I was prepared to agree with her there. Fox had a massive amount of extremely high-value information about space, alien races, politics, history, weapons and technologies. If I let our scientists interview her, technological breakthroughs of all kinds were a virtual certainty! What was more, she knew all the main languages of the galaxy and could help anyone who wanted to study them. And that was to say nothing of the most obvious application. Having a combat character over level 279 on our side would be very, very helpful in fighting back the Dark Faction! And though that didn’t guarantee victory in the skirmish, it was a significant leg up!
I didn’t have to say anything. Fox could sense my choice, and she smiled happily:
“You won’t regret that, Gerd Gnat. I have lots to offer in return for a ticket to your planet and temporary sanctuary.”
“Fox, was that baggage overage your doing?”
“Yes.” She didn’t deny it. “I needed to add some personal items: equipment for special missions, my weapon, various pharmaceuticals...”
“The tail of the incarnation of the Great First Female...” I added, and the smile instantly crawled off Fox’s face.
Danger Sense skill increased to level twenty-eight!
“Yes, the tail as well,” Fox confirmed, now extremely serious and agitated. She extended the razor-sharp claws of her front paws as if in passing. “Alright, I’ll tell you about my mission, then we’ll never speak of it again, cool?”
I nodded in silence, knowing that I didn’t have much of a choice.
“Alright then. Now listen. The background of all this is so confusing that I don’t even know who’s really behind it myself. But let me assure you that you and your race were never at risk. Every truly influential political player could see clearly that this was too high-level for you, at the very least at this stage in your society’s development. Everything the Truth Seekers allowed you to know during the conversation was the truth. Four Meleyephatians entered the cafe, but just three came out. The Miyelonians missed one fairly significant detail, though. Only three Meleyephatians left the starship in the first place! As ordered, I met up with them on the station, made friends and shared a meal in the cafe. There we talked for a bit and parted ways. They went back to their trading, and I got back to my mission, which is when I saw you...”
“So, Fox, you’re saying it was not a failed Meleyephatian plot to frame the Geckho, but that the Meleyephatians were also framed?! By who?”
“Now that I do not know. And even if I had that information, I wouldn’t admit it. But the tail... well, that was a personal touch. I was only ordered to publicly murder the incarnation of the Great First Female. But now, whoever this trophy turns up with will be automatically declared an enemy of the Miyelonians, and that is sure to start a great war!!!”
* * *
THE FUNNIEST THING was that I did manage to fall asleep. Heck, despite the three space pirates just behind the barricade and the deadly monster at arm’s length, I woke up decently rested. Clearly, the last day had left me physically and emotionally sapped. The arrest, interrogation, psionic probing, all the stress of making purchases and finagling the pirate starship...
After opening my eyes, I discovered that Fox, in the form of the orange Miyelonian Translator, was asleep in my bed spooning me, while Tini was keeping watch with the plasma assault rifle, already having slept off his distemper. I wondered where the kitten got that weapon. Actually, it was a familiar model. I had bought basically that same kind of rifle for my faction. One glance through the open door into the cargo hold was enough to line these facts up.
“Tini, you’ll have to put the gun back into the box before we land, along with whatever else you pilfered. It would be fine if they were my things, but my faction has a list and they’re going to check to see it’s all there.”
The Miyelonian teenager took some time to answer, standing for some time with his mouth slightly open, about to disagree with my order or clarify some aspect, but eventually he just relented:
“As you wish, Gerd Gnat. It’s not like I have the skills to use this thing well anyway.”
I sat up on the cot, carefully running my hand over the sleeping Ayni’s smooth well-groomed fur (she could faithfully imitate textures when she wanted to!). Then I put my legs on the metal floor and checked my inventory. With the Thief around, I had to always be cautious and keep one eye on my bags. But everything was in the right place, which reflected positively on my companion. I had a dried ration for breakfast and fed my kitten to his satisfaction, then suggested that we put our free time to good use:
“Where we’re going, the average level is about double yours. So you’ll have to train and study hard to catch up if you want to survive. Does that scare you?”
“Of course it does,” said the Miyelonian teen, “but it will still be more fun than collecting specks of experience on the space station by stealing and constantly getting slapped around. In my first twenty days in the game, I leveled up just seventeen times and died four times a day. With you, I’ve grown eleven levels in two days without dying once! So, Master Gnat, for now I am very happy with my change in fortune!”
We spent the next few hours training. In the small cramped room, Tini was trying to dodge the robot loader, which I was controlling with a remote left by the Supercargo. I was trying to catch the nimble Thief, but he was so quick he could walk on walls.
“Master Gnat, my Agility just grew to twenty!” To say that, the panting level-thirty Thief stopped for just half a second, his claws latched into a ventilation grate on the ceiling. Unfortunately for him, the spry adolescent stopped long enough to catch him in the loader claw.
“Got you! Caught again!”
Agility increased to 17.
Machine Control skill increased to level seven!
Electronics skill increased to level thirty-nine!
Finally, Agility went up by one, the last of my stats to do so. And that was somewhat strange because I always used to prefer classes with high Agility — archers, rangers, assassins, thieves and so forth. Here though, the Prospector class and my gameplay style required Perception and Intelligence more, so my Agility was lagging.
The kitten, after flailing in the robot loader’s claw and quickly realizing it was no use, asked me to let him go and at the same time begged for a break. To be honest, I was also tired after two hours driving the loader, so I threw the control away with satisfaction and plopped back on the bed, accidentally hitting the sleeping Translator’s leg, which I couldn’t see under the covers.
“Let me sleep, you fiends! I’ve been awake for almost two ummi because of you!” Ayni grumbled unhappily, turning toward the wall.
I mumbled a few words of apology and started looking for something quiet to do, for example level Psionic. But who to train it on? Tini’s Intelligence, as he himself told me, was just fifteen. That was the minimum for the Thief class and Break-in skill. With my twenty-six, I had a 100% chance of reading the juvenile’s thoughts and taking the kitten under my control. I even tried during our two-hour practice and realized it didn’t level the skill at all, just wasted Magic Points. But who else was there? The sleeping Morphian?
Trying to relax and abstract myself from the world, I sat and looked at the sleeping bushy-tailed Translator. Nothing happened for a long time. Was it because we weren’t making eye contact? But I managed to read Tini’s thoughts regardless of whether I could see his eyes or not. I tried a number of times before I was suddenly washed over with a flood of alien thoughts:
“I haven’t seen Qitir for a long time... Eighteen years have passed since our last encounter, if not more... And Amiray won’t answer my requests. But she grew tired of this life long ago and was on the verge of a breakdown. Maybe she took a risk and went into the real world? Most likely... And the clutch on Oruvan III was destroyed... Who could have known about it? Maybe it was an inside job... If we allow the blackmailers to destroy our offspring on the captured starship, it would seem wise old Vaa and I are t
wo of the last of us in the Universe... Also, I don’t know if Vaa will even wake up after such a long nap. I mean, two hundred years in suspended animation... Although, the planet we’re flying to should be good enough to get her back to normal...”
Action terminated. Magic Points exhausted.
Psionic skill increased to level eighteen!
Psionic skill increased to level nineteen!
An endless wave of impenetrable sorrow and impending doom rolled over me. I fell back and could barely remain sitting on the cot. Then, I sat up more comfortably and... met with the cold attentive eyes of the Morphian who had clearly finished getting her beauty sleep.
“Gnat, do you grow tired of living?” Fox asked in Miyelonian, clearly flustered. And the curious Tini instantly jumped in asking what Gnat had done to make Ayni so mad?
I had to squirm out of it, inventing a believable story:
“I thought Ayni was asleep and looked into her inventory just out of curiosity. But I know I shouldn’t...”
“Exactly, you shouldn’t do that! And if you do anything like it again, I’ll bite your head off! I’m not joking!”
I apologized again and, for some reason, Tini started looking embarrassed, or seemingly even afraid.
We spent the next few hours between intensive training and breaks. Ayni taught Tini mastery of blades, while I tried to fix the now broken robot loader, leveling my Electronics and Machine Control skills. The repair took me an ummi and a half. A few times, I was ready to say to hell with it and give up, but then I realized that, without it, unloading the containers and exchanging the platinum would take far too long, maybe even long enough to kill the deal. And I eventually succeeded. The robot came back to life and, as a pleasant bonus, I got two new levels in Electronics and three in Machine Control!
Just an hour before we landed, when Captain Rikki told us from behind the armored barrier that he could see my planet, I asked about payment. I really did not want to have to hassle the faction for my share of the crystals later or put up with untrusting allies questioning my very right to the money. So, I made what I thought was a reasonable suggestion: he would pay me a million crystals before landing — i.e. approximately the amount I spent on faction supplies.
But that seemingly trifling request was met with unexpectedly serious resistance. Captain Rikki refused outright, referring to the fact that we had not agreed to do so in advance. He also repeated that he would not open the barrier before landing due to safety concerns, and that he had not yet seen the platinum firsthand.
“Perfect time for you to practice Psionic,” Ayni whispered to me in Geckho, and I realized I had no other way to change the stubborn captain’s mind.
My Magic Points had replenished, so there was just one small thing missing. I needed to see my target in some way. I activated Scanning and saw three markers. On the mini-map, I determined which pirate was which. I wanted the captain. There he was, in the middle seat.
No one had ever taught me this, but for some incomprehensible reason, I planted my feet at shoulder width apart, put my left hand behind my back, clenched my right hand into a fist and aimed it at Rikki. Come on, work!
“I really don’t want more problems with these passengers. Gnat has connections with influential Pride leaders and even Truth Seekers. I’d better pay up right now and give him the down payment of one million crystals, or I might have to pay for it later. His cargo can serve as a guarantee. About a million is what it’s worth, so I don’t stand to lose a thing.”
No luck! For some reason, the pirate captain either didn’t want to or couldn’t even bring himself to do what I suggested. I immediately realized that some part of it was impossible. But I couldn’t tell what. Was he afraid to open the divider? Did he not have enough crystals? Close, but no cigar...
My Magic Points were quickly running out, but I still didn’t have what I wanted. So, I made one last desperate attempt, slightly adjusting my suggestion:
“I hope Gnat agrees to be paid in crypto. That is safe and reliable, and I could make the payment without raising the divider.”
Action terminated. Magic Points exhausted.
I heard the captain’s muffled voice on the other side of the barrier:
“Gerd Gnat, what if I pay you in crypto? That’d be one hundred forty-three thousand, according to the exchange rate!”
Score! It worked!!!
Psionic skill increased to level twenty!
Psionic skill increased to level twenty-one!
Mental Fortitude skill increased to level seventeen!
My wallet vibrated, confirming a change in balance. Just then, Captain Rikki said we were coming in for a landing.
Chapter Twenty-Five. Rendezvous on Centaur Plateau
I WAS FEELING like garbage when we landed! I had never had any problems with motion-sickness before, neither in the real world or any virtual one. Here in the game, of course, there were fairly light G forces when the Shiamiru took off, or Captain Uraz Tukhsh made harsh landings, but that was easy to tolerate, and had a sensible explanation. When landing at our space port, the heavy Geckho cargo shuttle simply fell from the atmosphere like a brick to the bottom of a pond. Sure we lost speed a bit faster than recommended, but it was all fairly smooth...
Now, though, I was feeling the joy of entering the atmosphere in a small delicate interceptor for the first time. The unsteady ship was shaking and spinning so much that, at times, it seemed it might break into pieces. But worst of all was a maddening whistling sound that made me clench my teeth so hard I heard crunching. It was as if someone was peeling the armor off the exterior with a huge cheese grater. I had never experienced anything like that before. Maybe, the Shiamiru’s forcefield muffled these sounds, or maybe it simply had thicker walls.
I clenched my white fingers into the seat and only barely held back the urge to vomit. No matter how I tried to steel my nerves, I found it physically impossible to get used to! I started to think that, after another minute or two, I would lose some Authority by spilling the contents of my stomach all over the ship.
The kitten was nauseated too. He was doing just as bad as me. Ayni was the only one of us that looked okay. She was smiling and even trying to cheer us up. I only then realized why the constantly hungry Morphian refused to eat with us earlier. It probably had Constitution as a main stat as well, though, so it was having an easier time... Wait! If I needed more Constitution, I could fix that!
To the surprised gazes of my companions, I stood up on my shaky legs and headed into the cargo hold. Which one of these containers had the “magical” rings? Fortunately, I didn’t have to look for long. I set the Intelligence rings in my inventory, and instead put on two +1 Constitution bands. And it worked! Everything became much easier, and soon the torture was over. The shaking gradually stopped, and the speed of the starship fell to bearable. What was more, the mind-melting squealing finally finished. We had no portholes in the back, so the only signs we had landed were a barely perceptible bump and the thrusters going quiet.
“There are some people waiting here,” Captain Rikki’s voice rang out. “Gnat, I think they’re your faction. Go out and look. Are those your friends?”
The central part of the starship floor lowered with a light hiss, turning into an angled gangway. The cold, overly filtered and sterilized air rushed out and the ship was flooded with fresh, floral and vaguely salty aromas. I only then realized how badly I missed that the last few days! With my companions, I went down the gangway and saw diplomat Ivan Lozovsky accompanied by Imran and the vigilant armed guards of the First Legion. My people!
And they recognized me, too. Not ashamed at the outburst of emotion, my allies ran up to embrace me and shake my hand. Anya was among them and, with a joyful cry, she threw herself around my neck and sank into my lips with a passionate kiss. Based on the flood of elated remarks and fragmentary sentences, I realized the whole faction already knew about my misadventures on the pirate station. As it turned out, our Journalist had written a b
ulletin about it. Prospector Gnat, not understanding a single word of Miyelonian, was left totally alone in a treacherous and far-away place teeming with malicious and bloodthirsty pirates! Seemingly, up to the very last moment, my allies didn’t believe I could get out of this scrape and return home. The big First Legion guys slapped me on the shoulder and couldn’t hide their tears of joy.
Mental Fortitude skill increased to level eighteen!
A mental attack?! But from where??? Not stopping my kiss with Anya, I tried to figure out what just happened. Maybe the Morphian had scanned my feelings to better understand humans? Or was the game system alerting me to the blonde beauty’s secret desire to make me her own? It was probably that, because her next words were in that vein.
“Say what you want, Gnat, but tonight I’m gonna swing by your room,” she stated matter-of-factly, utterly not embarrassed that others might hear.
Authority increased to 15!
Finally, the greetings came to an end, and we got to business.
“What about the platinum?” I asked Lozovsky with alarm, and the deputy director assured me it was ready.
“But I have to admit that we barely managed! The last bars were brought into the game literally an hour ago. We had one newbie who, despite all the instructions and practice, was dumb enough to get lost in the Labyrinth! It took him two and a half hours to get out! He’s a Priest by profession. He says he spent too much time thinking about his place in the game world and lost track of time.”
“A Priest??? How’d we get someone like that in our faction?!” I chuckled, to which the diplomat told me it was Radugin’s idea. The faction leader figured that since our Paladin, in essence half warrior and half priest, was capable of defending against enemy magic, we needed to try and bring a few people into our faction from the spiritual realm. So the last batch of newbie had two of them come through the Labyrinth. One was an old imam from Kazan who enjoyed great respect in the Muslim world. And the other was an Orthodox monk from the Solovetsky Monastery. And both of them chose the same class: Priest. In the next few days, they would be leveled quickly in order to bless our soldiers before the Dark Faction attack and defend against enemy mages.
External Threat (Reality Benders Book #2) LitRPG Series Page 26