Core Punk

by Paul Bellow

“My high leadership score is giving me hints now.”

  “Oh? What’s it telling you to do?”

  “Know when to take a gamble…”

  “You can have this shelter and everything in it,” Orlando said. “None of it compares to what the nomads have discovered in the mountains.”

  “We already have control of this shelter,” Harrison noted.

  I took a deep breath, hating the amount of tension in the air.

  “Okay, this is what we’re doing,” I said, taking charge. “You will give me control of the shelter and tell your men to follow me. Can you do that?”

  “Anything,” Orlando said, lowering his arms. “Just let me live. I’m too close.”

  “Too close to what?” Harrison barked.

  “I can’t tell you yet, but it’s good for all of us.”

  “Hand over control. Now.” I waited to see what he would do.

  Do you wish to assume control of Shelter 101x? [Y/n]

  I mentally hit yes and assumed control of the shelter.

  “Where’s Missy?” I asked, still not happy.

  Orlando sighed, looking like he hadn’t slept in days.

  “She’s somewhere,” he said, glancing around wide-eyed. “There isn’t any time. I need to go. Can I go now?”

  “Where are you going?” Harrison asked.

  “The mountains. I need an enviro-suit and a few supplies. You can have the rest.”

  I glanced at Harrison. He shrugged.

  “Fine,” I said. “You can go, but if you come back or try to harm us…”

  I stopped talking to make the threat more mysterious. Orlando smiled.

  “This is good,” he said. “I might help you and the rest of us soon.”

  “Uh huh.” I nodded, feeling sorry for him.

  Orlando turned and walked toward the decontamination room.

  “I’m not so sure about letting him go,” Harrison said.

  “Me either, but he gave up willingly. He’s probably high out of his mind. Let him wander in the mountains for a bit. The weather or mutants will kill him soon enough. Let’s go find Missy.”

  I called up a map for the shelter, going through the list of people until I found her location.

  “Two floors down,” I said. “Let’s go.”

  I turned to head back to the elevators. Harrison followed me while Skinner and the others stayed behind. All I cared about was getting to Missy. If Orlando had done anything to her, I would go back outside and hunt him down myself.

  As we reached the elevator, I pressed the call button while checking the map for Missy’s location. She was heading down to the lowest floor of the shelter.

  Scout: Missy, can you hear me?

  No answer. I punched the button a few more times.

  “That’s not helping,” Harrison said. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

  “We’ve never been apart this long,” I said. “Not since we found each other.”

  Scout: Merlin, are you still on the 12th level?

  Again, no answer. I sighed while we waited for the elevator to return. When it arrived and the door slid open, I rushed inside, barely giving Harrison enough time to enter before jamming the button for the bottom floor with my thumb.

  “Is Merlin answering you?” I asked.

  Harrison shook his head. “Not a peep.”

  “I’m not seeing him on the map of the shelter,” I said. “Missy is on the bottom level. Is she talking with him? They better not take off!”

  Harrison placed one of his thick hands on my shoulder and squeezed.

  “Relax,” he said. “Deep breaths.”

  He didn’t understand. I could act as tough as I wanted, but in the game world, women were nothing more than property of whoever controlled the shelter. Fighting back against the patriarchy would’ve made my life even worse, so I’d kept my head low for months. I thought back to first approaching Harrison about improving my status in the game.

  The elevator dinged and the door slid open. I rushed out, pistol drawn and raised, ready to fire. As I ran down the hallway toward the hangar, I glimpsed Merlin. Why wasn’t he answering me on the comms? I slowed as I reached the end of the hall and the hangar. Missy turned and smiled. Something about her was different, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I walked toward her and Merlin with Harrison behind me.

  “You scared me,” I said. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she replied, startling me. “In fact, I’ve never been better thanks to Merlin.”

  “She sounds smarter,” Harrison said.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Merlin’s been helping me,” she said, still smiling.

  “What do you mean?” I continued.

  “He’s been busy helping me work through my mental problems. I’m better now.”

  “That’s why I was away so long,” Merlin said. “She’s important to my plan too.”

  “She’s talking different, that’s for sure,” Harrison said.

  “I remember the real world now too.” Missy kept smiling. “Just like you.”

  “That’s nice…” I turned to the intelligent machine. “Can you explain, please?”“While away from you, I perfected the procedure to restore memories,” Merlin said. “Now that the test on Missy is complete, I can further develop a better way to restore memories.”

  “You restored all her memories?”

  “Not all of them, but they will return in time.”

  “Want the even better news?” Missy asked. “I can control my psionics.”

  She smiled as I heard her voice in my mind.

  “Get out!” I exclaimed, placing a hand on my head as if I could stop it.

  “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just communication, not reading your thoughts.”

  “You better not read my mind,” I chided.

  Instead of frowning and looking down, her eyes narrowed.

  “This is all good news,” I said. “Can you restore other memories, Merlin? Like mine?”

  “I believe so,” he replied. “There’s a ninety-nine percent chance of success, so the process won’t work with everyone. As I started as a simple utility program, I’ve had to increase my powers to interface with players’ minds through the simulation software and bypass the hacks someone made to the code. Don’t worry, the procedure only hurts for a few seconds.”

  “You’re not messing with my brain,” Harrison said.

  “I want all my memories back,” I insisted.

  While in normal circumstances, I would have been more hesitant to give a software utility in a system that had me trapped easy access to my mind, but desperate times called for extreme measures. If I had all my memories, I might find more answers. Harrison continued shaking his head.

  “Come on,” I said. “The more we know, the better the chance of us getting out of here.”

  “I need to go,” Merlin said.

  “What?” I turned toward the machine. “You’re not staying? I just got back control of this shelter.”

  “Yes,” Merlin said. “I have other tasks I need to complete with your permission.”

  “Can you give me my memory back first?” I asked.

  “No time,” Merlin said.

  Missy put her hand on my arm. “I’ll fill you in.”

  Her new personality was still throwing me for a loop.

  “I need answers,” I insisted.

  “You’ll know more soon,” Merlin promised. “I’ll close the tunnel after I leave.”

  The three of us stepped back as the boring machine turned to face the tunnel in the hangar wall. I watched as it disappeared, nanites rebuilding the wall behind it. Missy moved her hand away, causing me to glance at her. She kept smiling.

  “I’ve got so much to tell you,” she said.

  “While you two catch up, I’m going upstairs,” Harrison said. “We should secure this and the other shelter. Can you contact anyone at the other shelter?”

  “Yes,” I said, nodding. “That and so muc
h more.”

  Harrison grunted then turned to leave as I went over the new game commands on my HUD.

  “Sorry,” I said. “There’s so much information to process.”

  “It’s okay,” Missy said.

  Had she learned empathy?

  I wiped away the game screens and stepped toward her. We hugged tightly, neither of us saying a word for a few long moments. She pulled away first.

  “Do you remember pizza?” she asked. “And milkshakes?”

  “Oh, yes!” I said, rubbing my hands together. “Come on, we have a lot of work to do. I want you to tell me everything you remember.”

  “That’s a lot,” Missy said, chuckling.

  “We have time,” I said. “We’re safe here, at least for now.”

  My high leadership skill allowed me to keep morale high while pushing everyone to their mental and physical limits.

  Chapter 22

  A week later, the future appeared bright, or at least a bit brighter than it had before. Most of Orlando’s people accepted me as their leader. Between the two shelters, I ruled just over a thousand people. While Merlin still hadn’t shown up, I focused on learning all the abilities that came with the experimental shelter. I’d played with them before, but I wanted to ensure I had the best chance of hanging onto power by doing a good job.

  Two hundred people stayed in the old shelter to keep it going, a skeleton crew. All the rest were happily working in the newer experimental shelter. I spent more than a couple hours coming up with an assignment list that made the most sense for my goals. After splitting my people to give myself the maximum amount of RP with no one dying, I went over the list.

  Engineers

  500

  Soldiers

  100

  Cooks

  10

  Cleaners

  60

  Teachers

  10

  Fixers

  50

  Trashers

  20

  Children

  98

  Farmers

  100

  Makers

  100

  Fishers

  35

  Healers

  15

  Total Population

  1098

  The five hundred engineers gave me fifty RP per day, enough to quickly reach my goal of researching Robotics I. With mechanical help, I could increase production and eventually research to get the next level of robotics mastered. Once I hit critical mass with a mechanized workforce, I could really ramp things up.

  Basic Weapons (UNLOCKED)

  Adv Weapons (1000 RP)

  AI Weapons (5000 RP)

  Basic Turrets (UNLOCKED)

  Adv Turrets (1000 RP)

  AI Turrets (5000 RP)

  Robotics I (500 RP)

  Robotics II (5000 RP)

  Robotics III (5000 RP)

  Transportation I (UNLOCKED)

  Transportation II (UNLOCKED)

  Transportation III (5000 RP)

  Basic Food (UNLOCKED)

  Micro-Crops (500 RP)

  Nano-Food (5000 RP)

  Basic Energy (UNLOCKED)

  Adv Geothermal (500 RP)

  Fission Drive (5000 RP)

  Basic Resources (UNLOCKED)

  Adv Mining (1000 BP)

  Matter Generator (50000 RP)

  Basic Shield (100 RP)

  Adv Shields (1000 RP)

  AI Shields (10000 RP)

  Basic Military (UNLOCKED)

  Adv Military (1000 RP)

  AI Assisted (10000 RP)

  Basic Transportation (100 RP)

  Mass Transit (5000 RP)

  Teleport Gates (50000 RP)

  While most people might go for shields or something else to protect against future threats, I pursued Robotics I. The first tier of robots could only be used for BP, but by using them to replace human workers, I’d have more people to put on engineering to get more RP. At the second tier of robotics, every robot I created would generate ten RP on their own. By maximizing my efforts to increase robotics, my ability to research and create would go up exponentially.

  Fifty RP a day wasn’t enough. It would take ten days to research and unlock Basic Robotics even with five hundred people working to solve the problem. To get more people, I reached out to nearby shelters and offer them a deal. The vitriol I received from most of the other leaders shocked me. Of the half-dozen nearby, one agreed to talk with me. Adam wasn’t the brightest, but I saw a sincerity in his eyes as I looked at him on a view screen.

  “Make it quick,” he said. “We’ve got problems here.”

  “That’s why I’m reaching out,” I said. “We can help each other.”

  “Who are you?” he asked, not waiting for an answer. “You’re that troublemaker, aren’t you? The one who deposed Orlando.”

  “I’m who I need to be,” I said. “Will help us or not? I’ve got others interested.”

  He had no way of knowing I was lying. Most of the other shelters didn’t talk to each other, all of them intent on becoming the biggest and best shelter on their own.

  “I need more specifics,” he said. “Can you send food now?”

  “Hold on,” I said.

  While I already knew I had a surplus of food, I didn’t want him to think it was too easy of a decision and get jealous of my resources.

  “I can spare a few days’ worth for five hundred,” I said. “This is that important.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “Are you serious? You have that much surplus?”

  “I’ve made advances in robotics,” I said, grinning.

  He furrowed his brow and nodded his head, staying silent a moment.

  “Send the food, and I’ll send you two hundred adults and fifty children. You’re feeding them while they work for you, right?”

  “Of course,” I said. “We don’t want the children. Ours are learning instead of working.”

  “What the hell do you have going on over there?” he asked.

  “Good things. You should come visit sometime.”

  “I’ll wait for the food,” he said. “Be quick. We’re starving because of some malfunctions.”

  “Do you need spare parts or anything?” I asked.

  He took a deep breath. “You’re screwing with me, aren’t you?”

  “No,” I insisted. “This shelter is different, and I’m willing to share the benefits of that with you and your people if you work with us.”

  “I could take it from you if I wanted.”

  “You could try,” I said. “Do you have five hundred armed and trained men available?”

  He had no way of knowing I’d put most of my people on research duties. The people he sent would fall in love with our way of life right away and not share my secrets with Adam. I stared into his eyes, only occasionally blinking.

  “Alright,” he said. “I’ll be waiting.”

  “We’re sending out a team today. They should reach you tomorrow by nightfall. Please have your people ready to leave.”

  “Just make sure you have the food.”

  He leaned forward and hit a switch, causing his image to disappear. If he tried taking the food without sending people back to my shelter, I’d give him a surprise he wouldn’t forget. Both sleds of food had an explosive charge on the bottom. I could set either of them off with the press of a button. While I didn’t want to use them, I couldn’t let him screw me over.

  After ordering a manager to load two sleds topside with pallets of food, I pulled up the menu to create new items. Ten BP per day wasn’t a ton, but it would increase as soon as I unlocked Robotics I and built bots. At that point, I could also give them other mundane tasks to put more people onto researching Robotics II.

  Create -> Weapon -> Plasma Rifle (1 BP) x10 = 10 BP.

  The makers would begin work on the ten new rifles as soon as they finished whatever orders they had in their work-queues. I could have made the plasma weapons a priority if I wanted, but I didn’t need them
right away. Over the last few weeks, I’d built up an impressive armory. Almost all my engineers had been soldiers at one point, so they still had battle skills if I needed them to fight. All they needed was small arms and armor.

  I’d thought about waiting on basic robotics to go for advanced weapons which would allow me to create heavier weapons, but I stuck with my plan to increase both my BP and RP. After staring at the data for a few more seconds, I wiped the screen away with a flick of my wrist. As soon as the two hundred adults arrived, I would assign them as engineers, giving me an additional twenty RP per day. The research was all pouring into Robotics I.

  * * * * *

  A week later, when I finished researching the first tier of robotics, I immediately checked the cost of creating a basic labor android.

  Create -> Basic Labor Android (300 BP)

  Ugh! So much BP! I switched three hundred engineers to makers.

  Engineers

  200

  Makers

  400

  I needed to use what little engineers I could spare to research Robotics II. The achievement would take over half a year, but once unlocked, I’d be able to scale up and dominate. The other shelters wouldn’t be able to compare with me at that point. During that time, I would keep constructing builder robots that would gradually increase my Build Power.

  According to the game mechanics, it would take four hundred people over a week to construct a single basic labor robot. The BP would go down considerably once I had a few robots adding their BP to my daily total. Once I finished researching Robotics II, I could build second generation robots that added BP and RP to my daily total. So many decisions to make!

  Being a leader wasn’t easy, but I had to keep going. With enough power, I could search for answers about why everyone’s memory had been erased. As I stared at the roster, I changed my mind again. Sighing, I switched the three hundred people back to engineers to get Robotics II faster. Even with five hundred people working a daily shift, it would take me just under a hundred days. At that point, though, each advanced android I created would tremendously increase my RP and BP.