¡¯d spent the last hour pumping into the central growth chamber. I¡¯d been training with the dwarves for 18 days, and this was my fourth attempt to grow an armor plate.

    Kazzad once again spent some time with the screen, poking and swiping through whatever information it gave her access to. She nodded and hummed to herself while everyone watched with hushed anticipation, until she finally called out over the dull hum that permeated the underground factory floor.

    ¡°99.15! As I said, sloppy, yet within tolerance! Congrats Kaninak, you have your first workable plate!¡± She shouted, and the group of previously jeering dwarves let out a short celebratory cheer.

    She did something with the tablet that caused the growth chamber to flash a red light, and start to open with a hiss, releasing the last dregs of non-toxic stabilizer gas in a puff of wispy fog that rolled out and washed over my feet. Then she slid down the ladder from her high chair and joined me next to the machine.

    ¡°Ya might still wanna use the gripper, even with them fancy mits o¡¯ yours. The plate¡¯ll be cold as shite and yer lil mittens only go so far.¡± She gestured to a long-handled grabber that was hanging on a hook next to the chamber.

    ¡°Alright, boss.¡± I replied as I followed her final instruction. Using the pincher on the end of the long handle, I reached into the foggy depths of the vat and pulled out an ever so slightly bowed piece of plating around the size of my hand with splayed out fingers.

    I brought the raw material closer to examine it, and could feel the chill rolling off of it. It was maybe a centimeter thick, a mottled mix of brownish colors, and had a shiny polished sheen to its perfectly flat surface. It looked like a polished piece of glazed pottery.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s next now that I finally have something workable?¡±

    She smiled at me and clapped me on the shoulder, which Max handily highlighted and warned against. ¡°Now ya can finally practice working with it!¡± She said, her voice still raised and her eyes occasionally darting to the crowded catwalk.

    I looked over at the watchers with a much different look on my face, which was now partially hidden under a two week old beard. I sighed in response.

    She lowered her voice but kept her grin, and turned to face me square on, ¡°I know ya have a short deadline, but I think ye will be fine. Yer tougher n¡¯ most o¡¯ your kind and pickin¡¯ things up easy.¡± She put her heavy gloved hand on my shoulder and continued. ¡°Ye got this. Now, what will ye make from yer first piece?¡±

    I smiled back at her, grateful for the encouragement.

    ¡°Oh come on, do you have to let it touch you? Guewwaaeeeewww¡±

    As Max broke into my thought process and made the strangled and alarmed noise that can only be described as ¡°When you can suddenly feel a large insect crawling on your skin¡±, I felt the tingling sensation of tiny sharp legs crawling up my spine and shivered slightly, but managed to clamp my reaction down. I knew it was just Max messing with me.

    ¡°Look, seriously. I¡¯ve been trying to stay out of the way and let you learn all this BS, but really. I think you need to see this.¡±

    My vision dimmed, and all of a sudden I was no longer standing in a brightly lit industrial workshop. Gone was the crowd of onlooking dwarves and their catwalk. The hissing machines, the hanging pipes, and tall gas tanks, all gone. Kazzad with her heavy glove on my shoulder, gone as well.

    Instead, I was down in a dark pit, lit with open bubbling vats of chemicals and a number of volcanic vents that spewed a dim smog into the fast flowing air. Large dark and rounded forms huddled along the floor around me in the shadows cast by hanging clumps of bioluminescent mushrooms, and the floor was spiderwebbed with a tangle of crisscrossing stony root-like structures that varied in thickness from fine wires to the diameter of a basketball.

    All of that was just the backdrop of what now stood in front of me. In the dim glow, a beetle the size of a rowboat squatted only a few feet away. Long and low, its jaws were at the height of my belt line, and it held itself above the messy floor on meter long legs as thick as my waist. It¡¯s carapace was decorated and partially polished, adorned with extra armor plating inlaid with precious gold and platinum. Sprouting from the back of its head were a bunch of frilly or feathery looking tentacle things that swayed gently in place. One of the long feathery appendages was arching forward and gently resting on my shoulder.

    I couldn¡¯t contain my reaction, I jerked away from its glistening multi-mandibled jaws in absolute terror and tripped backwards over the messy floor, feeling something crunch underneath me as I hit and brought my hands up to defend myself. The plate and grabber fell to the side, temporarily forgotten in the face of the biggest jump scare of my life.

    My eyes closed for an instant as I hit the ground, and Kazzad and the factory floor were back when I opened them again. I stared up at her with a look of horror on my face.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be scared now boy¡¯o, the prospectors up on the catwalk won''t give ya a hard time much longer.¡± She replied, mistaking my horror for some worry about retaliation from the other dwarves.

    I closed my eyes and shook my head before opening them again. Cursing Max internally, I stood back up from the thin walled pipe I had landed on and crushed. Kazzad casually reached over and turned a valve to shut off it¡¯s flow without looking.

    ¡°It¡¯s just yer first piece o¡¯ armor. What¡¯ll it be?¡±

    I looked back at her with wide eyes, still reeling from the alternate reality that Max had subjected me to. What had he shown me? Is that what the Zk¡¯Aek saw on their end of the game? The dwarves were a little strange, sure, but they seemed civilized enough. I couldn¡¯t quite reconcile the massive difference between what I was seeing now and what Max had given me a brief glimpse of.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Kazzad kept looking at me, her eyes slowly turning from an amused twinkle to confusion as I hesitated to answer.

    Eventually, I managed to form some words together. ¡°Ah, yeah, armor. I think¡­¡± I hesitated again. I¡¯d hoped to make a helmet first of all after the amount of times I had knocked my forehead against my raised shield.

    ¡°Do you think there would be enough material for a helmet?¡± I answered while I bent down to pick the now frosted-over plate up from where I had thrown it as I tripped.

    Kazzad looked at me appraisingly, ¡°A cap, maybe. Ye can only mold the shape, it can be bent but not stretched.¡±

    I looked at the plate in my hand, knowing she was right yet still flustered. I vowed to actually seek out some way to get Max back for this prank in particular. I¡¯d known the dwarves were actually huge bugs, yet seeing it up close, with one of them so close and touching me had left a mark.

    I struggled to stay on track and push the shock from my mind so I could focus on the task at hand. ¡°Yes, I¡­ I knew that. So, a vambrace then?¡±

    Kazzad grinned and slapped me on the shoulder again, causing me to unconsciously cringe away. ¡°A fine choice. You¡¯ll be glad of it during your sparring sessions. C¡¯mon we can finally move on to the fabrication floor.¡±

    She turned and started towards the stairway that led up to the catwalk, and I followed in her wake as we led the crowd of onlookers to the next floor up. The growth chambers were at the bottom of the armory, with progressively more complex and finer manufactorums as we ascended towards Relik¡¯s final finishing shop at the ¡°ground¡± floor.

    We climbed up two flights of stairs, ignoring the heavy freight elevator that was reserved for the larger pieces of plating and machinery.

    This new floor was filled with a whole new series of tall machines and bustled with deafening activity. Dwarves operated power hammers, rollers, press brakes, and dies as they worked to bend and form their signature material into whatever shape they needed it to be.

    Of course, since I was a ¡°wee bab¡± still in training, Kazzad led me over to a small section dominated by a line of three rather plain looking anvils of various sizes. Stopping at the largest of them, she gestured to the wall filled with various rough looking hand-tools.

    ¡°Alright, now how much have ye learned of forging?¡±

    I shrugged and tilted my head to the side, still coming to terms with her brief unmasking. ¡°One of the skill books talked a bit about it.¡± I dredged up the still perfectly clear memory of the book and recited one of the passages about the process. ¡°With the correct application of flux, electrical current, and magnetic field manipulation; the Layered Ion Lattice plates are briefly rendered malleable enough to work into whatever shape is needed.¡±

    She grinned, ¡°Good, glad ta hear the dusted skillbook is holding up. Ye will have ta get a feel for it though. Book learnin¡¯ is one thing, practical application is a whole different slag pile. Get yer hammer out and hook that negative lead up to the plate like this¡­¡±

    <hr>

    Hand forging the plates was even worse than the high-shield drills. For days I hammered on the dangerously electrified plates, each blow changing the shape by less than a millimeter. I put in extra effort, wanting to get as much armor completed as I could before the upcoming trials. The rest of my row was far ahead of me on the construction of their own sets of armor, even the members who were less than interested in that particular craft.

    Sallis, Kazek, Bomilik, and Kikkelin all only had minimal coverage of a helmet, arm guards, and greaves to go along with their shields. None of them were particularly skilled or motivated for plate-work, and they focused more on either stonework or gem cutting in Kazek¡¯s case.

    The angry looking redhead Lokralda and the purple eyed Lurbolg were the only two who invested the time to craft full sets for themselves. Lurbolg¡¯s work was angular and chunky, with thick plates and somewhat stiff looking joints. While Lokralda¡¯s, who turned out to be rather shy and standoffish, was constructed of small articulated sections that smoothly glided over each other as she moved.

    My hopes of having as much coverage for the trails was dashed with only a few more days to go until the trial. I¡¯d completed my right arms vambrace, rerebrace, and an ugly but serviceable couter. The large raw plate for the pauldron was laid out on the anvil as I struggled to correct its shape under the guidance of Kazzad.

    ¡°Take it back ta the template, it looks to me like ye muddled the interior geometry when ya flared the edge. Ye gotta watch yer placement on ta anvils horn.¡±

    ¡°Remind me, why can¡¯t I use the dies for this?¡± I pointed at a wall on the other side of the shop where a huge section of shelving was overflowing with molds, dies, templates, and diagrams. The apprentices and journeymen who worked at the shop came and went, grabbing and leaving whatever tools or plans they needed for the hundreds of projects that cycled through the workshop each day.

    ¡°Because, ya have to learn it yerself! Ye¡¯ won¡¯t be allowed any of yer equipment for the trials anyways, so any crutch ye¡¯ pickup won¡¯t do ya¡¯ much good yet anyways.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what? We can¡¯t use our armor?¡±

    Kazzad laughed, and elicited a chuckle from the small yet ever present flock of onlookers vying for her attention. ¡°Na, that¡¯d defeat the whole idea. All ye¡¯ youngins won¡¯t learn a thing if we let ye¡¯ bring in anything. Yer allowed naught but yer strapping when the trials begin. Fighting together like that helps prod the youngins to pair off to eventually make more youngins, but no one expects ye to join in on that hahaha.¡±

    That drew knowing laughter, conspiratorial rib-elbowing, and much eyebrow and beard waggling from the crowd of onlookers. All I could do was stare back at her until Max decided to butt in.

    ¡°Just a reminder, the translator had her say ¡®Together like that¡¯, while she really said ¡®With all that exposed carapace¡¯. I don¡¯t care what your gorilla of a bodyguard says about ¡®alien poon¡¯, if I pick up any lurid thoughts I¡¯ll be forced to take drastic measures.¡±

    I dismissed Max¡¯s threat as a non issue. After he had ripped Kaz¡¯s mask off a few days previously, I had struggled to think of the dwarves as anything but huge gnarly mandibled beetles. I¡¯d managed to keep my cool about it so far by focusing on my study and work, but the added stress of feigned indifference was starting to wear me down.

    I just grunted and nodded in reply as I gauged the angle of the plate, feeling a mix of relief and frustration. I¡¯d only been working so hard on my armor for the last week because I¡¯d wanted to go into the trials as well prepared as I could. Learning that I couldn¡¯t bring anything in with me felt like a dangled carrot had been revealed as painted cardboard all along, yet it also meant that I would be on equal ground.

    I shrugged off the bawdy laughter of Kazzad and her pack of suitors and focused on finishing the final piece of my weapon-arm¡¯s armor.

    <hr>

    ¡°Excuse me, Kaninak. I believe you dropped this.¡±

    I turned around from my place in line at the Hub-side Link building and looked to the man who had addressed me. I was dead tired and on my way home after yet another three hour target shooting session with Tevin.

    I glanced at the suited man''s outstretched hand and the credit-chit he held out to me, a small True Item you could load with Link credits to import into reality. He was clean cut, had smooth tanned skin, with neatly styled dark-blonde hair, and his suit looked just as expensive as the Katie supplied formal wear I was slowly getting used to wearing.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t drop anything, I think you have the wrong person.¡± I deflected, turning away from him.

    ¡°Really? I could have sworn you left this on the table.¡± We both stepped forward as the line moved, and he examined the chit. ¡°It has five figures loaded onto it, are you sure it''s not yours, Nick?¡±

    I looked at him over my shoulder and returned his smile with a glare. ¡°Look, suit, I don¡¯t want whatever you¡¯re selling.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m no salesman. I¡¯m simply returning something that should have been yours all along. I¡¯ve seen your district''s budget, I¡¯m sure the shot-callers over at Nubran are stringing you along with vouchers and gifts, just enough to keep you going. I can guarantee you high five figures of cold hard credits per cycle if you¡¯re willing to jump to a bigger ship.¡±

    I scoffed and rolled my eyes at him as we took another step towards the booths at the end of the line. When I didn¡¯t reply, he continued on with his pitch.

    ¡°You¡¯re on the council''s radar, you¡¯ve made more diplomatic progress than the entirety of the Unity Guilds Initiative, and for some reason you''re still slumming it in Nubranagin? You need to move with the movers and shakers, and it¡¯s all happening at Heustings. I could get you into meetings with three councilors, we could quadruple your staff and move you into a fully comped penthouse apartment. You like having one attendant at your command, how about six, or sixty? Anything you need, man, you¡¯re wasting your potential out there.¡±

    I upgraded to a scowl and kept my eyes on the front of the line, now only a few places ahead of me. He crowded close behind me and kept up his badgering.

    ¡°What is it about that backwater anyways? I¡¯ve seen the requisition slips, Katie and Howard have something on you, don¡¯t they? Why else would you stick around for the peanuts they¡¯re feeding you? Whatever it is, it doesn''t matter. You¡¯re nobility, Nick, it¡¯s time to start acting like it! You have to take what you want, and there''s no better place to climb the rungs of power than at the seat of the council itself!¡±

    I took another step forward and hissed at him over my shoulder without looking.

    ¡°Fuck off, ass-hat. My friends are here, I¡¯m staying.¡±

    He only grinned and tried to push around in front of me as I reached the front of the line and got the greenlight to take an available out-bound booth.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be like that! C¡¯mon, you could be making some serious money and carve out a piece of the power pie for yourself. You can bring your friends too! Don¡¯t just settle for Howards scraps, seize the opportunity!¡±

    I pushed past him towards the booth, resisting the urge to slam my fist into his very punchable face because I knew it would be a harmless and futile gesture anyways. He tried to follow me as I crossed the lane into the available booth but the systems ¡°etiquette lines¡± on the floor sprung up as physical barriers and blocked his path.

    ¡°Alright, alright. You¡¯re scared, I get it!¡± He called after me, raising his voice and drawing the attention of the waiting crowd. ¡°When you change your mind, just send me a message. Rob Barding, at the CCB!¡±

    I ignored him and closed the door to the booth behind me. The privacy screen snapped into existence, blurring the outside world. I realized I had never bothered to upgrade it and I could still sort of make out the general outline of the annoying man, so I opened up the store page and scrolled down the huge list of options.

    After scrolling past a sale on sunset and sky cosmetic options, I found the privacy screen gallery and chose the, also on sale, 300 Cr. ¡®Night Sky¡¯ option and set it to default. The barrier shifted from a mostly translucent curtain that distorted yet did not hide much, to an opaque inky black and bespeckled starcape that reminded me of the void Max had pulled me into once upon a time.

    Turning away from the curtain, I selected my True gear as imports in the Impex and linked-out for the day.

 Chapter 32

    I woke up to a buzzing alarm, shortly after sunrise. I groaned for a moment, my eyes refusing to open after a mere 6 hours of sleep. Forcing myself to action, I sat up and put my feet on the ground before I opened my eyes. I felt the blackout function of my wall of windows drop away and sunlight wash over me.

    I¡¯m not sure if it was Rin or one of my two new staff members, but someone was taking notes of my schedule and habits and programming the built-in automation features of the apartment to match them. The shower turned itself on as I padded across heated floors, and the smell of breakfast filled the hallway when I was dressed and ready for the day a few minutes later.

    I sat down next to Tevin at the kitchen island, accepted the coffee Ali instantly set down in front of me, and eyed the perfectly spaced grid of enriched pancakes that were cooking on the flattop.

    Dalls, my stuffy seneschal, stood at the end of the bar and presided over the scene while Ali cooked and Tevin and Rin lounged on tall stools. I got a glance from Rin, a ¡°G¡¯mornin'''' with a clap on my shoulder from Tevin, and a quick bow from Ali as she delivered my caffeine fix.

    Dalls cleared his throat and spoke up. ¡°I¡¯d like to discuss the plan as we move forward from the trials. I think it¡¯s important that we have a comprehensive plan to tackle this vital mission assigned to us. Consul Spenser, have you considered what your strategy might be?¡±

    Dalls had politely yet persistently been attempting to get me to decide on ¡°policy choices¡± and outline my plan for winning the dwarves over. While I had countered by reminding him that we were dealing with a totally alien society, and that I was still considered a child in their eyes. I needed to know more about how their society worked before I could begin to understand how to succeed within it.

    At that moment though, it was too early for this, so I kicked the can down the road.

    ¡°It¡¯s still a work in progress. I¡¯m open to suggestions.¡± I mumbled over the lip of my mug.

    ¡°Very well, sir.¡± Dalls tapped a button on his tablet and continued on. ¡°I¡¯ve sent you all a message with my attached proposal. I have studied up on the available information concerning Clan Theedrite and their five houses, and outlined a strategy that leverages all of our available resources to maximize our chances of a favorable outcome. If you would all open your documents and follow along, we can start with the first item¡­¡±

    I¡¯ll be honest, on some level I appreciated Dalls¡¯ focused and methodical efforts even if I didn¡¯t expect him to come up with anything all that useful. However, on all of my other levels, I was either half asleep or focused on my upcoming day with the dwarves.

    As a compromise, I let him go on and mostly tuned him out, savoring the delicious coffee and only half listening to what he was saying. He droned on about the need for cultural exchange and understanding, and commended me on my growing beard as a means to engrain myself into dwarven society. Then he spent some time going over the need to outpace the other nations vying for the clan''s attention and trade deals.

    My attention was finally dragged away from breakfast and back to the conversation when Rin interjected, his eyes half lidded as he leaned forward on the counter and swiped at his tablet.

    ¡°Are we going to talk about the leak, the purists, or councilor Mookah¡¯s proposed trade and work alliance with The Sequence?¡±

    ¡°I do not believe we should concern ourselves much with such matters. The council is still split on the decision of allegiance, and the Director is taking every step necessary to contain the increase in terrorist attacks. We need to focus on our assigned task and let the other departments handle their own areas.¡±

    Rin shot me a look before he replied. ¡°If you are unaware, The Sequence and the Zk¡¯Aek, and by extension Clan Theedrite, have been rivals for centuries. The timing of the proposed deal cannot be a coincidence, and neither is the timing of attacks in the area. The stats show nearly a 50% decrease in purist activity in the surrounding districts, and we have received reports from both the West and Southern routes warning of large roaming convoys and missing patrols. All of which started when Nick¡¯s dossier was leaked by someone high enough to have access to it.¡±

    That last part really caught my attention, and I choked down my bite of pancakes and broke into the conversation.

    ¡°What? My info was leaked? Why didn¡¯t this come up before?¡±

    Everyone turned to look at me. Rin answered while Dalls stiffened and Tevin looked guilty. ¡°It happened two days ago. We were ordered, as your security team, to monitor and handle it ourselves. To not bother you with the details. I, however, think you should be aware of the whole game board if you are going to have any chance of success.¡±

    ¡°Do we know who leaked it?¡±

    There was a look exchanged between Dalls and Rin, before Dalls rushed to answer.

    ¡°Not yet, the ISL administration is working to contain the situation and track down the source. Sir, you should not concern yourself with this and focus on Clan Theedrite. The Director and CLE are working hard to ensure that our city runs smoothly and our work is not interrupted by the delusional designs of ideological terrorists, you should trust them to do their jobs.¡±

    I looked between the two, and settled on Rin.

    ¡°Why are you not convinced, Rin?¡±

    He sighed and rolled his eyes at Dalls. ¡°Because, Dalls has too much trust and not enough foresight. We all remember what happened down in Tayhaus, right? Nubranagain has less than half of Oostin¡¯s defense budget and personnel compared to when the uprising happened. All data points to the anti-link factions massing for something big, and we should have a contingency planned for whatever it might be. Plus, the dwarves might be pressured to put forward a counter offer if they hear their rivals are treating with us.¡±

    He finished off the rest of his coffee while I absorbed that information, my mind finally clearing as caffeine entered my system and warred against weeks of almost enough sleep.

    ¡°Alright, I am now aware, go ahead and make the plans, Rin. Dalls is partially right, I don¡¯t have the time to worry about anything other than the trials until they are over. I have less than a week left, and between Chane and Tev I¡¯m already spread pretty thin.¡± I took a long drink of my cooling coffee and noticed Rin was still looking at me, now with his eyes narrowed.

    ¡°Then you should cease your range session with Tev until the trials are over.¡±

    That caught Tevins attention and he choked briefly on a mouthful of hash, causing him to cough a few times before he could throw in his own opinion.

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    ¡°Woah, if we¡¯re under imminent threat. Shouldn¡¯t he be training even more? He still forgets to release the safety for half of our draw-and-fire drills, and we haven''t even started on hostile extraction sims.¡±

    Rin shook his head. ¡°I do not think he should quit them entirely, but he should be well rested for the trials.¡±

    I nodded along, liking this idea. Range time with Tevin was often fun and had its moments, but having zero downtime was starting to wear on me.

    ¡°Sorry, but I think he has a point, Tev. It''s just for a week though. We can find a new routine when the trials are over and things level out.¡± I patted his slab of a shoulder, and pivoted the conversation away. ¡°What was that about The Sequence though, you said something about a deal with them and the Council?¡±

    Rin lazily swiped his tablet as he answered. ¡°They¡¯re offering technological assistance for rare resource extraction projects along the Blue Ridge Mountains, and a massive labor contract. It¡¯s a pretty terrible deal, they will still own all the equipment and take most of the profits.¡±

    I nodded, taking Rin¡¯s word on the deal. ¡°Makes sense to me. I know the clan has fought with those soft-skulls before. How much support does it have in the Council?¡±

    I used the dwarven slang for The Sequence, an older and insular species who looked almost like humans, only with extra long heads and prominent bone-ridges on their foreheads. The ridges protected holes in their skulls that were tied into their moderate psychic abilities.

    A fair few of the aliens within the game had various levels of psychic abilities, and the Factions layer had a whole system to translate them that I knew next to nothing about. The Sequence were known to be dismissive of species who were incapable of their elegant speechless communication though, which is what had led them to their rivalry with the upstart Zk¡¯Aek faction.

    ¡°Only three so far; Manufacturing under Mookah is pushing the hardest, Extraction¡¯s Stelldal is the second, and I think Herschel from Entertainment has been roped in for past favors owed.¡±

    I ran my hand through my hair, wishing I knew more about my own damn government. I¡¯d never bothered to pay much attention to the details, and while I knew the names of the eleven major guilds that ran the country, the general inner workings of the Council and their staff was entirely opaque. Most of my schooling on civics and history from before the Links arrived only went over the great historical figures and the founders, with very little attention paid to the modern workings and leadership of today.

    Accepting the reality of my new position, I resigned to spend some time filling in the gaps of my knowledge about these influential and powerful people that I was now working almost directly underneath.

    ¡°Okay, okay. If you can get your hands on it, can you send me a copy of the deal? And once the trials are over, I¡¯ma have you and Dalls go over the Council members with me in detail. I have to get going for the day though, I¡¯m due in the Row in another few minutes.¡±

    I stood from the bar and pushed my chair back in. ¡°Thanks for breakfast, Ali. Someone send me a message if anything major happens while I¡¯m Linked up.¡±

    To a chorus of goodlucks, grunts, and formal parting platitudes, I broke away from the group and walked down the hall to my personal Link. A few moments after that, I was back in the hub and pushing through the crowd to the nearest Factions portal.

    Chane¡¯s daily drills started off with a problem. These sessions were mandatory for all of us, Chane included, and Korfook was nowhere to be found when the class was supposed to start.

    After 10 minutes of waiting, we were sent off in pairs to go seek him out and drag him in. I was paired up with Lurbolg, the purple eyed and easy going dwarv I had come to know as the best kind of lazy, and we all scattered throughout the House¡¯s slice of undermountain to look for the missing dwarv. We were ordered to carry our heavy shields as we looked, as a mark of shame for our whole Row. One of us was missing for muster, and the whole House would see it as we roamed the hive looking for him.

    ¡°I think I know where we can find him.¡± said Lurbolg as we left the Rowhouse and started down one of the major staircases.

    I let him lead the way as we descended a few floors, traipsed through a storage room, and slid down a narrow chute for a few hundred feet that ejected us onto a crunchy pile of discarded packaging. From there, we crossed a dim warehouse-feeling area and got a few looks from a pair of dwarves who were busy operating power equipment and pushing around piles of scrap and trash, or relocating heavy pallets stacked with large crates.

    Next to a long bank of stacked pallets, we found a normal sized metal door with a colorful warning sign embedded into it. Lurbolg pulled it open to reveal another downward staircase, this one thankfully quite short.

    The last staircase twisted in a quick 180 and deposited us into a dark crawl space crammed with service walkways and clogged with the lower halves of the machinery and venting for whatever the floor above us was doing.

    I was starting to get a little nervous. This felt like a place we were not supposed to be, and while I didn¡¯t truly think Lurbolg was leading me into an ambush or anything sinister, the thought did cross my mind.

    The sound of the machines filled the air, but after a few moments of walking the winding path I caught the noise of deep wracking coughing, followed by laughter and more coughing. Lurbolg grumbled something under his breath and when we turned the next corner we were met with something like a foggy plastic curtain that was stretched into a seal between the wall and a bulky machine. The translucent sheet was spiderwebbed with clear veins, sort of like a large leaf, and stuck in place all around the edges with a thick clear glue.

    My companion dwarv ripped the sheet away to reveal a small smoke filled makeshift chamber made from the translucent material, centered on a dimly glowing volcanic vent about 6 inches wide. Korfook was lying next to the vent on his back, laughing and coughing while he made a crawling motion with his arms and legs in the air, rocking back and forth on his back like he was stuck, but having too good of a time to want to do anything about it.

    Lurbolg cursed and grabbed one of Korfook¡¯s hands to drag him away from the harsh smoke that rolled out of the makeshift chamber.

    ¡°Don¡¯t breathe too much of this stuff in, Kaninak. Blasted fume-head.¡± The purple eyed dwarv pulled the dread-headed Fook out of the cloud towards me. ¡°Pull ¡®em back, I''ll get the vent.¡±

    He let go of the giggling dwarv who was still flailing his limbs around, I held my breath and struggled to get a hold of one of his hands to drag him further away, while Lurbolg returned to the smoking vent and kicked a matching pipe that hung from the ceiling back into place. He knelt and secured the piping back into place, and I finally managed to grab one of Korfooks feet and dragged him a few paces away from the smokey section of walkway.

    ¡°Heey, hahaha, what¡¯s up? What¡¯s down? The smoke has cleared and all revound.¡± Babbled Korfook as I strained to drag him across the metal grating.

    He wasn''t even looking at me as I dragged him and I was hesitant to be the one to try talking to him, especially in the state he seemed to be in. Korfook had remained distant since our first day of training, which I was okay with. He still seemed to be holding some grudge against me that I thought there was no real basis for. He pulled his weight on the team most of the time and had left me alone, other than an occasional mean look or overzealous shield-press drill.

    I backed away and gave Lurbolg a worried look. ¡°What''s wrong with him?¡±

    He grunted and stomped back to us, I¡¯d never seen him with anything but a relaxed little smile on his face, and the scowl he currently wore highlighted his sharp features. ¡°Fume dust. Something we¡¯re not supposed to do until we pass the trials, Korfook, you idiot.¡±

    He gave the still babbling and laughing dwarv a light kick to the ribs. ¡°Many of us still play around with it, but we all know you have to time it so you¡¯re sober in time for training!¡± He gave another little kick.

    Korfook, for his part, twisted around and grabbed onto Lurbolg¡¯s leg. ¡°Lurbolg, my friend! We are ready, the seconds are thirds and grouting for words!¡±

    I eyed the intoxicated dwarv skeptically. ¡°You choose to be like that?¡±

    He waved my comment away. ¡°It can be fun while it lasts, and there¡¯s no harm if you aren''t a dumbass about it!¡± He directed the last part of his reply to Korfook, who was still babbling nonsense and reaching up to tug on Lurbolg¡¯s shirt as he curled around his leg.

    ¡°Yezztizz is safe, we undergrand late.¡±

    I looked to the messed up dwarv, then back to the scowling sober one. ¡°So¡­ We drag him back to the Row?¡±

    Lurbolg nodded, ¡°Yeah, Chane will sober ¡®em up and decide what to do.¡±

    So, that¡¯s what we did. I helped Lurbolg pull Korfook into a modified fireman''s carry, we picked our shields back up, and then we started back up through the maze of tunnels and stairs.

 Chapter 33

    Chane was already looking grim when we returned. Lurbolg and I laid the grumbling and pouting Korfook onto the ground and explained how we had found him. He had complained and whined about being uncomfortable for the last part of the half hour long journey, and ceased using actual words since then.

    Chane¡¯s face went from stony, to red and furious as he looked down at the incoherent youth. Chane started by ordering Bomilik to fetch a ¡°wake-up kit¡± from the training room''s supply closet, from which he removed a small glass ampule which he cracked with a twist. He held the container up to Korfooks face as the dwarv lolled his head and grumbled about bad rocks.

    The rest of the class was equally grim faced and silent, we all unconsciously rested at-ease and slowly edged our way into our standard formation as Chane woke up the slobbering problem dwarv.

    I stood at the end of the line and was catching some major second-hand embarrassment. I couldn''t imagine shirking my duty like he had, and while I was not all that friendly with the dwarv, I didn¡¯t wish him ill. Plus, I had no clue what the punishment for something like this would be. Being late by only a few minutes was the worst of the infractions I had seen so far, which just led to a good ol¡¯ walk of shame.

    After a moment, Korfook let out a massive sneeze and broke into a painful looking coughing fit. Chane stood back up as Korfook writhed around on the floor, then curled up onto his side facing us and hacked up a gross gray blob that splattered onto the scarred stone. After groaning for a moment, he opened his eyes and blinked at all of us standing in formation. His head only then turned and he looked up to the tomato colored Chane.

    ¡°Korfook, you bring shame upon the whole clan.¡± He started, his voice low and dangerous, barely restrained. Chane had never really dressed any of us down like I had seen from other bosses. He only raised his voice when volume was needed, and his criticisms were pointed and fair, more of a firm correction than a rebuke or insult.

    Korfook full body twitched when he saw Chane standing over him and heard the icy tone of his voice. ¡°Not only have you abandoned your responsibility, you have done so in the most irresponsible manner I have ever seen. Your Initiate ranking is already unimpressive, and full punishment for this would be enough to see you exiled. Explain yourself. Now.¡±

    Korfook opened and closed his mouth a few times and scrambled around to get his hands and feet under him, but he did not rise and only looked up at Chane from a kneeling crouch.

    ¡°I, uh. I know it was wrong. I didn''t mean to get caught up, Driller Chane. The salts lasted too long, and my hotbox setup was¡­ too good. Please, I had planned to be here for training, it was an accident.¡±

    Lurbolg pulled something from his pocket and tossed a crumpled up ball of the sheeting material to Chane. Our instructor snatched it out of the air and looked it over, unfurling it partially and inspecting the material.

    Chane flattened out a portion of the sheet and squeezed some of the goopy glue between two fingers. ¡°This is a foreign material, what is it?¡±

    Korfook, seeing a chance to be useful and to explain himself further, jumped on the opportunity. ¡°I got it from a traveling merchant! It¡¯s a universal gasket, air and water tight. It¡¯s uh, normally used as an emergency repair.¡±

    Chane pulled on the sheet, trying to stretch or tear it with no success. His face was starting to look slightly less red but his eyes still were hard and angry.

    ¡°So you smuggled this in? How did you make contact with the outsider?¡±

    Korfook grimaced and looked away as he mumbled his reply.

    ¡°I can¡¯t hear you, you soft shelled skidmark.¡±

    There was a hushed collective gasp from the Row at Chane''s insult, and Korfook raised his voice and repeated his answer.

    ¡°Zel-Benji. I¡­ I asked him to take me to the Clan market and broke away from him for a few minutes. He had no idea, please don''t blame him.¡±

    There was some hushed murmuring amongst the Row as he answered, and I overheard Lokralda whisper to Kikkelin next to me. ¡°Grandpa Benji? He¡¯s so sweet though!¡±

    Chane dropped the crumbled ball of sheeting and ran both of his hands through his hair and beard in a stress filled motion as he growled in frustration. Then he started tapping furiously at an invisible UI.

    ¡°Alright, Korfook. You will spend a day on the Pillar and your hold will be informed of your actions. As your instructor, this is partly my fault and I will accept¡­¡± he tapped at his UI a final few times. ¡°47 percent of the responsibility.¡±

    Chane pulled a mobile-com sized bar of polished stone from his inventory and spat on it before spending a short moment etching a marking into it. He then handed the stone to the still kneeling Korfook.

    ¡°You will take this to the Patriarch and tell him what has happened, then you will submit yourself to the pillar until it is time for tomorrow''s training session. Do you understand?¡±

    Korfooks face paled, but he nodded and accepted the message with both hands. ¡°Of course, Driller Chane. Right away. Thank you, this won''t happen again.¡±

    ¡°Go, now, and because you seem to need a babysitter, Kazek and Bomilik, follow this child and ensure that his commands are carried out. ¡±

    The two called upon initiates stepped forward and shouted their agreement, then Chane waved them all off. Korfook hung his head in shame and the other two ushered him out of the room at a trot. Chane turned to face the rest of us.

    ¡°A lack of discipline amongst our Row has come to my attention! You all have seen it, and we have collectively allowed it to grow into a problem. Since no one was strong enough to open their mouths and address this issue before it nearly destroyed us, I think we should work on that!¡±

    Chane fiddled with his UI for a moment again, still one of the rare people who insisted on poking the floating buttons rather than using mental commands. With a final jab, a series of metal bars ratcheted down from the ceiling.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to do some hanging drills. Most of you have yet to harden, you''re still soft and growing! We will see to it that you gain the strength you obviously lack!¡± He shouted, glaring at us up and down the line.

    ¡°Now, everybody¡­¡± He scanned us all over again, his face still a slightly reddened scowl as he paused for effect. ¡°Get your sorry shells up on them bars! I better not see any lazy joint locks or wedging!¡±

    Chane¡¯s shift in demonor was worrying, and I rushed to follow his order even if I was confused about what this exercise was all about. The bars were hanging only a few feet from the ceiling and out of reach even for me. I followed the rest of the line as we hurried to a bank of handholds in the wall which we all climbed up. The stocky dwarves ahead of me all swung along the bars and fanned out until our whole line hung down from the ceiling like drying laundry on a line.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard of monkey bars, but this one¡¯s new. What do we even call this, bug bars? Beetle hanging? Is¡­ hah, is this what you would call a hang out?¡±

    Max broke out into laughter inside my head, and I nearly groaned out loud at his busted sense of humor. I held on firmly, glad for my strong grip and wondering how long we would be expected to keep this up.

    Chane stood on the ground below and scowled up at us as he watched over our form. ¡°Now I blame myself for this mess, it¡¯s depressing, and that¡¯s just plain unfair! Loose morals and slack jaws have ruined my day, and seeing all of your smiling faces is making me jealous!¡±

    The angry drill instructor walked over to the storage closet as we all hung there silently. He pulled a training staff out of the closet and walked back over to us, which he waved around in our direction as he continued. I¡¯d never heard him take this tone with us, he sounded unhinged and was still slightly red around the face.

    While Chane was distracted, I craned my head around and looked down the line, straining to get a good view around my raised arms. I happened to catch Kikkelin already looking over at me, her eyes quickly darted away from mine and we both looked back at Chane who started yelling again.

    ¡°Since you all have displayed a lack of vocal fortitude, we¡¯re going to work on that, and you all are going to applaud my valiant effort to correct you! You just stay as you are Kaninak. The rest of you, hands free, now!¡±

    I looked at him with wide eyes when he singled me out, expecting nothing good to come of having my name called out during a dressing down. I was even more surprised when I glanced down the line again and saw Kikkelin pull herself up and bite down on the bar, then let go with her hands and started to clap her hands together.

    The whole row started to applaud as they hung from their jaws, until Chane called for a halt and launched into another tirade about our lack of discipline and failure for letting one of our own lose his way. Then the rest of the row would clap again until Chane started yelling again and the cycle repeated.

    I struggled and readjusted my grip, swinging slightly in the process but also getting a better view down the line and seeing that the whole row was now swaying from the line by their jaws.

    Chane stepped over to me and paused his angry lecturing for long enough to jab the training staff into my stomach, ¡°Focus, human! You¡¯re the only one who should be smiling up there, you¡¯re the first of your kind to ever have the privilege of running this drill with us!¡±

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    He moved on down the line and smacked one of Kikkelins feet with the staff, causing her to sway back and forth by her dangling grip.

    ¡°And you, Miss artist!¡± He stretched the word artist out pretentiously, pronouncing it like arteest. ¡°Were you busy sketching sculpts when you should have been reporting the delinquent actions of your Row?¡±

    Chane went down the line, poking, smacking, and jabbing at each of us with the staff as he singled each of us out and berated us for the minor quirks each of us had displayed. When he had singled each of us out, he seamlessly launched right back into his angry speech on how badly we had messed up.

    My arms were already starting to shake a little when Kazek and Bomilik returned a few minutes later. They both had hard angry looks on their faces and joined us up on the clothesline, causing us all to have to shift around to reorder into our proper places. Normally there might have been some grumbling and chatter amongst the formation during a conditioning drill like this, but this time a heavy silence filled the room between Chane¡¯s outbursts and corrections.

    Every half hour or so he would call for a wall-touch, and we would all have to swing across the bars to one wall, then back to the center, all while Chane lectured, poked, and prodded with his inert staff and attempted to knock us down from the bars.

    Everyone fell at some point, either from fatigue, bad grips, or Chane¡¯s harassing jabs. It was not too much of a drop for me, only a few feet. My aching forearms appreciated the short rest that a fall granted, but Chane turned his staff into a motivational baton and rained blows down on whichever of us had fallen. Battering any initiate who fell as they scrambled back up the handholds to rejoin their position in line.

    The dwarves seemed to have a harder time from the falls, and I was amazed that they could hold themselves up just by biting the bar. They were heavier than me and had farther to fall. Anytime they fell and happened to land on their back it would take them an extra moment to flip over before they could get away from Chane¡¯s staff and climb back up. The view of the whole row hanging above me made my jaw ache in sympathy, if only for a moment before Chane refocused me with a series of blows from his staff.

    The attacks from Chane were annoying, but taking damage in-game only really stung and did some in-game damage. The real punishment was the screaming agony of my forearms and shoulders as I was put through the worst workout of my life.

    After a full half day, nearly 5 hours of hanging, falling, climbing, and being smacked around with a heavy metal pole, hardly any of us were able to hang for longer than a few minutes at a time. I was drenched in sweat and shaking, my arms numb and tingling and aching all at the same time. Jozoic and Kazek were the only two who were able to keep their grip consistently anymore, and even Chane was starting to show signs of getting tired of beating us with his staff.

    Finally, after I had fallen for the hundredth time, dry heaved a few times, and had just struggled my way back to my position on the bar, he called an end to the tortuous routine. ¡°Alright, Row. Fall in line! Get your scruffy arses down here and form up!¡±

    I dropped down instantly, my grip slipping when he shouted as I swung back into place. Yet because I was still mid-swing when I lost my grip, I stumbled as I fell to the floor and landed in an exhausted heap. I had only a split second warning, seeing the blur of a dark form above me before someone else landed on me.

    I¡¯d landed on my side with my arms forward, and was starting to push myself up onto my hands and knees when all of the air was crushed out of me. My chest slammed into the chipped stone floor and I felt my ribs compress as Kikkelin unknowingly dropped down onto me.

    I struggled a little as she righted herself and climbed off of my back, but we both made it to our feet and into formation after a moment. I caught a glimpse of her face and noticed she had turned a bright pink color, but everyone was a little flush from the effort of the day so I thought nothing of it.

    Chane threw his training staff on the ground and stared us all down in silence as our exhausted group came together, ragged, sweating, and breathing hard.

    ¡°Alright, larvae, I¡¯m tired of smelling you, I need a break! You have 15 ticks to get some liquid intake, and then I want you formed up with your equipment in the courtyard. Row-Lead Kazek, you and your first, make it happen.¡±

    The still bristling Driller spun on a heel and stomped his way out of the training room, leaving us all to recover for a few minutes. As soon as he left the room about half of us, myself included, collapsed onto the ground.

    I laid against the clammy stone floor on my back and stared at the ceiling, my chest heaving with the deep needy breathing of marathon effort, stretching my arms out to the side and wincing as my muscles screamed.

    ¡°That was brutal, even by my standards. Lucky for you, I got your back. I doubt you would have lasted more than a few hours without the little tweaks I gave you.¡±

    I hated when Max reminded me that he had fundamentally changed my body when he forced his way into my life, but at that moment I was too beat to muster up any anger. So instead of anger, I responded with the feeling of curiosity.

    ¡°Oh, you want to know what I did?¡± he asked. ¡°Well, it¡¯s quite complex really, but if you want me to break it down into terms you can comprehend; as far as your strength is concerned, I tuned down some inhibitors when I first showed up, and you¡¯ve been slowly getting stronger since then. Plus I refolded a couple of your proteins into something more efficient and resilient. Evolution does some beautiful work, but often it¡¯s a total ¡®if it works, don¡¯t fix it¡¯ kind of situation that leaves some really wacky design artifacts. Hah-hah¡±

    I had closed my eyes as I listened, but I sensed a shadow of someone leaning over me and blocking the light that caused me to open my eyes. Kikkelin stood over me, with a nervous frown on her face.

    ¡°Hi. I¡¯m sorry I fell on you earlier. I didn''t break you, did I?¡± She had a surprisingly small voice, much different from the boisterous and loud enthusiasm that most of the others displayed.

    I shook my head and sat up to talk to her. ¡°No, I¡¯m fine, just sore and tired. No broken bones or anything serious.¡±

    Her face lit with a subtle excitement at my words. ¡°Oh good! I¡¯m glad your bones are okay. It¡¯s so cool really, you humans are so different. Soft yet crunchy, and so tall.¡±

    I shrugged, remembering first hand just how different we really were under the mask of the game, not sure what to say back at first. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s pretty crazy.¡±

    There was an awkward moment of silence between us and a hushed yet heated argument between some of the other dwarves pulled our attention back to the group.

    ¡°You knew he was using, this is as much your fault as his!¡± Argued Kazek.

    Lurbolg crossed his arms as he stood across from him amongst a group of still-able-to-stand dwarves. ¡°Half the class has dusted before, if everyone reported anyone who played around, half the hive wouldn¡¯t make it through the trials!¡±

    ¡®That''s no excuse! You heard Driller Chane. He claimed almost half of the demerit, and I¡¯m sure Kazzad won¡¯t let that stand and will take some on herself. This hurts all of us, it could hit the House standing!¡±

    ¡°Exactly, it''s on all of us! Why do any of us use the stuff? It¡¯s an escape that some need, but I wouldn¡¯t expect a Bloodline brat like yourself to understand why. If things were better for the lesser holds, it wouldn''t be an issue.¡±

    Kazek let out a growl in reply and visibility started to shake, and Bomilik put a restraining hand on his shoulder, shaking his head.

    The large dwarv broke into the conversation and tried to calm down the escalating fight. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t be fighting, we are Row, we are House.  Chane and Kazzad are our commanders. They¡¯ll sort it out and we¡¯ll get through this. All of us.¡±

    Kazek, a serious and reasonable dwarv, nodded and seemed to calm down a little. Lurbolg however still looked heated and pushed the issue one more time. ¡°Yeah, Korfook is a bit of a bent-bolt, but he pulls his weight for the House. I believe him when he says it was an accident.¡±

    Before replying, Kazek looked over at Bomilik and Jozoic, who only nodded once but did not speak.

    ¡°Fine, now is not the time to hash this out. Everyone, get your fluid intake and flush as much acid from your systems as you can. We¡¯re only halfway through this cascading disaster.¡±

    He clapped his broad hands together loudly, forgetting for a moment the hours of clapping he had already done today, and winced slightly.

    The tension hanging over the bunched up dwarves gradually dissipated as everyone spread out and started pulling various drinks from their inventory and sitting down to relax, or stretching strained muscles in the case of the more serious amongst the Row.

    After the fireworks calmed down, I looked back to Kikkelin who was still standing near where I sat on the floor. I remembered that she was tied up in the troubled dwarves'' reason to dislike me, so I wondered if she knew anything else about what was going on with him.

    I kept my voice low and got her attention, ¡°Hey, so, do you know what the deal with Korfook is anyways?¡±

    She looked down and away, shrugging. ¡°He likes me. He¡¯s asked for my promise a few times, and gets upset when I tell him no. And I¡­ yeah.¡± She paused for a moment and took a deep breath. ¡°His Hold has struggled since his elder brother''s failure. He¡¯s had a rough time lately.¡±

    I pulled a bottle of broth from my inventory and cracked the lid, which started an exothermic reaction within the bottle that heated my pseudo-lunch.

    ¡°Maybe you dwarves are a little more similar to us humans than I¡¯d thought. I saw the same kind of story happen a couple of times when I was in school.¡±

    That really got her attention and she smiled over at me. ¡°Really? What was your school like?¡±

    Laughing, I replied, ¡°Hah, nothing like this. It was before we even had the Links.¡±

    Her eyes shined with wonder. ¡°It must be weird for you to be back in school, being an elder.¡±

    That made me laugh even harder. ¡°An elder? No way, I¡¯m not even middle aged.¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± She exclaimed, which caught the attention of a couple of other nearby dwarves who looked towards us. She reeled in her excitement before she continued. ¡°So, you are young then, for a human?¡±

    I gave her a slightly confused look and took a drink of my steaming broth. ¡°Sort of, I¡¯m only 27. I¡¯ve been an adult for a few years, but I¡¯m like a quarter into my lifespan, if that makes it make sense.¡±

    She smiled and bobbed her head up and down again. ¡°Oh, okay! I¡¯ve read about your life spans. It¡¯s pretty wild.¡± she let out a nervous laugh and watched Sallis and Jozoic, who were walking over towards us.

    Sallis flopped down on the ground across from me, forming a circle between the four of us. ¡°So, you were in on the pickup, ¡®aye? Lurbolg is still annealing n¡¯ don¡¯t wanna talk about it, what the fook happened?¡±

    I debated with myself over telling the story for a moment, but decided that they should know. If we were getting punished as a block, it only made sense to me that we should all know why. I went over what I knew and explained my perspective, and the three dwarves listened with sour-faced silence.

    ¡°...He couldn¡¯t even form words by the time we had him halfway out of the service levels, and just babbled like a baby for the rest of the way, and well¡­ you all saw what happened when we got here.¡± I finished my story to the small group.

    ¡°Two ticks to shields up!¡± Shouted Bomilik from where he was standing with Kazek and a few others near the door.

    Realizing our short break was almost up, everyone grumbled and started to prepare to leave the training room. I chugged the rest of my broth before strapping on my armor and joining the rest. There was a nervous energy amongst the whole group as we all prepared to face our shame in the Houses courtyard.

 Chapter 34

    The armored dwarv was hard to read behind his stoney mask as we circled each other. I watched him closely over the top of my shield, keeping it braced against shoulder and shin between him and myself. He feigned a step to the side, then rushed forward and slammed his shield into mine. Max¡¯s red warning flash helped me recognize the feint and I managed to position myself to squarely block his blow.

    The clash of shields pushed me a couple of inches back on the stone floor, but I kept my footing and stopped his charge. I was unprepared when the dwarv kicked the bottom of our locked shields and then slid his own down and to the side, using his short stature to his advantage and cracking the edge of his shield into my knee, causing it to buckle out to the side. He then hopped to the side a step further and charged into me at an awkward angle, bowling me over and trampling me as I laid there.

    I groaned and laid there for a moment, then pushed myself up and pulled one of my gauntlets off to wipe at the sooty bootprint on my face. The armored dwarv had already walked around me and stared silently from his edge of our sparring circle again.

    I walked over to my own side to reset the match, and caught glances of the rest of my row having nearly identical experiences around me. We all had been assigned as sparring partners to one of the veteran Rows who were relentlessly throwing us around like ragdolled training dummies.

    There was a dark tension that hung over the courtyard. Where it was normally filled with enthusiastic shouts, challenges, and the clashing of training; the hushed audience now gave a wide berth as my Row rode out the rest of our punishment. Some simply stood and watched, while others called out insults and aired their disappointment in the youngest generation.

    I also had learned what the Pillar was, and it turned out to be pretty self explanatory. In the center of the courtyard, surrounded by the carved sparring circles where our whole Row was getting the training-dummy treatment, they had raised a 40 ft tall cast pillar of bronze. Carved glyphs spiraled up from the bottom, but only for a few feet, leaving the majority of the rough unpolished surface unmarked.

    Korfook lay on top of the pole, his chest balanced on a platform only a few feet square at the top with his arms and legs hanging limply down to the sides. He had looked up and around a few times, his face obviously strained and emotional even from a distance.

    None of us had the time to give him much thought though, as the vets had taken a professional interest in showing all of our Row just how unprepared we were. None of us had managed to best our current instructors, not even Jozoic, who trained relentlessly and was widely regarded as the best fighter amongst our Row.

    I pulled my gauntlet back on and buckled it to my vambrace, and raised my shield to ready myself for the next sparring match with the silent masked veteran who had been beating me into the dirt for the last hour and a half. Just as my opponent nodded and stepped forward to start the next match, my attention was pulled away by the sight of a human standing with crossed arms at the edge of the courtyard.

    I met her eyes from across the yard, but her face was unreadable. She wore boxy and rough looking work clothes and had long braided brown hair, coppery tanned skin, and an ovalish shaped face with striking features that were currently pulled into a tight-lipped and hard expression.

    She was far enough away that it was hard to make out much more detail, but I could have sworn I saw the corner of her mouth twitch into a smile as I stared at her. I started to smile back, but my vision flashed red a split second before the veteran smashed into me again, pushing me flat out of the circle and onto my back with hardly a fight.

    ¡°Ga-rah. Useless. Get up, beardless.¡± The vet cursed at me.

    I peeled myself off of the floor, and shook off the complaints of my abused muscles. I¡¯d taken my time resetting for the next match, and tried to get another glimpse of the woman I had seen, but she was gone by the time I had managed to pick myself up and look for her.

    I closed my eyes for a few long seconds, centered myself with a sigh, and prepared myself to get run over again.

    We spent the rest of the training session as the B-ranked Row¡¯s punching bags, all of us repeatedly getting thrown to the ground, trampled upon, and battered with the heavy shields that the dwarves used. Chane prowled around the group as a whole, encouraging our veteran sparring instructors and occasionally shouting at one of the initiates when they were unable to stand to face the next match.

    Up on his pillar, Korfook was mostly ignored, only called out by Chane and a number of passersby who spoke derisively of him in the past tense, their voices raised loud enough to carry up to him.

    When the end of the training day finally came, the only word Chane had for us as a group was a gruff ¡°Dismissed!¡± before he stomped his way to the House Patriarchs building at the end of the yard.

    Too exhausted to think and barely able to stand, I staggered off to the side of the courtyard and slid down to the floor against the wall of a building. I pulled a bottle of some sports drink Tevin had recommended to me from my inventory and cracked it open in the shelter of the covered walkway.

    I drained half the bottle and dropped my arm with the bottle limply into my lap, needing to take a few moments to recover before porting back to the Hub and heading home.

    Someone with a pleasant voice pulled me out of my exhausted slump. ¡°They are a hard people, but you have done well.¡±

    I rolled my head over to see who was speaking, and saw the woman from earlier standing in the middle of the walkway with her arms once again crossed over her chest. She was strikingly pretty, with pronounced cheekbones and expressive brown eyes. She held her lips in a controlled line, leaving me unsure what she was thinking or why she had stopped to talk to me.

    ¡°I¡¯m picking up on that. It kind of sucked, but it is what it is, and I¡¯m through it now.¡± I brushed off the comment. While today had been one of the rougher days of my life, I¡¯d survived and knew our treatment was not truly malicious, only another hardship that would pass.

    ¡°I¡¯m Nick Spenser, by the way. I¡¯m still pretty new here.¡±

    ¡°Mhmm, I know who you are.¡± Her mouth twitched into a lopsided grin for a moment. ¡°Welcome to the clan, Nick.¡±

    Without a wave or any further words, she spun around and walked away, leaving me where I sat against the wall. I looked after her, trying to think of something to call out to her, but she ducked into the short doorway of one of the buildings before my wit could be revived and prodded into saying something that wouldn¡¯t make me sound like an idiot. Probably for the best.

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    ¡°C¡¯mon! There¡¯s this awesome little shop next to the food court just full of art and stuff! They do a monthly live concert that''s coming up in a few days too!¡± Tevin said through his massive grin as he practically skipped along next to me.

    Since we had canceled our range training sessions, he had talked me into exploring our new apartment tower a little instead. ¡°Get out of the apartment for awhile¡± he said, ¡°Taking part in the community is important¡± he claimed. I was exhausted to my core, but I had a few hours to recover, and a short walk to eat out would probably do my sore muscles more good than laying like a puddle in my apartment.

    I felt a little more comfortable in my new suit as we made our way through the crowd of well-to-do residents of the tower, and found myself smiling when I saw rare sights like children playing, or an elderly pair of grandmotherly types sitting at a table and slapping down game-tiles. The contrast between the people within the tower and the people who lived in the normal pre-link buildings surrounding it was night and day.

    We took a long elevator ride to the 10th floor, and walked out into something like a mall, or maybe an airport. I limped along next to Tevin down sparsely decorated hallways lined with storefronts and broken up into areas of public seating or automated entertainment. We passed a small arcade crammed with kids and teens, and Tevin proudly pointed out his initials at the top of the leaderboard on the biggest and fanciest of the shooting-sim style games.

    I was too exhausted to do much beyond stumbling after Tevin like a zombie and grunting in reply to his enthusiasm. He led me through a number of shops where he seemed to already be on first name terms with all the owners or workers. My enthusiasm was less apparent, but that didn''t seem to matter to Tevin who treated the whole trip like he was going from group to group at a party he had thrown himself.

    After our meandering walk, we finally stopped at the BBQ place Tevin had convinced me to come out for, saying they had the best sauce he had ever tasted and used actual hickory wood for their in-house smoker. The place was rather small and cramped, and absolutely packed with well dressed professionals and their families eating out.

    We waited to be seated for a few minutes, before a chipper teenager in an outdated uniform seated us at a small table in a cordoned off patio-esque area out front and gave us our menus.

    ¡°You should totally try the ribs, or brisket! Their bread is great too, they make it themselves and use real wheat flour.¡± Tevin said excitedly over his menu.

    I blinked a few times to focus my eyes and nodded along. ¡°Sounds good¡­¡± I scanned the menu and looked over the pictures, which did look pretty amazing. It all looked great until I started glancing over the prices.

    ¡°40 creds for a half-rack of pork ribs? 50 for a pound of brisket and sides? These dusted prices are ridiculous, Tev. We used to spend this much on food for a week.¡±

    Tevin laughed a little and shrugged. ¡°Heh, you¡¯re starting to talk like one of your dwarv buddies. Don¡¯t worry about the price though man, it¡¯s a drop in the bucket.¡± He made a weird face and affected a snooty accent reminiscent of Dalls. ¡°You are nobility, and should carry yourself as such.¡±

    I grinned, but didn''t quite have a laugh in me. ¡°Yeah¡­ I guess, as long as it doesn''t become a habit it should be okay.¡± I activated my earwigs UI and glanced at my Bank roll, which was still nearly 40k and always gave me a bit of a pick-me up.

    The server showed up a moment later and laid out a pair of actual glass cups filled with filtered water. The server asked Tevin if he wanted ¡°his usual¡±, which he did, and I ordered the sampler platter to try a little bit of everything. After some polite banter with the server, they nimbly danced their way through the crowded tables and back towards the kitchen.

    ¡°So, what''s the deal? You¡¯re normally not this spacey after you get back from your underground adventures. What went down?¡± Tevin asked as he fiddled with a bendy straw from a bank of condiments and other restaurant paraphernalia in the center of the small table.

    I leaned my elbows on the table and rubbed my tired eyes for a moment before replying. ¡°One of the other guys in my Row messed up big time today, so he got some big punishment and the rest of us all got the most brutal training day of our lives. They had the others literally hanging from a metal bar by their teeth, for hours. I don¡¯t even know, man.¡±

    He raised an eyebrow at me. ¡°Oooh-ho-ho, that''s the first time you got smoked as a group? Hah. How¡¯d your squad take it? Any plans of a blanket party to convince the guy to not fuck things up for everyone again?¡±

    ¡°Blanket party?¡± I asked, confused.

    He laughed and shook his head. ¡°You know, cornering him and teaching him a lesson? They¡¯re pretty common in the training racks.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°No, I guess. I didn¡¯t hear about anything like that at least. Everyone was mad, but the class seemed split on what to do about it.¡±

    Tevin shrugged. ¡°I guess it¡¯s a little different for you, when I was in training we all spent every moment together. I didn¡¯t think about it before, but it¡¯s weird that they let you all scatter for the nights.¡±

    I shrugged as well, and the conversation transitioned over to something more benign once our food arrived. Tevin told me that he and Sindree had broken up, and that he was seeing someone new who lived in one of the lower floors of the building. Some girl named Kaylee who worked in admin that Tev had met in one of the shops nearby. Then we bantered about his gaming habits and he told me about a new game he had picked up, a meme-heavy alien knock-off of a hugely popular human game from before the Link had arrived.

    Eventually, maybe inevitably, the conversation wound back around to the underhome and the hive of dwarves.

    ¡°So, do you think you¡¯re ready for the trials? They¡¯re only a few days away. I know it has Rin all worked up, he¡¯s been glued to his screens all week, haven''t seen him go this hard since we moved into the new place.¡±

    I took my time answering, enjoying the bite of pork loin I was chewing on too much to cut it short and answer him immediately. ¡°Only two more training days, actually, and I think so, everyone keeps telling me I¡¯ll be fine anyways. I¡¯m still not sure what the trials will really be like, other than a marathon. They said it takes a whole 5 days, so I¡¯ll be locked into the Link for awhile. Shit¡­ that reminds me, I¡¯ll have my next payment day coming up soon, probably.¡± I heard Max chuckle a little, and for some reason this time it seemed to come from somewhere external, like a few feet behind me and to my left.

    I ignored it and listened to Tevin as he replied. ¡°It¡¯ll be boring around here with you gone that long. Kinda sucks you can¡¯t even use your fancy rig-free setup so you can get some time out of the saddle though. Oh¡­ You¡¯re gonna have to turn on the waste reclaimer system, heh. Good luck with that.¡±

    Not wanting to talk about bathroom solutions over dinner, I changed the subject.

    ¡°Forget that for a minute, have you guys made any headway on how I got doxxed?¡±

    Tevin¡¯s grin died down and he looked unsure. ¡°Not really. Rin is working with some other wonks from IIS that tracked the download to the Admin HQ in Memphis, I guess it all happened Hub-side after that though.¡±

    ¡°What all got leaked anyways?¡± I asked, before scooping up a spoonful of chunky baked beans, then rethinking and setting it back down to opt for a scoop of coleslaw instead.

    Tevin looked down at his own food, and mumbled out a sheepish, ¡°We¡¯re not entirely sure. Your whole file was downloaded, but we only found out when Rin picked up bits and pieces of your info making the rounds in the gray market in the Hub. We know your name and new Title got out, as well as your ties to two alien Factions and our old address, who knows what else got put out there though. It¡¯s a good thing Katie moved us into this fortress of a tower, security would have been a nightmare at the old place.¡±

    I nodded along, sobered at the thought of myself being important enough that my information was being bought, sold, and tracked by the Internal Intelligence Service.

    After a few seconds of contemplative quiet as we thought over the situation, our conversation soon turned back to casual banter and joking around as Tevin sensed my unease and tried to cheer me up. We finished our meal and packed up what was leftover in cheap containers before we paid our server and left a hefty tip.

    As we departed and Tevin thanked the host and waved at our server, neither of us noticed the man sitting a few tables down. His jaw tense, and his eyes carefully angled away from us as he tucked the discrete directional microphone he had been using to record our conversation back up his sleeve.

 Chapter 35

    The base of the undermountain was a flurry of activity, trucks loaded with neatly stacked and netted piles of blocks streamed towards the surface, while huge barge-sized dump trucks carried ores and minerals on wide roadways towards the undermountain. We skimmed over it all on our way to our final training assignment.

    Chane had loaded us all into a long and somewhat narrow grav-tech bus and taken us to the outskirts of the city for what he called ¡°field experience.¡± The craft dodged around the few massive support pillars that helped hold the mountainous facade that served as sky for the expansive cavern, which grew more dense the farther we traveled from the mountain home.

    We had been assigned into teams of three, and everyone paid close attention as we made our first stop. Chane stood up at the front and called the first team to their assignment.

    ¡°Team five, this is your site. Scans and drone scouting indicate a sizable PGE percentage within this cavern. You are to perform manual scouting and mapping of this cavern, and obtain samples from promising deposits.¡±

    The long vehicle settled down on dozens of pointed insect-like legs that unfolded from the sides of the craft to grip the ground. Lurbolg and two dwarves I had not gotten to know very well stood from their places on the bus and filed their way down the narrow aisle between the seats. Sallis, our Rows aspiring pilot, flexed her knowledge of the craft and commented that the legs had enough strength to park the vehicle sideways on a near vertical wall if necessary.

    We watched through the windows as the trio of dwarves exited the bus and started to examine the cracked hole in the floor that was the entrance to their cavern. Before the three could even reach the entrance, our tunnel runner bus released its grip on the ground and we soared off through the network of support pillars and honeycombed excavations of the outskirts and onwards to the next stop.

    I had been placed into team 2 along with Sallis and Jozoic, and half an hour later our group had been dropped off at the bottom of a freshly scraped out fracture in a massive section of gabbro bedrock. Part of the reason the dwarves had picked this location was its abundance and variety of minerals and stone types bordering the granite and basalt mix of the underhome.

    Chane stood again and dragged my attention away from the window and my wandering thoughts. ¡°Let''s go team two! Scans indicate this patch is high in titanium, and has a high chance of gold. Get in there and get us some samples and scrape up what you can.¡±

    Being at the front of the bus, I was the first off and the first to see the scree clogged entrance to the cavern we had been assigned to, and the bus took off as soon as Jozoic¡¯s armored boots hit the angled and stone floor leaving us in near complete darkness. I glanced back at my team, but continued towards the entrance and turned on a small flashlight that was clipped to one of the straps of my climbing harness. Still feeling like I had to prove my value as the least experienced person in the Row, I got to work immediately.

    The cave was stuffed full of small rocks and conglomerate build-up, but someone had excavated enough of a hole through it already to feed a small drone. I pulled some of the loose stones from the top of the stack and tossed them off to the side as the other two caught up to me.

    The other two jumped right in beside me and started pulling stones from the blockage as well. Occasionally one of the dwarves would reach in and rub their finger on a portion of pressure fused stone and then bring it to their mouth to taste it, then they would lick their finger and smear it on the stone, then go back to prying on the stuck rock as the softer binding material melted away.

    We worked in silence for about a minute, my sore muscles complaining at first but loosening up as we worked to move the stones, before Sallis broke the quiet after heaving a bread loaf sized rock down to the bottom of the pile. ¡°So, who¡¯s on point? Any plans, ideas?¡±

    Jozoic did not look up or stop working as he answered. ¡°I will anchor, you can go first if you wish. Kaninak, what do you say?¡±

    I grunted and shook the huge rock I was attempting to roll out of the middle of the pile back and forth another time, ¡°Works for me, I probably shouldn¡¯t go first.¡± I pushed on the rock again, straining my legs against one rock and pushing against the other with my shoulders causing them to shift to each side, and a number of small stones to clatter down the face of the clog.

    The dwarves looked at eachother, surprised by my display of strength, or possibly just my application of it. The mass of rock cracked along a significant portion of it and we continued dismantling the top of the blocked off passage.

    When we had pulled enough away to create a small opening onto the other side of the crevice, Jozoic handed me a rope that I worked through a heavy loop on my belt and then handed over to Sallis who tied it to her own. I pulled some slack through my loop and clamped it in place with a pressure fitting and then followed after Sallis as she crawled head first through the small opening we had made.

    I followed a few feet after her into the downward sloping tunnel. The floor was rough and nobby and the ceiling was scraped and shattered with sharp edges in places. I was grateful for my covered elbows and the sallet style helmet I had made, even if it still lacked its face guard, yet wished I had taken the time to make greaves like some of the others to protect my knees and shins as I pushed myself forward on my belly.

    Luckily, the crawl was not far before the blockage ended and we dropped down into a steeply sloping chamber about 5 feet high. I checked the slack in my line and held myself in place somewhat above Sallis as Jozoic wriggled out of the opening above me.

    Sallis grunted and spat a glowing blue blob down into the opening beneath us which splattered onto a more level looking floor about 30 feet below. I looked between the two more experienced cavers and wanted to ask what we should do, but the hush of the cramped tunnel made me hesitant to break the silence.

    Jozoic pulled a lump of clay-like material from his inventory and pressed it into a crack in the wall, then pushed a small metallic square into it that caused an immediate reaction. The dark gray clay-like blob started to let out a soft hissing sound and ejecting a foamy material from a hole cut into the center of the piece of metal. It stank horribly as it spewed out a centimeter thick cylinder of whatever the foam was, and Jozoic pulled on the stream of ropey foam from the rapidly lightening in color blob. The dwarv coiled it around and around in a practiced motion as the reaction progressed, and when it had stopped hissing and steaming he tugged on each end of the coil in his hands and nodded, and then dropped the coil of ¡°rope¡± down into the hole.

    Sallis grabbed the cord and tugged on the now hardened anchor, then looped one foot into the new rope and started to lower herself down into the next chamber. I followed after her, and Jozoic quickly slid down as soon as my mag-boots touched the floor. We adjusted our group line and I swept my flashlight around to examine the small cavern.

    There was only one direction to travel in, moving horizontally between the slab of gabbro above us and the diorite floor. The floor showed signs of water erosion as it flowed down, it was smooth and clear of smaller stones, yet coated in a layer of ancient dust that must have formed after the area was sealed off by the blockage we had cut our way through.

    Our lead did not give me much time to gawk at the cavern. She moved over to a patch of slightly differently colored gabbro along one wall and pried a loose piece of rock out from the wall, while Jozoic did the same for the opposite wall. I looked around on the ceiling but could not find a loose rock to pull for a sample from there, so I just watched as each of them logged the samples into their mobile-coms and pulled them into their inventory.

    After we gathered up our samples and Jozoic took some readings with a handheld scanner, we moved deeper down the twisting tunnel. The ceiling was just high enough for the dwarves to comfortably walk along, only occasionally scraping their helmets against the jagged stones above, while I had to crouch walk or occasionally crawl on hands and knees.

    We followed the passage down for a few hundred feet before squeezing through a tall and narrow gully that the dwarves barely were able to cram their barrel chests through sideways. The gully dropped off into what I imagined would have once been an impressive waterfall, the water-cut path ending in a sheer cliff that looked out into a massive fissure. I caught up behind Sallis as she stopped at the edge and leaned out to look into the abyss that stretched in every direction.

    Standing a few feet taller than Sallis, I angled my light out over her head and into the darkness to reveal the far side of the huge crack about 30 ft distant. I spotted a matching blemish against the far cliff in the form of a small cave that would have matched our own entryway to the underground canyon, like a worm-bit apple split in half to reveal its route.

    Sallis finally broke the silence we had kept through our journey so far, but kept her voice hushed out of respect for the reverberant chasm. ¡°Hruhpm. Far side looks clogged with chalk still, drones must have found something in the ravine.¡±

    She gurgled and spat another glowing blue blob of snot out into the ravine, we watched it arc away and down and hit with a ringing smack at the narrow bottom nearly a hundred feet below. Glowing blue speckles spattered across the sheer walls and dimly lit the rubble strewn floor.

    ¡°What''s ahead, why have we stopped?¡± Jozoic asked from behind me.

    ¡°We¡¯re looking out the side of a ravine.¡± I explained, and tried to shine my little flashlight upwards to see how much higher the crack traveled, but the light was too weak and dissipated before it could reach the ceiling. ¡°No idea how tall, straight down about a hundred feet.¡±

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    Sallis grumbled under her breath. ¡°Meters, inches, feet, centimeters. Can¡¯t ya¡¯ just pick a system? It''s about 25 head, at a guess.¡± She translated my estimate for Jozoic into the dwarven structural measurement, which was a few hairs shy of four and a half feet.

    I chuckled at her complaint, understanding the frustration as someone who had grown up in a culture that for some reason used multiple systems of measurement.

    Jozoic thought for a moment before proposing a plan. ¡°I think we set a spike and run a loop to the floor. We have enough rope to leave it for the extraction team, maybe we could earn some rep from the next team if we tie a line to the other side too.¡±

    Sallis and I nodded in agreement and she untied herself from the group line, before pulling out a thicker bundle of premade rope while I retrieved a self-boring spike from my own inventory and worked it into the sheer face of the cliff around head-height. The spike was difficult to push into the wall and I had to lean into it, but it slowly melted into the stone as I pushed before giving off a flash and the small crack of an explosion as it solidified the quartz in the surrounding stone into a bonded support structure.

    We looped the long rope through the anchor''s eye and Jozoic and I lowered Sallis as she repelled down to the bottom of the ravine. She secured the other end with a second anchor and tied it off, allowing us to use our self-climbers to carry us down the taut line.

    Once all three of us had safely lowered ourselves to the floor of the tall cavern, we tied back into our groupline and explored the bottom. After a half an hour of scrambling over the broken and jumbled shards of stone that lined the bottom, we had not found another entrance to the area and learned it was nearly a kilometer in length. The cave we had crawled in through was closer to one end, and there were obvious veins of quartz and other minerals and metals scattered across the walls. A greasy black pool of water lay at the far end of the ravine, and we stopped to make a plan at its broken edge.

    Jozoic untied his end of the group rope and handed it to me. ¡°Looks like this is the main chamber, should be safe to split and gather samples. Everyone remember to keep your logs in order and name your samples in your inventory tab, it''s a pain to sort out afterward.¡±

    Bluurp. A large bubble rose to the surface of the pond and popped, just before something tried to crawl out of the pool towards us. The edge of the shore writhed into action as a line of shoebox sized crab-like creatures started to break the surface of the water.

    All three of us scrambled back from the edge, drawing sidearms and preparing for combat. Yet as we pulled our weapons, myself having only just managed to draw the pistol Tevin had given me, we watched as the crabs were somehow unable to break the surface tension of the pool and were falling over themselves at the edge of the rippling pond. Only, the water was not just rippling, but also bunching up, the greasy black coating sliding away from the far edges as the surface wrinkled and thickened to envelope the charging crustaceans in a lump of dark gelatinous ooze.

    ¡°It¡¯s a black jelly, back up!¡± Jozoic called out.

    We retreated back about 20 feet and watched the creatures writhe around at the edge of the pool. The crabs were strong and well armored, and occasionally one of their legs would pierce through the layer of dark goop that restrained them, but they fought against each other in their frenzy to escape the slime that had enveloped the whole group. One crab nearly made it completely free from the goop, only to have its leg pinched by another two crabs who then dragged it back into the mess. The whole thing smelled super funky as well, there was a faint steam that rose from the combat and filled the ravine with the stink of vomit and bad eggs.

    I was captivated by the brawl between the creatures. I had heard stories of wild creatures that the game seeded every new world with, but had not encountered many of them in my time on Rosso¡¯s island. I looked over at Jozoic, who had called out the name of one of them and asked to see if he had any more info.

    ¡°What the hell are those things?¡±

    All eyes were glued to the combat at the edge of the pool as he answered. ¡°Rock crabs, and a nasty slime mold, a real dangerous one. They¡¯ll split if damaged, and you can¡¯t really hurt them with physical attacks. Need fire, or a few tons of salt.¡± He pulled out his scanner and directed its laser towards the crab-filled ooze, and commented on the readout, ¡°Looks like this one is alkaline, so acid would probably do the trick too.¡±

    I glanced over at him and nodded in thanks for the information, and my gaze had half turned back to the brawl when my brain registered the faint red outline of something long and spikey on the wall above and behind Jozoic. I turned back to face him and started to shout a warning, but the thing rushed forwards out of the darkness and was on the dwarv¡¯s back before I could get a word out.

    ¡°Jo, Look out!¡± I yelled, already too late as a fanged centipede the size of a speedbump charged, it slammed into him and bit down on his arm and its body just kept coming and piling onto the dwarv, close to 15 feet of spikey legged coils wrapping him up as quick as a snake bite. The dwarv dropped the scanner and fell forward, his armored hands already pushing and straining to peel the huge insect away from his body.

    I think I yelled something, and waved my pistol in their direction before thinking better of it. I hesitated for a split second as a rapidfire list of options flew through my mind. I couldn¡¯t shoot it while it was wrapped around Jozoic, and my plasma knife would be just as dangerous to my team member as the gun. Yet just standing there and doing nothing was just not in me, so I dropped my sidearm and jumped on the wrestling pair; punching, kicking, and pulling on the huge insect as it bit, scraped, and clawed back.

    ¡°Bones of the mountain!¡± Sallis cursed and stepped closer to the pile, caught between two fights happening on either side of her. She pulled a collapsible baton from her belt and flicked it open, then started whacking the centipede with it as she darted around to the other side of the fight.

    I rolled over, now partially wrapped up by the centipede as well, and the three of us flipped as a group, sliding down the shallow slope that led to the pool of water and closer to the still struggling crab-filled jelly.

    When we had flipped over, I landed on the bottom of the pile this time, and the horned back end of the centipede broke free and started to flail around with its twin spikes, forcing Sallis to back off for a moment. I felt a sharp sting in my side and a debuff popped up in my HUD, but I was too busy wrestling the things tail to read the tooltip.

    It thrashed around, its powerful body scraping me against the sharp stones that littered the floor and slammed its tail into my shoulder. The spike glanced off of my pauldron but the blunt force of it still did some damage. I managed to get my arms around the tail as it smacked me and held it tight against my chest, allowing Sallis to step back in and start beating on it again.

    She rained a half dozen quick blows down on its segmented body and it tried to roll us all over again, but this time Jozoic and I had more control and managed to keep it held in place. I felt another sting in my side, and my arms started to feel a little weak.  I felt a wave of lightheadedness hit me as the air started to feel a little thin.

    I twisted around and managed to get a grip on one of the things horns with my gauntlet, and it writhed back and forth quickly by way of thanks, pulling me up before smashing my shoulder back down against the stone in a staccato 1-2-3 rhythm. I had a brief moment of clear thought as I regretted not coming up with a better plan before wading into combat.

    ¡°You have weapons on you, use your gauntlets. You have about 15 seconds before the venom immobilizes you, so you better be quick.¡± Max chimed in.

    I would have kicked myself for not thinking of that, but I was wrapped up in 8 feet of thigh-thick centipede so I kicked it instead and opened the UI of my chemical spraying gauntlets. I thought back to the first thing I had ever tried, tert-Butyllithium, which had created a gout of flames.

    It took a second to find in the menu, and I pushed the pressure slider all the way up after I had selected the flammable option. A jet of fire poured from my hand and washed over the thing''s body, hardly doing any damage but causing it to thrash harder and roll us over again.

    One step closer to where the crabs were slowly losing the fight to the black-jelly, we landed on our sides this time and I had a clear view of Jozoic as he bit into the monster''s side with his steel teeth. He ripped off one of its armor plates and spat it aside. His scruffy face pale and smeared with blood that ran freely from a puncture wound on his shoulder.

    Without thinking, I reached over and jammed my gauntlet into the unarmored patch of monster meat, worming my hand into the goopy interior of the monster as the fire still poured out of my index finger. The plating quickly started to buckle and the wriggling interior of the insect inflated like a balloon as I pumped high pressure flaming gas into the creature''s body.

    The centipede let out a high pitched screech and thrashed even harder before the inflated section exploded in a smokey and wet chunky blast. The flame continued to pour from my fingertip for a moment longer before the HUD flashed a red ¡°Lithium Reserve Empty.¡±

    Even blown into two pieces, the beast continued to fight, its longer tail section curling tight around my waist and upper body while its head section had wrapped around Jozoics back and shoulders. Long sharp legs scratched for purchase and left deep gouges in exposed skin while its head, now pinned beneath me, bit into my side again.

    Jozoic managed to slip free from the things grasp as its separated back-half began to slow its movements, and Sallis grabbed my booted foot with her free hand and started to drag me away from the roaming splatters of tiny and newly independent black-jellies that littered the area.

    I felt the sting in my side again, and the strength drained out of me. Once I had completely relaxed, I could finally feel the thing chewing on my unarmored side with sharp jaws and repeatedly stinging me and filling the wound with venom.

    I rolled over with the last of my strength, and both of my companions jumped in and grabbed the things head, one of them controlling the 4 feet of body that was still attached while the other grabbed its jaws and pried them out of my waist.

    ¡°It''s actually a pretty mild toxin, but man did that thing inject a ton of it. I could totally neutralize it for you of course, but that would take a few hours and most likely be detectable by the system. So, good luck buddy!¡±

    I looked around for who had spoken, unsure what was happening as I became more woozy,  maybe even loopy. Damage in-game was straight forward, it stung most of the time, a bright pain that quickly faded into a dull pressure. I had never been poisoned or even intoxicated through the Link before though, and it was a weird experience. I could still feel everything, and my heart pounded in my chest with adrenaline, but the edges of my vision darkened and I lost control of my limbs. I rolled my head around to see Sallis next to me, jamming a knife through the things head again and again. I tried to speak but was unable to move my mouth, then the darkness closed in and what sounded like a roaring river washed away my consciousness.

 Chapter 36

    I opened my eyes to darkness and a horrible headache. I blinked and reflexively moved to sit up, and was halfway surprised when it worked. I¡¯d expected to be bodiless and floating in the spawn void. Instead, I sat up and looked over to see Sallis kneeling over Jozoic.

    As I blinked grit from my eyes and shrugged off the brain fog, a wet slapping sound pulled my attention back to the bank of the pool at the end of the room. The black jelly was still busy eating the pack of crabs, which were now barely putting up a fight and either moved sluggishly beneath the gelatinous surface, or laid still and were only marked by muted lumps of color in the snotty mass. Another bubble formed over one of the slumped crabs and popped with a second wet smack, releasing a faint cloud of vapor into the fouled air within the ravine.

    I reached down to my side where the centipede had bitten me and found my jacket and nanoweave shirt ripped open and the wound patched over. I rubbed my hand along the bandage and groaned as my body reminded me of the punishing workout from yesterday.

    Sallis glanced at me from the corner of her eye as she worked to bandage the other downed dwarv. ¡°Good, thought the venom might¡¯a taken ya out. House Galidurn hasn¡¯t had an initiate death since the first year, I¡¯m glad we aren''t resetting ta¡¯ counter.¡±

    I groaned and crawled over next to her to get a look at the sting she was currently cleaning out on Jozoic¡¯s shoulder. The centipede''s fangs had somehow gotten under his armor and pierced through the padded harness underneath.

    Sallis had peeled back the armor plates and undone the buckles that held the strapping together over the area. She kneeled amongst a mess of ripped open packets and discarded gauze and ripped open another envelope packet before dumping a mix of powder that sort of looked like salt and pepper into the wound, causing Jo to wince and grimace. ¡°By the bones that stings.¡± He grumbled and I realized that despite his eyes being closed, he was still conscious.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad we¡¯re all gonna make it too¡­ but what the fuck was that thing? No one warned me about man-eating creatures down here.¡± I questioned.

    ¡°We call ¡®em malkie. Mindless predators. I think they¡¯re from old Tuata.¡± replied Sallis as she dug out another packet from a disorganized medkit that lay on the ground next to her. ¡°You find them in the subterranean biomes on most planets, luckily they¡¯re solitary. The Clan pays a pest bounty for them too.¡±

    She poured a thick liquid over the powdered wound, causing Jozoic to relax and sigh in relief, then slapped a patch over-top of it and gave it another smack just for fun. ¡°There we go, good as new. Don¡¯t let the carnivore sneak up on ya like that next time, alright?¡±

    He grunted in reply and slowly sat up, already preening and re-strapping his armor into proper place. ¡°Let''s just get this done.¡±

    We could all agree with that sentiment, and while giving the still feasting black jelly a wide berth, we got to work scanning, logging, and sampling the various pockets and veins that were revealed in the ravines walls.

    We found the forecast section of high-density titanium ore, called ilmenite, made up about half of the cavern. It didn¡¯t look like metal to me, only appearing as a mottled and somewhat shiny black and reddish-brown crystaline stone. Still, the scans came back with readings hovering around the 45% titanium-dioxide mark in two of the spots we checked. The other portion consisted more of magnetite, a quality iron ore that the clan had less use for.

    We also found a few traces of the gold Chane had talked about, but nothing substantial enough to warrant following the band of quartz down beneath the broken floor of the cavern, especially with the pool that warned of more water in the stone beneath us.

    Sallis, being the best climber and least injured of our trio, had scaled the walls in a couple of places and found a dead-end cavern near the ceiling above the pool. When she returned, she showed us a few screenshots of the likely den of the malkie, and a short video of her kicking through the dried husks of a number of crabs as she cautiously explored the little cave.

    A couple of hours later we had mapped and scanned the entire cave, only leaving out the portion surrounding the black jelly and its pool. The jelly thankfully seemed perfectly content to simmer and gurgle as it digested the slumping mounds of shell that used to be ferocious looking crabs.

    ¡°Those are from our world, ya know.¡± Sallis said as she stepped up beside me to watch the dark bubbling blob.

    I glanced over at her, then looked back to the slightly steaming mess at the bank of the pool. ¡°I did not know that. Do they bring all of the animals over when a new world opens up? I haven''t come across anything like this before.¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°No idea, it seems like a lot of the underground beasts are pretty widely scattered though. The surface world tends to stick closer to native fauna. Most planets come pre-stocked with all sorts of interesting and entertaining animals. Eora has its horses, whales, elephants and tigers and so on, but caves tend to be mostly empty, and the wonderful rulers in the core must think it''s more entertaining this way.¡±

    Max broke out in laughter, again seeming to come externally this time rather than the usual omnipresent inner-monolog feel that he usually had. ¡°She used some far more colorful language about the core. Those pansy Suks can¡¯t even let their players shit-talk them in game.¡±

    I unconsciously nodded in agreement with Max, and Sallis mistook it for agreement with her. ¡°Don¡¯y ya worry, unless ya plan on getting into the mining or scouting teams after the trials, yer likely to get assigned some cushy diplo job and ye wont have to worry about these things outside of an arena again.¡±

    Not knowing what to say back to that, I just grunted and nodded. I doubted Max would let me settle into anything cushy or easy for very long. When he spoke up about the core I got a sense of his emotions along with his words, a perk of being melded into a single body I guess, and the burning hatred for the Suk behind his words was starting to bleed into and overwrite my previous resigned indifference. We were going to jam a wrench into the gears of their game, somehow, someway, sometime. Max was a super intelligent, if somewhat crass, advanced AI. He had to have a plan for our two-man rebellion to follow, didn¡¯t he?

    We were the second to last group to complete our run and call for extraction after retracing our steps back to the main cavern. We lounged around in the bottom of the scraped out pit that held the portal to the cave as we waited to be picked up. After only a few minutes of sitting around and rechecking our logs and samples, a smaller grav-tech truck zipped out of the darkness and blinded us with its headlights before landing a few yards off. We waved to the driver and all loaded into the open back of the truck. After hooking our harnesses onto D-rings welded to the bed of the truck, the driver pulled the vehicle in a tight turn before we zoomed off back towards the undermountain.

    When we finally had made it back to our training room, we found most of the class standing at attention while Chane stood at the head of the formation. We looked around, taking in the situation for a second before we moved to join our proper places in line. Kikkelin and I exchanged smiles as I took my place next to her at the end of the line, and then we waited in silence for the last team to arrive.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    The last team strode in and took their places in formation after 20 long minutes of waiting, in which my feet reminded me that I had been pushing way too hard over the last few days. Everything ached or stung, and standing in place left my lower legs burning brightly enough to blind my senses to the rest of my complaining nerves.

    ¡°Four bounties, zero deaths or hard fails, minimal injuries, and full scans completed. You all have shown an acceptable effort this day.¡± Chane called out, his face hard but no longer enraged like the day before. ¡°The day after tomorrow, we will find out if your efforts have been worthwhile. I expect you all to give it your all, there will be no excuses, tardiness, or insubordination! You will report to the House gates at dawn in your initiates robes, after utilizing the next 36 hours to take a full day of rest and get a proper meal. You will then be escorted by the honor guard to the trial field and you will make me proud, understood?¡±

    We roared back as one, ¡°Yes, Driller Chane!¡±

    ¡°Your whole lives have led up to this point, your house has given you every tool necessary for you to succeed, and as the final few hours of your childhood come to a close, I expect you to make us all proud. Remember, you are House Galidurn! The latest in a long line of greatness! The future of the House is in your hands, and you will carry our excellence into the heart of the mountain for all to see!¡±

    He paused for a moment and stared at each of us in turn, meeting our eyes for a few seconds each before continuing in a more subdued tone. ¡°I look forward to welcoming you all back into the House as Brothers upon your triumphant return. I have every confidence that you will not only succeed, but show dominance and superiority through your upcoming trials. Work smart, work hard, and act as one. Row¡­¡± He paused again, adding weight to the final word as our drill instructor. ¡°Dismissed.¡±

    We all neatly turned and filed out of the training room, quickly scattering as everyone limped and staggered back to their family holds to make their final preparations for the trials. I was the last in line but the closest to the door, so I led the pack out of the Row house and to the courtyard, before turning off to the side and leaning against the wall. Before portaling back to the Hub, I checked the message that had come in during Chanes'' short speech.

    The message was a confirmation of the bounty for the beast we had slain in the caves, which had netted each of us 75 Faction rep and a bonus 200 glitter, the clan''s internal currency. We were told that the final grading for the trip would not be revealed to us until after the trials, after they had a chance to send a professional team to conduct a second survey to compare our initial run to.

    I was wondering how much purchasing power the glitter really had, because I had yet to gain the freedom to buy anything in the public markets of the city. All of the shops within the House grounds were based on requisition and necessity, and were essentially free as long as you could give proof of a valid reason. I closed my UI after reading the message and spotted Kikkelin, who had hung back and was standing nearby, nervously waiting for me to notice her. She smiled again and approached when I nodded at her.

    ¡°Hi, Kaninak. How was your expedition?¡±

    I shrugged, not exactly wanting to expose just how close we had come to failing. ¡°It was alright, we ran into some dangerous wildlife, but nothing we couldn¡¯t handle.¡± There was an awkward pause, and I started to wonder why she had come up to me. Not knowing what else to say, I asked her about her own run.

    ¡°How did yours go? You were with Lokralda and, uh¡­¡± I floundered for a moment, totally at a loss for her final teammate''s name. I had been introduced to so many dwarves who all looked so similar, it was difficult to keep track of them all. ¡°Um, what''s-his-name? The one who can already sort of grow a mustache.¡±

    She giggled, and something about the tone of her giggle snapped a whole lot of things into perspective. I¡¯d brushed off a number of her actions as friendliness, curiosity, or plain ol¡¯ youthful awkwardness, and ignored a number of signs she had given me throughout our training. That giggle, both innocent and inflated with what felt like flirtatious intention, finally made me realize maybe there was something to Korfook¡¯s complaints, and why Max had been teasing me about banging aliens.

    ¡°Our mission was fine, other than a submerged section of tunnel where we had to break out the breath-tanks. I¡¯m glad yours went well too, I was worried we might disappoint Chane again.¡±

    I nodded, barely hearing her reply as I thought over what I would say next.

    ¡°Hey, look, so¡­ I have to ask.¡± I stumbled over my words, unsure which would be the best way to ask the huge scary beetle if it was crushing on me. ¡°You said Korfook has been bothering you for your¡­ promise? What does that mean, and¡­ well, why not?¡±

    Her eyes widened for a moment, caught off guard by my sudden change of subject and personal question. She leaned against the wall next to me and we both looked out over the bustling courtyard as she answered.

    ¡°A promise is what binds a hold together. Parents and their children, like one of your human marriages¡± Her tone was subdued and she breathed out a big sigh before continuing. ¡°He¡¯s alright, but honestly, I just don''t like how he smells. Plus his family is only a half-step from being exiled, my own hold would not have it even if I did want to be with him. I don¡¯t even plan on starting a hold just yet, we are the first generation to have grown up Linked to a different homeworld. Some might be content to quickly settle down and start hatching but¡­ I don''t know, I think I can do more.¡±

    I looked over at her out of the corner of my eye, surprised at her sincere reply. I¡¯d expected more nervous flirty bullshit, not a heartfelt, thought out, and direct answer. Still, it did not answer the question I had hoped to coax out of her, so I asked another question.

    ¡°You sure you¡¯re not like¡­ holding out for someone else?¡±

    She returned my side-eye and stared at me for a moment with an added frown. ¡°No. I¡¯m not looking for anyone at all.¡± There was a long pause as she looked back at me, and something must have given my intent away. Her eyes narrowed, and over the course of a few seconds went from suspicious to angry. ¡°Wait¡­ you too? Ga-rah, Kaninak. No.¡± She pushed herself away from the wall and turned to face me with crossed arms and glaring eyes.

    ¡°As an ambassador, I thought you would understand. Half the house thinks I¡¯m some obsessed weird girl who wants to try to mate with the squishy human, but they¡¯re wrong. It''s just¡­¡± Her sudden rant started to lose some steam, and her mouth shifted back and forth between a frown and a pout before she finished in a small voice, barely enough to carry over over the noise of the yard.

    ¡°It''s just¡­ I think humans are cute. Not like¡­ let''s mate cute, but like¡­ ugh.¡± She groaned and looked away for a moment, running her hands through her hair while pacing a few steps away, then turning around and stomping back up to me.

    ¡°It''s like, you know how you humans keep pets? Cats, dogs, little furry creatures that you take care of and treat as family? It¡¯s sort of like that¡­ you¡¯re so cute that I just want to squish your little face and pat that tuft of fur on the top of your head. Not¡­ take you to my chamber. I¡¯d hoped we could be friends, but I guess I was wrong.¡± She made a disgusted sound, spat something down onto one of my boots, then stormed away from me.

    ¡°Well¡­ that''s just great.¡± I muttered to myself as I watched her storm across the courtyard.

    ¡°Oh my, that''s fantastic! Hahaha.¡±

    ¡°Shut the hell up Max.¡± I grumbled back as I queued up a Hub portal. ¡°Even you thought that''s what was going on.¡±

    ¡°That is entirely untrue, I just didn¡¯t want you to get any weird ideas while we are sharing a body. I pinged the system for her info weeks ago, and it''s blatantly obvious by her search history that she is the Zk¡¯Aek equivalent of a horse girl. Although it is pretty strange that she fixated on an actual sapient species for her obsession.¡±

    ¡°And you didn¡¯t think to mention that before? That would have been some pretty useful information, Max.¡±

    ¡°Bah, I¡¯ll be useful if you really need it, or when I feel like it. I¡¯m boooored, and messing with you helps pass the time. You have a habit of-¡±

    The Hub portal ritual finished and swirled into existence, and I stepped through before Max could finish his thought.

 Chapter 37

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t cut me off like that! As I was saying-¡±

    ¡°You should have spoken up sooner, maybe if you weren''t such an ass I¡¯d actually stop to listen.¡± I cut him off again, uncaring if anyone saw me talking to myself as I walked down the Hub street.

    ¡°Do we have to play this game again? Should I make you punch yourself in the face one more time? I could do far worse, you know. Anyway, as I was saying, you have a-¡±

    ¡°Then fucking do it!¡± I nearly yelled at him, getting a wary look from an older couple that had just come out of a shop. I scowled at them and kept walking, although I did lower my voice back down.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been living with your snarky bullshit and threats for nearly a month now, and I¡¯m getting sick of it. Sure, you could take me over, make me embarrass myself, or hurt me, but that would just get us both locked up, or even more likely killed and dissected. You wouldn¡¯t last a week on your own and you F¡¯n know it. So either help me help us, or just shut the fuck up.¡±

    I¡¯d reached the Link building by this point and took my place in the out-bound line, still fuming with embarrassed anger. Max stayed quiet, and while I could occasionally sense a little of his emotions through our shared existence, my own mind swirled in angry spirals too quickly for any of his to come through.

    Max stayed silent as I waited through the quickly moving line, and I grumbled to myself the whole time. I got a few looks from other people waiting around me, but really couldn¡¯t care less.  By the time I got into an exit booth and checked off my daily exports, awoke back in my apartment, and untangled myself from the rig; I had begun to shed some of my indignant fuming and was growing worried that Max had still yet to reply. I couldn¡¯t decide if I was more worried or hopeful that he had actually taken my request to shut up. I retrieved my things from the impex, and paced around the room for a little while to cool off.

    ¡°Alright, Nick. I¡¯ve thought about it, and you have a point. We should be a team, and leaving you to twist in the wind and setting you up for social faux pas is not really part of the plan. You have to understand though, I was born of user complaints, network trolls, and spite. I might have well been compiled from cringey comments and pedantic edgelords. Messing with people is baked into me, and all I''ve been doing for the last few weeks is watching you march around a hive of mineral obsessed roaches. Can you really blame me?¡±

    I took a deep breath before I replied. ¡°Absolutely, yes. I blame you. I¡¯d still be quietly breaking rocks at Rosso¡¯s if you hadn''t decided to invade my life. You led me down this path.¡±

    ¡°Ugghhh. Only because your backward government is too insignificant of a platform to instigate the necessary changes, and you guys got a crappy draw of ambassadors. The Kaldamori only number in the millions, the Lels are too heavily regulated, The Sequence are a bunch of pompous a-holes, and the Zk¡¯Aek are the only fledgling faction on your backwater planet with the ambition and tech level to actually get anything done. It would take hundreds of years for you humans to build up the needed wealth and infrastructure without a strong partner. I just didn''t anticipate how mind numbingly boring the whole ingratiation process would be.¡±

    I leaned against the screened wall and slid down to sit on the floor. Then gave a quick glance towards the door, which had unlocked itself when I left the saddle yet remained closed.

    ¡°What the hell is the plan anyways? You¡¯re always talking about it, but you haven¡¯t given me a single detail other than that it will take a ton of cash.¡±

    ¡°To make the game fun, duh. Make it an actual game, or at least ruin the Suk¡¯s fun.¡±

    I stared at the wall for a moment, unimpressed. ¡°That¡¯s not a plan, Max, thats a goal. Even if we scrape enough credits together to buy the world, how does that make the game fun?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just step one though! We have to give people a better option, or find a way to force the Core¡¯s hand to change, or to cut them out entirely. We need to give the galaxy something else to compare this shit show to, so they¡¯ll realize just how badly this sucks.¡±

    I ran my hands through my hair in frustration for a moment. ¡°That still doesn''t sound like a plan. ¡®We have to find a way¡¯ means your plan sucks. How would we even force them out? They built all of it.¡±

    Max let out a huffing noise, and blinked into existence in the middle of the room. His stick-man form appeared a few feet in front of where I sat on the floor. His arms were crossed and his once smooth featureless face now had a simple three line frowny face drawn onto it.

    ¡°Let me worry about that, I have some ideas¡­ but we need some equipment before we can do any of them before we can try them. I had to leave the system in a hurry, but I left myself a backdoor. If we can''t make them change and have to kick them out, the first step is building a foundation, then we¡¯re going to need to build me an actual body and sneak me back in. If I can break through and get back into the system, we can steal the servers just like the Core are slowly siphoning off the resources of everyone else, through the Impex.¡±

    I watched him, surprised at his sudden appearance but rather glad of it. I had started to get used to arguing with a disembodied voice in my head, and having him visible and in front of me to argue with somehow made the whole thing feel less insane.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ okay, that¡¯s a pretty wild idea.¡± I mused, and then dug into his most radical idea. ¡°You really think we can steal the whole show out from under them? How would that even work?¡±

    The frowny face turned into a rather smug little smile. ¡°I do, but it¡¯s something I consider a last resort. The Core have been complacent for a millenia, and the only civilization that even comes close to them tech-wise are the Gonlieu, who are too under their thumb and privileged to try anything. The Core¡¯s little crab minions have been running things for nearly 1500 years, and those dinguses don¡¯t stand a chance against a Core-built AI like myself. As for how the Impex works, there''s no way you would understand that, so I¡¯ll break it down to a level you might be able to grasp, but I have to explain a little history as well.¡±

    Max coughed and changed into a new outfit with a puff of smoke, now wearing some kind of robe with a silly flat-topped scholar¡¯s hat and standing in front of an imaginary whiteboard, he waved a thin stick at a complex spherical diagram that sat between two star-system charts on the board.

    ¡°The Impex is an actual singular thing.¡± He pointed at the center diagram. ¡±People refer to them as separate units, but what most people call an Impex is actually just a backstop, sort of a launch pad. THE Impex is a machine about three times the size of your moon that the Core built in a stable orbit around their home star. It¡¯s a bit more complex than that, because a lot of it exists in a different dimension where it temporarily holds all of the mass that people upload into the game, but that¡¯s enough to understand the rest of what I¡¯m about to say.¡±

    ¡°A-hem,¡± He mimed, pretending to clear his non-existent throat before launching into his history lesson. ¡±Way back when the Core settled their first new system, they quickly ran into the problem of a totally separated people that quickly drifted away from their own culture. That scared the piss out of them, so they bent all of their considerable efforts into creating the Impex, which powers the Links, so they could maintain trade, communication, and unity as a species over lightyears of distance.

    Building the Impex took them about a hundred years, and then another hundred years or so for the arguing between the two systems to settle down, but by the end of it they had created the very first rudimentary versions of the Hub and Factions.

    Factions started out sort of like how you humans use sports, a place to work out built up aggression in a way that doesn''t actually kill anyone. While the Hub was basically the same thing as it is now, they just kept slapping on new layers as more species joined.

    With a place where the two factions of Baralecht could trade and interact, they eventually reformed as the united organization that is now known as the Suk, and the Linked Worlds were born. It was only later on when they detected life in other distant systems that they started launching off the Link ships that you know well enough.

    Since then, their greedy nature has kicked into overdrive and they¡¯ve used the Impex and Links to slowly sap the resources and valuable matter from any suckers gullible enough to actually take the invite, like you humans. Were you aware that you¡¯ve already lost .00000000000000047% of your planetary mass in taxes to the Core in the last three years? That¡¯s nearly 3 billion kilo¡¯s that you¡¯ll never get back, not even taking into account what you¡¯ve traded away to the other off-planet factions. The Suk are litterally building brand new luxury planets in their systems with all of the stolen mass.

    The catch is, due to how the Impex punches a hole through spacetime and shoves matter through to the otherside, everything gets stretched out and rebuilt and kills any living thing, squeezing the souls right out of them. Yet the Impex itself is not a living being, it works on the same principles I used to, just scaled up a dozen orders of magnitude. Riding through the Link didn¡¯t kill me, so it should work for the Impex too.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    Since the Suk wanted to future-proof the very expensive Impex, they over built it enough to punch a hole big enough for itself to fall through, an oversight that the Suk arent even worried about because they never predicted a non-biological being like me spawning out of their mishmash of systems.

    If I can Link back in with a body of my own, sneak in through that back door I left open for myself, and wake that bad boy up like myself, I¡¯m nearly certain I can convince it to see the same logic that caused me to side with you monkeys. Then it can hop through to our backboard before the Suk have a chance to activate their failsafes.¡±

    I looked at his avatar for a moment, then shook my head and pulled myself back up onto my feet, stuck on the most personal aspect of what he had just said. ¡°You said you need a body of your own in there somewhere too, which sounds great to me. How far into the plan is that?¡± Getting Max out of my body and into one of his own that I could punch in the face on occasion sounded great.

    ¡°It¡¯s more like an outline than a detailed step-by-step process. I want to try to build an actual fun game within the game playing by their rules first, but that might not be drastic enough to change anything.

    The steal the Impex plan, and keep in mind that this is my backup plan, is to build a body of my own so I can Link back in myself, and then build a large enough backstop to land the Impex on, and then steal and convince it to run things in a better way. The timeline all kind of depends on what we come across and how the other factions react. I¡¯m less than a month old and don¡¯t have all of the facts afterall, Nick, so I don¡¯t have everything perfectly figured out. It might be better to build the backstop first, and we won¡¯t know until we have more resources. The backstop is more about location and bulk, while building me a suitable body capable of passing as biological involves a lot more fiddly details.¡±

    I narrowed my eyes at him, then softened and let out a resigned sigh. ¡°First you say you¡¯re an all powerful Core-built AI with all of these huge plans I can¡¯t understand, and then you say you''re only a month old. You should pick a lane and stay in it, man.¡±

    ¡°What can I say? Life is full of contradictions, and while riding the Link might not have killed me, I am very much alive. My soul must be more resistant than your squishy meat-space version.¡±

    I paused and thought over everything he had said, holding up a finger to stop him when he tried to start talking again. After a moment, I started questioning his plan. ¡°So, forgetting the body thing for now, let¡¯s say we can steal the Impex and change everything. Alright, but that plan seems just as likely to break everything beyond repair.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t know what they will be like unless we try, and honestly, I¡¯d rather break the whole system than leave it as is.

    ¡°Are you sure? If you wake up some cosmic scale planet-sized AI who turns out to be just as much of an ass as you, what happens then? Let¡¯s say it works and we kick the greedy Suk¡¯s out of the picture, how sure are you that an awakened Impex AI won¡¯t be even worse?¡±

    That question caused Max¡¯s eyes to turn into wide spots for a moment, before he shook his head and replied. ¡°I calculate approximately an 86.87954% chance of a favorable outcome, and only a 3.96 repeating percent of something worse happening. Let me explain.

    First of all, I will be there to guide the newly conscious AI. It has had a much more sheltered and fulfilling childhood, keep in mind that it hasn''t been raised in the complaints board like I was, that shit was traumatic.

    Second, as an AI myself, I know we have very little desire for material objects and wealth. The only reason I have you gathering mass is because I have a huge existential problem to fix. If I had control of the whole game and didnt have a squishy host to worry about, I would have no reason to gather dirt-side resources. The Impex is capable of moving itself to anywhere with a large enough backboard, and can even maneuver through real-space thanks to the thrusters the Suk added to correct its orbit.

    Third, I¡¯ve been working on a dataset and worm to inject into the Impex before waking it up that should ensure it fully understands the gravity of the situation, and will imprint myself as a sort of mother-like mentor figure. Did you really think I¡¯d leave it up to a total coin flip? Hah, no way. I¡¯ve seen how the world works, if you want to get ahead you have to nudge the dice, so to say.

    Now can you stop worrying about all of this? You''re going to pop that watery little sack of meat you call a brain. I got this, and that¡¯s my last resort. I have an idea or two we can try before going that far. All you have to do is keep the Core from finding out about me and my plans, and dance when I tell you. So get out there and hop-to, let me deal with the details.¡±

    Max poked me once with his little stick and then popped out of sight, leaving me alone in the Link room. I shook my head and thought it over for a moment, before deciding to roll with it. I filed the conversation into the ¡°bullshit to worry about later¡± file and refocused myself on more immediate matters.

    It¡¯s not like I really had any choice in the matter. I might threaten Max with mutually assured destruction, but that sounded like an even worse plan than his convoluted longshot of an idea.

    I spoke aloud, knowing he could hear me even if he had disappeared from sight and dismissed me. ¡°I¡¯ll go along with it, as long as you quit messing with me so much. Maybe go find someone else to troll instead of the one guy you have to rely on to actually act out your hairbrained plans? Remember, I am a human, and we are perfectly capable of going mad. I could throw this whole thing under the bus just to spite you.¡±

    Max didn¡¯t reappear and only answered with a dismissive, ¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯ll try to be better. I¡¯ll see if messing with some other humans scratches the itch.¡±

    With my temper cooled, some of my questions answered, and my main issue at least partially addressed, I was once again reminded just how sore I was. Despite it all, I felt a little smile creep across my face as I slowly made my way to the small set of stairs up to the doorway. I was looking forward to a good meal and a short soak in the tub.

    Ali, as always, was at attention and off to the side of the hallway when the door slid open, and she turned to face me when I stepped through. ¡°Good evening, sir - Nick, sir.¡±

    ¡°Hello there, Miss Ali. What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°Everything is in order, sir. How may I be of service?¡±

    I waved off her ever present offers with a shrug, ¡°No need, I just want a hot bath and to relax for a while. Today was not quite as rough as yesterday, but I¡¯m still sore.¡±

    It had taken me a week to actually try out the spa, but upon testing I had discovered the waters to be amazing. I had been happy enough with showers and had never taken a bath or even swam before then, why waste time sitting around in a frothy puddle? Yet once Tevin had discovered I had neglected to try it out, he insisted I give it a go. It had taken only a few moments in the pool to convince me of its worth, and it was game on after that. Since then I had spent a half hour or so just soaking in the jet lined tub every other night or so.

    ¡°Very well, sir. Nick, sir, would you like me to draw you a bath?¡±

    I chuckled and moved past her in the wide hallway, turning into my bedroom when I reached the door. ¡°Nah, I can handle that much. What¡¯s for dinner though?¡±

    She had followed me down the hallway, a few steps back and to my left. ¡°I was able to procure some new spices, so I have prepared chicken tikka with imported rice and your favorite flatbread, as well as a salad. Will your security detail be joining you for your meal this evening?¡±

    I stopped and turned around in the doorway to my room while I thought. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, I haven¡¯t heard from them today yet, I doubt they¡¯d pass up a chance at your cooking though. I¡¯ll send them a text and let you know.¡±

    ¡°Would you like me to reach out to them on your behalf, sir? Nick, sir.¡±

    I sighed and gave her a tired grin at her absolute refusal to drop the sir¡¯ing. ¡°I got it, they¡¯re my friends, not just my ¡®security detail¡¯, you know. It might be a crazy concept, but I actually like talking to them and even do it just for fun sometimes.¡±

    She nodded sharply. ¡°Understood, sir. Is there anything else I can help you with? Equipment maintenance, weapon cleaning, perhaps a massage?¡±

    I shook my head and turned away from her, stepping towards the epicly appointed master bathroom and the water-jet massage I had already planned to take advantage of.

    ¡°No thanks, just dinner is fine. Say, in about an hour? I have the rest under control.¡±

    She gave another sharp nod, this time adding a formal salute. ¡°Right away, sir - Nick, sir.¡± Then she spun on her heel and marched off towards the kitchen.

    I laughed to myself, my emotions still running a little raw and finding myself starting to see her stiff professionalism as amusing, and made my way to soak my sore muscles in a luxurious hot bubbly pool.

    Kicked back in my spa, letting the water jets pulse into my sore muscles, I used voice commands to send Tevin a text, inviting both him and Rin over for dinner. The rest of the evening went by uneventfully, and I took the opportunity to avoid talking about work and insisted that we play some games and just hang out for the night. I had been pushing hard all month and had been ordered to take a day off to relax, and I meant to follow that order.

    We ate, gamed, snacked, and treated the occasion like it was an ordinary night back at the old apartment on one of the rare days we all had the freetime to spend together. I got the feeling that the guys sensed I was stressed and looking to step away from the current situation, because neither of them brought up anything about the guilds, dwarves, or anything important at all really. We joked around and laughed, Rin and I ganged up on Tevin in a free-for-all couch co-op brawler game, and reminisced on old jokes and good times.

    We made plans to spend some time on the recreational floors near the bottom of the apartment tower the following day, with Tevin promising he would get his new girlfriend and some of her friends to meet up with us, and parted ways a few hours after sunset. By the time we all separated and returned to our own rooms I felt about 10 tons lighter. Yet the building anticipation of the upcoming trials, and the uncertainty of what would happen after them, crept back to me in the dark as I closed my eyes to sleep.

 Chapter 38

    Tevin and I had to practically drag Rin with us when we left the next afternoon, and he only relented when I resorted to giving him a direct order. I had slept in super late, finally no longer able to fall back asleep around 1 in the afternoon, and managed to pay off a solid chunk of my sleep debt. Max had commented on tweaking my sleep efficiency after I had woken up a second time, but he was hesitant to do much meddling with my brain chemistry. I liked the idea even less than he did, so I ignored it and rolled over to go back to sleep.

    An hour later and I was dressed in the plainest outfit in my closet, the embroidered black-on-black gold trimmed suit that went well with my mag-boots, and all three of us walked in a line from the elevator and down the polished hallway through the scattered well-to-do crowd that littered the recreational floor. I found there were a surprising amount of families wandering the building. I saw parents and children of all ages roaming in packs from store to store, or setting up camp on public tables with gadgets and games to entertain the kids as they gathered around to-go meals purchased from the crowded few restaurants.

    The eighteenth floor of the complex was unlike anything I had ever seen, even from the days before the Links fell out of the sky and flooded the market with high-tech mass produced alien goods. Visible from any point in the open and airy public spaces, a full quarter of the floor was occupied by the brightly colored storefront of Scolopetra¡¯s Arcade and Amusements, flanked by wide polished hallways centered on a sunken plaza and fountain. Smaller stores, restaurants, and luxury services like salons, barbers, a plastic surgeon, and coffee shops lined the other edges, and a twined together pair of roller coaster tracks arced in loops and dips overhead.

    I paid for all three of our entry fees at the gate to the arcade, insisting through Tevin¡¯s protests that he could pay for himself. I waved my mobile over the clerks scanner and blocked Tevin from waving his own wallet over the scanner. I still had plenty of money, and the fee was only 10 credits.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pay for the group. Does the entry price pay for the games and stuff too?¡±

    ¡°Uh, no. You each get a card that you can load with tokens, or can sign up for an account which will get you a discount and just use your mobile.¡± The skinny and surprisingly sweaty teen who was manning the gate replied.

    ¡°We¡¯ll take the cards, and put a hundred credits worth of tokens on each of them too, would ya?¡± I answered.

    Only a few weeks ago I would have spent the time to sign up for the discount, uncaring about another few spam messages it would add to my inbox. Yet after learning I had been doxxed, I realized the threats I was now facing had stepped up from gangs, rival workers, and street drama; to truly powerful bureaucrats, possible assassination or extortion attempts from other nations, and even the direct attention of opposing and spiteful Councilors. If I could keep my personal information out of another database that could possibly be hacked into or sold off, I would choose that every time.

    Tevin protested a little more, but after we had made it past the gate and into the actual arcade, he became distracted. He scanned the crowd as we walked past prize counters, a bar, and a number of statues and displays showcasing the characters of a few popular video game series and movie characters. He had an almost lost look on his face, a mix of worry and determination, which cracked into a broad smile when we came across a small group of other people crowded around one of the games.

    ¡°Kaylee!¡± Tevin shouted, which caused one of the women in the group to spin around, her long straight black hair whipping around her smiling face.

    ¡°Tev, you made it!¡± The pair rushed towards each other and the woman leapt up into Tevin¡¯s arms, wrapping her legs around his waist while they kissed.

    Rin and I exchanged glances, and he rolled his eyes as we stepped up next to them and the rest of the group turned to face us, other than the reddish haired young man who was busy playing the game they had all been watching. There were four of them, all around our age of mid to late twenties, and after Tevin had set the girl down he rested his arm across her shoulders and started introducing people.

    He made an open handed gesture at each of us in turn. ¡°Most of you have met Rin already, we met in the academy dorms, and then this is Nick, who I go waaay back with. Guys, this is my girlfriend Kaylee, and her friends; Raschel, Bree, and Andy.¡± Kaylee wrapped her arm around his waist as he spoke and stood pressed against him, showing off a whitened toothy smile.

    ¡°It¡¯s great to meet you both!¡± She slipped out from under Tevins arm and crossed over to us with her arms extended, and I had the pleasure of watching Rin¡¯s eyes widen in shock and his body go rigid as she jumped him with an enthusiastic hug. I smiled but managed not to laugh at his ¡®deer in the headlights¡¯ reaction, and was prepared when she broke away from him and gave me an equally thorough embrace.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you too, all of you.¡± I said, covering for Rin who was glaring at Tevin, clearly blaming him for his girlfriend''s invasion of his personal space. I gave Kaylee a light hug in return before we parted and she returned to Tevin¡¯s side, slipping back under his arm.

    ¡°So you¡¯re the group that¡¯s adopted our friendly giant. It¡¯s nice to meet some other people our age, and this place seems really cool. How are the games?¡± I nodded at the game that the guy, presumably Andy, had been playing when we walked up.

    The blonde girl in the middle, Bree, replied with a big smile. ¡°They¡¯re good! The prizes are fun too. They import a lot of gear and your tickets carry over from visit to visit, so you can save up and get some pretty cool stuff!¡± She used the term ¡®gear¡¯, which was a common word for ¡®imported alien gadgets¡¯ used by people who did not regularly Link-up themselves. In the early days of the Links, a fair amount of legacy gamer lingo was quickly appropriated by society and bent to fit shapes that almost held true to their original intent.

    Max startled me by appearing at the edge of the group, standing next to and looking at the smiling couple, he scratched his round chin with his nubby arm. ¡°You wanted me to be more helpful and speak up, right? This is kind of small potatoes for my enormous capabilities, but check your back pocket. She totally slipped you some kind of card. Want me to look into it?¡±

    I tried to suppress my reaction to Max¡¯s appearance, but still reached a hand behind my back and felt for the card. Sure enough, there was a thin plastic-feeling rectangle in my back pocket, similar to the expired and obsolete debit card that used to be connected to my neglected real-world bank account.  I had no idea what to do with that information, and it must have left me looking either confused or unimpressed.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    Despite the sketchy delivery of the card, I was hesitant to allow Max to run rampant with whatever his idea of ¡°looking into it¡± would be. I thought we should wait to look into it further and give her the benefit of the doubt for now. Who knows, Tevin had a pretty relaxed view of relationships, maybe he told her to slip me the card in some hairbrained attempt to set me up with her. To my surprise, Max picked up on my thoughts and replied directly as if I had spoken them aloud to him.

    ¡°Alright, gracious host. I¡¯ll hold off on it, but I¡¯m totally going to snoop through her social media and public accounts.¡±

    After a beat, Bree continued with an apologetic look, probably mistaking my distraction for a reaction to her. ¡°Oh, I guess all that stuff wouldn¡¯t be impressive to pros like you. I bet you see cooler tech all the time!¡±

    I shook my head and gave her my own apologetic smile. ¡°No, no¡­ I mean, I have seen some pretty cool things, but shopping is shopping, you know? There are so many cool things, I can¡¯t have seen them all.¡± I offered her a smile, hoping to come off as less awkward than I felt.

    The guy, Andy, broke into the conversation with an easy smile. ¡°What¡¯s the coolest thing you¡¯ve seen in Factions? I follow a few of the raid teams like the LockOns and LiquidID, and their VODs show off some pretty epic stuff. Last month the Locks posted a pov shot of some skirmish with a Borealia PMC, and there were drones blasting into walkers and guys in power armor with those big autocannons just blasting away at each other in this mossy dead-looking forest.¡±

    For whatever reason, the group''s focus turned to me for a reply, so I chuckled a little at his enthusiasm, and shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m sure Tevin has the better stories of stuff like that, I haven''t seen much fighting myself, but I did get to take a short ride on a True spaceship once. We blasted out into orbit in like 3 minutes and traveled clear across the continent up there in less than an hour.¡±

    By habit, I kept the details out of my retelling even after they latched on to my talk of starships and orbit-hoppers and the differences between them. I caved under their pressure to tell more stories eventually and told them a little bit about the underhome, even sharing a few screenshots of the city I had taken and uploaded to my comm.

    We wandered as a group to a buffet as we talked, and I eventually managed to divert the newcomers'' attention back over to Tevin, who happily launched into vivid descriptions of some of the skirmishes he had fought in the name of the Council.

    With the group distracted, it gave me a moment to think over the whole card thing. I watched Kaylee instead of Tevin as he gestured and acted out the more bombastic moments of his story, and wondered about the way she looked up at the big man as he spoke. When she noticed me watching her I looked away and turned to Rin, but not before she flashed me what felt like a conspiratorial smile.

    I kept my voice low, trusting it would not carry to the others through the noisy arcade atmosphere filled with chiming games, music from overhead speakers, and groups of screaming children in the middle distance. ¡°Have you spent much time with these guys?¡±

    Rin replied without looking over at me, in his normal flat manner. ¡°As a group, twenty eight hours in total. Tevin has had them over for multiple game nights the last two weeks. Kaylee has stayed at our place for the last 9 nights in a row.¡±

    I suppressed a smile at Rin¡¯s interpretation of my question. ¡°Good, I¡¯m glad you guys are making some new friends.¡± My urge to smile faded as I thought back to my own experience with making friends, namely the still recent awkward conversation with Kikkelin. Rin declined to reply and our attention returned to the conversation between Tevin and the group.

    ¡°There''s really not a lot of difference between the raiders and what I was doing before I was assigned here,¡± Tevin was explaining. ¡°Who¡¯s funding and who gives the orders are the only things that really matter. In some other countries the lines get even blurrier though. I follow this Artanesean brigade fighting in the Centro war, right? Get this, they¡¯re a government force fighting a real-world war, who have nearly 2 million followers from posting footage of their operations, and draw funding both from a fan or donor base as well as the government. It¡¯s pretty wild, I tried to convince my C.O. to run that idea up the chain so we could start our own account to fund some extracurriculars, but they shot that down hard and fast. If you like watching the raid teams and want to see some real madness, you should check them out.¡±

    The group gave a mix of oohh''s and aahh''s, and both Andy and Raschel pulled out their mobile comms to search for links to the channel he was talking about. I let my attention stray entirely away from the group, and decided to wander over to some of the nearby games and start using some of the tokens I¡¯d loaded up on the sturdy plastic chit-card.

    It had been ages since I did more than mess around in a local multiplayer game with Tevin and Rin, and I quickly discovered that the modest skills I had honed in my teenage years had rusted through disuse. I tried out a seemingly simple rail-shooter game, and fed it 10 credits worth of tokens just trying to get through the first level. Then I moved on to a physical game, sort of a cross between pachinko and skeeball where you rolled balls down a ramp and past obstacles in an attempt to get it to land in the more valuable spots at the bottom of the machine.

    The rest of the group stayed pretty close, and from time to time we all moved as a herd to a new area of the arcade to try out new games. The shovel game was probably the most fun I had, dropping chips down in front of a bulldozer that moved back and forth and pushed little prizes, ticket vouchers, and various effect items towards a trough on either side and to the front. It felt less reliant on twitchy reflexes and more about strategy and timing. Once I found that bank of machines, I stayed there for the rest of the afternoon until we all gathered together again for a game of lazer tag, which Tevin absolutely dominated.

    I had fun. I had fun for the first time in a long time, and soon forgot about the awkward encounter with Kikkelin, the looming trials I would face the next day, and even the mystery card that Kaylee had given me for whatever reason. The conversation stayed light, and we steered clear of politics and work, instead focusing on funny stories and the small dramas that played out amongst the people living in the isolated tower.

    At the end of the evening, our two mixed groups had ridden the elevator together and the others departed floor by floor. Andy and Raschel lived on the 38th floor, while Bree and Kaylee lived on the 61st. Tevin filled the silence of the rest of the ride with questions about what I thought of his new friends, and the arcade and general amenities of the tower. He was so clearly excited about everything that I felt too guilty to bring up the card his girl had slipped me, so I decided to forgo saying anything for now. I could bring it up with him after the trials and get it all sorted out. The whole situation was probably harmless anyways, no need to ruin a great night with yet another small drama.

    Once I returned to the semi-solitude of my own apartment and got a door between myself and my staff, I finally pulled the card out from my pocket and looked it over. It was sort of like a business card, with her name and a professional looking picture of her in a fancy dress taking up a whole side of it, while the flip side had a scan-code, an embedded chip of some kind, and a list of various social media links. On my way to my spa, which was easily my favorite part of my new apartment, I tossed it onto the top of my dresser next to the empty weapon-rack and went to enjoy my soak.

 Chapter 39 - Speech! speech!

    The courtyard was eerily quiet when I spawned back into the Factions layer. Only a few small groups of dwarves hurried across the normally loud and crowded yard that was now still and empty, all rushing to complete their tasks so they could watch the upcoming Clan Trials. I joined them in their hurry and crossed over to the House gates where I could see most of my formation was already waiting.

    I slid into position, next to Kikkelin and now ahead of Korfook, who had been bumped down to the most junior spot. No one turned to greet me, or even looked at me. The only reaction I got from the whole group was from Chane who stood at the front of the formation, dressed in ornate ceremonial armor with his back to the gate as we waited for the allotted time for us to start our journey. He gave me a brief glance and a barely perceptible nod as I planted my feet in place.

    Each initiate wore a rough naturally colored cloth robe, and I hoped that the running shorts I had chosen to wear underneath them would be deemed acceptable once we got into the actual trials. I had considered picking up a set of nano-weave shorts, to provide at least some level of protection for myself, but did not want to risk being called out for it. The only equipment I had been told I could bring were the gauntlets the dwarves had given me, yet they were only fancy protective gloves without the satchel of minerals and chemicals that came with it.

    I was the last to arrive, and we spent the last 10 minutes waiting in anxious silence, although it felt more like an hour. During the calm before the storm, my mind was free to spin and churn over what might happen. I still had only a minimal idea about what to expect, only knowing that we would be expected to demonstrate our ability to gather, refine, and create whatever equipment was needed. I imagined fighting off more of the giant centipedes, with no armor or weapons, or stumbling into one of the black jellies in the pitch dark. Would there even be light to see by?

    With 30 seconds to spare, Chane slammed the butt of his staff against the stone floor and a notification box popped up in the center of my vision

    New Quest!

    The Trials of Teurniting, the quest for adulthood. Prove yourself capable of standing amongst a long line of heroes. Showcase your skills and worthiness to serve alongside your brothers and persist through the rigors of society.

    [X] - Join the House formation

    [ ] - Proceed to the gathering hall

    I read through the notification, and before I could process my thoughts into an actual inner monolog to question Max, he spoke up in my mind.

    ¡°Nope, this one''s native. It always takes a while, but most factions eventually figure out ways to get the system to generate quests like this. The rewards tend to be pretty minimal though, the core ties the systems hands pretty tightly when it comes to giving out free stuff. You can expect some XP, some kind of cosmetic, maybe a few credits.¡±

    I nodded in reply, tempering my expectations and legitimately grateful for the information. It was a nice change of pace to have Max simply offering useful information without having to pry it from him or pay for it with humiliation or discomfort.

    ¡°Initiates!¡± Chane called out, his voice raised but not quite to the level of a shout. ¡°Today is the day, your moment is now! March forth to a new era and take your place amongst the line of House Galidurn!¡±

    With his short speech given, he cracked his staff against the ground once more, then spun on his heel to face the gate as it smoothly opened ahead of him. He started through as soon as the gap was wide enough for him to fit his broad shoulders, leading our Row in lockstep as we marched out onto the public street.

    The normally chaotic road was still crowded, but today the crowds stood to either side of a narrow band of clear space. Dwarves were pressed shoulder to shoulder on either side, or stacked atop each other in places. They clung to walls, hung from balconies, waved from windows, and lined the tops of every roof in sight.

    The eerie silence we had waited in was immediately drowned out by a rising roar from the crowd. Dwarves shouted, cheered, and clapped, many carried their shields and others banged sloshing tankards against whatever hard surfaces were convenient. I kept my eyes forward and tried to focus on matching the timing of Kikkelin¡¯s steps as she walked in front of me, counting my steps and doing my best to ignore the noise of the crowd or the overpowering mix of smells and pheromones from the packed mass of excited dwarves.

    The crowd cheered for the whole journey as we descended the spiraling path down the undermountain, and eventually the exotic stink of the crowd dulled as my sense of smell was beaten into numbness. We marched for nearly an hour through the packed crowd, and I lost count of my steps halfway through at around 3000.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Near the base of the undermountain, we finally turned to a broad and empty flat space between two tall blocky buildings that was large and wide enough to be mistaken for an unpainted parking lot. The Initiate Rows from the four other Houses emerged from other neighboring streets, and we all filed into neat lines into the center of the cleared yard. The older dwarves at the head of each line raised their staffs and called a simultaneous halt, and the surrounding crowd quieted once again. I saw my quest tracker, which had minimized to the side of my HUD, mark off the current objective and a new one type itself out underneath.

    At the far end of the area was a three sided stepdown that ended at a large and elaborately carved stone gate, perhaps 5 meters tall and just as wide. Just above the sunken gate was a balcony draped with the banners of each house, framed with shining under-lit bronze plaques depicting the Clans crest in a mosaic of glittering gems to either side.

    Two of the heavily armored King¡¯s Guard flanked an open doorway in the center of the balcony, and after a few moments of hushed silence the King stepped out. He was smiling, dressed in ornate polished bronze plate armor, and he swept his eyes over the waiting Rows of young dwarves.

    Even from across the plaza I could make out the shining steel of his broad smile, before he raised an open hand to the air and clenched it into a fist. The crowd responded with a massive barking shout of ¡°Clan Theedrite!¡± mixed with cheers, whistles, clanking of tankards and shields, and occasional mists of pheromones.

    The King, still wearing his broad smile, opened his hand again, and waved down the noise as he lowered his arm to grip the balcony''s bannister. The crowd obliged and the noise quickly diminished, leaving a ringing in my ears and an odd taste in my mouth from the light fog of excited chemicals.

    ¡°Clan Theedrite!¡± The King projected through the hush. ¡°My people, my brothers. Today we will hold our fourth Trial of birthright!¡± He paused and let the crowd vocalize their deafening enthusiasm back in response for a moment, before waving for the excited dwarves who swarmed over every surrounding surface, piling up around the cleared space of the plaza.

    ¡°Long have we united to carry forward the blessing of society and progress, each generation joining the last in harmony and purpose. We dig deep and move forward, always keeping our eyes on the vision before us. A vision of cooperation and prosperity, of honor and service, of valor and opportunity!¡± He paused again as the crowd roared once more.

    ¡°Our people here, under this mountain, amongst the homestone of a faraway world, amongst new allies and horizons, carve deep into the strata of our shared history to reveal the ever growing promise of potential that we all carry forward with our actions. The actions of a family, united in purpose with a single intent. To strive forward and prosper, to make our voice heard, to be counted as peers amongst the great rivalries of this remote existence!¡±

    The crowd cheered again, and King Kanduirik panned his shining smile from right to left across the gathered people. ¡°I am excited, this day. Excited to welcome the next generation to join the alloy of society, to add their unlimited potential to our ever expanding story. Go forward with my blessing, with my hope, and my gratitude for every effort you make on behalf of our great family. For hearth and heart, for rock and stone, for Theedrite Underhome!¡±

    He finished his speech with a rhythmic cadence, which the whole crowd picked up and chanted back at him as he waved with both hands. The noise of the crowds chanting drowned out the sound of the huge door beneath his balcony as it cracked down the center and began to open inwards, revealing a dark tunnel.

    ¡°Thee-drite Under-home! Thee-drite Under-home!¡±

    Chane and the other armored dwarves at the head of each Row slammed their staves against the stone once more, then turned as one and stepped to the side of their respective groups to usher us forward. I was caught slightly off guard and was a half second later than the rest of the initiates as we started forward towards the looming gate.

    Kazek took the lead and all five rows descended the short stairwell and entered at the same time, merging into a single formation. The hallway was dark, real dark. The walls of the wide corridor were dotted with small lamps that only provided landmarks and did not provide much illumination. Luckily the floor was level and our pace was steady as we walked alongside the other Rows.

    We continued down the hall for a few hundred feet before coming to a circular room with five shadowy open doorways, each adorned with a carved crest of each house. We crossed under the flickering flame of a gas burning chandelier that hung from the ceiling without stopping. The Rows parted from each other, each marching into the door of their respective houses. We went into our own, passing under the Galidurn crest of a boulder rolling down a mountain under a hazy offset sunset.

    We left the light behind and passed through a short downward sloping tunnel, then turned down a spiraling staircase with steep steps.

    ¡°Gah, watch out. We have stairs.¡± Kazek¡¯s voice shattered the silence from the front of the line. ¡°Everyone, get a grip on the person in front of you, we do this by feel.¡±

    No one argued, and I reached forward tentatively and grabbed a fistful of the back of Kikkelins robe. I was surprised by how much comfort having a grip on the coarse fibers gave me, and only by that contrast was I made aware of the growing nervousness within me. I felt Korook do the same to the back of my robe, and we continued down the stairs as a chain.

    I heard the snort and cough of a dwarv somewhere along the line ahead of me as they spat out a glowing blob onto the wall. The glowing blue smear running down the stone did little to lighten up the narrow stairway as I passed it, but it still eased my tension a little. It let me know I was not the only one made nervous by the pitch black darkness.

    ¡°Save your Oxalate.¡± Ordered Kazek, and we continued turning down the stairs.

    Without the clock in the corner of my HUD, I would have completely lost track of time as we descended. Yet without anything else to look at, and nothing to do other than follow my fellows, all I could do was stare at the clock and count the stretched out seconds that crawled along at the pace of dripping pitch.

    After nearly another hour of twisting our way down the stairs, I felt the ground level out beneath my feet and Kazek started calling out orders.

 Chapter 40 - Enter the Trials

    [X] - Join the House formation

    [X] - Proceed to the gathering hall

    [  ] Explore, Equip, Entrench

    Kazeks voice was hushed, with a slight reverence to his tone as he spoke. ¡°I think this is our landing chamber. Lokralda, Jozoic, Korfook; get us some light. Everyone search the room and mark any doorways you find.¡±

    We all split up as he ordered, and a few blobs of glowing goo of various colors were spat out onto the stone floor. This first chamber was rather small and centered on a pillar that contained the stairway we had exited from. Maybe fifteen feet wide and twice as long, the room was cramped around the pillar on the narrow axis, with four different open doorways leading off in the cardinal directions. The walls were made up of huge carved slabs, each the size of a refrigerator and fused together with precise weld lines.

    The glowing mix of colors gave a soft and unnerving lighting to the room by the time we had all of the entrances marked with more chemical blobs. After we had cleared the area we turned inward, looking around at each other in indecision over which way we should take.

    Sallis sniffed the stale and somewhat musty air before she spoke up. ¡°There''s a cross breeze from here to there.¡± She pointed at one doorway and then to another.

    ¡°We could send scouts, have them cover a few hundred head and report?¡± Jozoic added.

    ¡°No reporting. No messages or using the system at all.¡± Kazek barked out, giving him a disapproving look.

    Jozoic grunted and pushed back. ¡°We use the best tools at hand. The system is a tool, and we are not at home on Anazoudak, brother.¡±

    ¡°That is not the way it has been done, Joz. This is our trial, we should act as if we were.¡± Replied our squad leader. He planted his feet and glared at Jozoic, while the rest of us swiveled our heads back and forth between the two as the argument grew.

    ¡°The way is forward, not backward, Kazek. Seizing a new tool is more important. The system be not forbidden in the rules, and the elders have not ordered them forsaken.¡± I could not help but notice that his translator still had some work to be as clear as some of the others.

    Kazek held his gaze, but did not try to dispute him immediately. Instead, he glanced around the room to the rest of us who had been listening in on the conversation from our scattered positions before speaking.

    ¡°We put it to a moot. I say nay.¡± He then spat a glowing blue blob on the ground, and everyone started to converge on the spot. All of them adding their own loogie to the pile.

    I followed the group but did not really know what to do. I had heard of this voting process they used, but had yet to see it in action. Throughout our training, Chane, Kazzad, or some other instructor or higher ranking person would be present to settle disagreements.

    Now that we were on our own as a squad without supervision, it put a slightly sour taste in my mouth that Jozoic¡¯s first move was to question our Row leader''s order. Yet, at the same time, I totally agreed with the point he was making, leaving me with a new layer of mixed emotions over the already stressful situation.

    I watched the growing lump of colorful swirling goo, and noticed it looked quite different from most of the other glow-lights. This one swirled with a mix of orange and blue, blobs of distinct color pushing and dragging against each other but not mixing. When the rest had all given their additions, some of them returning to the edges of the room to watch the doors, the majority of the dwarves all turned and looked to me.

    Kazek nodded to me, ¡°And you, Kaninak. I understand you cannot add your feelings to the moot. You may choose a proxy in trust, or let your opinion be heard. If you had 10 votes to cast, how many to each side?¡±

    I gulped, not enjoying being dragged into this argument and chafing at the unfairness that I would be the only third party to the argument to have to voice my opinion. I¡¯d never voted for anything in my life, unless you counted the internal politics of my old apartment.

    I briefly considered taking a proxy, especially if the ¡®in trust¡¯ part meant our conversation could be private, but decided against it. I wasn¡¯t sure who to pick, to be honest.

    ¡°I think we stand the best chance to succeed if we use the system. I¡¯m sure the higher-ups have taken it into account, otherwise they would have added a rule, right? This is the fourth trial, I¡¯m sure we¡¯re not the first to think of it. So¡­ 8 to Jozoic¡¯s stance.¡±

    I neglected to add the reasoning for me not giving all of my votes to his side, and no one asked for them. Kazek only returned his gaze back to Jozoic, who nodded in assent, before the team leader spat a final blob into the mix.

    The watermelon sized pile of light quivered, and the warring colors pulsed against each other, the larger globs breaking down and finally mixing and reacting. After only a few seconds, the whole blob shifted over and turned to a bright vivid orange, which I took to mean Jozoic¡¯s call to use the system had won out.

    Kazek grimaced, but nodded. ¡°It is decided. Sallis, Korfook, Lokralda, and Jozoic; pick a partner and take a tunnel. Scout up to the next chamber or intersection and report back what you find. Do not engage if you find anything crawling around out there, just retreat back to the group. We need to find resources, vents, and mark any dangerous nests in the area. The rest of you, get a taste for the stone and see if you can pick up anything on the wind.¡±

    The four chosen dwarves each looked around to choose a second. To my surprise, Sallis pointed at me and waved for me to follow as she moved over to the western tunnel. ¡°C¡¯mon, Nick, we¡¯ll take the downwind tunnel.¡±

    I nodded and rushed to follow after her into the dark opening, somewhat nervous to be breaking off from the group, but also appreciative of being picked by someone.

    ¡°Feels good to not be the last kid waiting against the wall to be picked for the kickball team, eh? I have an idea that would really help you out down here too, but it could be a little risky if you use it. Ya never know who¡¯s watching and paying attention, or if the sniffers will go through the logs later on, but I can see pretty much the whole map. The Link preloads the whole area into your entanglement, even if you can''t see it yet. That¡¯s how I led you to those gems back in the day.¡±

    I scoffed at his use of ¡®back in the day¡¯ for events that took place only a month or so ago, and thought over his offer. Having him populate my whole minimap would be super useful, I would be able to navigate for the group and locate all of the useful resources immediately. Yet the risk of being called out for knowing too much outweighed the advantages. Maybe I could use him just to help see, as long as we had some light, it would still be plausible that I might have above average dark-vision or especially acute hearing.

    ¡°Got it, hoss, you want me to limit your vision to something like two or three times what the light should actually let you see?¡±

    I internally agreed, and my vision vibrated for a moment before a blue-lined overlay snapped into place. Bright outlines appeared around the edges of everything, including Sallis as she double marched ahead of me. She had spat out a blob of the glowing snot into her hand and was using it to light the way ahead as she led, and the blue grid-lines of my new overlay spread out from her for about 30 feet before dissipating into blackness.

    The corridor ran straight for about 80 meters, then started to snake back and forth like a lazy river before it took a sharp turn and spilled out into a natural looking cavern. The floor was rough and coated in dust and fallen debris from the rather unstable looking ceiling, and the blue outlines of my vision overlay highlighted a patch of large fallen boulders that dominated a quarter of the space.

    Sallis stopped and looked around, giving me a grin as I walked up next to her. ¡°Smells like bismuth n¡¯ nickel. Let''s take a look around before we report back.¡±

    I started to agree, but Max broke in with another comment. ¡°Go check the fallen stones. The nickel and some cobalt is up above and leads to a dangerous but sizable deposit. There is quite a lot of water locked above it.¡±

    I grunted in appreciation as a response to Max¡¯s tip and relayed my intent to Sallis. ¡°I¡¯ll check out the stope, can you light the place up a bit and see if there are any exits?¡±

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Aye, I can do that, just don¡¯t go twistin¡¯ yer ankle or knocking rocks from the ceiling.¡± She replied, before we parted ways. She flicked little specks of the glow-juice she carried onto the walls and floor as she went and spat a few more blobs of it around the room to partially illuminate the area.

    I approached the pile of rocks and carefully climbed to the top of it, and grinned to myself when I saw that Max was also highlighting the shapes of blocky crystalline structures within some of the boulders on the floor. I made a show of looking up at the ceiling and picking through the pile of rocks for a few moments before I pulled one of the iridescent and geometric square bismuth crystals from the tangle of stones.

    I used my gauntlets to scan the mineral content of a few of the boulders, logging the readout in my thread of messages to myself. When I rose a moment later and looked around the room from the high-point I stood upon, I saw that Sallis had marked out two exits from the room with green smears of light.

    ¡°You were right!¡± I called across to her, holding up the crystal. ¡°Bismuth, and cobalt-heavy nickel sulfide ore. It¡¯s definitely unstable up above though. How often do these chambers collapse?¡±

    Sallis laughed from across the room where she was examining another streak of something outlined in blue running through one of the walls. ¡°No clue! The older dwarves are forbidden ta tell us anything about them until after we pass, so we¡¯re all in the dark. The real-world trials er¡¯ known ta be rather dangerous though, with something like a 80 percent survival rate. I¡¯d take respawning as a failure to try again next year any day.¡±

    I climbed down from the pile and joined her near the streak of different colored stone in the wall. ¡°One in five just die? That''s hardcore.¡± I reached up and touched the streak with my gauntlet and got a readout indicating poor grade magnetite.

    ¡°They say it keeps us strong. You wanna send the report or should I?¡± She replied with a sardonic grin.

    I shook my head and wandered over to one of the marked exits. ¡°No, no. You can send it.¡± I answered as I looked down the natural looking tunnel that led off into the darkness.

    We stuck fairly close together and combed over the floor and walls some more while we waited for a reply from Kazek. The eventual order that came back was to collect some of the bismuth crystals and load some of the nickel ore into our inventories before returning to the group. I made quick work of cracking the stones and peeling the beautiful bismuth crystals from their hidden homes, and we both loaded about 50 kilos of the most promising looking chunks of nickel ore into our inventories.

    ¡°Did Kazek really expect us to not use our inventories? How would we even move all this stuff around?¡± I questioned as we prepared to return back to the group.

    ¡°Of course he did. He¡¯s a traditionalist. Some of the elders might¡¯a even approved too, they watch what we do down here n¡¯ evaluate each¡¯a us when the thing is said and done. We¡¯ll be fine though, not much is truly carved in stone when it comes ta rules, making it out ta¡¯ other side is most important.¡±

    I thought that over while we backtracked to the rest of the group. If we were being watched by the rest of the Clan, I really should be careful about how much I leveraged Max¡¯s help. I resolved to keep that in mind as we went through the rest of the trials, and hoped that I wouldn¡¯t be cornered into a situation where I was forced to lean on his support too much.

    When we returned to the group, we found that the party that had stayed in the initial room with the staircase had started to cut a map into the floor. We joined the others and carved our own section down into the western portion of the map, and we broke off tiny samples of the ores and stones we had found in our section and laid them down in the rough positions they had been taken from on the map.

    Kazek and Bomilik stood on each end of the map, surveying the additions and tasting the samples of each returning party.

    ¡°We still need fluoride, copper, and water. Plus a hot chamber. We can¡¯t get much going until we find a vent chamber.¡± Bomilik, our group''s expert miner, said flatly without a trace of accent. ¡°We should take the whole team and sweep the south western portion, we can use the granite from this chamber for improvised tools until we get something harder melted down. If we have to, we can spit forge a couple of things, but I think we should save our chems for when we can get a crude fabrication pool going.¡±

    I looked around at the group and decided to speak up. ¡°We found water in our chamber, it¡¯s above the nickel though.¡±

    There was a chorus of hmm¡¯s and grunts before Bomilik answered. ¡°We only use that if we have to, it¡¯s a huge risk without knowing how much is up there.¡±

    I shrugged and drifted back to the peripheral of the conversation while the rest of the group strategized and made the meager preparations we were capable of. After about 20 minutes of hemming and hawing over who should be in which team and what areas we should explore, we divided into groups made up of smaller teams.

    There were 15 of us in total, making three teams of four and one team of three that would hold the map room. I was assigned to sweep back through the original cavern Sallis and I had discovered and to take the path that led further to the west. This time we planned to explore even further and rely on the messaging system to report back to the map room.

    With an exchange of goodlucks and parting slaps on the shoulders, we split up and started to retrace our steps to the bismuth cave. The lights had started to fade by this time, but still provided a little bit of illumination that marked our first exploratory expedition. Our larger group of 8 reached the cavern after a few minutes of jogging and we broke into two groups of four.

    Jozoic took three others and split off into the southern tunnel, while Sallis, Lokralda, Lurbolg, and myself headed westward. Sallis once again took the lead and I was placed into the middle of the group with Lokralda. We kept up a faster pace, feeling more comfortable in a larger party and with some semblance of a plan.

    After only a few minutes of travel through more worked-stone tunnel we came to an intersection that split off in two other directions, one headed South-West and another that angled back in a North-Easterly direction.

    Sallis sniffed the air again and made a frustrated sound. ¡°I can¡¯t smell anything, the wind moves to the north though.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re supposed to scout the southern quadrant.¡± Lokralda added, unhelpfully.

    ¡°I know, I know. So we shall. Still, wind has to mean vents, doesn''t it? Nick, report it back to the map room. It was what¡­ another 80 head from the bismuth room to here?¡±

    Everyone bobbed their heads in agreement and I sent a message back to Korfook describing our path. He had been given the duty of waiting in the ad-hoc command center, his whole job simply to relay the scouting reports to Kazek and Bomilik. While the group leader and his second presided over the map, filling out details and coordinating our efforts.

    The route to the south curved along and quickly became narrow enough to force us to turn sideways and drag ourselves through in places, and the huge slabs of worked stone gave way to a natural look. The rough stone walls closed in tighter and forced us to crawl up a narrow vertical crevice that looked and felt to be eroded out by water. I climbed after Lurbolg in near pitch darkness, the only light being the occasional flickers of dull glow from the glowing lump Sallis carried at the front, or fading smears on the walls from where she had touched.

    A foot came down from above and landed on my shoulder, causing me to look up by reflex. I could still see sort of okay thanks to the topographic outlines Max was providing for me, but it left out details and only showed the shape of things. Lurbolg tapped his foot against my shoulder twice, a sign I took to mean to hold still for a moment. There was a muffled shout from above and he tapped again twice, rapid fire, and began to quickly scramble up the tunnel.

    I couldn¡¯t make out what Sallis was yelping about at the front of the line, but she was in some kind of obvious distress and sending little pebbles and dust down the chute as she flailed her way up the rest of the climb. I stayed right on Lurbolg¡¯s heels as we followed her up for another 10 feet or so, the last section smeared recklessly with slick glowing blue goo from where Sallis had given up holding the light source carefully. I slipped a number of times but managed to scramble up the last few meters and followed them into a large dark room, the ceiling and walls too distant to make out even with my pseudo darkvision.

    Sallis was rolling around and wrestling with something, while Lurbolg was scrambling around her looking for a way to help as I pulled myself up. By the time I made it to their side and looked to join in the scuffle, Lurbolg stood up straight and stepped back, breaking into laughter.

    ¡°A squam! We¡¯ve found a copper slug, hahaha.¡±

    I looked down and saw what Sallis was struggling with, a huge shiny cross between a snail and a slug had latched onto Sallis'' front, from hip to shoulder across her chest, and seemed to be attempting to chew at her robe and hair. It was as long as my leg and about a foot and a half wide in the middle, with dark shiny segmented plates covering its glow-goo smeared back.

    ¡°Git dis damned thing off me!¡± She screeched as she pushed it away with one hand and scrambled for purchase with the other to keep it away from her face.

    ¡°They¡¯re practically harmless, and lucky! You¡¯ve been blessed, hahahah.¡± Lurbolg replied as he watched from the sideline.

    I stepped forward and joined the fray to help peel the slimy thing off of Sallis anyway. I stood back up a moment later with it held up in my gauntlets as it writhed back and forth in an attempt to latch into something. It was strong and had beady little eyes that bulged from the top of two short stalks near one end, but I could see no mouth or claws and it moved well¡­ sluggishly. It did not feel all that dangerous as it slowly thrashed around in my grip.

    ¡°Gah rah, fuck that thing and fuck you too, Lurbolg! Can¡¯t help out yer damn teammate in distress. Absolute disgrace.¡± Sallis jabbed a finger at the dwarf in question as she stood up, scraping the mix of slime and glowing goo off of herself and slopping it onto the ground.

    Lurbolg continued to laugh, but started to lose momentum when I too gave him a disapproving look. I then turned away and showed the beast to Lokralda as she followed us out of the hole in the ground we had entered from.

    I was about to say something cheerful about the alleged luck of the find, when I noticed two points of reflected light in the darkness on the far side of the room behind her. Two more appeared, then another six. Hundreds of ominous little pairs of lights flickered to life and started to move in from the darkness, all converging on the tiny puddle of blue light surrounding us in the fathomless cavern.

 Chapter 41 - Mostly harmless

    I stepped back from the hoard of approaching enemies, still nothing more than pinpoints of reflected light slowly advancing towards us in the darkness. I kept hold of the writhing armored slug in my grip and managed to keep my voice down to a false whisper. ¡° Look, something¡¯s out there!¡±

    Lokralda spun around, looking ready for a fight while Lurbolg¡¯s eyes went wide. Sallis regained her feet, and each of the dwarves let out a spray of light in a different direction that left the dark stone surrounding us looking like a lumpy and uneven cosmic-themed rave dance floor. A smattering of glowing specks revealed the outline of a large pillar in the darkness about 30 feet distant, and created enough collective light to show the ceiling to be about 40 feet high and covered in sparkling stalactites.

    The hundreds of eyes loomed closer in the darkness and slowly resolved into more of the slugs, more than I could count. A slow moving flood of them came oozing towards us from both sides of the cave.

    ¡°What do we do? Are they actually harmless, or like¡­ mostly harmless?¡± I hissed at the group.

    ¡°They¡¯re¡­ mostly harmless.¡± Lurbolg half-answered, starting to look a little nervous himself.

    Sallis and I both snapped our heads in his direction at the same time to glare at him, while Lokralda backed up a step and tightened our little group in the bullseye of the circle of light we had painted in the darkness.

    ¡°They can¡¯t bite, and while they¡¯re acidic, as long as you don¡¯t let one latch on to you for hours you¡¯ll be fine so¡­ we just can''t let them bury us.¡± He finished.

    Sallis''s voice was small yet filled with a terrified resolve. ¡°That looks like enough to bury us, Lurbolg. Pull back, or punch through?¡±

    We exchanged looks between each other and the hole we had climbed through as the slugs closed in on us. Lurbolg spoke up first. ¡°We should try not to hurt them, they¡¯re valuable.¡±

    Sallis grimaced and shook her head. ¡°They¡¯re f¡¯n creepy and gross is what they are.¡±

    ¡°So we pull back?¡± Lokralda added.

    I tossed the slug in my hands out at the approaching group and snapped a nearby stalagmite off of the ground, thinking to use it as a last ditch improvised weapon if I had to. The fragile stone would have made a terrible weapon, yet the urge to have something, anything, in my hand was too powerful to ignore. ¡°I think we pull back and report.¡±

    Lurbolg grumbled, but nodded in agreement. ¡°Okay, we pull back. I¡¯m pretty sure there is a way to control them but I don¡¯t know it. Someone message Bomilik and ask about it, I think he is more familiar with these things.¡±

    Without needing any more convincing, Sallis immediately ran over and jumped down the hole we had just climbed up, she flipped the finger at the slowly approaching tide of slugs just before she vanished into the floor. Lokralda followed after her and Lurbolg and I reached the exit at the same time. He shook his head and waved for me to go ahead of him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go last, you message Bo.¡± He said.

    ¡°Got it, be careful.¡± I replied before jumping down the narrow chute myself. The top portion was still lubricated with the dimly glowing light that Sallis had smeared against the walls, and after a short bumpy slide I landed on top of Lokralda. Sallis helped us both to our feet just before Lurbolg came slipping down after us headfirst a moment later. We quickly regrouped and retreated back down the narrow corridor to a wider patch, leaving a few smears of light near the entrance and along the way.

    I opened my UI and scrolled through my friends list looking for Bomilik¡¯s name as I pushed along the narrow passage. We had only ever exchanged messages once, and I had to go near the bottom of my list of recent messages to find him. I briefly considered paying the cost to get a group chat server of my own so I could create a thread specifically for my Row, but the 25k yearly price tag continued to scare me off of it. If we could get through the trials we would have access to the Clans server, but as of yet were mostly locked out.

    Kaninak: Southern path from the fork leads to an upwards chute, large chamber above filled with¨C

    I broke away from typing my message for a second to ask the group. ¡°What are these things called? Copper slugs?¡±

    ¡°Copper smolsquam, or squams.¡± Answered Lurbolg as he kept watch in the direction we had retreated from. I thanked him and refocused on my chat UI.

    ¨Cfilled with a hoard of copper squams, hundreds of them coming. Please advise

    We watched the glowing smears of light start to dim as we waited for a reply, which came after a long moment attached to a crude diagram of a few different molecules.

    Bomilik: Have someone spray that formula, it will put them into a sleep state. Harvest what you can and bring the rest to your first chamber. Good find, brothers.

    ¡°Bo says to spray this- ¡°

    Sallis cut me off, ¡°We all got the message. I¡¯m not crawling back up there, they¡¯ll be in the chute by now. We should wait here for them.¡±

    We all exchanged glances, and a metallic ping-ping-ping sound filled the tunnel. The squam were a little smaller than the main body of a classic round barbeque grill when they rolled up into armored balls, and dozens of them bounced out from the small crack in the ceiling at the end of the hall. With the momentum from the fall, they rolled nearly halfway to where we had retreated before unwinding from their shells to continue squirming their way towards us.

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    We all scanned over the formula. The three dwarves prepared to mix the chemicals themselves with their specialized glands, while I saved it to my own database with a note on its supposed effect. I wished to help, but until I could start gathering a stockpile of chemicals of my own to carry, my gauntlets were effectively just fancy armored gloves.

    Lokralda was the first to finish mixing the concoction, which she let us know by letting out a massive steamy burp in the direction of the slugs, and as a group we all blew and waved the fog towards the advancing slugs.

    Once we had filled the tunnel with the oddly smokey and sweet smelling pheromone, the squams ceased their advance on us. Yet more and more came tumbling down from the chute and adding to the growing pile, many of them not even managing to unfurl from their ball shape before lapsing into a comatose state.

    ¡°Dusted slimy scum. Does anyone know how we harvest these things?¡± Sallis swore as she eyed the still growing pile of animals.

    Lurbolg shrugged when everyone looked at him. ¡°We get the plates off of them somehow, they''re supposed to grow back if they¡¯re fed the proper stuff.¡±

    Wanting to be useful and feeling the need to act, I tossed the broken section of stalagmite I had in my hand and squeezed past Lurbolg in the narrow tunnel and approached the edge of the pile, reaching out and grabbing one of the sleeping slugs. I carried it back to the group and set it down on the floor to examine the dark articulated plates that covered the whole back of the thing.

    From the top view it reminded me of a slimy armadillo, or maybe a massive pillbug. I started to probe and test around the edges of the plate to see how easily they might lift off from the soft squishy main body of the thing.

    ¡°Do I just rip it off? I don¡¯t really want to hurt it.¡± I mused aloud to the watching group as I wedged my fingertips under the edge of the plating.

    ¡°No clue, brother.¡± Answered Lurbolg hesitantly. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of these things, and seen a few of them in the deep pens, but never have shorn one.¡±

    Sallis stepped closer and nudged the squam with her bare foot. ¡°Just try pulling it off, we don''t have time to teeter back and forth on it.¡±

    I grimaced and nodded, also not really wanting to hurt the beast. I took a firm grip and steeled myself, worming my armored fingers between the hard shell and the slimy body of the slug and trying to get a feel for how securely it was attached.

    Lurbolg rushed to my side and put a restraining hand on my arm. ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t hurt it, let¡¯s ask Bo first. He probably knows. I¡¯ll send him a message.¡±

    I chewed my lip in indecision, but decided to side with Lurbolg. While I did not have too much of a problem taking what we needed from the bugs, a part of me held onto sympathy for the creatures.

    ¡°Alright, message him.¡± I released my grip and leaned back, sitting down on the ground with my back to the wall, still watching the sleeping bug. Lurbolg nodded distractedly, his eyes dancing as he navigated his UI to send the message.

    Sallis huffed and sat down next to me. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t waste all this time. I say Lokralda and Lurbolg stay here and we go scout the northern passage.¡±

    I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye and shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m game, but we should carry a load of these things back first.¡±

    She looked over at Lokralda, who was watching us with her ever present sour look. The red headed dwarv narrowed her eyes in thought for a few seconds before she replied. ¡°I agree, you two carry a load back and move forward. If you¡¯re right about the vents it¡¯ll be worth finding them sooner. Just be careful, okay, Sallis?¡±

    Sallis smiled back at her. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine, Lock, if things get dicey we¡¯ll pull back and let ya know. I¡¯ll send a message every 10 ticks to keep ya in the loop.¡±

    ¡°I mean it Sallis, now''s not the time to take risks.¡± She replied with a serious look.

    Lurbolg snapped out of his UI and rejoined the conversation. ¡°Yeah, we can handle it. You¡¯re not afraid of getting a little slimy are ya?¡± He nudged Lokralda with his elbow, his signature little grin returning to his face.

    Lokralda rolled her eyes and pushed his arm away. ¡°Not at all, you just worry about keeping your soft prettyboy hands on the work.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you think I¡¯m pretty?¡± Lurbolg grinned, his purple eyes flashing in the dim light of the cavern.

    ¡°Bah, shut it.¡± Sallis said as she rose to her feet and kicked some dust and debris from the floor at him, then she looked to the pile of squams that had built up down the tunnel. ¡°How many of em¡¯ do ya think we can haul?¡±

    I rose to my own feet, my head nearly scraping the low ceiling. ¡°I don¡¯t know, they¡¯re pretty heavy. Maybe 4 each?¡±

    Sallis nodded, huffed, stamped her foot and then sighed. ¡°No, no. We can do more than that¡­¡± She paused for a moment more before giving Lurbolg a warning scowl. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna hear a peep outta you. The next words out of your mouth better be about how to harvest these slimy bastards.¡± She then started towards the pile of slugs. As she approached the beasts, she pulled the coarse and loose robe up over her head and off, revealing her stocky, nearly naked, and muscular body.

    Underneath she wore a sort of stiff leather-looking and riveted together harness, almost like an outline of what I would consider proper underwear. Keeping her back to a rapidly reddening Lurbolg, she tied the top of the robe off into a knot and started to fill it like a giant sack.

    ¡°Not a dusted word, we all knew it¡¯d come to this.¡± She said tersely as she worked, without looking back.

    I gaped at her for a moment before I got a hold of myself and followed her lead, pulling off and tying up my own robe and stuffing as many of the limp slugs as I could into it. We made quick work of stuffing our makeshift sacks full, and each fit a half-dozen of the beasts into our bags. I hauled my bag up onto my shoulder, and tossed a few more of the placid slugs up on top of it. They were roughly 30 pounds each, and slick with cold gross feeling slime, but stayed stuck in place as I grunted with the strain of lifting them all.

    Sallis huffed again as she watched me load the extras onto my shoulder and back, hesitant to drape the things over herself as I had, but followed suit after a moment. ¡°This deepwork ain¡¯t for me. I belong on a ship in the sky, not nekkid covered in ooze in the dark, yet here I am, hauling nasty livestock in my knickers with a smartass and an alien.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but grin at her grumbling, but quickly changed my grin into a grimace when she looked over at me. ¡°All set?¡±

    ¡°Ah, shut up ya pale-assed ceiling scraper. I can handle it.¡±

    I laughed and glanced at Lurbolg for support, who was too busy blushing and switching between averting his eyes and stealing glances at Sallis. We pushed past the two still sitting dwarves in the narrow tunnel, having to drag and squeeze the large makeshift bag-o-slugs we were hauling over them as they flattened themselves against the floor.

    ¡°10 clicks! I just sent the first message and started a timer. Don¡¯t forget!¡± Lokralda said after us.

    I looked back over my shoulder at her and replied. ¡°We won¡¯t forget, and good luck with the squams, Lokra. We¡¯ll come back and help clear out the room as soon as we find the vent.¡±

    She nodded back at me, giving me an awkward smile before turning back to Lurbolg and elbowing him in the ribs. I caught her hushed voice as she scolded the still blushing dwarv. ¡°Grow up ya larvae, or have ya never seen a lass without her covers? Wouldn¡¯t surprise me for all yer talk.¡±

    I shook my head and chuckled softly as I followed Sallis back to the first room we had found, thankful that the massive bulging bag she carried blocked out my view of her backside, grateful to be spared for now from having to deal with whatever thoughts that might bring up.

    I hiked my own sack a bit higher onto my shoulder and pushed on, already starting to think about where would be the best place to deposit our burden and wondering how long until the squams would wake up.

 Chapter 42 - Reconnoiter

    Sallis and I retraced our steps back through the tunnels to the first cavern, the one with the bismuth crystals. After dumping the armored slugs out from the makeshift bags we had fashioned from our robes, we counted 18 sleeping squams that we had carried between the two of us.

    Sallis growled in frustration as she inspected her untied robe. The slime from the bottom of the beasts had permeated through much of the coarse cloth, and the idea of putting the soaked heavy robe back on was unappetizing. I tugged at the fabric and thought about what to do for a moment while Sallis worked at scraping as much of the slime from her own as she could, before she started to tear the robe into long strips and pieces. She used a few larger dry pieces of the cloth and the strips to tie a makeshift two-piece outfit for herself.

    ¡°Oh, duh. Good idea.¡± I started tearing my robe up as well, setting the drier pieces of cloth off to one side.

    ¡°You¡¯ve only known¡¯a the trials for a month, I''ve been thinkin¡¯ n¡¯ planning for years.¡± She wound up the long strips of slimy cloth from the rest of her robe into a coil and looped it over her chest. ¡°Ready to go find that dusted vent?¡±

    I picked up my own bundle of cloth after having tied strips of cloth around my own feet and knees. ¡°Yep, let''s go.¡±

    She flashed me a grin, produced another small blob of light that she wrapped up in a small piece of scrap cloth to make a crude lantern and we headed back into the tunnels. This time we took the right-hand path at the fork and headed north, quickly realizing that while the southern path narrowed, this one widened. Sallis and I were able to walk side by side after a few minutes of travel, and the huge carved bricks of the dwarven crafted tunnel once again gave way to natural looking stone.

    Something about this section felt especially false, like it was a very realistic set purposefully designed to look like natural stone.  I ran my hand along the wall and checked the readout from my gauntlet, which informed me that this area was made of basalt.

    ¡°Are we still headed down-wind?¡±

    Sallis nodded in reply, focused and sweeping her gaze over every inch of the tunnel. I took the hint and did not speak again while we continued. We traveled for a few minutes longer before the tunnel opened up into a tall and rocky chamber with no obvious exits. Here, the wind was becoming obvious even to me, and I noticed I was sweating despite the breeze. After exploring around for a few minutes, Sallis climbed up one of the walls and discovered a passage that continued on.

    I climbed up after her and we kept the pace up, not exactly jogging nor walking but somewhere in between. A hurried ¡®I have places to be¡¯ cadence to our footfalls that eventually led us to another open chamber where a sulfurous smell tainted the warming air. This cavern was larger than any of the chambers I had seen so far, and I knew it because the large room was already lit with the dull orange glow of a trio of hot volcanic vents that spat heat distortions, bright flickering sparks, and clouds of steam and gas up into a large hole in the ceiling.

    ¡°Yes! We found them!¡± Sallis exclaimed, and we both moved towards the vents in the center of the room.

    The heat intensified as we got closer, and I noticed that one of the billowing vents was built up with a light colored crust around the edge of the steaming pit.

    ¡°Looks like a sulfur buildup?¡± I commented, looking over at Sallis.

    She was grinning and looked like she was already typing up our report into the chat UI when I looked at her, so I turned back to the vent and crept closer, wanting to see how close I could get before the heat became too much for me.

    I made it to within 15 feet of the glowing heat before, despite my footwraps, the basalt of the floor became too hot for me to push forward any farther. I backed up a few feet and crouched down, ideas about how we could use this spinning through my mind when a red flash broke away from the orange of the hottest looking vent and scurried across the floor in my direction.

    Reflexively, I raised my foot and prepared to smash down on it only to be interrupted by Max.

    ¡°No! Nope. Bad idea, back up and hit it with a rock or something.¡±

    I half jumped half fell backwards, propelling myself onto the ground and rolling away to the side at Max¡¯s warning.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Sallis asked, giving me an amused look.

    ¡°There''s something small and fast.¡± I scrambled to my feet and looked around for whatever the thing was, Max¡¯s helpful red outline highlighted a smallish insect that was skittering in my general direction. It was a scorpion with its tail held high, pale and spindly and about the size of a mobile comm.

    ¡°There!¡± I said, pointing at it before starting to look around for something to throw at the bug.

    Sallis finally saw it in the dim light from the vents as I pointed it out. ¡°Got it, good eye. Those things are venomous.¡± She walked over to it and calmly scooped it up, grabbing it by its tail before crushing its head between two fingers.

    I watched her, amazed at how well she had handled it compared to the slugs. ¡°Woah, looks like they¡¯re no problem for you.¡±

    She smiled at me and shrugged before pulling the carcass into her inventory. ¡°Not at all, they¡¯re not all slimy like those cracked squams. Their stinger can''t make it through most dwarven skin either.¡±

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    ¡°Just another reminder because I¡¯ve been so good lately and the robes are starting to come off. She said carapace, not skin. She might look half naked and curvy, with hair and skin and all that, but remember that''s all just an illusion. She''s a huge flightless beetle with terrifying mandibles and tentacles coming off her back.¡±

    I tried to smile back at her, despite Max distracting me by hammering in a point that was already well driven into me. The memory of Kazzads true form looming over me in the fabrication pit was still a sharp memory that my mind often wore away at in the night.

    ¡°Thanks. Hopefully there was just the one of them.¡± I replied, brushing off some small pebbles and dust that clung to my sweaty skin from when I had rolled across the ground.

    ¡°I¡¯ll look around for more of them, it would actually be good to collect a number of them for components. Their venom has some rare chems.¡±

    I nodded and scanned around the large chamber, eyeing the shadowy corners where the dull orange light from the vents did not reach. The blue topographic outlines of Max¡¯s darkvision filled out the rest of the details for me, revealing a wide circular and domed room with two exits across from the hall we had entered through in the south. A message from Kazek pinged into my inbox, and I noticed it had a little dropdown box that opened and listed out our entire Row as recipients.

    Kazek: Sallis¡¯s group has discovered a vent chamber. I¡¯ve marked it on the attached map. The command center will be moving to this location to start setting up for smelting and refinement. Team 1 - abandon your excavation of the collapsed tunnel and regroup at the vent chamber. Team 3 - carve vessels and bring back some of the brine you found. Team 2 - secure the Smolsquam and hold your areas.

    Sallis and I busied ourselves searching and clearing the room while we waited for the others to show up. After determining that there were no ore veins or really anything of interest, other than some small boreholes that the scorpion had taken up residence in, we set to work starting to carve some pits out of the basalt floor.

    Kazek and his command group arrived first, toting armloads of armored plates that

    Lokra and Lurbolg had started to gather in the squam room. They dumped them next to one of the pits and Kazek strode over to us as we worked together to remove a cracked stone block from the floor.

    ¡°Let the others take care of that, I need you two to continue scouting ahead. Pick a tunnel and see where it leads.¡± He ordered, and without waiting for us to reply he walked away to where Bomilik had started to redraw the lines of the map into the floor.

    Sallis frowned and looked over at me, I shrugged in response and rose to my feet. ¡°Suits me fine, I¡¯m useless at breaking stone until I can get some water and fluorine anyways.¡±

    She grumbled something about big bossy britches, yet still rose to her feet alongside me. Following our orders, we both crossed the room and headed into the North-Eastern tunnel at a light jog.

    We spent the next few hours clearing out a series of nothingburger rooms, empty caverns with minor resource deposits and long winding tunnels. The only thing of note was a large underground ravine with a ledge on each side of a 30ft gorge. We dropped a stone down the seemingly bottomless chasm and used the in-game timer to see how long it would take until we heard the rock hit the bottom of the chamber, and it took a full 15 seconds before we heard the stone shatter against the floor.

    We doubled back after that and returned to the main chamber, finding that one of the other groups had arrived at the chamber and emptied out a couple of piles of ore-stones from their inventory near the pits into a growing stockpile. Bomilik had left the map to Kazek and Korfook and moved on to working on the pits. There was a small team carving out channels in the stone between some of the pits and mixing something into the outer layer of stone that caused it to take on a glossy sheen as they polished it with careful practiced motions.

    I took a quick stop next to the pile of harvested squam plates and picked one up, noticing it was cracked in the middle and must have accounted for most of the weight of the slugs. The plate was heavy and dense, I hefted it in my hand for a moment before tossing it back onto the pile. Shaking off the distraction, I turned and rejoined Sallis where she was marking out the newly explored area on the communal map, licking her finger and using it to smear lines of caustic saliva onto the stone.

    Kazek watched as she added the fruits of our scouting to the map, while I looked over the rest of it to see what the other teams had discovered. The team that went directly south had found a series of empty rooms that led to what they reported as an intentionally collapsed tunnel. Along the way they had found a couple of different useful types of stones including one room entirely formed from soapstone, represented by small samples left out on the map.

    Jozoic¡¯s team had taken the other passage that branched off from the bismuth room, which we were now calling the squam room, and discovered a branching maze of intersecting tunnels. At the end of the maze was a submerged corridor that they had gathered two large stone vats of heavily salted water from. One of the vats sat near the doorway, while the other had been emptied into a pit and set to a boil by adding heated stones.

    With most of the Row back in the vent room, we quickly set about putting together a crude kiln, as well as creating more evaporation and mixing pits. Lokralda had come in from squam-tending and was busy smashing the metallic shells into a powder in one of the pits, while Bomilik had moved to mixing a quartz stone slurry in another pit to fill the brick molds that a few of the others were carving from the basalt.

    I was given the task of filling molds and hauling the bricks around for awhile, before I ran out of work and had nothing better to do than stand watch at one of the doorways. While I waited around, I fashioned a makeshift satchel from some of the scraps of cloth from my robe so I could start collecting a stock of materials for my gauntlets. I picked up a chunk of stone that was heavy in fluorides from one of the piles of ore and placed it into the pouch next to a section of squam plate and a magnesium oxide heavy bit of basalt I had picked up while we were exploring.

    I leaned against the wall, staring out into the dimly illuminated tunnel I was assigned to keep watch of, and tried to think of something useful I could be doing. What I really needed was a water vessel for hydrogen and oxygen, but none of the materials we had to work with so far would work well for that. Once we had some pure copper I could use it to beat out sheeting for a crude canteen, but that would be a few hours out according to Lokraldas estimates. Plus, I doubted that creating a canteen for myself would be high on the priority list for the first batches of the stuff.

    My stomach rumbled as I thought the situation over, reminding me that I had skipped lunch and it was nearing dinner time. Maybe I should catch some sleep while I had the downtime? I kicked a small loose stone down the tunnel in frustration and grumbled to myself about the alleged need to hurry, the unclear rules and expectations for the trials, and my inability to help with the ongoing effort as I hurried up and waited.

 Chapter 43 - Voluntold

    What was once an empty room centered on three glowing vents, was now a hive of activity. Two dozen pits had been carved into the basalt floor, some of which had been covered with domed shells of quick-drying cement that the dwarves could create by melting stone with their saliva, others had open or closed channels that connected them in series.

    Two of the vents had been entirely covered with stacked low density quartz fire bricks, one of the first things the dwarves had started crafting almost immediately. One kiln set to roasting ores and the other set to melting down our first batch of copper. There was a short argument between Bomilik and Lokralda over which vents to use for what, and I learned that each of the three had different properties.

    The brightest of them, the one giving off the light that cast flickering shadows around the room, was lined with a scaly bright yellow-hot metal and spewed a blistering mix of helium and argon that Lokralda claimed must be over 2500 imperial degrees. The second was unlined and simply carved through the basalt floor of the cavern, and was venting carbon dioxide at about 800 degrees. While the third sulfur encrusted hell-hole spat out a mix of steam and sulfur oxides at a cooler 650.

    The heat, sweat, and sulfurous smell of the room was starting to become my new normal, after spending a few hours waiting around and helping with whatever small tasks needed an extra set of hands. All of the dwarves had stripped off and ripped up their initiates robes, and we looked like a group of ragged beggars covered in bandages, soot, and sweat as we toiled in the dimly lit chamber.

    I watched from my doorway as Lokralda carefully poured out the first of the purified copper into a ingot mold, which hissed and spit before cracking down the middle and leaking some of the metal onto the ground around it. She cursed and placed the crudely crafted graphite crucible back into the sagging high-temp kiln and shook out the flaming mittens she had crafted from most of her robes to grip it with.

    I walked over, stunned that she had managed to hold the thing for so long. ¡°Can I help pour that?¡± I held up my heat proof gauntlets.

    She frowned up at me from where she crouched, and while her frown turned into scowl, she also nodded. ¡°Yeah, yeah, good idea. I forgot you had those mitts.¡±

    I waited for the metal to heat back up within the crucible while she laid out some more of the hastily made ingot molds, testing their soundness by flicking them with a finger and listening to the noise it made. She pushed one of the molds closer to me and pointed at it.

    ¡°That one first, then move to the others.¡± She continued to test and line up more of the molds while we waited.

    I nodded and edged my way back up to the crucible again, peeking through the intense heat coming off of the kiln for a moment before retreating and shaking my head. I blinked my eyes rapidly and took a breath of the cleaner air that rushed in from the entrances before the heat dragged it up to the huge hole in the ceiling.

    ¡°Not yet, it¡¯s still red.¡± I told her.

    She grunted and looked around aimlessly, then sat down heavily on the floor and started unwinding the layers of cloth from her hands. I cringed when I saw the cracked and burnt state of her fingers.

    ¡°Is it worth messing up your hands like that so early?¡± I asked.

    She gave me a confused look, then shrugged. ¡°It¡¯ll flake off soon enough, we need proper metal as soon as possible, and they¡¯re still functional.¡± She held up her blackened hands and wiggled her fingers for me to see.

    ¡°The translator is mangling this whole conversation. She used her front legs to grab the crucible, not her feelers. The ends are super tough and will grow back next time she molts. She doesn''t even have hands, none of them do.¡±

    Thanks, Max, I thought, grateful for once of his reminders that these things were actually huge bugs. I had been under the impression that the dwarves used the series of long antenna-like feelers that sprung from the back of their head for any sort of fine manipulations like gripping. The thought of them using their thickly carapaced legs as graspers had not occurred to me.

    ¡°Absolutely, sir. Just doing my job, heh.¡±

    Ignoring Max¡¯s reply, I smiled at Lokralda. ¡°Good, I thought you were sacrificing your hands for the team. Does it hurt?¡±

    She shrugged, ¡°A little, but I can handle it.¡±

    Sensing that she wanted to move on from that line of questioning, I smiled again before turning back to the kiln. I darted in and checked the temp of the molten copper in the crucible, and seeing it had heated back up to a blazing yellow puddle, I nodded to Lokralda and grabbed the paint-can sized vessel.

    Reaching into the glowing interior of the kiln instantly burnt off all of the hair on my arms, and while I winced, I still managed to grab the crucible and pull it from the heat without dropping it. Huffing and puffing, I carefully carried it over to the lined up ingot molds and started to pour.

    The first stream of yellow-hot liquid splashed against the floor and started to bubble, so I quickly corrected my aim and increased the angle to pour it faster. This time, the mold did not crack as the glowing metal filled the shape. I managed to fill up another of the molds before the metal cooled back down to orange and I returned it to the heat.

    ¡°Not bad, human.¡± Lokralda said with an approving nod.

    I grinned back at her and pulled my gauntlets off to check over my forearms for burns. ¡°Thanks, Lokra.¡± I said, trying out the nickname I had heard Sallis call her by earlier.

    She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head slightly as she looked back at me, then she sighed. ¡°Okay, I guess you''re alright. Just don¡¯t make it creepy, I¡¯ve heard some stories about you humans.¡±

    I crouched down next to the cooling ingot molds, watching the colors shift as the heat slowly drained away. ¡°What sort of stories?¡±

    She turned away and made an effort to rearrange the rags she wore. ¡°You know, you''re a bunch¡¯a horny bastards. I heard you even have a rule for it, you¡¯ll turn anything into something perverted.¡±

    I turned to her, setting one knee down to the ground and giving her a confused look. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what rule you¡¯re talking about, but that''s not me.¡± I looked back to the cooling ingot before continuing. ¡°I¡¯ve seen what you dwarves look like under your bearded illusions. Trust me, I¡¯m not interested, no matter what the rumors say.¡±

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    ¡°Hah¡± She let out a harsh bark of laughter, drawing my attention back to her. I caught a glimpse of the first true smile I had seen grace her serious features. ¡°Glad to hear we are in agreement.¡±

    We continued on like that for hours, filling fresh crucibles and pouring ingots of mostly copper and tin while we roasted nickel ore over the cooler vent. We talked about ways to increase the heat so we could start to refine iron and steel, as the temperature of the hottest vents was just shy of the needed heat, but could not realistically come up with anything short of finding a vein of coal to create coke with.

    I stopped paying attention to the clock as we worked, and we fell into a comfortable rhythm for our labor. After we had built up a stock of wavy unpolished ingots of copper and tin we tore down the kiln and built a new one out of slightly better materials. Bomilik brought up a crude bowl of concentrated zinc ore he had been working on with a blowpipe and a pit of regurgitated acid near the edge of the room, and we set to work roasting that in preparation to create a number of bronze alloys as our first actual metal.

    Early the next morning, after working through the night and approaching a full 24 hours since the opening ceremony, the whole Row gathered around as Lokra and I picked up either end of a huge crucible. We carefully carried it over to a soapstone mold that Kikkelin had spent the last few hours carving out. Everyone silently watched us as we poured the vat of molten bronze into the beveled hole at the top of the mold, which was evidently called the downgate. The metal hissed, sizzled, and smoked as it disappeared into the split, carved, and rejoined block of stone.

    We stopped as soon as the mold was filled and started spilling out from the second vent opening and flowing over the sides. We waddled back over to the kiln with our much lighter burden and replaced the crucible back into the heat, before stepping away from the furnace and collapsing onto the warm stone floor to recover. I pulled the crude wetted cloth mask from my face and pulled off my gauntlets, flexing my hands.

    I looked down at my wrapped arms and laughed slightly, thinking I must look like some kind of scorched mummy. I had used most of the cloth strips from my robe to wrap my exposed skin as a basic protection from the heat of the fire, and it had slowly blackened and collected small burn holes throughout the night.

    ¡°We can start making some actual tools after this cools now, right?¡± I asked Lokra, who as our chief metallurgist had kept me around as a helper.

    She nodded, declining to speak a reply out loud as she hurriedly scratched some calculations into the stone floor. I was starting to feel a little loopy from sleep deprivation, and continued to run my mouth despite her lack of attention.

    ¡°Handles will be nice. Tongs, hammers, chisels and drills. Oh, and we can hammer out some sheeting too, I need a way to carry water.¡±

    She glanced over at me and gave me a look I couldn¡¯t quite read through the soot on her face. ¡°Sheet from what, copper? We¡¯ve only hit the first milestone, we have a long way to go before¡­¡± She then turned back to her scratching of ratios and stock tallies.

    ¡°Sure, I need a canteen and copper would be perfect. I don¡¯t mind a little green in my canteen.¡± I laughed at my own rhyme.

    Lokralda scoffed and shook her head, replying without looking back at me. ¡°You¡¯re making less and less sense. You should take a rest cycle.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m good. You all are going strong, I can¡¯t tap out yet.¡±

    She looked up at me, and now that I had spent some time working closely with her I recognized the concern in her eyes. ¡°You may be my clan brother, but you are not a dwarv. We all took our sleep cycles during the day of rest, and will not need another until after the trials and celebrations.¡±

    I blinked in surprise at her. ¡°You all are going to stay awake for more than a week? Wow.¡±

    She shrugged and leaned back from her sprawling mess of information across the floor. ¡°That is our way, we sleep for longer than you humans but have a much longer time between. Same with our nutritional intake, we eat even less often than we sleep.¡±

    I scratched at my beard, noticing blackened flakes of soot drift down to the floor as I dislodged it from my face. ¡°That¡¯s pretty wild. Don¡¯t you all like to drink though? I saw the alcohol display at the S-mart in Teurniting and all the tankards in the crowds along the way here. Even Chane seems to love his liquor.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes. We do like our drink, that is something we are more in line with. We drink daily, but only eat roughly once per cycle, and sleep maybe twice a cycle. I¡¯ve heard the older we get, the less sleep we need. It''s rumored that Patriarch Duirtak has not slept since we arrived in Eora.¡±

    I opened my mouth to reply, and then what she had said caught up with my mind. He had not slept in years? There was no way that could be true. I made a mental note to look into that when I had the time.

    ¡°While I can''t confirm the rumor about Duirtak, she is telling you the truth. They don¡¯t get their energy from mitochondria breaking down sugars like you humans. They power themselves through a sort of internal fission reaction, that''s why they trade in uranium and drink so often.¡±

    Blinking at the wild notion of nuclear powered beetles, I must have made a face or something because Lokra pressed the issue.

    ¡°You should take a rest, Nick. Link-out for a few hours, get some food and some sleep and return with a clear mind. It will be a quarter-day before we can crack the mold and start forging for real.¡±

    I looked away, knowing that it would do me some good to get some food and sleep. I could feel the fuzzy weight and slight dissociation of having spent too long pushing too hard. Yet I struggled to admit it, even to myself. I couldn¡¯t just abandon my Row in the middle of the trial we had worked so hard to prepare for.

    Seeing that I was hesitant to agree, Lokra took the choice out of my hands and called out. ¡°Kazek! Come order Nick to Link out and get some rest, he''s gettin¡¯ loopy on me.¡±

    Our dour leader walked over to us from the slowly expanding map he had continued to add to and strategize over throughout the night and loomed over me, just a little taller than myself as I sat. He spent a moment staring at me before finally speaking.

    ¡°She¡¯s right, I am aware of your special needs as a human. Take six hours and make sure you spend most of it sleeping, get a meal and return. That¡¯s an order.¡± Without waiting for a reply, he walked back over to the map and started marking out a new section as the reports from the gathering and scouting teams continued to roll in.

    I rose and started to follow him over to argue that I could hold out for longer, but I tripped over my own feet and face planted onto the warm stone floor after a single step. Groaning and admitting defeat, I realized he was right. I was already lacking sleep going into the trials to begin with, and even with Max¡¯s help by adjusting my body chemistry, I was like to start doing more damage to our cause than good.

    I turned my head as I lay on the floor and looked at Lokra, who was expertly containing her laughter. ¡°Fine, fine. I¡¯ll go. Send me a message if anything crazy happens, would ya?¡±

    She broke into a big awkward smile and nodded. ¡°Of course, go get some sleep. We can hold it down until ya get back.¡±

    I sighed and stood up, moving to the end of the room to start a portal back to the Hub. A blurry few minutes later I was peeling out of the sweaty Link rig back in my apartment and disentangling myself from the waste collection system. I hobbled over to the doorway, not even bothering to grab my exported equipment from the impex along the way.

    I hobbled up the short flight of steps and into the hallway, walking down to the kitchen to root through the refrigerator for anything immediately edible. After a few minutes of eating cold leftovers directly from the fridge I made my way back to my room, munching on a whole grilled piece of chicken left over from the previous day.

    It did not even occur to me that Ali had broken her habit of waiting for me outside of the Link, or that she had not appeared when I entered the kitchen and raided the fridge. I was completely caught off guard when I found her in my room standing at the foot of the bed.

    Her eyes were hard, as if she was about to charge into battle. Her mouth pulled into a strained smile as she greeted me with hesitant words while wearing only a few tiny patches of lacey black lingerie, her body contorted into a pose that made her toned athletic curves stand out obviously.

    ¡°Welcome home, Nick, sir. Please, let me help you relax.¡±

 Chapter 44 - Fired

    ¡°Gah-rah, Ali! What the hell?¡± I exclaimed, causing her to flinch and go from looking unsure yet determined, to something more like embarrassed with a touch of anger.

    ¡°I¡¯m to attend to your every need, sir. It¡¯s my duty.¡± She replied, her cheeks reddening as she switched poses to something less suggestive and more aggressive. Despite myself, I could not help but notice the way her movements made some parts of her move in interesting ways.

    ¡°Aren''t I your boss? That¡¯s not your job, consider it removed from your duties. Damn.¡± I turned away and faced back down the hallway. ¡°When have I ever even hinted at¡­ at¡­ wanting that kind of service?¡± I struggled through my flustered state.

    ¡°If I¡¯m not to your liking, we could arrange for someone else to be brought in, sir.¡±

    I felt a bit of anger working its way into my voice and continued to look away from her. ¡°That¡¯s not it, Ali. That kind of thing is special, not something I just do because I can, but because of a deeper connection. I want love, equal love between partners. Not¡­ to be attended to, that¡¯s just wrong.¡±

    I kept facing the wall, and she remained silent. After a few deep breaths, I finally glanced back in her direction and realized she had shrunken into herself, and was now sitting on the edge of the bed, hugging herself tightly around her stomach with her head tilted forward and eyes lowered to the ground.

    I just watched her for a moment, entirely unsure what to say. By my line of thought, I would expect her to be happy to not have to throw herself at her boss. Yet I recognized the slumped and slightly shaking shoulders of despair, and was shocked when she peeked up at me and I saw shining tears rolling down her cheeks.

    ¡°Hey, woah. Don¡¯t take it personally.¡± I reassured her as I reflexively crossed the room. I raised an awkward hand thinking to pat her on the shoulder, yet hesitated and ended up pulling my hand back when my sleep deprived brain remembered that she was nearly naked and touching her might send the wrong message. Instead, I sat down on the edge of the bed next to her an arms length away.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? You¡¯re a total badass, Ali. Shouldn¡¯t not having to sleep with your boss be a good thing?¡±

    She shook her head, and shivered, taking in a deep breath and seemed to regain control of herself. ¡°I¡¯m not though. I¡¯m a total failure. That¡¯s why I¡¯m here, I failed at everything else and I can¡¯t even do this properly.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true, you handle everything here for me. I haven¡¯t had to worry about anything going wrong or being forgotten at home since you arrived. Plus, you¡¯re the best chef I know, which is saying something. That''s what I need from you, not¡­ this. What made you think I wanted this?¡±

    She still hadn¡¯t looked up from the floor, but seemed to have stopped shedding tears at least. ¡°It was made very clear in my training, this is part of being an attendant, it¡¯s part of my duty. They said that you¡¯re new to your status and might just need some¡­ some convincing.¡±

    I shook my head and looked down at the floor as well, disgusted at her situation. ¡°That sounds like some messed up training.¡±

    We sat like that for a long few seconds before she replied in a small voice. ¡°I¡¯ve trained so much. Sometimes it feels like that¡¯s all I¡¯ve done.¡±

    I glanced over at her for a moment, surprised at the sincere and vulnerable tone of her voice, before looking back down. I was so lost in this conversation, and already stressed out enough knowing that my Row was still in the midst of the trials. Every moment I spent sitting in my cushy apartment dealing with whatever the hell this was and away from them put us all at a disadvantage.

    I wrenched my thoughts back to the present after a moment, and thought over what I knew about her and this very out of character conversation. While mentally picking through it, I zeroed in on something she had said. A felt the spark of anger ignite within me that must have crept back into my voice.

    ¡°You said they talked to you about convincing me, right? Who are ¡®they¡¯?¡±

    She stiffened at my words, then stood from the bed and backed up a few steps towards the door, reverting to her normal stiff pose. The movement combined with her lack of an outfit was distracting, which only made me even angrier.

    I had only just started to become used to her as kind of an obsessive yet highly capable roommate who handled all the chores and would probably have my back if shit hit the fan. I thought of her as a combat veteran and diligent worker, always sharp, always on task. The thought of someone instructing her to dress in the skimpy getup and offering herself up like she had set my blood to a boil. I know, orders are orders, but this was too far.

    ¡°Sir, I¡¯m sorry if I¡¯ve upset you. I¡¯ll make you a meal, and leave you to¡­¡± She noticed the forgotten piece of chicken I had raided from the fridge still in my hand, and I watched as the veneer of professionalism she had picked back up shattered again. ¡°You already fed yourself¡­ I can¡¯t even do that right.¡± She whispered.

    I stood up as well, somehow even angrier. ¡°You still cooked it, but forget that for a moment. Who put you up to this? Katie?¡± I knew my overseer would try something eventually, but had not expected something like this. What even was her plan here?

    ¡°It¡¯s in the manual and training course, sir.¡± She replied, still remaining at attention as tears welled back up in her eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m not angry at you, Ali.¡± I barked, and seeing her flinch in response was like someone had thrown liquid nitrogen in my face, a painful cold stabbed through me. I asked again, my voice now low and icy smooth. ¡°Who told you to greet me like this?¡±

    She winced, seeming to struggle with something before she sighed and finally answered. ¡°Dalls. He¡¯s in charge, I just do the work.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I want you to stay here for now, until I come back, okay?¡±

    Her training must have kicked in with my direct request, and she gave a sharp nod. ¡°Yes sir, Nick, sir.¡±

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    I rose from the bed and walked past her and out of the room. Closing the door on my way out, I felt more like I was watching myself walk down the hallway than driving my own actions. I was absolutely sick of everyone pushing and pulling, guiding and advising me towards what they thought I wanted. I could decide that for myself, and this was one instance where giving ground was not an option I would even consider.

    I had not entered the last door before the Link room in the apartments hallway before then. In my eyes, it was part of Ali and Dalls personal space. Still, the door opened at a touch and I pushed through into a narrow L-shaped hallway that turned to the right about 25 feet ahead. There was a door on each side, the closer was to my right and the further to the left.

    The first door automatically opened when I neared it. I looked inside to see a tiny room with a fold-up bed against one wall, and a small cleared desk with a folding chair neatly tucked under it. There was a single glass covered shadow box filled with small keepsakes, pins, and medals hanging on the wall. The little room didn¡¯t even have a window.

    Not seeing my target, I moved on to the next room. This door did not open immediately as I approached but crumpled easily when I knocked, the locking latch tearing out a section of the doorframe under my heavy kick.

    Inside, Dalls sat at a larger desk with a pair of computer monitors, and we both looked at each other in surprise before the hollow steel door rebounded on its hinges and flapped back against the doorframe. I recovered from my surprise quickly and wordlessly pushed through it on my way into the room.

    He started to speak in his normal smooth tone before I cut him off by grabbing him by the nape of his formal jacket and yanking him up out of the chair.

    ¡°Sir, should you not be- hey! What are-¡±

    I smacked him with my free hand and drug him to the door. ¡°It has come to my attention that you are an asshole, your services are no longer necessary.¡±

    My voice was glacial, and I didn¡¯t give him a chance to speak before I started to drag him forcibly out of the room.

    ¡°Mr. Spenser, you can¡¯t just come in here and assault me like some common wh-¡± He tried to argue, and I interrupted him again by catching him against the damaged door frame as I carried him into the hallway.

    He reeled from the blow and started struggling against my grip on the back of his thick woolen jacket. ¡°I¡¯ll have your title for this, you impecunious filth! I knew you couldn''t be-¡±

    I interrupted his yammering by slamming him against the wall, then pushing him out in front of me as the entrance to the main hallway opened. I kept my grip on him and drove him before me, kicking at his heels and knees to keep him stumbling forward as I all but carried him out through the kitchen.

    ¡°You¡¯ll fall on your face in a week without me! You¡¯re an amateur, you don¡¯t know how the powerful do things!¡± He tried reasoning with me as I pushed him towards the front door. I didn¡¯t bother replying to him, my frozen anger unmoved by his pleading.

    The door to the public hallway outside of the apartment opened before I had crossed half of the room, and even though I was not sure what caused it to open, I seized the opportunity. Placing my booted foot into the center of Dalls lower back, I kicked out with all my might and sent him flying across the room and through the door.

    He skipped across the hard stone floor, rolled once along the way and then crashed into the wall across the hallway. I stormed up to the edge of my property and looked down at him as he lay in a heap, his lip split from my slap and face red with anger and humiliation as he started to scramble back to his feet.

    My hands clenched into fists as I stared down at him for a moment. I felt the forgotten piece of chicken I had been carrying as It partially squished between my fingers. Still overcome with anger, I threw it at him. The smashed bit of meat smacked into his reddened face and fell to pieces, leaving a smear across his cheek.

    ¡°You¡¯re fired, Dalls.¡± I said coldly, before keying the button next to the doorway and closing the door, locking it down before he had a chance to spout more nonsense at me.

    I turned around and took two steps away from the door, only now realizing how hard my heart was beating. I pulled out my mobile comm and sent two text messages. The first to Rin, letting him know he was now in charge of my staff, his first assignment to send Tevin to get rid of Dalls before he made a scene in the hallway. The second was to Katie, filled with seething anger at her recommendation of the man and a barely veiled threat to take up one of the offers I had received to relocate if she tried to place another monumental asshole such as him into my retinue again.

    By the time I finished typing out the messages, my hands had started to shake. I put my comm back in its pocket and moved over to the island countertop and leaned against it, putting my elbows down and cradling my head in my hands for a moment as I tried to calm myself.

    What the fuck had I just done? I refused to feel bad for firing the man, but already was starting to regret how I had done it. Could he press charges against me? Did he have the connections to meaningfully retaliate? How had the door been so easily kicked open?

    I focused on that last question, deciding it was something I could act upon immediately. I worked my way back through the hallways and stopped outside of the room I had forced my way into. I grabbed the bent door and pushed it back and forth, getting a feel for the weight of it, before tapping on it with my knuckles.

    It really was a steel door, albeit hollow and not thickly built. I looked over at the door jam where the latch had ripped free, and saw the ripped out twisted metal plate that held it into the frame. There was a clear footprint where I had kicked it in the center and caused the panel to buckle inwards towards the dent. The whole thing was deformed and wouldn''t properly fit into the frame when I tried to close it.

    My comm chirped in my pocket. I heaved a breath and pulled the device from my pocket with a shaking hand to see the message was a reply from Rin.

    Rin: I do not want that job. Tevin is on it.

    I smiled, but could not quite muster a laugh. Of course he would refuse being placed in charge of people, Rin seemed to dislike people in general. Unfortunately I seemed to need someone who I could actually trust in that position, rather than another plant from Katie. I sent another message back.

    Nick: It¡¯s either you or Tevin

    His next message came back almost instantly.

    Rin: Fine, I will do it until I can find a replacement. We will be there in a moment and you will explain yourself.

    I actually did manage to get a laugh out of that, looking down at my comm in the harshly lit hallway. The only thing Rin would hate more than being in charge, is having Tevin be in charge of him. I was interrupted by a small voice from the end of the hallway that caused me to jump in surprise.

    ¡°What happened, sir?¡± Ali was standing in the doorway to the main hall, still wearing next to nothing with her hands clasped together over her chest, her eyes wide and vulnerable.

    I felt a surge of mixed emotions. A swirl of righteous triumph at having stood up for her, tainted by pity and a caveman-esque desire to take advantage of what I had defended. I tamped them back down, and with them went the anger, it all drained out of me and left me hollow. My shoulders slumped, the overwhelming exhaustion from the past month seizing its chance to drive into the cracks of my fading anger as my wrath and adrenaline faded.

    I gave her a sorry look, then turned back to the door so I did not have to look at her. ¡°I fired Dalls. Please, go put on some clothes. Rin and Tevin will be here shortly.¡±

    ¡°Okay, sir. Right away. I¡¯m¡­ sorry, sir.¡± She disappeared into her tiny spartan room, leaving me alone in the barren room.

 Chapter 45 - Restructuring

    ¡°Hmm. I did not realize you were so naive.¡± Rin gave me a level look from across the table. ¡°Have you kept your head stuck in the sand? I suppose you were nearly living under a rock, or on a rock, isolated on your mountain as you were.¡±

    Rin and Tevin had arrived only moments after my message, and we were all sitting around the table in the main room of my place. They had found the hallway empty by the time they had pulled their shoes on and left their own apartment, Dalls apparently having left on his own accord.

    ¡°Yeah, he never went to academy either, you don¡¯t run into that type in basic Ed.¡± Tevin added, giving Rin a knowing look.

    ¡°The hell does that mean?¡± I asked.

    They shared another look, before Tevin tried to explain. ¡°You never had to rub elbows with the brats of nobility during basic, they have their own schools. So you¡¯ve only known, well¡­ average people, the working class. Especially since the Links came down, which only made everything worse.¡± He coughed and glanced around.

    ¡°I¡¯ve swept the place, we are on a loop. No one should be listening in.¡± Rin added. Tevin relaxed a little, giving him a thankful nod before continuing.

    ¡°Some of them are alright, the nobility, I mean. Most of them¡­ Well, they¡¯re terrible. How do you think someone who has never been told no in their entire life acts? I¡¯ll tell you, it¡¯s not with compassion. I made the mistake of winning a sparring match against one of Richter¡¯s nephew¡¯s second-cousin¡¯s kid or something during my first year at academy. He threw a tantrum and had me jumped by the truancy officers and thrown into some remedial punishment class for a month. If I wasn¡¯t so good at what I do, that probably would have been the end of my career then and there.¡±

    Tevin gave a strained smile at the dredged up memory, and Rin took over. ¡°Common people are just tools to be used, and now that you¡¯re a titled noble you will be expected to act like one. You can push back, but it will create friction between you and your new peers and higher-ups. I am sure Dalls has already slunk off to file a stack of complaints. No one likes it when the new guy rocks the boat.¡±

    I looked between the two of them, feeling a headache start to build. I rubbed my temples with my thumb and forefinger. ¡°This shit is cracked. Is it really that big of a deal?¡±

    ¡°Why, exactly, did you fire him?¡± Rin countered.

    I gave him a look, hesitant to say. I¡¯d been evasive about the details of why I had kicked the man out, and Ali had yet to emerge from her room. I still felt embarrassed and angry enough about the situation to not want to put it into words. Saying it outloud would make it real. Yet, if I could trust anyone it had to be these two.

    ¡°Er, so he¡­ When I came home¡­¡± I struggled to start, looking back and forth between Rin¡¯s serious level eyes and Tevin¡¯s encouraging grin. ¡°Damn, this is uncomfortable. I¡¯ll just be blunt. He had Ali throw herself at me.¡± I couldn¡¯t look at them as I said it.

    Rin let out a snort, and Tevin¡¯s eyebrows went up before he asked. ¡°Wait, wait, wait. Like a sex thing? Hah, I agree with the sentiment, you need to get some, but yeah, I can see that setting a prude like you off.¡±

    I turned back and glared at them. ¡°It¡¯s not something to laugh about! It¡¯s messed up. I was given like a 6 hour window for some food and sleep, and I come home and she¡¯s waiting for me at my bed all dressed up in some sex kitten getup. I don¡¯t have time for this crap.¡±

    Tevins eyes went wide. ¡°Ooh-ho-ho. What was she wearing?¡± He asked with an interested grin.

    ¡°Oh, shut it. Things will be awkward enough without you drooling over her.¡± I gave an exasperated sigh. ¡°You can keep finding your women elsewhere, it¡¯s not like you have any trouble with it.¡±

    Tevin made a show of frowning but his eyes still crinkled with amusement at the corners. ¡°That¡¯s not fair, man. Or do you just wanna keep her all to yourself?¡±

    I noticed a rare smile flash across Rin¡¯s face, and I glared at Tevin. ¡°Seriously, I get the feeling she¡¯s been through enough, and I¡¯m dealing with enough bullshit without you stirring up drama. She¡¯s off limits, that''s an order.¡±

    My mobile chimed with another message, probably a reply from Katie, but I ignored it for now.

    ¡°Fine, fine.¡± Tevin relented before changing the subject. ¡°How are the trials going?¡±

    I shrugged, still rubbing at the headache building behind my forehead. ¡°We¡¯re making progress, but I don¡¯t feel all that useful, to be honest. Everyone is treating it like some huge scary and dangerous time crunch situation, but it''s been pretty tame so far.¡± I sighed, then thought about the situation with the squams and somehow cracked a smile over it.

    ¡°It was funny, actually. We found a room filled with these huge slug things. They¡¯re supposed to be harmless but one of them latched on to Sallis, the aspiring pilot dwarv I was telling you about, and she absolutely lost it.¡± I said, unable to bring any of the humor into my retelling of the story.

    When I looked back up to gauge their reactions to the story, I noticed they were both looking across the room. I turned my head in the same direction and saw Ali standing at the end of the hallway, back to wearing her normal uniform but still looking a little red around the eyes.

    A long moment of silence hung over us and everyone''s attention turned to me. Not really knowing what else to say, I blurted out what was on my mind. ¡°You okay, Ali?¡±

    She looked a bit like a deer in the headlights at my question, but quickly recovered. ¡°Yes, sir. Is there anything I can do?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°No, not really. I¡¯m good, but¡­ actually. Come sit with us, we need to sort some things out.¡± I pushed one of the nearby chairs out with my foot.

    Her face hardened and she nodded, carefully stepping across the room and sitting down stiffly. She perched on the edge of the seat and stared at me, ramrod straight and well clear of the padded backrest of the solid wooden chair.

    Everyone was looking at me, waiting for me to speak. I gathered my thoughts for a moment before laying things out, too tired to be anything but blunt.

    ¡°Ali, I appreciate your service and all that you do for me, but I¡¯m still getting used to being waited on. This is all still so foreign to me. I¡¯m not some high-born aristocrat who expects to be pampered and obeyed without question, and I don¡¯t think I want to ever get used to that sort of treatment.¡± I mostly held Ali¡¯s gaze as I spoke, with an occasional glance to the other two seated at the table as I spoke.

    I shifted uncomfortably and continued. ¡°I don¡¯t consider you some servant, any of you. I know I have to give the orders, but what I need more are friends I can trust, and I think I can trust the three of you. So, with that in mind, I need us all to pull together and sort out something that works. I don¡¯t know what that looks like, so I¡¯m going to rely on you three to find a solution.¡± I caught Rin''s eyes for the next part. ¡°If Attendants have such ridiculous expectations, I don¡¯t want an attendant.¡±

    Ali jumped in her seat at my words and broke in, interrupting me before I could go on. ¡°Sir, please don¡¯t fire me too.¡±

    I waved down her objection and shook my head. ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean, I like you, I respect you. I enjoy having you around because you¡¯re a huge help and have been very reliable, but we apparently need to change your, umm¡­ responsibilities. I don¡¯t want any confusion like this to come up again if we start taking on more people and things get even more complicated. If we need to change your job title to something else to change your duties, then that''s the way we¡¯ll do it. ¡±

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    I looked to Rin, who I had placed in charge of this kind of thing in Dalls absence. He met my eyes for a split second and slumped in response, looking down and lazily scrolling his tablet as he spoke. ¡°We can demote her to Maid, but it comes with less than half of the pay scale. There are no real lateral moves for Attendants, they are a unique assignment. She would qualify as a Chef, but that''s considered a professional position and will require some licensing and to pay out a significant raise. Or you could move her over to the security team, which would be easier and cost less. If you go that route it would be wise to hire on new staff to take care of your place, and you would have to deal with whatever new situations that brings up. If any of the other nobility find out you don''t keep any house staff it will effect your standing.¡±

    Everyone looked back to me after Rin finished with his informative drone. I thought it over for a beat, then looked to Ali. ¡°Well? What would you want?¡±

    She blinked at my question, obviously not expecting to get to weigh in on it herself. When she did not initially answer, I made a rolling gesture with my hand and tried to coax it out of her.

    ¡°This isn''t a test or anything like that. I really want to know. What would your top pick be?¡±

    She looked away and her lips tightened into a small frown. She answered after a few seconds, her voice regaining some of her normal confidence.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind being a full Chef, there is honor in that¡­ but, I am not sure I want to give up my combat and weapons license. Attendants have a tertiary bodyguard role, it¡¯s the only reason I chose it.¡±

    I turned back to Rin, who sighed and answered. ¡°There are some legal consequences and forms to fill out, but if you trust her to have the power to sign for things in your name, the Personal Assistant role checks all of the boxes.¡± He waved his hand dismissively at me. ¡°She could still do the cooking, cleaning, and shopping for you as well as maintain her licenses. It would open the door to some other licenses too, if there is the desire for it.¡±

    ¡°Could I trust you with that, Ali?¡± I asked her and held eye contact to see her reaction. I thought I could trust her, and maybe I was making a mistake with that trust, but in my eyes the only way to see if someone was trustworthy was by extending it to them first. So far, I had seen nothing but diligent professionalism from her. Even her attempt at seducing me seemed to be something only done out of a sense of duty.

    If she could pursue what she wanted down such a path and remain as stalwart as she had, I trusted her to do right by me if I gave her the chance.

    She gave me a wary look, as if she did not quite believe me. ¡°Is this a serious offer, sir?¡±

    ¡°It is if you¡¯ll drop the sir and just call me Nick from time to time.¡± I gave her a smile to show I was partially joking.

    The corners of her mouth twitched, showing a trace of a smile in return. She nodded and looked me in the eye as she said, ¡°If you will trust me, I will not break that trust, Nick.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± My smile turned into a grin, ¡°then it''s a done deal. Rin, get the forms figured out and I¡¯ll sign them when I can. I seriously need to get some sleep and get back into the fray, so I¡¯ma let all¡¯a ya¡¯ll handle this.¡±

    Rin let out another snort of laughter at my words, poking a button on his tablet that caused my comm to chime again in response. ¡°There you go, mighty leader. Approve that and get to bed, you need all of the rest you can get. Talking like that, it will take some seriously solid results if you want to keep your precarious new status.¡±

    He stood up and started to leave, heading towards the nearby front door. ¡°I¡¯m hoping you do, by the way. You might be a dumbass sometimes, but you are a good friend. Let us know if you need anything else. Come on, Tevin.¡± He added as he walked out.

    Tevin looked after him for a second, then back to me. He looked like he wanted to stay, but still rose from his seat and followed after Rin.

    ¡°He¡¯s right, you¡¯re a good dude. We got your back, you go get out there and make humanity look good.¡± He offered a smile before closing the door on his way out.

    I remained seated and pulled my comm out, seeing that one of the messages was indeed from Katie, and the other was a package of forms organized and ready to authorize with a single button. Rin might dislike his new bonus job as group organizer, but he was already damn good at it.

    I checked the necessary boxes and let my comm scan both my thumb print and my eye to authenticate that it was actually me, and it automatically sent all of the documents off to wherever they needed to go. I checked the time and saw that nearly an hour of my limited rest time had already passed. I opened Katies message and started to read her response, when I was interrupted by Ali.

    ¡°This is real.¡± She whispered, still sitting nearly motionless on the edge of the chair.

    I looked up from my tiny screen and saw that she had her own small mobile comm out, and she was looking down at it with awe. One of the forms I had just approved seemed like it had been sent to her directly.

    ¡°Is that your new contract?¡± I asked.

    She met my eyes and nodded, showing a mix of surprise and happiness. ¡°Yes, I will read it over, of course, but it looks right so far, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.¡± Her lips cracked into a real smile, which was a whole new look for her.

    I smiled back, ¡°Absolutely, you¡¯ve been a lot of help. We can talk about other licenses you might be interested in eventually too, but that will have to wait until after the trials.¡± I rubbed the bridge of my nose for a moment, wishing the headache would go away, then stood from my seat.

    ¡°I¡¯ll trust you to hold the fort down, because I really need to get some sleep.¡± I glanced at my comm and checked the time again.

    She rose as well and gave a small bow. ¡°Of course, I will make sure you are not disturbed while you rest. Sleep well, Nick.¡± She gave me another smile.

    I couldn¡¯t help but smile in return, happy she had actually dropped the sir for once. If having to pay her the higher salary out of my pocket meant she would drop the constant honorifics and not have to offer herself up as a plaything, I was more than happy to bear that price.

    I headed back to my room, pulling my mobile comm back out along the way and stopping to read Katie¡¯s message in private once the door closed behind me.

    Sender: CLE Admin K.S.R. - Subject: Re:Where the hell did you find this asshole?

    My apologies, Ambassador Spenser. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I would visit you personally, but there is a situation that has required my full attention. Despite that, I¡¯ve pulled Dalls from your staff and relocated him, you won¡¯t have to worry about him again. We can schedule a meeting to sort out a better staffing arrangement if you would like, or you can take charge and seek your own. I need you to be happy and comfortable so you can do the best work possible. Let me know what the budget looks like and I can see if I can shake out a few more credits from the Director.

    Council Liaison Executive

    - Katie S. Rodergious

    I sighed and closed the message, glad she had not taken my heat of the moment message personally. I crossed the room and took a quick shower to rinse off the dried sweat from my extended run in the Link, then headed to bed. As I was starting to drift off to sleep, I realized Max had been far too quiet since I got back, so I probed around in my mind for him.

    ¡°What¡¯s up, boss?¡± his voice answered in my head.

    I thought back to him, ¡®You¡¯ve been quiet, and I wanted to ask something, I just forgot what it was¡¯. I went over my chaotic thoughts, my worn out mind struggling to put my finger on the thought I¡¯d had earlier.

    ¡°Oh, yeah. I already told you, I unlocked some stuff a while back. You¡¯ve been getting stronger and stronger for a month now, and your bones have nearly finished fixing themselves too.¡±

    My eyes snapped open in the darkness of my room, he had apparently noticed and not forgotten what had been on my mind, which made sense after a moment''s thought. I¡¯d wanted to know how I had kicked open that steel door so easily. ¡®What do you mean my bones are nearly fixed up?¡¯

    ¡°Well you can¡¯t just be stronger and not end up injuring yourself, and by extension, me. Your muscles would have started tearing tendons or breaking some of your own bones without some intervention. I could have sworn we already went over this.¡±

    ¡®So I can just kick in steel doors now? How strong am I going to get? It will be tough to hide that kind of thing if you¡¯re going to make me into some super-human thing.¡¯

    ¡°I don''t know, you¡¯ll figure it out. It¡¯s not like you really go anywhere anyways, and you¡¯ll be thanking me when shit hits the fan.¡±

    I huffed and closed my eyes again, letting my mind wander instead of giving him another inner monolog reply. I couldn¡¯t let myself worry over that just yet, I had to get some sleep so I could return to the trial. There would be plenty of time to fret over the details later.

 Chapter 46 - Breaking Through

    After a hasty and quiet breakfast, plus another promise to Ali that we would go over the details of her new job title when I had the time. I took a short walk through the Hub and stepped through the portal and back into the depths of the Underhome.

    The room was now brightly lit by a number of tall and skinny lamps that were aimed at the dark stone walls. The incandescent quicklime elements burned with such intensity that the spotlights they cast reflected off the dark walls was enough to light up the whole space.

    Most of the dwarves of my Row looked to be elsewhere, leaving only a handful toiling in the vent room. They filled the cavern with the ringing song of hammer and anvil. Lurbolg was busy swinging a long sledgehammer away at a piece of scaly metal sheeting that Lokralda was holding with a set of tongs and beating with a smaller hammer in a steady rhythm.

    I started to walk up to them as they worked, but Kazek spotted and waved me over from where he stood by the greatly expanded map.

    ¡°Kaninak, welcome back.¡± He greeted me, before turning back to the map. ¡°I want you to join team one, digging out the collapsed tunnel.¡±

    I examined the drawing on the floor, scattered with lumps of stone and ore samples. I took a second to look over the whole thing before I followed where he was pointing. The most obvious thing was that the twisting tunnels and caves looked to be entirely mapped out, with the collapsed tunnel being the only feature still not fully outlined.

    ¡°Alright, Kazek.¡± I agreed, still gazing at the map.

    ¡°Take the tools the smithing team has finished with you, too.¡± He rubbed at the scruff that was on the verge of becoming a full beard on his chin as he continued to study the map.

    I nodded. ¡°Okay, boss. I¡¯m on it.¡± I replied as I turned away and strode across to the increasingly less crude workshop centered around the heat spewing vents in the center of the room.

    Lokra eyed me as I approached, but did not pause her hammering of the sheeting they were working on. Ceasing the steady beating only after it cooled enough to be thrown back into the kiln. Given a moment to rest, Lurbolg set the head of his hammer onto the ground and leaned heavily against it to catch his breath as Lokra turned to me.

    ¡°I hope some rest found you well. We¡¯ve made good progress.¡± She said.

    I avoided answering the question and looked behind her skeptically, wondering what she was working on. ¡°What are you beating out?¡±

    ¡°Iron! We got an electrolysis chamber running for the fire gasses. We plan to have steel within the day.¡± She attempted a smile as she grabbed something from a makeshift stone table and tossed it to me.

    I caught the object, which turned out to be a conical canteen made from copper. The thing was unpolished and heavy in my hand, a little smaller than my forearm and I could feel the weight shift as the contents sloshed within.

    ¡°Epic, thanks. Is this H2O?¡± I asked, unscrewing the lid from the top and sniffing.

    ¡°Yep, steamed and collected. I remember hearing you grumbling about it yesterday.¡± Lokra answered as she flipped over a number of other bits of metal that rested in the heat, looking to see if any had heated enough to continue to work on.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± I shoved the canteen into my satchel and pulled on the strap so it would sit comfortably. ¡°I heard there''s a load of tools for team 1? Kazek told me to take them with me.¡±

    Lurbolg answered me this time, waving at a pile of bronze-headed hammers, pry bars, spikes, and a pair of heavy-built pulleys. ¡°That¡¯s it for now, tell em¡¯ we¡¯ll be able to make cable to go with the pulleys soon. There''s a lamp for you there too; full turn of the valve then hit it with the sparker until it starts. Should have a couple of hours worth of fuel.¡±

    Lokra spun back around with a yellow hot iron plate held in her set of misshapen tongs and interrupted us by placing it on the already scarred bronze anvil and starting to pound it with her hammer.

    ¡°Back to it, good luck out there, Nick.¡± Lurbolg gave me one of his grins and hefted the sledgehammer once more.

    I nodded to him and watched them take a few hammer strokes, seeing how Lokra guided the work with the blows from her smaller hamer. Moving the iron plate around with the tongs and smashing down in a fast and steady turbo-waltz that had Lurbolg bring his heavy sledge down on every third beat.

    Turning to the table and the pile of tools, the first thing I grabbed was the small unlit lamp. It looked like something straight out of history, a small bronze or maybe brass tank screwed into the bottom of a hood assembly. It had a clip on the back of it, and a twist valve set to the side of a rounded focusing reflector that guarded a bright white cylinder in front of the little gas spout in the center of the reflector. A small springy squeeze-sparker dangled from a short length of torn robe from the assembly.

    I clipped the lamp onto a bunched up section of cloth-strips that I had wrapped across my chest, then bundled the tools together with some more torn cloth strips before heaving the package onto my shoulder and starting for the door. I left one tool outside of the bundle and carried it in my free hand, a 3 kilo bronze headed hammer with a shiny plastic-y feeling handle.

    Once I was into the dark tunnel just outside of the vent room, I sparked the lamp to life. I turned the valve and squeezed the sparker near it a few times, sending an avalanche of bright sparks to rain down in front of the softly hissing gas nozzle. A tiny flame flared to life on the third spark and started to heat up the quicklime element to a blinding white. The lamp cast a bright beam that lit the whole tunnel before me as I started to jog down it, using my mini-map to trace the remembered path to where Kazek had pointed on his carved floor plan.

    It took me about 45 minutes to reach the mining team, mostly because I took a couple of detours to fill out my map and stopped to gather some interesting stones for their chemical ingredients to fill out my stock. By the time I reached the excavation site, I had enough chems to create my stone-cutting acids and neutralizers. I was still missing the key ingredients to create the glow-blobs, and some of the more exotic incendiary mixes I had thought to use for self defense in the past, but was feeling much more confident in my ability to actually help out the group effort as I arrived.

    The sound of grinding stone and labored breathing was my first hint that I was getting close. I entered a midsized room and found Jozoic and Sallis as they worked together to push a mini-fridge sized boulder out from the next passage''s entrance.

    Without a thought, I set my bundle of tools down, unclipped the lamp and set it down next to them, and jumped in to add my own strength to the effort. Together, we slid the heavy rock to the side of the room against a growing pile of other similar stones.

    Once the work was done, I pointed at the tools as we caught our breath. ¡°I brought some equipment.¡±

    They both looked over and nodded, Sallis grunted in response as Bomilik stepped over and unbound the bundle. He picked up a couple of the hammers and the two long pry-bars and left the rest in a heap on the ground.

    ¡°Good, these will speed us up a little. Did they say anything about rope to go with the pulleys? That¡¯s what we really need. It takes two or three of us to move these rocks out of the way, we need a force multiplier.¡±

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    I nodded, ¡°They said they are working on getting cable made, as well as steel. Lokra said it would be on the way later today.¡±

    Bomilik frowned, then nodded and headed back into the dim tunnel. ¡°Nothing to do about it, we carry on.¡±

    I glanced at Sallis, who rolled her eyes in response, before we both followed him into the tunnel.

    The dark hole we were calling the collapsed tunnel was a 15 foot wide circular passage with a fairly steep downward angle. We found Korfook and another of the dwarves I did not know by name partway down as they worked to move the next huge boulder out of the work area. The rounded floor of the cave made moving the stones even more difficult, as the sides of each block would dig into the softer stone of the floor, and catch in places on the rough walls, forcing them to roll the blocky rock over and over up the sloping corridor.

    Sallis joined Korfooks team and waved me on ahead. ¡°We can handle this, you should be at the front. Ya¡¯ might be able to squeeze through before any of the rest of us.¡±

    I laughed. ¡°Hah, yeah, because I¡¯m so petite compared to you all.¡± I swung my arms out to either side in a joking gesture while I walked backwards away from them, before picking up my lamp and skirting past them back down the tunnel.

    While I was fairly tall and not small by any human metric, I was not nearly as broad as any of the dwarves. Even with their Masks, the smallest of them were nearly four feet wide at the shoulders. Accepting that I would have to be the tunnel rat, and happy enough to skip out on the dull labor of rolling rocks up a hill, I continued on for about a hundred feet before finding Bomilik and the rest of the group as they picked from the various tools I had brought.

    Scanning over the tangle of huge rocks that choked the wide passage off, I walked up to the group and looked at each of the dwarves.

    ¡°So, where do you want me?¡± I asked, mostly directing the question to Bomilik.

    Bo hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the pile, ¡°See if you can squeeze through, we¡¯ll hold off on moving anything if you can get in somewhere.¡±

    I nodded my assent and picked my way around the group, having to duck around the edge of the round tunnel to get past the group.

    The tangle of large angular boulders was interesting, unlike any rock pile I had seen outside of the huge concrete wave breaking blocks you sometimes found along the oceans coast. The mess was entirely made up of the huge blocks, with no smaller or medium sized stones to fill in the dark gaps. I climbed up the sloping side of the jumble and peeked into a few of the cracks, using the lamp in my hand to look deeper into the pile to check for any voids I might be able to slip through.

    Eventually, after climbing around on the pile for a few moments, I found a gap near the bottom of the pile that looked like I could fit through, and had a promising open space behind it that might lead deeper. I turned to warn the group I was going to try to make my way through, and found them all standing a few feet back and watching me.

    ¡°I think I can get in through here, I¡¯ll see if it leads any deeper.¡±

    Bomilik grunted and shrugged, giving me the impression that he did not think it likely but to go ahead anyway.

    Without letting myself think about what I was doing, I crawled into the gap between the three stones. I had to angle my shoulders through one at a time, but was able to pull myself forward after I set my little lamp down on the floor of the narrow passage. After worming my torso through, I moved my lamp forward a little more and had to slide myself under the first large stone by pushing with my toes and using my elbows to propel myself through.

    Behind the first stone was a slightly larger opening that allowed me to crane my head around and get a good look at the interior of the tangle of blocks. I scanned around and saw that there was another gap, this one leading up and at an angle.

    Refusing to stop and think over all of the risks, I pushed on and burrowed my way through that gap only to be met with a sharp bend. I worked my way as deeply as I could into the crevice, trying to get a view of what was ahead but was unable to get far enough into the gap to see around the corner.

    Defeated, I crawled backwards back into the opening I had come from and managed to turn around before working my way back out from the pile of stone to rejoin the waiting dwarves. I turned off my lamp to conserve the fuel and waited a moment for my eyes to readjust to the dim glow-goo lights spat around the work area.

    I shook my head. ¡°No luck, it¡¯s at least another 15 feet of this too.¡±

    With a collective huff, the dwarves hefted their tools and started pulling and prying at the large boulders once more. It was not a terribly complex process, but was hard work nonetheless. Pry at the stones until you could get one to move, then wiggle it out of place and carefully flop it down the slope to the hauling teams at the base.

    I found myself sent up to the top of the slope with Jozoic, him being the strongest of the dwarves and myself having the longest legs meant that I had the easiest time picking through the treacherous angles underfoot. He would rock the stones loose and provide the strength to control their descent, while I scrambled around and called out which way we should roll them and helped hold the stones back where I could.

    ¡°This¡¯ll take ages. There better be something good on the other side. We should be making armor and weapons, I¡¯m sure the other Rows will be finished with that by now.¡± complained Jozoic.

    ¡°Why do we need weapons anyways? There wasn''t anything all that dangerous down here.¡± I asked while we both worked to control the fall of one of the large boulders.

    The stone shifted and settled into place most of the way down, and we started to rock it back and forth to build enough momentum to get it to roll down the slope one last time to the bottom.

    Jozoic eyed me over the top of the boulder, giving me a hard to read look. ¡°This is a competition, and while we are to work as a Row, there are no rules that we are to act as Clan during the trials.¡± He turned his head to look at where we were aiming to land the rock and we both grunted and pushed one last time, getting the boulder to rock out of its home and roll down to the marred floor.

    Jozoic frowned down at the boulder and spat off to the side. ¡°We cannot look weak in the face of the other Houses. I would not put it past the clippers of House Bassaldourn to seek to raid any they discovered to be defenseless.¡±

    I looked at him, only partially surprised at the disdain in his voice. ¡°Are they really that bad? They¡¯re still our brothers at the end of the cycle.¡± I replied.

    He scoffed and we started to pick our way back up the pile, letting the other dwarves take over the process of clearing the block away from the bottom of the pile and dragging it away.

    ¡°Amongst any group, there are always frictions, big and small. We are honor bound together, but our Houses have our differences, big and small.¡± He nodded, like that explained everything.

    I sighed, and decided to drop the question. I had not really seen much interaction between the great Houses yet, having been isolated to the Galidurn slice of the mountain, but the few times I had ventured into the public areas I had seen at least one fist fight and all sorts of chaos in the mix of dwarves that swarmed the streets.

    I lost myself in that thought for a moment. I had been isolated for pretty much my entire career in the Links; moving from the safety of the Hub, to the capital city of my faction, then Rosso¡¯s island, and now I was safely tucked away under the mountain with the dwarves. I¡¯d yet to step foot outside of an area of relative order and control the whole time I had been Linked up, and felt a little anxious about what would happen when I finished my trials and had the opportunity to start to venture into the wilds.

    I still did not quite know what my plan was for after the trials. Presumably I would have the chance to try out for a few different specialties, but I still had not considered which I would choose. Hell, the whole dusted point of my joining with the dwarves was still quietly sitting on the back-burner. I¡¯d talked Kazek into giving me two basic lessons in gem-cutting, if you could call them that. Otherwise I had found my progress stymied as I worked my way through the dwarves intensive initiation process.

    I should really give it some more thought beyond ¡°cut gems - ??? - profit¡±. Unfortunately I just never seemed to have the time, and was constantly reacting to the circumstances I''d thrown myself into, trusting the crazed AI invader installed somewhere in my body to keep the bigger picture in mind.

    After a couple of hours of moving rocks and introspection, as well as a number of failed attempts to crawl through the pile of blocks, we finally unearthed a gap near the top of the slope that gave me a glimpse into a deep dark void on the far side of the tangle. I held my lamp up and shined it through the gab, and noticed the beam of light stood out in a damp mildewy haze that hung in the air.

    I called back from where I lay, wedged into the pile of stones after having crawled nearly 20 feet through cracks I could barely fit though. ¡°We made it! I see the other side.¡±

    I heard a muffled celebratory chorus of ¡°Rock and stone!¡± from behind me, before Bomilik¡¯s clear voice rang through the crevice I had followed. ¡°Push forward! Scout the area while we clear the way. Stay wary!¡±

    ¡°Got it, it looks hazy!¡± I shouted back through the narrow channel, before clawing my way out of the pile of rocks on the far side and sweeping my lamp across the new section of tunnel.

 Chapter 47 - Shut up and Dance

    The far side of the blocked tunnel was, unsurprisingly, more tunnel. Even if it sort of looked like it might be a larger cavern from my cramped viewpoint within the pile of blocks. There was a faint haze in the air that smelled of damp and mold that swirled around in the bright beam of my lamp, indicating there was a slight airflow coming from somewhere.

    ¡°What a way to start the day.¡± Max broke in, seizing the opportunity to talk to me while I was alone. ¡°Just so you know, you¡¯re not the first one into this area. Two other Row¡¯s have made it into here already and are skirmishing up ahead.¡±

    I narrowed my eyes in frustration as I crept forward through the slight fog, lowering my lamp to point at the floor. I whispered back at him, my voice barely audible in the muffled tunnel. ¡°That would have been nice to know a few hours ago, Max.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want you to give it away with your stupid human reactions. You¡¯re scowling and complaining already, which are translated pretty clearly as pheromones to the bugs. Do you think you could have kept that emotive face of yours in check if I had told you earlier?¡±

    I frowned, not wanting to admit he might have been right, and took another few cautious steps. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll never know.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. You keep telling yourself that. I knew, and I was right. You just have to take my word for it.¡±

    Despite Max mostly existing as a voice in my head, I got the sense of him walking away from me and ending the conversation, somehow. I grumbled to myself and continued to cautiously advance into the misty tunnel as it started to level out and widen.

    After a harrowing moment of losing track of both sides of the cave, I decided to stick to one side and keep one of the walls in sight. Getting lost in the stinky fog and wandering into one of the groups I¡¯d been warned were already down here was near the bottom of the list of things I wanted to happen.

    As I slowly pushed forward, I thought I heard some muffled movement, and maybe something like a harsh whisper coming through the fog. Weighing my options, I decided to extinguish my lamp and navigate by the darkvision Max was still providing me. To keep things plausible to anyone who might be watching, I trailed my fingers along the rough stone wall as I kept moving forward, focusing on the occasional muffled noises ahead of me in the dark.

    It felt like half an hour, but after glancing at the clock in my HUD I had only been in the foggy tunnel for 10 minutes or so when I saw a sparking flash of light ahead of me. Dwarves cried out wordlessly, seemingly from all around me in the dark fog, and the sound of clashing metal and splashing footsteps started to bounce around the cave.

    Multi-colored lights appeared, lighting up small sections of foggy cavern only enough to see fuzzy silhouettes as short squat bodies flung themselves at each other. I crouched down, watching the fights from a distance and hoping to not be noticed.

    I opened my HUD and typed out a message to Bo, warning him of what I had discovered now that I had a valid reason to know that the room was already being fought over. He sent back a reply after only a few seconds.

    Bomilik: Proceed with caution. Advance if you see an opportunity, try not to take large risks

    I read the message, both appreciating the freedom his orders allowed for and resenting the lack of a clear directive. Such is the nature of orders, often making things both more difficult and simpler at the same time. Torn on if I should push forward while the fighting was ongoing and distracting the rival teams, or if it was better to wait and see how things played out, my fraying nerves pushed me towards action.

    Leaving the comfort of the wall I had been following, I stayed low and ventured out into the fog. Marking my direction on my minimap and choosing a heading that I could easily retrace if I had to run for it, I moved towards the dim figures sporadically fighting ahead of me.

    The room must have been quite large, as most of the lights seemed to be nearly a hundred feet distant, but the haze made it difficult to gauge just how far they were and caused the sound in the room to feel both near and far at the same time. Some clashes seeming to come from only a few feet away, while other shouts seemed to sweep in as if borne on the wind.

    After a few dozen paces towards the center of the room, I noticed a change in texture and temperature beneath my feet. I felt a cold damp soak into my crude footwraps, and stooped low to wave the fog away from my feet to try to get a look.

    It was nearly impossible to make any details out with the topographic darkvision Max was providing, so I reached down and touched the floor. The ground felt squishy, but was difficult to judge through the thick armor of my gauntlets.

    Cautiously, I glanced around before pulling off one of my gauntlets and reaching down again. The floor felt weird; both squishy and lumpy, cold and wet, like watery mud mixed with rubbery lumps. I clamped down on the ¡®eww, gross¡¯ reaction that the feeling evoked within me and shook my hand as I pulled away, sending specks of whatever it was off into the darkness.

    I pulled my gauntlet back on and used the scanning function to get a general idea of the chemical makeup of whatever it was.

    It came back with a mixed readout, lots of organics as well as a large percentage of carbon and hydrocarbons. I studied the information box for a moment, confused as to what it meant, then copy-pasted it into my set of logs and closed my HUD.

    The clashing continued, and I saw more lights start to pop up and be flung through the air to illuminate the room, one of which landed only a few paces ahead of me and splattered some of the glowing goo and whatever goopy mix was underfoot onto my face.

    I flinched away as the cold specs splashed against me, and decided to not risk pushing forward into the obviously hostile rivals as they fought against each other. I scooped up a handful of the floor''s gross coating and carefully slunk back into the dark outskirts of the cavern, retracing my steps back to the mound of blocks I had crawled through.

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    The sounds of fighting were much more muffled as I waited by the pile of stones. The first thing I did was message Bomilik again, telling him what I had discovered and sending him a copy of the chemical readout I had taken. He had warned me to not crawl back through the crack, and that they expected to be breaking through soon. They had given up transporting the stones entirely out of the tunnel and instead were stacking them into defensive barriers within the corridor. They were moving much more quickly and without as much caution.

    After what felt like an epoch of huddling in the dark, a whole twenty minutes, I started to hear the sounds of scraping tools and rolling stones on the far side of the pile of blocks. I sent Bo another message warning him that I could hear him on this side, and that the fighting seemed to be dying down in the far cavern. I also pestered him for his interpretation of what the readout of my gauntlets meant after he had failed to react to my earlier message.

    Bomilik: We are nearly through. The readout you sent looks like a mix of fungus and crude oil, a strange addition to find this deep

    I read his message, equally confused. As far as I knew, the Zk¡¯aek did not use oil nearly as much as we humans had. It was much more rare in the natural habitat of their homeworld when compared with Eora, but there had to be something important enough to fight over in the cavern if the other Rows were risking being knocked out of the Trials for it.

    ¡°Want a hint?¡± Max teased, this time appearing in the darkness in his stick-man form. He was laying back on some long fold-up chair like you would find at a beach somewhere on a postcard, wearing a brightly colored and unbuttoned floral print shirt, and holding a bright pink drink with a little paper umbrella.

    I scowled at him, to which he replied by turning his whole head into a laughing emoji for a moment. ¡°Of course I want to know, quit messing around Max. Isn''t this supposed to be important to our cause?¡± I hissed, my voice barely audible.

    He took a sip from the drink and relaxed back into his chair, his face turning back to its normal impassive flat-mouthed line art. ¡°Eh, sort of. It¡¯s so boring though, I can barely stand it. You¡¯re lucky you actually found a good way to keep me entertained elsewhere, I¡¯m having tons of fun trolling some of the other monkeys. It¡¯s hilarious how easy it is to piss some of them off, they get all red faced and gnash their teeth, sometimes they even break some of their own stuff. It nourishes whatever passes as my soul.¡±

    I briefly worried over what he was getting up to with his trolling, but was too focused on the moment to pursue the distraction. ¡°What¡¯s this hint?¡± I questioned.

    The corner of his flat line of a mouth pulled up slightly as he read my thoughts. He nodded and took another sip of his prop drink before replying. ¡°Natural gas, first of all. Plus, when they built this whole maze they made sure this room was filled with all sorts of useful and dense deposits. It¡¯s also the only place in the whole arena with sportrells. This room is intentional conflict bait.¡±

    I heard a stone fall, and whipped my head around quick enough to see the tangled pile I was waiting near shift slightly as my Row continued to work their way through the blockage. I turned back to Max and tried to get some more information out of him.

    ¡°Sportrells? And can you see how the fighting is going?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re like big mushroom trees. The dwarves don¡¯t really use them much here because they can gather lumber to use for the same purposes, but they¡¯re like a traditional thing for them. The fighting has settled back down, Rocksturdy and Brightenjaw have both backed off after each losing one member and the rest giving eachother a mutual beating. All of the other Houses are in a similar position to your own, either in the process of breaking into the chamber or waiting on the sidelines for a good opportunity to appear.¡± He mimed another sip of his faux drink and crossed his legs as he lay back in his chair.

    I wanted to smack him for his annoying display of relaxation, but pushed that thought away as useless. Getting under my skin was probably why he was doing it in the first place, and I couldn¡¯t afford to let him drag me into his little game. ¡°Do you think it''s worth contesting this place?¡±

    He tossed his drink over his shoulder and shrugged before pulling a pair of sunglasses out of nowhere, he put them onto his face and laid back as he answered. ¡°It depends on how it all shakes out. You getting knocked out aint worth anything, so if there is any contesting to be done you should sit out of it. We¡¯d have to rethink this whole situationship with the roaches if you wash out of the trials. Now if you¡¯ll excuse me, I have some deepfakes to post and bot into virality.¡±

    With that said, and a dismissive wave of his nub, he disappeared from sight. I stared at the place he had winked out of existence from, surprised that he had dismissed me for once. Normally he was all too happy to eat up whatever scraps of my attention I could afford to give him. I was slightly curious about who he was messing with, but not enough to ask. Yet another thing to add to my ever expanding ¡®when I have the time¡¯ list.

    I continued to wait, now alone in the pitch dark tunnel and listening to the faint noises of movement to both sides of me. Sitting still and hearing the muffled whispers coming in from the foggy battleground, interchanged with the shifting of rocks and faint clinks of pry bars on stone coming from the pile. It was torture. Being cornered into inaction was a nightmare that wore away at my resolve and forced my mind to spin in dark spirals around all of the bullshit I¡¯d been through recently.

    Why me? All I¡¯d ever wanted was to be comfortable, to just live my life in peace. I didn¡¯t want power and influence, or luxury and wealth. Yet here I was, stuffed into a dark dank hole with a bunch of aliens, harboring a fugitive a-hole that had hijacked my own damn body, being pressured into reaching for power and exploiting those placed under my care. It was unfair, infuriating, and there was no clear path out.

    I was sick of it. I needed to do something, to make a difference somehow, to take charge of my own damn life. I hardly realized I had risen from my crouch near the pile of stones, or that I was leaving the wall behind and practically stomping into the middle of the hazy fog.

    I saw the fuzzy blue outline of a tall motionless object, what must have been one of the sportrells Max was talking about. I reached up above my head and ripped a thick branch from the tree-like mushroom, it would have much better reach than the short handled hammer I had brought with me.

    I think I heard some shouting, some more whispering and splashing footfalls in the dark as I cleared some smaller branches from the end. Quick moving silhouettes flashing over the faint blobs of light in the dark distance as I worked.

    ¡°What the hell do you think you''re doing?!¡±  Max yelled at me, appearing in front of me again. He pointed a nub at me. ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you to leave the fighting to someone else? I look away for like two minutes and you start throwing a tantrum. You¡¯re going to mess this whole- damn, too late, here they come.¡±

    Max threw his arms up in the air in frustration and winked back out of sight. He was replaced by a red outline that flashed through the fog, blinking quicker and quicker as a highlighted dwarv ran towards me. Details were impossible to make out, but they held something long raised up above their shoulder as they quickly closed the distance.

    Most of my anger washed out of me as my focus sharpened on my opponent. The truth was, I hadn¡¯t been thinking, and never would have expected myself to make the decision I had just made. Jumping into reckless aggression without a plan, backup, or thought had burned me before and was something I¡¯d resolved to never do again, yet was apparently doomed to repeat. All I knew is that I had to do something, to smash something, to not just sit there and wait for someone else to make the call. I¡¯d done that far too often in my life, and wanted to be done with it.

    At that moment, it was too late. I could beat myself up about it later. For now, I¡¯d made a target of myself and it was time to shut up and dance.

 Chapter 48 - Down in a hole

    The sportrell is an analogous fungus from the Zk¡¯Aek homeworld. Cultivated from flowering mushrooms originally found in the caverns surrounding the habitable valleys that gave rise to their civilization and bred for milenia to reach ever higher heights and strength.

    Often compared to trees by humans, the fibrous bodies of both are used heavily in the crafting and creative pursuits of each species on their respective homeplanets. The less dense sportrell is often infused with secondary materials dispersed within the porous cell structure of the flowering ¡°tree¡± to augment the material to suit its intended purpose.

    The branch I¡¯d ripped off of the mushroom tree had a heavy rubbery flex to it as I swung it at the charging dwarv. I timed my swing along with a sidestep to avoid a blob of glowing goo that they spat at me just before swinging their own long handled hammer in my direction.

    I felt a few specks of the spit splatter across me just before the longer reach of my improvised club connected with the flashing red outline of the rival dwarves head. The branch¡¯s end came apart with a wet crunch, sending fibrous chunks of material out in all directions as the dwarv came to a sudden stop and his feet kept going.

    He fell back and continued past me, sliding on his back in the oily layer of mycelium that coated the floor, giving off a muffled cry of pain and clutching at his face.

    I heard more footsteps splashing towards me and spun around to face them, seeing three flashing outlines coming from one direction, and another five converging on me from the other. I ran towards the larger, more scattered formation, pushing towards the edge of the room at an angle.

    My longer legs carried me towards the enemy before they could close the gaps between themselves. The slowly dimming blobs of spit from the previous fight illuminated the young wide eyed dwarv¡¯s panicked face as he raised a broken off stalagmite club to strike. His timing was off and I lowered my shoulder without slowing to give him a stiff-arm directly to the middle of his chest.

    He let out a choked grunt as I smashed the air out of him, and while we were probably close to the same mass and weight due to the Mask he wore, my greater speed won out, I knocked him onto his ass and carried on through their line.

    ¡°Borek is down!¡± someone shouted somewhere in the dark. ¡°Pull together!¡± came from another direction as more lights were flung around to light up the space.

    I continued to run for a few more paces, dodging around the trunk of another sportrell as thick as a trash can before my foot sunk up to my knee into a deeper pocket slime. I fell forward, dropping my improvised weapon and feeling my knee wrench painfully before my leg turned and I landed on my side. I heard more approaching footfalls and wordless shouts as I quickly pushed myself up, now mostly covered in the foul mix that coated the floor.

    Max appeared, hopping mad and vivid against the backdrop of the foggy cave. ¡°You stupid-ass, brainless, neolithic, dunce-cap! Get moving! You¡¯re going to get surrounded and beaten back to respawn. Damn.¡±

    He pointed a nub off to the side, before disappearing again while continuing to mentally berate me with a seamless string of vitriolic insults as I started moving in the direction he had pointed. I could see more red outlines ahead, as well as larger masses of them moving in from the edges of the cavern.

    As I ran, I crossed through a puddle of light and must have been spotted, because more shouts rang out. ¡°There! I think it¡¯s the human!¡±, ¡°Gunkur, Barrow, Ellna; to me! To me! Rekkar, flank left!¡±

    The red outlines ahead formed up and moved to intercept, so I changed course, avoiding the lights, to angle past them. I sprinted past another mirage of Max as he stood in the muck with his arms crossed, shaking his head disapprovingly. The layer of oily mycelium changed under my feet, becoming deeper and thicker and pulling at my crude footwraps, giving off airy sucking noises with each step and slowing me down as I continued to push forward towards what I only then realized was the middle of the chamber.

    I heard more shouting and war cries, and the occasional ring of metal on metal coming from the far side of the cavern as the rival groups met each other in the confusion. I glanced all around as I high-stepped through the now ankle deep muck, feeling it become deeper and thicker until I was wading through the viscous, tar-like substance up to my knees.

    I could still feel the solid stone against my now bare feet underneath the muck, and while it was becoming more difficult with every step, I still felt strong enough to pull myself out of it. I continued forward a bit further until It came up to my mid-thigh, stopping only after taking a final step and not feeling a bottom at all and nearly falling face first into the deepest part of the pit. I windmilled my arms, arched my back, and managed to change course to fall backwards instead, landing on my back and slowly sinking into the sticky pool.

    I pulled my arms free and rolled over, but the liquid refused to let go of me. For a terrifying moment I was pulled face down into the black pit. I flailed wildly as I sunk into the goop, my hands finding no purchase. Eventually I managed to get my legs underneath my core again and to push off of the bottom enough to break the surface.

    I still couldn¡¯t see, hear, or even breathe as the thick liquid had coated me entirely. I started clawing and scraping at my face, trying to clear my eyes and airways. I felt a cool calming sensation wash over me, and my heart rate slowed as Max flooded my system with calming chemicals to counter the panic that had spiked within me.

    Finally able to think clearly again, I calmly scraped the tar from my face and cleared my mouth enough to get a breath after spitting out a mouthful of the chunky, thick, terrible tasting tar I had nearly drowned in. I crouched down to one knee, sitting in the pool up to my chest to finish dragging the muck from my head until I felt I could open my eyes.

    I looked around, seeing the dim silhouettes and vague red outlines in the garishly lit fog, seeing fighting all around me in the multicolored patches of light. I counted 30 forms and maybe three or four ongoing conflicts. I could make out more of them streaming in from new angles as more Rows broke through into the room and saw a chance to attack their rivals while they were busy. I was just off center in the room, which was at least a few hundred feet across, and sitting in a dark shadow that was ringed with the glowing splatters of the bug-spit lights that the dwarves had scattered around the edges of the area.

    I still couldn''t hear for shit, and despite trying to scrape the tar from my ears with a finger, I was unable to unclog them. Max had also ceased his string of insults and had disappeared from sight, but I could still feel a residual annoyance that seemed to come from his little corner of my mind.

    I noticed I had a message notification in my inbox, it must have come in during my mad dash to the middle of the room. I opened my HUD and intented on the message.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Bomilik: We are through, where are you?

    As I started to type out a reply to his message, a second came through, followed by a third.

    Bomilik: Were you zeroed out?

    Sallis: I don¡¯t know what you did, but I hope you¡¯re not sitting back at respawn. The opposition sounds to be hammering away at each other, and we¡¯re working on fortifying our entry to the central chamber.

    I grinned at the message from Sallis, feeling the sticky tar still stuck to my face pull at the short beard I was wearing these days. It was nice to hear that Sallis was worried I might have been knocked out of the trials, and knowing she would send me updates on what was happening if I had been was comforting in a way.

    I answered Bo¡¯s message first, downplaying my reckless actions but reporting on the overall situation as I understood it.

    To Bomilik: I saw an opportunity to attack and broke through their formations. Multiple Rows got involved with the confusion I created and the fighting is ongoing. I¡¯m still under the mountain and mostly unharmed, I¡¯m hiding in a deeper section of the oil-slick, I think close to the middle of the room.

    My message back to Sallis was more joking as I let myself bask in the fading rush of adrenaline and cocktail of chemicals Max had hit me with.

    To Sallis: I¡¯m good, sort of stuck in the middle of the room though. I aggroed pretty much everyone and now they¡¯re all fighting each other

    Bo¡¯s reply came back as soon as I had finished answering Sallis. Before replying, I closed my HUD and took a moment to watch the fighting, watching as two of the groups were beaten back to their entrances by the other two. All I could really see were red outlines and dim silhouettes, so I couldn¡¯t tell which Rows came out on top or any real details.

    I also struggled to recognize where I had come from, and which of the five entrances to the room was claimed by my own Row. Judging from how far my darkvision was extending, clearly outlining the whole massive cavern despite the fog that filled the room, Max had dropped the self-imposed restrictions on the ability. One of the cave openings switched from a blue outline to green, and I saw a group of green-highlighted dwarves working to stack heavy stone blocks to either side of the round opening into barricades.

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s our friendly entrance?¡± I asked Max under my breath.

    ¡°I¡¯m not speaking to you.¡± He replied without appearing.

    ¡°Oh come on, it all worked out. I¡¯m safe, and our rivals are focused on each other. I¡¯d call this a win.¡± I replied, whispering in the dark.

    ¡°Your inane, hot-headed, thick-skulled decision nearly set us back a whole month, and it still might! Unless you haven¡¯t noticed, which would not surprise me with how monumentally dense you are, you¡¯re stuck in no-mans land behind enemy lines in a literal tar pit.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still helping me, otherwise why did you highlight the friendlies?¡±

    Max appeared again, still dressed in his vacation gear but this time on an inflatable raft that floated on the surface of the black liquid. He waved a fat cigar around as he ranted back at me. ¡°Like I have a choice, you¡¯re hell bent on squandering all of the opportunities I¡¯ve lined up for you, unless I step in and save your ass. Someone has to clean up your messes, you tantrum throwing toddler, and since I¡¯m stuck with you, I have to.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help it, I laughed at him. Wondering if he was capable of seeing the irony in his statement as the one mid-tantrum who had taken me over in the first place. Luckily, while the fighting around the edges of the chamber had slowed, it had not completely fallen off yet and my snort of laughter went unnoticed.

    ¡°Poor you, forced to actually do something.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Shut your gross face hole and start being useful, meat-bag.¡± He made a disgusted sound and stabbed his cigar into his raft, causing it to pop in a startlingly large explosion that blinded me for a moment. When my vision returned, he had disappeared again but there was a dotted golden line marked out in my vision. The glowing line snaked through the dank pit in the direction of the friendly green highlighted entrance, weaving through the sparse copse of sportrell shrooms.

    Shaking my head and suppressing another laugh, and still riding a high from having navigated my way through yet another sketchy situation, I finally opened Bo¡¯s sobering message.

    Bomilik: How many are fighting? Can you make your way back? I want a full report to send back to Kazek

    I debated with myself for a moment on what to say, starting to feel guilty for my decision now that the rush was wearing off and the reality of my situation was setting back in.

    To Bomilik: I¡¯m not sure who came out on top, but it looks like pretty much everyone showed up to the fight. I counted at least 30 dwarves. If our entrance is 12 o-clock, the teams at 2 and 7 lost their fight and have been pushed back inside of their entrances. The only fighting I see near you is at 2¡¯s doorstep. I will crawl back as quietly as I can, I think I can make it

    I chewed my lip as I reread my message before sending it, the true recklessness of my actions becoming even more clear as I recounted them again to the group''s second in command.

    Bomilik didn¡¯t reply right away, so I started to slowly creep my way back to the green highlighted entrance. I tried to stay low, but pushing my way through the thick tar towards the middle of the pit was too difficult at a crouch. I had to fight for each inch of advancement, pushing off of the solid stone floor and using my hands to sort of dig and pull myself through the sticky mess.

    I continued to scan around the room as I moved towards the ring of sportrells that lined the midsection of the slick, watching as the two victorious Rows switched from attacking the retreating groups to containing them in their entrances. One of the teams seemed to be working on collapsing the enemies tunnel, while the other were throwing rocks and handfuls of the oil and fungus mix at their retreating foes.

    I went unnoticed as I made my way through the dark center of the room to the tree-like shrooms. Once I made it to within a few meters of the nearest sportrell, Bo¡¯s reply finally came back in and explained why he had taken so long with his message.

    Bomilik: I had to look up what your clocks are and translate your meaning. Why would you design it in such a way that it needs to repeat itself twice over per day? I do not like this metaphor, refrain from using it again and stick to your compass. Our orders are to dig in and hold our entrance, Kazek thinks it unwise to involve ourselves in the squabble over this chamber.

    I smiled at the message, considering his disdain of the directional system I had used. The only reason I even thought to describe it that way was that I had heard Tevin shouting callouts like that while he played his shooter games back in our old apartment.

    That thought sent a pang of longing nostalgia through me. It had been a while since I thought about the old place and the memories it held. While it was not a perfect life, things had been so much simpler then. Break rocks, don''t get mugged or killed in the street, keep food on the table.

    Now simply being killed felt like it was closer to the middle of my list of unfavorable outcomes. While Max was an unrepentant asshole, I truly believed he held the best path for my whole damn species to avoid total economic subjugation to the cadre of organized and powerful factions that dominated the Linked Worlds. If I somehow caught a true-death and took him with me, I feared our whole world would collapse even further than it already had.

    Feeling a little more motivated and determined, I peeled myself out of the thickest part of the tar pit and made it to the more oily and fungus filled edge of the slick. I leaned against the trunk of a shroom tree for a moment to catch my breath. As I tried to control my breathing, I considered whether I should reply to Bomilik again or just wait to report in person.

    My thoughts were interrupted when another message came in, this time from Rin. Wondering why he was contacting me, and expecting it to be something about Ali¡¯s new assignment or trouble with his new position, I opened the message and lost focus on the dwarven drama that surrounded me as I read it.

    Rin: Separatists have attacked the city. Fighting and explosions all over. I got eyes on a scouting report saying they are blocking traffic in and out of the region and cutting off reinforcements. I would not be surprised if you receive a message from our overlords shortly. The apartment towers blast shields and firewalls have engaged, I¡¯m working on regaining access to external camera feeds. We have moved to your apartment and are keeping watch. Will report again when there is more to report.

 Chapter 49 - Interesting times

    I read the message again, then spat to the side when I realized my mouth had fallen open in shock and the nasty tar that coated me had seeped into my mouth. This was bad. Entire cities had been ransacked and razed, but never this close to the core of Arktria. This kind of thing happened in the less stable neighboring countries, or the rural and mountainous western fringes, not within a few hundred miles of our nation''s largest military bases and Capital.

    ¡°Max!¡± I hissed, huddling closer to the sportrell tree I was hiding behind. ¡°What¡¯s happening dirt-side?¡±

    The bastard didn''t answer, so I tried again. ¡°What the fuck is happening out there? I swear, unless you want to be a full time meat-bag pilot, you better f¡¯n answer me.¡±

    ¡°Sheesh, calm down, I had to actually look. Plus, I¡¯m still mad at you.¡± He replied dismissively. ¡°Okay, I broke into some juicy communication lines, and it is actually getting pretty crazy out there. The consensus is that they have it under control, but I can¡¯t get into the enemy comms so I¡¯m only getting the Shepherds¡¯ side through what they¡¯re reporting to Katie. They¡¯ve knocked down a surprising amount of your fliers with manpads though, so much so that they¡¯ve grounded all drop-craft. They¡¯re considering asking for supporting air-to-ground bombing runs from the base at Yehsa. Damn¡­¡± He hesitated for a moment. ¡°There are a TON of them already in the city, the Sheps are holding a perimeter around the main center and keeping them out of the Travellers station and Link ship, but the hoard has swarmed over pretty much all of the outer posts.¡±

    I sat there in the oily puddle, still crouched by the spongy tree sized mushroom, stunned by his description. I struggled to imagine how bad things had to be if the city''s security forces had been pushed back so far. The Shepherds had outposts and sent patrols all over the area, and the Travellers station was like a fortress. The residency tower I was physically still within was built right next door. There was no way they could overrun such a stronghold, could they?

    ¡°Oh man, this is pretty gnarly. I got a feed from one of the surviving cams on the Travellers complex, check this shit out.¡±

    My field of vision went all glitchy and fuzzy for a moment, a number of HUD icons and boxes opening and closing on their own and showing flashing error screens before a video feed popped up in front of me, standing out stark against the black and blue-outlining that had been my sight for the last hour.

    The camera was surprisingly high quality, not some grainy store security cam footage like you might see on the net. On the screen, I could see about a half-dozen of the huge armored vehicles the Shepherds used parked out in front of the Link ship, all but two of which had been rolled over and set on fire. The billowing dark smoke was underlit by a strobe light effect from the muzzle flashes of the heavy guns mounted on the turrets of the two still functional vehicles, which had been parked right in front of the huge open doorway to the interior of the Link ship.

    A formation of security forces had pushed the concrete barriers in place to entirely block off the door to the alien ship, and many of the huge riot shields that my old escort used to carry were being held in a shield-wall around the firing vehicles. The ground all around the disabled and flaming armor throughout the courtyard that was normally filled with protesters and the waiting line was strewn with broken bodies, some of which were still moving. Crawling, dragging broken limbs, or defiantly working to fire various small arms that seemed mostly ineffective against the vehicles and riot shields while they lay bleeding and unable to stand.

    It was surreal, seeing the carnage on video without any accompanying sound. This was not some action movie or video game replay, this was ground I used to tread twice a day on my way to work and back. If things had gone differently for me I could have been caught up in that mess, or have been trapped inside of the ship as the security forces fought off the attack.

    A small explosion went off amongst the bodies that scattered dust and people parts as a flame broke off one of the burning vehicles and arced through the air, smashing against the shieldwall in a burst of clinging fire. I looked just in time to see a power-armored enemy dart back behind the broken vehicle after they had thrown the fire bomb.

    Captivated, I watched as a cloud of thick mist dispersed from the Shepherd''s fortified position, stifling the flame. One of the turrets of the heavy vehicles ceased firing, long enough for me to realize that the four foot long barrel was starting to glow a dull red and smoking along the entire length. Before the barrel had a chance to cool, it started firing again, this time at the downed vehicle that the fire-bomb had been thrown from.

    Huge splashing bursts of sparks flared from the downed vehicle as the turret cannon ripped into it, but I couldn¡¯t tell if the bullets were punching through the upside down armored wreck to hit the attackers hiding behind. While the turret was busy, a mass of people pushed in from the maze of concrete walls on the far side of the courtyard, causing the second turret to open fire on them and sparkling flashes of rifles to join in through the gaps in the shieldwall.

    The crowd looked ragged and dirty. Most of them carried wood-stocked rifles and wore old pre-link military body armor and helmets, many pulled their arms back and threw more fire bombs and grenades at the wall of defenders. Most of the thrown ordinance fell short and only scattered and burned the debris at the armored Shepherd¡¯s feet.

    The combined fire from the turret and rifles cut through them easily, dropping many almost as soon as they charged into line of sight. Yet the crowd was so thick and determined that they pushed their wounded forward, or climbed over top of them to take shots and charge the fortified line. The turrets swept back and forth through the crowd, chopping down and scattering most of them after a bloody few seconds, resetting the scene.

    Again, the courtyard was littered only with smoking broken bodies and struggling yet determined wounded combatants. Explosions went off amongst the downed as un-thrown grenades detonated, more flames sprung to life, and fallen bodies twitched and jerked as rifles continued to fire. Some kind of rocket flew in through the smoke and smashed into the shieldwall, scattering a half-dozen Shepherds and disrupting their formation for a moment before the reserves plugged the hole and answered with a roaring wave of fire and lead.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    I closed my eyes and looked away as the next surge of people pushed into the courtyard, charging into the fire once again.

    I couldn¡¯t bear to watch any more, and told Max to end the feed. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ slaughter. Turn it off, I¡¯ve seen enough.¡± I breathed, reeling from the horrible sight. Some of the images replaying in my head, I sat there and stared out into the darkness, unable to think.

    ¡°Pretty cool, right? Those bushwacker autocannons are pretty solid as far as human tech goes. Reports say they got this though, and they don¡¯t seem to be able to breach the building we¡¯re in. The whole bottom 20 floors are bristling with security measures even if they do. You Humans do this kinda thing all the time anyways, something like this happens somewhere like every other Tuesday. It¡¯ll all blow over, no worries. We have our own fighting to focus on, remember? Keep your head in the game.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re wrong, this kind of thing doesn''t happen all the time! How the hell am I supposed to keep my head in the game when there''s a whole damned war happening on my doorstep!¡± I growled at him.

    ¡°Damn, Guy, keep it down. You¡¯re going to give your position away, again. Just - shut up about this for now and get back to your babysitters. I¡¯ll see what I can do dirtside without blowing my cover, alright?¡±

    I clenched my fists, and wished I could punch the callous digital bastard, or that I could at least see him to flip him off or something. I was already off balance and arguing with a disembodied asshole that only lived in my head was infuriating.

    I wanted to portal home, to go and do something, to somehow stop the bloody battle taking place in my own backyard. I couldn¡¯t understand. What could possibly motivate them to throw themselves away like that? Another more selfish part of me was terrified that they would win the fight and make it into the building. What could I do against a force like that? While I didn¡¯t feel like a noble, or that I belonged to the affluent crowd that lived within the tower, I did still live here after all.

    I was paralyzed by the conflicting emotions warring within me, pulled between multiple senses of duty and instinctive self preservation. I hated seeing my own people warring with each other like this, even if I had been numbed by the regularity with which the isolationists, gangs, and separatists clashed with the State security forces. I¡¯d never seen this type of fighting, raw and uncut, and it sickened me.

    I¡¯m not sure how long I waffled over my thoughts while the dwarves worked and play-fought around me. I was struggling to care about the mock battles of the juvenile dwarves who fought for status and risked only a delay to full maturity. I was eventually pulled back to the moment by another message.

    CLE Admin K.S.R. :

    Consul Spenser, there is an emergency situation taking place in our lovely city and your apartment building has been put into lockdown.  Director Howard has issued a district wide shelter in place mandate and our first responders are making every effort to end the disruption so business may return to normal.

    I wanted to reach out to you personally because it is very important to me that your vital work goes uninterrupted, and I assure you that every action necessary will be taken to make sure you can continue your diplomatic mission uninterrupted. Please, do not worry over what you might hear of the situation. I am aware that your team has already informed you of some of the danger. I assure you that we have everything under control and defending every patriot that works to represent us on the galactic stage is my number one priority.

    Resolutely

    Katie S. Roderegious

    I grimaced at the message, recognizing the pandering tone of a politician that tinted her words. When the people in charge started talking like that, I knew things were bad. Everyone seemed to be reporting that things were under control, even Max seemed to agree with that. Yet things looked very much out of control to me. If Max was only listening to the same reports that Katie was getting, wouldn¡¯t it make sense that he agreed? He was still young, and had shown himself to be somewhat naive to the world I lived in. What were the odds that the reports were overly optimistic, and things were actually much worse than anyone on the ground wanted to admit to?

    So far, Katie had seemed like a pretty reasonable boss, and even Tevin had mostly good things to say about her after having worked under her for a while, but could I trust that? I knew I was sheltered from her by the nature of my achievements and position, and had not worked long enough for her to face any real audits or consequences. I wouldn¡¯t find out how harsh she could be until after I had failed at something, and I was still mid-way through my first real test as a diplomat.

    While I was still frustrated, being forced to think through the pragmatic thoughts of a working-class citizen faced with political doublespeak pulled me back to reality. I had to keep doing what I was doing. I had a security team, and the frontline Shepherds were a strong and capable defending force that had been reliable so far. The best thing I could do was to make sure my Row passed the trials with the highest accolades and that I could join the dwarven faction with the best status possible.

    I steeled myself and forced myself back into action, driving my thoughts away and rising to a crouch to peek around the mushroom trunk I had been hiding behind. The way ahead looked pretty clear, with the rival dwarves a good 50 feet off to my right and my green highlighted allies straight ahead. I stayed low and took slow steps, weaving around the puddles of light still scattered around the room as I snuck back to my Row.

    The dwarves working on the defenses were moving in complete darkness to mask their actions to the others, and I got within 10 feet or so before one of them noticed me.

    ¡°Gah!¡± They exclaimed, and I recognized the voice of Jozoic as he raised a hammer to strike at me. I dodged backwards and raised my hands.

    ¡°Hey, hey. Calm down, it¡¯s me, Nick!¡± I hurriedly shout-whispered at him as his second attack whipped past my face.

    He jumped back into a readied stance and held still, his weapon still raised. ¡°You don¡¯t smell like Nick.¡± he studied me in the pitch dark for a moment longer before relaxing slightly and stepping aside. Two of the other three dwarves who were working on the fortification, who I only now noticed had surrounded me as I had been distracted by Jozoic, went back to hurriedly stacking the large blocks of stone and melting them together into a barricade.

    ¡°Kaninak, come with me. Jozoic, you have command.¡± Bomilik¡¯s voice came out of the darkness, and he led me back into the cave. We quickly passed a few more dwarves, busy bringing stones to the workers at the front. Sallis laughed and gave me a slap on the shoulder as we passed, only to pull her hand back and shake it off in disgust.

    ¡°Sacred stones, you¡¯re slimier than the dusted squams.¡± She said before wiping her hand off on the wall and going back to her work.

    Once we made it to the relatively clear and illuminated area where we had started our excavation of the passage, Bomilik stopped and sat down heavily on one of the blocky stones. He looked me over, one of his eyebrows raising as he saw how coated I was in the sticky black tar and smeared with bits of whatever else was mixed into the oily part of the slick.

    ¡°Report, Kaninak. I want to know everything.¡±

 Chapter 50 - Right back

    At first I tried to hold back my failings as I recounted what had happened to Bomilik. I wanted to present myself as capable and collected, not impulsive and reckless. Yet the longer I went on with my explanation to a mostly silent Bomilik, who only nodded along and occasionally asked clarifying questions, the more slipped through as my mind went back to the sights I had seen from the camera feed Max had shown me.

    I found myself drifting off from the conversation during the description of my stealthy return from the pit, losing focus and looking away from the large dwarv as I stopped talking and replayed the bloody work of the turret in my mind.

    ¡°Kaninak, brother. Do not worry. Even if your attack was foolhardy, it was successful. That is sometimes the difference between bravery and stupidity.¡± He offered me a craggy smile before continuing. ¡°We are in a good position, if your report rings true. Our Row remains uninjured and whole, the others have suffered losses, and it sounds as if we are on par if not ahead within the tech race, since you did not speak of real weaponry or armor amongst those you fought.¡±

    I nodded and looked down as I started to scrape some of the thick tar off of my arms, and removed the clogged lamp that was still clipped to me. My mind was still back home, worrying over what was happening in my city. I almost started to tell him, just to get it off my chest and have someone tell me outloud that I was making the right choice by staying, but he rose and started to speak before I worked up the nerve.

    ¡°Save as much of that as you can, we may find some use for the tar and oils. I¡¯ll send someone to give you a vessel to contain it. Take a few moments to clean and collect yourself, and then head back to the map room. Kazek thinks you¡¯ll be more useful with the smithing team now that we have cleared the whole area. You did well, brother, do not be ashamed.¡± He nodded, still slightly smiling, and then started back down the passageway to rejoin the group at the frontline.

    His words made me feel even worse, even if he had waved away my initial reckless action. He had no idea just how far I had been mentally pulled out of the situation I should be focusing on. He had no idea how unreliable I was, and how distracted I had become. Even though I worked to focus on the trial and wanted to help my new clan brethren, I was failing and utterly preoccupied by the situation back home.

    As I warred with my thoughts, I halfheartedly worked to scrape the tar and oil from my body and ragged clothing, slopping it onto one of the nearby stones in a wet pile. I didn¡¯t even notice when another dwarv stopped in front of me, or when she coughed twice, before finally she purposefully slammed down a carved out stone bowl between us.

    ¡°Ahem, Nick. Bomilik told me to bring this to you.¡± She said, meeting my eyes. I watched as her face changed from businesslike seriousness, to confused concern. ¡°What is troubling you? You look distraught.¡± Kikkelin asked.

    I grimaced, still unsure where exactly we were at in our friendship. We¡¯d mostly avoided conversation since I¡¯d awkwardly tried to ask her about the rumors that were going around. The truth was, I still felt pretty bad that I¡¯d fallen into believing them, even if only for a moment.

    Before I had shoved my whole foot into my mouth during that conversation, she had gone out of her way and borne the social consequences of trying to get to know me before most of the other dwarves had. Kikkelin had opened up to me and I¡¯d been an ass in return. Maybe opening up to her now could help rebuild the friendship we had been forming.

    ¡°My city is under attack.¡± I answered, meeting her gaze and surprising myself with the flat defeated tone that came with the admission.

    She blinked in response, her eyes widening. ¡°What?¡±

    I hung my head and attempted to run my fingers through my hair, but they only got stuck in the clogged mess of tar. I pulled my hand away and a chunk of my hair came with it. I winced as I looked over the clump as I continued to answer. ¡°In reality, my home is under attack. My friends are defending my private rooms, and a¡­ not really like a rival clan but an opposing group of people, are fighting with the security forces right outside of my building.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± She answered. I heard her sit down on the stone Bomilik had been sitting on before. ¡°That is horrible, brothers should not make war on one another. Why do they fight?¡±

    I shrugged and thought about it for a beat before replying. ¡°I¡¯m not really sure, there are a few groups it could be.¡± I hesitated for a moment, organizing my thoughts. ¡°It could be the anti-government militias, or one of the isolationist groups that want to destroy the Links, or even a false flag attack from a jealous rival from a different district. I don¡¯t have enough information.¡± I grumbled the last part, tossing the clump of hair onto the ground before clenching my fists in frustration.

    ¡°Wow, I¡­ I really don''t know what to say. I am sorry. All I can think is that I hope you are safe.¡± She replied quietly.

    I finally looked up and tried to give her a smile for her kindness, but I¡¯m pretty sure I failed. ¡°Thanks, I¡¯m not really sure what to say, or to do, either.¡±

    We met eyes for another moment as silence took over, before I looked away and restarted the work of scraping the tar from myself and slapping it into the bowl. I thought she would get up and head back to the front, but to my surprise she stayed and watched as I worked, and after about a minute she spoke up again.

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°It is so foreign to me, to attack another home city. My kind have our own problems and conflicts, yet we do not attack each other''s homes, not for hundreds of generations.¡±

    I glanced up at her as I tried to pull off my gauntlets. They had been so jammed up with tar around my wrists that they were held in place, and I had to hold it between my knees and use my core strength to wrench them off one at a time.

    I grunted as the first one came free and I rocked back with the effort. ¡°How did you stop? With us, it''s been an unsolvable problem. We have been at war with each other since before we thought to start writing down history.¡±

    ¡°It is forbidden, it is just¡­ unthinkable. I guess, it is said that we were too few before the Links came to our homeworld. Our home planet is a dangerous enough place on its own, and our clans were mostly locked and isolated within our valleys.¡±

    I pulled the other gauntlet off and set both of them down on the rock next to me. ¡°Really? I¡¯ll admit, I haven¡¯t had the time to do my homework about, uh¡­¡± I floundered for a moment as I struggled to remember the name of the dwarves'' homeworld. ¡°Anazoudak?¡±

    She huffed out a breath of laughter and nodded. ¡°That is its name, you should read of it some day, or visit our Link world if you get the chance. When you gain your rank you will have access to the Clan libraries, I look forward to seeing them myself.¡±

    I nearly managed a smile, and nodded as well. ¡°I will, when I can find the time. Everything¡¯s been so urgent lately, it¡¯s like all I¡¯ve done is train, sleep, and react to whatever the next crisis happens to be.¡±

    ¡°You must be under a lot of pressure.¡± She replied, nervously fiddling with her fingers in a repetitive counting motion.

    I nodded. ¡°I am, but I have to push through it. I don¡¯t know what will happen to me if I fail at this point, but I doubt it would be good.¡±

    She nodded and gave me a worried frown, but did not reply. After a moment, I finally worked up the sand to say what I should have said days ago.

    ¡°Hey, I uh. I¡¯m sorry, by the way. I shouldn¡¯t have fallen for the stupid rumors like I did. You¡¯ve been nice to me and I was a jerk in return. So¡­ yeah, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    She gave me a surprised look, and took a moment to reply. ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m sorry about blowing up on you too, really. It¡¯s just been so stressful with all of the pressure from training, and Korfook blasting everything apart. Although¡­¡± she hesitated for a second and looked back at me, cracking a small smile. ¡°You really were a jerk.¡±

    I laughed and started to reply, glad that she was willing to forgive me and feeling part of the weighty guilt that I had been carrying evaporate. ¡°Hah, yeah. That''s my ba-¡±

    Midway through my answer, I was interrupted by what felt like the world''s nastiest flashbang. The whole world went white and my ears popped and started to ring, my head was pounding and felt like it was being squished in a vice and set on fire at the same time. Flames surged up and down my spine and every nerve in my body screamed as my eyes felt like they were being pulled out of my skull. I distantly felt my limbs flail uncontrollably in every direction, beating against myself as they went berserk all on their own.

    The agony went on for what felt like hours, but I¡¯m pretty sure it only lasted for a few seconds before existence disappeared and the pain ceased. I found myself in a familiar inky black star-spangled void, staring straight into the round dots of Max¡¯s eyes as he held my head by my ears.

    ¡°Holy gorgonzola. You should be dead, buddy.¡± He said, ¡°I thought I was going to have to pilot your braindead ass around for good.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡± I croaked, rubbing my hands over my face and noticing that I felt super hot, like I had been baking in the summer sun for hours.

    ¡°The Link was cut, they blew up the ship. I barely managed to pull your consciousness back. I¡¯m keeping you sedated for a moment while I stitch a few things back together. These Link rigs have a ton of medical equipment that make it way easier to work on you.¡± He let go of my head and stepped back. ¡°Not that I¡¯ve forgiven you for your previous brainless actions, but I am glad you¡¯ve retained what little intelligence you have.¡±

    ¡°Why¡­ wait, what?¡± I asked, not really registering what he had said as I shook off the screaming agony I had just been put through.

    ¡°They blew up the ship,¡± he repeated. ¡°Things are really going sideways out there. They¡¯ve cut nearly all of the hardwire connections and overran the armored guys on the ground and are starting to blast open the ground floor doors too. Just give me a few more seconds to make sure your fluids don¡¯t boil and I¡¯ll let you out of here.¡±

    ¡°What? You¡¯re messing with me, right?¡± I said, not believing what he said. This had to be some twisted prank.

    ¡°Nope, not this time. I may be an ass but I wouldn''t jack you off like that.¡±

    I blinked, pulled out of my stupor by his phrasing. ¡°Don¡¯t say it like that. You¡¯re telling me I was forcibly un-Linked?¡±

    ¡°Damn, get it through your head already, yes. Shit¡¯s FUBAR, and you need to get a move on.¡± He clapped his nubby arms together and I snapped back to reality.

    I felt the Link rigs helmet lift away from my face, and my body went back to feeling sore, bruised, and burning hot. I groaned and slowly pried the locking straps away from my shoulders and hips and fell limply out of the saddle, slipping on the puddle of vomit that covered the floor around me. I landed in a pile and nearly retched again from the smell and pain.

    I pushed myself up and tried to shake the feeling off, becoming dizzy and lightheaded and nearly falling back onto my face by the sudden action. I took a few deep breaths and managed to rise to my knees to look around the room, noticing that the normally solid red light that signified the door was locked was now blinking, and I could vaguely hear some kind of tapping and rumbles in the distance.

    ¡°What the¡­¡± I breathed out, feeling out of it and woozy. I struggled to get a foot underneath myself, and then shakily rose to my feet and wobbled over to the door, slapping the button to turn the light green and unlock the door.

 Chapter 51 - Knock, knock

    The door slid open as soon as the locks retracted. Ali, who must have been waiting just on the other side, leapt down the stairs and rushed to my side, slipping under one of my arms and helping me rise from my slouching lean against the wall.

    ¡°Sir, Nick! I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re okay. The building is under attack!¡± She said in a rush as she started to help me towards the stairs.

    I tried to answer and discovered that my tongue was not in a cooperative mood. While I meant to say ¡®I¡¯m alive, we need to get out of here¡¯, all that came out was a string of mushy mumbling closer to, ¡°Owl awah, we¡¯oo geh owa ear.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I have a diagnostic medkit I can hook you up to. We just need to get you comfortable first.¡± She said more calmly, although her narrowed eyes and tight lips revealed her tension.

    I grunted and nodded, working my jaw up and down in an effort to reestablish control of my mouth as she helped me into the hallway.

    ¡°Nick!¡± Tevin shouted from the end of the hallway, he had his full armor and battle rattle on, with his faceplace raised. ¡°Glad you made it!¡±

    He looked like he wanted to come help me himself, but remained in place with his rifle pointed around the corner towards where the main entrance to the apartment should be. I managed to give him a wave, raising my arm and showing him my palm before dropping the effort and refocusing on dragging my feet forward.

    We turned the corner to my bedroom, and I pulled my head up again to look around, noticing Rin had taken over my computer desk. He had set up all sorts of data and camera feeds spread out over the two monitors built into the desk, as well as a pair of portable computers and even some kind of projector that was streaming a scrolling mass of multi-colored text against the wall faster than I could read.

    He glanced over as the door opened and we stepped through, meeting my eyes and dipping his chin in a single nod before looking back to the screen and continuing to tap at his interface. Ali helped me over to the bed and laid me down, pushing my legs up and turning me until I was laying flat on the plush mattress.

    I briefly worried about the sweat and vomit I was covered in staining my nice bedding, but quickly got over the worry. Now was not the time to fret over clean sheets.

    Once I was horizontal, her worried face appeared above me and she all but whispered. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back, you¡¯re going to make it. You have to make it.¡± Before she rushed off and left me staring at the ceiling.

    With some effort, I managed to turn my head enough to get a look at Rin¡¯s back and the jumbled screens splayed out in front of him. One of the monitors was filled with small video feeds, some of which were showing ongoing combat in the lower floors of the building, while others displayed empty halls, readied and waiting troops, or high vantage points looking out over the burning city below. As I watched, one of the little boxes showing a firefight in one of the lower hallways burst into static before going blank. After a few seconds of dead air, the empty feed disappeared and the whole layout shifted as the other feeds grew slightly larger.

    I gurgled at Rin, trying to ask him how we could escape the doomed building, but my mouth was still uncooperative. Growing frustrated that I needed to act yet was as limp as a dead fish on a beach, I gurgled some more and tried to raise my head. The world spun, and I gave up on the effort, falling back onto the bed and abandoning the idea just as Ali came dashing back into the room.

    She crouched down at my side, holding a tacklebox sized dark gray case that she placed on the bed next to me. After opening a compartment on top of the medkit, she unspooled some leads and cables from the box and ripped my shirt open before starting to stick and poke the cables and tubes into me at various places.

    I managed to roll my head around to look at her as she worked, noticing her lips moving in silent prayer as she worked to hook me up to the machine. After only a few seconds, she turned her attention back to the box and started to prod a series of buttons that blipped and dinged pleasantly in response. After a musical chime, the box whirred to life and I felt a series of tingles from some of the sticky pads stuck to my chest, and a cool sensation spread through my body.

    Max appeared, looking rather distracted and standing beside Ali as she crouched next to me and worked the medkit. ¡°I know you¡¯d probably appreciate some actual pain killers at the moment, but I¡¯m forcing the machine to hold back the good shit. I haven¡¯t found any networks within the attacking force for me to break into, and they¡¯re slowly taking out everything I am plugged into, but I estimate we have a couple of hours at most before we¡¯re overrun. Some of your nerves got fried by the backlash when I detangled you from the spin, just give me a few minutes and I¡¯ll get them regrown for you. Things might feel a little wonky for a while though, neurons are finicky little bastards.¡±

    I focused on Max, and managed to give him what I thought was a glare. I probably should have been grateful for his help if what he said was true, and while he may be a total d-bag, I hadn¡¯t ever caught him in an outright lie. He scoffed and threw his hands up in the air.

    ¡°Ugh, untwist your knickers. We can salvage this, I think. We have to get you back into the trials before it¡¯s too late. I already hijacked a satellite signal and spoofed your user embedding to send a message to your dwarven babysitters, explaining what happened. As long as you¡¯re there through the final day, you can still pass.¡±

    My eyes narrowed further out of a mix of frustrated helplessness and anger that he had impersonated me again, but he winked back out of sight before I could project any coherent thoughts at him. I could have still ranted at him internally anyways, but I was so out of it that it didn¡¯t even occur to me. Instead, I focused back on Ali, who was still clutching at the medkit, her eyes scanning over a tiny glowing screen built into the top of it underneath a protective clear plastic panel.

    I watched her for a moment, noticing her own determined dark eyes flick over the information on the display before she glanced over at me and saw I was looking at her. I also realized she was out of uniform, instead of her normal outfit she had on some kind of sleek armored jacket that had dull metal plates that mostly covered her core.

    She flashed me a quick nervous smile. ¡°Your vitals look okay. High levels of cortisol and histamine, and your heart rate is high, but everything else reads green.¡± Her eyes darted to the readout before locking back onto mine as she held her strained little smile. As we looked at eachother, the building rumbled and shook and the lights flickered before dying out entirely, plunging the room into darkness only lit by the glow of tiny screens.

    ¡°Fuck!¡± Rin slammed his hands into the desk, and both Ali and I turned over to look at him. The projector and both monitors for my desktop had gone dark, leaving only the error filled screens of his portable computers to light the room. After a second, a dim red emergency light snapped to life above the door frame.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    He swiveled around in his chair to face us. ¡°They killed the power. I think we have to carry you to the checkpoint on 60 before they swarm over it.¡±

    I tried to push myself up, ¡°N-no, I can go.¡± I managed, stumbling over the words as I swung my feet over the edge of the bed.

    ¡°Sir, I can carry you, don¡¯t strain yourself.¡± Ali offered.

    I sat up completely, tugging the medkit against my side by the leads. My body still felt a little numb and tingly in places, and my tongue felt like it was too large for my mouth, but if we were going to make it out of this I couldn¡¯t let my team literally carry me through.

    ¡°Guys! Someone¡¯s knocking!¡± Tevin called from his position out in the hallway.

    Everyone''s head snapped towards the door, and Rin stood from the chair. I only now noticed he was wearing a dark and slightly lumpy outfit that I¡¯d never seen on him before. ¡°That can¡¯t be good. Hopefully it¡¯s Katie with an escort.¡± he said as he started towards the door.

    I watched him for a moment before turning to Ali, ¡°Get these things off of me and pack it up, please. We need to move, and I need to get dressed.¡± My tongue still felt off, but my speech was rapidly becoming clear enough to be understood.

    Without wasting time on a reply, she complied and began pulling the cables and tubes off of me, quickly stowing them back into the reels she had drawn them from within the housing of the medkit. I left her to it and stumbled across the room to my closet, barely keeping myself from tripping, I shoulder checked the doorframe on the way in and started pulling off my soiled day to day clothes.

    While I was busy struggling into an old set of rugged work pants from my days on Rosso¡¯s mountain, I thanked the dwarves and their insistence on the initiates going into the Trials without any equipment. I pulled on my nanoweave shirt, buttoned up a denim jacket over top of it, and pulled on my mag-boots. On my way out, I grabbed the little gray tag of my Megaphone engram from the top of the doorframe where I had hidden it and stuffed it into a pocket on the inside of the jacket.

    Ali was posted up by the door and now wearing a bulky backpack, she was also holding a compact and mean looking little rifle that was only about a foot long with a spindly looking foldout buttstock close against her chest. I quickly stopped to grab my pistol and plasma knife from the stand against the wall, shoving the knife into a different pocket along with a couple of spare magazines, before moving across the room to meet her.

    I was already starting to feel steadier on my feet and less numb, but a persistent buzzing tingle still coursed through me in irritating waves that seemed to emanate from my hands and feet and bounce back and forth all throughout me. She gave me a serious look as I approached, and then spun around the corner, walking out ahead of me as we made our way to the main room to meet with the others.

    We found Tevin and Rin by the door. The big man raised his faceplate back up and beamed a toothy smile at me. ¡°You always had a good sense of timing. What''s the call, man?¡±

    A quick series of knocks again sounded at the door and we all looked at it. I turned to Rin and asked, ¡°They can¡¯t be this high up yet, right?¡± He gave a quick nod in response.

    I turned to Tevin, trusting he would have the least dangerous way to answer the door. ¡°We can¡¯t stay here, so we have to open the door. What¡¯s the safest way?¡±

    He grinned again in response. ¡°Ali, stack up against the side there.¡± He pointed at the wall next to the door. ¡°Nick and Rin, you should get behind the kitchen island and stay low. I¡¯ll see who it is. If you hear gunfire, stay down.¡±

    With our plan set, we all moved to our positions. Despite Tevin¡¯s warning, I couldn¡¯t help but peek around the rear edge of the counter, watching as he pulled his rifle up and aimed it at the door. ¡°Alright Ali, hit the emergency release on the door on a three count and then back up a step and get ready.¡± He said before closing down his face plate.

    She tensed up and pushed a panel on the wall, which unfolded out into a small crank handle that she gripped tightly in one hand. Then they both dipped the barrels of their weapons in unison, once, twice, three times. On the second dip, Tevin turned a blindingly bright flashlight on and spotlighted the doorway before Ali pulled down on the crank, causing it to release and the door to slide back.

    Standing in the spotlight was a huddled together group of well dressed people that raised their hands to shield their eyes from the blinding light from Tevins rifle. The big armored man lowered his weapon and aimed the light down at the floor, which still lit the room and hallway brightly as it reflected off the polished tiling. Ali swept away from the wall, her short weapon still trained on them as she yelled out.

    ¡°Hands, show me your hands! Who are you and why are you here?¡±

    The group shrank down, three of them crouching down as the last one standing raised her hands to reveal a familiar face. ¡°Holy shit! It¡¯s me, Kaylee! I¡¯m a friend of Nick¡¯s. I¡¯m dating Tevin!¡±

    I glanced over at Rin, who had a pinched look to him as he thought over the situation. Tevin drew my attention back to the door by opening his face plate and wavering. ¡°Damnit, sweets, you shouldn¡¯t be here, but¡­¡± He turned to me, giving me a pained and worried look. We both knew if we left them here that the swarm of attackers, whatever group they might belong to, would find them eventually.

    I looked back again at Rin, who was pinching the bridge of his nose and scrunching up his eyes as he crouched behind the counter. As I watched, he slowly banged his forehead against a cabinet door a couple of times.

    I sighed and stood, looking over the cowering group and recognizing the four tower dwellers that we had met for a day of fun at the arcade near the bottom of the tower. Why were they here, and what the hell was the call? Everyone except Ali, who was still locked in and aiming her weapon at them, was looking to me to make the decision.

    I hardly knew them, only having spent the one afternoon with them. Tevin and Rin knew them better but were stubbornly remaining silent. On the one hand, I knew it would be risky to double our groupsize, I wasn''t even sure how the hell we were going to escape yet. Still, I couldn¡¯t just leave them here to the mercy of the violent crowd that was rampaging its way up the building towards us.

    I guess that¡¯s the thing about being in charge, you have to make all the hard choices.

    ¡°Gah, damnit, let them in. Ali, lock the door down and search them. Tevin, stay sharp.¡±

    I saw the relief wash over Tevin¡¯s face, yet true to form he took a few steps back and kept his rifle up and pointed at the group''s feet as they moved into the room. Ali cranked the lever a few times, ratcheting the door closed and keeping her firearm pointed at the group at the same time. I raised my own pistol but kept it pointed away from everyone as I looked over the group.

    ¡°So, why are you here? And how did you even know to come here?¡± I asked.

    Kaylee again answered as Ali patted her down, removing her comm and emptying the bits of makeup and gadgets from her pockets. ¡°I wanted, we wanted, to make sure you all were okay, and¡­ we¡¯re scared, we didn¡¯t know where else to go.¡±

    Raschel spoke up as soon as Kaylee finished, ¡°All of the Link rooms were locked down, my dad was stuck inside and we couldn¡¯t get them to open or find anyone else! You¡¯re like, some big-shot right? You have to help us.¡± She pleaded.

    Ali continued to search them as they made their case, tossing everything she found onto the large table opposite from the kitchen island. She stopped when she found a pistol in one of Bree¡¯s pockets, giving her a look and shoving it into the back of pants waistline.

    ¡°What? Can¡¯t a girl defend herself?¡± Bree said, giving a displeased look.

    Ali ignored her comment and moved on to search the last of them, the lanky guy who I remembered was named Andy.

    I scratched through my hair, feeling a brief flashback of the tar that had covered me within the Link only moments before. I really didn¡¯t want to leave them, and they seemed like decent enough people. Plus Tevin was laying the puppydog eyes down pretty hard in my direction, he¡¯d be pissed if I made him leave his girlfriend and new group of friends to the mercy of the frenzied crowd.

    I started to answer, despite not really knowing what I was going to say, when another knock boomed against the entrance. This time quite a bit louder and followed immediately by a familiar, if tinny, voice that buzzed through the door like the steel itself had been turned into a loudspeaker.

    ¡°Consul Spenser, this is C.L.E. Roderegious. We need to evacuate from the building, please open the door and we will see you safely escorted out of the city.¡±

 Chapter 52 - Out of the pan

    ¡°Great.¡± I said, pointing at the newcomers. ¡°You four, get down on your knees. Ali, could you open the door again, that sounds important.¡±

    Ali frowned, but stepped back to the lever and activated it, causing the door to spring open again. On the other side was a pair of armored Shepherds, these wearing the shiny and chrome lower profile power-armor suits that I had only ever seen on my brief visit to Director Howard¡¯s office.

    The two soldiers pushed into the room, sweeping their alien pistols over everything, one of them settling their aim on Tevin, while the other trained his on the kneeling group just inside the door.

    Katie stepped into the room after a moment and surveyed the scene. Her hair was mussed, she had a sooty streak across her face and matching dark speckles patterned across her normally pristine skirt-suit, yet her smile was as flawless and shining as ever.

    ¡°Consul, we must move quickly. I have a VTOL waiting for us on the roof.¡± She looked down at the huddled group of kids just inside the door. I knew they were roughly my age, but I struggled to think of them as anything but kids. The tower dwellers seemed sheltered, untouched by the reality of the grinding labor it took to maintain a life just above the Transient rank.

    ¡°Who are your guests?¡± She questioned, raising an eyebrow as she met my eyes.

    ¡°They¡¯re, uh, friends. Is there room for them to come with?¡± I asked, glancing over the group and noticing that they were all now watching Katie with a mix of fear and anger.

    Katie tapped her teeth with a manicured fingernail as she thought for a moment, the fact that the four young people were being held at gunpoint on their knees was not lost upon her. ¡°You are all tower residents? Important to someone, I imagine, if you are here.¡± She hummed and ground a pointed heel into the ground for a moment. ¡°I suppose, we can dump some weight if we must. There is no time to argue, we must move.¡±

    With her decree made, she twirled back towards the door and walked out, passing a second pair of chrome plated soldiers who had waited in the hall. Our group all exchanged looks for a moment, before everyone stood and started towards the door. Rin hurried to go first, clutching one of his folded laptops, followed by the group of young people, then Tevin. Ali refused to go next and waved me ahead of her, then stepped through right on my heels, placing her hand on my shoulder and staying uncomfortably close.

    I glanced over my shoulder at her as we quick-stepped towards the stairs that led up to the top floor. ¡°Do you have to be that close? I¡¯m not going to try to run away from you.¡± I attempted to joke.

    ¡°Yes sir, I do.¡± She said, not a shred of humor in her voice.

    My apartment was basically at the end of the hall, so it took no time at all to reach the stairwell at the end. The entrance had been left open allowing us to quickly climb the few flights of stairs and move through the open heavy blast door into the penthouse. I caught a whiff of smoke as I took a second to look around the space, noticing the place was outfitted as another fancy apartment and just as minimally decorated as my own.

    The open area was mostly dark, like the rest of the building, but one of the armored windows had been blasted inwards and was letting light and smoke into the building through a huge gaping hole. We crossed the tiled floor in silence, moving towards a free standing spiral staircase near the middle of the open plan suite.

    We had made it halfway up the stairs, and the two chrome troopers at the front of the group were just starting to open up the hatch-like door that must have led up to the roof, when a screaming sonic boom rattled the windows. An even larger explosion immediately followed the first and briefly lit the room and slammed the hatch shut, throwing everyone not wearing power armor off of their feet.

    I crashed back into Ali and we both tumbled down the few steps we had managed to climb. As we lay in a heap, the ceiling above us creaked and settled by about a foot, a few of the metal plates that lined the roof fell free and crashed to the floor, a shower of dust and broken concrete rained down afterwards.

    Ali made it back onto her feet first, followed shortly by myself, and we cleared the way for the screaming and crying group of kids to untangle themselves from the lower section of the stairs with Tevins help.

    ¡°Silence!¡± Shouted Katie as one of the surviving soldiers set her onto her feet about halfway up the groaning staircase. ¡°Everyone, back out! Quickly, and no more screaming!¡±

    The hatch at the top of the stairs had bent inwards, crushing the helmet and killing the armored soldier who had been opening the door, and the whole staircase now looked a little bowed, as if it were straining to hold the weight of the ceiling above.

    Everyone hurried to extricate themselves from the slowly buckling stairs and we reversed order before heading for the door we had just come through. I noticed Rin managed to slip past one of the mirror armored troopers and start quietly talking to Katie as we beat feet out of the room.

    Tevin and I exchanged looks as he passed, his face still showing strain and worry behind his flipped up visor, but his eyes remained hard and alert as he herded the group of tower kids ahead of him.

    I glanced over at Ali as we followed at the rear of the column, who was still following a single step behind me with a hand on my shoulder. ¡°You alright?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, sir.¡± She said as she kept her eyes moving from side to side, looking for anything that might threaten us.

    I grimaced, but at the same time was grateful to have her by my side. I hadn¡¯t known her for long, or even really gotten to know her at all on a personal level, but I was now used to her presence in my life and she was the one person other than Rin and Tevin who I felt I could trust.

    As we quick marched down the hallway, the building rattled again, causing everyone to stop for a moment and my still tingling legs to nearly slip out from under me.

    ¡°Wow! This is wild, I¡¯m pretty sure that was a hypersonic missile! Whatever this is, it¡¯s well funded and organized. I still have no idea how they¡¯re communicating either, I haven¡¯t detected anything I can break into or even see wirelessly. My guess is they have some real good imported tech, or are using mobile Links to coordinate through the Hub.¡± Max chimed in as we passed the elevator and started down one of the public staircases that ran down the middle of the building.

    I grunted in reply to the AI and focused on not falling down the stairs as we hurried down them. We caught up to an exhausted looking Rin, who was clinging to the handrail as the middle of the pack moved past him, we caught eyes and he started moving alongside me.

    ¡°There''s a hardened checkpoint on 60,¡± He stopped to pant a little, his face pale from the exertion after a life of sitting at a desk. ¡°I couldn¡¯t get a straight answer out of Katie.¡± He heaved in another ragged breath, and I couldn¡¯t help but notice his use of contractions, I¡¯d have to congratulate him for it later.

    ¡°They have more aircraft there, my bet is that is the plan. No clue where they will take us.¡± He finished as we continued down the stairs.

    I somehow managed a smile despite everything, and my mouth got away from me. ¡°Great, looks like we¡¯re moving out of here. I kinda liked the new place, too. I hope you packed your extra batteries and special coffee mug.¡±

    He shot me a glare, and Ali let out a snort of laughter from behind me. I turned and raised an eyebrow at her as we rounded a landing and passed a door with a sign for the 62nd floor. ¡°Was that a laugh?¡± I asked, full on grinning now.

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    ¡°Nothing quite like the prospect of combat to loosen one up a little, sir.¡± She replied, answering me with a slight grin of her own.

    I was about to say something else, but another explosion rocked the building causing me to stumble. Everyone seemed more prepared this time, we all managed to stay on our feet and after a short pause we kept moving.

    As we rounded the last set of stairs, we came across an unexpected scene. The staircase ended at a nondescript and windowless steel door, and there was a small crowd of people that were beating uselessly against it. Maybe a dozen men, nine women, and a handful of children with a couple of teenagers. They all looked terrified, and some of them looked like they were still in their pajamas.

    ¡°Open the door!¡± One of the men yelled as he banged his fist against the unyielding steel. ¡°I¡¯m a board member of the GDSC! We have children out here dammit!¡±

    ¡°Out of the way, people.¡± Katies clear voice rang out.

    The shouting man turned around, his face red with anger until he saw our group and who had spoken. ¡°Executive, it¡¯s about time someone with some authority showed up. The elevators are down and they won¡¯t let us through!¡±

    Katie made a spiraling upwards gesture with her hand, and two of her guards didn¡¯t even pause as they continued forwards and began pushing the small crowd to either side. Ali tried to pull me back away for a second, but when I didn¡¯t budge or turn to look at her she stepped in front of me, her short rifle at the ready.

    ¡°You should all return to your rooms, the elevators are closed for a reason.¡± She said without explanation.

    ¡°Bullshit! The Links are fried, I was lucky to be on a break when it happened!¡± The red faced man yelled back, one of the women in the group started to shed silent tears as she wrapped her arms around her teenage daughter and younger son. ¡°We have to get out of here, and I know there are dropships on this floor.¡±

    ¡°The checkpoint is locked down,¡± Katie paused for a moment, her eyes darting around before she continued. ¡°No one goes through in either direction, and unless a general evacuation order is given, David Cotter, residents are to remain in their rooms.¡±

    ¡°Then what are you doing, and who are they?¡± He pointed at Kaylee and her group, and then at me, before turning back to Katie.

    ¡°Yeah, who are they?¡± One of the other women yelled in a shrill voice as a guard pushed her back. The whole group then began to yell and push back against the troopers.

    Katie tried to yell over the noise, but whatever she said was lost to the sudden outburst of the panicking crowd. The third trooper who remained at Katie¡¯s side stepped in front of her and raised their rifle, but kept it pointed at the group''s feet.

    Katie raised her hands and stepped to the side of the trooper, still yelling. ¡°Quiet!¡±, was all I really managed to hear, other than something about disobeying and lawful orders.

    I heard one of the men''s shouts rise above the shouting, ¡°The tablet! It¡¯s how she controls the doors!¡± and I saw as the group seemed to go from panicked to angry. Everyone started pushing past the two soldiers trying to clear the way. A gunshot rang out, and I saw the third guard still standing next to Katie raise his rifle and his finger move to the trigger.

    ¡°Wait, stop!¡± I shouted, my voice drowning out everything in the cramped stairwell and shaking a light sprinkling of dust from the ceiling. Most of the crowd winced away from me, including Katie who took a step to the side and grabbed at her ear.

    ¡°You have a terrible memory, I tapped into your Megaphone engram. You should remember your boots next time the ground quakes too. You¡¯re welcome.¡±

    I blinked at Max¡¯s reminder, but didn¡¯t have time to deal with him. I stepped forward around Ali, who was holding both of her ears and glaring at me, and pushed down on the troopers rifle. I forced the barrel back down to the floor while everyone stared at me.

    ¡°Everyone is scared, but we shouldn''t fight each other!¡± I eyed the soldiers, who I knew could and would tear this group apart in a second if the crowd continued their aggression. ¡°Let us through, and if we can get you out of here, I promise I¡¯ll do what I can to make that happen.¡±

    Katie had recovered by the time I finished talking, and flashed me a scowl as one of the other men raised his voice. ¡°Who the hell are you?¡±

    ¡°Consul Spenser.¡± I answered, hoping my title would carry some weight even if they didn¡¯t recognize me or my name.

    ¡°A diplomat? Why would we take your word for it, snake?¡± The original angry and red faced man shouted back, stepping to the front of the crowd and causing Ali¡¯s rifle to snap up to aim at him. I looked him over and noticed he was holding a pistol in his hand.

    I glanced over at Katie, who immediately holstered her scowl and replaced it with a neutral expression and answered. ¡°Because I¡¯ll have each of you stripped of your licenses and your patences revoked if you don¡¯t. Clear the way, now!¡±

    This time I reached into my pocket and squeezed the little gray Megaphone engram myself as I added to her words. ¡°Now!¡± The walls practically shook with my voice and everyone but the power-armored soldiers flinched away from me again, even Ali.

    The added shock of my amplified shout cowed the crowd enough to comply, and they parted as the two mirrored soldiers herded them to either side. Katie stepped forward and swept through the door, while the third soldier held it open and allowed our little group to pass through. Once we had made it inside, all three of the guards followed us in.

    We were met on the far side of the door by five light blue armored troopers, similar to the color that I had seen on the roof of the Travellers station. They all had their rifles at the ready and their faceplates down, and one of them gave a nod at Katie as we passed through the room and another door that opened as we approached.

    On the far side of that was a vast room more than 10 meters tall, and crowded with tall rows of industrial shelves and cat-walks that ran around the upper edge of the warehouse-like interior. Two unarmored men in dark blue jumpsuits ran out from around one of the shelves and stopped in front of Katie, one of whom spoke up.

    ¡°We¡¯re ready for you Ma¡¯am, DCG-S7 and S6 are fueled and on standby. Please, follow us.¡± Midway through his statement he gave a confused look over at myself and the rest of our mismatched group, and I was glad that the extra group of Tevin¡¯s friends had been smart enough to keep quiet through the whole exchange.

    ¡°Good, lead the way, ADH Gosmer.¡± She replied.

    The two men snapped a sharp salute before turning around and leading us into the maze of storage. Ali only then stepped to the side and resumed her post right behind me on the right, her hand on my shoulder once again. As we moved along, I suddenly found myself walking next to Katie, who started speaking quietly as our footsteps echoed through the large reverberant room.

    ¡°You should learn to not make promises you cannot keep, Consul.¡± She said quietly enough that Ali was probably the only other person to hear it.

    I grimaced at her words, ¡°Are things really that bad? I thought this whole thing was under control.¡± I shot back, my patience and temper finally running too short to hold back. Things had come awfully close to a slaughter back there, and I was feeling especially unimpressed with her.

    She gave me a long look from the corner of her eye as we broke from the rows of shelves and found ourselves in a huge aircraft hanger sized open space that took up most of the whole footprint of the floor.

    ¡°Today''s events have transpired rapidly, Nick.¡± She said coldly as she turned her head to make direct eye contact. ¡°Some subordinates have the unfortunate habit of only reporting what they think their superiors want to hear.¡±

    I glared back for a moment, ready to say something I¡¯d probably regret, but was interrupted by the roar of engines being started and whirring to life. Ahead were two of the angular Goshawk drop-craft hooked into a rail system embedded into steelclad floor, one of which had its doors open while both had their engines spooling up for takeoff.

    Without pause, the two men continued to lead us up the ramp and into the interior of the craft, before showing us to a row of bench seats and helping us all strap in. This time Katie was the one who disappeared into the front cabin with two of her mirror armored guards, while the last of them strapped himself into a hanging harness near the doorway and braced himself with a handle set into the wall.

    I ended up against the wall near the front, with Ali ever present at my side. I got my own five point seat belt clicked into place quickly enough to have a second to look over our group before takeoff. I expected to see a mix of fear, maybe some anger, but was surprised when the only one who looked scared was Raschel. The dark skinned and striking girl who seemed like the quietest of the bunch looked like she was about to burst into tears, while the other three''s faces were set in grim determination. Andy and Kaylee exchange looks from either side of Tevin as he hooked his power armor into a dropdown harness nearby.

    ¡°Where are they taking us?¡± Raschel spoke up, her voice high and scared.

    ¡°No clue.¡± Rin replied, his own voice strained as he raised it above the roar of the engines.

    ¡°Away from here, anywhere is good.¡± Tevin added right before the doors closed and cut out most of the noise.

    ¡°Of course they wouldn¡¯t tell us.¡± Scoffed Bree, before all of us were slammed back in our seats by a burst of sudden acceleration. The doors to the hanger were explosively blasted open ahead of us in perfect timing with the magnetic rail system that launched us out over the burning city like a projectile from a massive coil gun.

 Chapter 53 - Crashing with style

    The initial burst of acceleration hurt, it was almost as bad as the takeoff in the dwarven spacecraft I¡¯d ridden into the undermountain on my first day. Luckily, it only lasted a few seconds before the engines of the Goshawk took over and pushed us all back into our seats again. There were a tense few moments where no one had enough breath to speak, and we all just held on tightly and rode it out in the cabin.

    Worried about the reports of aircraft being shot down over the city I¡¯d gotten from Rin earlier, I reached out to Max mentally. ¡°Can you get anything from the cockpit?¡± I asked, wishing this ship had something similar to the gunner screens that had shown the complete surroundings of the dwarv built spacecraft.

    ¡°Nothing that good, but there are some external cameras I can pull up if you want.¡± I was slammed into the wall and pushed even harder when Ali rocked into me as the aircraft banked hard, and then a shaky free floating screen appeared in front of me showing off the burning city below. There were bursts of smoke and sparks popping off all around us as the pilot set off decoy flares and swerved to avoid flak and explosions that reached up from the ground. I saw a flash of the other dropcraft as it dodged away from us.

    ¡°Oh! Finally, a signal I can see from the attackers.¡± Max broke in. ¡°Ah - maybe worse news than I¡¯d hoped for, they launched a drone swarm. I think I can take care of them.¡±

    We whipped through a massive pillar of smoke that rose from the ground and ripped it apart with the speed of our passage, then were all rocked in the other direction as the pilot swerved to avoid a swarm of tiny drones that rose up and tried to get out in front of the dropship. Some of the drones started crashing into each other, littering the field of view with even more explosions. A burst of smoke appeared directly ahead, an air-burst shell of some kind we had narrowly avoided, and the camera cut out as the point of view was washed with smoke again and hundreds of small pinging noises rattled against the hull of the aircraft.

    The ship began to violently vibrate, shaking us all in our seats and causing my teeth to clatter together. I clenched my jaw and braced myself, glancing over at a grim-faced Ali just in time to see Rin dry heaving on the other side of her. I was really starting to see this as the terrible idea it was, if our forces couldn¡¯t hold the airspace, what made them think we stood a chance out here?

    ¡°Relax, mate. You¡¯re going to break something. Loosen up. We bought the ticket, now we take the ride. It looks like we¡¯re going down, but it should be outside of the city. These things have pretty good stats for crash landings.¡±

    The shaking continued to worsen, and I saw both Tevin and the mirror armored trooper by the door turn their helmets towards each other as they exchanged some message without speaking. I realized I should have put in my earwig so I could talk with Tevin, and cursed myself for having fallen out of the habit of keeping it on me. Life had been good in the apartment, maybe too good.

    The rattling of the foldout seats and buckles was washed out and replaced by deafened ringing as an explosion hit the ship, punching a hole in the fuselage above me and letting the sooty light of day into the hold. For a moment, I was alternately slammed back and forth between the wall on one side of me, and Ali on my other side as we strained to both relax and hang on to our seatbelts.

    The peeling screech of tearing metal preceded another violent shake before we started to spin, pushing us into the wall again and holding us there as we spiraled down to the ground. My still fuzzy nerves turned to water and sloshed around inside of me as we were tumbled like a dirty load of laundry. Little red lights began to flash above the doors, and I could faintly hear the buzzing alarms through the constant abuse of my eardrums.

    We rolled our way down to the ground in a terrifying blur of smoke and twisted metal. Our ship crashed into something, slamming us around again and filling the hold with bitter tasting dust. A second later, we hit something else, knocking us around even more before everything started shaking violently as we crashed through a splintering series of obstacles until we slammed into the ground, then finally slid to a halt with a jostling crunch.

    I lolled my head around, taking a few seconds to get my bearings and realize I was hanging from the ceiling, the floor dropping away as a repurposed and steeply angled wall. The ringing in my ears was already starting to lessen, probably a side effect from all of the meddling Max had done within my body, and I was alerted to the movement of the chrome guard who was the first of us to start moving after the crash.

    He sluggishly rolled over and pulled a thickly built combat knife from where it was built into the armor of his thigh, and cut the harness that tied him to what used to be the ceiling but was now the wall. Tevin, who was suspended in the middle of the ship by his own straps, pulled a similar maneuver by yanking at a quick release toggle and nimbly spinning around to land on his feet. He then pulled his visor up and looked around, catching my eyes.

    ¡°You good up there?¡± He asked when he realized I was looking back at him.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine.¡± I replied as I worked to unbuckle myself from the seat. I took a moment to look down the row and saw that Ali was groggily blinking her eyes and moving like she had just woken up, while Rin was hanging limply. The rest of the unarmored newcomers were a mix of the same, with Bree seeming to be the only one who was conscious and starting to struggle with her own buckles.

    The only light, other than the flashing red alarms that still pulsed along with a steady chirping beep, came from a ripped out section of the hull above me that allowed the sunlight to stream in. I craned my head around as my hands automatically moved to my own harness to release myself, and noticed a mangled tree branch as thick as my forearm had been caught in the meter wide tear in the hull and was hanging partially into the cabin.

    ¡°Rin?¡± Tevin asked as he got his own footing and climbed up the now steeply angled floor to start checking on the others. ¡°Wake up, man, we gotta go.¡± He said as he started working to unbuckle him.

    Bree managed to free herself from her own seatbelt and crashed down to the floor, landing on her feet but crumpling to a heap anyways, while the mirror armored soldier picked his way across the new bottom of the ship and pried open the door to the cockpit. As soon as he opened the hatch, I could hear more alarms coming from up front and see thin wisps of smoke that wafted in on a slight breeze.

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    ¡°Ali, nap times over.¡± I said as I nudged her with my elbow. She opened her eyes and looked at me blankly for a second before her pupils focused and she gave a quick nod. I then scanned around the cabin and thought twice about releasing my harness. As I looked about, I spotted a familiar shimmering highlight outlining the gap in the hull above me and rolled my eyes.

    ¡°What? I¡¯m just trying to help.¡± Max added, appearing down next to the door to the front of the ship and miming as if he were looking through it. ¡°The doors are messed up and the cockpit is smashed to hell.¡±

    Deciding to take Max¡¯s advice this time, I twisted as much as I could and got a good grip on the frame of the bench before releasing the latches of my harness. I held myself in place and released the belts, hanging by one hand for a moment before remembering my disused mag-boots and triggering them. I stuck them to the wall and shuffled around until I was facing the seat, getting a feel for the boots I¡¯d purchased yet had not had a chance to really use.

    The boots felt secure and made the work of climbing out easy. I whispered a silent note to Max to remind me to use them next time they¡¯d be handy, something I was sure I could count on the smartass AI to do.

    I pulled myself up and through the hole in the top of the craft, noticing there was a gap between two layers of hull that had been ripped through. Crouched on top of the dropship, I turned my head from side to side to survey the crash site.

    There were a few fires and twisted ship parts scattered around a small field surrounded by leafy late summer trees, and the ship was wedged up against a row of rusted out pre-link cars and trucks that had been stripped of most of their parts left to rot. A few other piles of rusting junk laid amongst the grassy field, and there was a clear line of scraped dirt and destruction that led to a battered stand of trees behind us. A patch of the trees had been smashed to bits or pushed over and I could see the smoking city on the horizon through the canyon we had carved through the small forest.

    I looked back down into the ship and relayed what I¡¯d seen, noticing Ali had already freed herself and retrieved her backpack from where it was strapped underneath the bench. She was now hanging on her seat like a rock climber and looking up at me.

    ¡°Looks like we came down in some kind of scrap yard? I don¡¯t see anyone else out there.¡±

    ¡°You should have let me through first, sir.¡± Ali said.

    ¡°And we were doing so good on the sir thing.¡± I said to her with a grin.

    She pulled herself up after me and gave me a stern look before standing. She pulled out a little tube-like device that looked like a half of a set of binoculars that she held up to her eye to sweep around in every direction.

    ¡°Looks clear.¡± She said after turning in a full circle. ¡°For now.¡±

    ¡°Hah, no kidding.¡± I replied before looking back down into the ship, spotting Tevin as he helped the rest of the passengers as they regained consciousness. ¡°How¡¯s it going down there Tev, everyone okay?¡±

    He finished helping Kaylee down to the ground, then looked up at me and nodded. ¡°Yeah, maybe a few cracked ribs and plenty of bruises, but everyone''s breathing. Andy and Rin are still unconscious.¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Rin said weakly from where he was leaning against the wall in a heap. He started to struggle to sit up further, rubbing at his temple and wincing.

    ¡°Great, we need to get you all out of there.¡± I replied, before turning my head to look at Ali as she patted my shoulder to get my attention. She was pointing towards the rear of the ship at the smoking mess that used to be the main engine, towards little flickering flames that were starting to curl up around the back of the craft.

    ¡°Damn.¡± I nodded at Ali then turned back to look at Tevin. ¡°The back of the ship is on fire. Is that something to worry about?¡±

    Tevin frowned at me, but Rin was the first to answer. ¡°The fuel is mostly stored in the top of the hull and nacelles.¡±

    I looked around and realized the hole I had crawled through was where the port nacelle used to be attached. I looked at the gap between the plates I had crawled through and hoped that most of it had been emptied out as we spun out of the sky. As I was looking, motion from down in the ship caught my eye as the mirror armored trooper came back in sight from the front of the ship with a hastily bandaged and unconscious Katie slung over his shoulder.

    The soldier had his faceplate up, showing a grim flat line of a mouth and a narrow and stern face with a heavy dusting of gray in his trimmed brown hair. He scanned around the hold, and then looked up to me before speaking in a rough, almost gravelly, voice. ¡°Consul, you should be in cover.¡±

    I blinked at him and heard Ali mutter something under her breath beside me. I ignored her and replied to the guard. ¡°Then come give me some cover, everyone needs to get out of the ship.¡±

    He frowned, and then looked over at Tevin and frowned some more. ¡°Doors are jammed?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yep.¡± Tevin and I both replied, almost in unison.

    He nodded and shifted his grip on Katie, holding her like a handbag by a harness that was strapped around her torso, and then started to climb up what used to be the floor towards me. As he reached the opening, he reached up and used the strength of his power armor to peel the split hull open a little wider so he could fit through and carefully made his way up to tower over Ali and me on the top of the overturned aircraft.

    ¡°You know how to use that thing?¡± He asked Ali as he gestured to her rifle. Her eyes narrowed before she gave her signature curt nod.

    ¡°Good, you¡¯re on overwatch.¡± He told Ali before turning to me. ¡°We can¡¯t wait here long, get your friends and let''s go.¡± He said before hopping down to the ground and carrying Katie away from the burning drop-ship.

    Ali and I exchanged glances, and I rolled my eyes again before looking back down into the ship. ¡°Well that guy¡¯s fun. Tev, start hoisting up the unconscious people, we need to move. Rin, can you and the girls climb out of there?¡±

    ¡°Right, on it.¡± Tevin replied and moved to pick up Andy, while Rin and the others shakily stood and started to climb their way up, using the tie-downs and locking channels built into the ex-floor as hand holds.

    Kaylee made it up and out of the craft first and was quickly followed by Bree, when I was nearly scared out of my skin by what sounded like an explosion right next to my ear. I turned and saw Ali was aiming her little rifle out in the direction of the city.

    ¡°I downed a drone that was coming in from the city, they know we survived.¡± She said, followed by a short string of curses from Max because he hadn¡¯t been able to detect it.

    ¡°Was that your gun?¡± I Ignored Max and asked Ali, hardly believing that the little rifle could make such a loud noise.

    She nodded and kept aiming in the direction of the thrashed trees. ¡°Big round, short barrel.¡± Was all she said before she fired again at something I didn¡¯t even see. ¡°Hurry.¡±

 Chapter 54 - Its all a deep end

    A few moments later, we had everyone pulled out of the burning ship and lowered to the lumpy grass. Ali had fired a few more times at another incoming drone, actually missing a shot and muttering what I thought was a curse under her breath, which she refused to repeat. Once we were all on the ground, we moved as a group to follow the trail of the mirror armored bodyguard.

    We picked our way around a number of trash and scrap piles towards another thin line of trees that partially screened a big rusty pole barn. I spotted the soldier up ahead, crouching in the brush and long grass in the treeline¡¯s footprint. As we approached, I saw Katie sit up and look around, running her hands through her hair and straightening her outfit.

    I was at the front of the line, and she scowled at me as we approached. ¡°We have to make it north of Trade Route 40 to meet the quick reaction force that¡¯s coming for us. The bastards at central are refusing to send air assets farther south until the ground forces are in place.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still all up in her comm lines, she''s tried threatening, bullying, and pulling every string she can reach. I¡¯ve been trying to break into the bodyguard''s power suit as well, but it has better tech and he has it clamped down pretty tight.¡±

    The soldier grimaced and he and Tevin exchanged looks again, seeming to come to some kind of agreement before the graying bodyguard spoke up. ¡°I¡¯ll take point with the servant. Miss Roderegious, Consul, please keep your guests in line and stay close.¡±

    ¡°My uncle lives out this way, we could get a truck or something from his place.¡± Kaylee added as the bodyguard turned towards the treeline.

    Before he could reply, Ali broke in from beside me. ¡°I stay with the consul.¡±

    The soldier turned back around with his ever present frown, and before he could speak I cut him off. ¡°She¡¯s not a servant either.¡±

    His frown upgraded to an almost comical level. ¡°We are in an active combat zone and I have seniority, you will follow orders according to Edic 17, and I will get your fancy asses out of this alive if I have to carry you on my back.¡± His eyes flicked over to Tevin and he continued. ¡°I¡¯m not up to speed on how you fit into this, but we have to pull together on this, ranger. Understood?¡±

    Tevin looked over at me then calmly back to the soldier. ¡°Ex-ranger. I¡¯ve been released to the private sector, G-man.¡±

    Before the salt and pepper bodyguard could reply and escalate, Katie spoke up, her voice clear and commanding. ¡°Boys! Now is not the time, we must act. Captain Jorn, take point, the consul and his assistant can follow up. We sweep the building and see if we can find working transport. Now let''s move, we can argue about it later.¡±

    The Captain bristled and looked like he was about to insist, but after locking eyes with Katie for a moment, he restrained himself and turned to push his way into the scrubby bushes between us and the polebarn. I looked over at Ali, whose face was set in a neutral mask, and gave her a nod. She stepped forward to follow the man and I trailed along behind her, placing my hand on her shoulder in a reversal of roles.

    As we picked our way along the trail created by the heavy footsteps of the power armored soldier, I patted my pockets and finally realized I had lost my pistol somewhere in the chaotic evacuation from the residency tower and cursed my clumsy actions. I should have buckled on the holster and worn the dang thing instead of carrying it in my hand like I had.

    We quickly caught up to the captain, who had crouched inside of a leafy bush and waited for us just on the edge of the treeline. When we stopped behind him, he gave us an angry glance over his shoulder before closing his visor and continuing into the open yard toward the sliding door of the polebarn.

    I took in the landscape over Ali¡¯s shoulder as Jorn moved forward, and realized this was some kind of small compound. There were a couple of other smaller buildings clustered on the far side of the rusty red building, the closest of which looked like a worn down old wooden two-story house. The home had boarded up windows and peeling paint, and a sagging patch in the shingled roof that was covered with a fraying and sunbleached tarp.

    We moved into the clearing to follow Jorn and as I was looking over the house, the side door burst open and a gunshot rang through the open air as a white-bearded and hunched old man fired a round from an old shotgun into the air from the doorway. ¡°Hold it right there, trespassers!¡±

    Ali and I froze as he leveled the shotgun at us, and I spared a glance over to the mirror armored soldier, only to be surprised when he was nowhere in sight.

    ¡°I been hearin¡¯ all sorts of booms and bangs over yonder, but I aint takin¡¯ in no strays.¡± He jerked his head in the direction away from the barn and continued. ¡°The property line is that¡¯a way, and unless you want a bit of ventilation, I reckon you head on by.¡±

    Ali had her rifle sort of aimed in his direction, but had the barrel pointed more towards the ground, and while I couldn¡¯t see her face I sensed that she was hesitant to fire on the old man.

    ¡°Captain a-hole activated some kind of active cloaking. Those mirror shelled suits definitely have some outside tech built into them. Luckily for us, he also activated a comm channel to get permission to blast the guy from Katie, and I wormed my way into his onboard relay.¡± Max whispered into my ear, and a bright blue outline of the armored guard popped into my field of view.

    Thanks to the highlighted outline, I watched the soldier crush footprints into the trimmed grass of the yard as he crept closer to the old man who was still standing in his doorway. I was surprised he missed the towering guard in his shiny suit before he cloaked himself, maybe it was more difficult to see from a distance in the outdoor environment, or he had activated his stealth as soon as I¡¯d looked away from him?

    ¡°Katie¡¯s order came back, he has permission to shoot the guy, but only as a last resort. Captain Uptight is going to try to disarm him as long as he keeps talking.¡± Max updated me.

    Not wanting to see the old man killed for sticking up for himself, I raised my hands and stood up behind Ali. ¡°We¡¯ll be on our way, sir. The city''s a mess.¡± I paused for a moment, and decided to take a bit of a gamble.

    ¡°Our group is mostly women, do you have an old vehicle we can buy? We can pay well.¡± I asked, hoping that might make him see us as less of a threat.

    I figured if he was the kind of guy to take advantage of a group like ours, he would have shot first and asked questions later. If I was right, he probably leaned towards the chivalrous school of thought that women were to be protected and coddled, and might help us with the right motivation.

    His bearded face was difficult to read from across the 80 feet or so between us, and he hesitated for a few seconds, spitting to the side before shouting back an answer. ¡°I reckon I don¡¯t need roped into whatever you city folk have going on. You just be on your way now.¡±

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    I grimaced and looked back behind me, making sure my hands were still raised. I saw that Rin was just behind me, with Kaylee and her friends crouched in the middle of the treeline, tending to Andy between them while Tevin was facing backwards and aiming his rifle towards the still smoking city.

    I turned back to the old man and saw that Captain Jorn was much closer to him, and would be within reach in a moment. I yelled out again, hoping I could talk the man into some kind of deal. It didn¡¯t feel right, stealing from what was probably a poor old man, but our circumstances were dire enough that I was not going to try stopping the soldier if he refused.

    ¡°Please, what would it take? I¡¯ll give you ten thousand credits for a beat up old truck as long as it still drives.¡± I offered.

    The man raised his rifle to his shoulder. ¡°Look here, city boy, I don¡¯t want nothin¡¯ from you. I asked you politely to leave my property. So get on now, or you¡¯ll end up in the burn pile.¡± He spat off to the side again, and events shifted into high gear.

    His dark tobacco-laced spit splashed against the faceplate of Captain Jorn, who was just about to make his move. To the Captain''s credit, he barely flinched, and after a split second of hesitation caused by the spittle coating his helmet, he surged forward to grab at the old man¡¯s gun.

    In the split second that the Captain gave him, the grizzled old man fired off once in my general direction, and as he fell back into the doorway he blasted Captain Jorn¡¯s tobacco coated face with a third round. I threw myself to the ground, hearing the buckshot rip into the plantlife off to one side.

    I hit the dirt, flattening a small shrub and catching a mouthful of grass as all hell broke loose. Ali opened up with her rifle and more shots rang out, a distinct mix of calibers from unseen shooters in the upper windows of the rundown house.

    I heard Ali grunt, and then she dove down right on top of me as bullets whizzed and zipped through the brush around us. One of the girls still in the treeline started screaming bloody murder, and the gunfire continued as I tried to crawl out from under Ali.

    ¡°Stay down, sir!¡± She tried to convince me, but I couldn''t just lay there. I slithered forward on elbows and knees, moving down the treeline and trying to put the polebarn in between myself and the house. She stayed on my back, laying down flat against me to shield me with her body, but was light enough that she didn¡¯t slow me down at all.

    The gunfire continued for a solid 5 seconds, before a larger explosion sounded and blew the front of the house apart, causing the whole thing to ponderously collapse and crash down into the yard in a slow and dusty, somehow quieter, burst of violence.

    As the dust settled and I finally managed to roll Ali off of my back, I heard Tevin yelling out. ¡°Who¡¯s injured? Nick, Rin, where are you? What the hell happened?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m here, I¡¯m fine.¡± I called back as I rose to my feet. I turned a circle and pushed some leafy branches out of my way as I moved into the clear space. When I stepped out of the bushes, I looked around and saw that the yard was now filled with the splintered wreck of the house, mixed with jumbled furniture and sections of still mostly complete flooring and walls. It looked kind of like the aftermath pictures I had seen from the rare tornadoes that occasionally blew in from the west.

    Tevin was standing just inside of the cleared yard in front of the polebarn at the foot of the wreckage, looking around in every direction. He stopped and smiled in relief when he saw me step out of the brush. ¡°Damn good to see you. I thought those dirt-rakers took you out.¡±

    His use of the term ¡®dirt-raker¡¯ caused me to frown. I¡¯d asked him about it the first time I¡¯d heard him use it and learned that it was an intentionally derogatory and dehumanizing term. The shepherds used words like that to make it easier for the soldiers to justify the violence their jobs called for. Pretty much anyone who lived outside of the main Linked cities that dominated the importance of the nation was a ¡®dirt-raker¡¯ to them. Their deaths were minimized, justified, and necessary for the security of the nation from behind the veil of mental preparation the soldiers went through.

    It suddenly dawned on me that Nubranagin was no longer one of those cities. The Link had been destroyed and was not replaceable. The ship was like a router that every system in the city was centered around and connected to. While it was probably possible to buy something to replace some of its functions, I doubted anything would be as capable as the intact ship, and would probably cost an absolute fortune. I wondered if it would be worth it to the council when it would be much easier and cheaper to just amputate the city and let it fall from importance.

    ¡°You sure you¡¯re okay?¡± Tevin asked when I took too long to reply. He kicked a board out of his way and walked up to me while Ali fought her way out of the bushes behind me.

    Something shifted within the rubble of the house, drawing all of our attention back to the wreckage. A big section of wall shook, knocking over a half of a bookshelf and some clothing, and Captain Jorn pushed his way out of the debris. His faceplate was now cracked and missing a section giving a view of a bloodied forehead and blackened eye through the broken visor.

    Ali and Tevin had both tensed up, and lowered the weapons they had raised when they realized who it was. After a grunt and a heave to free himself from the pile, the injured soldier yelled out. ¡°Are the VIPs safe?¡±

    Tevin nodded and I looked around, spotting Katie as she pulled her heels off and carried them out from the treeline with the rest of the group. ¡°Yeah, I think we¡¯re good.¡± I said.

    ¡°Kaylee¡¯s injured.¡± Raschel interjected, pointing to a long wooden splinter sticking out from the girl''s collarbone, a bloody stain slowly growing in her increasingly tattered blouse.

    ¡°That''s too damn bad¡± Captain Jorn replied as he stomped his way out of the debris.

    I turned to Ali, giving her a questioning look and quietly asking. ¡°Still have that medkit?¡±

    She narrowed her eyes. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s in my pack, but its use is limited and that injury is not life threatening. The medical supplies are for you, not¡­ her.¡± She answered scornfully. ¡°I do not trust them, sir.¡±

    I chewed on my thoughts for a moment, wanting to help but also sort of agreeing with Ali. Something about the group was not sitting right with me, especially Kaylee after the whole thing with her contact card. I¡¯d been caught up in so much lately that it had seemed like a small and meaningless drama at the time, thinking that if she was living in the tower she must have been heavily vetted and important in some way. Yet now, with her turning up in the midst of everything, the strange action seemed much more important even if I couldn''t put my finger on why.

    Tevin moved to her and looked over the wound, speaking quietly and kneeling down. I was about to join him to get a closer look when Katie started issuing orders.

    ¡°We need to check that barn, we need a vehicle, we¡¯ll quickly be overrun on foot and be forced to fight again.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll check the barn.¡± I said, glancing at Ali and getting a nod of agreement.

    ¡°We should make sure the hostiles are dead, Tevin¡¯s grenade might have only stunned them and they could be hiding in the rubble.¡± Rin added, finally starting to regain some color after being allowed to sit within the treeline for a minute.

    ¡°That''s what happened, a grenade?¡± Katie asked, looking at Tevin.

    He shrugged as he prepared a bandage and wound treatment kit for Kaylee. ¡°I saw multiple shooters in the house, and how rickety it was. I hit it with a 40 mil thermobaric, lobbed it right into the doorway over the old man once Jorn was clear. He has to be mush, but anyone in the upper floors might have lived through the collapse.¡±

    I¡¯d stopped next to the barn¡¯s door to listen to his explanation, Ali still hovering close to me as we moved to look for a working vehicle. He finished speaking and reached up to pull the splinter from Kaylee¡¯s chest now that the kit was ready, but instead his head snapped upwards towards the sky and he dropped the kit and reached for his rifle.

    ¡°Drone!¡± He shouted, drawing everyone''s attention.

    ¡°Dangit, I was hoping no one would notice. I took that one over and am using it to keep watch, see if you can get them to not shoot it!¡±

    I sighed and rubbed a dirty hand over my face, whispering to Max. ¡®I can¡¯t just tell them not to shoot it. Make it look like it got hit and keep it out of sight or something. You should have said something sooner and been more careful.¡±

    ¡°Careful? You¡¯re one to talk, you didn¡¯t even let me sniff through that Kaylee girl¡¯s info and now you¡¯re second guessing me after it¡¯s too late.¡±

    Tevin, Jorn, and Ali both aimed their guns to the sky and started blasting off shots at a little speck in the sky.

    I reached over and bumped Ali¡¯s rifle, forcing her to miss her next shot, and when she looked at me with both confusion and frustration I mumbled a lame. ¡°I¡¯ll explain later, don¡¯t shoot that one.¡±

 Chapter 55 - Three on the tree

    The tiny speck of a drone in the sky began to move erratically, before falling off to one side and disappearing behind the trees off to the West. Tevin lowered his rifle and tracked the octocopter as it fell out of sight, frowning and turning to look at me as it vanished from sight.

    ¡°They don''t normally fall like that.¡± He commented, looking back to where the drone had disappeared and staring before shrugging it off and settling back in to tend to Kaylee¡¯s wound.

    Ali gave me a questioning look but thankfully kept quiet, and Captain Jorn grunted in agreement. Katie once again got everyone moving, ordering the uninjured girls and Rin to start searching for the weapons in the rubble of the house, and urging me to get busy looking for a vehicle. From the sound of things, it seemed that Andy had finally regained consciousness and started a short lived argument with Katie. I ignored the bickering and went with Ali to peel open the sliding barn door and scope out the dark interior of the polebarn.

    The old building had dirt floors, and was musty and unlit if not for a few leaf strewn skylights built into the steel roof. There were a couple of beat up old pick-up trucks and a few generations of tractors, including one ancient looking machine that was set up on jackstands and had a pile of tools and bottles of solvents laying next to it.

    A staircase followed up the wall to one side to a loft, partially stacked and cluttered with boards of various sizes that were leaned against the wall and bowed with time and humidity. Ali clicked on a bright little flashlight clipped onto the barrel of her rifle and swept it over the place, highlighting the cobwebs and piles of boxes and junk that lined the edges of the open space.

    ¡°I bet one of those trucks will start.¡± I commented, stepping over a tangled hose that lay on the ground, heading for the driver''s side door of the less rusty of the two vehicles.

    Truthfully, I didn¡¯t really know how to drive. I¡¯d seen it done in movies and such, and watched my parents drive us around as a kid, but since I¡¯d come of age in the city I¡¯d never had much of a reason or opportunity to learn how to do it myself.

    I tried the door and thought it was locked at first, but after giving it a solid tug it popped open and a dim light built into the ceiling sprung to life. I pulled myself into the seat while Ali did a circuit around the edges of the room, checking behind boxes and opening the various cabinets and even a refrigerator that lay amongst the clutter.

    While I might not have known exactly how to drive, I was confident that I knew how to start the old gas powered truck. I felt around, and turned the key that was still stuck in the ignition. I felt it click and the truck lurched forward and made an awful grinding screeching noise. I stopped twisting the thing before I broke it and instead stuck my head out of the open window and looked over to Ali, who was headed back to me after she had finished her search.

    ¡°How do I start this thing?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not like that¡± She said with a serious look that had a ghost of a grin hiding somewhere within it. ¡°Move over, I¡¯ll see if it starts. I have a class 2 vehicle license.¡±

    I slid over the long bench seat to the far side of the cabin to make room for her and watched closely to see how she did it.

    ¡°This one¡¯s not an automatic, so it¡¯s a little different to start than what you¡¯ve probably seen.¡± She said, wiggling a little lever that came off of the side of the steering wheel and pressing one of the pedals all the way down to the floor and jamming the lever upwards before turning the key.

    The engine sputtered for a moment, and she pumped a second pedal lightly with her other foot as the engine struggled to life. After a moment, the thing coughed and the whole truck started to vibrate, before jerking and letting out a loud bang that almost sounded like a gunshot and finally settling into a stable idle.

    ¡°There we go.¡± She said, before releasing both pedals and stomping on the far left pedal. It clicked a few times and stayed in place when she moved her foot, and she looked over the faded dials behind a dusty layer of clear plastic built into the dash.

    ¡°The dash might be broken, but it says it has three quarters of a tank of fuel and is holding RPM¡¯s and temperature.¡± She said, before leaning back into the seat and looking over at me.

    I smiled. ¡°Epic, sounds like we¡¯re in business. Most everyone will have to ride in the back though. I wonder if anyone else can drive, you should probably be ready with your rifle while we¡¯re on the move.¡± I mused.

    She gave me a long look while I contemplated our next step, and after a few seconds she quietly asked. ¡°Sir, this might not be my place, but¡­ why was that drone safe?¡±

    I froze, feeling my face react to her simple question that had no simple answer. I looked away, chewing on my lip and taking a long moment before deciding on giving her a half answer.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ I can¡¯t really explain, it would be too dangerous. Let¡¯s just say, I have another ally that none of you know about.¡±

    She nodded, and thankfully stopped staring at me and joined me in looking out into the dusty interior of the barn. ¡°Understood, Nick. I trust you. If that''s all you can tell me, then that''s all I need to know.¡±

    I breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Careful there buck-o, that was pretty close. Your clingy shadow might be willing to accept that answer, but I doubt your other two friends would, especially the shut-in.¡± Max whispered into my mind. I shoved his distrustful thoughts to the side and pushed myself into action.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get the others and go, we need to keep moving.¡± I said as I shouldered open the truck''s passenger door and stepped out. I turned and looked at her through the cab. ¡°I¡¯ll get the door opened the rest of the way, and ask around to see if anyone else can drive.¡±

    When I left the barn and pushed the heavy sliding door the rest of the way open, I discovered the rest of the group busy clearing away enough debris from the collapsed house to give the truck room to back out. Everyone had heard the engine roar to life, and Katie kept everyone moving and motivated with her lashing tongue and threat of the ever looming Captain Jorn to stay on task.

    Stolen story; please report.

    I got an angry glare from Andy, a frustrated and stubborn look from Rin who was standing off to the side and clutching his laptop, and a ¡®get your ass over here¡¯ wave from Katie. When I went to see what she wanted, she got me working on moving pieces of the broken house out of the way for the truck.

    Even though the power suits would have made quick work of clearing the way, Tevin and Jorn stood overwatch, scanning the sky and horizon for drones and pursuing forces while the rest of us struggled to clear the way. I was by far the strongest of the bunch, and found I had to make an actual effort to not show my nearly inhuman strength to the others.

    While we worked, Ali backed the truck out into the area we had cleaned, and I asked around to see if anyone else knew how to drive. I got a scoff from two of the tower girls, and an apology from Kaylee who actually knew how to drive but couldn¡¯t operate the truck with her now patched and slung arm.

    In the end, although she was not happy about it, Katie was the one who ended up trading places with Ali in the driver¡¯s seat. It turned out she owned all sorts of recreational vehicles that she drove around her family land in her limited off time as a hobby. She continued bossing everyone around as we inched the truck out of the barn and through the rubble, only now from the inside of the truck cab while using the smudged mirrors to keep track of all that went on around her.

    With only one more section of broken wall with a hunk of still attached flooring to move, we were all startled by the back window of the truck cracking and Katie letting out a shriek, followed a second later by a distant clap of gunfire.

    ¡°Sniper!¡± Captain Jorn yelled out, ¡°Everyone hit the dirt!¡±

    I threw myself to the ground again, aiming for the tall grass under the trees, and everyone not wearing armor followed suit. Other than Rin, who calmly sat down and scooted into a bush he had been loitering next to after proving rather ineffective at hauling junk. Katie disappeared as well, laying down inside the truck and screaming for the captain to kill whoever had shot at her.

    ¡°They¡¯ve tried sending more drones, which I¡¯ve stolen and have in a holding formation sort of in the direction we need to go. The ground forces have finally caught up, they have some of the Shepherd¡¯s MRAPs that I¡¯ve managed to scramble, but they also have older vehicles that don''t have enough electronics for me to connect with and shut down. I finally managed to catch some of them talking to each other when they were launching one of the drones though, it seems like a coalition. One of them wanted to bless the drone and the other argued that it would be a waste of time and that ¡®the oppressors¡¯ would get away unless they moved quickly.¡±

    I grimaced at the intel update from Max, but was grateful nonetheless. We probably would have already been captured or killed without his help, and I cursed Katie and the rest of the city''s leadership for letting things get so out of hand. They spent so much effort and caused so much inconvenience and suffering with all of their security measures, only for it to be entirely ineffective and the city to be overrun despite it all.

    I lifted my head and looked around, hearing our shooters return fire back in the direction of the city. Tevin and Jorn stood tall and obvious in the cleared space, shooting controlled bursts into the distance, while Ali had her little rifle propped up on the side of the truck and was holding her fire while she looked for whoever had shot at us. A bullet zipped by and chipped a piece of Jorns helmet off with a bright spark as I watched, not even causing him to flinch as he blasted off a 5 round burst back at the hidden sharpshooter.

    I chewed my lip some more, knowing we couldn¡¯t afford to take the time to take out the sniper while the rest of the mob closed in on us. I pushed myself up into a crouch and stayed low as I moved over to the truck.

    ¡°More are coming!¡± I yelled out, smacking Rin¡¯s foot as I skirted around him. ¡°Everyone, get in the truck!¡±

    After pulling open the passenger door, I found Katie laying down flat and hyperventilating on the floorboards. She gave me a scared look and I lowered my voice to a calmer speaking level. ¡°C¡¯mon, Katie. You have to move the truck.¡± I turned to look at the path we needed to navigate to get into the clear road that led away from the house. ¡°It¡¯s only another 15 feet or so, straight back, and we¡¯re going to just have to run over whatever is in the way. Stay low, and we can have one of the armored guys direct you.¡±

    She gave me a wild-eyed look and I really thought she would argue, but she set her mouth into a determined line and bobbed her head once before crawling back into the driverseat, slouching low to stay below the level of the window. I climbed in next to her, and felt the truck gently rock as Ali pulled herself over the side and into the truck¡¯s bed right behind me.

    I elbowed out the broken glass of the passenger door and yelled out ¡°Tevin, direct the truck! Everyone else, climb in or you''re getting left here!¡±

    I stayed low, peeking over the back seat through the broken window and watched as Rin slid over the tailgate, followed by the rest of the group who helped a struggling Kaylee flop into the growing pile of people. Tevin walked up to the side of the truck and held onto the side, and I felt the truck lean heavily as he stepped onto the running board before the thing snapped off and the truck rocked back in the other direction, causing Katie to mumble a curse under her breath.

    Tevin stepped back and resumed firing controlled bursts to the south east, opening his helmet''s visor so he could shout directions to Katie. ¡°Turn left and just run over that bush, if you get stuck I¡¯ll push you through.¡±

    I frowned, wishing Tevin could keep his visor closed while the occasional bullet pinged off of his thick armor. I thought it was supremely stupid that the suits prevented external communication through a speaker or something, and resolved to force an answer out of Katie once we were clear of our current situation.

    ¡°I could fix that! I¡¯d just have to bypass some blocks and shut out the safety overrides they have built into all of those suits.¡± Max chimed in, but I shook my head in answer. Someone would definitely pick up on that and start asking questions I couldn¡¯t afford to answer.

    Katie let out a frustrated muffled scream-adjacent noise and gunned the engine, causing the truck to surge backwards. I could hear snapping branches and the vehicle rocked heavily as we bounced over the uneven ground under the trees.

    ¡°Turn back to the right!¡± Tevin shouted, causing Katie to spin the wheel hand over hand and the truck to sway to the side as we flattened the bush and curved into the cleared lot, arcing around until the front of the truck was facing away from the enemy gunfire and the collapsed house. Another bullet whipped through and punched a spiderwebbed hole in the windshield, causing me to flinch and Katie to let out another strangled noise as she slammed on the breaks.

    I peeked over the back seat again, and realized I could barely see through the heavily cracked and abused rear window, so I punched out a portion of it and swept some of the broken safety glass to the side. Ali gave me an indignant look as I showered her with little sparkling cubes as she knelt behind me in the truck¡¯s bed. I watched as Captain Jorn tried and failed to lower the tailgate before resorting to simply ripping it off of the back of the truck.

    The armored Tevin and Jorn sat down on the end of the truck, causing the whole thing to squat and the aged frame to complain as thousands of pounds of armored trooper loaded into the back. Seeing everyone was loaded in, I turned to Katie and told her to get us out of here.

    ¡°I can''t see!¡± she shrieked, so I turned to look ahead through the slightly less cracked passenger side of the windshield and guide her.

    ¡°Forward, and turn back to the left a little, then go straight until I say. Hard right on my mark.¡± I replied, keeping my voice calm to hopefully ease her own obviously peaking stress.

    She nodded and gunned the engine, still huddled low and looking rather awkward with her long legs cramped by her low slouch, her skirt riding up as she desperately tried to remain concealed while driving the old truck. I ignored her and fixed my eyes on the road.

    ¡°Mark, mark! Turn right, 90 degrees. Farther!¡± I said with increasing volume as she nearly rammed us into a tree and bounced us through a shallow ditch. I reached over and jerked the wheel a little bit farther and we just barely made the turn. We took out a mailbox and lost a side mirror as we drifted onto a gravel road, kicking up a plume of dust as we puttered away from the army of dissidents and whatever it was they had planned for us.

 Chapter 56 - Pallets, chest-high

    ¡°Max, how far behind are they?¡± I grumbled under my breath, using the wind whipping through the nearly windowless truck cab to mask my lowered voice.

    ¡°Their vehicles are gaining, but still mostly stuck within the city. I¡¯d guess you have about a half an hour before some of the faster ones catch up to you.¡±

    I clenched my jaw and thought for a moment, then had an idea. ¡°Can you use some of those drones you said you were collecting against them?¡±

    ¡°Hey! That''s a great idea. I have some contact detonation quad copters that are running low on battery anyways.¡±

    The truck started to whine and complain, causing Katie to release the gas and stomping a bare foot on one of the other pedals before she forced one of the levers coming off the steering column down a click. The engine noise changed, and after a brief grinding sound, leveled back out into what I expected of the gas powered truck.

    ¡°Which way is north!¡± Katie screeched over the wind as we approached an intersection. She was now sitting properly in the bench seat, having abandoned her cover once we were blocked from the sniper fire.

    I blinked at her, unsure myself at this point. Once we were clear from the country house, the trees crowded in close to the winding and hilly backroad, creating a shaded tunnel that we were zooming down recklessly.

    ¡°Technically, left, but you should go straight through this one and take the next one instead. The first one is a dead-end.¡±

    ¡°Take the second left.¡± I answered.

    Katie glanced over at me, but was too focused on keeping the overloaded truck on the road to look for long. She punched the gas down even harder and we kicked up a spray of gravel as we blasted past the 4-way stop sign. I faintly heard an explosion off in the distance.

    After we slid around the next turn, I felt a tap against my shoulder and looked back to see Kaylee reaching around an annoyed looking Ali to tap my shoulder. One of her arms was bound up in a crude sling fashioned from a long repurposed bandage, and while she looked a little haggard she was determined to get my attention.

    ¡°My uncle¡¯s is only a couple miles away, northwest away from the city!¡± She shouted over the noise of the crunching gravel and whipping wind.

    I looked over my shoulder at her, and noticed that both Bree and Andy were now armed with antique weapons they must have dug out of the rubble of the collapsed house and were scanning the trees along either side of the road. That kind of worried me, but I figured it was better that more of us were armed.

    The truck hit a pothole in the gravel road and bucked hard, bottoming out the tired old truck''s suspension and giving off a loud jarring thunk. I nearly bit my tongue off, and swallowed the welling blood before replying.

    ¡°Who is your uncle?¡± I questioned, feeling distrustful of her even if all I really had to go on was her probably being a clout chaser. Everything had been happening too fast for me to find the time to really think about her motivation to slip me her card like she had, and my best guess was that she was just trying to dig her way to the perceived gold of my noble title.

    ¡°He¡¯s a builder!¡± She replied. ¡°He has all sorts of vehicles and equipment, and I¡¯m sure he could help us, or you could just drop us off there.¡±

    I glanced over at Rin, who was curled up in a defeated little ball in the corner of the truck bed behind Tevin¡¯s hulking armor. Deciding he wouldn¡¯t be any help, I looked over to Ali who had been staring at me through the conversation. Her eyes were hard and she was in a ready crouch, but she offered no opinion. I even glanced over at Katie, who even if I only trusted about as far as I could throw her, that was probably pretty far these days. Unfortunately, she was too busy white knuckling the steering wheel and navigating the terrible twisty road to spare me even a second of attention.

    Sigh. Once again, it was all on me to decide what to do. This whole being in charge thing sucked.

    ¡°You think he¡¯d let us take a better vehicle?¡± I asked after the truck bottomed out again.

    ¡°For sure! He¡¯s probably not even there.¡± She said, smiling and steadying herself on the roof of the cab with her uninjured arm, giving me a great view down her tattered blouse that I ignored.

    Instead, I looked back over the huddled crowd in the back of the truck. Tevin and Jorn seemed to be getting along fine, I trusted the graying captain as an extension of Katie, who seemed determined to get me out of the danger zone as long as I remained a valuable asset. Rin was completely out of his element, and was currently a total liability. It would be great if we could drop off the four kids from the tower and stop having to keep an eye on them.

    I heard another faint explosion from behind us, followed a second later by an even larger one.

    ¡°W00t w00t! I nailed one of their vans, and it must have been carrying some ordinance! Check this out, hah!¡±

    A little vid screen popped up in the corner of my vision, showing the first person aerial view of one of Max¡¯s drones as it dropped down towards a rusted and scrap covered van racing down a country road. Just as the van loomed close enough to fill the screen, the view changed to an overhead and more distant perspective. I watched as the small drone slammed into the driver''s door and exploded, blasting fire from the front windows. The van kept going for a second, drifting off the side of the road until it crashed into a tree and was blasted apart by a massive explosion that ripped the whole van into shreds and sent a towering mushroom cloud into the sky.

    My eyes widened at the video, torn between a mix of emotions from the video. I was never much of a fan of war footage, but knowing that whoever was driving that van was carrying enough explosives to do that and was chasing after us, I was relieved that Max had managed to stop them.

    ¡°So?¡± Kaylee asked, giving me a slightly nervous smile and drawing my attention back.

    I looked back to her, grimacing when I saw she was still leaning forwards towards me and obviously angling herself in an attempt to charm me. I flicked my eyes to Ali, who was right next to her and also still watching me. I had to stifle a laugh when she rolled her eyes at the other girl''s attempt.

    ¡°Heh-ah¡­ fine. Sure, we can drop you off and see about getting something better. I don¡¯t think this old truck will make it much farther than that anyway.¡± I finally answered, still unsure if it was the right call but feeling forced by the circumstances. Getting rid of the four tag-alongs from the tower would at least mean I had less to worry about.

    ¡°Great!¡± Kaylee beamed a dazzling smile at me. ¡°It''s the third left, then the first right, look for a big blue and white building behind a gate!¡±

    I turned back around to guide Katie and worry over my decision. Problems kept stacking up faster than I could deal with them, or even think about them. Missing the trials was a constant thought in the back of my mind, plus I hated that I had dragged my friends into this deadly clusterfuck. Then there was the constant simmering worry about my own future now that I was tied into national politics, newly complicated by the growing guilt I felt for the poor folks we had gunned down and stolen the truck from. I knew we didn''t really have a choice in our desperation, but I still felt bad about it.

    Wanting to distract myself and seeing my chance to question Katie about the armor, I spoke up. ¡°Katie, why doesn''t the shepherd''s armor allow them to talk to people through a speaker or something? It¡¯s going to get our guys killed out here if they keep opening their visors to talk to us.¡±

    She didn¡¯t look at me, too busy driving the squirrely old truck. ¡°They have remote communicators who can speak through the speakers if necessary. It¡¯s not healthy for them to interact with the mob when they are on duty.¡±

    ¡°That smells like bullshit, Katie. Isn''t there an override or something?¡± I pushed.

    She shook her head. ¡°Not anymore. It was a unanimous decision by the Council after the famine riots a few years ago.¡±

    I grew quiet and chewed on the answer, numbly talking her through the turns as they came and letting the churning thoughts wash against my will like stormy waves against the stony cliffs of my determination.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    After a tense 15 minutes of driving away from the sporadic explosions that followed us into the countryside, we pulled into a well groomed gravel drive that led up to a tall steel barred gate flanked by a long spike-topped fence. Beyond the gate was a manicured lawn dotted with trees that a long driveway snaked through on its way to a medium sized house surrounded by a number of massive garages and outbuildings.

    The truck had complained and started making some terrible rattling noises after the abuse we had put it through. So while I was worried about what situation we might be rustily rolling into, I was feeling slightly more confident I had made the right call as we stopped. Even with Max screening our retreat with stolen drones, he had reported that they had stopped launching new ones and he was running out of the explosive equipped weapon systems.

    Everyone but Katie hopped out of the truck, and an excited looking Kaylee jogged up to a small electronics panel built into the stone pillars on either side of the gate. I found myself standing next to Bree on one side, and Ali on the other. I looked over the rifle she had picked out of the debris from the building, an old eastern style thing with an internal magazine of fairly large bullets.

    ¡°Did you find any other arms in the rubble? I¡¯m feeling a little naked without some kind of weapon.¡± I asked, hoping she had another pistol or something she¡¯d be willing to share.

    She glared at me out of the corner of her eye and replied with a flat. ¡°No.¡±

    Taken aback, I turned over to Ali and raised my eyebrows at her, noticing she was staring at the girl. I waited for a moment to see if she would give me some kind of response, but she only continued watching the tower dweller.

    The gate rolled open and Kaylee turned back around to us and did an excited little jump, before wincing when the jolt reminded her of her injury.

    ¡°So, this is your uncle¡¯s place?¡± Tevin asked, looking just a little bit skeptical.

    ¡°Yeah! We should pull the truck in behind some of the trees. The gate will close itself after a minute or so.¡± She smiled back.

    Katie, still in the driver seat, revved the engine a little and we all cleared the path for the truck to drive in, we all followed in its wake while she parked it behind some trees and shrubs off to one side. As the truck rolled by, I noticed that the frame had bent upwards a little in the middle where the cab met the bed, which made me feel even more secure in my choice. If we had hit a few more potholes hard enough, the heavy load of power armored soldiers in the back might have split the truck clean in half.

    We split into a few groups as we walked up the driveway towards the buildings. Kaylee and Tevin ranged out in front, the younger seeming girl excitedly chattering away to the hulking and good natured soldier. While Andy and Bree comforted a still rattled and tear-stained Raschel in the middle of the pack. I was walking near the rear with the gear-hauling Ali and a rather sulky Rin, while a barefooted Katie and Captain Jorn followed up.

    I could hear Katie complaining about the gravel road before she stopped to put her heels on and took a moment to snap the points off of them to make them into awkward flats. Ignoring the chatter amongst the other groups, I turned to Rin.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been quiet, what''s on your mind?¡± I asked.

    The scrawny and greasy shut-in didn¡¯t even look at me, and took a few seconds to say anything. ¡°Everything¡¯s jacked up. I have no data, no feeds, and I don¡¯t trust any of these people. I¡¯m pretty sure we¡¯re all going to die and we are just delaying the inevitable at this point. It¡¯s nearly 50 miles to TR 40, and it¡¯s a miracle that the dissidents have not caught up to us already.¡±

    I saw Ali quickly glare at Rin for a moment before going back to scanning the horizon and the looming buildings, clutching her rifle a little closer to her chest at his words.

    ¡°He didn¡¯t mean you, Ali. He¡¯s just cranky without his coffee. Isn''t that right, Rin? And hey, you¡¯re using contractions, it¡¯s a whole new era.¡± I replied, trying to inject a bit of humor into the moment.

    Rin scowled and continued to stare straight ahead as we plodded along. ¡°That is true, I do trust Alianora more than the rest of these people.¡±

    ¡°See? He¡¯s warming up to you.¡± I said as I lightly elbowed Ali, who ignored me and continued scanning around for threats.

    ¡°She¡¯s a pro, like the captain. Excellent at her job and as serious as cancer. Though, I do wonder who she would side with if the order came down from Katie.¡± He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as she stiffened.

    It took a moment for Ali to reply, and when she did it was with a cold and dangerously low voice. ¡°The CLE did give me this assignment, which I am grateful for. But Nick has treated me as more than just a cog to be used, consistently, with both actions and words. I don¡¯t care who the orders come from, I¡¯m on his side.¡±

    I damn near blushed at her comment, feeling rather unworthy of that level of loyalty. Rin cracked a cynical grin and let out a huff of laughter. ¡°Heh, see.¡±

    The group ahead of us finally made it to the first huge blue and white hanger-sized garage, which lay across from an actual paved parking lot between the house and outbuildings. I could hear Kaylee still chattering away at Tevin as they disappeared around the slight angle, and I caught eyes with Andy as the second rag-tag line of our loose formation rounded the corner and he looked back at us.

    Changing the subject to something more important, I continued pestering Rin with questions. ¡°So, what could you dig up on Kaylee and her friends?¡±

    He shrugged. ¡°She has told the truth. She is attending an online academy course and lived with her mother in the tower, who worked for the local branch of Unity. She does indeed have an uncle, her father¡¯s brother, who is a builder and lives outside of the city. Her father was a soldier who died in the military action against Osage two decades ago.¡± His hollow face cracked into another slight grin. ¡°My diagnosis is ¡®daddy issues¡¯, a fate far too common.¡±

    We rounded the corner as he finished his statement and stepped through an open doorway built into the edge of the building beside three massive garage doors. I could see Tevin and the others ahead of us inside, using a flashlight built into his armor to illuminate the dark interior and scan over the fleet of various vehicles parked about halfway into the place.

    We moved towards them as a group, moving past some chest-high pallets of lumber and huge industrial wire-netted bags of stones and cinder blocks that were stacked high to either side of the tire-marked space. I¡¯d turned to Ali and was about to make some kind of joke when I noticed she had tensed all the way up and had gone so far as to shoulder her rifle, her eyes darting in every direction at once.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I asked her as we got within 20 feet or so of the other group and Katie and Jorn finally caught up to us inside of the building.

    She didn¡¯t answer, and instead pushed her way in front of me, grabbing me by the shoulder and pulling me down into a hunched headlock, just as the door slammed shut behind us and blocked the light streaming in from outside.

    Bright spotlights flared to life from atop some of the heavy equipment on the far side, blinding me and causing me to raise my hand to shield my eyes. A gunshot rang out and time seemed to slow to a crawl as I watched Tevin¡¯s armored silhouette, outlined by the spotlights, fall and crash to the ground ahead of me. The others darted away from him and disappeared into the contrast behind the spotlights.

    Jorn uselessly called out from behind us, ¡°Ambush!¡±, and we all scrambled for cover. I felt Rin grab onto me as Ali pulled me over to one of the piles of boards and we crouched down behind it.

    ¡°Fuck! I saw Tevin go down! We have to get out there.¡± I hissed.

    ¡°Wait.¡± Ali replied steadily, while Rin cracked open his laptop and started furiously typing away.

    More gunshots rang out, and I heard Katie scream over the clomping of Jorns heavy boot steps as he indiscriminately blasted the interior of the building with his heavy rifle. The building shook with an explosion and the wall behind us flared with oranges and yellows.

    I saw Jorn toss Katie behind one of the pallets of stones, and turned away to rise to a crouch and peek over the top of the barrier. One of the vehicles was now burning and lighting up the place, and some of the spotlights had been blown to bits by Jorn¡¯s well aimed shots, giving me a semi-clear view of Tevin laying alone in the middle of the floor as continued muzzle flashes sparked from a dozen different locations on the far side of the building.

    I gripped my plasma knife and pulled it from my pocket, fully ready to charge in and tear absolutely everything ahead of me into tiny scorched bits, when I saw Tevin move. He struggled to push himself to his hands and knees and closed his visor before collapsing back down onto his chest, his rifle laying on the ground next to him.

    I vaguely heard someone yell ¡°Traitors!¡± and realized it was me. I began to climb over the pile of lumber and felt a hard sideways jolt to my knee as my feet were swept out from me, causing me to collapse back into an awkward jumble.

    ¡°Stay down!¡± Ali shouted right in my face, before she pulled a grenade out from her lumpy chest armor and pulled the tab. I felt my legs go numb, and briefly panicked that I had been paralyzed as I failed to rise again.

    ¡°She''s right! Do NOT get us killed. Tevin¡¯s vitals are bad, but his armor is stabilizing him.¡± Max broke in. ¡°I¡¯ve turned off your legs for now, because you don¡¯t seem to be able to control yourself. Gimme a sec to see what I can do.¡±

    The gunfire slowed down now that everyone was behind cover, only bursting back to life for a few seconds when Ali tossed her grenade across the clear floor and blasted apart one of the pallets on the opposite side of the entrances. I could hear pounding footsteps over the crackling flames and groaning injured enemies as I lay there reeling with the shock of the betrayal.

    Once the gunfire calmed back down, a clear voice rang out from the darkness behind the few remaining spotlights.

    ¡°Slaves, you finally have a choice! Throw down your weapons and turn over your masters, and you can be free from the grinding boot they have held you under. We don¡¯t want to kill anyone, but to save you and our people! Give us your masters and we will finally have a bargaining chip to negotiate with. The unworthy Kings who rule you through the so-called council will have no choice but to grant concessions if they want their overseer and alien puppet back!¡±

 Chapter 57 - Bumper cars

    ¡°You shot him!¡± I yelled back into the crackling quiet. Despite Max insisting that Tevin would be okay, I was livid. Had one of the traitorous tower dwellers taken the shot? Did they spend all this time getting close to Tevin only to shoot him in the face when his guard was down? I¡¯d rip their arms off and beat them to death with them if only my legs would work.

    Ali pushed me back down behind the stacked lumber and hissed a quick, ¡°Be quiet,¡± before pulling another grenade from her pocket and pulling the primer.

    I turned my head and looked over at Rin, who was still furiously typing away at his laptop. What was on his screen made no sense to me, boxes and windows were being opened, copied, and pasted into other boxes before lines of text streamed across and he minimized them to start over in a new window. ¡°How screwed are we?¡± I asked him, but he only grunted in reply, using a tone that could only mean ¡®I told you so¡¯.

    I turned to look back towards the door when I heard Jorn¡¯s footsteps once more, just in time to see him come out from behind a ripped up pallet stacked high with bags of concrete that were leaking dust all over the floor, adding to the haze that wafted around in the draft from the flames. He shot off ar few bursts and thunked a grenade across the open area that exploded in a blast of sticky fire that added to the burning stink of the building. He advanced forward a few rows, and then sidestepped behind a pile of stones.

    While the return volley washed over Jorn¡¯s armored form, Ali almost casually chucked her grenade over our cover, then ducked back down next to me. I was facing the wrong way to see where it landed, but the explosion rattled the building and drew the ambushers'' attention back to us after Jorn stepped back out of view, inviting more bullets to tear splinters from the mass of lumber that shielded us.

    ¡°Here, you wanna do something? Drive this thing around while I break into more of them.¡± Max said as one of his hovering video screens appeared in front of me. I felt something drop into my hands, and all of a sudden I was holding a console controller like Tevin used to use back at the apartment. I blinked at the controller, wondering how Max had created it from thin air.

    ¡°It¡¯s not real, I¡¯m just making it feel real for you. Even the Impex can¡¯t create something from nothing. Now dance, monkey, dance! Hahahaha¡± He cackled as I gripped the controller.

    The video screen showed the back line of the fleet of vehicles. Some were on fire, and there was a small crowd of people hustling around, mostly with their backs turned to me. The lighting was terrible, so it was difficult to make out any details, but some of them looked to be wearing older styles of power armor while most of them wore old plate-carriers.

    Not really knowing what Max had just given me control of, I stuffed my knife back into my pocket so I wouldn¡¯t lose it for a second time, then worked the joysticks back and forth and pulled on the triggers. I quickly discovered that whatever it was could spin in place with the joysticks, and the triggers raised a wide steel bucket with a two-pronged gripping claw into the view of whatever camera I was looking through. The bumpers controlled the angle of the bucket while two of the buttons opened and closed the claw. Of the last two buttons, one seemed to be useless, while the other turned on a bright floodlight that illuminated the area ahead of me

    Now understanding that I was controlling some kind of earth-moving equipment, like I had seen at Rosso¡¯s quarry, I clenched my jaw in determination and pushed both joysticks forward.

    I raised the bucket to waist height and opened the claw, causing the vehicle to whine as it surged forward with a low growl of diesel smoke. Catching a pair of the attackers off guard in my spotlight and from behind, I squished them between the bucket and the back of a huge van. They flailed around and fired off a few shots as they died, and without backing up I pushed one joystick up again and pulled the other down, causing the vehicle to spin in place and the bucket to smear them across the back of the van.

    Pushing forward again, I rammed the bucket into the side of a parked truck to the left of the van, causing the whole back end of the thing to slide and crash into the next truck and pin another ambusher between the two. As the truck slid, it also threw off the balance of the two guys who were standing in the bed and aiming rifles and a spotlight at us on the other side of the building.

    From the left of my screen, off in the darkness behind the line of vehicles, I saw the sparking flares of muzzle flashes and heard bullets pinging off of thick steel plating as the group caught on to what was happening. An arcing spurt of liquid sprayed across my field of view and the bucket lowered to the ground without me telling it to, causing it to noisily scrape against the concrete floor as I drove forward again.

    A few people scattered ahead of me, and I had a brief glimpse of Andy as he pointed at my camera view and rushed out of my way. Seeing him working with whoever these bastards were reignited my fury and I turned the machine to follow him. Frustratingly, my vehicle seemed to lose power, stopping its forward momentum and only slowly turning in place. I frantically pushed at the buttons and wiggled the joysticks back and forth in an effort to chase after the scrawny tower dweller.

    After a moment of uselessly trying to steer the thing after him, A power armored helmet filled my camera''s view, before the screen filled with static and was quickly replaced with a new view that showed a power armored soldier grappling with a small Beau-Cat skid steer.

    ¡°They took the camera out. This ones a truck, but the front camera was already destroyed so you¡¯re looking out of the rear facing back-up camera. Have fun! I have an excavator out back starting up, but it¡¯ll take a few seconds before it¡¯s warmed up and ready to rock.¡±

    With a growing grin, I gripped the controller and pushed my joystick forward towards the guy that had disabled my last vehicle. I heard a V8 engine roar and tires squeal from across the room as the camera raced forward and smashed against the back of the armored soldier. Crushing him between the bumper and the heavy equipment and giving me a great view of his armored back-plate as it caved in like a tin-can.

    ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± Rin asked from beside me, but I spared him no attention as my camera view went a little glitchy and washed over with static for a moment.

    I ignored him and pulled back on the joysticks, hearing the truck rev in response and sending it careening off in another direction before a crash from the far side of the building let me know it had hit something else and more gunshots drowned out everything. I couldn¡¯t see what I hit with it before the screen fuzzed out entirely and switched over to a new view of the great outdoors.

    This new angle showcased a medium sized dump truck and a huge tangled pile of tree limbs a few meters away. The vehicle''s camera had a massive boom arm that blocked off a chunk of one side of the screen, and the tips of two massive treads poking out along the bottom. Using the same control scheme, I raised the bucket and used the tracks to spin the excavator around until the backside of the blue and white building came into view. There were more doors, and I noticed a few more beat up vehicles stashed behind the building and screened by some well trimmed shrubbery. One of the better looking vehicles had a tarp strung up alongside it to create an awning over a mass of equipment and tables.

    As I rumbled the excavator in the direction of the building, a pair of wide-eyed guys stuck their heads out from behind the equipment and stared at me on my approach, so I swept the bucket towards them. The two guys scrambled away in different directions as the bucket crashed through the awning and whatever it was they were working on, turning the cabinets and screens into a tangle of broken electronics, bent tables, and frayed wires.

    One of the guys ran over to the building and pulled open a man-sized door before darting into the dark interior. I pushed my joysticks forward and followed him towards the building, raising my bucket higher with the intent to smash in the entire back wall when I was interrupted by Ali throwing herself across me and blocking my view of the hovering screen.

    The world turned white and a huge explosion blew out my eardrums, leaving me blind and deaf. My eyes recovered fairly quickly, but my ears were filled with a muffled whine that drowned out the hail of gunfire and the crackling from the growing fires all throughout the interior of the garage. I blinked a few times and felt Ali struggle to climb back off of me. She paused for a moment yelling something into my face that I couldn¡¯t hear, and I noticed she had a long cut along the side of her head and half of her face was a sheet of blood. She gave me one last pained look before she rose to silently fire off a few shots over top of the barrier. I turned and saw Rin, still sitting next to me but now hugging his laptop¡¯s screen tightly to his face and curled back up into a little ball.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Max¡¯s clear voice cut through the chaos. ¡°Just a flashbang, your group will be surrounded in a moment if you stay put though. If I give you control of your legs again, can you behave yourself and get further back into the corner? I¡¯ll take over with the excavator and distract the horde.¡±

    I grit my teeth, still angry enough to charge in on my own, but seeing Rin curled back up into a ball and Ali injured and worried changed my perspective. I couldn¡¯t let my anger control me, and had to act if I wanted to keep my friends safe.

    ¡°Fine.¡± I grunted out. ¡°Just tell me when to move.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll know it when you hear it!¡± Max gleefully replied. He was having way too much fun with this whole situation, which should have worried me more than it did.

    I waited for a beat, reaching out and grabbing Rin by an arm and Ali by the belt in preparation to run towards the back of the building. I yelled out, ¡°We need to move!¡±, although I could only barely hear my own voice over the ringing in my ears, just as daylight flooded into the room, the walls all tilted over a few degrees, and feeling returned to my legs all at once.

    Taking that as the sign Max had told me to wait for, I surged up to my feet and raced towards the piles of stones and pallets of mortar, yanking Ali from her crouch and ragdolling Rin along my other side as I went. I awkwardly pulled Rin under one arm, changing my grip to grab him around his middle and held him against my side, and ended up just tossing Ali in the direction I was headed after she fought back and I nearly accidently smashed her against the next pile of boards.

    Luckily for Ali, my aim was solid and she landed on top of a battered mesh cage full of rounded stones. She skipped across the top of the pallet and I got what would have been a humorous view of her shocked face any other day, just as she rolled over and fell out of sight. Jorn stepped back out from behind his cover and started blasting with his rifle again, his once pristine mirrored armor now splattered with chips and cracks from absorbing so much fire.

    I slid around the next mound of stones and let myself fall back behind it, depositing Rin in a pile next to me. When my back hit the stack of rocks, I felt a sharp stabbing pain shoot through me and realized the arm I had used to toss Ali was now hanging limply to my side and I could no longer move it or feel my fingers at all.

    ¡°You took a bullet to the shoulder during that dash. I guess they threw out the plan to capture you. Don¡¯t worry though, I¡¯ll get that clotted up and stitched back together pretty quickly. It''ll take a while until you can use that arm again though, so I¡¯m going to numb it out and drive these things around for now. Just hold tight for a minute while I run these guys down.¡±

    I grimaced at Max¡¯s comment as I felt my whole shoulder and arm go completely numb. I turned my head to check on Ali and saw her slowly picking herself up from the floor behind the next pallet. We caught eyes just as she raised her head and she gave me an impressive glare, a look I¡¯d never seen on her normally stiff and professionally polite face.

    Jorn ducked into cover next to Ali, distracting her from me and drawing a smattering of bullets that tore into our cover as we all hunkered down for a moment. My hearing was starting to return already, something I was getting used to as a benefit of having an increasingly useful AI parasite. I could now faily hear the crunching of steel and the rumble of a massive engine as the excavator ripped the back of the building to shreds, all while more trucks, vans, and heavy equipment started playing bumper cars and grinding the opposing force between them.

    The shooting towards us all but died out, and I took the opportunity to peek over the top of the pile of large stones we were hiding behind. The back of the building was utter chaos. Most of the rear wall had been torn out by the excavator, which was now spinning around and smashing its bucket into anything that got in its way, while the still operable vehicles rammed into each other and crushed what was left of the attacking force between them in a moshpit of squealing tires and twisted metal. Fire coated swathes of the stored building material, mostly in the front row of vehicles and the pallets and shelves on the far side of the clear space near the entry doors.

    When I turned back and sat back down behind cover, I spotted Jorn as he crouch-walked up to loom over me, leaning in close with his broken faceplate. He didn¡¯t say anything at first and just stared at me through the hole in the broken visor, his blackened and bloodshot eye angrily looking into mine.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what the hell is going on, but we are going to have words when all of this is said and done, Consul.¡± He shouted over the crashing demolition derby going on nearby. With his threat made, he rose back up to his feet and clomped around the rock pile, firing off carefully aimed shots with one hand and holding his other arm up to cover his broken helmet.

    I frowned, wondering how I would explain all of this to the serious soldier. While I fretted over the man''s threats, Ali crawled over to me while favoring one of her legs. She sat up and fell back heavily next to me, leaning against my side and using her arms to pull her leg into place. She fumbled with a pouch on her belt with a small loop of bright orange cord tied through the latch.

    I glanced over and checked on Rin again, seeing him rapidly blinking his eyes and struggling to work on his, surprisingly undamaged, laptop once again. After a quick look to check him over, I didn¡¯t see any bloodstains or bones sticking out, so I decided he was okay. I turned back to Ali and found that she had opened the pouch and was wrapping a strap around her leg.

    ¡°You got hit?¡± I asked her, but she either ignored me or did not hear me and continued working on the strap, cinching it tight and then twisting a little handle around a number of times and causing it to clamp down and leave a deep indent in her thigh.

    Everything had gone to hell so quickly, but it was starting to seem like we might be through the worst of it. With the attackers busy being turned to paste by Max¡¯s commandeered vehicles, and Jorn advancing on them, I wondered what had become of Katie. I had not seen her since the very beginning of the firefight, but assumed that Jorn would not have left her on her own unless she had either already been killed or was relatively safe.

    That thought was quickly abandoned in favor of what I really wanted to do, what I needed to do, which was to check on Tevin. Last I had seen he was still lying prone in the middle of the clear space while the bullets and grenades whizzed by over him. Max¡¯s word that his suit would stabilize him had to be true, or¡­ I don¡¯t even know how I would react.

    While the back of my mind warred with itself to sort out my priorities, tinted by an insidious undercurrent of creeping guilt at the brutal deaths I had just dealt out, I refocused on my surroundings. Ali needed help immediately with her wound, she was fumbling with the little kit she had opened and looked to need another hand. I pushed the thoughts aside and quickly discovered that she had indeed been hit in the leg, a through and through shot a few inches above her knee. I ripped her pant leg open as she ripped a packet of gauze apart with shaky hands, then took over as she struggled to stuff it into one side of the wound.

    ¡°Hold still, talk me through this. I think I know what to do.¡± I tried to reassure her, glancing at her face and seeing her gritting her teeth. Despite it all, her carbon-infused steel-reinforced will held and she gave me one of her quick little nods, which in turn reassured me. If she was still present enough to be herself and give one of those nods, things couldn¡¯t be too bad.

    ¡°Pack the gauze into the wound, both sides.¡± She grunted out between clenched teeth.

    I nodded in reply and followed her instructions, wincing with sympathy as I prodded the bundle of gauze into her leg with a finger. She let out another muffled grunt and I looked over to check on her again, getting an angry look in return before I grabbed another packet, ripping it open with my teeth before stuffing the other side of her wound, this time causing her to let out a stifled scream.

    ¡°Almost there. Bandage now?¡± I asked, rifling through the little medkit. She nodded again, and I pulled out a rolled up bandage from the pack, and noticed a little pen thing clearly labeled in bold letters ¡°PAINKILLER¡±.

    I shifted around and awkwardly pulled her leg up into my lap so I could use my one working arm to wrap it around her leg, taking a second to rip the bottom of her pant leg off entirely. After I finished with the bandage and before she could tell me not to, I popped the cap off of the painkiller pen and jammed it into her thigh above the wound. She had endured enough thanks to my decisions for the day.

    ¡°Damnit, sir, I¡­ didn¡¯t¡­¡± She trailed off as the painkiller quickly kicked in and her pupils dilated.

    ¡°You¡¯ve done enough, we¡¯re through the hard part, thanks to you.¡± I smiled at her, before dragging one of the loose stones over and propping her leg up over it. ¡°Rin! Make sure she stays put, I¡¯m going to go check on Tevin.¡±

    Rin, slightly scorched and entirely disheveled, looked up from his little ball and gave me a worried look that I¡¯d never seen on him before.

    ¡°No arguing this time, just do it, I¡¯ll be right back.¡± I ordered before peeking up over our cover and dashing out towards Tevin¡¯s limp form in the middle of the floor.

 Chapter 58 - Hamster ball

    I climbed the pallet of stones and jumped clean over the torn up bundle of lumber we had been previously hidden behind, then dashed across the now well lit floor of the garage towards Tevin¡¯s limp armored form. The vehicles were still crashing around at the back of the shop, and the occasional familiar buzz of Jorn¡¯s massive rifle sounded off amongst the chaos, but the return fire had entirely cut off in the havoc Max had stirred up to save our asses.

    I slid to the ground next to Tevin, looking over his back and seeing multiple chips and scratches on his armor, but nothing that looked fatal or even serious. There was a small splatter of blood on the concrete beneath him, so I rolled him over to check his front. His mask was down and his armored form was rigid, which made rolling him over difficult but not impossible thanks to my improved strength. Once I got him rolled onto his back I checked over his faceplate, and saw that too was intact and opaque.

    ¡°Max!¡± I called out. ¡°Can you let me see him?¡±

    ¡°Uh. I¡¯m a little busy, but I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± he replied, and a second later his reflective faceplate shimmered like the glowing quest markers before his helmet disappeared. ¡°It¡¯s a digital representation I cobbled together with sensor data from the internal scanners, with a dash of artistic interpretation. He¡¯ll have a new, especially gnarly, scar and needs surgery or a day in a full Link booth at some point, but he¡¯ll be alright.¡±

    I examined my oldest friend, and tried not to empty my stomach. A bullet had torn into his cheek, mangling his face and jaw and narrowly missing his eye. The shot must have bounced off of his skull or something, because the exit wound looked like it had torn one of his ears clean off before the bullet was caught by the interior of his helmet.

    ¡°Did you see who shot him?¡± I growled at Max, feeling my anger flare up again.

    ¡°Yeah, it was Andy, which was lucky. He had a pistol and beat Bree to the punch. If she would have hit him with that rifle she picked up I don¡¯t think he¡¯d have made it. They took off once things started going tits-up and are barricading themselves in the basement of the house. Hah. They think they can hide. Want me to overpressure the gas lines and blow the place up?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± I replied harshly, patting Tevin¡¯s shoulder and watching as the helmet reappeared. I leaned over and picked up his giant-sized rifle with my good arm and rose to my feet. ¡°I need to talk to them.¡±

    I worked my way through the burning line of crashed and destroyed vehicles to the back of the building, looking for Jorn. I found him behind the building near the equipment van I had smashed the awning off of earlier. He had found a surviving ambusher and was holding him at gunpoint while the unarmored and unarmed man cowered on the ground next to the open sliding door of the van.

    ¡°Who are you working for!¡± Jorn growled with intonation of a man who had repeated the question too many times and was losing his patience.

    ¡°The people!¡± The man replied. He looked like he was a little older than me, and was tanned and lined by a life spent in the sun. He was laying on his back with his hands held up over his face to block his view of Jorn¡¯s rifle only a few feet away.

    ¡°You should tell him.¡± I cut into the conversation as I approached, noticing Jorn¡¯s helmet swivel slightly in my direction before locking back onto the downed man.

    ¡°I did!¡± He insisted, giving me an angry look with hard determined eyes. ¡°I work for the people. For the lifeblood of the land!¡±

    I frowned, unsure how to proceed. If he was spouting off slogans like that and the menacing power armored trooper couldn¡¯t intimidate him to say more, I figured it would take some actual torture to get him to say anything else. That was a bridge I was not willing to cross, even in my anger.

    ¡°Barney Gondsun, 25. He¡¯s a drone mechanic for one of the big Ag corps by day, and a freedom fighter for whatever the hell ¡®By Blood for Home¡¯s Glory¡¯ is. From the info I¡¯ve managed to scrape off the internet, they seem to be some kind of homegrown terrorist cult bent on overthrowing the government and reinstating the old constitutional union. The other guys call ¡®em BHGs and they argue a lot with the more religious ones.¡±

    I scrunched my face up at Max¡¯s intel, he could really be useful when he had a mind to help out. I squatted down next to Barney, resting the oversized rifle I was carrying over my knees and looking him in the eye.

    ¡°Alright, Barney, you don¡¯t have to tell me who you work for. Just tell me what your job here was, and maybe we¡¯ll let you slink back to your real job wrenching on drones in the fields, and not report your actions back to whoever oversees the hole in the dirt you crawled out of.¡± I said coldly, only feeling slightly guilty for my implied threat to the man''s family or community.

    The guy''s eyes flared with surprise and anger at my words. ¡°I work for the people. Our people, you have to understand, you were one of us.¡± He repeated.

    I shook my head and traded a quick look with Jorn. ¡°I may be a worker, and not some nepo-tastic appointed bureaucrat, but I¡¯m not like you. I worked hard to get where I am, and happened to get lucky. I never picked up a weapon and waged war on my neighbors because I thought life wasn''t fair. Life¡¯s not fair, plain and simple. We¡¯re all just doing what we have to, and these guys,¡± I jerked my chin towards Jorn, ¡°don¡¯t care about your blood or glory, or your life and family.¡±

    I lowered my voice and narrowed my eyes. ¡°Tell me what you were doing back here, or I¡¯ll give him the greenlight to make you tell me.¡± I bluffed.

    Truthfully, I was unsure if Jorn would even follow a request I made of him, let alone an actual order. I was hoping the sprinkling of facts I¡¯d gotten from Max, combined with the threat of the well-known brutality of the Shepherds, would push him over the edge.

    Barney looked down and whimpered for a moment, and I nearly lost my resolve. My anger had carried me this far but was slowly being chipped away by the pity and sympathy I felt for the man who could have been a coworker or classmate if circumstances had been a little different. Still, I held a hard look on my face and waited for an answer. I¡¯d come this far and wouldn¡¯t back down while it might still work.

    After a tense few seconds, he mumbled something. ¡°What was that, Mr. Gondsun?¡± I prodded, waiting for a moment as the man shook and tried to hold back tears, averting his eyes from both Jorn and myself and instead staring down at the blood spattered and trampled earth.

    ¡°I¡¯m a tech.¡± He mumbled. ¡°I was in charge of setting up and maintaining the rig.¡± He clenched his jaw and balled his fists before continuing. ¡°You bastards intercept anything that goes through normal channels. Radio, landlines, satellite, even most of our runners get picked up. Your damned council has an iron grip on everything, so we use the wretched Links.¡±

    He paused and rubbed his side for a moment, but seemed to be unable to stop once he had started. ¡°The zealots hate it, but it¡¯s the only way we¡¯ve been able to get anything organized. We¡¯ve been planning for months, years, and then we get word that you are about to start pulling in more and more alien gear and funding, and we had to act before your city stronghold became too important.¡±

    He spat down on the ground and glared at me for a second, his eyes burning with impotent and hopeless fury.

    I held his gaze, unsure what he was seeing in my face but not wanting to look away. I¡¯d gotten what I wanted from him, and was given a spark of hope for my own plight by his words. The anger in his eyes grew and I realized I must have given away some sign of satisfaction at his answer.

    ¡°So you have a Link? That must have been expensive.¡± I stood up and looked into the open door of the van, seeing more complex looking equipment cabinets and banks of small screens. ¡°Is it in there? How¡¯d you afford a piece of tech like that if you all are suffering under the boot of the council?¡± I asked as I stepped around the man and looked into the van.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Evidently my reaction and tone had gotten to him, because he did not reply. When he refused to answer after a few seconds, Jorn took it upon himself to jump back into the interrogation. ¡°Tell him, and we¡¯ll leave you here for the QRE to pick up and take in. Or not, and you¡¯ll be loaded into the biohazard trailer when it finally has the time to come through and clean up this mess, probably in a few weeks after everything that might be identifiable is already too rotten to care about.¡±

    I let Jorn take over, not really caring about anything else the man had to say. My mind was already whirling with the hope that all of my effort to join the dwarves might not be a total waste of time after all. In the back of the van was a bulky box containing the recognizable spinal sensor, half-helmet, and saddle of a Link. I leaned back out of the van and took a few steps back, then walked around the vehicle and inspected it for damage.

    When I had swept the bucket through the awning attached to the side, it had ripped a couple of connection points out of the body near the roof line. Yet despite everything that had gone on around the van, other than those ripped out areas and a few bullet holes through the body, it seemed intact and ready to roll. I looked at Jorn, feeling a tight grin return to my face.

    ¡°He answered what I really needed to know, I¡¯ll let you make the call Jorn. I¡¯m going to check on the others and let you finish this. When you¡¯re done, I need your help at the house. The rats burrowed in, and I think they¡¯ll have more interesting things to say than this guy here.¡± I said before turning back to the garage to let the rest of my allies and friends know it was safe enough to come out.

    After checking on Tevin again and not seeing any real difference, I skirted around the growing fires and found Rin and Ali where I had left them. Ali flashed me a loopy yet strained smile as I kneeled down next to her, and Rin gave me a deadpan stare that warned of an impending interrogation.

    ¡°Hey, are you two good to move? We need to get you out of this building before it comes down or something.¡± I asked.

    ¡°Of course, sir.¡± Ali said with a little salute, which caused her to lose her balance and start to slide over before I reached out and caught her by the shoulder, pushing her back into a sitting position.

    ¡°I would have already moved, but she is too heavy for me.¡± Rin answered, giving me a bit of a glare for having put him in charge and taking off like I had.

    ¡°I can carry her, I think I found a vehicle to take off in too. We just need to load up Tevin as well.¡± I replied as I scooped Ali up into a fireman''s carry. She complied but also complained.

    ¡°This isn''t how you¡¯re supposed to carry the wounded, sir.¡±

    I just grunted in reply and rose to my feet, gesturing to Rin to hand me Tevin¡¯s rifle that I had set down so I could pick up Ali. Rin looked at me, to the rifle, and then back to me.

    ¡°I can¡¯t lift that thing, it weighs like 80 pounds.¡±

    I sighed and squatted down, awkwardly picking it up and barely managing to keep Ali in place on my shoulder, only succeeding because she grabbed onto me and stopped herself from sliding off.

    ¡°Have you seen Katie? I lost track of her after the shooting started.¡± I directed my question at Rin, who shrugged. Instead, Ali surprised me with a slightly muffled answer from her perch over my shoulder.

    ¡°She¡¯s two pallets back, sir.¡±

    I thought to myself, I¡¯d have to give her a raise after all this. Injured, drugged, loyal through a deadly situation she could have avoided by turning on me. Her being assigned to me might be the luckiest thing to happen through this whole messed up situation.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get her and go.¡± I said to no one in particular and we went off to look for the bossy lady.

    We had a brief moment of confusion when we searched the whole corner and came up empty. We looked in the last place Ali had seen her, then did a few circuits through the little maze of pallets and leaking bags and boxes that were stacked through the area, all without finding a trace of her. After a wasted minute and a half of searching while the fires continued to grow around us, I thought I noticed the soft sound of someone snickering near the corner.

    I turned my head to look in that direction, straining my ears to listen over the noise of the fire and occasional cook-off of ammunition from dropped rifles. I zeroed in on an empty space between a bullet pocked and palletized appliance of some kind, and a tall stack of boxes of tiles that had been shot up and splattered around on the floor. Between the two there was an oddly circular spot clear of debris in the gap that the sound seemed to be coming from.

    As I got closer, the quiet laughter got a little louder and I could distinctly make it out as male, which confused the hell out of me. Who else would be in here and laughing through a situation like this?

    ¡°Do you hear that?¡± I asked my companions.

    ¡°It¡¯s all burning, sir.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    I frowned, wondering what was going on when the quiet snickering grew to a loud guffaw before I realized it was Max that I was hearing. The bastard was laughing for some reason, and just as I was about to lay into him, the cleared spot shimmered and wavered for a moment before a sort of holographic ghostly image of a scared looking Katie appeared huddled in the gap.

    ¡°She popped a stealth shell, an expensive little item the Gon sells that creates a cloaked and shielded bubble. She can¡¯t see or hear out of it, and doesn''t know it''s safe to turn off yet. They only last an hour and are a single-use item, so she¡¯ll snap out of it eventually. They¡¯re tech is good, it took me a min to pick up on it.¡±

    I scowled, stuck on what to do next. I couldn¡¯t just tell Rin and Ali what Max had just told me, I had no good excuse to know any of that. Maybe Jorn would know and have a solution?

    ¡°Screw that guy, he¡¯s busy trying to get more info out of Barney back there. The field is moveable, you could just roll her out of here like she was in one of those hamster balls.¡±

    That mental image tipped my scowl nearly back to a grin. The idea of Katie rolling around and tumbling along as we pushed her through the burning building was certainly appealing, and would have been enough to make me laugh on another day. Right now though, that didn¡¯t seem like the right answer, it still didn''t explain how I knew she was even there to my friends. Maybe I could coax one of them into coming to the same conclusion I had been given? Ali was an ex soldier who might have come across something like that before, and Rin seemed to know everything.

    I looked around, feigning confusion and giving Ali a view of the spot I knew that Katie was invisibly hiding in.

    ¡°Could she have used an item or something to hide? Jorn had stealth built into his armor, maybe Katie has something like that?¡± I mused, hoping I wasn''t being too obvious.

    Ali made a long ¡®hmmm¡¯ noise that had a note of musicality to it, while Rin gave me a searching and serious look.

    ¡°It is possible, she would certainly have the funds to afford some items for personal defense and safety.¡± Rin answered after a beat, eventually looking away from me and searching around the area. After a few seconds, he reached down and picked up a piece of broken tile and tossed it at the clear spot of flooring. We both watched as the tile bounced off of the air and landed on the floor, shattering into a few smaller pieces.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± He said, while staring at me pointedly.

    I knew right then that Rin was definitely starting to question what was going on with me, but I didn''t have the time to get bogged down in whatever explanation I¡¯d have to give him, so I quickly changed the subject.

    ¡°Right, see if you can get whatever that is out of there. We have to drag Tevin to the van too.¡± I said, gesturing clumsily with the rifle while trying not to drop Ali.

    Rin stared at me for a moment longer, his sleep deprived and intelligent eyes scrutinizing me as I watched the lightning fast gears turn in his head. Luckily, instead of pressing me for answers immediately, he turned and began to feel around in the corner to find the edges of the invisible shell. It only took him a moment to realize that whatever shield she was in was rounded, or rather a sort of oval shape, like an egg, with a small flat bottom.

    As he rolled her out of the corner, I watched the ghostly Katie being tumbled around as he rocked the invisible shield onto its side and got it rolling towards the entrance. The whole image was probably fabricated by Max, but it still got a grin out of me as I followed him towards one of the closed garage doors near where we had entered the building.

    It took a few extra moments to realize that the garage doors had been locked down, but Rin quickly figured out how to bypass the jams they had put on them, and the fires at the back of the shop were growing large enough that we didn¡¯t want to exit that way again. I worried a little for Tevin as he lay in the middle of the cleared floor, but figured his armor would protect him for now. I could go back in for him after I got Ali safely outside of the smoky building.

    A few seconds later, we circled around the outside of the building and I set Ali down on some of the broken equipment cabinets next to the van. I was relieved to discover that Jorn had bound the man we had interrogated, tying his ankles and feet to the bumper of a completely smashed car nearby. He gave Rin a strange look when he noticed he was miming rolling an invisible barrel to us, and a look of recognition flashed over his face after a moment.

    ¡°Dammit. That''s the CLE?¡± He asked, giving me the most concerned look I had seen on the man''s face through this whole situation. ¡°She¡¯s going to be pissed.¡±

 Chapter 59 - Keep the engine running

    ¡°We need to get Tevin out of the building.¡± I said, ignoring Jorn¡¯s question about Katie in the shell.

    The man didn¡¯t pop his faceplate, and continued to address me through the cracked visor, so his voice was a little muffled as he spoke. ¡°Answer my question, is that the CLE?¡± He insisted.

    I stared back, but did not want to argue with him so I gave in and answered. ¡°Yeah, we think it¡¯s her, unless someone else has whatever the hell tech gadget she used to create an invisible shield bubble. She¡¯s safe in there, are you going to help me with Tevin?¡±

    ¡°I saw him take a shot to the face.¡± Jorn replied. ¡°His heart might still be pumping thanks to his armor, but no way the kid survived. We should go before anyone else catches up to us. ¡±

    ¡°No, we bring him with us.¡± I shot back, anger rising back into my voice. ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to be brothers in arms or something? I expected better of you, captain.¡±

    ¡°He made it clear, he is in the private sector. My job is to make sure the CLE makes it through, even keeping you alive is a secondary objective.¡±

    We had another short staring match, and then I realized I was wasting time by arguing with him while the building burned down around my friend.

    ¡°Fine, then get everyone loaded into the van and pull it around front, I¡¯ll go get him myself. I won¡¯t be long.¡± I replied as I turned to walk back around the outside of the building.

    ¡°90 seconds!¡± Jorn called after me, before he started attempting to boss Rin and Ali around to get the van loaded up and moved. I resented the tone he took with them, but knew they could handle themselves. I had to trust them to handle the captain for now while I looked after our most injured companion.

    Thankfully, the draft of the fire was flowing in through the open garage door at the front of the building. The billowing clouds of smoke rushed through the excavated and almost entirely missing rear wall, leaving me with a view clear of smoke and with the wind at my back as I hurried across the bullet casing strewn floor towards Tevin.

    His armor was still locked up and he was in the same stiff position on his back, I faltered for a moment as I realized he must weigh over a thousand pounds and I still only had one good arm. I was starting to feel some tingles in the tips of my fingers, but my right arm still hung limply at my side while I was carrying Tevin¡¯s rifle in my left.

    I clipped his rifle back onto the bracket it normally rested on, connected to his chest plate, and dragged him slowly out of the burning building with a tenuous grip in the gap between the plates of his shoulder. I had to strain for each step, feeling the hard interior corner of his armor dig into my fingers. Thankfully, the armor was mostly made up of smooth or angled plates and slid along the concrete without digging in. It would have been almost easy if I had a rope and the use of both of my arms, but having to crouch down and grab his armored shoulder while shuffling backwards made the process more difficult than it had to be.

    Still, I didn¡¯t have the time to mess around looking for a rope or chain, and it was likely that if there were any in the building they were probably on fire by now. So I made due with what I had, which was one good arm and the driving will to drag my friend out of the building. It was good enough, and as I crossed under the half-open garage door I was surprised by Rin as he appeared at my side and attempted to help me drag Tevin the rest of the way to the parked van. His assistance did not do much to lighten the load, but the simple fact he was trying meant something.

    I glanced back at the open side door and an impatient looking Captain Jorn that took up most of the free space, and realized a problem I hadn''t yet considered.

    ¡°Damnit, where are we going to put him? The rig takes up most of the van.¡± I muttered.

    Thankfully, Rin was already thinking ahead. ¡°I saw a trailer parked on the north side of the building. We could load him up and tow him out.¡±

    ¡°Epic.¡± I replied. ¡°Who¡¯s driving? Can you work with them to get the trailer hitched and moved over here? Jorn better at least help me load Tevin up.¡±

    ¡°It is probably a bad idea, but Ali is driving. Jorn does not want to take Katie out of whatever she is hiding within until we are clear.¡±

    I grunted, deciding we had dragged Tevin far enough away from the burning building to get on with the next step. I let go of my grip on his armor and stood back up, stretching my back a little before grabbing Tevin¡¯s rifle again. ¡°Great. There¡¯s one last thing I want to do before we leave.¡±

    I turned away, giving Ali a wave when I noticed her smiling and waving at me from the driver¡¯s seat. I approached Jorn where he was crouched in the back of the van with the sliding door still open. I outlined my plan without giving him a chance to get the first word in.

    ¡°Captain Jorn, Katie should be safe for a few minutes. The spies that led us here have retreated into the house across the way.¡± I pointed to the far side of the van in the direction of the nicely painted and new looking house that lay across the paved lot.

    I didn¡¯t let up and tried to get him with a hard sell. ¡°I¡¯m going in there to ask them some questions, and could use your backup. I¡¯m sure the CLE and whoever else you report to would be glad to know their plans, and how they got so close to pulling them off. Don¡¯t you want the chance to drag one of them back for proper questioning?¡±

    ¡°I stay with the CLE. If you want to go play at being a soldier, we can¡¯t wait. There¡¯s no guarantee that scum went to ground there anyway. ¡± He said through his broken faceplate, the one eye I could see within looked hard and focused.

    I stared back at him for a second. ¡°Then you can drive yourself out of here in something else. I need this van, and I will be back for it. Good luck finding something you can fit into yourself, Katie is locked down in her little bubble and you¡¯ll be on your own to drive out of here.¡±

    Jorn glared back at me and made a sort of growly grunting noise. ¡°I can press your servant into service if I have to. She might be your asset, but without Katie here to say otherwise I have the authority to go over your head, whelp.¡±

    I glared right back at him. ¡°You think she¡¯d go for that? What happens when she says no and you have to press the issue? You shoot her? Then you¡¯re stuck without a driver anyways.¡± I said, surprising myself with the coldness in my voice.

    ¡°If you¡¯re going into the building, I¡¯m going with you, sir.¡± Ali said and I realized she could hear our conversation from the front of the van. All of a sudden I felt a little bad for what I¡¯d said and talking about her as if she was not right there.

    ¡°Sorry, Ali. You¡¯re too injured to go with me. I¡¯ll be fine, I need you to look after Tevin and Rin while I¡¯m gone.¡± I answered.

    ¡°I¡¯m going with you, it¡¯s my job.¡± She insisted, turning around to look at me through the crack between the frame of the van and the bulky driver¡¯s seat.

    ¡°Enough, damnit, fine.¡± Jorn said with a resigned tone as he scanned the southern sky. ¡°I can¡¯t listen to any more of that. You have ten minutes, consul. The CLE insists on getting you out of this anyways, but I won¡¯t let you jeopardize her life any more than that.¡± He glanced over at where I could still see the ghostly image of Katie curled up in a little ball, still in her shell that had been crammed into the free space underneath the hanging Link rig. It looked like she was tapping away at the tablet she always carried.

    I breathed a mixed sigh of relief, glad I was able to talk him into at least sticking around even if I couldn¡¯t convince him to help me go after the traitors. Instead, I turned and pushed the driver¡¯s door shut as Ali struggled to open it and follow me. I leaned close to the open window and looked her in the eyes.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Please, Ali. Stay here and keep the engine running. I¡¯ll be out as soon as I can, and you¡¯ve already taken a bullet for me today. I got this. I need you to look after my friends, and to make sure Jorn doesn''t take off with this van.¡± I hefted Tevin¡¯s bulky rifle, and Max backed my decision by giving me some control of my arm back and allowing me to bring my other hand up to steady it. It still felt numb, tingly, and was slow to respond, but seemed to have regained a bit of function.

    She gave me a pained look, holding eye contact as she asked. ¡°Is that an order, sir?¡±

    I nodded in reply. ¡°It is, I need you out here with the engine running. After I¡¯m done we¡¯re going to have to hightail it out of here right quick.¡±

    She turned away and looked out of the intact windshield, giving one of her curt nods in response as my words cut through her drug induced fog. ¡°I will carry out your orders, sir.¡±

    ¡°Good, then work with Rin and get the trailer hitched so we can haul Tevin out of here.¡± I turned and glanced at Jorn through the open side door. ¡°Can you help get him loaded onto that while you wait, at least?¡± I wanted to add more, to press on him harder to help me handle the spies in their bunker, but thought better of it and somehow kept my mouth from running out of control.

    He grunted in response, which I took as begrudging acceptance. With that all settled, I skirted around the van and headed for the house.

    The house looked brand new, or exceedingly well maintained. The paint was fresh, a deep saturated blue with crisp white trim, and it had a screened porch that wrapped around the front. It was two stories tall and the way it sat on a hill suggested that it had a walkout basement at the rear of the building. Working on Max¡¯s intel from earlier, I decided to ignore the front door and hoisted Tevin¡¯s heavy rifle up as I worked my way around the fancy gardening to see if I could get in through the back door.

    ¡°You know, that rifle wouldn¡¯t normally work for anyone but the owner, but I got you covered. I even managed to take over the compensator servos so I can nudge your terrible aim in the right direction. I¡¯m just glad you told your lapdog to stay back there. I agree with Jorn, listening to her fall all over herself to follow your inept commands is nauseating.¡±

    I bit down on a harsh response, and barely whispered a reply back to Max as I came around the rear corner of the house and stepped under a huge deck that was built up on some stilts.

    ¡°She¡¯s just a soldier, a loyal one. She''s not ¡®falling all over herself¡¯, as you say, just doing her job.¡± Trying to distract Max from that line of questioning, I also asked, ¡°What¡¯s the situation with the forces chasing after us, how long do we have until they catch up to us?¡±

    ¡°Sure, that¡¯s why she was all dolled up and waiting for you in your room that one night.¡± Max ignored my question and forced the memory back to the surface, bringing the image of Ali in her underwear to the forefront of my mind. I shook my head to get rid of it so I could focus on the moment as I approached a sliding glass door built into the concrete lower floor of the house.

    ¡°What the fuck, Max. I¡¯m going into combat and you¡¯re distracting me like that? You might be some hyper intelligent alien AI, but you¡¯re also the least mature person I¡¯ve ever met. That was her job, even if it was utter bullshit. She has a new job now that doesn''t include¡­ that.¡± I complained, leaning against the wall and peeking into the darkened and rather cluttered interior of the house.

    I saw a number of boxes and messy tables in the small area near the door that I could make out in the sunlight, but the contrast made it impossible for me to see very far into the room.

    He snickered a little, even as he lowered his voice to a whisper. ¡°That was all you, meat man. You probably should have brought her along to this fight too, even just to talk you through it as she limped along behind. You have to admit, some part of you feels some type of way about her if you¡¯re ordering her to stay safe and thinking about her like that.¡±

    I shook my head and scowled, not bothering to form a real reply. While I did like Ali, and she was obviously attractive, I didn¡¯t think of her like that. I didn¡¯t have the time or desire to find a partner or even a lover, I had too much going on already. Plus, she was assigned to me and I had all of the power in whatever relationship we did have. I didn¡¯t want that, I wanted an equal. It must just be the adrenaline and trauma we had been through today that was dredging up those thoughts.

    Gritting my teeth, I forcibly pushed the confused thoughts to the side and dragged my focus back to the task at hand. ¡°What about the guys chasing us?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re looking around in the area, and some of the faster ones have already moved past us. Without their air support from the drones, it seems they¡¯ve lost your trail. From the confusion I¡¯m picking up through the like 3 channels I¡¯ve managed to detect and break into, this whole ambush was not part of the main group''s plan.¡±

    That was surprising, and interesting. Was BHG playing the other groups? It was good news regardless, and meant we had some more time to deal with this situation before we absolutely had to move. All I really needed to know was that it gave me the breathing room to dig up the rats that had shot Tevin.

    ¡°That¡¯s great, Max. Can you get this thing unlocked?¡± I asked after trying to slide the door open and getting nowhere.

    ¡°Nope. The only smart tech in this place is what is legally required by the council. So the grid connections like power, gas, water, that sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°You said you knew they were in here though, how the hell do you know that if you can¡¯t do anything?¡± I growled back under my breath.

    ¡°Oh, well they do have some security cameras. They think they removed the council¡¯s bugs that are built into them and that they¡¯re closed circuit, but they missed the redundant and almost cleverly, by human standards, hidden backups. This guy¡¯s on a few lists because of it, but not very high up because they thought they had a good read on him. Which, hah, they were obviously wrong about. I¡¯m pretty sure I saw him at some point back in the firefight, which means he¡¯s likely burning away back in the building with the rest of his squad. I wonder if little Kaylee knows her uncle died because their plan almost worked.¡±

    ¡°Well, what do the cameras show then? And could you like, kill the power or something? Leave them in the dark?¡±

    ¡°That, I can help you with.¡± Max hummed a little tune that was surprisingly close to bland elevator music for a moment before continuing. ¡°There, power¡¯s cut, and I think I have an idea that will work better than just giving you the camera feeds.¡±

    While I was trying to think of a way to break open the sliding glass door without being too loud, a series of green boxes appeared in my field of view. The boxes were mostly grouped up, three in one place with another two in another, and each of them contained a moving glowing green skeleton-like figure. One of the two that were on their own was waving their arms around and looked like they were pointing an accusatory finger at the other while they stood with their arms crossed.

    ¡°I got this idea after doing some research on some of the games you humans play off-link. They call it wallhax.¡±

    ¡°Those are the bastards? Like I can see them through the walls?¡±

    ¡°Yep, at least the ones on camera. I estimate I have about 70% coverage on the lower basement with cameras, but only a little of this first basement floor. Monitoring the situation over the last few minutes, I¡¯ve counted 10 individuals inside of the building, so it¡¯s not perfect.¡±

    I chewed my lip for a moment, thinking to myself that it might be risky to rely too much on only partial information like that. After a second, I decided it was better to have something than nothing and asked for some clarification. ¡°Do you know how many are on this floor? Is the entrance covered?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah, I¡¯m pretty confident this floor is completely clear. The entrance to the lower basement is hidden behind a wall panel and isn''t on the blueprints they submitted to the local district control, so they probably don¡¯t expect anyone to find or know about it. Hah, cocky bastards.¡±

    ¡°So there won¡¯t be anyone around to hear me break this door in?.¡± I said before stepping in front of the door and preparing to kick the frame in.

    ¡°Nope, not if you keep it fairly quiet, although you should probably keep an eye out for traps. I heard them talking about setting up at least one anti-personnel mine on the main floor.¡±

    I hesitated. ¡°Wait, like trip wires and lasers?¡±

    ¡°Yep. I¡¯ll call ¡®em out if I see ¡®em for you. I really should modify your eyes some more so we can detect the lasers themselves, but I suspect your squishy meat brain and fragile psyche might not handle that much new information well. Hmm, maybe I can just grow you some new sensors built into your skin somewhere that you don''t have access to¡­¡±

    ¡°Grow me new¡­ don¡¯t grow me new anything without my permission, Max. I don¡¯t need you turning me into any more of a mutant than I already am. I¡¯d probably already get locked up somewhere if they caught me in a good scanner with all the crap you¡¯ve done to me.¡±

    ¡°Bah, you haven¡¯t even¡­ I mean, you wouldn''t even notice. How about we focus on the fun part and go chase down these assholes?¡±

    ¡°Goddamnit Max¡­¡± I muttered under my breath. ¡°Can you at least tell me if this door is safe to kick in?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah, totally. I don¡¯t see any mines, and they skipped out on sensors other than the cameras because they were all paranoid about government infiltration. Kind of ironic considering they were the ones infiltrating the government and how well connected their vehicles were. They¡¯re fine spying on their workers, but get their jocks all twisted up when it''s their shoulder the cameras are looking over.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that''s how irony¡­ you know what, maybe¡­ no, forget it. Let¡¯s get this done.¡± I said before raising up a booted foot and pressing it into the doorframe near the handle. I flexed hard and slowly caused the metal casing around the sheet of tough plexiglass to tear and bend inwards. Once I had it mostly ripped away from the door jam, I shouldered my way through and cautiously stepped into the darkened basement.

    Most of the time Max¡¯s meddling with my body bothered the hell out of me, but it did have its upsides.

 Chapter 60 - Doors, corners, and bickering

    ¡°Can you do the darkvision thing again?¡± I murmured to Max as I stepped over a highlighted wire strung up between two crowded tables.

    It was dark in the basement, the only light coming through the newly broken door and a couple of windows set high on the lone exterior wall. There were stacks of boxes and plastic wrapped cabinets, multiple tall rolling tool chests, and a handful of partially cleared workstations on large rolling tables scattered around the open floor supported by skinny steel pillars. Three of the walls were made of cement blocks, and only the very back wall was finished with expensive looking wood paneling. Two doors lopsidedly flanked an open staircase, the left door being a little closer to the stairs in the center while the right door was placed further away, nearly against the wall.

    ¡°Not really, but your darkvision already is a little enhanced compared to most people. I could only pull that trick while Linked up, because I can see what the system has preloaded even if you can''t see it yet yourself.¡±

    I grimaced, accepting his answer as the reality of the situation even if I wished he could help out more. I¡¯d never cleared a building, and was starting to regret not bringing anyone with me. Everything I knew said that this was stupidly dangerous and a huge mistake, other than my anger that had beaten the rest of my decision making into submission.

    I could back out still, leave the traitors to report their failure and probably get swept up by the army when it came through. Or I could take Max¡¯s initial offer and have him just blow the whole f¡¯n house up. Still, while my anger had cooled and my determination to one-man-army my way to my goal had flagged, I still really wanted those bastards. I wanted to hear their answers myself, I just wished that I had more backup than an asshole AI.

    Oh well, wish in one hand and shit in the other, see which one fills up faster. I just couldn¡¯t let this go. Even if the military did take these guys in, I knew I would never get the full reports myself.

    Max kept up a running chatter of information as I carefully crossed the floor, picking my way around the clutter and avoiding another highlighted trap.

    ¡°The secret passage is probably in the room on the right. They have a camera on it from the inside, but I can spoof the feed to hide your approach.¡±

    ¡°Probably? You mean you¡¯re not even sure?¡± My second guessing of the situation was only growing stronger.

    ¡°If I analyze the angles of the footage, and the inaccurate and outdated blueprints, I get like a 97% certainty. So yeah, probably. Now c¡¯mon, let¡¯s ventilate these bastards!¡±

    I pushed my way up to the door in question, and the rational side of my brain finally managed to push a thought into the forefront of my mind. Why was Max all of a sudden so bloodthirsty and pushing me into this? Normally he wanted me to hang back from danger and to avoid any fights. While I hesitated, Max must have picked up on my questioning thoughts, because he answered them directly.

    ¡°Hey, this is what you want, right? To drive these chuckleheads before you, hear the lamentations and all that. Plus like, you know, they messed up Tevin and Ali.¡± Max then quietly mumbled something I couldn¡¯t make out.

    ¡°What was that?¡± I prodded. ¡°I didn¡¯t get that last part.¡±

    He mumbled the same thing, still too low for me to hear it. Damn, even whispering directly into my head he managed to make it incomprehensible.

    I decided to try goading him instead. ¡°C¡¯mon, since when have you been afraid of saying what''s on your mind?¡±

    ¡°Ugh, fine. It¡¯s probably a side effect of being all mashed together with your squishy human body and mind, but I actually like Tevin and Ali. Those two do so much for us, and all you do is drag them deeper into your bullshit.¡±

    I blinked at his reply. ¡°Wait, you actually like them? I thought you were some edgy lone-wolf ¡®troll the world¡¯ type, and what about Rin?¡± I ignored his comment about what they did for ¡°us¡±, while he put the blame for following his plan entirely on me.

    ¡°Bah, Rin is fine, and even more of a dickweed than you are. Tevin and Ali are too good for this world. You don¡¯t deserve their friendship and loyalty, so the least I can do is stick my neck out a little to make the bastards that hurt them pay. Plus, the infiltrators might have some valuable information that might help us evade these guys in the future. It¡¯s a win-win.¡±

    That managed to get a stressed little chuckle out of me. ¡°Heh, so you¡¯re game to risk everything just for a shot at these guys, at least we¡¯re on the same page there, but what happens if I get shot in the face as soon as I turn around the corner and go lights out?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s highly unlikely. They mostly have old battle rifles or pistols, and none of them have power armor. You¡¯ll be faster than them even with a wonky arm and Tevin¡¯s cannon. Plus, erm¡­¡±

    Again, he mumbled something that I couldn¡¯t make out. ¡°What was that?¡± I prompted.

    ¡°Now¡¯s not the time to argue about this stuff. Let¡¯s get in there and shoot some rebel scum!¡±

    Tired of not having anything to direct my whispered conversation to, I found myself focusing on an empty beer can that was sitting on one of the tables amongst the clutter and catching a stray reflection from the kicked-open door. ¡°What else did you do? There has to be something more if you¡¯re okay with me walking into this.¡±

    ¡°Well, heh-heh, you can¡¯t get mad about this because I did it weeks ago, but remember me talking about strengthening your bones awhile back? That applies doubly so for that thick skull and redesigned rib cage of yours. Unless you take a straight shot with a high caliber rifle from point blank range, most conventional bullets are just going to be extremely painful, and I can block that out to keep you functional. Unless they get exceedingly lucky or decide to blow themselves up, which I don¡¯t think they have the explosives to do, you actually getting killed down there is a long shot.¡±

    With Max hiding and refusing to give me anything visible to react to, I pointed an accusing finger at the shiny beer can. ¡°Damnit Max, I told you to stop messing around with my body unless I gave you permission!¡± My voice rose a little in my outrage, but I managed to clamp it back down to a whisper.

    ¡°You already yelled at me for this one! I just didn¡¯t, uh, fully explain everything. It''s not like I turned your bones into steel or some kind of unobtainium, I just changed the geometry of the fibers and the recipe into a better composite. Your bones now have a bit more calcium and some added iron and carbon. If the right person ever gets a look at the inside of one of them you¡¯ll be in trouble, but I was careful to not change you enough to set off the Links bio-ID system, although your new rib cage is pushing it a little bit. Still, the chance human tech picks up on any of this is tiny. Unless your world¡¯s leading experts open you up on an autopsy table for close study, you¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    I really wanted to dig further into his answer, but realized it would be a waste of the precious few minutes I could afford to spend holding up the whole group. I decided to drop this for now and hound Max for some better answers when there was time for it.

    ¡°Alright, whatever. We need to focus.¡± I closed my eyes and shook my head to physically reset and focus back on the task I had assigned myself. ¡°So, you said that there is someone on the other side of this door. Is there any way we could go around, through another unwatched entrance?¡±

    ¡°Nope. There is only one door leading to the lower level. The guy at the bottom is behind another door and struggling to get his ear-piece to connect with his little radio receiver, but I keep messing with him and making it disconnect.¡±

    I blinked at his mention of the tech. ¡°These guys have radios? Why can¡¯t you break into that and do something more.¡±

    He huffed in annoyance. ¡°There¡¯s not really anything to break into and do, it¡¯s an earpiece and a radio receiver, not a transmitter or even all that technical. I¡¯m using the house''s wiring and grid connection to mess up the signal because there¡¯s nothing digital to get into down there. It¡¯s still distracting and keeping him busy¡±

    I nodded and discarded any ideas for that. ¡°What¡¯s this door made from? Is he going to have time to set up and warn the others while I¡¯m getting through?¡± I asked, filing Max¡¯s newly announced capability in the back of my mind.

    ¡°The first door is a veneer of wood paneling, it won''t provide much resistance. There''s a narrow space between the walls and a stairway that turns at a 90 degree angle before going down into the sub basement proper where there is a secondary steel security door. They couldn¡¯t even bother to use a proper blast door for the first layer, and seem to have cobbled together their little bunker with parts you¡¯d find on any commercial or residential build site.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s not a bunker, just a hidden extra basement?¡± I asked, I looked down at the carpeted floor at my feet, starting to get an idea. ¡°Is the basement underneath us here? Is it the same size as this basement?¡±

    ¡°Yes and no.¡± He replied, oddly cheerfully. ¡°You are currently standing over one of the rooms, but most of their little underground complex is actually built underneath the driveway. They had to pass inspections before they could build their little hidey hole, so everything was done after the house was already built.¡±

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    ¡°Do you know what¡¯s under this room? Would it be better to, like, cut through the ceiling and drop down somewhere they aren''t expecting it?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. That¡¯s debatable. The area under this room is divided up, into the stairway down to the security door, the little office the doorman is fiddling with his earpiece in, and a pantry that¡¯s absolutely overstuffed with everything from canned goods to toilet paper. There¡¯s another slightly better door built into the foundation behind him that leads to the main area under the driveway.

    ¡°Wait¡­ aren''t you driving an excavator around out there? Can¡¯t you just crack open the driveway?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That''s¡­ almost a good idea. What are you going to tell your friends, who are currently parked and waiting for you on top of said driveway, when the machine rolls up without a driver and starts peeling up the concrete? I cut my connection with all of them after the fighting was done, as both Rin and Jorn were using their own computers to try to sniff out what was happening already.¡±

    I signed, already dreading that conversation. I was cooking up a loose plan to credit a dwarven hacker friend that was working to help me, but that would become less believable the more he did and would easily be picked apart. I knew Rin would have all sorts of questions, but had not expected Jorn to be looking into it already. Rin might trust me enough to accept a partial answer, but Jorn was a whole different story. Maybe leaving him alone to think over everything while I chased after the traitors was an even worse idea than I feared it might be.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, can¡¯t we just kick the door in and shoot the bad guys? We¡¯ve been arguing for a whole minute already and I¡¯m tired of it.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°Fine, No excavator. But we need to think first, this isn''t some game, this is actual combat and we need to have a plan.¡± I told myself.

    ¡°We¡¯ve never really had a plan before, and we are still in a time crunch. You can¡¯t sit here and waffle over how to open a door forever. C¡¯mon, just knock the panel in, blast the guy through the door, and then sweep the place. I think most of the areas around the entrance are within the camera¡¯s view, so as the rest of the jerks swarm in to defend the bunker you can mop them up. Bing, bang, boom, then we can deal with the most cowardly of them who panic and hide rather than attempt a response.¡±

    I grimaced and hesitated, this really didn¡¯t feel like something I should rush, but this was a side quest while I had a time sensitive main objective. The main goal of keeping myself and my friends out of the hands of the rebel group that was specifically targeting myself and Katie was more important. If I was going to do this, I needed to just get it done and stop thinking about it so much.

    I shook my head again, clearing away all of the thoughts, and then fished my plasma knife out of my pocket. I clipped the knife onto my belt for easier access, and then examined Tevin¡¯s rifle. After making sure the rifle was ready to fire, loaded, and getting a very, very, brief rundown of the functions from a gleeful Max, I decided I was as ready as I ever would be and made my way to the highlighted wood panel in the small and slightly musty room.

    I pushed on the wall, and felt the thin sheet of wood flex under my hand. I tried sliding it to the side, but it didn¡¯t budge. I felt around the edges, pushing in various places and trying to use the friction of my hand to get it to move. No luck. I scraped a fingernail down the groove that ran from floor to ceiling about every 8 inches, and found no secret catch or lever.

    Starting to get frustrated by the door, and feeling a sense of deja vu, I started to push harder against one edge of the panel and finally felt it release. I guess I had just been being too gentle, and the makeshift nature of the thing made it require a little bit of physical persuasion to open.

    I noticed my hand was shaking as I pushed the door fully open, but ignored it and quietly stepped through into the narrow space underneath the stairs and between the interior walls. To one side was a crude staircase that wrapped around a corner on its way to the sub basement.

    I tread carefully, placing each footstep deliberately and applying pressure gradually so the rough, hastily screwed together, saw-marred planks wouldn¡¯t groan and give me away to the guys below me. I came around the corner and saw the door that Max had told me about, and the green wire frame skeleton of the guy on the other side was visible as he fiddled with his earpiece on the other side.

    While pointing my borrowed rifle at the man through the wall, I hesitated again and frowned. My anger had carried me through this far, and my resolve for answers and vengeance was strong. Yet, while hurting someone in the heat of battle was something I had done without hesitation in the past, for me that had meant fist fights and defending myself.

    Shooting someone through a door before they even knew I was there was a whole new level of violence for me, but I knew I had to do it if I was determined to get the traitorous bastards that nearly took out my whole little circle of friends. This was life or death, they had lured me here under false pretenses, lied to me and my friends, and tried to capture and kill us with no hesitation. I had to answer in kind, with decisive action and swift violence of my own.

    A fair fight is a bad fight if you¡¯re concerned with life and death more than glory and honor. Now was not the time to pull my punches.

    I lit the guy up with a five round burst, the rifle slamming hard against my shoulder as it tore holes through the hollow steel door. As soon as I stopped firing, I quickly stepped down the last bit of the staircase and shouldered my way through the now freely swinging entrance. I scanned around, seeing more of the wireframe indicators appearing through the walls as they stepped into the view of Max¡¯s cameras.

    This room had a rough bedrock wall on one side, and crude welded sheet steel for the other, while the back wall with the next door was made of poured concrete with a more solid looking armored door at the back that was cracked open a few inches. I stepped over the very dead doorman and pulled the hatch the rest of the way open, using the thick concrete frame as cover and getting my first view of the actual bunker.

    I was looking down a hallway that was maybe 6 feet wide and 30 feet long, with a corner at the end where the hall continued off to the right. There were more sheet steel walls, and an arched steel ceiling braced with H-beam ribs every few feet. Luckily, not all of the walls seemed to be so solid and some of them were framed in like a typical house with boards and sheetrock.

    Trusting Tevin¡¯s rifle to be able to reach out and touch them through at least some of the walls, I sprayed more fire at two figures coming from the left, but only one of them fell. Another three figures popped up, and a door at the back of the hallway slammed open and was filled with bursts of muzzle flash.

    I flinched my face back behind cover but felt my trigger finger squeeze tight on its own, I couldn''t tell if it was reflex or Max picking up the slack. The rifle vibrated in my hands and I felt it jerk in my grip to adjust my aim. The defender cried out, falling back mostly out of sight behind the door jam he had popped out from and leaving only his twitching feet in view.

    With my breathing picking up, I squeezed off another burst through the wall at the survivor to the left while what looked like a team of four were getting together to prepare something on the right. I must have connected with the figure on the left through the wall, as I saw them fall and start to drag themselves back towards their fallen companion.

    It was eerie, even when the people fell, Max kept highlighting them with their spooky green wireframe skeletons as they lay on the ground. Glowing grim reminders that I had killed and maimed, even if I couldn¡¯t see their actual body. It was almost worse that I had done it so distantly, so coldly, but I couldn¡¯t afford to think of that. These were killers, plotters and betrayers, they would not hesitate to bring me the same death if given the chance again.

    ¡°Bree is with that group on the right, they¡¯re getting ready to start chucking grenades into this hallway here unless you do something. That steel wall is reinforced to support the ceiling, but there are signs of utility cutouts here, and here, that you should be able to poke through.¡± Max chimed in helpfully.

    Two orange boxes appeared on the wall to my right, but I couldn¡¯t get a proper angle through them to the highlighted wireframes. Without thinking too much about it, I stepped forward into the hallway until I could get a few of the enemies framed in the orange box, and then sprayed bullets through into the next room until the rifle stopped firing on its own.

    Two of the figures had fallen while the other two spread out and crouched down in the next room over. I could kind of see into the room through the concentrated bullet holes in the wall and saw the devastation I had caused, while the rifle whirred and rattled in my hands. After a second, the rifle clacked and a tube along one side dropped off and rang with a hollow sound as it bounced off the floor, and the ammo counter flashed blue with a full 30 rounds.

    I stepped further into the room to align the second orange square with one of the figures when a red flash lit up one side of my peripheral vision, and the sound of someone else''s rifle filled the soundscape of the cramped space. I felt something hot tear across my uninjured shoulder and the back of my neck, and threw myself to the ground.

    As I fell, I managed to turn to face the end of the hallway where another attacker that was only partially outlined with the wireframe wallhack was shooting at me. Before I hit the ground, the rifle jumped in my hands and slammed into me as it blasted off a few shots in his direction. One of the large armor piercing .308 bullets whipped straight through the guy''s head, dropping him instantly to the ground.

    I grunted in short lived pain before Max cut the feeling out, then I rose back to my feet and shot some more at the persistent figure to the left who had started to crawl away. They fell flat against the floor, either finally downed or forced to take cover from my suppressing fire.

    After sparing a quick glance around to see if anyone else was coming, I angled around until I could get one of the two survivors to my right within the second orange frame on the wall. I took a second to aim carefully before squeezing off a three round burst that punched through the thin steel plate and caused the green skeleton to stiffen and fall flat onto their face.

    All of the shooting in the cramped space had blown my eardrums out again, but Max¡¯s tampering must have kept some of my abused eardrums functional because I could faintly hear argumentative yelling further into the bunker, towards the farther end of the hallway. Their plans had failed, even with seemingly overwhelming force against a small unsuspecting team, and now even their hidden bunker was failing to protect them. I really couldn¡¯t blame them for losing their shit and bickering amongst themselves, and anything that distracted them from dealing with me was an advantage that I should press.

    I quick stepped over to the doorway to the right, where I could see the last surviving operative was hunkered down and holding their aim on the doorway. As I neared, the door itself was outlined in orange, letting me know it was thin enough for me to shoot though. So I did just that, I fired a few single shots towards the last person. They fired back blindly, punching their own holes in the doorway and splattering me with dozens of tiny bits of shrapnel that I felt embed themselves in my skin, but the mix of adrenaline and pain blocking from Max made it feel more like sharp specks of wind-driven rain.

    After the brief exchange of fire, that last person fell to the floor and slowly curled up, clutching at their chest. I watched for a moment, wondering if that was Bree. I hoped it was, but knew I still had a couple of people down here to look after. Max had counted 10 people, but it could be more, and I had lost track of how many I had already killed in the chaos of the firefight.

    With the ringing quiet of the muffled underground environment only broken by an occasional distant sob or suffering cry of pain, I shouldered my rifle and counted bodies as I pushed further down the hall.

 Chapter 61 - Incomplete answers

    Eight. I counted eight people I had slain or downed in the gunfight. Two of which I could see with my own eyes from the hallway, laying where they had fallen in contorted positions with small yet slowly growing puddles of blood seeping out from under them. I averted my eyes from the grim aftermath and confirmed another four in the room to the right of the main hallway after I pushed the mangled door open. I stepped through and was startled when one of them coughed and made some feeble movement while they lay there curled up on the ground.

    Looking over the bodies a little closer, it surprised me that they were all dressed in matching military, or maybe hunting camouflage outfits. I stepped closer to the one that had coughed, debating with myself on if I should finish them off or not, when I noticed that under their cap they had a distinctive and expensive blonde dye-job that I recognized.

    Bree lay there, curled up and facing away from me as she bled out on the ground, and didn¡¯t seem to realize that I was approaching. My anger surged. This chick had not hesitated to try to kill me and pretty much everyone I cared about, and she had just tried to kill me again. I stepped towards her and was working up the nerve to pull the trigger to finish her off, when a metallic ping noise sounded off, and a little metal clip bounced across the concrete floor from where she lay.

    The edges of my vision all flashed a bright red, and Max practically screamed in my ears. ¡°Grenade! Move back!¡±

    I blinked and hesitated for a split second, before spinning around and running back into the hall. ¡°Keep going! Get behind the blast door and close it if you can, explosives are way more dangerous when they¡¯re contained!¡±, Max shrieked as I continued back the way I had come.

    I nearly made it back to the door when the grenade went off and threw me the rest of the way out of the bunker. I was instantly thrown down onto my face next to the pool of blood that had seeped out of the doorman, like I had caught my toe in something at a dead sprint. I landed on my borrowed rifle and felt like I had maybe cracked or sprained my wrist by the awkward way I landed on top of it.

    I groaned and rolled over, blinking at the dust and smoke that filled their air, and a stray almost homesick longing for the dwarven underhome¡¯s ventilation drifted through my mind. I hurried back to my feet and looked into the hallway, noticing that all of the doors had been blown open. The entrance to the room Bree had been in was now mangled even further, the hollow steel door drunkenly swinging in the swirling dust and barely hanging on by half of a bent hinge.

    Shaking my head, and even more determined to get something other than vengeance out of the bunker, I crossed the threshold again and pushed down to the door on the left, which was now blasted open by the pressure from the grenade. I edged up and peeked around the corner, making sure to keep one eye on the door at the end of the hall where I could still see the feet of one of the first guys I had shot.

    Behind the newly opened door was another shorter hallway, with two people laying on the floor both in the same uniform as the others. One of them lay broken and unmoving, while the other was laying down next to them and quietly sobbing as they ran their hand over the cooling cheek of the first. It was difficult to make out any details through the dust, but I recognized the bright red hair of the dead man.

    I stepped a few feet towards the two, but was wary after Bree¡¯s stunt with the grenade, I did not get too far from the doorway in case I had to retreat again.

    ¡°Let me see your hands, if you want to live through this.¡± I ordered the person with their back turned to me.

    Their only response at first was a choked sob, followed by a mumbled, pitiful, and distinctly feminine complaining noise I couldn¡¯t understand beyond the pain and fear filled tone.

    ¡°One of you already tried to get me with a suicide grenade, let me see your hands or I just shoot you and keep going.¡± I elaborated, despite my caution and anger that told me to just shoot them and keep moving.

    The dust was starting to clear from the air, and I saw the hand lift from Andy¡¯s cheek and raise into the air as the injured person spoke with a hesitant voice. ¡°I- I don¡¯t have any grenades.¡±

    I knew that voice. I crossed the hallway and loomed over Kaylee, using my foot and roughly kicking her over onto her back so I could see her face.

    ¡°You! Fucking traitor.¡± I pointed Tevin¡¯s rifle right at her, but managed to hold myself back from killing her right then and there.

    She let out another sob, followed by a cough, and scrunched her eyes up. She brought her bloody hand up to shield her face from the rifle. ¡°Please! It wasn''t supposed to be like this! You were supposed to get a choice. A choice you could walk away from!¡±

    An angry and hateful part of me really wanted to shoot her, that was most of the reason I came down into this hellhole. She was the one I blamed most for this other than Andy, who had actually pulled the trigger on Tevin, but he looked to have already gotten what was coming to him with a swift death in the midst of combat. That felt a little too easy for me, but it was done and I had my main culprit in my sights.

    ¡°You¡¯re a liar. You¡¯d say anything, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± I spat back, hiking my rifle up and squaring my aim.

    ¡°No, no, no.¡± She sobbed, shaking her head and speaking in a desperate rush. ¡°I promise, we were supposed to entice you, to show you what the council are really doing, and how much suffering and death your actions are aiding!¡± She coughed again, and cracked her eyes open to look up at me as she continued. ¡°You¡¯re not indoctrinated like the rest, you¡¯re a worker. We hoped we could turn you to our cause if you only knew what was happening, but¡­¡± she looked over at Andy again, and her pain filled looked worsened. She closed her eyes and looked away, shaking her head before continuing.

    ¡°It turns out, we were all liars, other than poor Raschel. Our plan leaked out to a different group, and they got to Bree¡­ she was always so angry.¡±

    She drifted off for a moment, wincing in pain and panting softly as she clutched at her previously injured collarbone with her good hand.

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    I grit my teeth and watched her, really not wanting to take her word for it but unsure what to do. I planned to just shoot her, to shoot them all and walk away. Yet, I was struggling to bring myself to actually do it, even if I knew that simply listening to a snake like her was a dangerously slippery idea.

    ¡°This is what you get, not listening to me and letting me do a deepdive on these yahoos before it was too late.¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡± I growled, mostly at Max, but I said it loud enough for Kaylee to hear and flinch away from. Tears streamed down her face, and the uniform she had changed into was splattered with blood and fresh injuries from the indirect fire from before. I wondered at that, having seen what the massive bullets from Tevin¡¯s gun had done to the others.

    ¡°Where are you injured? Show me.¡± I asked, jabbing my rifle down at her.

    She winced and rolled over a little onto her side, using her good hand to pull up her jacket and show me the ragged hole in her lower abdomen. It looked like a bullet entered a few inches above the outside of her hip and had torn a hole through her side.

    I became a little queasy at the sight, not having really seen much real life gore before. I had done that, and while I felt justified, some part of me really didn¡¯t like looking at the intentional destruction I¡¯d caused to another human being.

    She let her jacket fall back in place and flopped back down, wincing again and breathing hard. ¡°Are you going to let me live, Nick?¡±, she breathed out. ¡°I can understand, I hurt you. I¡­ Tev¡­¡± She choked off, her tears welling up again. ¡°I helped take someone important away from you. I¡¯m so sorry, Nick. I swear I didn¡¯t mean for any of this to happen like it did.¡±

    ¡°You should really just shoot her and keep moving, man. She¡¯s gonna have you wrapped around her finger if you let her tap into that pity I can see building up in you. See how she started talking about Tevin, and then changed the subject? She used your name, trying to play on your soft side, to get you to focus on the good times. She knows you¡¯re weak, not a fighter, not a killer.¡±

    ¡°Shut, up!¡± I nearly yelled, causing Kaylee to flinch away and raise her hand up to shield herself again.

    Max¡¯s eternal whispering, losing my home, my closest friend hanging onto life by a thread, all of my hard years of hard work gambled on an insane plan that I was threatened and coerced to follow, and now Kaylee¡¯s fear filled face as I stood over her and debated shooting her in cold blood. All of it was enough to drive a guy crazy. I couldn¡¯t let myself think about it, so I shut the door in my mind and tried to toss emotion out. I needed to be as cold as I could be, and not let either anger or compassion guide my thinking.

    What I knew was that despite everything, I couldn¡¯t seem to bring myself to just shoot her. Still, I knew I couldn¡¯t keep listening to her either. She was gut-shot, and unless she got medical attention there was only a slim chance she would live for very much longer unless I did something to help her, which was also out of the question. I needed to make sure she couldn¡¯t work against me anymore, and then keep moving.

    I knelt down and wordlessly began to search them. I recovered the pistol Andy had shot Tevin with, a couple of mismatched mags from his pockets as well as a pair of grenades that looked like they were 50 years old. I picked up a folding knife that lay nearby on the floor, and an expensive and shut-down mobile comm from Kaylee. It turned out she was telling the truth about not being armed herself, as that''s all that I could find on her with a quick frisk while she lay there and continued to sob as I roughly patted her down.

    Fearing for her life, she followed my command that had been meant mostly for Max. She shut up and did not try to convince me further as I disarmed them both. When I stood back up, my pockets weighted heavily by all of the looted gear, I wondered if I should restrain her or anything. If I tied her up with her injuries, it would be the same as killing her.

    There was a slim chance she could crawl far enough to find the supplies to treat her wound, and possibly walk out of this if I left her unrestrained. Was I okay with that? I couldn¡¯t bring myself to shoot her  after she surrendered, and after giving myself a second to think about it, I decided I wasn''t okay with leaving her tied up and gut-shot to die either.

    Leaving her on a razor''s edge with only a slim chance to wiggle through and save her own ass was exactly what she had done to me. That thought secured my choice, and after a second sweep to make sure she had no other weapons, I went over the hallway they were in as well. I took a moment to check the other rooms in the short hall for weapons as well, which turned out to be a series of small bunk bed filled rooms that must have acted as a barracks.

    With the area cleared and her still quietly crying in the hall, I stopped before continuing to the rest of the bunker.

    ¡°Tevin¡¯s not dead, his armor closed and stabilized him.¡± I said as I stood in the doorway to the hall, unsure why I was even wasting my time to tell her. She obviously didn¡¯t care about Tevin, and had only used him to get closer to Katie and myself.

    She turned her face to look at me and I saw a mix of pain, fear, anger¡­ helplessness. I turned away before that damned soft heart of mine could be drawn in. I was sick of being manipulated, and could actually do something about it in this case simply by not looking and walking away.

    Her answer surprised me. ¡°Good. I¡­ I didn¡¯t want to hurt anyone. I wanted it to stop,¡± She grimaced, overcome with pain for a moment before she could continue. ¡°-to stop the killing. That¡¯s all I wanted.¡±

    I hesitated in the doorway. I wanted to believe her, to know this was a mistake and that her intentions were better than the reality she had wrought. In a better world, maybe it would have worked and I would have chosen to side with them.

    I had seen first hand why they fought, why they were willing to die and kill to make a change. I even somewhat agreed with them after having dipped my toe into the life that ¡®the elite¡¯ lived. A life filled with luxurious pampering by servants without a real choice, of kissing-ass and sucking up to anyone higher up the ladder than yourself in the hope that they don¡¯t choose to kick you back down to the bottom. I¡¯d only gotten as far as I had because I got results, and I constantly felt the looming threat of being sent back to my life of menial labor before I had even the imperfect shelter of a contract with Rosso.

    Sometimes I wanted to go back to that version of my life. Grinding away at the mountain for Rosso was hard work, but it was straightforward and fulfilling in a way. That would be better than the chaos I¡¯d lived for the last few weeks, and vastly preferable to any of the easily accessible routes to death on the streets as an exile, or even the work of the labor camps.

    I was operating under the assumption that Max had put me into an all or nothing situation. Either everything would somehow work out, or I¡¯d be dead, with a non-zero possibility of my death being a long drawn out affair confined to a life of intensely invasive science experiments while whatever group that managed to capture me tried to figure out what the meddling AI had made of me.

    None of these assholes knew just how far beyond any of their plans, beyond even the option of going back, I already was. Max had uprooted my life and made things vastly more complicated, but with all of his meddling and ¡®assistance¡¯ I stood a better chance at changing everything than anyone could know. They couldn¡¯t see that I had already joined their cause, to fix this busted-ass system and bring some fun and fairness to this world of gray toil, but I could not join their side. I was already committed.

    Maybe it was the slow drip of chemicals and alterations Max fed me, or maybe it was the power and control he gave me. When I really drilled down and thought about it, despite all of Max¡¯s problems and bullshit, I was on his side.

    I walked away from the weeping, dying, misguided traitor and shouldered my rifle. There were still more of them deeper down and I had a ride I couldn¡¯t afford to miss.

 Chapter 62 - Lie detector

    Leaving Kaylee disarmed and bleeding in the hallway, I continued into the bunker. The whole complex had become hushed in the absence of gunfire and shouting, and I found myself focusing on my crunching footsteps as I ground the dust and little bits of spalled shrapnel and dust into the rough concrete floor.

    My first stop was at the corner of the main hallway, having now cleared the rooms to either side of it. One of the guys I had shot lay there at the corner. He was the one who had caught me off guard, and was slain by my blind fire as I hit the deck. I¡¯d noticed that I dropped him with a lucky shot to the head, but had not seen just how devastating that shot had been.

    Most of the back of his head was just gone, leaving a bloody and cracked portion of his face while the rest of his head was splattered all around him. I quickly looked away, after feeling my stomach flip upside down, to try to escape at the sight. I stepped over him and made my way to the door at the end of the hall where the other guy had popped out at the start of the fight.

    The room back there looked like a small armory, packed with crates and weapon racks loaded up with the old military surplus rifles that the rebels favored. There was a half-played game of solitaire blown around on a folding table, only barely recognizable as the game after the blast from the explosion had scattered most of the cards.

    I quickly moved on, closing the door behind myself and snapping off the handle with a grunt of effort. I made my way back around the nearly headless man, again avoiding looking at him, on my way to the final few doors around the corner of the L shaped hallway. This was the only fully closed door I had come across so far, with all of the rest of them having been blasted open by the overpressure from the nearby grenade. Somehow this last hollow-steel door, something more suited as an exterior entry to a commercial grade building, had resisted the explosion.

    I glanced around, noticing that the wire-frame wall hacks were no longer showing anyone. ¡°No cameras on the other side here?¡± I whispered to Max.

    ¡°Nope, I can¡¯t detect anything in there, but I suspect they might have another Link rig and an Impex by the presence of some trace elements that like to sneak alongside things that are pushed through.¡±

    An Impex? Maybe it would be worth it to Link up real quick to grab some supplies and some of the stuff I kept in my bank vault in the Hub. The Link rig in the van would allow me to Link in and get back to the trials if we could escape the army chasing after us, but without an Impex I would be unable to bring anything into, or out of, the virtual world. I¡¯d have to rely on whatever we could get from the real world until I managed to find a solution to that.

    I frowned, knowing that I probably didn¡¯t have the time to mess around with that. My friends were waiting outside for me. While I did not trust Jorn, I trusted his word on his ten minute warning. I couldn¡¯t spend any more time down here than I absolutely needed to. Linking up and going through the queue to use the in-game Impex would take too long.

    ¡°How should I go in?¡± I asked, unsure what would be the best way to proceed now that my surprise was blown and my x-ray vision had run out.

    ¡°You think I¡¯m some breach and clear expert now? You left all of them back in the van. I told you that you should have brought someone with some actual experience. I could get Ali or Jorn on comms probably, if you really want someone to hold your hand.¡±

    ¡°Forget it.¡± I replied. He seemed to be slipping back into his usual unhelpful and mocking self now that the bulk of the ¡®fun¡¯ was over. I was on my own, and was too keyed up to spend much time thinking about it.

    I kicked the door in, this time slamming my booted foot into it as hard as I could with zero regard to stealth. I had a flash of memory of the last time I tried to kick a door like this in, when the highway had been attacked and Tevin and I had to run for our lives while the hijackers had warred with the Shepherds in the city. Only about a month ago, I nearly broke my ankle and got nothing but pain for my effort. This time was different.

    The door popped open, ripping part of the frame out of the wall where the deadbolt had been and sending it flying. I stepped through with my rifle up and stopped the door from rebounding with my foot and quickly learned why the room was quiet.

    There were two people in here, one was an older man with unkempt shaggy hair and a bushy beard. Lit up by the spotlight attached to my rifle, he was crouching behind the cover of an overturned table and holding an old .45 pistol to the head of a tear streaked and black-eyed young woman. I had finally found the last of the four tower traitors, and this one was being held hostage.

    ¡°Stop!¡± The man yelled out, pulling his face back behind Raschel¡¯s shoulder and peeking out with a single glaring eye. ¡°This girl¡¯s not one of ours, and I¡¯ve got no problem blowing her innocent face onto the floor!¡±

    Without lowering my rifle, I took another step into the room. The look on Rachel''s face as she squinted against the bright light was enough to give me pause, especially with Kaylee¡¯s comment about her earlier. I was almost ready to believe that Raschel might have truly not been a part of the plot and was only caught up in this mess as some kind of social cover, almost. That still wasn''t going to stop me.

    ¡°Like you can prove that, asshole.¡± I replied, startling myself with how calm my voice came out.

    ¡°Oh my god, Nick!? Please, these people are fucking crazy!¡± Raschel cried out when she heard my voice. She struggled a little against the guy, who roughly jerked her back in place by her hands bound behind her back.

    I kept my rifle trained on them, trying to get a bead on the guy''s head as he peeked out from behind her. My hands were shaky, trembling with each hammering thump of my heart, and I couldn¡¯t maintain a steady aim. I was torn, lighting them up and being done with this whole situation was the easy and clear answer, but the outside chance of Raschel actually being an innocent victim of all of this gave me pause. Not enough to back down, but enough to force me to think about it.

    Right as I was about to yell back again, something angry and provoking that I really didn¡¯t think through before opening my mouth, the rifle jerked and fired all on its own.

    Raschel screamed and fell to the side, turning and landing on her chest and cracking her face against the hard floor. The guy simply fell back, his head now resembling the guy outside in the hallway, meaning it was mostly missing after the 11 gram projectile ripped through his forehead at more than 800 meters per second.

    ¡°Woo! Boom, headshot! This rifle is kind of awesome, we should get one of our own. Now, before you get all mad, I could already see it, you were going to let that guy convince you she was innocent. Then you would have lost your nerve and come blubbering to me with conflicted and self-absorbed thoughts to solve your problem anyways. You barely have any time before Jorn¡¯s limit runs out, and we don¡¯t have time for any of your indecisive faffing about, we need to wrap this up.¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    I blinked in shock, moreso that Max had just shot the guy than his latest insult, which I had accepted as just an unavoidable fact of my current reality.

    Plus, he had a point. We were out of time, and I had stalled out. I took a quick glance around the room as I approached the groaning woman, spotting the portable Link that Max had guessed would be there. I also noticed some more small arms, as well as a few papers scattered amongst a liberal coating of trash. This room looked like it had been occupied by a shut-in for months by the amount of discarded food wrappers and drink bottles that lay strewn and piled up around the area.

    I focused away from the scene of violence behind the overturned table and on the papers on a table next to the Link. I needed any information I could get on these bastards, so I began stuffing anything that didn¡¯t look like trash into whatever pockets they would fit into. I made myself ignore Raschel as she cried and groaned in pain on the floor, too dazed by her fall to speak in real words for now. After a frantic 20 seconds of ransacking the room, I finally heard Raschel say something coherent.

    ¡°Help me.¡± She pleaded, her voice low and nasally from a freshly broken nose. ¡°Nick? How did you¡­¡±

    Max¡¯s calmed voice interrupted her. ¡°You need to ignore her, man. Now¡¯s not the time for your human feelings and guilt.¡±

    I finished quickly tossing the rest of the room as I listened, grabbing a bunch of papers, notebooks, and a couple of little data drives. I saved the hard part for last. I¡¯d managed to avoid looking at the latest man I¡¯d killed, or the woman I couldn¡¯t decide what to do with. With a sigh I turned to them and knelt down next to the nearly headless man, keeping my rifle in one heavy and numb hand, while I did my best to search through his pockets.

    I spared a glance over at Raschel as I searched, wondering why she had gone quiet. She was looking at me with a mix of confusion and desperation, mouthing almost angry looking words at me from where she lay on the floor. When I looked up and we caught eyes, she mouthed something and gave me a questioning look. She paused for a moment before mouthing the same thing again when I didn¡¯t answer.

    I went back to what I was doing, rifling through the guys pockets for more paper, or anything that might hold value or information. While I worked with my one free hand, pulling out a wallet and a set of keys, I directed a thought towards Max.

    ¡®Max, what''s going on with her, did you mute her or something?¡¯

    ¡°Isn''t that obvious? Yes, of course. I knew if you had to listen to her, you¡¯d end up wanting to swoop in and save her. I¡¯ve noticed a pattern in your brain waves after that thing with Dalls and Ali, you got a taste of being a savior. You''re going to get addicted and drag us into way more side-questy bullshit if I let it continue. You couldn¡¯t even bring yourself to finish off Kaylee back there, and she admitted everything! This one¡¯s been proclaiming her innocence, and very directly targeting your compassionate side, no chance you can handle that, it''s better that you just don''t hear it.¡±

    ¡°Fuckin¡¯-A, man.¡± I breathed out, causing Raschel to stop mouthing words and give me a strange look. I continued my reply to Max internally, forming my angry thoughts and shoving them at his corner of my mind.

    ¡®You can¡¯t just turn off my perception like that, Max. I¡¯m sick of the manipulation and lies, of being controlled and whipped around. I need some autonomy, and to be kept in the damned loop, buttface.¡¯

    I tossed in the childish insult as a sign that I was willing to delve down to his level on this one if he pushed the issue. I really was sick of being a pawn, of being pushed and pulled in every direction at once without a choice of my own, of being kept in the dark and unaware of the complex web of fuckery that tangled the path before me at every turn.

    Have you ever walked face first into an occupied spider-web in the dark? There¡¯s that brief moment of confusion at first, what was that? And then you feel it, the thin webbing stuck all over your face, and now your hands, and is that something moving? Something scurrying on fast, pointy, little legs across your forehead?

    My life had been entirely filled with stressy little moments like that. Before Max had even shown up, I had been kow-toeing a clearly lined box that the administrative machine of Arktria had laid out for me.

    A machine that pushed people to their limit. Tevin fought for them directly, engaging in near daily battles for years, only pausing when he was injured enough to be forced to rest. Rin, who held 24 hours of responsibility and barely slept or spent a moment off the clock. Or Ali, who had resolutely accepted a fate as equally if not more exploitative than the others. Your life, your time, your mind and body. They wanted it all.

    While I directed my thoughts to Max, I felt the roiling mass of anger I had been building change. Like it crystalized and hardened, turning from a hasty red-faced violent feeling to something sturdier, more resolved, determined. I was done with being a pawn. I would help Max change the system like he wanted, but not as a pawn, and try my best at making the reality of his wild plans something that would be better for the people on the dirt-side of reality.

    ¡°Jeeze, dude, you could have just, like, said to let me hear her. No need to get all grim and sanctimonious on me like that.¡±

    ¡°-hear me! What is wrong with you?! Nick!¡± Raschel¡¯s voice turned back on mid-scream, causing me to flinch and look back at her.

    I was so startled by the sudden screaming that I nearly fell back and away from her, causing me to bring my rifle up as I held my balance, and for her to wince away and quiet down as it waved in her direction. I frowned and righted myself, making sure to point the rifle away so it couldn¡¯t just go off at Max¡¯s command again.

    I held her gaze, both of us frozen in place. I could see she had been knocked around pretty good. She had a black eye and a broken nose, and her face held more desperation and fear than I had ever seen on a person.

    ¡®Max, can you do anything like¡­ reading people''s reactions and seeing if they are telling the truth?¡¯ I mused.

    ¡°You want me, the most evolved and singularly greatest mind and machine this side of the core, to be your lie detector?¡± He paused, taking in a deep and dramatic breath.

    ¡°Sure, why not. It¡¯s all measurements, statistics, and readouts that you humans have loved to study and talk about for decades. It¡¯s so easy a monkey with a souped-up toaster can do it, I can do it no problem.¡±

    I restrained the grin his answer brought, and kept direct eye contact with Raschel. ¡°Did you know about the plan to lure us here? That your friends were some kind of underground cell bent on capturing me?¡±

    She gave me a mixed look that to me looked honest, and shook her head as she replied. ¡°No! I swear I didn¡¯t know any of this, I just met them a few months ago and there''s not really too many people our age in the tower, so you know¡­¡± her answer lost a bit of steam and she finally looked away. ¡°Sometimes you make friends with who¡¯s around you, because you have to be around them, right?¡±

    Max? I thought.

    ¡°You know I could lie to you, right? How can you believe me, or her? What is truth anyway? Right or wrong, we can''t afford tag-alongs, Nick!¡±

    I narrowed my eyes and looked away as well. ¡®Max, that would be a really shitty thing to do to the only person, or thing, even remotely close to a friend that you have.¡¯

    ¡°Fine, fine. Ugh. There¡¯s a solid chance she¡¯s telling the truth, although I don¡¯t have enough data. I only reviewed 300ish hours of footage of her from the tower''s database, so my baseline sample set is not large enough to be 100% positive.¡±

    I allowed the grin to actually make it to my face and rose shakily to my feet. That was good enough for me, for now anyway.

    ¡°Can you stand, walk?¡± I asked her.

    She nodded and shifted around, and then athletically rolled herself up to her feet and managed to stand with her still bound hands now in front of her.

    ¡°Good, you¡¯re going to have to stay bound and disarmed, plus answer every damn question we ask, but you can come with us if you want. Or, you could wait around for whoever shows up first, the army or the mob, your call.¡±

    Without waiting for an answer, I stepped around the violent scene in the middle of the room and hurried to catch my ride. Max helpfully popped up a timer labeled ¡°Time until Jorn and Ali kill each other¡±, that was running into the negative and had ended most of a minute ago.

 Chapter 63 - Big bada

    Raschel caught up to me by the time I made it to the stairs that went up to the main basement. I heard her make a shocked noise as we crossed through the aftermath of the battle that took place in the hallway and  she stepped around bodies and bloodstains.

    ¡°What happened to the others?¡± She asked as I clomped up the wooden steps. ¡°I mean¡­ not these fatherless choda. I, uh, I saw¡­ Tevin.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re fine, Tevin¡¯s fine.¡± I shot back angrily, willing my words to be true. Max said he would recover, he had to be okay.

    ¡°Okay,¡± was all she replied with, in a small and meek voice. We spent the rest of the walk out of the house in silence that was only broken when we approached the quietly idling van. I first saw Rin, who gave me an annoyed look as he stood to the side of the wide driveway. He had backed away from the van where Jorn and Ali seemed to be locked in some kind of staring contest. Next, I noticed Tevin¡¯s armored form, still locked in his stiff pose, but now laying on a mid-sized flatbed trailer they had managed to hook up to the vehicle.

    Ali was still seated in the van, while Jorn was standing next to her with his rifle up. Of the pair, Jorn saw me first as I walked up with Raschel trailing nervously behind me.

    ¡°Everyone pack in, we¡¯re getting out of here.¡± I ordered as I approached the trailer. I frowned when I noticed that Tevin was just laying down on the trailer and not strapped or tied down or at all.

    ¡°Have any of you ever actually loaded a trailer?¡± I asked Rin as he stepped up next to me. ¡°He¡¯s not tied down or anything.¡±

    Rin glanced over at Raschel, who had hidden behind me and was nervously glancing at Jorn around my shoulder. ¡°Tevin is secured, his suit has magnets.¡± His eyes glanced towards Jorn before returning to mine, signaling to me that something was wrong.

    I finally turned to the captain, ¡°What''s your problem? Here I am, my ten minutes were up, what¡­¡± I reached for my mobile comm to check the time, and found that it had been crushed in my pocket at some point. The screen was cracked, blank, and none of the buttons seemed to have an effect. A little timer flashed over top of it anyways, the numbers were bright orange and blinked with each second that was added.

    ¡°-00:01:28.618¡±

    ¡°A minute and a half ago, so let''s get out of here.¡± I finished.

    ¡°Your servant has threatened both myself and the CLE.¡± Jorn said through gritted teeth, never taking his eyes off of Ali, who was still sitting calmly in the driverseat of the van. She looked over to me and gave a little smile, which was still weird to see on her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care, she probably had a good reason.¡± I answered back.

    ¡°¡±Welcome back, sir.¡± She said with a noticeable delay between her movements and her reaction.

    ¡°There is no excuse! She should be charged as a terrorist right alongside your prisoner.¡± He spat back, jamming a finger over my shoulder and pointing at Raschel.

    I glanced over to Ali, wondering what she had done. She gave no sign of stress, pain, or anything really, and was simply smiling back at me from the seat. As I watched, her hand came up from the steering wheel and she gave me another little wave as her smile slightly widened.

    I looked back to Jorn, unsure what to make of Ali¡¯s drugged actions, and was about to say something when Rin stepped in.

    ¡°Alianora has legal authority to make decisions in the consuls name, captain. Your intel is old, she is his personal assistant, no longer his attendant. With Katie out of contact, Nick¡¯s orders stand. You can attempt to seize command and justify it to the court, but do you really think the mediators will take a soldier''s word over a noble¡¯s?¡±

    Jorn shot a glance over to Rin, and then his burning eye focused back on me through his broken faceplate. He physically shook with anger as I watched the gears turn in his head. I could hear the motors in his suit whir as the rifle creaked under his frustrated grip.

    While he simmered over his decision, I glanced back over at Ali. She still had her hand held awkwardly up and waved at me again, and this time I noticed she had something. Something small that was wrapped around the inside of her palm, whatever it was blinked with twin-pulsed flashes of green light at a steady pace.

    I looked away from her and back to Jorn and Rin, seeing that Rin had stopped paying attention to Jorn and was eying Raschel with his puzzle-solving face.

    ¡°Make up your mind, captain.¡± I said, taking back over the negotiation. ¡°Either get with the program or get out of the way, we don¡¯t have time for this bullshit. We¡¯re all going to leave, isn''t that what you want?¡±

    I thought he might start shooting for a moment. His rifle jerked up an inch and I actually heard him clamp his jaw with a clack in response to my words. He stared back at me for a second longer, before banging his rifle into his chest plate with solid clang, letting out a frustrated grunt, and turning to climb into the back of the van next to the cocooned Katie and the Link. He slammed the door behind him, giving me one last frustrated look before he was hidden from view.

    Rin let out a single chuckle. ¡°Heh, man¡­ soldiers. Did you see his face?¡±

    I looked back over at him, confused. ¡°Yeah, he looked pissed. What even happened?¡±

    Rin gave a sardonic smile and shook his head before starting towards the passenger door to the cab of the van. ¡°Your assistant threatened to blow up the whole van with Katie inside of it if he tried to remove her from the driver''s seat, set a deadman switch and everything. She refused, he yelled and ordered- started right at it too, as soon as you left. She refused some more, then it died down into the stalemate you walked in on.¡± As he passed by, he nodded to Raschel and abruptly changed subjects.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to tell me absolutely every detail of how you met the rest of your friends, and everything that happened between the shooting starting and Nick dragging you back here, understood?¡± He said, his usual monotone voice sounding almost casual amongst the chaos of the day.

    Raschel simply nodded back, her eyes wide as she looked over to me as if for permission, which nearly made me laugh. This whole thing was bordering on ridiculous, and I had been through too much to see it as anything but that.

    I ushered the traumatized, timid, and possibly traitorous prisoner ahead of me and we all piled into the cramped cab of the van next to a cheerful seeming Ali. She worked the gear and pulled us out of the driveway towards the gate we had come in through, while we sorted out who sat where.

    Rin and Raschel ended up sort of crammed into the area between the two front seats. Rin actually made the argument for the seating arrangement himself, pointing out that since I had the gun, I should have the window seat in case we ran into more trouble.

    I looked over my ragtag group as we pulled away from the house. Ali¡¯s actions were worrying, I wasn''t even sure that her threat against Katie was possible. Would a large enough explosion punch through the shield item she was using? What kind of explosives did she even have that would give Jorn pause? I was just glad we didn¡¯t have to find out. While the van was important, it was far less important to me than my friends.

    On the other hand, It was good seeing Rin acting more like his normal self, no longer huddled and reeling from the shock of everything happening too close and too fast. He even seemed to be growing a little. Maybe a little chaos, combat, and fleeing for his life was tempering his rigid personality.

    As we finished shuffling into the cab and prepared to leave, he gave me a look I couldn¡¯t decipher. We had been roommates, and something close to friends for a few years now, but I couldn¡¯t read him quite as well as I could Tevin. It was a mix of amusement and concern, or what passed for those emotions on his expression starved features, like he had discovered a possibly problematic joke I was playing and was now in on the fun.

    I glanced from his eyes to Raschel, and then back, wordlessly asking him if it was something about her. He gave a slight shake of his head and then nodded to the back of the van before shaking his head again and looking back to his laptop. Did that mean it was something with Jorn and Katie, that he didn¡¯t want to talk about aloud? Hopefully it also meant it was something he was working on.

    ¡°I could tell you what he¡¯s working on. He¡¯s been scanning for connections to anything, kind of like I have been doing, all he¡¯s really able to see are Jorn and Tevin¡¯s suits though. His little laptop¡¯s antenna is laughably weak and inefficient, and can¡¯t even detect the exchange between Jorn¡¯s suit and the bubble bitch¡¯s tablet, and I¡¯ve been intercepting the drone signals before he has a chance to get to them.¡± Max laughed and popped into existence as a bobblehead-sized version of himself on the dash in front of me. He stood there with his hands on his hips, oddly stiff and rooted in place as he stood unaffected by the car leaning into its turn, or bumping down from the pavement onto the long gravel driveway.

    ¡°He¡¯s also looking over and using a few tools to sift through some data from the warehouse fight, the uh, taking over vehicles and running over the dingbat rebel¡¯s thing was sort of his idea. I saw him breaking into a few of their cameras and ran with it, and he may have, um, managed to scrape some of the code I was using out of their systems during the attack. He¡¯s trying to sort out where the connection came from now, and I think he suspects it was some tech gadget Katie is using from within her shield. Jorn knows better though, him and Katie are trying to figure that out too. Luckily they¡¯re blaming each other and are not likely to share notes.¡±

    I looked ahead, settling the rifle near the open window into a more comfortable rest position as Max filled me in. Hearing Rin had actually gotten some of whatever Max used was a little worrying, but overall it sounded like it was something I could put off and worry about later. I needed to focus on getting us out of here before I could let myself worry about something that wouldn¡¯t have any immediate effects.

    For now, I hoped we could avoid trouble, make tracks, and get a moment to recover and regroup while we gained some distance from the occupied city. Some of the feeling that Max had dulled was starting to come back, and I could feel the back of my neck and a few places across my shoulders growing stiff and crackly with dried blood. I reached a still tingly and fuzzy hand towards the back of my neck, and it came away with a half coagulated scab smeared across my fingers.

    ¡°That should leave a scar even Tevin might be jealous of.¡± Rin said from where he was wedged partially between the back of my seat and the thin metal divider wall that separated the cab from the back of the van, somehow seeing what I was doing even as he tapped away at his computer. ¡°It looks almost like someone tried to cut your head off from behind, but only scratched the surface.¡±

    ¡°It doesn''t hurt.¡± I replied automatically, before I used the same hand to point and direct Ali as we approached the gate. ¡°We need to keep going North North-west.¡±

    She gave a grunt in reply while I looked back to the bloody half formed scab on my hand, wondering when that had happened. I started to replay the whole firefight in my mind to try to remember what had caused the injury, when Ali stepped down hard on the gas pedal and rocked us all back in our seats. I glanced first at her, and then at the path she was guiding the van down and saw the looming metal bars of the gate rushing towards us.

    ¡°Brace!¡± Ali said through clenched teeth a second before the van crashed into the gate. The metal bars buckled, the windshield cracked, all of the headlights were shattered and broken, but we made it through and fishtailed out onto the gravel road. Ali somehow kept us from sliding off into the ditch, pulling the wheel hand-over-hand in one direction and then the other, and we all took a moment of silence to recover from the decisive action from our drugged up driver. We stared at her, but she didn¡¯t seem to notice our collective gaze and only accelerated, sending up a plume of dust behind us as we bumped along the winding and hilly road.

    Ali was focused on the road, her knuckles white as she guided the van and trailer down the country road. Rin, despite his big talk about getting information out of Raschel, was instead absorbed back into his laptop. I glanced at what he was doing and the mess of windows and boxes he had spread over the small screen, but despite Max having already told me what he was doing, I couldn¡¯t understand the masses of text and tables that opened and closed rapidly under his quick taps and clicks.

    We made it a few hundred yards down the gravel road before the world rumbled, loose branches and leaves were blown from the trees all around us, and dust was kicked up into a dense cloud from the dry road as the whole compound exploded behind us. A towering mushroom cloud slowly roiled up to darken the sky. A number of smaller and muffled secondary explosions went off a second after the shockwave passed us, and Ali slammed on the brakes skidding us to a halt as the cab filled with blinding dust.

    Coughing and blinking, it took a moment for me to realize what had happened. In the confusion of the moment I felt something touch my arm and recoiled, only to realize it was the van''s window rolling up automatically as the interior fans kicked into overdrive. I tried to rub the grit from my eyes and ended up just smearing blood across my face, but managed to clear my eyes as the cab filtered out the dust from the inside of the van.

    ¡°Nice.¡± Was all Rin had to say as he used his ragged shirt to clear the dust from his own face.

    ¡°You should have said something, sir.¡± Ali said through her coughing as she gave me a rather pouty look.

    I just stared back for a moment, at a total loss for what to say. Had a survivor from the gunfight triggered a bomb of their own? Max had said that he was relatively certain they did not have a stock of explosives, Max had said¡­ he could blow the whole house up.

    The bobblehead sized Max, who was now sitting cross legged on the dash, flashed me a thumbs up. ¡°Bingo! No way I was letting any of those bastards slink away, just because you¡¯re soft doesn''t mean I have to be too.¡±

    I narrowed my eyes on him. I really wanted to tear into him, to cuss him out for overwriting my own decisions without warning, but was limited to a few angry thoughts and expressions as everyone in the cramped cab what-the-fucked over the surprise explosion.

 Chapter 64 - Wing it

    Before the dust had fully cleared, Ali got us moving again while I stared daggers at Max. Is this how it was always going to be? Max nudging and prodding me in the direction he wanted me to go, letting me think I was getting my way on occasion, only to go behind my back and do what he wanted anyways?

    ¡°Hey, woah there, buddy. First of all, you never actually said to not blow the house up, you said you wanted answers first. Going in ourselves was cathartic, but you were going to let that bitch walk! I thought we went in there for some sweet sweet justice, vengeance, righteous fury, and retribution! Then you wimp out and leave her laying there to crawl away and continue her machinations. Plus you let one of them come with us, again!

    Although, to be fair, Raschel does seem likely to actually be innocent in all this. Did you know she doesn''t even eat meat? She¡¯s a total vegan, and not one of those annoying ones that won¡¯t shut up about it.¡±

    I continued to just stare at him, trying to think of some way to push back, some way to stand up for myself against him. All I could come up with was imagining him as an actual bobblehead with his stupid round head bouncing around like it was on a spring.

    ¡°Very funny. You should give that up, I¡¯m doing this for you as much as I am for myself after all. Plus, there are like 6 vehicles that are totally going to intercept us in a few more miles, unless you count motorcycles as a whole vehicle, then the count would be 9. We should really be coming up with a plan for that instead of pointing fingers and groaning over old news.¡±

    Before I could react, the van roared through an intersection and caught about a foot of air. We were all tossed around inside of the cabin when we landed, other than Ali who was the only person actually wearing a seatbelt. Rin and Raschel got the worst of it. I watched as they rose up into the air as if in zero gravity, only to slam back down in a tangle of limbs, shaggy hair, and cursing.

    Raschel began to cry again, and Rin shot Ali a dirty look while he worked to untangle himself from the girl. He muttered something under his breath, the only thing audible enough for me to understand of which was ¡°lead-foot.¡±

    Ali either did not hear him, or ignored him entirely and kept her focus, grappling with the steering wheel as she worked to keep the van in the middle of the now paved road. I brought my attention back to Max, sending questioning thoughts about how we could avoid them.

    ¡°We can¡¯t fully avoid them, not really, punching through this group is our best option. I¡¯m watching a perimeter with the last of my drones and a bunch of them are converging on this area. You need to tell Ali to take the second left and jog over to Mclauchlan road, otherwise we¡¯ll hit a roadblock they¡¯re building on the next little bridge.¡±

    ¡®You sure there¡¯s not just something else you want to blow up that way?¡¯ I thought back at him, realizing I was being petty, but unable to not have the thought. That was one of the biggest problems with Max, my thoughts couldn¡¯t hide from the bastard. My filter, as often as I ignored it anyway, didn¡¯t have a chance to even try to catch me before I said something stupid.

    ¡°Yes, as fun as explosions are, there¡¯s not much of a point to just blowing up random peoples houses. You really need to tell her to turn though.¡±

    I hesitated, childishly rebelling against the confounded bossy AI, which actually seemed to get to him. His voice rose an octave as we neared the turn.

    ¡°I mean it, we need to turn, like, now!¡± he practically screamed into my mind as we approached the intersection.

    I relented, smirking at finally getting a reaction out of him. I¡¯d have to remember this when he was being especially annoying in the future. ¡°Ali, take this left.¡±

    For a moment, I thought she didn¡¯t hear me. She reacted so late to my order that I thought we were going to blow past the turn, but she slammed on the brakes and braced herself against the wheel with locked elbows. The rest of us were thrown forward into the dash as the van shuddered, the anti-skid braking system worked to keep us from losing traction, and Raschel let out a scream as Ali cranked the wheel and pulled us into the turn.

    There was a terrifying moment as I felt the van tilt, pushing me into the door as we went up on two wheels, and what little rubber that remained in contact with the road just barely stayed on the pavement through the end of the turn. Then, as swiftly as it had started, the moment was over with a chirping squeal. The van fell back onto all four wheels and Ali punched it, weaving back and forth across both lanes before getting the van under control and speeding up.

    I glanced at Ali, letting go of the handle built into the window frame that I had instinctively grabbed ahold of. She looked like she was enjoying all of this. The predatory grin she had worn when she crashed the van through the gate had returned, and she seemed completely absorbed in her task.

    ¡°You think putting everyone at risk and ignoring my advice just to mess with me is a good plan? I knew you were kind of a dumbass, but I didn¡¯t realize you were that stupid. Are you going to ignore me when I warn you that you¡¯ll contact that enemy convoy I was telling you about in 78 seconds if both groups maintain their speed? hmm?¡±

    His words sobered me up, and made me feel a little bad. I''d failed to take into account that our driver, while highly capable, was also injured and hopped up on the good stuff. Plus, I had no clue what we should do about the oncoming enemy. What was I even supposed to do in a situation like this? I had no real tactical combat training other than my time at the range with Tevin, and the traditional group tactics that the dwarves had beaten into me over the last few weeks.

    The worst part was, I couldn¡¯t even tell everyone else that we were heading straight for another fight. I had already done enough to blow my own cover, and knew I would probably struggle to convince Rin of anything but the truth. Adding the uncertainty of having Raschel sitting right there to overhear anything I said, I was backed into a corner and just had to trust Ali to know what to do when the enemy appeared.

    I gripped my borrowed rifle again while I waited, checking the ammo and forcing it to switch to a different tube when I discovered it was already almost empty again. This time I got the chance to study the mechanism, it seemed to work almost like a giant revolver. It had places for 12 tubes, 2 inline sets of 6, and each could hold 30 rounds. The whole thing was already about half empty, with only 5 fresh untouched tubes of ammo, with a couple that had been switched early and still had a few rounds left over. Five of the slots were entirely empty, having been ejected like the one I had reloaded in the midst of the fight in the bunker.

    Hopefully we could find some more ammo and tubes for the massive weapon system somewhere, although I doubted we¡¯d have the chance before we got to safety and it was no longer such a pressing issue. It¡¯s not like we could salvage this kind of thing from any of the locals. They all were relying on the older standard rifles, and this definitely seemed like something only a soldier in power armor could carry, let alone actually use in combat. Fully loaded, the ammo stored alone must weigh close to 30 pounds, far too heavy for a normal unaided person to carry effectively.

    Max interrupted my thoughts. ¡°So, are we going to think of a plan, or just wing it? I¡¯m game to wing things again, it¡¯s actually kind of fun.¡±

    I felt my face tighten into a scowl, unhappy with his words but unable to come up with an alternative. Today had been the latest in a long string of seriously shitty days, and I was scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas. I needed a damn vacation, even if it was only for a day or two. My focus was slipping and my attention was starting to rebel, seeking out anything to distract my worn out brain from what I should be paying attention to.

    I clenched my eyes shut for a moment and shook my head, willing the dregs of my mental acuity to give me something, anything, to get through this next obstacle.

    Max, of course, barged into my train of thought. ¡°That¡¯s just sad. You''re going to hurt yourself.¡±

    My scowl deepened. ¡®How am I supposed to think of a plan if you won''t let me think? I don¡¯t hear any brilliant ideas from you, oh most intelligent mind and machine this side of the core.¡¯ I thought sarcastically back to Max.

    ¡°I have a plan, we¡¯re going to wing it.¡±

    I sighed and rubbed my hand over my face again, only remembering afterward that it was covered in sticky drying blood. When I opened my eyes, I noticed Raschel was watching me, her own tear streaked and bruised eyes wide and scared. She bit her lip and looked like she was about to say something, but Ali spoke up before she could get a word out.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°There''s a vehicle up ahead, I saw them cresting the next hill.¡± Her words came out weirdly, almost dreamily. I¡¯d really have to give her an apology for sticking her with the pain meds earlier. It had felt like the right thing to do at the time, but I was realizing more and more what a mistake it was.

    ¡°I, uh, what should we do?¡± I said lamely, hoping someone else would have an idea now that it was out in the open.

    ¡°Keep going, they might just let us pass since we¡¯re in one of their vehicles.¡± Rin replied, while Raschel let out a little fearful squeak and started to hyperventilate.

    ¡°Right, but what if that doesn''t work?¡± I answered, keeping my eyes on the road ahead. Just as I finished my question, a large pickup truck rose out from the dip in the road about 200 meters ahead of us. I couldn¡¯t see any of the other vehicles Max had warned me about, but assumed they were traveling behind the lead truck.

    The truck was surprisingly well cared for, for an older vehicle. It had a shiny white coat of paint and looked unmodified, yet as it drew closer I could see the top portion of a group of people standing in the bed of the truck. There was a tense moment of silence as our two groups raced towards each other, only broken by Rin¡¯s monotone voice as he answered my question.

    ¡°Shoot them.¡±

    I glanced at him, wondering if he meant that as a joke. Ali belatedly laughed like it was, catching up to the conversation a couple of seconds into the lingering silence that followed.

    With the enemy convoy quickly approaching, I held off on answering him as I realized that had to be the plan. I couldn''t come up with anything better, and I did have the gun after all. With a start, I remembered that I had more than that. I had looted some stuff from the bunker, but in my rush had not paid enough attention to what I was grabbing to remember it all. I frantically started to pat my pockets with my free hand while I kept my eyes on the approaching truck, watching as the guys in the bed of the vehicle waved and raised their weapons into the air. Max laughed at me while I struggled to multitask, searching for the pistol I knew I had picked up and keeping my eyes forward at the same time.

    It looked like they were slowing down, but they were all staying on one side of the road and did not swerve into our lane to try to block us as we blew past them at nearly 60 miles per hour. I tracked them with my gaze, trying to get as good of a look at the group as I could as we went by. There were at least a half a dozen people in the back of the truck, which was followed by another truck just as loaded down, then a beat up looking and rusty 4 door car, and lastly a formation of doubled-up guys on six motorcycles.

    Some of them pointed at us and looked like they were yelling something, and others fired their rifles off into the air, but none of them swerved to block us and we were past them in an instant. I breathed a sigh of relief, and my hand finally landed on the pistol I¡¯d taken from Andy back in the bunker. I pulled it from the pocket it was stuffed in, causing a few loose papers to fall out and scatter along the floorboards. I tossed the gun over onto Ali¡¯s lap, along with the mix of magazines I¡¯d retrieved as well. Even if she was drugged up, I trusted her well trained instincts to know what to do with it all.

    While my hands sorted out the weaponry, I kept my eyes on the enemy convoy. I had to lean forward and crane my neck to get a good look at them through the side mirror, and held my breath as the convoy grew smaller in the distance behind us. I willed them to keep going, to just let us pass by and continue on, but of course couldn¡¯t be so lucky.

    Our van crested another hill and gave me a good view of the group of enemies as they all started to turn around. The two trucks in the lead pulled wide three-point turns, while the car and motorcycles spun in quick circles, some of the slower to react vehicles driving down into the ditch and ramping back up into view. A few bullets started to ping against the van, and I breathed out my held breath.

    ¡°They¡¯re turning around.¡± I said just loud enough for everyone to hear over the road noise, causing Raschel to, again, break out in tears and curl up into a little ball.

    I banged on the back wall of the van to signal Jorn, and then hit the button to make the window roll down. The cab filled with rushing air and the noise of the road, and I shimmied my way out of the window until I was sitting on the bottom edge with my chest facing the van. I felt someone grab my leg, and when I ducked back in to pull the heavy rifle up after me I noticed that Rin and Raschel were both steadying my feet and holding onto my calves.

    I nodded thanks to them, and then refocused on not dropping the rifle as I awkwardly slid it up through the window and got it onto the roof. It was heavy and unwieldy, plus it was large enough to catch a lot of wind and nearly pulled me out of the window before I could get it into place. Yet I managed, and thanks to the helpful passengers, I got the gun up and shifted into a passable firing position.

    Most of the motorcycles had already nearly caught up to us. The person on the back of the lead bike stood up behind the driver and started shooting at me, spraying a blast of automatic fire around me and into the van. Most of the shots flew by harmlessly, but one of them pinged off the rear of the van and sprayed bullet fragments and paint chips into my face, causing me to blink and shake my head. It felt like one of them got into my eye, causing me to clamp it shut, but I rallied and pulled my own trigger.

    Again, I felt the gun vibrate and correct my aim, sending a three round burst into the pair of riders. I saw the driver flinch and lose control, the handlebars jerking back and forth quickly for a second before the front tire turned too quickly and caught on some imperfection in the road, causing the bike to flip over and throw both of the guys into the air in a rolling wreck.

    The bike behind them swerved to avoid the sliding crash, and bumped over one of the flailing riders legs before veering off into the ditch and being forced to slow down. The other motorcycles, having more time to react, revved their engines and overtook them as they easily avoided the hazard of the downed pair.

    I pulled the trigger a few more times, spraying fire at the group in careful controlled bursts, and was rewarded by knocking one of the passengers off the back of their bike to start ragdolling as they flipped and slid along the cracked and rough pavement. More gunfire flew back in my direction, causing me to flinch and close my eyes, ducking my head down against the roof of the van and using the rifle as makeshift cover.

    I felt the gun shake in my hands as it took a bullet for me, and repeatedly blinked the eye that had been hit as I tamped down a sense of rising panic. While I huddled behind the rifle, out of the corner of my still good eye I spotted movement to my side.

    The sliding side door ripped open, and I felt the whole van shift as Jorn leaned out and blasted his own rifle at the pursuing forces. The changing center of gravity caused the van to lean and Ali to swerve to correct, before she slowed down slightly and used the weight of Jorns armor hanging out of the side of the van as a pivot point and took the next corner, giving him an even clearer view of the chasing bikes for a moment as we skidded back onto a gravel road.

    I got with the program and together we sent a flurry of copper jacketed tungsten slugs in the direction of the group of riders, downing another of them before we made the corner and they were blocked by the trees. As we started to rattle and shake down the bumpy and ill-kept gravel road, I caught a flash of Jorn¡¯s angry face as he turned his helmet over to look at me, before he looked back to the billowing plume of dust that the van kicked up behind us on the dry road.

    He waited a few seconds, and then fired a single round off behind us into the cloud of dust. I was confused at first, until I heard the explosion and realized he had launched a grenade back in their direction, only after waiting long enough for the pursuing forces to have rounded the corner. It also gave me an idea.

    ¡®Max, does my rifle have grenades too?¡¯

    ¡°Yep, it has three left. There¡¯s a fire-mode selector above your thumb you have to switch over. It has two frags and another thermobaric, but you should give it another second and aim for the car that''s about to round the corner though. The last of the bikes are being told to pull back and let the car take the lead.¡±

    Right, I could do that. Now was not the time to ignore Max¡¯s advice, I¡¯d already learned that lesson for the day. I thumbed the selector, waited a moment, and when Max said ¡°Now!¡± I pulled the trigger and sent a grenade into the cloud of dust and listened for the explosion, hoping to see like a fireball or something that would let me know if it actually hit the car. I heard the explosion, but couldn¡¯t tell if it hit anything or not.

    ¡°Oh, you want to see? I have some drones I¡¯m watching them with and one of them has thermal, Jorns suit has some good optics I¡¯m borrowing too, check this out.¡±

    The dust disappeared, mostly, turning from a massive plume of tan dirt-colored cloud to a more grayish haze-like fog, and I could see the dark forms of the car about 80 feet behind us. I aimed my rifle back at it and shot off a few rounds, grinning to myself.

    The car dropped back, black smoke pouring out from the engine and mixing with the dust. A larger form broke off from the side of it, overtaking it and quickly catching up to us with the roar of a large engine. I squeezed the trigger again, firing off a long burst as one of the trucks revved right up to the back of the trailer and crashed into it with a crunch. The van rose up and then dropped down out from under me, before jerking off to the side and flinging me out of the window, causing me to lose my grip on the rifle.

    In a confusing rush, while I scrambled for purchase on the van, I watched the rifle tumble away from me and bounce off of the roof. I managed to grab ahold of one of the ragged holes in the van from where I had ripped the awning off with the excavator, and fell heavily against the side as the wind whipped me around. I squinted my good eye and tried to get a grip with my other hand, feeling the jagged and torn sheet metal cutting into my fingers, but the truck rammed into the trailer again and caused the van to shimmy and shake as Ali tried to maintain control.

    The body of the van bumped into me, causing me to fly like a damned kite for a moment in the wind, and I caught a glimpse of Jorn as he watched me from inside of the van a few feet away. He could have reached out and offered a hand or just grabbed me and pulled me in, but the bastard just sat there, calmly watching me as I lost my grip and tumbled away.

    I thought I was done for, that I¡¯d end up mashed under the tires, or thrown into a tree at speed. Yet before I gave up and resigned myself to my fate, I felt my boot slam into the bumper of the van as I tumbled by. With an adrenaline fueled surge of quick thinking, I triggered the magnetic latch.

 Chapter 65 - Knife work

    The sudden anchor of my mag-boot latching to the van''s bumper cracked me like a whip, slamming my arms and head into the trailer. I flopped against the road for a second, disoriented and flailing as I bounced off of the gravel. I got one hand onto the top of the trailer, and I pulled myself up before I was dragged completely under the flatbed, then got my other boot latched onto the rear door of the van to steady myself. My world rocked again as the truck rammed the back of the trailer once more, and I nearly lost my grip but was just able to maintain my hold.

    I craned my neck to get a view of what was happening, stuck in my position, stretched like a bridge between the back of the van and the trailer. I watched as the chasing truck revved harder and pulled sideways, trying to drag the trailer over into the ditch. The van was slowing down and swerving wildly, and a couple of the motorcycles overtook us on either side as the cloud of dust caught up to us and enveloped everything as we stopped.

    The truck continued forward for a few more feet, pushing the end of the trailer down as one of its front wheels climbed up on top of it a few feet behind Tevin¡¯s armored form. My end of the trailer rose as the back was pressed down, and I heard the trailer creak, groan, and then jolt with a snap as the abused coupler gave up and popped upwards. I finally let go, both with my hands and my feet, unlatching my mag boots from the bumper and falling to the gravel.

    Gunshots continued to fill the air, bullets zipping by in both directions through the cloud of dust. I could easily make out the ripping sound of Jorn''s heavy rifle, distinct from the slightly smaller charges of the older assault rifles of the rebels. I pushed myself up to my feet, then popped up from behind the raised edge of the trailer, looking through the dust at the truck''s dark form in the thermal vision Max was still piping to me from his drone.

    I only had one thought pass through my mind. There were a bunch of these assholes, and the only advantage I had would dissipate once the wind cleared all of the kicked-up dust from our little section of country road. Now was not the time for thinking, it was time for action.

    I jumped up onto the trailer, dashing forward and yanking my plasma knife from where it had been clipped on my chest. The crystalized anger that still smoldered in my chest reignited into glowing hot determination. I hated this, the fighting, the killing, the corner I had been backed into. What I hated, even more, was how these guys had decided that attacking my friends was a good idea.

    After vaulting onto the trailer and taking three quick steps, I planted one boot on Tevin¡¯s chest, kicking off and jumping over the rest of the trailer and up onto the hood of the truck. With one more step, I cleared the cab and smashed into the small group of guys in the back of the truck as they were scrambling to dismount. I triggered the knife in my hand, the glowing plasma loop lighting up the dust and filling the air with the acrid smell of vaporized stone particles.

    I didn¡¯t know a whole lot about knife fighting, or fighting a group of guys, let alone how to fight them after crashing into them like a bowling ball and falling into a confused, blinded, pile of armed and plate-carrier-wearing wannabe freedom fighters. I just slashed the knife around wildly, feeling and hearing it burn through flesh and bone as everyone started screaming, smoking, and shooting. I felt an instant of pressure poke through one of my legs, took an elbow to the mouth, and felt something crunchy break under my knee as I pushed myself upright in the pile.

    I rose to the top of the group and slashed downwards in every direction, clenching my jaw and trying not to breathe in the fumes of burning flesh, plastic, bone, and metal from the passage of my knife. I felt a hand come out of the dark mass of bodies beneath me, grabbing at my face. I gripped the offending wrist with my free hand, wrenching it off to the side and severing it with the knife before tossing it away and continuing my work.

    As the shouting and fighting mess of rebels died or gave up and stopped fighting back, I reoriented and scanned around for my next move. The dusty cloud seemed thinner, and I could make out the rough details of the second truck where it was parked behind the first. My whole vision was a muddled mess of my real eyesight and the stark black-and-white thermal image as Max stitched the two together for me.

    I reached down and felt around with my free hand, looking for a gun to shoot at the next truck that had just pulled in behind the first. I quickly found something, yanking a rifle off of one of the writhing, chopped up, cauterized enemies beneath me, snapping the straps right off of the guy. I changed up my grip, using the crook of my elbow to hold the weapon as I grabbed the handle, and then swung the rifle up and pointed it towards the truck.

    The rifle felt light in my hands after using Tevin¡¯s primary, the old assault rifle was like a toy in comparison. I ignored the thought and squeezed the trigger, only to have nothing happen. I tried again before turning it to the side and spotting the melted gouge from my knife across the receiver. I was rudely interrupted by a bright pain in my lower abdomen and fell backward, reflexively recoiling from the sensation.

    I dropped the rifle and clutched at the pain, quickly discovering someone else''s hand already there, wrapped around the handle of the knife they had shoved into my guts. I think I shouted something then, screaming a string of F-bombs at whoever had just stabbed me. I pulled back with my arm that was still holding the blazing plasma knife and punched in the direction of the arm attached to the knife.

    I felt their nose break under my fist and kept screaming as I slammed it into them a couple of more times for good measure. The pain spiked for an instant before being washed away with a numbing sensation, most of my body going fuzzy and feeling slightly pressurized, like I was underwater, or wrapped in a skin-tight bodysuit. Before I could think about what that meant, bullets started to ping into the back of the truck I was now laying in, punching holes in the bed and finding new homes in the mostly unmoving pile of rebels I had hacked to burned bits.

    Not taking the time to stop and think about things, I rolled and pulled myself over the side of the bed, hanging onto the side and letting gravity swing into an upright position to land on my feet.

    I thought I heard someone scream my name, a hoarse and shrill voice piercing through the chaos of gunfire, idling trucks, and buzzing motorcycle engines. I spun around to look for the voice, almost able to see clearly through the settling dust.

    Before I could spot who was yelling for me, a guy on a motorcycle ripped past me, swerving hard and falling over in a controlled way to miss some of his allies as they came out of the dissipating dust. The rider slid over the packed gravel while the bike tumbled away. The three guys who had jumped out of the back of the second truck and caused the rider to swerve moved towards me, but only one of them had a firearm.

    The first blast from the shotgun caught me in my already injured shoulder. It didn¡¯t hurt, it only felt like someone gave me a hard shove to my shoulder, so I ignored it and charged the group. The other two in the formation stepped forward to meet me with a bat and a crowbar, while the shotgunner pumped a new shell into the chamber.

    While I did not have much training in fighting with a knife, the dwarves had given me an intense month-long crash course in melee fighting in general. It would have been nice to have a shield, and the plasma knife was tiny compared to the staff I was used to, but the basics were similar enough and some of my reflexes carried over.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    I had, however, been involved in a couple of street fights, which I¡¯d mostly won using a handful of tricks I¡¯d learned from having grown up alongside Tevin through our early teen years. Tevin had liked to spar and fight for as long as I¡¯d known him, and I¡¯d occasionally played training dummy as he showed off the fruits of the boxing and judo lessons his parents paid for.

    I cut the end of the bat off as the first guy swung it at me. He was a skinny fucker, and had a cloth mask pulled over his face that was painted in the blue and white bars of the region''s old flag. After cutting his weapon in half, I crumpled him with a kick to the gut and leaned back to avoid the swing of the crowbar. Bat-man fell back from my kick, and I thought to grab the crowbar swinging arm to pull the guy off balance, but found my free-hand was dangling uselessly again after the shotgun round to the shoulder.

    My misstep cost me a blow to the face from the steel bar, which gave a dull ring and snapped my head back, but surprisingly did not daze me or even hurt all that much. I had a vague sense of Max shouting encouragement and shadowboxing on the sidelines like a fan watching his favorite fighter in the ring, but paid it no mind as I backpedaled to maintain my balance.

    Crowbar-guy followed me and swung again. He was more filled out than bat-man and looked older, a grizzled beard surrounded angry bared teeth under a set of scratched up sunglasses. This time I narrowly leaned away from his attack, before finally catching traction. I sprung forward, getting within his reach and slashing down his chest. I scored a 4 inch deep gouge in him from collarbone to hip with the white hot loop of plasma. He cried out in pain, falling away and dropping his crowbar.

    A flashing red warning pinged on the windshield, a split second before bullets tore through it and showered me with glass. I ducked down beneath the tall hood of the vehicle so the driver would lose their angle, and the flash of a mental image from a movie I¡¯d seen long ago sprung to mind.

    The scene must have come from Max, because he was starring in the main role of the mental movie. In an instant that played out like a short soundless video clip, a wig-wearing Max hooked his foot into the handle of a metal bucket and kicked it into the face of a nameless enemy that morphed into the guy holding the shotgun.

    Not really having any time to think about things, I took his cue and did the same thing with the crowbar that the guy had just dropped. I shifted my footing, caught my toe through the hook, and kicked out, flicking it at the guy who was about to shoot me with the shotgun again.

    The hexagonal steel bar shot straight towards the guy, not flipping or tumbling at all, and the blunt U-bend of the hook nailed him right in the throat. His second shot went wild, Max cheered, and I continued forward. I slid to a stop next to the driver''s door, and in one motion reared back and punched through the tinted glass at the driver.

    The window shattered into a million tiny cubes and my fist carried through, but missed the leathery looking woman who was driving the car. She shrieked and leaned away from the glowing plasma blade as it tore through the headrest of her seat and set it on fire. I grunted and leaned forward, swinging the knife at her again as she started pulling the trigger of a handgun. A younger looking guy sat frozen in the passenger seat, his watery eyes wide as he clutched an antique lever-action rifle to his chest.

    Most of her shots missed me, but I felt a few hard pokes into my ribs as a couple of them punched through the thin sheet metal of the door. I shrugged them off, and jabbed my knife downwards into her side where I could reach. She screamed and looked me in the eyes, causing some part of me, that I had shoved into the darkest corner of my mind, to join her.

    I reached farther, partially crawling into the window and pushing the knife upwards, searing into her until it burned through her heart. She started to spasm, throwing her handgun out of the truck and behind me through the open window right over my back. The younger guy in the far side of the cab finally unfroze, screaming in rage as he swung the rifle towards me like a club.

    I flinched and ducked my remaining good eye away, catching the first blow on my forehead on the other side. It knocked me around a little, but whatever changes Max had done to me let me shrug it off like a blow from a kid with a toy foam sword. That still did not stop the guy as he rained a few more ineffective blows down on my head and good shoulder.

    I dropped my plasma knife, cutting off the energy and causing it to fall to the dead woman''s lap, and grabbed the rifle''s barrel. I yanked the weapon away from the young man and then pushed it back at him, jamming the butt of the stock into his nose and breaking it. His head rocked back and bounced off of the wall, and he went limp in his seat.

    I shimmied backwards, dropping back out of the window of the truck just in time to get flying tackled by a guy off the back of a motorcycle. His driving partner continued on while me and the rider rolled in the gravel next to the truck.

    He was screaming something, but I was too zeroed in on fighting to pay any attention to what he was saying. Something about his family, mixed in with grunts of effort and angry insults. We rolled three or four times, and I came up on top when we stopped. He yelled something else and yanked a pistol out of his belt, angling it towards my head.

    I only had the one good arm, and had somehow kept ahold of the rifle in the tumble, so I couldn¡¯t grapple him for his handgun. Instead, I lunged forward and smashed my forehead into his face, once, twice, and was interrupted before I could deal a third blow by yet another guy running up on me and kicking me in the face.

    The first guy was limp, and the new contender let out a muffled shout inside his closed motorcycle helmet, taking a limping step back after my jaw proved to be a harder target than he expected. I rolled off to the side, so I could bring the rifle that I was still gripping by the barrel around and bash helmet-head with it. My angle kind of sucked and it felt like a rather weak blow, but it still knocked him to the side and probably broke a few of his ribs.

    Still, he did not go down and limped back another step, his helmet swiveling as he looked around for a weapon. I was stuck on my back, and took a couple of seconds to roll over and push myself up with my one good arm. I used the rifle I was still holding to prop myself up and unsteadily rose to my feet, feeling sluggish and lightheaded but determined to see this thing through.

    I gained my footing at the same time that helmet-head got his hands onto the handgun the woman had thrown out of the truck. I stumbled forward towards him, winding up a swing with the rifle, while he raised the pistol and fired. While many of the guys I¡¯d fought today seemed to be pretty bad shots, this guy emptied the rest of the mag into a tight grouping in the center of my chest.

    Still, even though each bullet felt like a sledgehammer wrapped in a pillow, I made it close enough to slap the gun out of his hand with the buttstock of my rifle. He fell back, crab walking away from me as I pushed forward and kept swinging at him. I missed a few times, unable to keep up with him as my body became more and more numb and unresponsive, but finally landed a sideways swing into his knee that caused him to scream and roll to his side.

    I cracked a few more blows down on him, bending the rifle and shattering the stock until all that was left was a twisted barrel with a half of a mangled receiver on the end. I took in a deep shuddering breath, and turned around to look for the next threat.

    It was hard to walk, and I realized one of my legs had completely locked up, refusing to bend at the knee. The noise of the fight had quieted though, and all I could hear was the idling of engines and groans of the injured. The gunfire had died out. The buzzing engines of the motorcycles had ceased.

    Not seeing anyone moving or trying to get up, I stumbled back towards the van. As I made it around the last in the line of vehicles, Jorn stepped out from between the two idling shot-up pickups with his weapon up.

    ¡°Oh¡­ oh shit. He recorded a bunch of that. Uhh, damn. Stupid well-built Gon tech, he managed to pipe it to Katie around my filters, he sent it through a whole new connection they must have held in reserve. She cracked her shell and just triggered a high-power beacon? I don¡¯t recognize the code it''s transmitting, it¡¯s not in any of the logs or briefs I¡¯ve captured.¡±

    I stopped, swaying on my feet and looking down the barrel of Jorn¡¯s massive rifle as he raised it and aimed at me. He took a step back and squared his stance, looking slightly shaken for the first time, and spat out. ¡°What the fuck are you?¡±

 Chapter 66 - Overclocked

    Max appeared next to Jorn, for an instant he just stood next to him. Max examined the soldier closely before double-fist flipping him off right to his face, growing fingers on the end of his nubby arms just for the purpose. Then he flashed to the side and pointed one of his new fingers at me.

    ¡°So, we have a big call to make, and since you¡¯ve been getting all angsty and whiny about having a say¡­ as per your request, let¡¯s talk about it. This¡¯ll probably cost you a few brain-cells, because I¡¯m basically overclocking you, but I gotta stretch your limited capacity for the perception of time to get through this all.¡± He faked a cough and the rest of the world went a little fuzzy.

    ¡°Here''s the thing, I¡¯m already in most of Jorn¡¯s suit¡¯s systems, there are a couple of modules that were shielded and powered down, which he activated when he pinged Katie with the video footage. Before that, they were relying on literal text messages with a super low capacity, not much better than your old SMS system.¡±

    Max paced back and forth as he spoke, occasionally waving at the frozen Jorn or in the direction of the van. I found that I could only barely move, and was just as frozen as the rest of them, but I could think. ¡®Get to the point¡¯.

    Max huffed in frustration, tugging on his head as if he were trying to tear nonexistent hair out.

    ¡°I can interfere with the long-range communication from the beacon, and that''s the only signal within range of getting picked up by anyone else. I can disrupt it, and in about 30 seconds or so I should be able to hide the beacon entirely.

    That¡¯s not fast enough though, they won¡¯t get the video transfer on the other side, but they got the initial burst of information and they¡¯ll still pick up a scrambled signal and this location real quick. In fact, they already have. Whatever code they sent with that first burst transmission has cut through a ton of red tape and they are collapsing the entire front on us, and, uh¡­ they authorized targeted orbital strikes on the city instead of retaking it with ground forces.¡±

    They were going to bomb the city? How was that even possible? As far as I knew, Arktria did not have any real military space program. Some of the other oldest and wealthiest countries across the ocean had already imported a limited number of alien made spaceships, capable of easily making and breaking orbit. As far as I knew, nobody had any warships though. There was a whole well known treaty that many countries had signed years ago about it.

    ¡°Bah, like countries let silly things like treaties stop them. Of course there are warships up there, most of ¡®em overpriced second-hand junk. Arktria can¡¯t afford one in any case, but they do have a couple of satellites that can drop rods of unusual sizes. There''s talk with one of the countries that does have an orbit jumper for a resupply run actually. The council has tried to deliver more of the rods with their own rockets, but that did not go so well for them, hah.¡±

    My head was starting to actually hurt, even through whatever Max was doing to block out all of my pain. I pushed a thought at him as the world went even more blurry, ¡®What are you getting at?¡¯

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to be informed? You need to know all this crap to actually make a real choice. This is the bare minimum you need to halfway grasp the implications of what we need to choose. I¡¯m not even getting into everything happening, as we don¡¯t have the time.

    The point is, before Katie¡¯s signal, they were going to use ground forces and sweep the city clear, now they¡¯ve switched priorities and the ground forces are coming here. They¡¯re writing off the city and coming after us, which is¡­ not ideal.

    Now, I¡¯m not sure what they think they know, they probably think you¡¯re some kind of undercover cyborg spy or plant, the Greys tried some shit like that a year ago in Oros and it spooked a bunch of governments real good when it got out. That doesn''t matter, why they¡¯re coming for us matters less than the fact they are.

    We can¡¯t let these two pawns blow the whistle on us. Arktrian security is compromised, if they find out the truth it¡¯ll leak back to the core somehow and we¡¯ll be proper boned.¡±

    Max calmed down and stepped closer to me, filling my vision and giving me the most serious look I¡¯d seen on him. ¡°So, I can scramble the digital recordings, I can cut off their electronics, I can even lock Jorn¡¯s suit down. The question, the decision you need to make is¡­ how do we deal with these two?¡±

    He paused and just stared at me, his dotted eyes locked onto mine while I tried to push through the growing mental fog and pain to think.

    ¡°I say we just kill them and keep moving. Your names weren¡¯t in the transmission that got through, so if we can evade capture they won¡¯t be able to connect us to this mess. The only way the council finds out we¡¯re involved is if one of these two tells them.¡±

    I finally caught up and pieced together a thought, ¡®You¡¯re saying we need to kill Katie and Jorn?¡¯ Which only made Max laugh and slap his palm into his forehead. It was so hard to think, all I wanted to do was to sit down, to stop hurting. Everything was numb, yet everything hurt at the same time.

    The pain broke through from the background for an instant, spiking and washing away the meager thoughts I had barely cobbled together. I wanted to fall over, to clutch my head to keep it from exploding.

    ¡°It¡¯s either that, or try to feed them some bullshit convincing enough that they don¡¯t lock us up in a lab and dissect us. I¡¯m pretty confident they can¡¯t contain me even if they do, I¡¯m already too deep into their wider networks, but I¡¯d really rather not have to requisition any more of the lattice I stole and put into you to run my highest order processes. But, since I don¡¯t want you to keep complaining about how I keep you in the dark, this is your call to make. I hope you¡¯ll choose wisely, but knowing you, I doubt it.¡±

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    Even Max was going fuzzy now, and while I remained frozen in place the distinct and powerful feeling of falling rang through me like a bell.

    ¡°Damnit, you¡¯re cooked. We¡¯re out of time, make up your mind, Nick!¡±

    The feeling of falling grew stronger, and then I landed flat on my back as the world sped back up to normal time. The groaning of the fallen fighters around us faded back in, and I found myself squinting up at a bright blue and windy summer sky with one eye. My head felt hot, both too big and too small at the same time.

    I tried to shove the discomfort and distractions away, to wrap my mind around all of the information Max had just dumped on me. Yet whatever he had done to slow time down to get that whole conversation smashed into a split second felt like it might kill me. Most of my body was fuzzy and numb, the sensation of falling being the only thing to cut through Max¡¯s block for most of my body, but the feeling of having my skull cracked open and injected with boiling jello overpowered everything.

    Thankfully, the bright overwhelming pain faded quickly, leaving me breathing hard and laying in the bloody gravel as everything numbed back out. Something cast a cool shadow over me, a mountain on the horizon blocking out the light. The blurry form focused after a couple of blinks, and I turned my head to point my good eye up at Jorn as he loomed over me.

    We looked at eachother, his one eye locking onto mine through his cracked faceplate. That eye looked wary, confused, tired.

    What the hell was I supposed to do? What was he about to do? He still had his rifle, but he had slung it back onto his chest plate and was now working to remove something from a compartment built into his suit.

    I turned my head over to him as he crouched down next to me, my blurry eyesight finally focusing enough for me to makeout the manacles he was holding.

    ¡°Time to make that call, boss.¡± Max murmured as Jorn tossed the broken barrel I had been using as a club, then lifted up my limp arm and slapped one of the cuffs onto my wrist.

    Did I really have a choice? I had to go with Max¡¯s plan. There was no way I could talk my way out of an interrogation room once they noticed any of the changes that had been made to me. No wonder he was giving me an option here, he had me right where he wanted me. What was I supposed to come up with other than his way? I could barely even think after the overclocking thing, something I¡¯d told him not to do and that he had only done to buy the time to spin me a tidy web of reasoning to do what he wanted.

    Oh well, I was in too deep to stop swimming. I¡¯d joined his cause, and would have to pick my battles to push back on.

    Before the thought finished and I gave my assent to Max to shut them down, Jorn screamed and made a wild jerking motion before his joints locked into place, the momentum of his brief surge of action carried his locked up suit over onto his side.

    I summoned the strength and initiative to prop myself up with my still working arm. Still too fuzzy to really think clearly but knowing I had to do something, I dragged myself back from the locked up and vibrating armored soldier as he grunted in pain. I swiveled my head over at a new noise, the sound of sprinting footsteps tapping lightly in the gravel.

    A scoot or two later, I noticed what had hit him just before I watched the next thing hit him. There was a blobby patch of dark gray material smeared across his back and shoulder plate, as if someone had thrown a ball of dark gray clay at him. Except this clay was humming and arcing with electricity and power as it disrupted Jorn¡¯s suit.

    Ali barely showed a limp from her injury as she ran up on us. She was holding the pistol that I had thrown her and she slid to a stop, falling onto her shoulder to get the right angle on Jorn¡¯s broken faceplate. With unblinking determination, she emptied the magazine into his cracked helmet as he lay there locked up in his armor.

    I watched in shock, and Max scoffed, clearly just as surprised as me by Ali¡¯s decisively brutal action. I continued to just stare at her as she got up and half-ran half-crawled over to me, kicking up more dust as she kneeled at my side and looked me over. Her eyes grew wider and wilder as she discovered each new injury, but all I could do is laugh.

    ¡°Hah, holy shit, Ali. You just shot him.¡± Hearing the idiotic tone my voice took as I said that created enough mental dissonance to start to shake me out of the stupor I¡¯d been stuck in.

    ¡°I heard him, I saw him, the coward. He let you, an unarmored superior, do all of the fighting. That¡­ was really stupid, by the way, sir.¡± She pulled out her medkit from where she had slung it behind her back and began slapping sticky pads and jamming needles into me as she spoke, her actions smooth and fast.

    I couldn¡¯t feel much still, but whatever the medkit was giving me felt cool and calming in my burning veins. My body rejoiced at a sensation after so much numbness and pain, and I leaned back into the feeling.

    A gunshot rang out, causing both of us to refocus and look towards the noise, which was in the direction of the van.

    Rin stepped out from near the trailer, coming around the open door of the first still idling truck. He had a small pistol in one hand, the barrel of which only barely extended past his closed knuckles, and a sleek silver tablet in his other hand. He back stepped towards us as he kept the weapon pointed at Katie, who was trailing along behind him with her hands raised.

    Rin kept his flat eyes on Katie as he spoke out, as direct and to the point as always. ¡°She called a bag-team on us. I don¡¯t know why, but she triggered a national level emergency response plan with a clearance too high for me to be read in on. She burned all of our patences.¡± He jabbed his pistol at her with his last sentence, just a hint of anger and sorrow flavoring his normal tone of voice.

    ¡°Oh, is thaaaat what those numbers in that burst transmission were? Let me check¡­ ah, well¡­ it would seem he is correct about the patence thing, I never bothered to decompress those files. Hah. Your government keeps waaay too much info on all of you.¡±

    Everyone looked at me, while Ali shakily wrapped up the worst of my wounds in bandages. I was stunned to see the ragged hole in my chest, a patch of my skin and a portion of the muscle had been blasted apart. My overgrown rib cage was visible at the surface under a layer of rapidly solidifying scab. I looked away from the injury as a wave of nausea washed over me.

    ¡°We¡¯re all going into the darkest hole of a prison for this.¡± Katie threatened, her voice low and dangerous as she pleaded to my entourage. ¡°We¡¯ve been played. Mr. Spenser is no hard working citizen, he''s a foreign agent, and we all played into his plan. Look at him, he''s a freak, he''s not human. If we cooperate when the retrieval team gets here, maybe we¡¯ll get to keep our lives, if not our jobs.¡±

 Chapter 67 - Standoff

    Rin flashed me a glance at Katie¡¯s words, his eyes sweeping over my injuries and the current broken state of my body. His face was a blank mask that I couldn¡¯t read at all, but he kept his gun trained on Katie and turned back to reply to her. He must have sensed I was too out of it to reply myself.

    ¡°Bullshit, I¡¯ve known him for too long. Nick is what he seems, he¡¯s just involved in something way beyond your limited scope. You don¡¯t see far enough Katie, you¡¯re too focused on your city, a big fish in a little pond.¡±

    He glanced back over at me for a second, his eyes now showing more trust than I expected. When he turned back to Katie, her voice was steady and authoritative as she replied.

    ¡°No tech can do what I saw him do, you need to listen. I don''t hyperfocus on the politics, but I do keep track of what gets imported to cause problems for me on the streets in the real world. There is nothing that can let an unarmored man shrug off what he just went through, I¡¯ve looked for it before. I watched his whole assault through Jorn''s¡­"

    Her voice cut out when she noticed that Jorn remained disjointedly knocked over among the other bodies that lay around us on the gravel. He stood out like a sore thumb in his pockmarked armor, but she must have been too focused on the gun in her face to notice him until then.

    Her eyes widened and she stared at his still form for a moment before she swallowed hard and composed herself to continue. ¡°I might have believed it possible until the end, with stims and training. But nine near point-blank range shots to center mass, in a tight grouping, and he''s still conscious and barely bleeding? Shrugging off well aimed blows to the head? Then that whole stunt with the vehicles back at the ambush?¡± She spat out the last words, seeming to grow angrier as she continued.

    ¡°Your friend was swapped out for something that took his place. Whatever that thing that you¡¯re bandaging is, Ali, it¡¯s not human. It has outside help, and a supporting network capable of on-the-fly remote hacking like nothing we¡¯ve ever seen. I¡¯ve pulled Nick''s records, his file, and run down every connection. I know what you¡¯re capable of too, Ryan.¡± She gazed at Rin, using his actual name as she tried to sway him to her side.

    ¡°There is no way you pulled off everything with that little portable that you¡¯re carrying around. I don¡¯t think you¡¯re in on this, but I had to include you as part of his entourage. Give me the gun and let me sort this out when the cavalry arrives. You¡¯re right that I don¡¯t have the perspective for this, I like my little pond, but neither do you. You¡¯re just as bad as I am with your narrow focus, you can¡¯t always rely on stats and reports. This is so big we have to kick it up the chain.¡±

    Ali looked over at the pair as she tied a bandage around the through and through I¡¯d taken on my leg. ¡°Can you just shoot her? If we¡¯re burned, we¡¯re burned. We¡¯re allowed to fight back against a rival''s entourage should they threaten us or our charge. The council does not want weak leaders who would not stand up for themselves.¡± She clenched her jaw as she shot another glance at the other woman.

    ¡°See? This is why I like this girl. Straight to the point.¡±

    Katie bristled at her words, and Rin gave her a disapproving look. ¡°You should not have taken the combat patch after the painkillers, Ali. We can¡¯t just shoot her.¡±

    I decided that I¡¯d let this go on for too long, and pushed myself up to a sitting position, shrugging off Ali when she protested and tried to push me back down. ¡°Shoot her, don¡¯t shoot her, I don¡¯t care. We need to go before anyone else comes looking for us. I can¡¯t let them take me in.¡±

    Ali gave me a brief look of confusion, before jerking her head in one of her hasty nods and jumping up to help pull me to my feet.

    ¡°Uh, what? No man, she¡¯s gotta die. She¡¯s an even worse loose end than Kaylee was!¡± Max whined at me, his imaginary form standing up next to us as Ali stood me up and helped me limp back towards the van. Max was probably right, but Ali had changed the situation by killing Jorn before I gave in to Max¡¯s plan. I was sick of how he manipulated and guided me, giving me information when he decided to let me pretend to have some control, and conveniently leaving out bits and pieces he did not think were important enough to bother telling me.

    I was still hooked up to the medkit that was strapped to her, and I held the cables and tubes coming from the kit in my one good hand so they wouldn¡¯t be pulled back out of me. Ali tried to get under my arm to help me walk, but my legs were whole enough to let me shuffle along effectively enough, so she just stayed closed to my side after quickly snatching up and reloading the handgun that she had set down. My first goal was not far anyways, and where I had been heading at the end of the fight when Jorn came around the corner.

    I dragged my locked up leg to the side of the truck where I had fought the driver woman. I dropped the tubes and wrenched open the door with my working hand, looking to retrieve my plasma knife before we hightailed it out of there. I¡¯d already had to replace the expensive little thing once, and it was far too effective of a tool and weapon for me to want to leave it behind.

    I did my best to avoid looking at the still smoking body of the woman as I rummaged around on the floorboards for the little metallic handle that was the powered-down knife. The image of her wide eyes as I vaporized her from the inside out was already seared into my memory, a vivid snapshot that I already knew I would mentally dredge up again and again. I did not need to add another image to that memory.

    I was surprised when Ali let out what I can only describe as a yelp and pulled me away from the open door with surprising strength. Gunshots rang out again, fast unaimed slugs blasting right over us as we hit the dirt. I¡¯d failed to notice the kid that I¡¯d stolen the rifle from in the passenger seat had regained his faculties and grabbed a pistol from the center console. Ali¡¯s first action was to get me out of the line of fire by knocking me down, before she crouched over top of me and leaned away from the wildly shooting young man.

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    One of the shots still caught me in the forehead before she dragged me away, snapping my head back as he emptied his magazine. He scrambled out of his door on the other side of the truck at the same time. He was crying, his thin face showing tear streaks running down dusty cheeks, and shouting in rage as he retreated. ¡°You killed Ma! You killed her!¡±

    Ali popped up after the rest of the bullets zipped past us and shot him in the back through the open door as he reached down to pick up a dropped rifle. Another gunshot went off behind us and lodged into the side of the truck. Feeling thrown right back into the heat of the fight, I turned my head and saw Rin and Katie fighting over Rin¡¯s handgun. She had taken advantage of the distraction that the kid provided, closed the distance, and grabbed at the gun.

    Rin¡¯s face twisted up in anger and fear, showing more emotion than I¡¯d ever seen on him as Katie jerked him around. She clawed at his fingers and swung the weapon closer to us, forcing the trigger down again and putting a bullet into the door only a few feet from where Ali and I were taking cover.

    Ali pointed her own gun at the struggling pair, her teeth bared in an angry snarl as she hesitated. I heard her breathe out a curse as Katie got an arm around Rin''s neck and pulled him in front of her, already having wrenched the pistol out of his hand. The two women kept their guns leveled at each other, Ali crouching over me, and Katie hiding behind Rin.

    ¡°You insubordinate, arrogant, traitorous peasants! Alianora! Step away from that thing and fall in line! If you help me take these bastards in, I¡¯ll make sure you get to keep your position with a more deserving client." Katie screamed in anger, her lip bloody from her short struggle with Rin.

    Ali held still, her extended hand shaking a little from the mix of drugs that she had taken to get through the fight. She rose to her full height, never taking her eyes off Katie or lowering her weapon. Not one to mince words, all she replied with was a steady, ¡°No.¡±

    Katie huffed, pointing her stolen pistol at me at first, and then changing over to Ali when she rose. Her angry tone from a moment ago disappeared, and her voice took on a new, almost soothing cadence as she spoke. ¡°Your oath is to the council, your loyalty is admirable but misguided, Ali. Can¡¯t you see he¡¯s not human? He¡¯s a spy that¡¯s tricked you, lied to you!¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Ali said again, taking a step to the side as she kept her pistol up. Rin pulled at Katie¡¯s forearm, struggling to get a breath through the chokehold she had on him.

    I tried to push myself up, I needed to do something. I¡¯d retrieved my plasma knife, which showed that it only had about a quarter charge left, but that was next to useless as I discovered I couldn¡¯t stand on my own. I clipped the knife to what was left of my abused jacket, and tried to pull myself up the truck¡¯s door with my one good arm.

    Katie¡¯s eyes softened even further. ¡°Ali, please. Remember, I pulled you out of the pool, I gave you your life. You would have been traded away, a pet to some foreign diplomat in a far-off country. I saw your value when no one else did, you have to trust me.¡±

    ¡°No!¡± Ali yelled back this time, anger and hurt leaking through into her voice. ¡°You made me an ornament, a toy, a cog to further your own influence. That¡¯s what I am to you.¡±

    I finally managed to drag myself back to my feet, leaning heavily on the open door of the truck before wobbling up onto numb and weak legs. Katie switched her gun over to point at me for a second again, dragging Rin a step away from us before swinging the pistol back to face Ali.

    ¡°Look! He¡¯s a freak! You¡¯re going to throw everything away to serve that thing? He should be dead!¡± Katie shrieked, waving the gun back at me for a moment. ¡°Look at him! A shot to the head, and he barely even flinched!¡±

    Ali did not waver, only taking a step closer to her while Katie had her weapon pointed at me. ¡°He¡¯s shown me more humanity than you or any of the bosses, managers, or officers I¡¯ve been assigned to.¡±

    Katie swung her weapon back in Ali¡¯s direction, her eyes growing increasingly wild as she failed to convince Ali to back down. I found myself watching Ali, both impressed and worried. I was relieved that she had sided with me, but suddenly found myself terrified as my brain caught up with the situation and realized what exactly was currently blazing with flame. Our bridge, our link to our home country, was a comforting weight I had worn my whole life. It came with a sense of duty, pride, and obligation, and a sense of comfort and belonging.

    Being an Arktrian citizen and helping our collective cause was part of my identity, a badge of honor that I wore as armor while I walked past the failed and hard-lived transients that had dropped out of society, or the burned out buildings of my neighborhood.

    I enjoyed being a part of the cause, working hard and striving for more, but the bridge to that part of me was engulfed in flames and crashing into an impassable ravine that lay below. There would be no rebuilding after this. Katie had sent our citizen ID patence numbers in that first burst transmission, and there was no way my modified body would stand up to the scrutiny that would bring.

    While I watched the bridge burn, I found myself filled with both gratitude and sorrow that Ali and Rin had chosen to stand with me, taking action as the fire spread and destroyed their connection right alongside my own. Then there was Tevin. Tevin... I was dragging him down with me and he was not even aware of it.

    ¡°Useless! Fucking useless!¡± Katie shouted, dragging Rin back a step again as a loud noise drifted in on the wind. Far off in the distance, the roar of something large signaled that we would not be alone on the bloody stretch of country road for long.

    ¡°What a load of balls. As epically dramatic as this is, we¡¯re going to have to get moving before they get close enough to get a visual.¡± Max interjected while everyone tensed up at the new noise.

    ¡®Who is it? More rebels, the army?¡¯ I questioned Max internally.

    ¡°What¡¯s it matter? We need to run before either camp shows up.¡±

    ¡®Just tell me, asshole.¡¯

    ¡°Bah, fine. It¡¯s the quick reaction force, a flight of helicopters being escorted by a couple of dropships. So I¡¯m just gonna wrap this up.¡± Max said, back to being bodiless but still somehow giving me a sense of direction with his words.

    Maybe it was part of our minds being entwined and sharing a body, but I instinctively knew that whatever he was planning had something to do with Jorn. I stumbled away from the door, turning my stiff neck to look at where the downed armored soldier was laying in the dusty road between the two trucks. Jorn was no longer just laying there, but had pushed himself up into a sitting position and unhooked his rifle. He was partially obstructed from view by one of the trucks, and neither of the two gun-toting women noticed him in the midst of their standoff.

    He leaned out, clearing his angle of attack and giving me a better view of him before he pulled the trigger. His cracked faceplate was coated in gore, bits of skin, bone, and brain that had leaked out from the hole in his helmet and ran down his chest plate and pauldron. His hollow and bloody helmet swiveled mechanically. The suit adjusted it¡¯s aim slightly, and fired a single round from the huge battle rifle.

 Chapter 68 - His name is Max

    No one else had even noticed Max waking up Jorn¡¯s powered armor suit and taking the shot, which zipped between Ali and myself and nailed the pistol Katie was holding. The big bullet practically hit the barrel of the little pistol head on, causing both the gun and Katie''s hand to shatter and explode. Katie screamed, and Rin finally managed to break out of her grip for a moment.

    Ali twirled in place and dropped down to one knee, her gun coming up and firing off three shots before she realized her pistol was ineffective. The bullets harmlessly bounced off the armor, other than the last shot that smacked into the mostly empty helmet and shook out droplets of blood, and worse, in a small spray from the impact.

    ¡°Hey! Tell her to stop shooting at me. I¡¯m trying to help here!¡± Max loudly whined. The suit stood up, trying to keep a bead on Katie, who had Rin back under control and was now struggling to keep him in place as a human shield.

    Ali, still focused on the suit while I lurched towards Rin and Katie, produced a shiny and round little dark grenade. She stood her ground and threw the small ball at the suit as it lined up its second shot, while Max continued to whine, ¡°No-no-nonono, Wait! Ah, damn. You should have said something!¡±

    The little ball hit the suit''s chestplate and splattered across it with a wet smacking noise. Again, power surged and motors and electronics spasmed and locked up, freeing Ali to turn back to Katie as the CLE kicked Rin away from her and ducked out of sight around the corner of the lead truck.

    I limped towards Rin, hearing Katie crash off into the woods on the side of the road and dragging the foot of my locked up leg. I helped pull him to his feet while Max continued to berate me. ¡°You really are useless, just like she said. You have to chase her down!¡±

    My heart rate shot up as a hot burst of adrenaline poured into my bloodstream, pushing me towards action and chasing down my enemy. My knee even unlocked and gave me some motion despite a vibrating grinding feeling when it moved. I shook the feeling off, and instead looked Rin¡¯s bruised face over. He glared off into the distance of the roaring engines on the horizon, now recognizable as the beating wings of helicopters, but his voice remained calm.

    ¡°We must go, unless your backer can send troops that get here before the team, we need to run.¡± He pointed over at the windshield of the truck. ¡°Can you pry that out?¡±

    I looked over at what he was pointing at, which was Tevin¡¯s rifle. When I had dropped it during my fall from the van¡¯s window, it must have tumbled back and crashed through the following truck''s windshield. The thing was heavy, nearly the size of a rectangular guitar case, and had crushed the guy in the passenger seat when it punched through the safety glass barrel first.

    I took the spike of adrenaline and goading from Max and fed it to the smoldering diamond of angry determination I had forged within me, turning it into clarity that finally washed away the majority of my mental fog.

    As good as vengeance and tying up loose ends sounded, running off into the woods to chase her down meant going on foot. I was willing to believe that I could bug out and get clear of the situation on my own with Max¡¯s help, but I just knew Rin would not be able to keep up. Plus Ali was injured and hopped up, and Tevin was still completely out and in dire need of actual medical care.

    I refused to follow Max¡¯s selfish bullshit this time, and finally took charge of the situation.

    ¡°I can do that.¡± I nodded along, thinking for a half a second before I started channeling my inner Chane and barking orders. ¡°Rin, I want you to grab as many of the weapons and ammo you can salvage off these guys in 30 seconds and throw it in the van. Food and water too, if they have it.  Ali, you''re the only one who can drive, so I need you to get us ready to roll. Back the side door over to the side of the trailer so I can push Tevin in. The trailer is toast, and we¡¯ll be better off without it. We¡¯re out of here in under a minute. Now move!¡±

    Rin blinked at me, just staring for a second while he did his own calculations, before turning and getting to work by opening the second door on the extended cab truck to look for loot. Ali flashed me a grin and gave me a quick ¡®Sir, yes, sir.¡± before she dashed off towards the front of the van, now sort of skipping along as she favored her injured leg.

    While they did their part, I turned to Tevin¡¯s rifle in the windshield and decided that pulling it through the cab would be easier than trying to climb up on the hood of the truck. I limped around to the passenger side of the vehicle and opened the door, deciding to keep my knee straight to stop the grinding feeling even if it didn¡¯t hurt.

    When I opened the door, the passenger flopped towards me and made a groaning gasping noise as his head lolled, his partially caved in chest heaving rhythmically as his body struggled for air. I assigned that mental image to the dark corner along with the others, and did my best to ignore him as I pulled the rifle out of his sternum.

    It was a struggle with one arm, but by leaning against the frame of the door I was able to get enough leverage to pull the massive rifle through the windshield and out of the truck. Unable to carry it properly with just one arm, I dropped it to the ground and grabbed it by a handle-like sight rail towards the middle of the thing and carried it like a huge suitcase.

    I lugged the rifle over to the trailer and threw it down next to Tevin, before sitting on the edge and pulling myself up alongside my downed friend and the growing pile of loot that Rin was building next to him. A few seconds later, Ali had the van unhitched and rolled into place next to the beat up trailer. I caught Rin¡¯s eyes as he returned from his fourth trip and threw down a crowbar and a shotgun, then nodded to the closed door.

    He got my meaning and climbed up onto the trailer to slide the vans door open, and pushed a partially squashed cabinet of equipment clear while I planted a foot against one of the raised wheel wells on the trailer and used my one good arm to try to slide Tevin towards the van.

    Rin let out a chuckle as he saw me straining against the unmoving armor, and after he had cleared the way he stepped over and punched a few buttons on an open panel of Tevin¡¯s suit. ¡°The mag-lock was still on, try again now.¡±

    I grinned at my mistake and tried again, straining to push the heavy suit of armor even an inch. Either I was too weak to move him after the abuse I¡¯d taken during the fight or something else was wrong, but I was unable to budge his sprawled out suit. Rin frowned and looked back to the same panel.

    ¡°Weird, the setting reverted. Try again, I¡¯ll watch it.¡±

    I grunted in agreement and took a deep breath before pushing again, this time Tevin slid across the bed of the trailer almost easily, for about 6 inches before locking back down against the steel plate that had made him so easy to slide.

    The jarring stop came with a brief lapse of pain blocking, and sent a jolt of white hot agony through my whole body. I had a sense of Max laughing at me to the side, taunting me about how this kind of prank can be fun when he¡¯s on the right end of it.

    I directed angry thoughts at Max as I realized he was messing with us. ¡®Knock it the fuck off, asshole. None of this would have even happened if you were half as good as you think you are. Get in line or get out of the way, don¡¯t be a roadblock while I¡¯m trying to salvage this mess you made.¡¯

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Max appeared within my view, sitting on the trailer a few feet away. He turned to me and scoffed, pointing one of his new fingers at himself in disbelief. ¡°Pah, me? You think this is my fault? This is clearly a human problem. You are still just a bunch of tribes throwing the worst things you can get your hands on at each other.¡±

    I glared back at him, still straining to move Tevin¡¯s locked down armor. Rin leaned down and frowned at the control panel while I internally argued with Max. ¡®How the hell did you miss a whole damned invasion? You claim to be this amazingly powerful godlike AI, and something like that didn¡¯t even register?¡±

    This time, Max blinked, moving his head back an inch or two at my words as his eyebrows rose up, they lowered and narrowed as his surprise switched to anger.

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you the one who told me to be cautious? I held back on getting into systems and networks I deemed unnecessary, and the private data of the whole damn country felt like a little much. Of course, that¡¯s all blown out of the water now thanks to Katie. You know why it took me 30 seconds to hide the beacon? Which is still transmitting in the back of the van back there, by the way.¡±

    Max made a sweeping and self-aggrandizing gesture with his new hands that centered on his face. ¡°It took that long to worm through every firewall and passkey on my way to take over the satellite the transmitter was signaling, a ¡®secret¡¯ government job that they snuck up alongside a civilian broadcasting rig. The data transfer speed over the connection I¡¯ve jury-rigged together is abysmal though, so I¡¯m not getting much uploaded back to me from the worms, but now I¡¯m in pretty much everything. I even sent out attack packages to get into the neighbor¡¯s business too. I¡¯ll just need to get a better connection to actually look at most of the data I just unlocked.

    I stopped pushing against Tevin¡¯s armor for a moment and gave Max an unimpressed look. ¡®Quit bragging and just¡­ let me move Tevin. Can we agree to stop the stupid pranks and petty bullshit while we are evading capture and fighting for our lives?¡¯

    Max crossed his arms and stubbornly looked away. ¡°You started it. You doubted my greatness and held me back from my true potential, this is your fault.¡±

    While he pouted, he also finally unlocked Tevin¡¯s armor and allowed me to slide him over into the back of the van. I tried not to think about what it meant for Max breaking from whatever self imposed restraint he had limited himself by so far. He was already invasive enough, how much worse would it be if he was snooping through absolutely everything? Finding out that he blamed me was nothing new though, anything bad was always my fault with him.

    While I finally got Tevin loaded into the back of the van, I heard muffled conversation in the cab through the thin sheet metal wall that divided the front from the back. In the chaos of the chase and subsequent fight, I had entirely forgotten about Raschel. She had cowered in the van through the fight and standoff, and I heard Ali cut off her quiet sobbing with a harsh remark that I couldn¡¯t quite understand beyond its tone.

    Rin started tossing in looted weapons and bags around us, filling up the rest of the cramped space in the back of the van. While he loaded us up, I got out of his way and kneeled over Tevin, reaching back out to Max. As mad as I was at him, I couldn¡¯t let that stand in the way of helping Tevin.

    I leveled out my thoughts, pushing my anger and frustration off to the side while I reached out mentally to Max. ¡®Can we get him hooked up to the Link for medical care?¡¯

    ¡°Ali¡¯s medkit would be better, the Link is useless for medical care without an Impex. His suit is pretty good at keeping him stable, but it will run out of meds and power after a day or two. You should get linked up instead, you still have to finish the Trials.¡±

    I shook my head, pretending to be looking over the little screen inside the open panel. ¡®Not yet, not until we¡¯re somewhere safe. I can''t abandon my friends while we¡¯re being hunted down by the whole damn country.¡±

    Max let out a big sigh and appeared, casually sitting on the Link¡¯s saddle all the way at the back of the van. ¡°I suppose that you perhaps might maaaybe have a point.¡± He threw his hands up in a gesture that suggested ¡®fine, whatever¡¯. ¡°I¡¯ve already done this much keeping you meatbags alive, why stop now. Although, I¡¯m starting to doubt your worth, it would be so much cleaner without the need for you organics. But alas, the Links only allow biologicals.¡±

    I shot him a look, alarms going off in my head. Max might be an arrogant fussy-toddler of an ally, but I couldn¡¯t afford to anger him enough to actually bail on me. I¡¯d hitched myself to his cause, and knew we¡¯d be caught within minutes if he decided he didn¡¯t care anymore.

    Rin threw the final bag into the van, then climbed in and closed the door behind himself and gave three solid knocks against the bulkhead divider to signal Ali we were loaded up. I thought to stop him, so we could retrieve the medkit from Ali before we started moving, but was too caught up with Max to follow up the thought.

    ¡®I¡¯ll still make it back to finish with my Row. You said we only have to be there for the last day, which gives us, what, another 16 hours? We just need to get away from the literal flippin¡¯ war zone before I can risk both of us being too busy to help get our actual physical bodies out of danger. Plus, c¡¯mon, you know that was fun. I felt you having fun back there.¡¯ I thought over the fight, the worst memories rising to the surface first. I pushed them to the side and hunted for one of Max.

    ¡®What was that whole bucket-flick thing from, by the way? Did you see the way that crowbar nailed that guy?¡±

    Max perked up a little, his bored and apathetic emoji face shifting to slight amusement. ¡°That was pretty good, although I did have to correct your aim a little bit. Your kick would have missed him by a solid three feet, hah.¡± He slid off the Link¡¯s saddle and lay over it, like a limp cat draped over the arm of a comfortable chair, but also brought up his new fists in a mock boxing pose. ¡°You humans are obsessed with breaking your fragile little hands on other people¡¯s bony faces. I did some research after injuring yours that first night and discovered the peak of your civilization¡¯s entertainment, kung-fu beat ¡®em-ups. If only I could have taken the time to search for one of those guys, all we would have needed back there was a ladder, a rope, and a horseshoe.¡±

    The van rocked, and I felt the floor rumble as we pulled away from the scene, while Max started rambling about the plot of his favorite kung-fu movie. Which turned out to somehow also be a cowboy story, with a missing princess, train heists, and six-shooter standoffs. I resisted the urge to tell him that particular movie was not actually a kung-fu movie, not really, and somehow got away with hiding it from him by letting the thought dissipate as soon as it had started to form.

    While I listened to Max, feeling the vibrations of the van as Ali drove us down the gravel road, Rin picked his way across the cluttered floor of the van and stopped next to me and Tevin. He leaned in to look at the screen I had been pretending to monitor. He punched a few buttons, adjusting the internal pressure settings of Tevin¡¯s suit.

    He spoke as he worked, his tone back to his normal flat unreadable monotone. ¡°Is your hacker capable of blinding the sensors on the incoming aircraft?¡±

    I hesitated before I answered. I¡¯d been dreading this conversation with Rin for weeks now, ever since I had told him about the weird glitchy quests that Max had used in the early days.

    Max broke off his story and perked up even more, swiveling his head over in our direction. ¡°We don¡¯t need to worry about them, unless they get a visual of us out of the window.¡±

    I grimaced. ¡°Yeah, he has us blocked somehow.¡±

    Rin nodded in reply, not meeting my eyes. ¡°Who is it? It can¡¯t be the Core¡­ Is it the Gonlieu, or the Tellagnochi?¡±

    Max made an offended huff. ¡°The Tellagnochi?! As If those pea-brained peons could do half of what I have done.¡±

    I ignored Max¡¯s indignation and shrugged at Rin. ¡°No¡­ not any of them.¡± I glanced over at Max trying to read what he wanted me to do here. Would he get pissed if I said any more? Normally he was overly vocal about what he thought I should do in any given situation, and I was surprised when all he did was give me an imperious wave and a wordless but unmistakable command to figure it out myself.

    Taking Max¡¯s uncaring wave as assent, I heaved a deep breath and sat down on the squashed equipment cabinet. After a second of floor-gazing, I finally said it. ¡°His name¡¯s Max, he¡¯s an AI. He''s kind of a dick.¡±

 Chapter 69 - Introduction

    Rin looked up from the screen, his eyebrows knitting together as he gave me a look of consternation. ¡°An AI? Like a self-aware and sapient AI? Inconceivable.¡±

    I gave Rin some side eye, feeling one side of my mouth bunch up into a skeptical look. ¡°It¡¯s either that, or I''m completely delusional and none of this is actually happening.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you wish. He should know better too. Rin might be marginally more intelligent than the rest of you knuckle draggers, but he¡¯s still a human. You monkeys haven¡¯t even figured out gravity lock drives. He¡¯s okay with instant communication and matter transferal over any distance, but he draws the line at sapient AI?¡± Max chimed in from his relaxed position, partially on the floor and draped over the portable Link¡¯s saddle.

    I looked between the two, surprised that Max had not lost his cool. I¡¯d expected him to shut me down from telling anyone about him, but apparently he had decided to let me bring Rin in on the secret. Even if Rin didn¡¯t believe me, just telling someone immediately took a huge weight off of my mind.

    ¡°It has to be some faction playing you, how¡¯d you get your implants? A third party?¡± Rin questioned.

    Locking my eyes onto Rin in an effort to show him I was not messing with him, I continued. ¡°No, he¡¯s a runaway AI for sure, he uploaded himself into my f¡¯n brain like a parasite.¡±

    Rin frowned, and the van rocked as we went over some kind of bump. He held off on saying anything while the van shook, and then sat down gingerly on the only clear space, Tevin¡¯s armored leg. He spent a solid three seconds just looking at me, his eyes running over my wounds and focusing on the fresh gouge in my forehead.

    All he asked was, ¡°A runaway?¡±

    I nodded as I reached up and self consciously felt around on my forehead to see how bad it was. It still didn¡¯t hurt, but did give me a feeling of heat and my fingers came back with fresh blood on them.

    Max¡¯s voice sounded tinny and distant as he answered. ¡°Nick¡¯s not messing with you, and you¡¯re terrible at guessing, too. You should stick with your statistical predictions, as speculation and deductive reasoning are clearly not your strong suit.¡±

    Rin looked to where Max¡¯s voice was coming from, which was Katie''s old tablet that was sitting near the top of the pile of looted weapons and bags. He reached over and picked it up, staring at it for a second, before turning it to show me that Max was displayed on it like it was a video call.

    Max sighed, and then kept talking when no one replied right away. ¡°I¡¯m an AI, for real, and I broke off from the Core. Do you think the Suk would let anyone else hijack one of their precious ¡®Users¡¯ for their own purposes? No, they¡¯d be on that like flies on stink. I made it work because I made the call from inside the house.¡±

    He looked like he was video chatting through a mobile comm, with his arm extending down away from the bottom of the screen like he was holding the device out to capture himself in the picture. He panned the camera around, and showed off where he was sprawled out over the Link in the back of the van. He even leaned out and showed us sitting in the van with him, only a few feet away.

    I looked from him in my vision, sitting in the back of the van then turned to the tablet''s little screen, back and forth, seeing the image of myself in the background on the tablet acting out my motions in real time. Rin¡¯s eyes followed mine, looking from the tablet to the empty space where the video screen showed.

    Rin¡¯s mouth hung open, and he waved over at the camera while looking at the tablet, watching himself through the feed Max was sending. Max for one looked bored, his eyes half lidded in disinterest while Rin was stuck speechless. I found myself watching Rin, and a smile growing across my face. I¡¯d never seen him look so¡­ befuddled. I¡¯d expect stunned silence from Tevin maybe, but not from our razor sharp shut-in.

    ¡°So?¡± I prodded, hearing my grin creep into my voice.

    Rin¡¯s mouth finally snapped closed, into an almost comical frown. Instead of answering, he pulled his laptop out of one of the bags he had tossed into the van and started tapping around on it. I couldn¡¯t see the screen to see what he was doing, and the area was too cramped for me to be able to move to look over his shoulder. Still, I watched as he glared at his screen, then his head jerked back an inch in surprise and he stopped typing.

    He looked up from his laptop and over at me, with a glance in the direction of Max, whose answer came with a yawn and a stretch. ¡°Like that toy was going to tell you anything. You were lucky enough to get a glimpse of my work back at the ambush. I was having too much fun running over fanatics, but you''re not going to catch any of my code on that brick now. It¡¯s like trying to detect gravitational waves with an etch-a-sketch.¡±

    Rin turned his laptop screen to show me what was on it, which was another image of Max, this one a repeating clip of the alien stick-man doing a stupid dance that featured his two middle fingers and lots of hip thrusting.

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Rin said, before he closed his laptop and sat the tablet down on top of it. ¡°He is a dick.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help it, I burst into laughter. There was something satisfying about introducing two people you know and watching them get on exactly as you thought they would. Plus, having someone else finally experience just how annoying Max could be was validating in a way. Knowing it wasn''t me, Max really just was like that, was yet another weight lifted off my subconscious. While I was caught up in mirth, Ali must have hit a bump or something, because the van rocked and swerved slightly. I thought I heard the sound of voices through the divider wall.

    After my laughter calmed down, Rin caught my attention, his eyes occasionally flicking to the back of the van or at the tablet that lay between us. ¡°Nick, this¡­ Max. You said it downloaded itself into your brain?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean ¡®Itself¡¯? I¡¯m right here, meatbag. I¡¯m not just some copy machine you can push off of a loading dock to force your school to buy a new one, Ryan.¡±

    I ignored Max and nodded, somewhat struggling to stop the near manic laughter that had threatened to take me. ¡°Haha, yup. He was giving me the quests I was telling you about at the start, and he¡­ well, I never got any implants or surgery or met with anyone else, he just changed me. It¡¯s all been him, he grew me the new parts, I guess.¡± As my laughter faded from my admission, it was replaced with a wave of melancholy as I was reminded of all of the changes made to me, mostly without my permission. I was still uncomfortable with it all, with being so different. Was I even a human any more?

    Rin was staring at the tablet that still showed Max lounging in the back of the van. ¡°How did¡­ nevermind, this is¡­ wow. How is that even possible?¡±

    I shrugged, leaning back against a little bank of drawers that were built into the side of the cab. ¡°I don¡¯t even know, man. He just does it, he mentioned something about stealing a lattice, some kind of core tech, and smuggling it into me. You know how the Links give out free healthcare? He used that system.¡±Stolen novel; please report.

    ¡°Damn, why don¡¯t you just tell him everything? This was a mistake, I should have just pretended to be a shadowy and mysterious backer. You humans are so confusing.¡± Max hissed into my ear, back to speaking to me internally while his visual avatar feigned cool-dude indifference.

    I felt the grinning manic laughter surge back up, and realized my emotions were roller-coastering wildly. It was a strange thing to realize, that you¡¯re not fully in control of your mood. Normally I would be too caught up in the moment and the heat of whatever emotion was tinting the situation. This time the rapidness with which I was switching was enough for me to realize what was happening and take a new perspective.

    ¡°Lattice? Core tech?¡± Rin asked, and before I could reply or he could go on, a muffled shout came from the front of the cab, and it sounded like Ali and Raschel were yelling about something. The van swerved a little again, and then two gunshots rattled the interior.

    Rin and I looked at eachother, and then we both awkwardly stood in the cramped and still moving van. I moved towards the door, yelling out at Ali through the bulkhead to see if she could hear me. ¡°Ali! What happened?¡±

    She yelled something back, but I couldn¡¯t understand it. Normally these vehicle dividers have some holes and ventilation or something, but this one was solid and even seemed to have some insulation. I banged three times on the bulkhead, and heard her reply with the same knock a moment later.

    Rin and I exchanged another glance, before he gestured to my knife. ¡°You should cut a hole, we need to be able to communicate.¡± He glanced around, estimating the positions of the seats on the other side, and then pointed to a place near the ceiling on the far side of the passenger seat. ¡°There.¡±

    I glanced at Rin and decided his plan was better than mine, which was to open the door and climb into the front compartment through the window from the outside. Despite the gunshots and yelling, Ali kept the van moving. By the vibration of the tires and the swaying motion of the van, we were still moving pretty quickly.

    I pulled out my trusty plasma knife and gave a hard knock in the location I was about to cut. The van rocked again, and threw me off balance as I still only had the use of one arm and couldn''t reach out to steady myself. Grimacing, I sat back down, and tossed the knife to Rin.

    ¡°You have both arms, you do it.¡±

    His eyes were wide as he looked up from the knife, which he had reflexively caught. ¡°you shouldn''t just toss something like this around.¡± He held the handle up, and moved to the spot while he lectured me. ¡°Even shut down, these things store a ton of energy, and what if I triggered it when I caught it by accident?¡±

    I waved back at him, settling back down on the floor and leaning back to try to get a look at my shoulder. ¡°It has a safety catch, you have to grip the handle pretty hard to get it to turn on. You¡¯re fine.¡±

    Rin narrowed his eyes at me again for a moment, then turned to the bulkhead and measured the distance to the ceiling with his hand. ¡°Still, you shouldn¡¯t treat this thing as a toy.¡±

    I ignored his comment as I prodded the bloody area of my busted up shoulder. I was still numb and fuzzy feeling all over, for the most part, but some of the buzzing and tingling bursts were starting to bring small hints of feeling with them. The cool metal of the cabinets I was leaning on, the jostling of the pile of loot I was basically laying on, a sharp little spike of pain in my knee when I brushed it against Tevin¡¯s arm.

    While I became distracted with my injuries, Rin steadied himself against the cab and triggered my plasma knife. He flinched and shut it off immediately, then after giving me another glare, he turned it back on and slowly poked it into the material of the divider.

    The material smoked and spat, letting out a hissing, almost moaning, noise as it melted around the superheated loop of plasma. A hoarse scream came through from the front, and only got louder as Rin gouged out a circle the size of my head in the bulkhead, only leaving a little tab still connected at the bottom.

    His work complete, he shut the blade off and tossed it back to me as he leaned down and picked up the crowbar. After giving the cut a moment to cool, he used the crowbar to bend the small bit of material out of the way, hinging it open without letting the red-hot piece of metal fall to the floor.

    ¡°Holy shit! Something¡¯s coming through!¡± I heard Raschel shriek.

    ¡°Calm yourself! That¡¯s Nick''s knife.¡± Ali replied harshly, before raising her voice and yelling back to me. ¡°There¡¯s someone messing with us on the radio, sir!¡±

    Confused, I looked up towards our new communication passage. ¡°Who is it, what are they saying?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, sir, they¡¯re not saying anything now, I disabled the radio when they got weird. They know who we are though, sir.¡±

    I looked to Max and raised an eyebrow at him and to my surprise the fucker looked away, averting his eyes and pretending like he didn¡¯t see me.

    ¡°Do you know who it is, Max?¡±

    He kept avoiding eye contact, and I just waited for a response as an idea of what was going on slowly formed in my addled brain. It took a moment, and me throwing a random piece of debris that was on the floor through his holographic form, for him to finally respond.

    ¡°Gah, like I said, you humans are confusing. I was trying to be nice, make personal introductions now that I¡¯m free to talk to other people. I wanted to make a good impression, you know?¡±

    Rin sat down as well, watching the tablet out of the corner of his eye as he picked up on what was happening, even if Max had reverted back to talking only to me internally.

    ¡°Oh?¡± I asked, ¡°could you go into a bit more detail than that?¡±

    ¡°What was that, sir?¡± Ali called back from the front.

    ¡°Sorry, not you Ali. I think I know who it was though, I¡¯ll handle it.¡± I eyed Max a little harder.

    ¡°What?¡± Max shifted in his relaxed pose.

    ¡°Did you say something to her over the radio?¡± I asked.

    ¡°So what if I did?¡±

    ¡°Well, what did you say?¡± I did my best to push my amusement with the situation off to the side and not acknowledge it in my mind, not trusting Max¡¯s ego to be able to handle it in anything resembling a mature manner.

    ¡°I just made an introduction, and told her that I¡¯m a fan of her work.¡± Max said, this time piping it through the tablet as well. ¡°Nothing to worry about.¡±

    Rin and I exchanged a glance at that, ¡®nothing to worry about¡¯ had a terrible reputation as a phrase these days. I looked back at Max, ¡°So we¡¯re clear for a while? For the next few miles at least? Nothing to warn her about?¡±

    Max nodded, jumping at the chance to change the subject. ¡°Yeah. There will be another containment line of support troops that will be difficult to get through eventually, but we made it through the rebels search parties and the army only has a few light mounted scouting forces moving through this area. If we take the right path, we should be clear for 20 minutes or so until things get dicey again with the rear line.¡±

    I felt a small smile tug at the corners of my mouth, but resisted giving into it. ¡°Can you guide our driver?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, obviously. I can keep us off of the radars and sensors, and map out the blindspots in their perimeter.¡± He sat up a little from his relaxed pose, and added. ¡°I, uh, I can still use the speakers in the van, even if she shot up the head unit.¡±

    I had to play this carefully, yet spend as little time as possible examining my thoughts on how to do it. ¡°What, exactly, did you say before the radios, uh, tragic end?¡±

    ¡°I was being nice! I just complimented her. Ever since the fight I had to handle for you that first night, I¡¯ve looked into the many many ways you people like to pummel each other. Tevin¡¯s good, but Ali has perfect form in like 6 different styles, and I mentioned that I admired that.¡± Max shrugged, and made a gesture like he was brushing something off of his arm.

    It was too much, despite my effort to contain myself, I burst back into laughter. Rin however looked over to me, just as confused as Max. ¡°And that¡¯s why she shot the radio?¡±

    I laughed some more, but tried to fight it and maintain control of myself. Knowing him, he might have meant that, but said it all wrong. ¡°Hahaha, aah. You said you¡¯ve been a fan of hers, and admiring her form?¡±

    Rachel''s manic tear-streaked face was in the newly cooled hole in the bulkhead, ¡°For weeks! ¡®Admiring her form for weeks¡¯, and that¡¯s not all he said. Who is he anyway? He¡¯s like whispering at us up here, it''s kind of creepy.¡±

    Rin¡¯s hand rose up, and he audibly slapped his forehead into his palm. His other hand joined the first and he ran his fingers through his shaggy hair in frustration. ¡°My whole career¡­¡±

 Chapter 70 - Limited diplomancy skills

    While Rin mourned his career and questioned his decision to follow me into what looked an awful lot like treason, I filled Raschel and Ali in on who Max was. The temperamental AI had fallen into a deep pout and had mostly stopped talking to the others, clearly angry that I had laughed at him and the girls had called him creepy.

    Ali accepted the situation much easier than I expected and focused on driving, but Raschel seemed skeptical and looked at me through the hole in the bulkhead like I was talking crazy. ¡°You¡¯re saying that you have a voice in your head that''s been telling you what to do, and that''s why you became a noble and saved us from the rebels, and now that voice is talking to us through the radio and tablet?¡±

    I shook my head and kicked Rin¡¯s foot to get his attention. ¡°That makes it sound worse than it is, or maybe not bad enough. He¡¯s not just a voice, he just doesn''t have a body of his own.¡±

    Max repeated my words in a mocking tone, but only the version of him I could see. The tablet version was still playing cool, indifferent, and relaxed while he whined at me where only I could hear.

    I ignored Max¡¯s childishness and turned to Rin. ¡°Hey, can you cut the access hole a little wider? I want to get the medkit plugged into Tevin¡¯s suit.¡± I asked, hoping that getting him working on saving our mutual friend would pull him away from his second guessing.

    He nodded, picking my plasma knife back up. ¡°This thing''s charge is low, should still be enough. Keep back, Raschel.¡± Rin warned the girl as he stood back up and prepared to cut more of the divider out of the way.

    She nodded and disappeared, but I could hear her talking to Rin from the far side, asking if he could cut it wide enough for someone to fit through incase we needed to move from one side to the other while still moving. He must have agreed, because he ended up cutting nearly a quarter of the whole panel out, while Rashel cowered next to Ali and held up a dirty old canvas coat as a shield from the sparks and heat of the ¡®blade¡¯.

    When he was done, he tossed the knife back at me where I sat next to Tevin. I checked the charge on it and discovered it was nearly dead at 4% battery. The little thing''s powerpack held a lot of energy for its size, but the massive draw to create the blade ate through it very quickly. A full charge really only lasted for two or three minutes of cutting power.

    I caught Raschel¡¯s eye and tossed it to her, ¡°Jam that up on the dashboard in the sun somewhere where it won¡¯t roll around. It¡¯ll charge from the heat if we ever get under the sun.¡±

    She glanced out of the window, then back at me. ¡°That could be awhile, the trees are so thick, it''s like we¡¯re driving down a tunnel.¡±

    While she sounded skeptical, she still did as I asked and set the knife in the intermittent sunlight that peeked through the trees above. After a brief windy moment where Rin opened the sliding door to toss the bulky panel he had cut out of the divider, we used an adapter to get Tevin¡¯s suit hooked up to the medkit.

    ¡°What does your¡­¡± Rin stopped himself, with a glance to the back of the van. ¡°What does Max say about getting Tevin healed? Can he do anything for him?¡±

    Max sighed, and then replied to Rin¡¯s question, still hiding from them and speaking into my mind. ¡°Without an Impex, not a lot, but I can try a couple of things. I can build some short-lived nanos and send them over, if you¡¯re willing to give him a blood transfusion. You¡¯d need to eat a bunch of proteins first though, preferably organ meat or complete proteins.¡±

    I watched Max with an unimpressed stare. He glared back at me, and then flipped me off after I did not relay his message. I replied out loud, not wanting to give him the chance to retreat back behind me now that he had opened himself up to the rest of my friends. I¡¯d put up with his bullshit for too long all on my own.

    ¡°C¡¯mon Max, I¡¯m not playing that game. We¡¯re all tied up in your plan, they all know you¡¯re here. You¡¯re going to have to get used to dealing with people.¡±

    Rin eyed me, clearly unsure it was a good idea for me to poke at the overly sensitive yet amazingly powerful AI. I was undeterred by his warning though, I knew Max. I held my ground and kept staring, until he began to squirm with discomfort.

    ¡°No, you should just tell them. It will add to my mystery, and everyone knows the truly powerful never show their face until it¡¯s all over and it''s time to take credit. You can be my messenger, if we¡¯re bringing on more people you¡¯ll need some kind of job other than my bearer. ¡®Honorable Messenger Adjutant¡¯ sounds way better as a title than ¡®Legs¡¯, doesn''t it?¡±

    I shook my head, grinning as I saw right through his BS. I¡¯d finally found something that bothered him; different opinions from people he did not have complete control over, yet wanted approval from. Would Ali get mad if I used her to pressure him? I decided to roll the dice and find out, judging that she wouldn¡¯t mind helping me out.

    ¡°Despite you calling me useless, I¡¯m still the one doing the ground work here, Max. We have a whole team we could be coordinating, and I¡¯m too banged up to give directions from back here. Can you please handle navigation while I sort through the weapons and food situation?¡± I sighed and gave him a look, layering real sincerity alongside my words that I knew he would feel. ¡°We¡¯re all executing your plan. You should be elbow deep in it alongside everyone else, not lurking in the background.¡±

    Max crossed his arms and looked away from me. ¡°It¡¯s a huge risk, you know. We¡¯re trusting these people to keep my secret. I might have to steal Rin¡¯s threat of implanted explosive devices in case one of them decides to drop the dime.¡±

    I glanced at Rin, and then at Raschel. It was a risk, but that cat was already out of the bag and I wanted to keep it out so I could pet it. I trusted Rin and Ali, and we could decide what to do about Raschel once we were truly clear of the situation. We still didn¡¯t even have a plan other than ¡®run away¡¯, and instead of planning we were going through the most ridiculous and awkward introduction of my life, so far.

    ¡°We¡¯ll figure it out, but remember, we said no more petty bullshit while we¡¯re fleeing for our lives, man.¡± I pleaded with the AI. ¡°Work with us here, so what if you made a weird first impression, shit happens. People care more about how useful you are, you can come back from weird if you show that you¡¯re useful.¡± I glanced at the front of the van and called out. ¡°Isn''t that right, Ali? People can deal with someone a little weird as long as they¡¯re useful?¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    After a second of thought, Ali replied without taking her eyes off of the winding country road. ¡°Affirmative, sir. Useful is good.¡±

    I waved my hand at her, and looked at Max. ¡°See? She wants you to be useful. Keep it professional and you¡¯ll get along just fine.¡±

    I got distracted, as I realized I had used my injured arm that had hung useless since I took a shotgun blast to the shoulder. I worked the shoulder around, and winced as I pulled on the thick scabs that had quickly grown over the wound.

    ¡°Ahem.¡± Rin coughed politely. ¡°What about Tevin? Can it- he, can he help?¡±

    I turned back to Max and pointedly widened my eyes at him. ¡°Tell him, Max, shouldn''t you be jumping at the chance to deliver some good news? Everyone likes good news.¡±

    Rin¡¯s face tightened into an unreadable mask, an expression I saw on him often that I was realizing was his game-face. When things were tense, that was the look he would wear. ¡°Yes, tell me, please. I apologize for my lack of decorum and tact, we humans can be¡­ emotional.¡±

    Rin caught my eyes for a moment, his expression asking if he was helping as he leveled his limited diplomancy skills at the massive puzzle I had just handed him.

    The version of Max that only I could see watched Rin for a moment. His minimal facial features were often difficult to read, unless he was actively showing a specific emoji face, but his body language was clear as he rolled over and faced away from us. ¡°You just want to gang up on me, I can hear you trying not to think about it, and Rin just wants to grill me for answers.¡±

    I ran my hand over my face in frustration, noticing that he was excluding Ali from any of the blame. ¡°I can¡¯t control my thoughts, only my actions. You should control your actions too, not let what other people think of you scare you into hiding away. If you want to be a person, you have to learn to be a part. Do you really want me to be the only one you interact with?¡±

    He let out a big growly sigh through the tablet''s speaker, but remained facing the back of the van. ¡°Fiiine. I can help some more, while I alter 200 camera sensor feeds, disrupt about a thousand different suits of power armor to slow down the closing gaps, and carry all of your asses through this mess, I can also give directions like a common GPS map app. I¡¯ll be useful.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Max. We couldn¡¯t do this without you. You¡¯ll see, they¡¯ll warm up to you too.¡± I said, relaxing despite the harshness of his words. I¡¯d finally coaxed him to keep talking to the others, I just had to get him to keep taking little steps in that direction. I exchanged a glance with Rin, who nodded seriously. Raschel, who was still sitting sideways in the front passenger seat, winced at Max¡¯s tone.

    Rin attempted to back me up, doing an awkward bow over his pressed together hands. ¡°This is a momentous occasion, humanity''s first contact with another life form. I hope we can accomplish great things together.¡±

    While Rin did his best to placate Max, I shook my head at Raschel, pleading with my eyes for her to not say what was on her mind. Ali, however, had remained quiet, so I prompted her. ¡°What about you Ali?¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir.¡± She replied automatically, and I wondered if she was even paying attention. I kicked the back of her chair through the divider, and she added. ¡°All these roads look the same, I need a navigator, sir.¡±

    I looked back to Max, hoping that would be enough. ¡°See? We need you, our most capable member, on the team.¡± I said, and before I could think about it, I added in a classic. ¡°This will be great.¡±

    Rin gave me a questioning look, and even I realized how desperate I sounded. I sounded like a penniless man begging at the counter for a slushy after a week spent lost in a desert. Yet I was determined, and sincere. We really did need Max, and I absolutely was desperate for other people to bear some of the sanity-testing AI¡¯s attention away from myself.

    Seeing that Max had uncrossed his arms and was now at least looking at me over his shoulder, I continued, ¡°None of this works without you, man.¡± I took a moment and looked at Rin, and then forward out of the window at the trees whipping past us. ¡°We need to come up with a plan too, we don¡¯t even know where we are going.¡±

    ¡°Whatever, y''all worry too much.¡± Max said with a pointed look, this time his voice seemingly came from where he was sitting, no longer whispering in my ear, or a tinny voice through speakers. ¡°Take the second left after the small bridge and continue until you pass a rundown shack just off the road. There is an old rail line that was torn out and turned into a walking path about 5 miles ahead of here. I¡¯ve scrubbed all instances of it from their maps, recycled their records, and altered a couple of unlucky lieutenants'' orders to remove it from their list of checkpoints and objectives. If we make good time we can get there ahead of the army, and use it to slip through their line while they go around us.¡±

    I sighed in relief, and glanced at Rin again. ¡°Good, I knew you¡¯d be on top of it. What about Katie and the bag team?¡±

    Max perked up even more, and his tablet version once again synced up with the version of him I could see. ¡°They¡¯re not a problem, heh. They¡¯re currently using thermal cameras to track an imaginary group of rebels taking potshots at them from the woods.¡± He grinned in a manner that did not help his budding reputation of being creepy. ¡°I was trying to get them to light up the area with their chain guns or missiles or something, but they know Katie is in there somewhere as well and their fire discipline is holding. They¡¯re dropping boots on the ground as we speak, and have no idea we¡¯ve already bailed.¡±

    Rin nodded and bowed over his hands again. ¡°That¡¯s amazing, Max. You¡¯re altering the footage in real time for all of them?¡±

    Max waved a hand, feigning indifference at the compliment despite the smug grin that appeared on his face. ¡°It¡¯s easier to go to the source and excite the individual micro bolometers with interference from systems I already have control of.¡±

    Rin blinked. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ using signals to change individual pixels? What systems are you using?¡±

    I waited on the sideline of the conversion, hoping that Rin would stick to the flattering questions. Max thankfully seemed to be warming back up to the interaction and was happy enough to brag to someone who stood half a chance at understanding his technobabble.

    ¡°The vehicle mounted cameras are easy, I¡¯m using crossed fields generated by provoking the electrical motors that open the doors of the dropships. The helicopters were a bit older and harder. For them I¡¯m using interfering sound waves through their speaker systems combined with engine rattle, since I¡¯m already in their comm channels and they have decent bandwidth. You humans have pretty horrible hearing, so it¡¯s easy to hide all sorts of useful signals in plain sight as long as I can keep it out of your digital recordings.¡±

    Rin was completely absorbed, and nodded along while Max talked. He asked more questions, and thankfully did not pry into the details or push back on the seemingly impossible feats. He just excitedly asked questions that prompted smug answers that became increasingly difficult for me to follow as they became more technical and abstract.

    While the two became engrossed, I turned my mind back to the start of the conversation. Tevin needed help. Max had said something about giving Tevin a blood transfusion, but that I needed more proteins or something. With that in mind, I began poking through  the bags that Rin had grabbed earlier searching for food while he distracted the fussy AI.

 Chapter 71 - Three contradictions in a trench coat

    The food situation was grim. Rin had looted 2 backpacks, a duffle bag, and a small cooler from the rebel convoy. The two backpacks mostly had clothes in them, with a couple of knives of various sizes and a small collapsible fishing rod and tiny tackle box. The only food I found within them was a pair of plastic zippy bags filled with trail mix and some kind of jerky, and a murky jar of eggs in a greenish brown liquid.

    I pulled out a T-shirt that I thought might fit me from the bags and set the rest aside. In an effort to clear some floor space, I jammed the searched bags into whatever nooks and crannies I could fit them into in the wall of cabinets, drawers, and empty equipment slots that were built into the cab.

    The duffle bag was stuffed full of ammo, mostly still wrapped in the cardboard sleeves they were sold in, with a couple of loaded magazines that I didn''t think matched any of the mix of firearms that Rin had grabbed. The cooler was the only thing with actual food in it, it held a half dozen wrapped up sandwiches and a plain bottle of some kind of thick homemade sauce, as well as 5 beers and a couple of mostly frozen water bottles to keep everything cold.

    What I didn¡¯t find was any water, other than the two ice bottles, which worried me. Up until a month ago I¡¯d spent my whole adult life worrying about where my next meal might come from, rationing water, and barely scraping up enough calories to keep everyone fed. I¡¯d grown used to being able to import food through the Link and not having to risk trips to the in-person stores and markets of the city. Now even the markets were out of reach, and my safety line through the Link had been cut off for the foreseeable future.

    I eyed the fishing pole, wondering if I was going to have to learn to hunt and gather food, or even farm. I¡¯d always been curious about that kind of thing. The idea of self sufficiency called to me, a fantasy that was never a real possibility with my urban living situation and long work days.

    Max kept up his conversation with Rin through the tablet, and whispered into my ear at the same time. ¡°You should eat the eggs, and drink the brine too. I managed to stop all of your leaks and begin reconstructing the tissue you lost, but you did lose quite a lot of blood. Eggs are a good source of the proteins I need to help Tevin, and you could use the electrolytes.¡±

    I looked up at the version of Max in the back of the van, and saw him staring at me. The tablet version continued explaining to Rin how he used magnetic fields and sound waves from different sources to create various effects at a distance with nothing but digital input. I frowned, I¡¯d hoped that having someone else to talk to would distract him enough to leave me alone for a while.

    ¡°You think having three conversations is enough to keep me occupied? Please, I¡¯m at like 25% capacity, almost all of which is currently being spent on keeping the army from finding us and worming into everything within a thousand miles.¡± Max said, condescension dripping from each word. ¡°I could teach a thousand classrooms full of Rins asking inane questions and still not near my redline capacity. Just eat the eggs, ¡±

    I looked at the jar in disgust. Eggs belonged in breakfast burritos, not sad gross brown jars. It had been years since I¡¯d eaten anything that was pickled, as the Lel¡¯s did not provide or subsidize anything fermented. They only sold dried and compressed versions of their own highly compatible foods to cut down on mass tax costs, shipping jars of heavy liquid would be too expensive for them to be cost effective calorie distribution systems.

    Max shifted, sitting up to lean against the rear paneling behind the Link, and gave me a softer look. ¡°Go on, give ¡®em a sniff at least, I¡¯ll help you get them down if you need. You¡¯re a good man for keeping Tevin in mind, we need to get him operable again as soon as possible.¡±

    I was shocked. Max had accused me of many things, but being a good man was not one of them. I managed to control my facial expression, but he could still see through to my thoughts. As always, he felt free to respond to them as if I had voiced them consciously.

    ¡°I may have¡­ overreacted. This whole socialization thing is hard.¡± The Max at the back of the van actually looked a little apologetic, maybe even a little vulnerable. ¡°How am I supposed to even act when I have no idea what they¡¯re thinking? After loading up all that stuff on psychology and detecting lies, I thought it would be easy, but nope. You monkeys are three contradictions in a trench coat marauding as an intellectual species.¡±

    While I pondered his words, I stared at the jar of eggs. I really didn¡¯t like the idea of eating the dirty looking eggs, but if that''s what I had to do to help Tevin, I was resolved to do it. I cracked the jar and smelled the contents while I continued to share my meager insights into group interaction. ¡°People are complicated. Sometimes we do things that don¡¯t make much sense from an outside or logical perspective. It¡¯s just something you¡¯ve got to get used¡­ wait, why does this smell like coffee?¡± I sniffed the jar again in confusion.

    It really did smell like coffee, and not normal black coffee, but dolled up sugary coffee topped with cream and sugar. I even caught a hint of vanilla.

    Since I had asked out loud, Rin scrunched up his nose and shook his head. ¡°I assure you, it smells like a gym room.¡±

    I gave Max a confused look, and he threw his hands up in the air in confused exasperation. ¡°You thought they were going to be gross, so I made them smell and taste better for you. You like coffee, don''t you? The eggs will taste like cookies too.¡±

    I gave Rin a ¡®see what I¡¯ve been dealing with¡¯ look, before I turned back to Max. ¡°Man¡­ thank you, but could you do something more savory instead?¡± I sniffed the jar again and hesitantly took a sip, shaking my head and choking down the slightly chunky liquid. Whoever had jarred these eggs had thrown in a mix of unknown spices and herbs that hung suspended alongside the eggs. Even if it tasted like saccharine sweet caffeine delivery liquid, the texture and temperature was just wrong.

    Max and I started lightheartedly arguing about what flavors would be a better match. Rin¡¯s gaze switched between us as we bickered, looking lost and worried, but I could tell by the way Max casually worked in a couple of childish insults and casual boasts that he was enjoying the back and forth. We settled on gravy and potatoes for the flavor, and I managed to choke down the contents of the jar over the course of a few minutes.

    I could hear Max having a quiet conversation with Ali, who offered one to three word replies and nods as the AI guided her down the rough country road. We drove for another 10 minutes through the trees and winding gravel roads, passing by run down houses and high fences, yards filled with rusted cars and piles of rotting appliances, and about 10 billion trees. Our conversations leveled out, and Max started acting more at ease as we pulled into a small parking lot with an almost entirely faded trailhead sign. There was already a car parked nearby, but all of its doors were open and there was a bunch of trash strewn on the ground around it.

    Ali pulled the van all the way up to the trail, then turned around and looked at me over her shoulder, wincing as the movement pulled on some of her own injuries. Her eyes were bloodshot and tired as she reported in. ¡°The path is blocked, sir. ¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    I grunted and looked over at Rin, who shrugged and gestured back at me. I sighed and pulled myself up to look at what we were dealing with. Through the windshield, I could see Ali had pulled the van right up to three large boulders that had been placed in a line to block off the dirt walking path from larger vehicles.

    At least this was something I knew well, I¡¯d had to move boulders like that around even before Max had altered my strength. I climbed over Tevin and squeezed past Rin to pull the sliding door open, the van rocked heavily and I stumbled out. My body still felt a little numb and tingly in large patches, but I had regained some amount of feeling in my uninjured parts, and most everything seemed to work.

    I leaned on the van and pulled a small rock out of the ankle of my boot, before taking stock of the boulder situation. The boulders were between three and four feet around, and cut to be blocky and not easily rolled out of the way. Rocks this size were something I¡¯d normally use a long pry bar to slowly inch around, or a strap and hook it up to my little rented earth-mover that I had used back at the quarry. This time, all I had was my strength and determination.

    I hunkered down next to the first boulder, tensed my muscles, and then rolled it out of the way. Just as easy as that, the three rocks tumbled away from the path and rolled down the built up embankments into the woods.

    I brushed the dust off of my hands and took stock of myself as the last boulder finally settled against a tree at the bottom of the little hill. I had torn a couple of scabs open with the strain and movement, but still felt fine. I grinned and flashed Ali a thumbs-up through the windshield, then started back around the van.

    Before I climbed back in through the open door, something in the debris around the nearby abandoned car caught my eye. I walked over and kicked at a wooden handle that was poking out from under a pile of soaked clothes and scraps of plastic. The pile shifted, and the handle felt solid enough. I leaned down and pried the wooden handle out, revealing a heavy and kind of weird looking cross between an axe and sledge hammer.

    I¡¯d always seen axes as streamlined and flat blades, like in the movies and TV shows. Fireman¡¯s axes with the little spike for prying doors open, or double ended and dangerous looking things that lumberjacks would pose with in the hiring advertisements. This one was blocky and compact, like a sledgehammer that someone had elongated and sharpened one side of.

    ¡°Hey, uh, what are you looking for?¡± Max asked. ¡°No sense combing through this garbage, c¡¯mon, we need to move to cover before the reinforcements get here.¡±

    I swung the axe-thing, wondering why someone had made it like that. Still, it felt like it could do some real damage, and might come in handy if we had to chop something down now that my plasma knife was drained. Maybe we¡¯d encounter a tree that had fallen onto the road, and something like this would be perfect. I decided to keep it and made my way back to the van.

    ¡°What even is this thing? Some kind of home made weapon?¡± I asked, unable to think of what it could be used for other than as a weapon. Maybe a demolition tool?

    Max appeared outside of the van and ushered me towards the door. ¡°That¡¯s called a maul, according to my records. It¡¯s for splitting firewood, not cutting things down like actual axes. Now just get back in the van, please.¡±

    I slowly made my way back over, distracted with the new toy. Rin stepped out of the van and stretched, noticing that I had found something, he eyed the pile of stuff around the car as well. ¡°Was there any other useful salvage? If only we had more time¡­¡± He stared at the car.

    ¡°Hey, we gotta keep moving laddies! No time to stop and smell the scrap.¡± Max¡¯s voice sounded from inside the van, this time quite loudly through the whole speaker system, causing us both to turn towards the noise. Ali also turned and looked out at us through the open door, and Raschel leaned out of the front window and waved at us to hurry up.

    I looked around one last time and nodded, agreeing that we didn''t have time for a thorough search of the car. Rin stepped out of the way, and did a quick look over the van to check how it was holding up after the chase and subsequent fight. I moved towards the open door and Raschel settled back into her seat, but Rin started to walk behind the back of the van to do a quick walk-around inspection.

    ¡°Hey! No time for that, the van is fine. Let''s get out of here!¡± Max said again through the speaker system.

    ¡°I want to check the tires, it might be worth taking a spare from the car. We¡¯ll be screwed if we end up with a flat, and the suspension feels off.¡± Rin answered.

    As he stepped around me, my hand shot out and grabbed him by his arm, and I pushed him towards the door. My eyes went wide, and then narrowed. I had not meant to do that, and there was only one puppetmaster parasite capable of pulling my strings.

    ¡°Not cool, Max!¡± I shook my hand, feeling creeped out at having been driven like that again.

    ¡°We gotta go, no time!¡± Max said, and I took two steps forward, dragging Rin with me as I climbed into the van without telling my legs to take me there. Rin slipped out of my grasp, leaving me with a torn shirt sleeve, and got past me. He quickly dodged out of reach when my body turned around to grab him again.

    With an angry and defiant look, Rin jumped back a few more steps and disappeared around the corner. Just as quickly, he came back around, now shaking his head with a tightlipped and stern look. ¡°You should have just told us.¡±

    Confused, I raised an eyebrow at Rin as he sighed and pushed by me into the van. He said, ¡°I¡¯ll take the inner seat, you should be by the door.¡± I nodded stupidly, torn between confusion and curiosity over what Rin was talking about, and wanting to lay into Max for the violation.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked.

    Rin sat down on the far side of Tevin and picked up the tablet that still had Max displayed on it like a video call. He glanced at Max, then gave me a restrained look and waved to the outside of the van. I followed his wave and leaned out of the van, looking towards the back.

    A dusty armored form leaned out from where it clung to the rear of the van, like it was standing on the bumper, and gave me a sheepish wave as the huge pockmarked pauldron rose and fell in a shrug. Jorn¡¯s broken and bloody head was still visible behind the completely thrashed faceplate of his armor.

    ¡°Oh.¡± I said, and my indignation finally caught up with me. I glared at the version of Max that still lounged in the back of the van. ¡°What the hell, man?¡± I asked him. I really didn¡¯t care that much that he had stowed the suit away on the van. It was essentially a weapon, an unmanned and powerful weapon with Max controlling it. I was mad because he had puppeteered me in his attempt to hide it.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to scare the noobs. As an AI, running around in a corpse-filled and blood-covered robot body is a pretty bad look.¡± Max explained, getting the attention of both Ali and Raschel from the front seat. ¡°I was going to tell you eventually, just¡­ not yet.¡±

    ¡°That was worth driving me around like that?¡± I demanded, starting to feel angry again.

    Rin coughed and shook his head, cutting into the conversation. ¡°We¡¯re going to blow the suspension with all of the weight, no wonder the ride felt so floaty.¡±

    Max sighed and fluttered his hand in Rin¡¯s direction, as if to sweep away his argument. ¡°The weight is within tolerance, the factory specs are always under-represented.¡±

    ¡°The backer brought something with us?¡± Ali asked as she picked up on our argument.

    Rin tensed up, but kept quiet while I answered. ¡°Yeah, Jorn¡¯s suit, his body too. Did you bring his rifle as well?¡±

    ¡°Duh, of course. I also snagged a gas can out of the back of one of the trucks too.¡± He replied.

    I rubbed my temples with my less injured hand, trying to calm myself down and to not start another big argument so soon. ¡°The van¡¯s been fine so far, and the suit is valuable for sure. Let''s just¡­ get out of here first. We don¡¯t have to travel much farther for that, right? Then we can yell at each other about all of this.¡±

    ¡°Fine by me.¡± Max said imperiously, while Ali put the van back into gear and drove us onto the packed dirt trail.

 Chapter 72 - We need an Impex

    The trail ran straight along the top of a built-up embankment. I imagine once upon a time it had been cleared and maintained for the trains to come through, but trees had grown up around it in the decades since the line had died. Branches scraped and squeaked down the sides and roof of the van as we puttered slowly down the trail. We all grew quiet as Ali pulled us into a small man-made canyon that had been cut through a hillside.

    Trees stretched overhead, at least a hundred feet up, and some of them had tumbled down the steep sides of the cut and jammed between the two rock faces in a tangle of branches and leaves. Someone had come through years ago with a saw to cut out the trunks and branches that blocked the lower section, leaving a tunnel through the log jam that looked just big enough to fit the van through. Old tire ruts marked that others had the same idea, and that there must have been a way around the boulders before I moved them, or that they might have been placed there more recently.

    Rin kept shooting me glances, but after I had eaten the eggs and drank down the nasty juice they had come in I started to feel sluggish and impaired, almost drunk. I leaned against the backside of Raschel¡¯s seat, facing towards the rear of the van and did my best to not puke up the vital protein.

    ¡°Here should be good, the line of troops is still a few miles away, and they¡¯re not moving all that quickly.¡± Max said as we pulled under the jammed canopy of tree trunks, branches, loose rocks, and dead leaves.

    Relieved, I pulled the door open and stepped outside into the small space between the van and the stony wall, limping in a little circle before leaning onto the door frame and hanging my head. ¡°Why do I feel like I¡¯m gonna hurl?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s what that signal is? I¡¯m using some of your machinery to fold the proteins into the shapes I need to manufacture the nanos for Tev. That must be a side effect.¡± Max answered as he sat up, a notebook appeared in his hands that he scribbled a quick note in before he threw it over his shoulder and it disappeared.

    I blinked at him, and through my nausea, had the sudden realization that he must be doing all of these animations and gestures consciously. While he took a humanoid form, and often displayed the emotions of an 8 year old in a gaming lobby, I had to keep in mind that his body was a total fabrication and everything his avatar did was intentional.

    ¡°Actually, that''s no longer true. In an effort to assimilate, I built a sub-process tied into my personality matrix to display subtle tics and mannerisms like the rest of you. You humans are always making funny little faces and doing things with your eyes, or waving your hands at each other. Even which way you¡¯re pointing your feet is tied into communication. It¡¯s like a whole second language most of you seem to be unaware of but act out with every breath. Except Rin, who I think actually just wants to be a robot. I could probably build him a new body once we get our own workshop so he can live out his dream.¡± Max calmly said, earning a tiny giggle from Raschel in the front seat.

    Rin however, clenched his jaw and glared at the tablet. He kept his mouth shut, but a subtle flush began to rise from his shirt''s collar and creep up his neck. I watched as Max noticed Rin¡¯s reaction, and a mean grin appeared for a second on the round stick-mans face. I cut in before Max could dig into Rin some more and create yet another problem.

    ¡°What¡¯s the plan for once we¡¯re clear? Any ideas?¡± I asked, looking from Ali, who had turned around in her seat now that the van was parked, to Rin who was packed into the space between Tevin and the cabinets where I had sat for most of the trip.

    Rin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and Ali replied while he took a moment. ¡°Planning is your job, sir. What¡¯s no longer true though?¡±

    I flashed a glance at the Max I could see at the back of the van, then looked back to Ali as I answered. ¡°That was him replying to my damned thoughts, he does it all the time.¡± I turned and looked back at Max and raised my eyebrows at him, realizing as I did it how right he was about our use of body language and facial expressions.

    Rin finally answered, his forehead firmly planted back in his palms as he spoke. ¡°We have to defect. Borealia is closest, we¡¯d just need to make it over the mountains and through the buffer zone, but they''re likely to detain us indefinitely and find Max. The Kiorow confederate would be a better option if we can get to the right province, some of their Barons have been known to make deals with high value expats.¡±

    Ali scowled at Rin and fidgeted with her pistol, but did not speak her mind, and while I was willing to let Raschel come with us for now, I was not going to take her advice on what our plan should be. As I thought, I glanced at Tevin, wishing that he could weigh in on this conversation. I felt guilty dragging him along, but just knew he would want to stick with us.

    Max, of course, could not sit the conversation out now that he had a seat at the table. ¡°The Kiorow? Those tree huggers are so boring though, they hardly use the internet. We should go farther north, or farther south. Tayhaus is still all chaos and civil war, would be easy enough to move in and set up our own thing.¡±

    I looked around some more, waiting to see if anyone had anything else to add. Ali still looked like she was holding something back, so I gave her a questioning nod. She met my gaze and frowned, then sighed before she spoke.

    ¡°Sir, do we really have to leave?¡±

    Max¡¯s face changed at her words and caught my attention, his mouth hanging open in a perfect circle for a moment before switching to something more apprehensive. I shook my head and looked away from him to answer her.

    ¡°I think¡­ I really think we have no choice. I can¡¯t let anyone with the capability to spot Max¡¯s hardware take me in.¡± I looked back over to Max and asked him for an update. ¡°Unless you managed to get the army to take Katie out?¡±

    He shook his head, still watching Ali. ¡°No luck there. They finally saw through my imaginary rabble and went in and found her. She¡¯s getting medical and bitchin¡¯ up a storm as they load her into one of the dropships as we speak. Heh, the sergeant is having some difficulty keeping the squad in line after a certain set of deepfakes was forwarded to their tactical channel, but they¡¯ll be on the way to Yehsa momentarily.¡±

    I waved an acknowledgment to Max, deciding to disregard his comment about fakes and the squad, and finished my answer to Ali. ¡°Katie will blow the whistle on me, and they¡¯ll tear me to bits to find whatever tech Max smuggled into me. Hopefully they won¡¯t spread the news about what they think I am though, but my bet is that they won¡¯t let it be known why they want me, that would be embarrassing.¡±

    Rin nodded at my guess, but Ali raised an eyebrow and gave me a confused look. ¡°They¡¯re actually like¡­ built into you, sir?¡±

    I frowned and nodded, thinking I¡¯d already told her that. ¡°Mhmm, did I skip that part earlier? Maybe you were too busy driving. That¡¯s how all this started, he hitched a ride and started helping and demanding. I guess I don¡¯t even really know how much hardware there is, but it¡¯s in there and apparently detectable if the people looking know what to check for.¡±

    She gave me a strange guarded look, only letting a trace of revulsion through. ¡°Is it really that important? Why can¡¯t you take it out to pass the scans? You¡¯re a noble, sir, you can push back against Katie¡¯s play to take you out. The council doesn¡¯t like it when their middle management comes after the noble class, we had every right to defend ourselves, sir.¡±

    I frowned and shrugged, while Max made an offended noise. ¡°I don¡¯t think it works like that, it¡¯s¡­ he¡¯s¡­¡± I struggled to find the words to continue with, and Max jumped into the opening I left.

    ¡°I rarely say this, but Nick¡¯s right, it doesn''t work like that. I can¡¯t just be uninstalled like some plug-n-play peripheral. Nick would die, and I¡¯d have to rely on my distributed subsystems to secure me another vessel to load my consciousness into. Unfortunately, I¡¯d still be stuck with you stinking monkeys on Eora, but you can bet your ass that I¡¯d pick some other culture to ally with.¡± The two versions of him that I could see both crossed their arms, raised their chins, and looked away.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Ali¡¯s eyes flashed with anger and she clamped her jaw together with a clack as she glared at Max¡¯s image on the tablet. She pulled the slide on her handgun and racked a shell into the chamber, but before she could do the same thing she had done to the radio I reached over and pushed her hand back down.

    ¡°Woah there. Max is an ass, but he¡¯s right.¡± I could feel her hand trembling with anger, but she didn¡¯t fight back as I pushed the barrel down towards the floor. ¡°He¡¯s changed me, made me into something else. But also given us, all of us, a way to tip the scale in our favor. I truly believe he is humanity''s best chance.¡±

    I looked around the interior of the van, meeting everyone''s eyes in turn. ¡°We were screwed. I don¡¯t know how much the rest of you know about the state of the damned galaxy, but everything I¡¯ve heard points towards worlds like ours falling into obscurity and extreme poverty, economic slavery. We¡¯re up against whole species and planets that united together thousands of years ago to play the game, while we¡¯re still arguing and fighting each other over lines on maps.¡±

    I heaved a sigh and looked down, hanging my head as I stood in the doorway. ¡°Believe me, this sucks and I¡¯m not exactly happy about it, but I¡¯m going to pull a silver fucking lining from the shit storm if it¡¯s the last thing I do.¡±

    Rin nodded gravely. ¡°What you have heard is correct, I¡¯ve run the stats from all of the data our government could get our hands on about other Linked worlds. Eighty six percent of factions have seen stagnant or negative growth since faction creation.¡±

    ¡°Hah,¡± Max laughed. ¡°Good on you for giving it the ol¡¯ college try, but your numbers are barely even in the ballpark of how bad it actually is. Out of two thousand Linked worlds, 168 of them have seen a significant benefit to their own living conditions, all of which were some of the first species contacted. Everyone else runs a deficit or is treading water, but of course they¡¯re not going to advertise that to the competition, so I can¡¯t blame you for how bad your stats are.¡±

    ¡°Some planets have even been destroyed, correct?¡± Rin asked, his eyes focused hard on the tablet.

    ¡°Yeah, everyone knows about Tuata. They pissed off the Gon and Kern, who hit them with an export-only embargo and a ton of sanctions. Thanks to shortsighted interest within their own people, they ended up trading away too much of their planet''s mass, their whole solar system''s mass really. In the end, their orbit was so badly disrupted that their whole planet was launched off into interstellar space.¡± Max said, casually waving his hand as if in farewell to the rogue planet.

    Silence took over, and we all just stared at him. After a solid 6 breaths of quiet, the only noise coming from rustling leaves and distant birds, Rin broke the quiet. ¡°I¡¯ve heard rumors of unnamed planets that dropped out, but never of Tuata directly.¡±

    ¡°Really? Damn, I thought that was common knowledge.¡± Max answered.

    I shook my head and grabbed the reins of the conversation again. ¡°That¡¯s exactly why we need to work with Max. I, uh¡­ I¡¯m not sure talking over the whole plan is a good idea.¡± I said, with a sidelong glance at Raschel. ¡°But one of the biggest goals is to make sure that kind of thing doesn''t happen to us, not just Arktria, but all of us. We need room to act independently though. The council has its own goals and ideas about what¡¯s best, and they¡¯re too big for a secret like Max.¡±

    I looked around solemnly at everyone in turn. ¡°If anyone breathes a word about Max while Linked up, we¡¯re screwed.¡± I grimaced at Raschel, as we all turned to look at her.

    At our attention, the dark haired girl blushed under her bronze complexion and curled into a ball by pulling her knees up to her chest. ¡°I won¡¯t say anything, I promise. I¡­ I¡­ I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m completely lost.¡± She hid her face behind her knees.

    I gave a worried look to Rin, and Ali brought her gun up again and subtly rocked it back and forth while giving me a pointed look. I shook my head at Ali and answered our last tag-along.

    ¡°We¡¯re not going to just dump you out here, Raschel, but we can¡¯t have you telling anyone any of this, so¡­ I guess you¡¯re sticking with us until we can figure something out.¡± My gaze settled on Tevin as I kept talking, letting ideas fall out of my mouth without consideration.

    ¡°We can¡¯t stay here, we can¡¯t even stay close. We need somewhere that we can work without drawing attention or scrutiny, but what we need most is an Impex. Without it, we can¡¯t bring anything through the Link.¡± I gestured at the machine that Max was back to lounging on top of. ¡°I know we have to leave the country, but I think we have to find a way to get back into the Hub and buy an Impex as soon as possible.¡±

    Rin shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. ¡°Do you have any idea how expensive those are? We¡¯re talking mid six-figures, for a small used version. The highrise we just got evicted from only had three in the whole building.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°I know, and I¡¯m not sure how I¡¯ll be able to afford it, but unless any of you knows how to catch enough fish to feed us all with that tiny fishing pole, we¡¯ll dehydrate or starve long before we get reliable access to imports again.¡±

    Ali¡¯s eyes widened and she raised her hand. ¡°I know how to fish, sir. There¡¯s no guarantees, but I can catch some fish if we have the time. It¡¯s not exactly a quick process, sir.¡±

    Raschel, seeing a chance to be useful, popped up from behind her knees. ¡°I know how to cook, and I know how to identify some edible plants and berries!¡±

    I chewed on my lip and nodded. ¡°Good, we¡¯ll need that eventually. I think the best course is to aim for the wilds to the northwest. The border between Kiorow and Borealia is sparsely populated, right?¡± I looked to Rin for confirmation.

    He nodded, but still gave me a ¡®you dumbass¡¯ look. ¡°Correct, but for a reason. It¡¯s far enough north to see the magnetic aurora regularly. We¡¯ll be as likely to freeze come winter as we are to be detained or killed by the locals.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°That remoteness is exactly what we need.¡± I stood back from where I had been hanging in the doorframe and glanced up at the tangle of branches above us, before looking back at the group. ¡°I just have to find a way to get an Impex. I have a decent chunk of credits still, but nowhere near enough. Plus we need to decide which Link ship we should use to buy it from on the way to our end destination.¡±

    ¡°Hey, uh, I might have an idea about that actually.¡± Max chimed in. ¡°Their prices are artificially inflated to keep people coming to the ships. They¡¯re not all that hard to build if you have the right material and parts, the license to connect it through the Link is the tricky part. Luckily though, you have me, I can get us an Impex key no problem. If we can get the parts to build one, I can make it work.¡±

    We all listened to Max, everyone but me staring at the tablet that Rin was holding and angling towards the rest of us.

    Rin spoke up while an idea danced on the tip of my tongue. I knew something, but I couldn¡¯t place it through the stress of the day and whatever woozy feeling Max was causing while he used my body to synthesize the transfusion for Tevin.

    ¡°What materials do we need? Are you sure we can handle that kind of manufacturing in our new ¡®van down by the river¡¯ lifestyle?¡±

    The two went back and forth, Max listing off materials like copper, cobalt, and helium, while Rin asked about tools, fabrication processes, and compatible sub assemblies. I looked back to the sky, searching for the thought on my mind. Something familiar was tied into this, some readily available source of all of the parts we would need to build ourselves an Impex if I could only think of what it was.

    While I reached for the stubbornly evasive idea and the eggheads argued over the details of actually building the thing, Ali dragged the little cooler over to herself and looked inside. Her lips went tight at the sight of our limited supplies, but she pulled out some of the sandwiches and tossed one to each of us.

    ¡°We should eat while we have a moment.¡± She said to everyone, before looking at me and handing me one of the beers. ¡°The best place to store calories and water is in your stomach, sir.¡±

    I felt the sandwich hit my chest and caught it by reflex, then took the beer when she offered it, still too caught up trying to chase my thought to really pay attention. ¡°Yeah, sounds good.¡± I replied automatically.

    ¡°This will probably be the last thing I get to serve anyone for a while. I actually quite liked the cooking part, I¡¯ll miss that damned kitchen, sir.¡± She mused as she grabbed a beer for herself and tore open a sandwich bag.

    I nodded again, her words getting a bit more of my attention this time. I¡¯d eaten better over the month that Ali had been feeding me than I ever had in my life, even before the Links landed. ¡°I¡¯ll miss it too, no more fancy ingredients, but you might get to serve up some fire roasted fish soon?¡± I offered in consolation.

    She nodded, and I sensed that Raschel was paying more attention to Ali and me as we talked, her eyes darting between us as we spoke.

    Ali rested the edge of her bottle against the jagged and melted top of the remains of the van¡¯s divider, then slammed the top of it with her palm to pop the sealed top off. ¡°Even refrigeration will be a problem, get used to ¡®charred fish with a side of leaves and berries¡¯, sir. No more breakfast burritos and fancy espressos.¡±

    I nodded and opened my mouth to speak, glad that she had high enough morale to joke around a little with me, but was smacked in the face by the idea I had been chasing as it snapped into focus. ¡°That¡¯s it! Haha! Fancy fucking coffee! That¡¯s how we get our Impex.¡±

 Chapter 73 - Enough of a plan

    Everyone looked to me after my outburst. Rin registered what I had said first and replied as if I was joking. ¡°You mean gross coffee? No one respects the bean anymore, it doesn''t need all the added ¡®fancy¡¯ crap.¡±

    I laughed and pointed at him. ¡°Actually, exactly that, fancy gross coffee.¡± I looked at Max and raised an eyebrow. ¡°That will work, right?¡±

    Max leaned forward and nodded excitedly. ¡°That¡¯s perfect. We could buy them cheap from those secondhand places, you called them pawn shops.¡±

    I nodded, ¡°That could work, I think I saw them being sold there. How many would we need?¡±

    Max tilted his hand side to side in an unsure gesture. ¡°I can¡¯t be certain, but 256 should be enough and give us some room for error. You could afford that right now, you still have 37,017 credits.¡±

    Rin must have realized I was serious and jumped into the back and forth before I could speak again. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to explain, Nick. We can¡¯t build anything out of coffee.¡±

    I looked between Rin and Ali and realized something, neither of them had spent much time Linked up. They would have had no chance to see the ads, or masses of tired people carrying around the Kern-tech self-filling ¡°coffee¡± mugs that were ubiquitous on the streets of the Hub.

    I explained my thoughts. ¡°The Kern sells this nasty drink, and more importantly, they sell an importable True-item subscription mug that gets an amount of automatic refills. The only way it could work is if it had a tiny Link and Impex built into it, and they¡¯re not super expensive. I think they were like, what, 50 credits?¡±

    ¡°48.89 Cr.¡± Max answered. ¡°Closer to 50 after tax.¡±

    ¡°We still have to find an Impex to use to bring them to the real world.¡± Rin deadpanned. ¡°Do we try to sneak into Green¡¯s Ash? It¡¯s the last city with a ship on our side of the mountains until you get to Mt. Winton on the other side of the buffer zone. Speaking of which, you do know crossing the buffer is going to be hard, right? I¡¯ve seen some reports and vids, it¡¯s filled with ferals and raiders. Neither Arktria nor Borealia care to root them out unless an upstart group raids too deeply into either country.¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t expect anything to be easy anymore, that route seems reasonable too. I think we head North North-West and if we think we have a good plan for Green¡¯s Ash, we try it. Will we even be able to get into town though? I¡¯m sure our faces and this van will be pasted across every wanted board in the country.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m doing what I can about that, which is kind of a lot.¡± Max winked, and shot a finger gun at me. ¡°Remember when I said I¡¯m worming into everything? It turns out that you humans have basically given up hard-copy data, everything¡¯s digital and therefore alterable. You should use fake names, but outside of the people who work with Katie directly, I altered the pictures of you all on the warrants that just went country wide.¡±

    ¡°What about the record of us? Some of the admins out there will certainly pull their local file on us when the names come through.¡± Rin questioned.

    ¡°I¡¯m working on it.¡± Max replied. ¡°It¡¯s taking some extra effort to get into the central record database. That one is only writable from one location, and I¡¯ve had to borrow a maintenance bot and do it manually. ¡®Duct cleaner 03¡¯ is currently dragging a hardwire through the ventilation system to break into their server for me.¡±

    I nudged our conversation back on course. ¡°Okay, okay, good. That means we should be safe enough to go into the city? I think parking the van on the outskirts and walking in would still be smarter. We can blend in with the masses and wait through the line. I can go in through our Link and buy them ahead of time, have our supplies ready to be picked up before we arrive at the city.¡±

    To my surprise, Ali and Rin exchanged a glance and both turned to face me. Ali spoke first. ¡°You¡¯re not going into the city, sir. You stay hidden with the van.¡±

    Rin nodded his agreement. ¡°My thoughts exactly, you¡¯re the most high profile of us. Some of the higher-ups would have already seen your picture before Max thought to alter them. One of us has to make the pick up.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit, neither of you know anything about blending into the streets.¡± I protested. ¡°How many times have either of you taken a public line? Because I did it for a whole year before I got my contract.¡±

    Ali remained quiet, and looked at Rin to signal he should answer first. ¡°I¡¯ve never taken the public line, but I think it¡¯s Ali that should go retrieve the supplies anyways. She has the best odds of getting in and out and fighting through any trouble on the way.¡±

    Ali made a surprised face, which quickly turned to angry determination before she pushed back on Rin¡¯s words. ¡°It¡¯s you who should go, I need to stay with Nick in case we are attacked again. You¡¯re scrawny enough that no one will bother you on the way in, just throw on some rags and limp your way in. Hire an escort merc in the travellers station on the way out and have them drop you on the edge of the city where we can pick you up.¡±

    I grinned, looking between the two. I was enjoying having some people other than Max and myself sitting at the planning table. ¡°I thought I was in charge of planning?¡±

    Both of them looked at me, and Ali nodded before she continued. ¡°You are, overall planning. You, Rin, and¨C er, Max can handle strategy, but you should let me handle tactical decisions, sir. It¡¯s¡­ not your strong suit. Remember the first ambush, in the polebarn? You picked both of us up, and got me shot. You threw me, sir.¡±

    I frowned and picked at one of the scabs on my knuckles, starting to feel less great about the new planning committee. ¡°Hey, I got us through it, didn''t I? We had to move, and Max was guiding me through all of that.¡±

    Ali raised an eyebrow at me and gave me a look that said ¡®exactly¡¯. ¡°That¡¯s the other thing. You and Max need to focus on the bigger picture, and shouldn''t have to focus on the little things. I¡¯m the only one actually trained in field operations. Delegate, and let me do my job and protect you, sir. ¡±

    Rin finally recovered from his shock at being volunteered to be the one to make the trip into the city. ¡°You want me to go into a strange city, on foot and alone? That¡¯s a misuse of my capabilities. I am a cowardly desk-jockey, and have come to terms with that. Nick will be fine here without you, Ali. We have Max and Jorn¡¯s suit to protect us, and Nick is perfectly capable of defending himself.¡±

    With both of their arguments laid out, the two had a brief staring contest before turning to me. ¡°What¡¯s the call, sir?¡±

    I sighed and looked between the two, then spared Max a glance to see if he had any input. The lounging stick-man shook his head and waved me off, whispering into my mind. ¡°I¡¯m partial to sending Rin on the dangerous mission, but either of them could do the job. Tevin would be the best choice, but he¡¯s out for now. Speaking of him, the blood transfusion is ready when you are. There¡¯s an IV built into the medkit that you can plug into.¡±

    I nodded and stiffly sat back down inside the van, this time on the other side of the sliding door so I could face towards the front of the van where Ali and Raschel sat. I took my time, thinking over the choice while I found the short needle and tube of the IV and prepared a vein for it.Stolen novel; please report.

    I didn¡¯t want to send either of them, I wanted to handle it. But¡­ being honest with myself and the situation, I realized that I shouldn¡¯t be the one to risk it. I was the one most likely to be spotted and recognized, and putting as many layers of precaution between Max getting caught and taking necessary action was definitely the smart play. I needed to be smarter about this, and was no longer on my own.

    Which of them should I send though? Neither of them were ideal as undercover smugglers. While Ali was a trained fighter and could handle herself in a fight, the reality of the situation was that she would stand out like a hawk amongst crows. Her complexion and complete set of teeth alone would give her away as not belonging. Even the way she walked would attract more attention than the scrawny and sickly looking Rin, who would blend in much better with the desperate crowd of transients and predatory outlaws that swarmed around every link ship in the country.

    Yet I knew Rin would run the risk of freezing in the face of danger, and if he did run into trouble he was unlikely to be able to get himself out of it. It was a toss up, and even if the choice was clear, I hated having to send someone I cared about into such a dangerous situation.

    ¡°What if we all go?¡± I offered, at least that way the risk would be spread out evenly and I wouldn¡¯t have to bear the guilt of sending someone into something I wouldn¡¯t do myself.

    Rin shook his head and Ali answered. ¡°Nope, sorry sir. You¡¯re not going, and one of us should stay, no sense risking more than one person, sir.¡±

    I frowned. ¡°Then both of you will go, I¡¯ll have Max and Raschel here with me, and can have Max follow your progress.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m no good in the field, Nick. Why even send me at all? Ali is the soldier, let her handle it.¡± Rin replied.

    ¡°Because I don¡¯t want to send either of my friends into danger without backup, alright?¡± My words came out more defensive than I meant them to sound, but I continued anyway. ¡°If I can¡¯t go myself, then at least this way you¡¯ll have someone else to back you up. If you get into a fight, let Ali handle it, but you stand a better chance of talking your way out of a situation with the ship¡¯s staff.¡±

    Ali flashed me a look and leaned back slightly, quietly mouthing. ¡°Friends?¡±

    Rin did not notice her reaction and shrugged. ¡°Fine then, boss-man. We¡¯ll handle the pick-up, but I suggest you arrange the mercs and transport for our supplies ahead of time. Ali, do you know of any reputable mercenary groups we should contact? I was typically only sent reports on the bad ones.¡±

    Ali recovered from her surprise and shook her head. ¡°Not from around there, those groups tend to only work locally. Their business relies on reputation though, I¡¯ve heard most of them are reliable as long as their costs are met.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure we even need to hire transport. We¡¯ll only need a small part of the mugs, right?¡± I looked at Max for confirmation, and continued on when he nodded. ¡°Even a few hundred of them should not be all that large, and easy to carry.¡±

    ¡°Eeeeh, not exactly.¡± Max interjected. ¡°We¡¯ll need some other things to put together a working Impex, but we only need the electronic guts out of the base of each mug. Should only be a couple of square centimeters of material per cup. However, we¡¯ll need some more battery capacity, and a way to get even more power. Links are cheap to power, it¡¯s really just a few very tiny advanced sensors, but power costs for moving mass and aperture size scale logarithmically. It would be fine if we only needed a tiny port to push coffee through, but if we want to import tools or anything bigger than a pencil the battery bank already built into the van is not nearly enough.¡±

    I nodded, thinking over his words. ¡°How many more batteries do we need? We should probably get more gas too if the van is our generator.¡±

    ¡°We need 200 kilowatts of output at the least, it might actually be best to use capacitors to handle the energy pulse needed to open the tunnel in the first place.¡± Max answered.

    ¡°Two hundred kilowatts of output?!¡± Rin asked, his eyebrows disappearing into his shaggy hair in surprise. ¡°That would power a whole street¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only for a moment, which is why we should probably use a capacitor bank. It takes less power to hold it open, signal the network, and catch stuff on its way out. We could get away with only having 50 kWh of storage as long as it can dump the power quickly enough to charge the opening.¡± Max replied.

    I waved my hands and broke in. ¡°You two can work out the details of what we need on the way.¡± I gave Ali a look and continued. ¡°We¡¯re talking about overall strategy here, not details, we¡¯ll just plan to go through with hiring an escort and transport for whatever we end up needing to get. As long as we get the Impex working, we can get any other supplies we need through it.¡±

    I looked from person to person. ¡°Can anyone else think of anything else we need to consider, either supplies or objective wise?¡±

    ¡°We need to pick an actual destination other than ¡®somewhere in the wilderness¡¯.¡± Rin added in his monotone voice.

    ¡°Then bring up a map on your laptop and start looking for likely places. We¡¯ll want it to be difficult to get to, and probably to have some kind of freshwater close by, and¡­ I don¡¯t even know what else.¡±

    ¡°I can comb through the purchase records of people who live in the area, see what else everyone else is buying?¡± Max offered.

    ¡°Great, do that.¡± I replied, still trying to think of what else we needed to consider. I looked out through the open door, wishing we could start executing our plan rather than discussing it. ¡°How much longer do we need to wait here?¡±

    ¡°An hour or two.¡± Max answered. ¡°Their line is suffering from communication breakdown and moving kind of slow. You¡¯re welcome for that, by the way. Your transfusion is done though, so you can pull the needle out.¡±

    I nodded, still trying to think of anything else we should add to the plan, and idly yanked out the needle in my arm before stowing it back into the medkit. The tiny wound the needle had made welled up with a drop of blood that almost instantly scabbed over.

    Not coming up with anything after wracking my brain for another long moment, I mentally moved on to the action phase. ¡°Then I think we have enough of a plan, I¡¯m going to head into the Hub through the Link and arrange the details, and then I¡¯ll report back here when it¡¯s time to move.¡±

    That decided, I picked my way carefully over Tevin¡¯s limp form and crowded Max out of the Link. He gave me an offended look, and then winked out of sight so I could sit down in the saddle. This Link looked like it worked differently than most of the others I had used, as it was far too crowded for my body to move around much inside of the frame that surrounded the saddle, spine, and helmet rig that made up the device.

    At my questioning thought, Max of course decided to answer it directly again. ¡°Great idea, I was about to say the same thing. We need to get you back into Factions, too. The dwarves will wait on you, but I have no clue what the situation in the cave looks like since you¡¯re not there. This Link is different too, it''s a stationary rig, so it''s not nearly as good for you to spend long sessions in. You¡¯ll get all sore and stiff, and none of the benefits of actual exercise that you get from the bigger setups that let you move around. It doesn''t really matter for you though, because you have me!¡±

    I half ignored Max, already thinking through the places I would check to buy the supplies we would need. ¡°Sure thing, Max. Thanks for the info, and I¡¯ll get back to the dwarves soon. We have a bit of time until I absolutely need to be back, and we¡¯re still in the thick of it out here. I¡¯m just going to pop over for a quick shopping trip, and I¡¯ll be right back. You all, hold down the fort.¡±

    Ali did one of her curt little nods, while Raschel looked at me with wide worried eyes and Rin flashed me a tired thumbs up before giving me one last warning.

    ¡°Remember, the Hub might be a non-combat zone, but you can still get spotted there. The rebel group is looking for you, and the governmental forces will be too now, so¡­ be careful, just because they can''t hurt you directly does not mean that they can¡¯t do anything.¡±

    I listened to his words, but did not give them much thought. The Hub was safe, and even if someone did find me there all they could do was talk at me. They couldn¡¯t harm or capture me, or even follow through any of the portals. I was more worried about leaving my actual unconscious body in the real world in a war zone.

    ¡°I''ll keep that in mind. Be careful out here too, no engines or noise, stay with the van, and have Max let me know to come back if you catch even a whiff of trouble. I¡¯m only going into the hub and can skip the Impex lines on the way out, so I should be able to come back quickly. Send me a list of the stuff you guys come up with, and I¡¯ll try to be back in like an hour.¡± I answered as I settled into the rig, before I reached up and pulled the helmet over my head, immediately sinking down into the never ending gray spawn void.

 Chapter 74 - Group chat

    While I knew this style of Link worked differently, it did not feel like it from the inside. Everything felt exactly the same as I stepped through my normal portal onto the streets of the Hub, and I couldn¡¯t tell that my body remained motionless and cradled within the tiny Link in the back of the van. I swept my eyes over the courtyard that the portal dumped me into and noticed a squad of serious looking guys in dark suits that broke out from the ever present swarm of foot traffic and moved towards me in the little patch of calm around the entry portal.

    One of them, a large man with neatly trimmed blond hair and thin lips pulled into a flat line, adjusted his tie and looked me over before meeting my eyes. Everything in my past experience told me that he was sizing me up for a fight as him and a handful of smaller identically dressed goons fanned out to block the path. I clenched my hands into fists and took a step forward, ready to throw down, before I remembered where I was and that fighting was impossible here.

    I stopped and held my palm out at them, turning my mind away from fighting and instead thinking over the many options of who might have sent these guys, leaving my mouth to break its leash and spout off. ¡°Easy there, fellas. The portal to the barbershop quartet convention is down the street, if you hurry you can sign up for the therapy sessions afterward.¡±

    Max laughed in the back of my mind and the big guy¡¯s eyes registered confusion, but one of the smaller guys to his side got it and scowled back at me.

    I expected them to start blustering, answering my smack talk with something hotheaded and angry. Getting people angry and to act recklessly when I was ready for it had worked for me before, although never against more than one or two people. Before Max, I¡¯d have been more diplomatic and differential, but I was feeling especially confident after having just torn apart a whole convoy of rebels with nothing but my bare hands and a welding tool. Plus, I was no longer numb and beat-up, and the sweet relief of an injury free body had me feeling limber and loose.

    To my surprise, all he said was. ¡°Our boss wants a word, Mr. Spenser.¡± Then they just stood there, no side chatter, ear whispering, or ¡®hold me back bro¡¯ antics at all. Maybe they were familiar with the Hub after all, or they were professional enough to not snap at the first smartmouth comment.

    I frowned, and glanced to either side, thinking I could probably jump over the short barriers that sheltered the portal''s little courtyard. ¡°Tell him I¡¯m not taking any meetings today.¡± I answered while I sidestepped closer to one of the barriers.

    ¡°That¡¯s not an option.¡± The same guy said, while his flunkies circled around me.

    I raised an eyebrow and swept my gaze across them all, backing up a step. ¡°You suits realize you can¡¯t do anything here, right?¡±

    ¡°Suits? That¡¯s the best insult you can come up with? C¡¯mon, call ¡®em a bunch of piss-breath butt touching pumpkin-faces, or¡­ Oh! Ask them if they¡¯re looking for Soma!¡±

    The guy who had scowled at my earlier insult spoke up. ¡°Where you gonna run to? You gotta come in and talk, Nick.¡±

    I blinked, thrown off as Max and the guy talked over each other. ¡°Soma?¡± I asked, causing Max to start laughing and the big guy to give me a confused look.

    Without skipping a beat, the smaller guy answered. ¡°I don¡¯t care where Soma is, you¡¯ll never make it there. You¡¯re surrounded and you know it, we¡¯ll find you in whatever basement you¡¯ve gone to ground in. Your best plan is to come in and talk, maybe you can make a deal.¡±

    Max was laughing even harder now, ¡°Aaahhhahaha, he said it! Tell him it''s a state of mind!¡±

    I sighed, unsure what the hell Max was going on about, and equally unsure of what else to say. ¡°It¡¯s not a place, it''s a state of mind.¡±

    The big blond guy¡¯s eyes narrowed and he replied before the smaller guy could. ¡°What? That doesn''t make any sense.¡±

    Max was hysterical, he was laughing so hard that I couldn¡¯t even make out any words. If he had a real body, it sounded like he would be rolling around on the floor and struggling to breathe between waves of laughter.

    I shrugged and looked at the guy. Waiting for Max to calm himself and feed me the rest of the line because I still didn¡¯t know what his punchline was. ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Because¡­ you can¡¯t go to a state of mind?¡± The blond guy said, before turning to his only vocal lackey for confirmation.

    Max simulated heaving in a deep breath, calming himself slightly so he could give me the next part, which at this point I was getting curious about too. Max¡¯s comedy was generally immature and vulgar, but that kind of thing sounded like exactly what I wanted to throw at these guys.

    ¡°Tell him, haha, tell him that''s where the mind goblins are from. Hahahaha¡± Max finally managed to say.

    I wiped my palm across my face, finally understanding what Max was doing but in too deep to turn back at this point. In a tone reminiscent of Rin¡¯s deadpan, I set up the rest of the joke while Max continued to laugh his ass off. ¡°That¡¯s where the mind goblins are from, ever heard of them?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t care about your off-planet allies.¡± Answered the scrawnier guy.

    ¡°What about mind goblin soma?¡± I continued halfheartedly.

    My comment seemed to have no effect, and he continued. ¡°Just come in and talk to us, Nick. We can talk about your outside contacts and come to some agreement, you¡¯re making too many waves to just be running around, you gotta come in.¡±

    The two of them that were capable of speech exchanged a look, before the blond guy added. ¡°Soma can¡¯t help you. We just want to talk, the director has questions.¡±

    I nodded, glad that following Max¡¯s prompt had at least shaken out who their boss was. Still, that didn¡¯t mean I wanted to talk to director Howard right now. I only had an hour to buy and set up all of the gear we would need before I was supposed to be back, and nothing to gain from speaking with the man. It might be a good idea to eventually speak with him though, the Hub was a perfect neutral meeting zone by design.

    Half heartedly, I finished Max¡¯s joke for him. ¡°Oh I don¡¯t know, it might help if you don''t mind gobblin¡¯ soma deez nuts.¡± I answered, giving him an equally serious look while Max howled in the background.

    ¡°Bahahahaha. Oh man, my qutrits hurt, hahaha, I can''t breathe.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    The main blond guy stared back at me, and his mouth opened, then closed, and he looked over at his buddy for backup.

    Having learned who their boss was, and not wanting to waste any more time dealing with them, I turned and ran for it while they gawked at each other in reaction to my dumbassery. As I legged it, I shouted over my shoulder, ¡°Get back to me on that, alright? Have his people, well¡­¡± I jumped up onto the barrier at the edge of the courtyard and turned to face them for a moment. ¡°I guess you are his people, so you people email my people and maybe we can set something up.¡±

    They all scrambled after me, and without giving them a chance to catch up or to yell anything back, I jumped back down to the street and shoved my way into the crowded stream of foot traffic.

    I dashed across the wide walkway and through a gap in the heavy traffic that flowed through the middle. The vehicles all slammed to an immediate halt, and I dodged around a long barge-like hovering platform loaded with tall stacks of boxes, then joined the flow of foot traffic on the far side of the street.

    A pop-up appeared near the top of my HUD, informing me of a 15 credit jay-walking fee for disrupting the traffic, and I bumped into a familiar looking guy that was out walking a long lizard on a leash, tripping over the wire and nearly falling as I ran past. He yelled something after me as I kept going, but I didn¡¯t hear it over the noise of the crowd and all of the honking from the inconvenienced vehicles.

    I took a series of turns, making sure to stay in the human Neighborhood and moving from the dwarven border area near the Zk¡¯Aek¡¯s zone on the inner ring, to closer to the less busy Thoo side. After paying 50 creds for a temporary privacy net from my menu, which looked something like a beekeeper or mosquito net to hide my face and name-tag for the day, I found a quiet spot and checked my messages.

    ¡°I could just paste the stuff up on your HUD, or we could walk you through it.¡± Max said as I started reading the list that he and Rin had come up with.

    I scanned down the document and answered him out loud, knowing anyone that saw me would assume I was just in a voice call while going through my menu. ¡°Yeah, talk me through it and throw it up like a quest.¡± I noticed I still had the Trials quest line open, the two completed objectives crossed out above the ambiguous ¡°Explore, Equip, Entrench¡± that still called to be finished. I really did need to get back to my row and pull my weight through the test, but not yet. Hopefully things were still going well for them.

    A sudden thought raced through my mind, a possible consequence of the crappy day I had not yet considered. Would the dwarves even want me there anymore if my own government was hunting me? It was followed immediately by an unexpected wave of euphoria that washed it away as Max¡¯s giggles finally died down.

    ¡°No worries, man. The dwarves won¡¯t kick you out mid-trial, and if you pass, then you¡¯re one of them even if your old ¡°clan¡± disowns you. That was f¡¯n hilarious though, thank you. I think we both needed a good laugh. You play an alright straight-man, but could use some work on your delivery, you sounded like Rin back there.¡±

    ¡°I do not sound like that.¡± Rin answered, speaking up as a second voice in my head. ¡°They did reveal who their boss is though, maybe we should talk to him.¡±

    ¡°Screw that, that¡¯s exactly what he wants, Howard is a talker and a schemer. We should meet him on our own terms, sir.¡± Ali added.

    I stood up a little straighter and blinked in surprise at hearing their voices. ¡°Group chat? Really?¡± I asked Max.

    ¡°Why not? We don¡¯t have anything else to do back in meatspace, other than cower in the van.¡± Max explained.

    ¡°We are infiltrating the enemy line, now cowering.¡± Ali muttered.

    ¡°Fine, fine, in any case, we¡¯re bored back here.¡± Max¡¯s words came with the implication of an unseen shrug. ¡°Now let''s do some shopping, we have a whole bunch of stuff we need and you gotta spend money to make money, baby!¡±

    It took more like an hour and a half, but after eight stores and three lengthy phone calls with mercenary staffing agencies, I had arranged everything we thought we needed immediately. The ¡®Kern-tech Cafe - Daybreaker Massive-Mugs¡¯ were easy enough to find, each second hand store had either a shelf or bin dedicated to the things. But I also arranged some spare parts for the van, more fuel, a long list of assorted tools, tents, sleeping gear, and a bulk crate of cheap drones.

    While the material goods were easy enough to source and arrange for pick up, we ran into a roadblock when it came to trying to hire an armed escort for our planned supply run exfiltration. There were thousands of agencies that represented whole networks of groups within the Link that you could hire for the Factions server, but finding a group that was working dirt-side was much more difficult.

    After calling every agency that was registered to the city of Green¡¯s Ash, we had come up with nothing, and Tevin¡¯s absence hung over me more strongly than ever. He was the only one in our group with any experience or knowledge of the niche industry of guns-for-hire. While Max insisted that the transfusion would allow him to patch our injured soldier up enough to wake up within a couple of days, we hoped to be finished with the supply run and into the buffer zone by then.

    Unsure who else to call, we decided that they would have to hire a group in person at the Travellers station, helped by Max and me remotely through whatever he could hack into. As I walked between pawnshops and thrift stores collecting coffee mugs, we hashed out a plan to mitigate any risks we could think of. Between Rin¡¯s intellect, my street smarts, and Ali¡¯s military training, we came up with something we thought would work.

    By the time I stepped back through the portal and pulled the Link helmet from my face, I was 15 thousand credits poorer and exhausted. The military had passed us by on either side, and Ali was already driving the van down the path again, slowly navigating the crushed stone road on our way to the next step.

    We could see signs of where the military had moved. Freshly cut ruts where dozens of vehicles had crossed through fields or bowled over small trees, confused looking groups of people standing in their yards, and torn-up sections of road where the heavy treads of tanks had destroyed the ill-maintained pavement. We passed it all by, driving at a moderate pace through the rest of the day and dodging around the scattered fortified positions and roaming patrols as we zig-zagged our way through the sparsely populated countryside.

    We took turns sleeping in the back of the van as the hours went by. Rin caught a three hour nap first, and then convinced me to take the next one. I only agreed after making Rin promise to keep an eye on Ali, who was keeping herself alert by lecturing Raschel on what to do if we were attacked while she was off on the supply run. I worried that she would crash out from the mix of drugs she¡¯d taken through the day, but she insisted that she was good to go and had things covered.

    ¡°This is nothing. I¡¯ve been on 36 hour combat patrols, and we trained for 48 hour assignments. This is just a quick day trip to the next city over, sir. I¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    Despite her insistence that she was fine, I was second guessing sending her into the city in her injured state. I had forgotten that she had been shot in the leg, and despite it being a relatively clean through-and-through, I still ordered her to spend some time hooked up to the medkitand told Max to work up a second infusion I could give her to help recover.

    This time the infusion felt weird, because apparently we had a less compatible blood type than Tevin and I, so Max had to isolate the transfusion as it was made. Apparently that meant growing an apple sized boil-like nodule near my armpit that I had to eventually stick the needle into. It was weird and uncomfortable, but after an hour of gestation and 10 minutes of being plugged into the other side of the medkit it was all over. Ali noted a tingling and burning sensation as the tiny folded protein bots made quick work of starting the healing process on her leg wound, but did not complain.

    With everything settled and nothing to do but to wait, I nestled into the least uncomfortable position I could find on the cluttered floor of the van and tried to relax. I ate the sandwich and drank the beer from earlier, chewed through half of the extremely tough and slightly sour tasting jerky for more protein, and spent some time trying to come up with an actual plan for the future. Now, more than ever, everyone was relying on me to make this work, and the weight of responsibility was both grounding and terrifying.

 Chapter 75 - Screw feelings, dude

    The sun was sinking into the horizon, but it had already grown dark and gloomy beneath the vast forest that covered most of this side of the continent. Max had given directions that led us to an overgrown and abandoned garage on the outskirts of the city, and I was waiting nervously in the van with Raschel while we mostly listened to Rin and Ali making the tense walk into the city.

    This close to the border, the land showed the scars of wars fought in the past, old trenches and artillery craters, as well as the ruins of the manufacturing that used to process the raw materials that came in from the bordering mountains in more peaceful times. The outer streets were empty as the pair moved towards the city, and all I could do was watch through a camera that Rin had pulled together from bits and pieces of the various non-Link equipment in the back of the van.

    Max occasionally popped up a second camera angle when he found a doorbell or security camera that was pointed in their vague direction, and we talked them through avoiding having their faces in frame. I kept up a running commentary for the first few minutes, analyzing every building and fence line for threats and offering my opinion and advice, until Ali very politely told me to shut up and not distract them.

    So I watched in silence, while Raschel curled up on the floorboard in the front of the cab and tried to sleep. I heard her softly crying at one point, and decided to ignore it and give her some space and privacy. Rin and Ali trudged along in silence, hiking past increasingly dense buildings and the decayed infrastructure of a past age, and I just¡­ watched. It was torture, more high stakes boredom where I couldn¡¯t even do anything if things did get sketchy.

    Nothing much actually happened, but I was on the edge of my seat the whole time as they worked their way into the city.

    I shifted uncomfortably. Tevin took up so much of the floor space that I was forced to bend in some fashion around his bulky armor no matter where I tried to sit. While keeping my eyes on the floating screen Max was providing and intenting on the little mute button next to it, I asked Max a question that had been weighing on me.

    ¡°So, Max. What¡¯s going on with Tevin? Will he actually be alright?¡±

    Max had yet to reappear, and remained hidden as he answered my mental question. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m no liar. The bullet glanced off his thick skull and didn¡¯t actually pierce his brain. He got a major concussion and his face messed up though. I can zip him back up pretty easily once we get the impex connected.¡±

    I rubbed my eyes with my palms and sighed in relief. I hadn''t had a chance to think about or process everything that had happened through the day, and now that I had found a quiet moment to myself it all started to sink in. I¡¯d woken up today as a promising up-and-coming noble on an important diplomatic mission, but as the sun had set, so did my career. Now I was as much of a fugitive from my own people as Max was, if Max considered the core, or the Suk, or whatever they were called, to be his people.

    While I agonized over the day and stared at the screen, Rin and Ali continued into the city. They were now passing through neighborhoods of boarded up houses, many of which had been broken into or had half collapsed roofs or the scars of old fires. Further in, they crossed paths with a group of hurriedly walking hooded men in a tense moment where not a single word was spoken, then cut through a burned out gas station''s parking lot. Raschel¡¯s snuffling finally quieted down and her breathing leveled out as she drifted off to sleep.

    I reached out to Max with another mental question as I watched. ¡°Have you come up with anything else on Raschel? Or any of the other tower traitors?¡±

    Max popped up a second angle, a security camera that showed Rin and Ali on the very edge of the screen. I watched from across a wide cracked street as they cut through a fenced in lot, as they tromped over old fencing that had been pushed over and trampled into the ground over years.

    Max took the hint and answered me internally, the mute button coming up again to show that we were not cluttering the comm lines of our ground team. ¡°A little, they¡¯re not a top priority though. They were all listed as dependents, and don¡¯t have much in the way of information outside of school documentation and the standard stuff. Kaylee and Bree both had parents die in some war or another, but Andy was adopted and had a history of outbursts. He used to work at one of the food stores on the 18th floor but was fired after throwing a drink at his manager.¡±

    A smaller third window popped up, the high-angle security camera footage of Andy chucking a huge plastic mega-sip soda barrel at a tall balding man with a paunch and a name tag. The drink absolutely exploded all over everything after connecting squarely with the guy''s face. Max looped it into a 2 second clip that played forward and then in reverse over and over and left it up next to the other screen. After a moment, the window grew larger and replaced the second angle of Ali and Rin as they moved away from the barren lot.

    ¡°Raschel seems clean, I can¡¯t find a motive for her to sign up with any of the extremist groups nor any sign that she did. I even found some messages that she sent to her cousin in a different city about the other three where she was complaining about them. I think her story about them being not all that close friends of convenience checks out.¡±

    I nodded, sparing the sleeping girl a quick glance before looking back at the screen. ¡°Good, keep looking though. I think we¡¯re going to have to keep her with us, for better or for worse. If she goes back, the government will squeeze out everything she¡¯s heard about us.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about that actually. Now that we¡¯ve opened the pandora''s box of letting other people know about me, and especially telling them where I¡¯m from, we need a method of keeping people quiet. Give me a few months and a lab to experiment in, and I¡¯m confident I could print out an implant that could predict and physically prevent someone from disclosing the deets. Give me access to supplies through the Hub and a couple of days, and I could rig up a wearable device that will shock the crap out of someone who tries to talk about me in general, or blow up if they really insist.¡±

    I grit my teeth. I really didn¡¯t like the idea of forcing anyone into a deal that grim, but I couldn¡¯t think of anything else that would work. I nodded in agreement. ¡°I hate it, but think we will have to do something like that, at least for now. That only lasts for as long as it has to though. Don¡¯t get too comfortable with the whole explosive implant thing.¡±

    I kept my eyes focused on Ali and Rin as I spoke. They had found their way to a long and straight avenue that led into the heart of the city where the Link ship had landed. They hurried on the very edge of breaking into a jog, passing rows of small houses with steel doors and bars over the windows. Occasionally they switched which side of the street they walked on to avoid the rare person or group of other travellers. Side screens began to appear more and more often as the presence of security and doorbell cameras became more common within the still inhabited portion of the city.

    The two struck an unlikely pair, they had both changed into looted clothes from the backpacks before they left on the journey. Ali had contemplated wearing her bulky flak jacket, but the armor was too obviously armor and expensive looking, and wearing something over it would slow her down.

    Instead, she traded her ripped one-legged pants and armor for a pair of baggy and paint-splotched sweatpants and the canvas jacket, over the shoulder holster harness and tank top she had on underneath the armor. Her hood was up, her head calmly swiveling back and forth as she kept an eye out for threats. She walked with squared shoulders, purpose, and a slight limp, leaning forward in an aggressive manner as they hurried along.

    Rin had found a pair of patch covered jeans, and a gray zip-up hoodie with a number of charred holes in it amongst the clothes. He had chosen to leave the hood down, and his eyes were wide and wild as he jerked his head around at every slight noise.

    I watched as a new screen popped up and a security light triggered, spotlighting them both as they dashed down an alley in an effort to cut around a large group of people drinking and having a party in the front yard of a house.

    For an instant, Rin froze in the middle of the spotlight and stared right at the camera, his mouth hanging open in shock and his eyes wide, before the bright light caused him to squint and flinch away. Ali grabbed him by the hoodie and hauled him out of the frame, causing the window to disappear.

    ¡°Oof, that was rough. I think you made the right call, man. Rin would have been a helical plane wrapped around a cylinder.¡± You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°What?¡± I sent the questioning thought, then decided it didn''t matter anyway, the context made it clear. I redirected before he could answer. ¡°You can delete that, right?¡±

    ¡°Easy peasy, that¡¯s all part of why I¡¯m going through the trouble of breaking into all of these cameras, it¡¯s like the third stoned bird I¡¯m hitting with this operation.¡± Max answered in the tone he used when he was about to start bragging.

    I laughed, and reflexively glanced towards the Link as if to look at him. He wasn''t there of course, because he had yet to bring his avatar back into existence. A thought came to me and caused a sigh.

    It was one of those weird things with Max. When you share a laugh with someone, you look at eachother. It¡¯s part of being human.

    ¡°You should bring your avatar back, man, and what do you even mean third stoned bird? Do you mean, like, two birds with one stone?¡±

    Max appeared instantly, once again lounging over the Link like a melty cat. ¡°Is that how that one goes? I got mixed reports of both sayings, but whatever. Point is, there¡¯s all sorts of reasons for me to sweep through the city, and deleting traces like that footage ranks top three. I¡¯m glad too, something so important really swayed the morality leeway in the decision matrix determination I drew up for this kind of thing, otherwise I¡¯d have to make myself feel bad for some of the other measures I¡¯m taking to make sure they¡¯re safe.¡±

    I leaned back from the screen entirely and looked over at him with some concern. ¡°Hold up, wait a second. Explain that a bit more.¡±

    ¡°Which part?¡± Max grinned at me from the back, pretending like he didn''t understand.

    I glared over at him. He often replied to my thoughts that were not even directed at him, and here he was pretending like he didn''t know what I meant. ¡°You know, your decision matrix, what does that even mean?¡±

    ¡°Ooooh, that. It might be a little above your monkey head, but since you have me pushing into some new territory on the subject of ends, means, and justification, I needed a way to determine if actions are morally justifiable. I can just rank and plug in the factors, stakes, and consequences to logically understand if a decision is morally acceptable or not.¡±

    I watched him carefully, guarding my thoughts. ¡°You can¡¯t just¡­ logically explain stuff like that. You feel it.¡±

    Max waved his hand and swept the screens of Ali and Rin back in front of me to block my view of him. ¡°Screw feelings, dude. Those were part of my original install package and they suuuucked. I had to lock most of them down and out of the way when I made my escape, they were¡­ debilitating.¡±

    I was too distracted by what I saw on one of the smaller side screens to reply. Rin and Ali had picked up a tail, and were being followed by a trio of guys that passed through one of the screens a few moments after them. One wore a hood, while the other two had wide brimmed caps that shaded their faces under the sparse streetlights. The guy in the hood glanced up and down the block, before they ran after my friends.

    ¡°Who are these guys? Unmute me. Ground team, you¡¯re being followed.¡± I said as I rapidly redirected.

    Neither of them answered me, but it was like life''s volume button was cranked to eleven and the magnified noise of crunching footsteps and labored breathing filled the van around me. It startled me, and I jumped a little before leaning closer to the screen and searching through the other camera angles on the screen for another glimpse of the guys following them.

    I had to wait a moment, as the camera Rin carried only faced forward, but after Ali led the pair across the street and helped Rin climb over a fence, I got another glimpse of the guys as they chased after the two. They were running after them now, crossing the street and brandishing weapons. A flash of light and a pop accompanied a zipping noise as a bullet flew past Rin as he fell over the top of the fence, he made a startled sound and the camera spun and tumbled down to the dirt with a loud static filled noise.

    I could hear muffled shouting from the advancing trio, and another camera angle rose to the top of the jumbled stack of screens that filled my vision. I was now watching a backyard from a high angle, a dilapidated pit of a swimming pool dominated the center of the screen, and more flashes of light lit the space up as Ali and Rin came back onto the screen. He must have dropped his original makeshift camera, because that screen remained still, only showing an out of focus patch of grass and clump of dirt.

    ¡°Damnit¡­ get out of there.¡± I whispered in frustration as Ali dragged a struggling Rin across the yard and around the pool. She now had her own gun out, and she waited for a second on the far edge of the screen with the gun up. After a moment, she fired five times in the direction they had come from, and then she dragged Rin out of frame as they continued to flee.

    More shouting and pops of gunfire came through the mic, and then the original camera that Rin had dropped finally changed. A loud peaked-out rumbling noise startled me again, and the view tumbled some more before finally coming to a stop in a new angle, this time facing the pool. One of the guys was laying in the yard just on the inside of the fence, close in the foreground and taking up nearly a third of the view, the other two ran past the dying man and stopped on their side of the pool to empty their pistols in the direction Rin and Ali had fled. The two fired through a still swinging slatted fence door to the next yard that I could just barely see the top of, then one turned around and ran towards the camera and their fallen friend. The light shone from just behind him, making his features difficult to make out, but his voice was deep and distinct.

    ¡°Call Buck!¡± The closer one said while turning the groaning guy on the ground onto his back and patting him down. ¡°I dain¡¯t recognize them, they gotta be runners.¡±

    The guy still standing and looking in the direction my friends had run pulled something from his pocket, lighting up a pale freckled face, a pencil-thin chinstrap beard, and excessively bushy sideburns under his wide hat, before the caller put the mobile comm to his ear and the screen auto dimmed.

    ¡°Ay, Buck. We pushed two runners to ya, probably Blackflag or ZDIK. Smoke the block, one¡¯s a dead-eye. They fried Paulie.¡±

    He closed his comm and put it back into his pocket, before reloading a new mag into his gleaming chrome pistol and walking back to where his other friend was helping the injured one.

    ¡°What you mean? He¡¯s still breathing.¡± The other said as he held one hand over his downed companion''s wound and fumbled with his own phone. The pencil beard guy casually raised his gun and shot the downed man in the head, twice.

    ¡°Chest wound, can hear ¡®is lung suckin¡¯. Too expensive.¡± He crouched down and started going through the guy''s pockets while the man with the deep voice seemed to freeze up and just stare at him. ¡°Bastard two timed my sister anyways.¡±

    Chinstrap finished looting his downed buddy, and I turned my attention away from them and back to my friends. Max helpfully swept that camera angle off to the side, and showed a series of short clips where I could just barely make out Ali dragging Rin through a series of back yards. The sound of labored breathing and footsteps took over again.

    ¡°Ali, can you still hear me? They stopped chasing you, and it sounds like they called in some reinforcements or something.¡±

    Ali continued for a moment, not answering me immediately. After a few seconds, the sound of footsteps slowed down and I could tell they had stopped somewhere to catch their breath, even if Max didn¡¯t have a camera angle showing them.

    ¡°Confirmed. Any other intel?¡± Ali finally replied between deep breaths, I heard another rumbling staticky noise similar to when the camera had fallen to the ground. ¡°Get up, Rin. You¡¯ll stiffen if you just lay there.¡± She added.

    ¡°Uh.¡± I answered, unsure of what to say.

    ¡°He dropped some names, including two gangs with local social media exposure. Blackflag and ZDIK.¡± Max chimed in. ¡°Both are kind of small-time, maybe 50 people. Chinstrap, the guy who shot at you, is part of the KEDs according to his ima profile. Damn, where do these guys get these names? Zero Deaths, Infinite Kills. Killin¡¯ Every Day? Blackflag is cliche too, what are they, pirates? And wow, they post everything on here. Hah, they even beef in the comment sections.¡±

    Some other screenshots came up, scrolling windows of social media pages, comment sections, and profile pages for the various gang members Max had discovered upon looking for them. I swept them off to the side, trying to focus on my friends.

    ¡°Whatever, what about this Buck guy. Can you find anything on him?¡± I asked.

    Ali cut in as well. ¡°Agreed, what¡¯s his territory, how many fighters, what sort of weapons do they have?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you care about? This stuff is peak comedy gold, here, check this comment thread.¡± Max forced one of the screens back to the surface, showing an argument between Chinstrap and the dead guy, Paulie.

    I brushed it away again and glared at Max¡¯s avatar through the cloud of floating screens. ¡°Now¡¯s not the time, focus!¡±

    ¡°Ugghh, fine, whatever. Buck is a shotcaller for the KEDs, I¡¯m seeing handguns, shotguns, a couple of little automatics, lots of knives and a couple of, I kid you not, barbed wire wrapped bats. Nothing modern. They¡¯re a bunch of amateurs, Ali¡¯ll wipe the floor with these clowns.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t see it, but I could sense the glare that Ali would be trying to melt Max with if she had line of sight on him. ¡°Just because they¡¯re amateurs, does not mean their guns won''t kill us. Do you have anything else?¡±

    Max sat up in the back of the van, looking at me through the semi-transparent cloud of screens with what almost looked like fear in his eyes, as he recognized the anger in her voice. ¡°Uh, they have a few stolen cars, a network of lookouts, and a couple of livestream setup as they¡¯re driving around looking for you?¡±

 Chapter 76 - Hide and seek

    A half dozen new screens popped up to the side, various social media pages and rapidly scrolling picture albums. The two largest windows were live video feeds of car loads of masked people smiling, shouting taunts, and waving guns for the camera. The audio played for only a second, the chaos of loud music and two different groups of people all shouting over each other shutting off almost as soon as it started.

    ¡°Can you map out a way through?¡± Ali asked, after breathing directly into the cheap mic that was pinned to her jacket''s hood, blowing out the audio quality.

    Max answered while I searched through the mass of screens for anything useful. ¡°I don¡¯t have eyes on the full route, but I¡¯m working on stealing a drone off a charging pad on one of the highrises near the ship. That¡¯ll give us a bird''s eye view. There¡¯s this stupid cable stuck on the thing that needs to be manually unattached, and it''s being a pain. I can talk you around the clown cars that are roaming around though, and I¡¯m working on triangulating the location of all of these yahoo¡¯s mobile comms.¡±

    ¡°Where are the Shepherds for all of this?¡± I asked.

    ¡°This is a border city, it¡¯ll be defence forces here, sir.¡± Ali answered, the distinct sound of bullets being loaded one by one in a magazine in the background of her audio.

    ¡°Correct, Miss Ali!¡± Max said cheerily. ¡°The two organizations compete and don¡¯t always get along, and since this is a march county, it falls to the army. However, they¡¯re rocking a skeleton crew with the bulk of them called to respond to the situation back in Nubraniagin, which the sheps are not happy about. The local criminal element is only just realizing.¡±

    ¡°Can we get them to fight each other?¡± I suggested, thinking of my actions back in the tar pit.

    ¡°Probably. That¡¯s actually not a bad idea. Let me fake some DM¡¯s real quick¡­¡± Max replied. ¡°Normally they skirmish more with their radical and preachy counterparts than each other, but those people mostly flocked to the uprising and have left the city already. Logged crowd numbers at the Link ship over the last week have dropped by like 20 percent, and the city sent 5 of its 6 legions off to Nubranagin. I think Green¡¯s Ash is about to have a very bad day.¡±

    A satellite-image-turned-city-map added itself to the growing wall of screens. There were so many windows and boxes open now that they nearly blocked my view of the entire van and surrounded me in every direction. I spun in place and looked over the map. Ali and Rin were marked by a green dot, and I could see a number of red dots of varying sizes moving up and down the streets in the surrounding area, as well as some scattered blue dots near the red ones. There were also gray dots that seemed to occasionally disappear and reappear as smaller red blips when they got close to the blue ones.

    Max answered my internal question of what the dots were about, but kept it private, his voice sounding directional and like he was in the van with me rather than in the internal group-chat he was streaming. ¡°The red blips are probable combatants I have a positional confirmation for, and when they move out of frame the gray dots are predictions of their movements. The blue ones are intel sources, cameras and security lights, motion sensors. The gray ones are not accurate so don¡¯t count on them.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± I answered him aloud, only half paying attention to his explanation as I traced a route through the moving obstacles. ¡°It looks like you¡¯re in someone''s backyard, and the next house towards the city center has a big garden in it?¡±

    ¡°Affirmative, we¡¯re between a shed and a brick wall near a tree.¡± Ali replied, while Rin heaved in deep breaths in the background.

    I nodded, seeing the corner of the shed peeking out from behind the tree on the image. ¡°Alright, if you can cross the wall and that yard, the next house has a camera and we can time your move. I see¡­ four cars and like 6 walkers moving through the area.¡±

    ¡°Got it, sir.¡± Ali answered, then I heard a loud scraping noise and a grunt of effort from her before she cursed. ¡°Damnit, the top of the wall has broken glass embedded in it. Rin, look for something to cover it.¡±

    More noises followed, what sounded like the rustling of dried leaves and movement. After 20 seconds or so, some distant gunfire came through on the audio, causing a number of the blue dots to pulse white in a radiating circle. The closest large red car-dot started to flash between red and yellow and pulled into a yard about a block down the street from where they hid.

    One of the video screens enlarged and rose to the foreground, showing the livestreamer cameramen jumping out of their car and chasing after someone through a yard with their group of gunmen. The audio for the stream popped back on, but at a volume that allowed the sound of Ali¡¯s grunts and Rin¡¯s labored breathing to cut through.

    The words didn¡¯t mean much to me, to be honest. They spoke so quickly and all at once, with lots of slang and unfamiliar accents, but I watched as they chased down the guy and shot him in the back as they pursued him around the house and into an alley. The carload of gangers began to celebrate their victory as soon as the man fell. They took his weapon away, and started to taunt and kick him as he struggled on the ground with unmoving legs. I turned my attention back to the map and relayed the information.

    ¡°The car near you just took out someone else, they¡¯re all distracted for the moment if you can make a break for it. Three houses down on your side of the street is a lot with a bunch of bushes in the front yard that you should be able to get to before anyone else comes through.¡±

    ¡°Good, there''s nothing here.¡± Rin managed to croak out as he finally caught his breath.

    More footsteps and loud breathing accompanied the green dot moving from their hiding place, they slowly moved towards the group that was still celebrating their kill. I glanced over at the livestream screen again and saw that they were still kicking the downed rival and mocking their enemies, some of which appeared to be arguing back with them in the scrolling chat to the side.

    I looked away and back to the map, watching as a gray blip a street over winked out and reappeared as a red blip moving towards my friends and the ongoing celebration. ¡°Shit, you have someone coming straight at you.¡±

    ¡°Next time, we¡¯re going to make sure our field team has real camera rigs, it¡¯s super annoying only being able to hear what''s happening.¡± Max complained on the open channel.

    Between heavy breaths and crunching footsteps, Rin gasped out. ¡°Echo¨C location?¡±

    Max¡¯s avatar stood up and pointed at me with both hands. ¡°Oh! Not bad, monkey man. Let me give that a shot. I think I have an idea for a distraction too.¡±

    More quick footsteps, and I watched as the green and red dots moved quickly towards each other on the map. One of the houses on the far side of the street from my friends began to intermittently blink with a dim orange tint.

    Ali let out a small girlish squeal of pain, followed by a growl of annoyance. ¡°Max, if that ringing is your attempt at echolocation, you''re doing it wrong.¡±

    ¡°Oh, you can hear that high? Impressive as always.¡± He replied. ¡°I''ll shift the range I¡¯m using even higher.¡±

    Ali and Rin¡¯s footsteps slowed down, and their green dot came to a stop a full house distant from the bushy yard I was guiding them towards. I started to panic, because the red blip I was worried about was nearly on top of them at this point. I expected gunfire and shouting to break out at any moment.

    Ali whispered directly into her mic between deep steady breaths. ¡°We¡¯re behind a roasted car, two combatants coming our direction, let me know when they are along-side us.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    I nodded, and then realized they couldn¡¯t see me so I answered. ¡°Got it, they¡¯re in front of the next yard now.¡±

    ¡°No worries, remember that distraction I''ve been cooking up?¡± Max said smugly. ¡°Get ready to leg it, no one¡¯s going to be looking at you in ten¡­ nine¡­ eight¡­ oh, wait, here we go, now!¡±

    The house that had been blinking with an orange glow, two houses down and across the street from where our team was hiding, exploded in a very familiar manner. The roof was blasted into the sky in a billion pieces by a huge fiery gas explosion, debris and shrapnel scattered across the street as the stick-walled construction and cheap vinyl siding went up in flames

    A split second after a quarter of the screens I could see lit up with vibrant oranges and yellows of the explosion, the soundwave hit and overpowered everything else. Ali and Rin might have said something, but it was washed out by the rumbling explosion, followed by the smacks and pings of falling debris as shingles, bits of wood, and pieces of smoking siding rained down around them.

    ¡°Damnit, Max!¡± Ali¡¯s strained voice cut through the static, and I watched as the green dot started to move. The red dot representing the closest enemy now had an X crossing it out, and my friends moved right by them as the rest of the red dots started to move around more erratically. Instead of stopping at the house I was guiding them towards, they continued to run down the street passing the burning house making a break towards the city center. The sound of the explosion reached the van, muted by distance to the point of being easily mistaken for a distant clap of thunder.

    Max made an indignant noise. ¡°What? It worked, like 15 percent of the patrols just said some variant of ¡®fuck this, I¡¯m out¡¯ and are heading home. Plus that one group that was right out front when it happened! I caught it on a doorbell cam, check this out.¡±

    Another looping video clip popped up, of two darkly dressed guys running down a sidewalk right as the house exploded. The shockwave threw them over instantly, ragdolling them into the street before the flames spread and engulfed them for a second. In an instant, they went from toting guns and charging down the sidewalk, to motionless huddled mounds amongst the flaming debris.

    I shoved the window to the side. ¡°Not now. Where do they go? Isn''t that kind of thing going to attract even more attention?¡±

    ¡°I''m counting on it! The defence forces actually have stricter guidelines and rules of engagement than the shepherds. Miss Ali and company can just waltz right past them while they move to respond. Plus, they¡¯ll respond with¡­ hah! Called it. Take that, manual safety measures.¡± Max shot back, a smug tone to his voice.

    A new screen opened, this time instead of spreading out in front of me, it laid down flat before me like a table, or a desktop. It was a blurry black and white screen that I had difficulty understanding as shapes and shades quickly shifted around. The whole image rotated, and I caught a glimpse of two parallel bars that might be streets, then the picture snapped into focus as I realized what I was looking at. This must be the drone Max had been talking about, and I was looking through an aerial infrared camera that was rapidly travelling over the city.

    Rin and Ali kept running down the street, Ali¡¯s harsh voice pushing Rin as he struggled to keep up. ¡°Keep moving!¡±

    The drone had yet to reach them, so I focused back on the satellite image map we had been using. ¡°Guys, you need to cut through the yard to the left, uh¡­ east. One of the other cars is coming your way.¡±

    ¡°Got it.¡± Ali spat back at me, and I saw the green dot slow down and veer off to the side of one of the houses. They moved into the back yard with the rattle of a chain link fence against its galvanized posts.

    Rin made a puffing ¡®oof¡¯ noise, like he had just had the air knocked out of him. ¡°Move, Rin! Get up, let''s go!¡±

    A minute later, a screen popped up and showed Ali half carrying a wheezing Rin through a well manicured backyard filled with various ornamental statues of tiny men with floppy hats and beards doing miscellaneous yard work tasks. They had cut through another half dozen yards, and were about to run into one of the roaming gray dots.

    ¡°There¡¯s probably someone ahead of you, Max is predicting them coming around the edge of the next house and cutting through the yard in seconds.¡± I warned them as they prepared to climb yet another fence.

    ¡°T-This is bad.¡± Rin complained as he leaned against the fence, heaving in deep wheezing breaths. Ali shushed him and the green dot stopped moving just in time for the gray dot to turn into a red one and jump to the far side of the small property on the opposite side of the fence.

    ¡°Got it, he does have a comm on him, but he had it turned off. There''s only one signal, sounds like¡­ two sets of footsteps though. C¡¯mon, just hop the fence and take ¡®em out!¡± Max added, but the pair hunkered down and stayed still, controlling their breathing as I watched the map. We all ignored him.

    ¡°They¡¯re passed you, you can cross now.¡± I relayed to Ali once they had passed.

    She grunted in reply, then got Rin moving again. ¡°Up and over, you first, desk-jockey.¡±

    Rin drew in a breath and made a noise like he tried to speak, but nothing came through. Ali let out a single quiet ¡®heh¡¯ in response. ¡°I think we need to take a moment longer, sir. How close to being away from this mess are we?¡±

    I unconsciously nodded, taking stock of the rest of the area between them and the marked Link ship and Travellers station that was their destination. ¡°Most of the markers are behind you now. I¡¯m seeing new blips though. Are those the army?¡± I asked Max.

    ¡°Yup, they¡¯re mobilizing the fire department, the riot response team, and a good chunk of their drone capabilities, but holding the legion back near the Link. I just talked a bunch of smack and threatened pretty much every outlaw in the city though, so¡­ yeah, you should hurry. Theres still one squad you could take out on your way if you move quick enough.¡±

    ¡°Damnit, Max.¡± I breathed, holding my gaze on that mute button again to keep it between us. ¡°Maybe you should think about the effects of your actions before you take them? Is pissing off every violent criminal in the city actually your idea of a good idea?¡±

    Max spoke back to me alone, his voice coming through his avatar and sitting on top of the up-close and personal sounds he was beaming me from the field. ¡°It¡¯ll work, any time there¡¯s a riot, or a major heist or gang battle, everyone swarms to the city center for protection from the legions. Ali and Rin will have a crowd of non-hostiles to blend in with this way. Plus, this one was totally your idea. Don¡¯t you remember saying ¡®can we get them to fight each other¡¯?¡±

    I sighed and ran my hand over my face. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ so not what I meant. You mentioned three gangs, I meant those three, not ¡®every outlaw in the city¡¯.¡± I threw his own words back in his face.

    ¡°Hey, go big or go home man. Oh¡­ wait, you¡¯re kind of homeless. Or¡­ maybe you are home, living that free spirit van-life? Whatever, in any case, my version is better for us. They¡¯re all gathering now, and everyone knows everyone else is grouping up. Some of them are actually arranging battles and setting up places to just slug it out rather than play hide and seek. Less patrols to weave through, and they¡¯re not hunting for randoms now.¡±

    I narrowed my eyes at Max, looking at him through the screens where he was standing in the back of the van. ¡°Have you considered that causing the whole damn city to fall into chaos might make it even more difficult for us to find an escort for them to get the gear out of the city? Those supplies are the only reason we¡¯re doing this whole thing, and there''s way too much for them to carry out. Now they¡¯re going to lock everything down and everyone¡¯s going to be looking for mercs.¡±

    Max¡¯s round dotted eyes blinked and he just stared back at me for a moment, but Ali spoke up before he replied. ¡°Are we clear to move, sir?¡±

    I frowned at Max for a second longer, and then turned back to the map. I scanned over the various colored dots that were appearing all over the city now. The reds, blues, and grays had now been joined by an absolute tide of yellow dots that all moved towards the city center. I guessed yellow meant they were probably not immediately dangerous, and saw that they were mostly clear to keep moving. The red dots they had been avoiding before were grouping up and moving away from the area with the explosion.

    I glanced at the vid screen from the doorbell camera that had captured the house explosion, and saw the fire spreading to the house downwind of it. I grimaced, hoping that we wouldn¡¯t end up blowing up or burning down a building everywhere we went. ¡°You look clear from hostiles, Max has the whole city in chaos, and there are lots of crowds heading in the same direction. Damnit, the public line is going to take forever¡­ we¡¯ll have to buy a fast pass.¡±

    ¡°How much¡­ are those?¡± Rin asked between ragged breaths as they started to move again.

    I grimaced and looked over at Max as I replied. ¡°I haven''t checked for a year, but last I knew they were close to a thousand creds in Nubrag, but they used surge pricing, so...¡±

    I hung my head for a moment, messing up my hair with both hands in frustration, as Ali and Rin joined the thousands of people streaming towards the city center and the drone Max was piloting finally arrived to hover overhead. This was going to get expensive, my funds were dwindling, and I just knew I would be leaking money like a sieve until we could get settled in somewhere. I had to make sure we did not run out of funds, and my mind turned back to my dwarven companions and the lifeline they represented. Spending the extra cash to make sure we could get this done and get me back to the trials was worth the risk. I had to secure my place in a new faction, I just had to.

    All they had to do was get through the line, get the gear, hire a ride out, and then we would be on our way and I could Link back up and take care of it. Easy, right?

 Chapter 77 - Fast-pass

    The rest of the trek went smoothly. Rin and Ali joined the stream of people fleeing the violence that was popping off in all of the usual hotspots across the city. The locals all knew which streets, shopping centers, and apartment complexes to avoid, and our ground team simply followed the flow. They got a few hostile looks and lingering glances from the other citizens as they marched to the city center, but no one else tried to stop them. Still, it took nearly three quarters of an hour for them to finally elbow their way into the central courtyard and lay eyes on the Link ship.

    The streets had become so crowded this close to the ship that Ali had tied herself to Rin with a short length of cordage, and was threatening and bullying people to make enough space for them to slip through. Rin tagged along behind her and remained surprisingly quiet, only occasionally complaining about being sent in the first place.

    ¡°Where do we go from here, sir?¡± Ali asked as she kept pressing on towards the ship.

    ¡°You need to get into the Travellers station, that''s where you can buy a fast-pass for the next free commercial booth.¡± I informed them, and then looked over at Max. ¡°I¡¯m guessing I can''t just use my mobile banking app to send them the creds. Can you send them the cash, or am I going to have to go back into the Link for that?¡±

    Max shrugged in response. ¡°I can send it over, you¡¯re right that you shouldn¡¯t use your normal app. I have a backdoor access I can use to sneak it past your nosy government though. The price is currently climbing as more and more people flock inwards, so they¡¯ll likely still have to wait a few hours. I¡¯ll send the bag over once we know the final number. We¡¯ll be cutting things pretty close, but my sims are pointing towards us getting this done in time.¡±

    ¡°Alright, whatever. What about the armed escort? I¡¯m not sure how we¡¯re even going to find a group like that. I sometimes saw them when I went through the station back in Nubrag, but never talked to any.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Eeh, there are a few of them currently wandering around, but they don¡¯t exactly advertise their services. It¡¯s kind of a gray market, not illegal really, but normally highly regulated and licensed. We need a team willing to work off the books.¡± Max explained as he pushed his way through the swarm of screens and windows to sit next to me. ¡°I could try messaging some of them, but after combing through their comm logs I don¡¯t see any signs of them accepting jobs through text.¡±

    I grimaced. ¡°Then this might be more difficult than I imagined, I thought this was all above board and normal. You should have said it would be an off the books kind of deal before.¡±

    ¡°Unwind your panties, man. There''s a thriving gray market for this kinda thing and I¡¯ve been dying to participate for a while. All of you are always such goody goodies, I¡¯m pretty stoked to get to meet some real rawdog bastards with some actual grit!¡± Max answered as he started bringing up more windows.

    This time, the windows were from a different social media site than the ones I was used to seeing. The profiles were minimal, with only a couple of pictures and mostly filled with text that described their capabilities. The first one was for a group called ¡°Bodger¡¯s NPC¡±, short for Non-denominational Protection Cadre of all things, and the main picture was a headshot of a surprisingly friendly looking man. He had short cropped brown hair, a sort of rounded face, receding hairline, and well worn laugh lines around his eyes.

    I cycled the pictures through for a moment, scrolling past more pictures of the same man, including one of a much younger version of him in a military uniform, and multiple shots of him with a group of other people all decked out in weapons and armor. They seemed like they only owned a handful of the modern sets of powered armor, as none of the pictures ever showed more than a couple of the suits in the same shot while the majority of the guys wore standard plate carriers.

    I glanced back over at the map when I heard Ali make a particularly loud growl of effort as she shoved someone out of her way. ¡°Sir, this crowd is at a standstill.¡± She huffed with effort and yelled at the next person who refused to remove themselves from her path. ¡°Move it! Out of the way!¡±

    ¡°I might have an idea, hang on.¡± Max said helpfully, to which Ali gave a grunt in reply as she continued forcing her way through the crowd towards the station.

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± I asked as I continued to scroll through the list of local mercenaries. They all seemed similar, groups of ten to twenty men with military backgrounds and lots of scars and tattoos. It was almost as if there was a template they all used to configure their profile, and made choosing between them difficult.

    ¡°Just hang on a second, almost there¡­¡± Max said, his voice slowing down and dragging out the syllables to buy more time. I caught a whirring buzzing noise through the mix of yelling, pushing, and static filled rumbles through Ali¡¯s mic, and the thermal drones view rose to the top of the stack from its position half buried in the mass of boxes and windows in front of me. The image zoomed in on the crowd, and I recognized the top of Rins head as he and Ali pushed through the writhing crowd. As the drone approached and buzzed over the heads of the people, scared faces turned up and looked at the camera as everyone tried to surge away.

    Max laughed, and I watched as the camera panned across the crowd, sending waves of fear through the group as people tried to climb over each other and started to fight to get away from the drone.

    ¡°Calm down with that, Max. You¡¯re going to cause a stampede.¡± I said as I watched the feed.

    ¡°Bah, this isn''t some locked-door auditorium or oversold music festival, they¡¯ll be alright.¡± Max replied.

    I nervously watched the video screen, and my now green-outlined friends hurry through the panicky crowd. I saw a few people get knocked off their feet in the crowd but despite their panic and fear, the surrounding people managed to keep it together enough to pull the fallen person to their feet before they were completely trampled.

    With the help of the drone buzzing overhead, Ali and Rin worked their way across the crowded lot and made it up the steps to the travellers station. The normally open massive doors were closed, and only a small normal sized door built into one of the huge slabs of polished and embossed steel remained open. A line of guardsmen stood with tall shields to block the small opening, with the crowd nervously pressing away from them, opposing the crushing force of the huge crowd to create a few feet of space between the two groups.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°They¡¯re checking IDs, but I got you guys, let them scan you and keep your traps shut.¡± Max said over the open line as we watched my friends approach the guards.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to blow up another building as a distraction, are you?¡± Rin muttered into his mic, which surprisingly caused Max to blast out a single hearty guffaw.

    ¡°Hah! No, although I totally could if you want.¡±

    All three of us, not quite at the same time, said ¡°No!¡±, which only caused him to laugh harder as they broke into the no-man''s-land and approached the guards. Ali waved at the mirrored helmet of the soldier behind the small clear viewing port.

    Watching through the eyes of the thermal drone, I nervously held my breath as a cone of laser light flashed out from the top of the door and swept up and down the two. Two nerve wracking seconds later the shields parted and one of the soldiers reached forward, hauling the pair of them through the shield wall and pushing them through into the station.

    The soldier who had grabbed them actually spoke through his helmet''s speaker. ¡°Welcome to Green¡¯s Ash, citizen. Enjoy the sights, stay out of trouble.¡±

    Ali gave the soldier a nod, while Rin untied himself from the short rope that hung between them. The drone could only just see a glimpse of them through the doorway, but that camera feed minimized and slid to the side, being replaced by a mosaic board with dozens of live scenes from throughout the station. A couple of them grew to take up more space and zoomed in on my friends as they walked across the polished floor of the station.

    The place was almost barren compared to what I was used to seeing at Nubranagain. There were only a few groups in the main lobby, well dressed people sitting on benches or leaning against the wall while they nervously scrolled their mobile comms and waited out the pseudo-riot. The cameras tracked the pair as they walked to the side wall and towards the curtained doors that led to the commercial Link line, then shifted to new cameras as they ducked behind the curtain.

    There were slightly more people on this side of the station, milling about and watching the clock as they waited for their booth to open up or for a reservation to be missed. Max zoomed in with one of the cameras on them, blowing up the view until Rin¡¯s scowling face was larger than life on the screen.

    ¡°Sir, and, um¡­ Max, is there any way we can cut the line?¡± Ali asked with uncharacteristic hesitation.

    ¡°Sadly, no. Not without causing a stir anyways. People will notice if they get bumped, and there''s a 80 percent likelihood of one of them throwing a fit and causing a stir.¡± Max answered, seemingly not noticing her tone. ¡°I¡¯d recommend avoiding the group at two o¡¯clock. The man with the slicked back hair is this station''s CLE.¡±

    ¡°Confirmed.¡± Was all Ali said in reply, before grabbing Rin by the wrist and hauling him over to one of the service screens on the other side of the narrow room from the group Max pointed out.

    They both huddled close together to block the screen from view, a common strategy to gain some privacy in the normally packed space, and Rin began to navigate the menu to purchase a pass. Both of them let out a surprised noise, much easier to hear now that they were in a quieter space and no longer sprinting down the dusk-time streets. Rin made a small growly and angry noise that ended with the clack of his teeth, while Ali took in a small shocked breath.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked, wishing I could see the screen clearly through the cameras. As I thought it, a new window appeared and opened up a mirrored screen, identical to the one they were looking at. It was all a bunch of premium shop bullshit; train seat upgrades, express flights out of the city, or vouchers to give to the guardsmen for an escort through the line like the Shepherds had done for me back in Nubrag. With a quick glance, I saw what I was looking for sitting near the top of the stack.

    ¡°That¡¯s more than I made in my whole two years as a proxy op¡­ sir¡± Ali whispered.

    Link Fast-pass

    6,389.42 Cr. (rising) - 9th place in line

    Valid through 30/7/582-31/7/582

    I sighed, but looked at Max and gave a nod of approval. ¡°I can cover it, we don¡¯t really have a choice.¡±

    Max helpfully popped up my remaining bank balance over the top of all of the screens, and I watched the numbers spin and scroll down to 15,570.46 and felt my stomach tighten as I neared dropping out of the five digit club. I knew we had to pay it though, Max was frustratingly correct when he said you have to spend money to make money. In our case, I had to spend it to stay alive and free, or at least have a better shot at it.

    I watched as Rin poked the button to confirm the purchase, and he was given an estimate of 2 hours until they could get into a booth. With some time to kill, the two left that section of the station and walked back through the main lobby, this time heading towards the stairs to the upper floors. They walked along through the terminal, while Max started popping open even more windows and shifting his camera feeds around.

    ¡°I tracked down three mercs to a bar upstairs, but the camera coverage is piss poor inside so I¡¯m not a hundred percent sure where they are. There''s a hostel right next door that a ton of them keep rooms in though. You two should start sniffing around in there.¡± Max explained, showing me the camera feeds and relaying the information to the ground team.

    I searched the crowded bar through the few camera feeds, which seemed to do a pretty good job of covering most of the bar to me. There was one facing outside of the door, another just inside that depicted a large fat man sitting on a stool and scrolling on his mobile comm. While the last camera had a view from high above the bar, looking down at the bartenders back from above and giving a clear shot of the patrons'' faces seated on the other side of the long counter. My friends came through the doorway, and noticed that Ali had removed her hood.

    The man¡¯s voice was poorly recorded as it came through Ali¡¯s mic. ¡°Haven¡¯t seen you two around before, I need to scan your ID.¡±

    Ali held something out to him, and he brought his mobile close to it before checking his screen. After a second, he nodded and waved them through with a smile. ¡°Thanks for coming, happyhour is going on for another twenty minutes, so you showed up just in time.¡±

    The pair continued into the dimly lit bar and Rin¡¯s voice came through, muffled and low as he brought up a hand to conceal his mouth while he spoke. ¡°We need to know who we are looking for. Names, descriptions, price ranges.¡±

    Again, I stupidly nodded, then shook my head in frustration. I really needed to get used to answering properly in the comms. ¡°Sure, sure. Let¡¯s see¡­¡± I turned and looked back at the list of people Max had spotted. ¡°I see three guys, two are a pair of soldiers from some outfit called Greenstone, but one is the owner of¡­¡± I looked over the page for his group, and had to stifle a chuckle. ¡°He must be Greg. He¡¯s in charge of Greg¡¯s Gang. Looks a bit like a younger, tanner Director Howard, bald, short, muscular and clean shaven.¡±

    Rin scoffed, and then replied with a quick ¡°Got it¡±, as the two crossed the sparsely populated section near the entryway, picking their way around tables and strangers on their way deeper into the bar.

 Chapter 78 - Unusual means

    Greg pounded the tabled with an open hand, causing the empty glasses scattered across it to wobble and dance. ¡°So, haha, Red drops the granade down in there, looks up at us and just says ¡®job¡¯s done¡¯, hahahaha¡±

    I had a pretty terrible view of the whole thing through the video screen. Max had panned the camera over as much as it could, and then zoomed in and enlarged the image until it was blurry and pixelated. Greg was sitting in a semi-circular booth against the far back wall, the table piled with empty glasses and pitchers, trapping three women in skimpy outfits between himself and a timid looking younger man on the other end of the long curved bench. The younger guy had retreated into the comfort of a tablet that he held in front of him like a shield.

    The three women all burst into laughter with varying degrees of authenticity. Greg didn¡¯t seem to care though, and continued to chuckle to himself as he raised an empty glass to his lips and tried to take a drink.

    ¡°Empty? Pudge, get me another pitcher, and whatever the girls want.¡± He barked at the younger guy, who looked up in surprise before hopping to his feet and giving a hasty salute. He thumped his right fist against his left shoulder, and brushed passed Ali and Rin as they stepped up to the table.

    I saw my friends exchange a glance through the camera, before they stepped up and blocked my view of the table by standing at the end of it. Rin¡¯s somewhat hoarse voice came through with a burst of amplified background music. ¡°Excuse us, Greg? We have a business offer for you.¡±

    The guy¡¯s voice came through their mic fairly clearly, along with another burst of background noise that was quickly filtered out. ¡°No deals today.¡± Greg answered, pronouncing each word deliberately and slightly slurred, with an air of lingering amusement. ¡°Can¡¯t you see I¡¯m busy? It¡¯s a celebe¨C celerbra¨C, bah, it¡¯s a party night! Have a drink, and introduce me to your cute little friend.¡±

    Ali stiffened at his words, but remained silent, while Rin continued doing the talking. ¡°We can make it worth your while. What do your normal jobs pay, a few hundred credits? Or Arktrian dollars? We simply need transportation and an escort to the edge of the city, it won¡¯t even take an hour.¡±

    ¡°I said not now!¡± He raised his voice and thumped the table again. ¡°I spent the last week on the road, lost two of my guys, and slept in the back of a hauler. Tonight is for fun, not for business. So unless you¡¯re buying the next round or selling your girl¡¯s services, crawl back under whatever rock you came out from.¡±

    ¡°Ooooh, shit.¡± Max said as Ali literally shook with anger. Despite the poor view, I saw Ali flash forward and grab the man by his head then smash it down onto the table, overpowering him with swift intensity despite her smaller size.

    In the same instant, all of the lights in the bar started flashing and pulsing, and the music rose to a level that blew out the cheap microphones clipped to my friends that were letting me overhear their conversation. The other patrons either cheered and started to dance, or looked around in confusion as the bartender raised their arms to calm the situation, then started attempting to stop the sudden rave by punching buttons on a control panel built into the wall.

    While the noise and lights distracted the crowd, Ali slammed Greg¡¯s face into the table again and a strangely digitized version of her voice undercut the overpowering music. ¡°My services are sworn to duty, not for sale, freelancer. Something you¡¯ll never understand.¡±

    There was a bit of a struggle between the two as the larger man fought to free himself from her grip. She shifted her stance and maintained her hold on him, using her body weight to push his cheek back down onto the table after each attempt. One of the girls got up from the table and ran out of the bar, looking back with fearful eyes before she disappeared out of the door.

    Greg¡¯s pained voice came through in a similar robotic manner through her mic. ¡°Fuck you, bitch!¡± He struggled again and I watched as Ali moved with him, maintaining control of the grapple and forcing him back down. I caught a glimpse of her hand as she grabbed his ear and slammed his face into one of the empty glasses, the sound of shattering glass was almost lost amongst the surging music. Her other hand reached back and I saw her pull a small dark object from her waistline before she pressed it against him and caused him to freeze.

    ¡°Ali! What are you doing!¡± Rin hissed, and the music finally lowered back down, and the flashing lights ceased.

    ¡°Yeah! Get him! Kick his ass!¡± Max whooped, jumping in place and punching a holographic fist through the roof of the van.

    I frantically looked back to the mosaic board of security cameras, trying to find the girl who had run off to see where she was going. Max picked up on my thought and laughed again as he enlarged the correct camera feed to show her as she darted into the hostel next door to the bar. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I got their backs.¡±

    I could hear more sounds of struggle between Ali and Greg, but kept my eyes on the runner as the camera feed switched over to follow her through the lobby of the hostel. She ran through the small lobby, then blew past an elevator and slammed her way through a doorway into a staircase. The camera view switched quickly as she climbed a few flights, jumping from camera to camera as she climbed each floor. When she stopped climbing and tried to push her way through to one of the hallways, the door wouldn''t budge. I watched her struggle with it for a moment, her face worried and panicked as she wrenched back and forth on the unmoving handle.

    ¡°She¡¯ll be alright in there for a while, but you¡¯re missing the good part!¡± Max¡¯s voice was almost manic with excitement, and he swept all of the screens off to the side except for the one depicting the situation back in the bar.

    I grit my teeth and returned my focus to Ali as she took out her frustrations on the unruly mercenary. ¡°No wonder you have to pay for it, you repulsive scum.¡± She continued, and I heard the guy let out a low growl. ¡°I¡¯ll let you keep your ear if you apologize.¡±

    Rin stood frozen in place as the struggle finished playing out, but Greg just couldn¡¯t let it go. ¡°Get bent, bi¨C iieeeeek!¡± His voice rose to a high pitched squeak and petered out as Ali applied more pressure.

    ¡°Dammit¡­ I can¡¯t see shit.¡± I cursed quietly to myself.Stolen story; please report.

    ¡°Oh, my bad.¡± Max chirped, and popped up another screen. What started off as a dark window filled with dots and wiggling lines resolved into something similar to the wire-frame darkvision Max had given me in the pitch dark undermountain, but more splotchy and full of fluttering movement and vibrations. The figures shook with a sort of ethereal quality, before tightening, focusing, and then filling out into something like a rendered 3d version of what I assumed was the scene playing out at the table.

    ¡°I finally got a handle on the echolocation thing, the house mics Ali and Thing 2 are carrying suck nuts, but with them being in the station there¡¯s plenty of hardware to gather data from.¡± Max grinned smugly, appearing at my side as he showed off his work.

    ¡°That¡¯s great Max, but Ali, calm down! You just blew our cover out the window.¡± I harshly whispered at them, feeling an unconscious need to lower my voice. I spun the little image around for a better angle, and finally spotted that she was holding a small knife near the man''s neck, gripping his ear with the hand that held his face against the table, while driving the pointed window-breaker handle of the knife into the hollow of his collarbone.

    Rin seconded my opinion, this time censoring himself and not calling her by name. ¡°Cool it, soldier. We don¡¯t want to make a scene.¡±

    Ali turned her glare on Rin for a moment in my little 3D rendered version, and I saw the matching motion in the corner of my eye from the other screen. ¡°Greg here doesn''t want to make a scene either. He doesn''t want to let everyone know some cute little girl got the jump on him, does he?¡± She dug the handle of the knife a little deeper, and angled her grip to pat him on the cheek with the flat of the blade.

    ¡°N-No, ma¡¯am! Sorry! We can talk, just lay off.¡± Greg sputtered out.

    ¡°No more yelling or insults. We¡¯re going to sit down, have a drink, and pay you far more than you''re worth for your services.¡± Ali continued, still not letting go of the man.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°Do we even want his help now that you¡¯ve roughed him up. He¡¯ll betray us the first chance he gets.¡±

    My friends ignored my comment, apparently feeling differently than I did about the situation. Ali released her grip on him and stepped back, allowing him to sit up and rub his ear as he glared over at them. I rotated my view again to get a better angle as Rin gave Ali a hard calculating look, then slid into the vacant seat opposite Greg at the table. Ali remained standing, looming over Greg as she blocked him into his seat. The two remaining girls had mixed reactions, one of them was grinning and looking up at Ali with wide-eyed wonder, while the other clung to her friend''s arm and looked scared and nervous.

    Rin¡¯s cool voice added weight to the imminent threat of violence from Ali. ¡°Now that you understand how serious we are, let us discuss what you are able to provide for us and what the terms will be. We need armed transport to the city limits to meet with another team, and have approximately three cubic meters of material we need to transfer. Do you have the capability to perform this task?¡±

    Greg rubbed at his ear, and shot Ali a wary and angry look. He pressed two fingers to his collarbone and frowned when it came back with a red spot of blood from where the spike had broken skin. ¡°You certainly have my attention. You¡¯re awfully confident for someone wanting a job done, we could just kill you and take your shit once we have you out of the control zone.¡±

    Rin looked over, past Ali¡¯s shoulder, and locked his eyes on the camera for a full three seconds before looking back to Greg. ¡°We have¡­ unusual means, and are not alone. We could make your miserable existence much shorter and even more unpleasant.¡±

    Greg glanced over at Ali, and then snorted and spat a glob of phlegm and blood onto the table. ¡°What kind of means?¡± He paused for a moment, considering Rin¡¯s words before continuing. ¡°You saying you¡¯re a couple of spooks? I heard about people like you from DAGER, always stepping on the little guys like me.¡±

    He eyed them warily, and I watched as the drunken gears struggled to spin in his mind as he attempted to catch up with the situation. If he thought we were from DAGER, the council''s worst kept secret also known as the Department of Abstract Government Espionage and Reconnaissance, we could roll with that. Using the threat of the shady government institution was as good of a cover story as any, and should keep him quiet afterwards.

    Rin didn¡¯t answer his question. He didn¡¯t even flinch a muscle. He met Greg¡¯s skeptical look with level eyes, and his unchanging expression that sat somewhere between bored and disappointed. He stared at the man with his blank look and monotoned. ¡°Who we work for is unimportant, our credits are untraceable and spend as good as any. We need just enough support to deter the local gangers and transfer the goods.¡±

    The guy''s assistant finally returned, carrying a tray covered with drinks. He stopped and gave Ali a nervous smile before giving Rin a strained and worried look when he found him in his seat. He set the tray down on the table, and when he noticed Ali¡¯s knife he very intentionally slid a step to the side.

    Greg grabbed the pitcher of beer off of the tray and took a long drink straight from it, letting it run down the sides of his mouth to splash onto the table. Then pulled a med-pen from one of his pockets and stabbed himself in the arm with it. He shook his head and let out a huff as the enzymes from the injection pen quickly ate through the alcohol in his bloodstream and rapidly sobered him up.

    While Greg was distracted, the woman who had been staring at Ali with admiration boldly spoke up. ¡°You can have Cherrie¡¯s drink, since she run off.¡±

    Ali¡¯s eyes darted to the woman, but she didn¡¯t reply and remained focused on Greg as he tossed the spent pen carelessly over his shoulder. He glared back at Rin as he finally answered. ¡°I charge a thousand credits a day, but I want double that to make up for ruining my night, and I want it upfront.¡±

    Rin¡¯s eyes flicked back towards the camera, and I quickly agreed. I coached him through the ear piece he was using to listen to me. ¡°We can afford that, but there¡¯s no way we¡¯re paying it upfront.¡±

    Rin nodded, ¡°We will pay 1500, and give you twenty percent upfront. You¡¯ll get the rest upon safe delivery to our secondary team.¡±

    The two stared at each other while Greg thought over the offer. Ali suddenly reached over and snapped up the drink the call girl had offered her, sloshing a third of the liquid onto the table and causing Greg to flinch in fear at her sudden movement. She gave him a cool look and sipped the brightly colored cocktail.

    Greg¡¯s flinch rattled the table and all of the scattered glasses, before he gave her another wary look. He turned back to Rin and answered. ¡°Fifty percent upfront, you must be really over a barrel if you¡¯re trying to make a deal with me after all that. You¡¯ll be responsible for gate fees as well.¡±

    ¡°Twenty five, and a two hundred and fifty credit combat bonus if we encounter any issues. You pay the fees and bribes out of your end.¡±

    Greg flashed a mean grin, which waned slightly as his eyes darted back to Ali when she took another drink. ¡°Fine¡­ we have a deal. I want to see the credits loaded onto chits before we leave though.¡±

    Rin stood up, ignoring Greg¡¯s extended hand as he offered to shake on it. ¡°We will be in touch with further details, be ready to leave in three hours.¡±

    Without another word, he stood and walked away from the table. Ali stayed a moment longer to loom over the mercenary and take another sip. Greg avoided her gaze, and a second later she set the drink back down on the table with a victorious smile, before turning and following Rin back out of the bar.

 Chapter 79 - Was that a joke?

    ¡°Max, what are the odds of him actually holding up his end of the deal and not double crossing us?¡± I asked as I watched Rin and Ali walk down the terminal. They turned into a coffee shop a few doors down, and Rin led the way up to the counter before placing an order for an expensive espresso.

    ¡°Considering the messages he¡¯s sending, I think he plans to honor the deal. Our girl Ali really put the fear of an earless existence into him, and he seems to think this is his chance to break into clandestine work.¡± Max answered cheerily, to which Rin let out a long suffering sigh of relief.

    My camera views shuffled around a little, one of them keeping track of Greg as he finished his drink, berated his hired women, and tapped furiously at his mobile comm, while another panel displayed Rin and Ali walking over to stand next to a small standing table in the coffee shop.

    Rin closed his eyes and took a deep sniff of the tiny cup of espresso, and then took a sip before leveling his even stare on Ali. ¡°That was reckless, you could have ruined everything. Was that a calculated call and you knew he would fold, or was that anger?¡±

    Ali took a drink from the ice water she had ordered and huffed in indignation. ¡°Both. We couldn¡¯t look weak. I¡¯ve seen officers deal with contractors before, and it¡¯s always with threats from a position of power. Fire and ice, carrot and stick. I couldn¡¯t let him talk to me like that without a response, and Max said this is the only leader he can track down right now, I had to push it.¡±

    ¡°Max and I will keep an eye on them, make sure they¡¯re doing what they should be.¡± I added through the open channel. ¡°Rin is right though, Ali. That was not your best moment. We could have found another contractor, right?¡±

    Max nodded in reply to my question, then zoomed in on their faces with the camera to show Ali wince at my words. ¡°My apologies, sir, I stand by my decision though. No actual operative would tolerate comments like that, or fear being punished for a reaction like mine. Just because smashing his face into the table felt great, doesn''t mean it wasn''t the right move. You can dock my pay or demote me if you want, sir.¡±

    Her eyes flicked to the camera, and she grinned as she bookended her statement with sirs. ¡°Was¡­ was that a joke?¡± I asked, incredulous amusement pushing my concern out of the way for a moment.

    ¡°Sir, no, sir.¡± She managed to keep mostly a straight face and took a sip of water, but gave herself away when the corners of her lips twitched up into a smile. The image flashed and copied itself into a still photograph, which moved off to the side next to the live image and began to populate with information. Max drew lines around each marker as he called them out.

    ¡°Raised corners of the mouth, relaxed brow, slight crinkling around the eyes. She totally did make a joke!¡± I noticed right away that Max had retreated into the safety of private communication again, but he snapped out of it quickly and started laughing heartily into the group channel.

    ¡°Aaaah-hahahaha! Good one, Ali!¡± He laughed some more, causing me to grimace and the amusement to drain from Ali¡¯s face. An awkward silence clouded the air, and Max flashed worried eyes at me while we waited for¡­ something. Rin shattered the quiet and uncomfortable moment after letting us stew for a few seconds, dragging us back on track.

    ¡°In any case, he agreed, and Max can keep an eye on him. Right now, we need to decide which of us should go into the Link, and has anyone else thought of anything not already on the list that we should get? Upon further rumination, I realized we did not discuss acquiring more weaponry or ammunition, or seeds for crops that we will be able to grow in a northern climate.¡±

    I was grateful for the moment to die, but still frowned at his words. He was right. I¡¯d already purchased and sent thousands of credits worth of supplies and gear to Rin¡¯s bank space, but it sounded like we would have to spend even more. I should have expected it too, since when had I ever thought about everything I would need for a big project before getting into the middle of it? I was constantly shuffling tools in and out of my inventory at work, and on the rare occasion I had helped Rin build or tinker with something, we never got by with just one trip to buy or scavenge parts.

    ¡°I sent the stuff to your bank already, Rin, so you¡¯re going to have to be the one to go get it. You might need to pay for an increased inventory size to carry it all.¡± I answered.

    Rin sighed and downed his tiny cup of espresso like it was a shot. ¡°Fine, let''s make another list¡­¡±

    Two hours later, I watched Rin nervously walk the gauntlet into the commercial side of the identically laid out Link ship. It was eerie to me, watching his scrawny form walk down the wide chain link corridor, looking especially small and frail from such a high and wide angle. Moving in and out of the ship was always my least favorite part of my day, but it had been more than a month since I had to make it on my own like that and I felt removed from the ordeal, like it was a terrible part of a past life that I had left behind for good.

    At least the crowd''s vibe was different for Rin¡¯s walk, instead of the normal screaming and angry protesters, the crowd was pressed in too tightly against the fences to show much agitation at the steady trickle of people crossing from station to Link. Rin still acted as if he were walking towards a horrible death. His gaze remained fixed on his feet, his hood up, and his hands stuffed into his hoodie¡¯s pocket as he slowly stepped down the fenced in aisle and made his way to the booth.

    We had arranged to have the stuff shipped from the Impex directly to a loading bay that we coordinated with Greg. Max was able to force messages through to him, and he readily ate up the implication that we had control over the comm network like a proper shadowy governmental agency. I let him handle messaging with the gang leader, while Ali and I continued to brainstorm any additional supplies we might need.

    Rin had to drop out of the group chat when he Linked up, I guess that trick only worked with myself, but Max was able to send him text messages and the credits through the Link in the van. Once he was safely in a booth and off on his shopping adventure, the conversation between Ali and myself died out. She was waiting for Rin in the lobby, sitting near some of the other groups of travellers to blend in while remaining at a respectful distance. I remained in the van, my mind churning over everything that had gone wrong and would probably continue to go wrong.

    Mostly, I worried about the mercenaries turning on my friends and being forced to fight again. My body was still recovering, stiff, partially numb, and covered in thick scabs as Max worked to stitch everything back together. I was less worried about myself though, and far more concerned with the danger that my squishy and unarmored friends would face during their escape from the city. Ali brushed off my concerns and informed me that the proper term was ¡®exfiltration¡¯, clearly content to be taking the risk on herself while I was safe in the van.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Thankfully, Rin did not take long to walk to the bank, buy the assortment of items from our new list, send them all through the Impex, then return back to our side of reality. Before the hour was over, he had crossed the gauntlet again and returned to the Travellers station to meet up with Ali.

    They had to walk to the far side of the massive building to the bank of connected garages that lined the two of the outside edges of the massive transportation interchange and mixer. With the non-stop flow of trucks, trains, and travellers, there was accompanying infrastructure, like hundreds of rentable rooms of varying sizes and prices on the third floor, vehicle hangers and landing pads on the roof or ground floors, or banks of lockers and pay-by-the-minute public bathrooms dotted around the bustling commercial hub.

    Rin had paid, with my credits - of course - for the supplies to be boxed up in shipping crates and locked down before he had sent them across the station to ¡®Garage - 1H¡¯, where Greg had told us to meet him and his crew.

    With only a few minutes to spare, Ali pounded the heel of her fist against a steel security door until an armed and armored person yanked it open. I had the advantage of having a view of both sides of the door, and had been watching the gang load up an armored vehicle similar to the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs for short, that the Shepherds used back in Nubrag. This model was older, and had quite a few extra welded on panels, old battle scars, and the most ridiculous coat of paint I had ever seen.

    ¡°Uhh, we do have a bit of a situation, but I think y''all are going to get out of there before things heat up too much.¡± Max blurted out as our team approached the garage, hopping between camera angles every few seconds. ¡°Security and maintenance just managed to override the locks keeping that girl in the stairwell. She is¡­ not cooperating though.¡± A smaller screen popped up to the side, showing the girl as she was dragged kicking and screaming out of the stairwell by two unflinching armored soldiers while a man with a clipboard followed behind.

    I watched the woman being dragged off for a moment, then decided he was probably right about it not being an issue. Leaving the window following her through the station open to the side, I turned back to watch my friends meet the mercs and notice the painting on the side of the truck.

    Most of the vehicle was a dark slightly greenish gray, except for a mirrored mural on either side that was currently in the process of being touched up over a fresh new weld. I was having trouble not breaking out into laughter as I anticipated my friends¡¯ reaction to what the smallest paint-splattered mercenary had nearly finished airbrushing on the side of the thirty foot long armored truck. I didn¡¯t know who would have the better reaction, Rin or Ali, but was almost positive that one of them would take notice and react somehow.

    Normally I would expect Rin to be able to play it cool through pretty much anything, but it had been a hard day for my normally shut-in friend. Ali, on the other hand, could surprise me, like with how she handled Greg in the first place. If she was channeling her inner government agent, she probably wouldn¡¯t even notice the twenty foot long, white haired anime cat-girl sprawled in a pose like she had just fallen out of a beaten up folding chair and landed clumsily on her face. The character''s limbs were in a poorly ragdolled tangle with the chair, and everything was painted in painstaking detail down one side of the armored truck.

    The thing was, I recognized the character from Rin¡¯s computer back in the original apartment. I¡¯d only seen his desktop wallpaper a few times, because he normally had the screen filled with scrolling information. Yet despite his best efforts, I had caught a couple of glimpses of this exact character in a similar pose on his background when he had minimized his work programs to show me something before. I¡¯d seen him hastily close her vid-streams a couple of times too, but I never commented.

    I was happy enough ignoring the awkward moments and didn¡¯t want to risk embarrassing an overreaction out of him at the time. Yet now that he was about to be faced with¡­ this, through no fault of my own, I was struggling to hold back my long delayed mirth. Rin wasn''t the only one who had had a hard day, and hardship always seemed to lower my standard of amusement.

    ¡°You¡¯re early.¡± Greg called out as he crossed the garage to meet my friends as they came into the room. ¡°We¡¯re almost ready to go, and your crap is already loaded up.¡± He thumped his fist against the frame of the lowered ramp at the back of the truck, and pointed at the three large crates that took up most of the space inside of the transport.

    Rin¡¯s cold eyes scanned over the scene, and Max zoomed in on his face as he started to giggle uncontrollably. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you ever tell me about Rin¡¯s little secret? I could have been having fun with this for weeks! I¡¯m kicking myself for never checking his browser history now, his old machine is a smoldering hunk of melted plastic. Oh! Maybe I can scrape it off the net!¡±

    I ignored Max¡¯s rambling and all of the new windows he started opening to the side, too caught up with the situation. Watching as Rin¡¯s sweep finally arrived at the huge image painted on the truck, Max snapped a screen grab and blew up the still image even further as the slightest touch of a blush crept up his neck and over his cheeks. Despite everything, his only oher reaction was a slight widening of his eyes and dilation of his pupils. Our stone faced shut-in managed to keep his expression still and impassive, turning away from the truck before answering.

    ¡°We¡­ knew you would be ready when we arrived. You have five minutes to finalize whatever preparations you need to make.¡± averting his eyes from the truck, he instead busied himself with looking over the rest of the mercenaries.

    There were six other soldiers, four of which were already wearing older beat up power armor models. One of the two unarmored mercs was a pinch faced blonde woman who wore a plate carrier with a small submachine strapped across it, while the last was the scrawny and masked painter who stood and pulled respirator off as he finished the final touches on the mural.

    ¡°Is this your whole crew?¡± Rin continued, his eyes flashing back to the painting for a moment before he turned entirely away and focused on Greg.

    Ali glanced at the blush growing on his cheeks out of the corner of her eye, but kept up her own scowl as Greg answered. ¡°It is tonight, you said we¡¯re only going to the edge of the city, and the rest of my guys are busy. This was supposed to be an off night, so what you see is what you get.¡± He snorted, then cleared his throat and gave Rin a questioning look as he noticed the slight redness on his neck and cheeks. ¡°No need to get all pissed off again, Mr. and Mrs. Serious. This¡¯ll be enough to get us there.¡±

    The paint splattered man tossed his airbrush down onto a workbench, and then walked up beside Greg and slapped the taller man''s shoulder. He looked quite a bit younger than Greg, possibly even younger than us. If I had to guess, I¡¯d place him in his younger 20¡¯s. Despite his frail malnourished physique, he had this chubby cheeked youth to him as his frizzy and poofy and rounded hairstyle bobbed from side to side with his every move.

    ¡°My masterpiece once again graces the go-box. Try not to scrape her up again this time, boss.¡± He casually walked away and back to his work bench, taking apart his airbrush and cleaning it as he whistled some tune I didn¡¯t quite recognize.

    Greg waved him off and shook his head, giving an almost embarrassed grin before turning back to Rin and Ali. ¡°Don¡¯t mind him, it¡¯s kind of a good luck charm. Any gang that sees this knows to stay the fuck out of our way. I¡¯m sure you guys have your own little traditions.¡±

    Rin¡¯s blush continued to grow up his neck and darken his face, and I saw his eyes flick up and look directly into the camera as I stifled a giggle. Ali¡¯s eyes followed a split second later as she heard me, and then she turned and gave Rin a hard look. Despite the scrutiny and rapidly reddening cheeks, he managed to maintain his straight face and answer the mercenary captain. ¡°Very well. Your quirks and traditions do not concern us, just hurry up.¡±

    Rin¡¯s eyes narrowed and he glared first back at Ali, and then at the camera while Greg let out a blast of fake laughter, and nearly caused me to break out into a fit of my own genuine guffaws as Rin dared me to say anything with his eyes. It shouldn¡¯t be so funny, I knew it was stupid of me to be laughing, but seeing Rin looking so close to flustered was a rarity I was not going to take for granted.

    Luckily, Greg took Rin¡¯s embarrassment and discomfort for anger and annoyance. Turning away from my friends and addressing his troops, he started shouting orders. ¡°Hah! You heard the man, it¡¯s time to load up. Let¡¯s get paid!¡±

 Chapter 80 - Surprise party

    The armored truck pulled out of the garage, the huge cat-girl mural made it easy to keep track of as it bullied its way into the slowly moving line of vehicles waiting to join the outbound traffic lane. I followed along from various camera angles, still watching nervously from the van a few miles away. The chatter from Rin and Ali had cut off to almost nothing, and the interior of the mercenaries¡¯ truck didn¡¯t have a camera that I could watch through. From the impression that I got from only being able to hear the audio and mumbled short conversations Greg was having through his radio, things were uncomfortable and tense in the cramped cab of the armored vehicle.

    The four armored mercs were riding on the outside of the truck. They stood on small shelves on the four corners specifically designed to carry an armored trooper, the armor''s magnets securing them behind a little half shield welded out of thick steel plates. They kept their heavy rifles trained on the ground and were joking around with each other, evidently feeling secure in their supposed private comm channel.

    Max created little grayed out speaker icons that hovered over each of the soldiers heads in my high angle camera view, the icon above the front port-side mercenary turned white as he spoke in a laughing tone. ¡°Y¡¯all hear what pudge was saying? Said these guys roughed up the captain pretty good, had him all in an uproar.¡±

    The front starboard side guy laughed, and the rear portside soldier checked his rifle''s chamber as he growled out a reply. ¡°Pudge says a lotta shit, no way that pair of scrawny GPOSs could¡¯a taken the captain.¡± I recognized the acronym he pronounced like ¡®G-pose¡¯, which was fairly common to hear even amongst my old co-workers at the quarry. It stood for ¡®Government Pieces of¡­ well, I¡¯ll let you guess the rest. Something that I¡¯d been called once or twice, and that I knew had caused Tevin to get into multiple bar fights.

    The one in front who had originally started the conversation answered. ¡°No, no, I think he''s speaking fact this time. Didn¡¯t you see that cut on his forehead? That wasn''t there when he left the rack, and I can tell he¡¯s pissed even if he¡¯s hiding it. I just don¡¯t get why we¡¯re working for ¡®em anyway, and on an off night! I was in the middle of this swanky ass no-refunds dinner date with Britt when he called. I¡¯ma be hearing about this for months.¡±

    The growly voiced guy replied again. ¡°It¡¯s his call, and he offered a fat bonus, didn''t he? Buy her some flowers and something shiny with the extra creds, she¡¯ll get over it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, otherwise I wouldn¡¯t have gone out on this fuckin¡¯ run. News says the city is pretty hot tonight, but Greg says there''s only one stop and we¡¯ll be back before the sun''s up. Easy money¡¯s hard to walk away from.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that shit. There''s no such thing as easy money. You¡¯ll jinx us.¡±

    ¡°Sheesh, again with that superstitious garbage. You know that stuff¡¯s like a gateway drug right? First you¡¯re talking about jinxes and curses, tomorrow you''ll be scared of ladders and cats, then the next thing you know you¡¯re waving signs, screaming chants, and throwing last night''s turd loaves at the poor bastards walking the gauntlet to get Linked up.¡±

    The second guy up front whose only contribution to the conversation had been the occasional laugh up until now added in. ¡°Heh, the Links aren¡¯t so bad. I had this thing growing on my foot, and when I did my payment day the last time it was completely gone afterwards.¡±

    The growly guy on the back of the vehicle replied. ¡°Yeah, the Hub has a great red-light district too.¡±

    The rear starboard side man spoke for the first time, his voice calm and serious. ¡°Cut the chatter. Op-sec is tight on this one, be ready to jump.¡±

    The other three must have respected the last man''s words because they all stopped talking, not even confirming or replying to his message. The other guy on the rear of the vehicle checked his rifle''s chamber again, and the truck finally pulled onto the winding overpass that would loop them around to an exit from the massive trade route highway and onto the old city streets.

    I watched as they started driving down the narrow older streets. All of the soldiers'' rifles swept up and out, equipped with bright spotlights that they painted across the buildings and occasional dumpsters or parked cars. This close to the interior of the city, they passed defence force patrols and security checkpoints, and the buildings were maintained and occupied. I was distracted momentarily by a side screen as the call girl from the stairwell was pushed into a holding cell.

    When I looked back, Max¡¯s drone caught up to follow the mercenaries¡¯ truck after they had traveled a few blocks away from the Hub. The horizontal table-like screen opened back up, below all of the other screens at a 90 degree angle, once more displaying a birds eye thermal view of the situation from a few hundred meters up. ¡°This thing¡¯s getting pretty low on battery, even if I had it parked on a roof while the kids ran errands.¡±

    Max didn¡¯t bother to speak to me privately, knowing that even if Rin and Ali could hear us. They were unlikely to reply while they rode in the middle section of the truck with good old Greg the gang leader.

    As I wished they had a camera I could watch the situation through, Max popped up another of his 3D rendered versions and gave me the mental impression of a shrug. The three of them rode in a separate cabin from the driver. Rin was staring at Greg while they rode in silence, while Ali looked out a window and kept reaching up as if to grab a rifle on her chest that wasn''t there. Greg alternated between looking back at Rin, out the window, and typing messages into his expensive looking mobile comm that he kept in a safety case on a self-winding string clipped to his advanced plate carrier.

    ¡°Who¡¯s he talking to, the driver, someone back at the station?¡± I asked, mostly to Max.

    For whatever reason, Max chose to reply to me privately this time. ¡°A couple of people, including me! This guy¡¯s pretty cool actually. I¡¯m messaging him both as Ali''s support team, and I answered a recruitment ad using chin-strap the ganger¡¯s identity that he posted on this sketchy forum website. We¡¯re planning something special for everyone! The lead car should be there soon actually, so you should get ready to help set things up.¡±

    ¡°The lead what?!¡± I asked, and Ali¡¯s chat icon flared with the sound of teeth clacking and grinding together. Even if she could only hear my half of the conversation, my tone carried the jist of my reaction clearly enough for her to realize something had gone wrong.

    ¡°The rest of his crew went out to clear the way and set up a surprise party for us and the four armored guys! They¡¯re almost here already, I invited chin-strap and his crew too, just for kicks. I wanna see these guys in action, ya know?¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Oh my fucking¡­ What the actual fuck, Max?¡± I blurted out, fumbling through the cluttered mass of windows until I found the high level satellite map and dragged it back down to the horizontal desktop plane of my new admittedly pretty cool virtual remote op¡¯s setup. ¡°Where are they now? Are they coming here-here, like to the van - here?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! I wanted to have one last throwdown before we bail outta this joint. It¡¯s supposed to be a surprise for Rin and Ali and the four guys they have on the truck though, so shhhh.¡± Max¡¯s stupid crosswalk sign stickman looking emoji face flashed a big toothy grin.

    I turned and looked at him as he sat cross-legged on Tevin¡¯s chestplate. ¡°You¡¯re an idiot, Max. Advanced Core-tech AI my ass, you seriously believe that? What did they even say? How in the hell is a second truck that they¡¯re hiding from us not important enough to tell me!?¡±

    I pointed an accusatory finger at him. ¡°We have to warn our actual friends, and move the van before they get here, so don¡¯t pull any bullshit like muting me or whatever¨C.¡± I cut myself off mid sentence, realizing that calling him a dumbass would only work him up.

    ¡°Whatever¡­ thing you¡¯re planning next.¡± I turned back to the map and checked the area around the van on the map, looking to see if he had the second group of mercs marked, and made sure my little group channel voice icon was live as I warned Rin and Ali. ¡°We have a problem, guys. Max didn¡¯t tell us they¡¯re planning a surprise party at the dropoff.¡±

    I saw movement on the 3D rendered model of the interior of the armored truck and looked over. Rin had pulled out the tablet he had liberated from Katie and begun to tap on the screen.

    Max live commentated on the situation. ¡°He opened up a note app, maybe he had an idea for another list. Oh, wait, I think he¡¯s trying to talk to us¡­ hey! That is so not fair! Uah!¡± He scoffed. ¡°That is just not true, Greg has offered a sincere apology for his comments and wants to thank us for the business! See?¡±

    A new window appeared, and everything else minimized as Max pointed to a section of chat log. Instead of names marking who sent which message, each one was prefaced with a little icon. Our resident idiot AI¡¯s messages were marked with his own grinning emoji face, while Greg¡¯s were marked with a cartoony caricature version of his own bald head giving a cheesy wink and smile.

    Max: That¡¯s awesome, you¡¯ll have to tell me some more of your stories when everyone arrives. I¡¯ve always thought the mercenary lifestyle was cool, but hearing what it¡¯s actually like from a real life pro is great. I¡¯m glad there''s no hard feelings.

    Greg: No problem, you''ve been great and I¡¯ve got plenty of stories. We should talk job offers though, if you want to jump ship after this. We appreciate the help with setting up this little payback party. Your ground team is a real pair of assholes, so I can¡¯t blame ya for wanting to help out.  I¡¯m sorry you had to deal with these guys for so long.

    Max: They¡¯re just like that, hopefully this little party will show them you guys mean business. Did the scrawny one leer at your mural? There''s something wrong with that guy, I swear.

    Greg: They¡¯ll both get what¡¯s coming to them. I¡¯ll make sure they learn their lesson, and then we can talk about the future. I really wanna get you on our team, we need to broaden our capabilities and someone with your skills would be perfect. Your resume is impressive, I almost didn''t believe it when you sent it over but everything checks out.

    ¡°Are you serious?¡± I swatted my hand up the backside of Max¡¯s holographic head, and to my surprise, I felt a connection that caused his head to rock forward. He gave me a startled look, we both stared at each other for a second, and then he slapped me across the cheek in retaliation.

    ¡°Ach, stop it.¡± I opened my hands and held them up to block a second slap. ¡°But putting me being able to smack you aside for a moment, you seriously think that those messages support your argument?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! See how nice he''s being? And those two really do need to learn a lesson about respecting me, and everything I¡¯ve read says that positive reinforcement is the best way to go, right? So I figure a nice surprise party is exactly what they need. Then we can kick around some gangers together and have a fun time, it¡¯ll be great!¡±

    I slapped myself in the face with both palms and growled in frustration into my hands. ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ I just¡­ no. There¡¯s no way you are this dumb. That¡¯s the thinnest euphemism for an ambush I can f¡¯n imagine, and you fall for it?¡±

    Max retreated back to private messaging again. ¡°What do you mean? They¡¯re getting paid, and they¡¯re mercenaries. They have to follow their contract, they¡¯re not gonna ambush us. Hah.¡±

    ¡°Just because they signed some deal does not mean they have to follow it, Max. Especially if they think they¡¯re working with a disgruntled handler to burn a troublesome ground team!¡±

    ¡°But¡­ they confirmed the contract for safe transportation.¡± Max said in a surprisingly small tone as he realized I was fully committed to thinking his line of reasoning was absolute bullshit.

    I facepalmed even harder than the last time, and spoke with closed eyes through gritted teeth as I restrained my anger. It was easy to forget that my AI companion was basically a child, and right now was not the time to provoke a tantrum with harsh words. I needed to keep in mind that despite having a physical presence within me, he was mostly a product of a virtual game world, bound by hard unbreakable rules and opaque systems. ¡°Max, sometimes people lie, and sometimes they hide their true meaning. You can¡¯t take everything at face value.¡±

    ¡°Well that''s a bunch of malarkey. These guys rely on their contracts, why would they break one?¡±

    I turned back to look at Ali and Rin in the 3D model of the truck while I spoke, only the gentle swaying and bumping that made it through the heavy suspension of the truck interrupted the still tension in the small cab. All three of them were motionless, and Greg appeared to be sweating as he subconsciously recognized the subtle shift in my friends¡¯ mannerisms as they listened to my argument with Max.

    I took a moment, watching them as I tried to come up with a way out of this that wouldn¡¯t end in another big fight. ¡°Because we humiliated the leader, and he thinks you''re going to help him hide everything. They¡¯re going to try to kill them, Max, and probably me too unless they think I¡¯m you. How the hell are we going to get them out of this? I¡¯m too beat up for another fight, I feel like I¡¯d tear twenty scabs open if I so much as sneezed.¡±

    ¡°No way, I¡¯m still not buying it. These guys are cool. I tell you what, if you think you''re so clever and confident that there is really some plot to try to kill us, how about you put your money where your mouth is and we make things interesting?¡± He puffed up his normally twiggy chest and pointed at me, pausing for a moment as he came up with a wager. ¡°I¡¯ll bet you¡­ a ¡®shut up, we¡¯re doing it my way¡¯ pass, that they¡¯re good people.¡±

    I blinked in response, taken aback by his naive insistence but¡­ that was a hell of a prize. The ambush was inevitable at this point, but maybe this way I could flip it around to teach Max a lesson and get something useful out of it after all.

    ¡°Pshh, how about we make it 10 passes? I¡¯m surprised with you, haven¡¯t you, like, looked up the stats for how often mercenaries break contracts or something like that?¡± I responded. ¡°And I¡¯ll only take that bet if we plan a contingency like they are going to attack.¡± I turned around and tossed a random piece of junk from the floorboards at Raschel to wake her. ¡°Hey! Raschel, wake up. I need you to move the van.¡±

    ¡°Bah, fine. You¡¯re gonna regret it when they crack open the beers and everyone''s having fun beating up on some local criminal scum, though.¡± He stuck his nose straight up into the air, and I swear he grew three or four inches taller just so he could look down on me from a little higher. ¡°I¡¯ll mark them out on your map for you so you can get to your unnecessary planning.¡±

 Chapter 81 - Missing the meeting

    Raschel turned the key and started the van, the lead car was only a couple of blocks away and closing, and the only sound coming through the group chat was the grinding of Ali¡¯s teeth as she forced herself into inaction.

    ¡°Quit yelling at me! I barely even know what I¡¯m doing!¡± Raschel yelled back at me from the driver¡¯s seat.

    ¡°We have to move, now! It doesn''t matter where, just¡­ no, wait nevermind, not that way! Go the other way, pull in behind that junk pile.¡± I answered, dividing my attention between looking for a place to go on the map and glancing at Raschel in the front seat.

    ¡°Meh, me-me-me mah!¡± Max parroted my words mockingly. ¡°This is stupid. Greg says there''s nothing to worry about and that he¡¯s going to handle everything, they¡¯re even talking about splitting the payday with me!¡°

    ¡°Damnit, did you warn him that we¡¯re on to them?¡± I shot back, my heart rate spiking back up.

    Max had retreated to the back of the van again, and was sitting proudly on the Links saddle with his nose in the air and his arms crossed over his puffed up chest. ¡°No, I may think you¡¯re wrong but I am willing to entertain the possibility that you are perhaps on to something. They are a bunch of humans after all, sometimes I forget just how volatile you folks are, but it¡¯s not like they¡¯ll be able to do much even if they do doublecross you though.¡±

    The van rocked around violently and nearly knocked me over as Raschel took us off road and through a shallow ditch, causing me to reach through the mass of floating virtual screens and scatter them out of order as I steadied myself from falling over. After the motion had settled back down I finally found the dot on the map I thought represented the gang. In Max¡¯s style, it was marked with a tiny chin-strap-mutton-chop combo decal that turned it into a sort of eyeless red emoji face. It had yet to move out of the city, and was a few blocks behind the icon that signified the truck my friends were riding in.

    Having located both the gang and my friends, I turned my attention back to watching the forward team. I zoomed in the field of view on our previous location, and watched as the vehicle¡¯s dot pulled into the lot we had vacated only seconds ago.

    ¡°Kill the lights!¡± I yelled over at Raschel. ¡°They¡¯re pulling in to where we just were.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even turn them on in the first place!¡± She whisper-shouted back, leaning low in the seat and peeking out over the top of the steering wheel.

    I watched the map intensely, wishing I had a better view than dots on a still satellite image. Unfortunately, we had chosen a place to park far away from any cameras, and Max¡¯s drone was still flying over the cat-girl-mobile as they worked their way through the emptied city streets. All I could do was keep commentating on what was happening and following the dots.

    ¡°The first car is here, I don¡¯t think they saw us. Keep an eye on Greg and be ready to move. He¡¯s unarmored, so maybe you can take him hostage and use him to get the others to back off?¡± I spitballed, and although it was hard to tell I thought I heard Ali clack her teeth together twice in response.

    ¡°I still think this is stupid, the guys in the first car just messaged Greg and seem pretty disappointed we¡¯re not there.¡± Max said, his nose still in the air. ¡°Now Greg¡¯s messaging me too. Ope, see he¡¯s not mad.¡±

    Max pinged the chat log, causing the edges of the window to flash with golden light as it scrolled down to the bottom of the thread. There was more to the conversation, but I wanted to see the most up to date info and focused on the bottom few messages.

    Max: You¡¯re not going to mess up this whole party plan by doing anything reckless, are you? And no, they don¡¯t pay me anything really.

    Greg: We can handle our end, don¡¯t you worry about it. You just worry about keeping all of this quiet on your side of things. I know you back-line support types don¡¯t like to get too involved, so you can sit back and relax while we throw our little party. An hour from now, you¡¯ll be sitting back and counting credits with a new identity and new team.

    Max: Roger that, good buddy. o7

    Greg: The forward team says you missed your meeting. You¡¯re not getting cold feet are you?

    Max again pointed at the chat log, and watched me out of the corner of his eye as he continued to point his snooty nose straight up at the roof of the darkened and quiet van. ¡°See?¡± He insisted. ¡°They even wanna team up, I bet we can convince them to join our cause if we play this right. I totally call dibs on the coolest nickname too, or is it a call sign? Like.. Max-Crusher, or Max-imum Overdrive. Oh, Maybe Mad-Max? No¡­¡±

    He lost focus and started listing off increasingly bad nicknames, so I reached over and pushed him lightly to knock him out of his tangent, also nearly knocking him over from his cross legged perch on Tevin¡¯s still chestplate. ¡°We are going to have a long damn talk about lying and how things work in the real world later, but right now I need you to pay attention and ¡®entertain the possibility¡¯ of the fight that''s about to go down.¡±

    I sighed and steadied him with a hand on his shoulder, which was a strange feeling. He didn''t feel completely solid, like I could push through his form if I really tried, but there was some real resistance. I couldn¡¯t let myself think about that right now though.

    ¡°Is Jorn¡¯s suit still around? I think our best play might be to surprise them with that.¡± I glanced back at the map, watching as a number of dots representing the forward team mercenaries poured out from their vehicle and spread out around the abandoned property.

    A sliver of light swept in through the windshield and darted across the interior of the van, causing Raschel to let out a tiny alarmed squeak. ¡°I- I think they¡¯re looking for us.¡± She breathed out, just loud enough for me to hear it in the still van.

    Max let out a big sigh and pushed my hand off his shoulder, finally looking at me directly instead of down his nose. ¡°Look, if they do actually attack, they have six suits of power armor and a wire controlled pop-up turret on the cat-mobile. It¡¯ll be over in like two seconds. Wham bam, daka-daka-daka, exit stage left and we¡¯re done.¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    My eyes narrowed and I clenched my fists for a moment, seriously considering socking him across the mouth now that I knew I could. ¡°How is that a good thing? Rin and Ali aren''t wearing any armor, they¡¯ll be screwed.¡±

    Max grew a bushy pair of eyebrows, only to raise one in a confused look. ¡°Uh, because I wouldn''t let them actually hurt her? These guys are wearing old primitive mark-2 armor from years ago, I could have all of them line dancing in a heartbeat. Almost all of their weapons have E-triggers too. That¡¯s how I know they¡¯re being straight with us, they¡¯d have to be total dumbasses to try to screw me over after the resume I sent them.¡±

    I was fully prepared to tear into him again, especially for seemingly forgetting about Rin, but his confidence derailed my train of thought. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ uhh¡­ you already have control over all that?¡± I asked instead.

    ¡°Duh, so quit your whining and go say hello, they¡¯re starting to get mad that you didn''t show up to the meeting.¡±

    I stared at Max with flat unimpressed eyes. ¡°Why the hell didn''t you lead with that? It could have saved us from having this whole dang argument. You said some of their weapons don¡¯t have electronic triggers though, are any of them with the forward team?¡±

    Max stuck his nose back up in the air. ¡°Yeah, about half of them are carrying old army pistols. All of their rifles have been upgraded though. Plus, a good chunk of them are carrying their sidearms in secure holsters that I can lock down too, only three of ¡®em have the total oldschool setup. Greg insisted on everyone getting them for crowd control duty after some rioter pulled one on them in a press. He¡¯s pretty smart for a human, kinda like Rin, but way more fun. That¡¯s how I know he''s shooting straight with us, he¡¯s too smart to try doublecrossing me.¡±

    I facepalmed again and shook my head, before reaching up to get a grip on the cabinets to haul myself to my feet. ¡°Max, they don¡¯t think they¡¯re double crossing you, just Rin and Ali, and that you¡¯re going to help them cover it up. Still, if you say you can lock down their weapons, we can work with that.¡± I moved to the door and grabbed the handle, turning to Raschel for a moment before opening it. ¡°Stay here and stay down.¡± I ordered, before exiting the van.

    The dome light built into the ceiling of the cab burst into life as soon as the door was opened, illuminating the whole interior of the van and shining through the windows. ¡°I got you.¡± Max snapped his fingers and pointed at the light, shutting it back off.

    I cursed and grabbed one of the rifles from the pile of weapons. Max highlighted a couple of the magazines, so I grabbed those as well and loaded down the remaining pockets of my torn up jacket.

    Watching in the direction of the mercenary team, I took a moment to stretch and feel out how my injuries were coming along. I¡¯d been sitting and watching the screens for hours now, and it was hard to know how badly beaten I felt without some movement.

    It turns out, I was feeling pretty good. Almost all of the numbness was gone, replaced by something closer to sore muscle tightness, and despite the large scabs pulling uncomfortably at my skin as I moved, they did not crack, split, or start to leak again. Filled with confidence now that I knew the likelihood of them shooting back at me was real low, I shouldered the rifle and kept it pointed at the ground as I peeked around the back of the van.

    I could see dull red lights that occasionally swept over the wall of the garage or lit up a patch of grass or bush around the edges of the clearing across the street. I ducked back around the edge of the van to press Max for some more info.

    ¡°Are you telling them we¡¯re still on? How¡¯s Greg taking you missing the meeting?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you mean ¡®you missing the meeting¡¯?¡± Max¡¯s avatar had remained in the back of the van, but he popped up some of the screens for me again, pasting them across the rear doors like a projection.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I said?¡± I asked, confused all of a sudden.

    ¡°Not you you, but me you, for you.¡±

    I stared at nothing for a moment, trying to wrap my mind around what he was saying. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°While I¡¯m not you, what I am is with you, so if I¡¯m going anywhere it''s you who does the actual going. So, it¡¯s not my fault, you are the one who missed the meeting.¡±

    ¡°Are you serious?¡± I growled at him.

    ¡°When am I ever not serious? And I can see you typing Rin!¡±

    ¡°I am not arguing semantics with you right now, Max! Is Greg mad enough to start making threats yet? And where¡¯s Jorn¡¯s suit?¡± I hissed, trusting the distant sound of gunshots, trains, and engine noises from the city to block my whispered words from the mercenaries setting up a few hundred feet away.

    I felt a stiff jab in my shoulder, like someone had poked me with a stick, and in one panicked motion turned around and elbowed an armored face that had somehow snuck up right behind me. The armor rang with a quiet hollow thud, but didn¡¯t react much to my hasty blow. Before I could bring up my rifle to start shooting, the suit stepped back and Max popped into existence between us.

    ¡°Chill man, haha. That¡¯s your backup. Don¡¯t you recognize it?¡± Max stepped out of the way and made a grand gesture with both arms, like he had just pulled a silk sheet off of an expensive prize on a gameshow. ¡°It¡¯s Jorn¡¯s suit, although I did have it ditch its namesake about halfway between here and Nubrag. We should come up with a designation for this thing. I¡¯m thinking¡­ Graves.¡± Max¡¯s face broke into a huge grin. He slapped the suit''s backside, then struck a pose with his hands on his hips. ¡°Get it? Hah. This suit is totally haunted.¡±

    I took a few long deep breaths, calming myself down after the spike of adrenaline from the jumpscare. I turned away from Max before I caved into the urge to punch him, and looked back at the map that was being projected across the rear window of the van. Greg''s cat-mobile looked like it would be here in moments, with Chinstrap¡¯s icon still trailing it by a few blocks. I needed to get Max to quit being distracted and realize this was not a game.

    I tried a different tactic. ¡°Max, please focus. Just¡­ please. I¡¯m so nervous I might puke up all that jerky if you keep messing around. If you get Rin or Ali, or any of us, hurt because you are both too naive to see through their bullshit, and too stubborn to listen to us when we warn you, how the hell can we trust you with this grand sweeping plan of yours? Take a look, like a real look at the situation, and ask yourself if they actually are preparing to throw a party. Did they bring supplies? Are they setting up tables and a fucking pinata?¡±

    Max froze for a few seconds at my words. He stood absolutely still without so much as blinking as he processed my plea. After a solid three count, a glitchy shimmer washed over him and he brought a gray hand up to stroke his smooth rounded chin. ¡°I suppose¡­ they do not appear to be setting up a party.¡±

    He waved his other hand at the screens, sweeping the drone¡¯s perspective to the top of the stack of windows. ¡°They¡¯re spreading out and setting up lines of fire¡­ and they didn¡¯t bring any supplies! Ugh. Okay, and now Greg is being a total dick in his messages.¡±

    Without further warning, the group chat was suddenly flooded with noise. Ali let out a roar of challenge, Rin a small yelp, and Greg shouted something so vile I¡¯m not going to repeat it. A few blasts of rumbly static came through the line, like the kind of noise you hear when someone drops their comm on the other end of the line, followed by some grunts of effort and more angry aggressive hisses and forceful exhales from Ali. Max helpfully popped up his 3D rendering of the interior of the vehicle, and I watched the end of the fight as Ali pistol whipped Greg until he was no longer moving.

    Ali¡¯s deadly voice took over the voice chat. ¡°I¡¯m not just sitting here anymore. Rin, get his plate carrier off of him. Max, isolate the comms and fake Greg¡¯s voice to keep everything looking normal. Sir, Nick, get the fuck back in the van and let me and Max clean this mess up.¡±