Unity
Henchman Book Three
Carl Stubblefield
Copyright © 2021 by Carl Stubblefield
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Newsletter
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Epilogue
Afterword
About Carl Stubblefield
About Mountaindale Press
Mountaindale Press Titles
Acknowledgments
This one goes out to everyone who hasn't found their place yet. Anyone who feels different from the crowd because you have unique interests that may not resonate with the masses. Difference is good.
Find that unique ability to defeat the OP Boss Levels of life. Use that exploit to craft your dreams out of the ether. Be the hero of your own story. Or be the villain everyone fears.
Newsletter
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Chapter One
Here I Go Again
“Pay attention, lazy boy! The others are waiting for you,” Nick snapped.
Gus felt his face burn at the abrupt delivery. He shook himself, reluctantly pulling his eyes away from the calming effect of the rolling waves. As he did, his vision blurred as his headache returned with a vengeance.
He massaged his temples, trying to relieve some of the painful pressure that had become part of his daily routine. It seemed to worsen as the day progressed, and only soured his mood even more.
The constant presence of Tempest and the Crew also felt like they were violating his territory, his private space. They were cordial and well-behaved, yet it still felt like an invasion. Even Aurora had melded back into the group, and once again he was alone in the crowd.
He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to let everything go when he breathed out. He needed to bleed off some of the pressure inside and training was one of the few ways that seemed to release his tension. But even that would have to wait until after the mission.
“Nick, what’s my status? Any problems from sleep deprivation yet?” His voice sounded weary and raw—he would have to watch that when speaking with the others.
“Despite the Nth trying to remove them, you are producing excess metabolites at an increasing rate.”
“I’m not surprised—the headaches are getting worse,” Gus sighed.
“Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional,” Nick replied.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Ponder upon it.”
Gus rolled his eyes and sighed at the response. “Maybe later, Nick. I’m not in the mood for riddles right now.”
Gus groaned as he stood; there was always a surge of pain when his blood got pumping. He shielded his eyes from the early morning light as he went back into his room and got dressed for the day.
Tempest had arranged this mission, so Gus could learn to work with other supers. Putting Gus in charge was another thing that added to his stress. He never considered himself a leader, but the way the manor was set up, he had to lead or drastically less FP would accumulate. It still felt unnatural and odd that anyone would follow him. Especially when it was so obvious he was out of place and didn’t know what he was doing.
It had also been Tempest’s idea to check the transport Methiochos had used to see if there were any stragglers that could pose a threat to any of the supers there. Since the source of the Dark Nth infection was unknown, part of their mission was to find and destroy any possible vectors for reintroducing the Dark Nth, whether by computer or zombie. Gus hadn’t given them another thought after he had defeated The One, assuming they were all gone or dead. Just one more thing he had missed in his wide-eyed naivety.
So many reasons he would rather be doing something else, but he was best suited for the job, regardless. He stared at himself in the mirror, trying to compose his expression. He didn’t want to come across as weak to the others and had felt like he had become better at hiding the tells. But it was fraying his nerves. He had kept to himself to avoid taking his frustration out on any of the others.
Stepping into the elevator, he hit the button and took the lift to the roof. Wordlessly taking his seat on the transport, he nodded at the others from his seat in the corner. They all linked comms and the transport took off.
Get a hold of yourself, dammit! Gus couldn’t shake the visceral dread he felt in the dark ship, even though he should feel better and more prepared than ever. His eyes played across the interior of the transport as mapping drones illuminated everything with a sweeping wedge of pale blue light as some crawled across the walls and others whirred and floated down the far side of the room. They scanned and stitched together a virtual representation of the craft on the party’s displays, g
lowing amber lines floating in the darkness, revealing what their scans had turned up.
Eyes flitted upwards as something banged through some ducts above them, retreating to the fore. I thought I was done with all that zombie nonsense! Gus rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen up against the tightness and tension that threatened to crush him.
“What was that?” someone asked on the comms.
“Probably zombies,” Gus replied instinctually, forgetting the mental link they all shared. He winced as the mental communication also transmitted a slight quaver in his voice.
Gus was still getting used to the system that networked Nth used when in a party. It allowed limited communication and data transmission as long as the party stayed within range. Gus could see Nick playing a small video in the bottom right corner of some of Gus’ old battles with varying types of zombies.
A chorus of groans and gasps came across the mental link. Supers weren’t scared of most things, but zombies appeared to be the one foe that they all seemed to fear. Gus felt like he had not taken them as seriously as he should have, based on the effect the creatures had on the others, who were much more experienced and battle-hardened than he was.
When silence returned, the party moved forward again. Gus led the small group, his resistance to infection being a primary factor. What it didn’t take into account was that if a zombie did manage to jump out and attack him, it didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt.
Gus looked to his left and sent a mental command to Jet to scout further ahead. The blade dipped in a nod of agreement and shot forward silently. Metallic clicks were the only sound as the spider-like mapping drones crawled ahead, shining their beams around, illuminating this area of the ship. It was the largest transport Gus had ever seen, and he was not looking forward to how much time it would take to clear the vessel.
A loud *thunk* brought him back to the present. Following its programming, one of the mapping drones did a deep scan of the wall in question, but by the time the drone went through the cycle, all that was revealed was an empty duct.
Gus stared at the spot now visible on his display, trying to gauge if a mantid could fit in the tight space. Were they different sizes? Yeesh. Some of the group had moved forward, following the drones.
“Rattle ya dags,” an accented voice sounded in Gus’ mind. Looking up, one of the Crew was motioning for him to hurry up and get back in the lead. Gus nodded in embarrassment and resumed point. The cheerful super gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder as he led the group to the next section of the ship.
The group exited the cargo area and filed into a line as they entered the main cabin, with seats on either side of a small aisle leading forward. Gus was grateful for the drones going ahead and revealing that there was nothing lying in wait between the seats. Windows had broken in the area and the plastisteel bits crunched noisily as boots walked across the debris moving to the pilots’ cabin.
In the gloom, Gus could smell mold and saw a couple of mushrooms growing where moisture had pooled in the seats and on the ground. Volcanic rock had punctured the ship in this area, allowing the jungle outside to invade. Dry vines had wormed their way into the gash, filling it up and muting the light in the cabin. They appeared to have cut off their own light supply, killing themselves in their urge to explore.
“What is this, a class A transport? Enough seats here to fit a hundred, hundred-fifty easy,” a deep voice asked on the comm.
“Its designation is actually SS,” a female voice replied, “and there are two more cabins just like this, one above and another below us on different levels. Ship’s name appears to be The Banoi. We need to find some intact ports to see if we can interface with the ship’s computers and get some answers.”
“You’re using a remote interface, right? Don’t connect directly to anything—” the deep voice warned.
“Yeah, yeah. I have done this before, alright?” Gus didn’t recognize the super the voice belonged to, but he imagined her to be a mischievous pixie or elf from the lilting tone of her voice. He caught himself mid-musing, wondering how much got transferred along with this mental form of networking, and tried to focus on the task at hand.
The mapping droids had begun to make it to the next section of the ship and its layout was being stitched into existence on his display. It was odd to maneuver in the almost perfect dark sections of the ship with glowing amber lines and textures showing the world around him in monochromatic majesty. Some were so dark it felt like walking in space, supported by some invisible flooring.
“Finally!” pixie-voice cheered and brushed past Gus on her way to a bank of computers. Pulling out a small box about the size of a small dictionary, she fed some cables into various ports and powered on the machine. “It’s downloading, ladies and gentlemen. Wait for it… and it looks like no contamination in the ship’s computer systems. That’s good, but also bad. We still need to locate patient zero or the vector of infection.”
“Is it possible that all of them are gone, that patient zero was already killed?” Gus asked hopefully.
“Maybe. But we’re a long way from anywhere. From what I’m getting from ship logs, this had to be a premeditated attack. What are you feeling, Harmony?”
A woman with a sultry voice beside Gus placed her hands on her temples and pinched her eyes shut. “I sense something ahead. It’s dark…”
She suddenly went limp, another teammate barely catching her before she hit the floor. The rest of them looked toward the doorway that yawned ahead.
Chapter Two
Electric Barbarella
“What happened?” Gus blurted out loud, rushing to kneel next to where Harmony had been gently lowered to the floor. His voice echoed in the room, jarring in the silence.
“That’s just ‘armony,” a short, gruff super said dismissively, putting his hands on his hips. “She tends ta overdo it. Use her power for too long—”
Harmony sat up and shook her head to clear away the effects of her swoon.
“Sorry, guys. There’s some bad juju up there.” She waved toward the front of the ship with one hand and pinched the bridge of her nose with the other. “It feels like quicksand or a mini black-hole. Like it just wants to pull things in and devour them.”
Gus’ mouth felt uncomfortably dry as he looked where she had pointed and he licked his teeth to remove the uncomfortable feeling left in its wake. Why am I stressing out about this?
“If you want to fly, give up everything that holds you down,” Nick offered unhelpfully, as if he was bestowing enlightened knowledge from on high.
Gus exhaled deeply and struggled to control the retorts that sprung to mind. He was still getting used to this new persona. The new Nick was terse, even rude at times with how painfully blunt he was. And the stupid axioms all the time! The interaction had not gone very well, to the point where Gus was grinding to hit level 30 just to get a change.
Still, the new Nick had given some sound leadership advice, which had helped him put some boundaries in place. From his advice, Gus made it clear when the Crew came to the manor that he was in charge, and that anyone who thought otherwise would not be welcome there. He just wasn’t sure the leadership assistance was worth all the negatives.
The smug authoritarian tone Nick used grated on his nerves like a new papercut. Just when he forgot Nick was there, Gus would do something and the stinging rebuke would get him. He had learned not to get into arguments with this version of Nick though since he didn’t have the luxury of a quantum server to provide an endless source of fortune-cookie counsel. He really missed the old Nicks. At least the flare of irritation doused the chill of fear that threatened to take hold.
Gus stood and called Jet back to him; it glided silently through the air and he clutched the polearm as the silver inlaid grip slid into his hand. It made him feel more secure, something solid and sure in the darkness.
Clenching his jaw muscles, he strode forward into the room beyond, bracing himself for an attack. Passing through the thre
shold, the drones had only begun to stitch together the closest side of the room to him. From what he could see, he was in the wedge-shaped bridge of the ship.
The room reminded him of a shipwreck, with the jagged edge of the unrendered prow of the ship missing in the gloom. The other supers held back, not entering the room. Gus slowly advanced as more and more of the area sprang into his display. The room was in disarray, with items strewn about from a struggle or the crash landing.
Gus peered into the gloom as the drones finished revealing the remainder of the room. They began to retreat to access other floors and continue their survey. The room was empty. No lurking zombies or another boss hiding here camped out. As the drones retreated, they planted small LEDs to give temporary light as the other supers began to tentatively move inside.
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