Science and Sorcery Box Set

by Ryan Tang

  The Paragon wore a heroic plumed helmet. A set of incredibly beautiful wings hung from the back. They were built of thousands of interlocked thrusters and made to look like a bird's wings rather than that of a machine's.

  His machine was stunning, but the design wasn't her concern.

  She was worried about the weapons.

  Stock was carrying a larger arsenal than an entire team could bring in a three-on-three competition.

  "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

  She'd been too distracted removing the Eternium bits to realize.

  This wasn't a team battle.

  This was a single combat match, and all weapon restrictions had been removed.

  A folded up rifle hung from Stock's right hip.

  At the moment, the deadly weapon was just a non-descript box, but Alex recognized the sight jutting out of the bottom. At its full length, the sniper cannon was the second most powerful weapon available in the simulator. The scoped weapon was a distant second to the ship's cannon in raw strength but made up for it with the relatively quick speed of fire. In the team battle format, a Paragon that used a sniper cannon couldn't carry any other weapons.

  But it was only the first weapon in Stock's arsenal.

  A pair of gleaming swords – one long and one short – were crossed samurai-style at his left hip.

  A pair of swinging revolvers was attached directly to his wrists. The elegant pivots could immediately bring the weapons straight to his hands. Two small shields curved out from the forearms.

  Obnoxiously large thrusters were attached to the arms, legs, and back of the torso, granting Stock's unit exceptional mobility.

  Stock jeered.

  "Typical! Typical! You are such an idiot! You think you have the right to tell me what to do with my money? You're such an idiot you can't even read the battle format! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"

  His ranted on and on, his voice rich with childish malice.

  Alex flicked the switch that turned off communications. The fight was already difficult. She didn't need Stock's insults distracting her further.

  Stock didn't shut up.

  "Mute me? You think you can mute me? I know everything about the simulator. That won't work on me. Try to mute me again. Won't work! Won't work!"

  He screamed so loudly Alex's ears felt like they'd burst.

  "I am the voice of god! You can't silence god!"

  He was such a stupid child. Undoubtedly, he was confident that his words couldn't be heard by the cameras outside.

  Stock went on and on. He guffawed and continued pounding away at his dashboard.

  He really shouldn't be doing that. It was terrible for his pod.

  "People are so sensitive these days! They make a mistake, you make fun of them about it, and then they'll try to mute you! Too bad! Can't silence god!"

  For just the briefest moment, Alex felt a hard knot of anxiety in her stomach.

  She was fighting for her co-workers.

  What if she let them all down with her mistake?

  But then the large gate opened, revealing a glimpse of the map outside. The familiar sight washed Alex's fear away.

  It was time to fight.

  She had no time to question herself.

  Alex only needed a single glimpse of the arid brown terrain.

  She immediately returned to her dashboard. Only one map was that color – Rocky Outpost.

  Alex knew all the stages as intimately as she knew the animals she'd drawn on her arms.

  Rocky Outpost was covered with rocks in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. The stones were tightly spaced in some areas and widely spread apart in others. There were all sorts of different structures, mirrored on each side for game balance purposes. Like most veteran simulator pilots, Alex had a name for all of them. Rocky Outpost was a very popular map.

  Beside the pelican and pirate hat rocks, there was one that looked like a shark's fin, a long and narrow one that vaguely resembled the Spire, and a precariously perched structure that looked like a leaping frog. The rock on the far side was a horse's head. Other arrangements looked like nothing in particular. Some of them were just rocks piled on top of each other. Others were simple boulders.

  "Ten."

  "Nine."

  "Eight."

  The numbers flashed on her screen.

  The cool voice of the countdown cut through Stock's blabbering.

  Alex's mind stilled.

  She still had time to make her unit stronger. Alex had always preferred team battles, but she was familiar with the rules of single combat.

  The loading dock behind her machine allowed for emergency adjustments during the countdown, a rule designed to reward pilots who knew how to adjust their strategies after seeing their opponent's designs and the revealed terrain. It was even possible to repaint your machine to camouflage against the background.

  Alex's fingers flew across the screen. She still had time to equip more weapons, but she had to be careful.

  Single combat machines were a wholehearted expression of a pilot's style. It took months if not years of fine-tuning to perfect their designs. Every adjustment had a cost. She couldn't just throw on weapons without considering the effect it'd have on her machine's speed.

  Alex added another pair of missile pods onto her shoulders, then a stowed a small pistol on the left side of her flight pack. She was still considering adding another lancer revolver when time ran out. She hastily tossed the extra weapon aside. It would be useful to have a backup, but the large gun would add a notable amount of weight, and she had no place to store it.

  The countdown ended.

  Her machine launched.

  The battle had begun.

  ____

  Alex carefully directed her launch so she'd appear behind the rock that looked like a pirate's hat. She knew the map well. The elongated shape provided more cover than any of the others.

  Stock fired, and the left brim of the hat immediately blew to pieces.

  Alex swore.

  He must have seen her land behind the rock.

  She thought her launch had been perfect.

  Alex traced where the shot had come from. Stock was likely hiding behind the shark fin's rock on his side. The cover there wasn't nearly as good. If she flanked successfully, she'd get the drop on him.

  All the weapons in the world wouldn't do him any good if she shot him right in the cockpit.

  Alex used the debris from the explosion to slide around the right side then leap towards the rock she fancied looked like a sitting pelican.

  Rocky Outpost was a fascinating map. Every duel was unique. The varied terrain allowed thoughtful pilots to choose the fight they wanted.

  Keep your distance and use the rocks for cover, and the match became a drawn-out sniper's duel, a battle of wits and information.

  Fight near cramped rocks, and you'd get a brutal close-ranged slugfest where neither combatant had room to give an inch - an all-out brawl just like her final clash against Dr. X on the night of the quakes.

  She couldn't get caught in a duel like that against Stock. The gap between their machines' close combat capabilities was simply too large. In spite of her flight pack, his wings granted him a massive advantage in side-to-side mobility. The gap in weaponry was a chasm.

  "I guess you're not as good as everyone thought! You don't even know the rules for single combat! Don't ever tell me what to do with my money ever again! You can't even figure out the right buttons to press on the simulator! How would you figure out the quakes?"

  Alex ignored him, furiously scanning the rocks for any hint of white or gold. Their flamboyant coats of paint stuck out like sore thumbs but both of them had been too proud to abandon their colors.

  It'd been the same with most of the old legendary pilots. They'd stubbornly stuck to their beloved signature colors no matter what terrain they fought on.

  The librarian saw a flicker of gold as she crept towards the opposite shark fin rock, but she held her fire. If she stood u
p now, she'd land the first shot. But his weapon was much more powerful, and the return fire might end their duel on the spot.

  She had to get closer.

  She had to wait for Stock to shoot again.

  As if on cue, he rose and fired.

  His gunfire obliterated the rock in front of her. She heard two more dull thumps as he fired for a second and third time. She twisted to the left then fell back into the dust, this time pivoting back around to the remains of the pirate hat.

  Her cover promptly exploded.

  "No escape! There's no escape from god!"

  What in the world was happening?

  She was only moving under the cover of breaking rocks.

  He shouldn't be able to see her.

  "Do you really think you can hide from me? Do you know who I am? I'm god!"

  Thump...Thump. Thump...Thump...

  Thump.

  The muted noises of the cannon echoed over and over again. The bullets flew out in an awkward and haphazard pattern. Stock was trying to half-trigger, but he wasn't good enough to do it consistently.

  Alex wove and ducked behind the rocks, but no matter where she went, he knew exactly where to fire.

  She dove behind the leaping frog, twisting her body to match the bizarre shape, a maneuver she'd practiced countless times. Her hands tensed as she carefully hoovered behind it. There was no way he'd find her here. Nobody was dumb enough to try and hide behind the frog.

  She'd stay there then ambush him when he was least expecting it, just as she'd done to countless better pilots.

  The frog promptly shattered to bits.

  Alex cursed.

  She was just a sitting duck.

  Before long, there were no rocks left on her side of the battlefield.

  Stock laughed and laughed.

  "You should have known better than to fight against god!"

  He fired again and again, but she easily dodged the attacks. The shots whizzed past her, so far from hitting that she didn't even feel the usual heat.

  Alex's mouth curled with distaste as she realized the truth.

  She'd fought cheaters before.

  Out in the open, Stock had no chance of hitting her. His aim was god awful. He could only shoot when he knew where she was going to be.

  He must have been using some sort of cheat to find her behind cover. It'd been the same thing when he stopped her from muting him.

  For Stock, this wasn't much of a sniper duel at all, but Alex could still abide by those principles.

  She needed to draw him out and destroy him.

  Alex wove back and forth, her left hand tight against the trigger as she danced across the skies, avoiding every shot sent her way.

  She just needed a single shot to remove his advantage.

  Stock didn't even bother staying hidden.

  The cannon continued thumping relentlessly in his arm. His attacks were sloppy and disorganized. If they'd been fighting with equally matched Paragons, this wouldn't have been a contest.

  He snarled in frustration.

  "Give up! Just give up! Maybe I'll be merciful if you give up!"

  He continued shooting and missing, growing angrier with every shot.

  He was unmistakably playing on maximum sensitivity.

  His gun waved uncontrollably back and forth. With each miss, Alex drew a little closer, like a shark circling wounded prey.

  "I'll kill you! I'll kill you! Who do you think you are? I'm god! I'm god!"

  She was in range.

  Alex moved the stick that controlled her rifle arm precisely half an inch to the left. She fired twice while spinning gracefully to the right, just in case of a counterattack that never came.

  Stock didn't realize what was happening until far too late.

  She half-triggered and managed to squeeze out a third shot.

  The first shot went straight through the barrel, destroying the cannon just as he was preparing to shoot again. The gun exploded violently in his hand. His machine took two stumbling steps back, just as Alex predicted.

  Her second and third shots went straight through the cockpit.

  Stock's scream of impotent rage echoed through the speakers.

  Alex burst into laughter as she felt another surge of pleasant heat. The Eternium on the floor flickered a brilliant blue.

  Stock was so angry that he was just screaming and cursing incoherently, a stream of words that never ended. He called her a dumb bitch, a cheater, a fake fan, and a walking corpse. He promised to kill her and stomp her to pieces. He said she would never pilot a real Paragon.

  Alex frowned as the words washed over her.

  His machine should have been destroyed already.

  Why hadn't he shut up yet?

  Maybe her shots hadn't gone through the cockpit.

  Alex coolly fired a salvo of missiles from her left shoulder, arcing them around Stock's cover. Moments later, she followed it up with a round from her right shoulder.

  There was a massive explosion, but Stock didn't stop talking.

  The victory screen did not appear.

  Stock's voice echoed through the library.

  "Allen. Stop filming. Just get the victory screen at the end. We'll edit something in tomorrow."

  There was a tremendous crash. Her pod shook almost as severely as it did during the quakes.

  She almost banged her head against the ceiling.

  Alex swore and clenched her teeth.

  What the hell just happened?

  She stared at the screen and screamed.

  What the hell was she seeing?

  Stock's machine rose again, a horror of flesh and metal and bones.

  CHAPTER 23: THE COMPANY MAN

  He didn't dare take a Paragon. Instead, he drove a tiny little transport. The small helicopter-like machine wasn't meant to be piloted on its own. It was simply a maintenance vehicle for Paragons. He'd used it to paint Jared's machine, the amazing hunchbacked creation that had caused their family so many problems.

  Stock would laugh when he saw Zach flying in with a tiny transport, but that was for the best. He needed the boss in a good mood.

  Besides, the flight to headquarters was so short he could have walked there.

  The gate opened automatically as soon as he arrived.

  His card buzzed in his pocket.

  Zach wasn't surprised it still worked.

  Stock was always dashing from one idea to another. He had no time for security. It was why despite spending almost a third of its budget on armed guards, the company fell time and time again to corporate espionage. It seemed like a new crime happened every two months.

  Zach had no doubt someone had already warned the Director about the risk of letting the former board members keep their cards, but that was the sort of thing Stock always derided as boring. Zach had given up on security concerns a long time ago. Developing a reputation as the boring security guy was a good way to get fired.

  He paused before entering the gate.

  The Director wouldn't be happy to see him.

  Zach sighed and shook his head.

  He had to do it for Jared.

  It was his only chance.

  The sky continued raging against his son, replaying the Scholar's angry discussion from earlier. The insults didn't stop for even a moment until Zach blissfully stepped inside the hangar.

  What a disaster.

  He reread his son's brief apology and grimaced.

  Zach understood where Jared's urgency. He'd been shocked by the ruins too. They were so much worse than what he'd imagined.

  But to criticize Stock so directly?

  To put it up on the Forums where everyone could see it?

  What could have inspired him to do something so reckless?

  It was a problem with how Zach had raised him.

  Jared was a good person, a strong person, a smart person. He'd only built the Hands Paragon due to his diligence and ingenuity. He created a machine to help others because of his kindness.
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  Zach only had one complaint.

  Jared wasn't very careful with his money.

  Zach moved to Plenty with nothing, so he checked how much he had every single day.

  He knew what it was like to have nothing at all.

  That was why, more than anything else, Zach wanted to have so much money he never had to worry about it. He wanted to provide not just for himself and Adrienne, but for Jared and his future family, and for all their descendants after that.

  Jared hadn't been born into wealth, but he certainly was born into a background better than Zach. He had every toy he wanted growing up. As soon as he became an adult, he'd immediately been hired to a great job with Southern Robotics.

  Jared didn't understand why losing money was a big deal. He couldn't see the big picture and how it all added up. He didn't know what it was like to have nothing at all.

  Zach should have raised his son more frugally.

  He should have raised him to be more careful about the downside.

  This was about more than the simulator tournament. It was about Jared's whole career.

  The tournament was a chance to make life-changing money.

  But Stock's power extended further than that. He could use his ties at other companies to keep Jared from getting a job.

  Not hitting the jackpot of winning the simulator tournament was one thing. Never being able to make a living again as an engineer was quite another.

  All of his son's brilliance would go to waste!

  Zach landed in a nearly empty hangar.

  Stock had fired the entire Inner Circle, and very few other Southern Robotics workers - not even the lower rank engineers - could afford Paragons of their own. He saw Duncan's indigo and white machine parked in the far corner. The once heroic colors were heavily coated in dust. Just as George said, Duncan hadn't left since signing his contract.

  As Zach walked through the lot, he was surprised to see all ten of the massive communal transports smothered in dust. Several of them even had nasty cracks running along their sides. Zach took a closer look.

  The large bus-like machines brought workers in from the lower Blocks. Stock had ceaselessly tried turning them into giant Paragons, but no matter how hard the engineers worked, they couldn't balance the tremendous weight. It took three fatal accidents before the Director finally relented.