by Han Yang
“I’m not even in the top ten thousand. Killing narocks is bullshit. If you don’t get a defensive position, they’ll swarm you. At night, they’re insanely lethal,” Pavel complained. “Not to mention, reloading bullets is the worst.”
“Oh, yeah, I wouldn’t know,” Marius said with a grin.
“Why not?” Pavel asked.
Pavel entered the small shuttle first, seating himself until he buckled into the bench seat. Marius wanted to obtain one of the bigger vessels, but the wyvn’narock revealed itself about four days ago, declaring war on humanity in the air.
The super flyer didn’t breathe fire or have any special superpowers. It was an ambush predator, and no recorded history was linked to its origins. This caused great concern to Marius. Before the fall, there was a hidden understanding, no bio creatures from the air that could decimate humanity.
In hindsight, he was kinda surprised a dragon type creature hadn’t been cooked up in a lab to try to win before the fall. The sad truth was that nothing could have stopped the insane breeding cycles on limited food.
He let the thoughts fade, feeling the vessel lock him into the seat. The shuttle jostled off the deck, soaring out of the hangar bay before setting off from Russia towards Texas. Either a wyvn’narock would knock them out of the sky, or they’d make their destination and trigger Operation Starfall.
“Two hours, twelve minutes until arrival,” the ship said. “Releasing restraints now.”
Marius grinned at the speed; at least that would make it hard to get knocked out of the sky. He fished out a device and set it on the seat between them.
Pavel had been in his faction for over three centuries. He never was a top contender, but he always managed to prove useful.
Most importantly, he carried a grudge against Darcy for when she literally killed almost every Russian in existence. After the Russians created the burrowing narocks, well that was the time when she revealed herself and completely screwed the nation.
Ironically, Pavel was a refueler for the trucks on the base. He was not even meant to go near the Meadow. His inferior job meant he had to stay behind. But the fall of the German base gave him an opportune trip to space and the rest was history.
“You never answered,” Pavel said.
Marius stared out at the foliage that zoomed by. “I have a lot on my mind. Everything seems to be going poorly, all at once.”
“You could have faith. I thought I’d get on a ship, I got on a ship.”
Marius chuckled instead of snickered. “You have a point. Simple thoughts for simple concepts. Did you know that I used to sit behind a big desk with a great view of New York City? I had a poster on the wall. A real silly one. It said something like, ‘A crackhead will do whatever it takes to achieve their dreams. Are you going to let a crackhead out hustle you?’”
“I don’t get it. Drug problems are bad,” Pavel said, and Marius snickered in reply. “Are you turning to drugs because Darcy is doing so well in the polls?”
“Don’t be daft you damn dumbass. Darcy is doing her darndest to keep us down. What I was referring to was the fact I am not hustling in Snagglewood. I despise using guns. Always have. Even in the science fiction themes, I use laser blades.
“But mostly, I’m a businessman. I have a role in each of the realms. I can wheel and deal, schmooze and booze, and politic my way to the top. Do you know how you win in Snagglewood?” Marius asked.
Pavel snorted. “You survive. I had to take a refresher on western survivalism after dying twice.”
Marius shot a hand into the air, as if his woes were vindicated. “See, I’ve died twice too. I never die. Well, a few times, but never like this. I tend to trade, and all the trade missions are inside the infection zone. I try to build a business, but the local government shuts it down to prevent price gouging.
“That’s how I make my damn points. Instead, everything is stolen and all I end up with is a damn gun and choice to fight or take flight. Both times I ran, both times I was eaten alive trying to get something as basic as water. Darcy is the worst. I understand the why, and I’m not the only one in absolute misery,” Marius said.
“Why is she such a cruel bitch?” Pavel said, but he wasn’t sure if the man actually asked the question.
“I think the best way to harden the resolve of humanity is to have them relive the nightmare. Second place just died three times in a row. We don’t get to see the name, just that insane score. There’s a hero among humanity, and it’s not me. Except the day that little shit builds a society, he won’t know how to manage inventory, manipulate currency, or understand why supply constraints are good at times,” Marius said, seeing Pavel’s eyes glaze over a bit.
“I sure hope we change realms soon.”
“Yeah, you and me both, buddy. You and me both.”
Pavel chuckled nervously. “Well, I know you’re moving me over to Hope in an attempt to get on the board. I’d never purposely fail you, boss.”
“Oh, right. Right. Pavel. You’re a good man. All I ask is that you try. I hear there’s some great food on this ship since it houses the prince as some call him,” Marius said.
“That pompous bastard.”
“So true. So true. Still, good food goes a long way. Speaking of which. I need you to drop off this lunch box to engineering. It’s for one of our coworkers,” Marius said, digging into his bag and handing it to Pavel.
The man studied the device, seeing it looked exactly as advertised.
“Heavy little fella, who’s this for?”
“Have you ever met Fracine?” Pavel shook his head at this question. Marius lied and said, “She likes avocados, those are the real deal inside there. That weight is the seeds you’re feeling. I had to pay extra to get them from the cafeteria.”
It was a dirty bomb, the only kind that could escape detection. Operation Starfall was nothing more than blowing Hope out of the sky and forcing humanity to realize Darcy couldn’t protect them from everything. Of course, he would be nowhere near the explosion.
Poor Pavel. He’d die when he neared the engine rooms. His sacrifice would be one of many.
Maybe Laura had a point.
The only way to drive a wedge between humanity and Darcy was to rob them of their safety. Only with tribulations, and time would others come to see humanity was best without the AI.
During the ride, he turned off the recorder. He wanted to let Darcy hear him talking to a friend. He wanted her to return to this conversation and know how strong his conviction was that this was the right answer.
He knew that when she connected the dots, he’d be a dead man, and for the cause, he’d die a martyr. Against all hope, he’d plead to be released to one of the bunker nations, and maybe, just maybe, she’d have mercy on his soul.
42
Snagglewood Day 56
Lornsto Docks
I watched Roma sneak out of bed. I drank in her naked form, finding her worthy of being titled as a goddess. I reached up, smoothly grabbing her wrist.
“Theo, I should go get them. Shouldn’t you… you know,” Roma started to say.
I kissed the back of her hand. “Had enough of sheet wrestling with you? No. Never. I just want to tell you you're beautiful, and I enjoyed the casual conversation as much as the entwining.”
“Is that what you Earth fellas are calling it? Entwining, sheet wrestling?” She smirked with a head shake.
I gently pulled her down to me, and she giggled while falling onto my chest. “I was actually just trying to be sweet, but now,” I said, landing one hot kiss after another on her neck.
“I guess I can spare three minutes,” she teased.
I snorted. “Ha! Four. At least four.”
Twenty minutes later, I departed for the morning crew with my honor intact. The day was young, the mission was almost over, and I had a skip in my step for multiple reasons.
After twelve days of back breaking labor. The barge was finally done being disassembled, and the last of the wood w
as ready for some final trips to the mine.
Kevin, Fen, Dex, Matt, Gregory, Craig, Bella, Eric, Winston, Lenny, and Willow waited at the exit while Mark and Beatrice started the process of unclogging the jam.
“You’re late,” Kevin said. “Before you give an excuse, we heard. The walls are just sheets.”
I blushed with a palms-up guilty shrug. “I’m a man in love. You have my apologies,” I replied.
“Well, what comes after this?” Winston asked while Mark and Beatrice opened the gate.
I hefted the wagon, feeling the strain on my arms tightening the muscle in a good way. The stitches were out, the wound closed, and I could feel the need to repair the atrophy.
“Not much. Not much to do really. Wait for another rainstorm, maybe. We have plenty of food, clean water, ammo, and now wood to expand. I think this is a good time to settle in for a bit,” I said.
“Is that official?” asked Willow. Her hands struggled, and her fingers needed more time to heal, but she insisted on coming to help scout. “I was kinda hoping we’d get some livestock. Getting sick of narock and fish.”
“Well, we’re down to six oxen. The rest wandered off. We have three chickens… Yeah, you’re probably right. Maybe we can start scouting the surrounding homes for loot and hidden farm animals. Problem is, the narocks are hunting as much as we aren’t at the moment. A rabbit farm would be nice. I really hate eating narock too,” I said.
The others nodded at this.
“Traveling the desert on foot for ruined homes sounds like a great way to die,” Matt grumbled.
The mine’s blockage shifted and Dex led the way out with Fen. At most we saw one or two younger narocks who stumbled onto our turf in hopes of finding meals. I hefted the cart, trusting in the duo to clear the way.
“I agree. Which is why we should stay in the mine until we get so tired of eating narock that we take the risk. Or if people want the adventure, we let them go,” I said.
Matt nodded. “I may hate this new reality, but at least you keep it fair. Consider me not volunteering.”
“We’re a team, and I’m not always fair,” I said. “We have everything to survive and hunker down. Anything else is adventuring at this point. Also, I’m not always the good guy.”
Kevin snickered. “Trisa would argue differently. She’s coming around to see you’re not the bad guy.”
“Yeah, well, Max and Nancy wouldn’t agree,” I grumbled.
Eric patted me on the back and said, “You would have never made it in time and the sun was setting. Some people are going to be stubborn and die because they can’t think clearly. Try not to beat yourself up so hard.”
I wanted to quibble or complain. Letting go had been harder than I expected. I did the dumb thing of checking my linker after some waterfall loving. The duo died and I lost points. Not a lot, likely because of the circumstance, but I failed to complete the quest to save them.
The snap of rifles echoed down the mine, drowning out any further conversation and ripping away my sour thoughts. The ritual of blasting the morning narock finished and we proceeded out of the tunnel.
The entire basin had been mostly covered to prevent sunning near the opening. If the narocks stuck to the ramp, they were easier to kill.
We built pens for the gardens, hoping to keep the narocks out of them and so far, it had worked. I had my fingers crossed we’d accidentally trap a bunny or a deer at some point.
Thoughts of diversifying our food options plagued me as much as vitamin C deficiencies did. We had a bag of lemons, but that would only last so long. Halfway to the shore transitioned smoothly with Kevin chatting me up about medical studies on the final leg.
I had to remind him, just because I studied medicine, it didn’t make me a doctor. He never cared one bit, loving to pick my brain on topics he thought of as magic, like an MRI machine, or nanites. He also asked for a consultation with Darcy. I think he was a bigger believer than Roma.
Cella hated the idea, finding the rationale that her life was digital to be beyond insulting. The two were the polar opposites with most finding themselves between the poles of belief.
I stared at the flag from where Sally was laid to rest. Her death, a reminder of another failure. I tended to beat myself up about such things. ‘What if’ this, ‘what if I’d done that’ over and over.
I smiled instead, staying on the positives. Apple laid higher on the shore than when we beached her. We had three days of heavy rains and instead of going out, she pushed in. To dislodge the ship, we’d need to literally wait for a flood and move her in the dangerous rain and probably have someone risk the waters to leverage a piling with rope.
Narocks loved the rain, it was prime hunting for them versus just at night. I loved Apple, but yeah, not worth it. One day the river would rise, and the rain would fade, providing an opportunity.
“Finally,” Winston said, tossing a longboard onto the cart. “Twelve days. Seemed like we started a month ago.”
I set the cart into park, helping pickup larger planks with the young man. “What was your future, if none of this happened?”
Winston stuck a finger to his chest before scoping up his end of the wood. I nodded and he said, “Uh, fisherman probably. Maybe the navy. Pa wanted me to go into the navy. Bisben had flyers offering all sorts of crowns for able bodied sailors. Ma said that was because a war was brewing with Terrbi.”
“Huh, interesting. Humanity and its internal conflicts. No surprise. And if your parents weren’t a factor?” I asked.
He picked up his end, even managing a shrug. “I guess whatever it took. I was engaged to this lovely lady named Margie. Our parents set it up, sorta. I think Pa snuck her dad some money for the dowry because we bumped into each other enough we started making time to court.
“I went to sleep, woke up, and her apartment building was raided by a narock. Seventeen died to kill a single monster on that night. It was terrifyingly incredible. That was just day one, attack one. Her parents actually did the smart thing, leaving for Bisben that very day to visit family. Never saw them again, and I never will.”
“Uh… yeah, probably not,” I agreed, telling the hard truth.
“I hate that you said that, and I respect that you said that,” Winston replied with a grunt. We shifted to pick up another long slab of wood from the barge. “Lornsto is my home though. Now. Now I’m a soldier, one who goes and becomes bait when told.”
“You did great,” Willow said with a wink as shifted by her observation point. “So brave.”
“Interesting,” I said when we drew far enough away from Willow.
“Trisa rejected me. To be fair, I just wanted her to have a friend. She needed a companion beside her brother. Willow is older, but she sees me for what I am. A young man willing to work hard for a fresh start,” Winston said with a smile.
“You have a long life ahead of you, and if not, enjoy the time you have anyway.”
“‘Wise words’ as my Pa would say. Hey, Theo. I’ve been meaning to ask you. Can I try that consultation thing I keep hearing everyone talking about?” he asked.
“Yeah, as soon as a slot opens, sure. I actually have no idea about the main life all your rebirths split from,” I said.
“Shush,” he whispered as we worked. “Willow thinks you're starting a cult-like religion with this Great Mother thing. There’s nothing in Mother Nature’s holy book about transcendence to a higher plane of living.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Roma has her appointment soon and that will tell me all sorts of details I’m missing. I plan on seeing my Father, and I am very curious as to how it will go. Afterwards, we will share the experience and make a list. In the meantime, I want to focus on expanding the mine,” I said.
“Only you would find mining and tedious work fun,” Fen said in passing.
He had a point. I had high hopes for Lornsto Mine. High hopes and a whole lot of hiding. If I weathered the coming year, I was confident I could place decently among the rankings. I di
dn’t need first, a solid spot in the top ten thousand would make me happy if I got to see everyone live.
43
Day 53 Above Earth
Texas Federation
Father and I had a wonderful lunch while Roma had her consultation. We didn’t fight about mother or argue politics. We focused on simpler things and enjoyed each other's company.
Father even welcomed the progress Darcy made on the Dominus.
We discussed the recent acquisitions to humanity from Quadrant 117. The group was recovering. The pods they lived in provided ample nourishment, stability, and even gave them new purposes. Of course, they were banished from competing in the Trials even if they accepted their new fate.
Their second-class citizenship would probably take some sort or resolution to resolve, and we didn’t speak about it.
We talked endlessly about the farming platforms the new ship would provide. It was soothing because I asked him a lot about growing seeds and horticulture. He lavished in the conversation, eager to let me in on all his little secrets.
He loved hearing about my triumphs and struggles. Father modestly said he reached the top fifty thousand, a big feat for anyone. He did so by joining a community underground and helping them sustain for a better tomorrow. I agreed with him, there was merit in achieving tasks around sustainment over adventure.
My linker pinged, telling me it was time to visit Darcy for a check-up. I was mostly nervous to hear how Roma, or Natasha’s consultation went.
“I’m afraid I have a physical I must attend to. I will cherish this memory for a lifetime Father, may all days be as happy and wonderful,” I said, standing with a respectful bow.
He stood, pride in his eyes, and bowed to me. A rare sign of honor. “You are everything I’d hope you’d become. Treat each day as a gift and each lesson as a part of your journey.”