She started struggling to her feet, and Ash reached out a hand. Nika took it and rose to her feet, brushing the sand off her robe.
"Don't worry about it, Ash," she said. "You got me back in time, and I didn't lose a thing." Nika paused. "In fact, it all happened so very quickly, I'm not at all sure you would have had time to cast a heal spell. Having that staff equipped might have saved me a couple levels."
Ash blinked, dashing the tears off her face with the back of her hand. "You think so?"
Nika shrugged. There wasn't any way to know, but it was possible at the very least. The girl's mistake might have ended up saving her after all.
The others were starting to gather around and Nika waved them off. "I'm okay, thanks to Ash here," she said. "Let's gather the loot and make our camp for the night."
She glanced back at the sun, just barely visible over the vast sandy desert space. It was getting dark much faster now.
Louella brought out her lantern and, like the magic that it was, it lit up the center of the clearing to allow them to find all the dropped loot. Two of the three giants had dropped legendaries, but unfortunately, they were both for the Priest and Priestess class and so of no use to any of them. Still, they would bring quite a bit of gold at the market.
There were also the normal potions and miscellaneous drops too and the team split up the treasure and stowed it away in their inventories. It would be nice if they started dropping traps and critter lures, but Nika knew that wasn't going to happen. It was nice to dream though.
Once they had their tents set up and had pulled together a mix of cheese, crackers, and fruit for dinner, they sat around a makeshift fire that Ash was only too happy to start for them. The air really did chill quickly after the sun completed its daily journey. The fire felt nice, even here in the middle of the desert.
"Three bosses, huh?" Dean said, shaking his head. "I'm guessing that was one for each team?"
Nika nodded. "That's my guess too. It seems the other monsters don't care if we are one team or three, they just send the right amount of monsters at us according to our skill. The bosses, it appears, are a bit different."
"I guess that makes sense," Evan said slowly. "We really didn't program Gaia's Rebirth to handle multiple teams in the same area. The game's Artificial Intelligence must be filling in the blanks." He thought for a minute. "Not too shabbily either, I must say." His pride was showing a bit as it should. The programmers had done a superb job getting this world just right. To allow the AI to fill in missing pieces of code in a situation like this? Pure genius.
"Bosses don't respawn, do they?" Blake asked.
Nika looked at him. "No. Once they are beaten that's it for them until the next group of players comes through."
"Good," he said. "Then if no one has any objections, I'm going to bed now." Blake sighed. "Or at least to a bedroll. What I wouldn't give for a night in a real bed in the real world."
No one said anything, and he got up and left them, departing into the large two room tent.
"The rest of you should probably hit the sack, too," Nika said. "Three o'clock will come pretty fast."
"Who's on for the second watch?" Ash asked, trying to stifle a yawn.
"I've been thinking," Louella said. "If Striker is okay with it, he and I can take the second watch."
An NPC on watch? It might work, Nika thought. Before she could agree, Dean spoke.
"Did I do something to upset you?" Dean asked Louella. "I thought we were having fun today, but then you started avoiding me. Now you're ditching me for watch duty and taking an NPC? What happened?"
Louella glanced at Nika and shook her head. "We were having fun, Dean," she said giving him a sad smile. "And it wasn't anything you did. But when you asked about my childhood, it just... well, it brought up memories I wasn't ready to deal with just yet." Her head ducked, eyes on the grass before her. "I have been kind of avoiding you, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't take my personal issues out on you."
He stared at her for a minute in silence. "Next time just tell me to mind my own business, okay?"
Her eyes flew to his as she started to stutter.
Dean grinned at her. "Hey, I'm kind of kidding. Just wanted you to look at me. It's okay. I totally understand unpleasant memories. If you have any fun ones you want to share with me, fine. Otherwise, I'm more than happy to talk about myself. As you can probably tell, I don't have much in the way of personal boundaries. Guess that's why I'm constantly stepping on them."
Her smile widened. "I'd love to hear more of your stories," she said quietly. "I really enjoyed them."
Then Dean got a funny look on his face. "Wait a minute," he said. "Did I just voluntarily sign up for the second watch?"
Nika laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "Sure did, Buddy," she said. "Now you guys go get some sleep. Evan and I have the first one."
Evan had made it clear that he wanted first watch with Nika even though technically it was supposed to be her and Dean as they were the ones who had napped longer at the first stop.
She was guessing that he wanted to talk. Nika was looking forward to it and dreading it all at the same time.
While the others took care of their nightly hygiene and got situated in the tent, Nika and Evan banked the fire with more of the fallen limbs they'd found around the lakes. They didn't really look like palm tree limbs, but Nika figured the game was being nice and supplying them with firewood, so she shouldn't question it too much.
When the fire was going strong again, they settled in for their watch. Instead of sitting back to back as he and Louella had done, they sat side by side, each of them facing an opposite direction.
"This must be hard on Louella," Evan started. "Do you think we made the right choice keeping her little secret from the rest of the team?"
Nika shrugged. "I wouldn't call her secret little by any means, and who knows if it's right to keep it from the others? I'm just going with my gut on that one. If it was me, I think I would rather not have the whole 'I might be dead' thing hanging over me for the rest of the game."
"And yet we do."
"Yes, we do."
They were both quiet for a minute, then Evan turned to gaze at her. "You died today, but you came back. Doesn't that mean your body is still alive out there?"
Nika swallowed. "With Ash's resurrection spell, I'm not sure. I never actually hit the last save point. It was more like a blink and then I was back. I'd have felt more certain if I'd landed at the graveyard. Not that I wanted to lose levels, but at least we might have had a better grasp of the situation."
"Maybe," Evan said hesitating. "I've been thinking that maybe the game might keep a player around once they become code in the system. It might be possible that Louella will reboot just like the rest of us."
Nika turned to him, her eyes widening. "Do you really think so?"
"There isn't any way to know for sure until it happens," he said. "But I do think it's possible."
She sighed and leaned over to rest against him. "I hope so," she said. "Of course, that means we have no way of knowing if we are alive or dead out there. Not until we try to leave the game."
"That's true."
"Oh, Evan, it wasn't supposed to be like this." Nika's voice sounded weepy, even to her own ears, but she couldn't help it. "Dad was supposed to be here with me and everything was supposed to be wonderful."
"It should have been. I hope we do get out of here, and not just so I can continue doing what I always have, either. What I really, really want to do is make VirTech pay for this." He paused. "I'm not talking money, either."
"I know," Nika said. "That and saving us and the game are all I think about now."
Evan's voice got quiet and a bit gravelly. "Really? All you think about?" he asked.
She turned her head away, not wanting to meet his eyes. "No, not quite all."
"Do you think we have a chance together?" he asked. "Once all this is said and done?"
Nika nodded. "Oh, hell yeah," she
said, her voice sounding rough. "Once I know I'm free of that asshole I'll be on you like white on rice."
He laughed which was exactly the response she'd been hoping for.
"Okay then," he said. "For you, I'd wait forever. But any time we can cut from that would be great."
"Agreed," Nika said. Then she got quiet for a minute. "You might be disappointed in me once you have me." Another silent pause. "I mean I couldn't even keep the asshole happy."
"That's because he is an asshole," Evan said, putting his arm around her and drawing her close.
It was a bit awkward, given the way they were sitting, but it still felt nice. He had just started to lean back, and Nika was sure he was going to kiss her when she saw the first critter pop into existence.
There wasn't any other way to describe it. One second the area by the lake was empty of all but nature and the party, and the next, there it stood.
Her sudden intake of breath must have alerted Evan that something was up.
"What is it?" he whispered his voice a mere thread in the breeze.
"A Trial's creature," she answered keeping her voice low too. "By the lake."
"One we've seen before?"
"No. It looks kind of like a seal."
Evan slowly turned his body enough to bring the creature into view. Then he smiled. "Yup, that's a seal," he said. "Are we going to try to catch it?"
Nika hesitated. "I'm torn. On the one hand, I really want to. On the other, I know our duty is to keep watch. If a horde of bandits appeared with bows and arrows in the middle of our recruitment, I'd never forgive myself."
He sighed. "So we wait, then."
"Yeah, we wait." She paused. "But once we get Louella and Dean up, we could totally go for it, then hang around while they did too if there is another one."
"It's a date."
The rest of their watch went pretty peacefully and quietly. No bow-equipped bandits showed up, nor hyenas or any other Gaia creatures. Nika figured the game was giving the players a break for having beaten the mini-boss. And she was enjoying it fully.
Especially when the second critter showed up. It resembled a gray squirrel and actually came right up to them, cocking its tiny head and looking at them. Examining them as hard as they were it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: The Grand Plan
As Les explained his glorious plan, Mary realized just how right she was. They were in so very, very much trouble.
Granted, if VirTech really was stealing the code and had plans to kill the beta testers, including Nika Nolan and Evan Taylor, then they just may end up as heroes. That's how Les was envisioning it, anyway.
Mary's vision tended more along the lines of how long their prison sentences would be for taking the party hostage.
Because that was Les' grand plan in a nutshell. As a security guard, he knew things about the building that few others did. Important things like the fact that the entire floor that housed the main game's hub and the player's lounge also served as a bit of a safe room. In case of fire or outside threat, the floor could easily be shut behind fire doors and only opened by a very complicated code.
The trick was that if you knew the code to initiate the lockdown, you also had the means to change that code once the lockdown was in place. So once inside the secure room, Les planned to immediately change the code and keep changing it every half hour. That shouldn't give anyone on the outside time to crack it.
By doing this, his plan was to ensure that no harm came to Nika or the others until they returned from the game. They would be well out of VirTech's reach.
"I don't see that we have a choice," Les said, trying to convince the twins that his plan was a valid one. "If we know what's going on and we don't try to stop it, we are just as guilty as they are."
Mary shook her head. "No, we aren't," she said. "Not by a long shot."
"Les, if we are wrong, we could literally spend the rest of our lives in prison," Max said. "You do get that, right?"
"Oh, I get it," Les answered. "But if we're right, Nika and her team might not have lives left to live."
When he put it that way, it was hard to refute. She still didn't have to like it. The truth was that there was no stopping Les at this point, and she knew neither her nor her brother would let the good-hearted fool go it alone. It might spell the end of their freedom, but at least they'd go down together.
"Okay, so what are our parts in this?" Mary asked.
Les grinned at her. "I thought you'd never ask." He pulled out a notebook and started flipping pages. "The team has been gone for a while, so it should be only a matter of days before they return, but we'll need supplies to carry us through. Food, water, everything to make us self-sustaining up there."
"They couldn't like turn up the heat and roast us out, could they?" Max asked.
"Nope, the whole building is smart-wired. No humans needed, and I seriously doubt anyone here knows how to change the temperature even one degree, let alone enough to make us sweat. Besides, the players are up there too, and they'll have to keep up appearances."
"About the players," Mary said. "They have nurses attending them. What are we going to do about them? Hold them at gunpoint?" Please say no, she prayed. That might just be her breaking point.
He thought for a minute. "I think I read somewhere that Nika chose the nurses herself. If that's true then we should be able to get them on our side. We'll take our evidence with us and convince them once the lockdown is secured."
"And if they don't convince easily?"
Les shrugged. "There are two nurses. One for the men and one for the ladies. And there are three of us. I think we can handle them. If you two can keep them busy for just a few minutes after the lockdown, it won't matter whether or not they are with us. I'm going to set it up to require a code to open the firewalls even from the inside."
"You are going to share this code, right?" Max asked.
Les hesitated. "I haven't decided yet. If I share the code, then you two will be just as guilty as me. If I keep it to myself, then the majority of the blame will rest with me. I'll be the one holding everyone, including the two of you hostage."
"You're giving us the code," Mary said. Max nodded, backing her up. "We do this, we do it together. Win or lose."
"So our job is basically to keep the nurses off your back while you set the codes?" Max asked.
"Yeah and help me gather up enough supplies to see us through. We don't want to start without being fully prepared for at least a week's stay. If the players don't return by then, well, then something has happened to them in-game." He hesitated. "If you wanted to keep someone in a game, could you do it?"
"Sure, if you had access to the game's code," Mary answered. "I mean all you'd have to do is crank up the end boss to be unbeatable. And, of course, make it to where the players couldn't simply log out."
She was quiet for a minute remembering the morning the team had gone into the game. Nika had set up monitors so that the employees could watch their game play. When Nika first appeared on the screen, in that extremely skimpy outfit, she hadn't looked happy at all. There was no audio available to hear what was being said, but Mary was pretty sure that at that moment if Nika could have logged out, she would have. Most likely to change outfits. Mary had played the game online, and she remembered the Amazon character class having a lot more clothing than Nika did.
"I'm pretty sure they can't log out," she said, putting a voice to her thoughts. "I mean can either of you see Nika agreeing to that costume design?"
The boys shook their heads. "Not really, now that you mention it. She was always rather shy and straight-laced."
"Exactly," Mary said. "I think she'd have logged out then and there if she could have." She hesitated. "Which is starting to make your crazy notion look a little less crazy, Les."
He nodded. "Plus, the people watching the screens right before they went dark said that Nika and the testers went off the map. I've been wondering why they did that. Now it makes sense if you think abo
ut it."
"She was heading to a back door," Mary said in awe.
"Yeah, and they upped the level of the coyotes in the area right in the middle of battle, too. Several people commented on that 'glitch'," Max said. "Sounds like it wasn't a glitch at all."
"That also explains why the screens went dark. Nika turned off the cameras so that VirTech wouldn't be able to see what they were up to." Mary was beginning to believe more and more that Les' plan had real merit.
"Okay," she said, pushing up the sleeves of her sweater. "What exactly do we need to stock up?" That would be the next hurdle to jump, as none of them had the extra funds to buy food and water that far in advance. And a week was a long time to go without.
"I've been surveying the kitchens while doing my rounds, and I think we can get everything we need right from there. The trick will be getting it up to the player's lounge area," Les grinned at Max. "That's where you and your wonder cart come in. We can load it down with as much food and water as it will carry and take it up in the elevator."
Mary thought a moment. "If I'm not mistaken, every floor has a small kitchen of its own. I don't think they are very well stocked, so we couldn't count on their having much food, but it might help out a bit."
Les nodded, thinking. "Does anyone from the main kitchen ever go up to stock them?"
"I'm not sure." Mary grinned. "But I'm thinking they will tonight."
"Right. So we load Max's cart down and you take up as much as you can on a stocking run. Make sure to grab things that we can eat pretty much straight out of the can or box. We don't want to have to worry about fixing meals or anything."
Especially if they couldn't get the nurses on their side.
Les knew her too well. Her expression must have given her away because he looked at her and then gathered her into a big bear hug. "Don't worry, Love," he said. "We can do this. Hell, together the three of us could do anything."
At least that's what she thought he said. Mary's brain pretty much shut down after he called her Love.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: An Unexpected NPC
Gaia's Rebirth Box Set Page 39