Mark 2.0: Book 2: Hate

by Prax Venter

  The closer they got to the monstrous metal walls of Orb Fort, the more people began to walk with them down the paved street, so Mark shifted the conversation away from the esoteric high-tech nonsense he didn’t fully understand anyway.

  “Tell us about this quest,” he said as a three-wheeled transport pod carrying four fish people zipped by on their right.

  “The Centaur Technocracy is delivering a load of charged power cells to their allies, the Penjite Kingdom, to the east. They expect the transport to be ambushed and stolen. That’s pretty much all the quest text said.”

  “What about breakfast?” Abby said. “I recall Mark saying it was an important meal when we were eating out Marla.”

  “Oh!” Jezebel said and stopped to slip off her backpack. “I forgot to tell you I also loaded us up with some supplies last night. Hold this.”

  Abby’s long appendages coiled around her simple leather container while Jezebel opened the Condensing Bag hidden within. There she pulled out what looked like three meal supplement bars.

  “These are honey, apple, and oats, but I also bought a bunch of other flavors- as well as a big pile of beef jerky. There are also three large canteens filled with water, thirty feet of rope, a few metal spikes, several blankets, a bucket- oh and a handful of those no-sleep beans I mentioned before.”

  “No wonder you’re in such a good mood,” Sasha said with a bright smile. “You were out all night shopping!”

  Mark rest his hand on her arm, and his doe-centaur locked her emerald eyes on his.

  “You’re amazing, Jez. This is exactly what we need for our adventures.”

  She handed him one of the apple bars and nodded quickly.

  “Come on, let’s get that escort quest before they leave without us.”

  Jezebel set a quick pace through the metallic, neon-infested city as Mark, Sasha, and Abby all scarfed down their breakfast on the move. It didn’t taste bad at all and contained basic ingredients that settled into a hearty satisfaction at the bottom of his stomach. By the time Mark finished the last bite of his bar of travel sustenance, they were approaching what appeared to be a conveyor belt hub.

  “This looks like fun,” Sasha said as Jezebel led them to the swift-moving sections of black rubber panels.

  “We want Outer Wall East,” she mumbled, scanning the terminals above several dozen entry points. Mark let her figure it out as he watched all manner of creatures and half-animals wait in short queues before zipping off into underground tunnels or into raised conveyor belt pathways surrounded by glass tubes. He tracked a black-furred Vulpath woman who got into one of the conveyors passing over the metal rooftops and shook his head.

  “Will this world ever stop surprising me?” he asked no one in particular.

  They all followed Jezebel to one of the lines, and she bent down to whisper in his ear as they waited.

  “I believe this system is designed to accommodate centaurs. There aren’t any seats, ramps, or stairs anywhere. Also, have you noticed that most buildings are one story high?”

  The line moved quickly, and she pulled away to step inside, followed by Mark, Abby, then Sasha. The moving pathway took them upward, and they all got a fantastic view of the surrounding area through the suspended transparent tube. The blinking lights of the party Zone known as Bottom Breach was the closest, but their path took them on a swoop around the concentric blue walls of Orb Fort, and Mark got to see another sector with sleek white buildings and bolts of different-colored lightning bouncing between raised towers.

  “It’s a science and research Zone called Arclight,” Jezebel said, and her voice reverberated inside the tube. “Someday I’d like to come back and explore this place more.”

  “Absolutely!” Mark said, laying his hand on her haunch for assurance and for his own support. He found that remaining upright as the floor constantly tried to move out from under his boots was working out muscles that normally didn’t get much attention.

  Eventually, the ride angled toward the glossy blue metal Klax had called Vex Iron and then deposited them inside the first wall of Orb Fortress.

  Centaur guards armed with rifles were everywhere around the wide concourse that ran between the outer and second walls, and Mark scanned around for any dimensional crossover points they might be able to abuse. There were a handful of Lagos glints scattered between the two towering walls, but the area was packed with people, and there was no way they’d be able to open a portal now. He kept a mental catalogue of their locations as he continued to take in the immensity of the structure around them. Everything in this world was so impossibly humongous. The smooth, glossy walls shot up into the sky and ended with a translucent, orange energy barrier, silently pulsating with ripples of power emanating from the center of the structure. Machines, people, and a combination of both clogged the space between the two vex iron barriers as they bustled about their morning business, but what really caught Mark’s eye was the long machine situated across from where they’d disembarked the conveyor transport system.

  There were mixed groups of uniquely armored people that appeared to be other Collectors interacting with its multiple terminals, but it was the enormous neon sign that read Job Board over it all that banished all doubt.

  “Let’s hurry,” Jezebel said. “There might be a limit to the number of Collector teams they’ll allow on this escort quest.”

  A pair of burly monkey-men armed with wooden clubs moved away from a terminal, and the doe-centaur quickly trotted up to it. She lifted her S-Rank badge to a silver plate, and Mark was astonished when a monochrome black-and-green face appeared on the screen.

  “Welcome, Druid!” a robotic male voice said from a speaker above the terminal. “Please either touch the screen or say the type of quests you’d like to see.”

  Mark caught options labeled High Risk, Long Distance, and Multi-part before Jezebel spoke her request.

  She said, “Military power cell escort,” and the screen wiped to black. A moment later, a box appeared with text describing what had Jezebel already told them.

  “Please present all Collector team Quest Badges before proceeding,” the disembodied voice said.

  “It’s like looking in a mirror,” Sasha said. “But seriously, this gives me fuzzy flashbacks to Mark installing me on his shitty home system.”

  “Hey,” Mark said with a playful frown as he held up his badge to the plate. “You should be grateful I gave you a good and loving home.”

  “Welcome, Collector, Lover, Un-undefined Data!”

  Sasha nudged Mark out of the way with her fleshy hip to go next.

  “I guess you have a point,” she said, holding up her badge. “It could have been worse.”

  “Welcome, Destructor!”

  They made room for Abby, who stepped up and proudly lifted her badge.

  “Welcome, Mind Melter. Full Party registered. Press or say ‘Accept’.”

  A solid-green square with the phrase ‘Accept Quest’ written in blocky black text appeared, and below that was a countdown that currently read ‘00:14:36’.

  “I shouldn’t be as shocked as I am to see a clock,” Mark said. “It’s almost alien to see something like this in what has been strictly a fantasy world.”

  “Yes,” Jezebel said. “However, to invent circuitry and computers, the centaurs would need a consistent, pulsing clock to run them.” She slapped the accept button.

  “Quest given! Proceeded to West Gate road and see Overseer Derurto for further instructions.”

  “Come on,” Jezebel said as she led them away from the terminals and into the flowing crowd of people and creatures. “That gate is outside the fortress’s outer wall.”

  Mark could feel Jezebel was rushing them around because if they stopped, her mind might dwell on things she’d rather avoid for now. They hurried past another interdimensional glint, and he wondered if this busy concourse died down in the middle of the night. Either way, Jezebel said the reward for this quest was access to the second ring, and t
here was a good chance it was less crowded closer to their goal. This side-quest sounded like the right move on many levels, and he was glad his force-shifted satyr was working to control her emotional turmoil.

  “I wonder what my appearance would be,” Abby began quietly, “if I were created as Mark’s personal assistant in the real world instead of a midlevel boss encounter within a dark and unforgiving game world.”

  He turned to face her. “For one, that stranger wouldn’t be the abyssal horror I adore more than anything.”

  The green-skinned woman coiled the tip of her tentacle in his hand, and it remained there until they exited through a doorway in the outer wall. This area certainly had the feel of a military installation built for utility and function with uniform rows of rectangular buildings. A digital display indicated the direction of their destination and despite the time crunch to make it there, everyone slowed to gawk at the row of centaur-shaped mech suits along the way.

  Mark watched as a four-legged soldier was lifted by hooks attached to metal implants along his back and up into a monstrous four-legged machine. The thing came to life a moment later, and the colossal mech’s eyes lit up like two high-powered searchlights. It looked and moved just like the centaur inside, only it was 20 feet high and shook the ground when it walked.

  They left the centaur-mechs behind and eventually reached a group of soldiers and other unique individuals grouped around an armored shipping container with tank treads instead of wheels.

  “Is that what we’re escorting?” Sasha asked. “I’m not sure it needs protecting.”

  “You there!” one of the centaur soldiers called out, and Mark saw that his metal armor was a dark reflective blue where all the others were silver. The unique soldier consulted a holographic readout projected from a device either worn on or imbedded into his forearm and then looked up again. “You that group that just signed up with the broken Class specifications?”

  Mark shot a grin at his team and then jogged the rest of the way toward the group of strangers.

  “That’s us alright, and you must be Derurto. Reporting for escort duty, sir!”

  - 25 -

  “Just in time, Collector,” the burly centaur called Overseer Derurto said, then tapped something on his wrist. In response, the enormous hunk of machinery began to lurch forward, its treads digging deep tracks into the dirt. Mark looked ahead of the lumbering transport and saw a section of the electrified gate was opening to reveal a long stretch of grassy plains that sloped downward away from them.

  “We will arrive at our destination by nightfall,” Derurto continued as he turned to trot alongside the potentially driverless vehicle. “You Collectors are to follow behind the transport and engage any attempts to hijack the cargo or stop its progress. Two of the last ten transports to the Penjite Kingdom have been attacked at various points along the route yet both attacks were unsuccessful. We have reason to believe another, stronger attempt will be made. Any of you mercenaries that survive- consider this your application for higher access to more lucrative quests.”

  A massive, bipedal elephant woman with dull metal armor covering her whole body snorted once through her trunk. “Say there are no attacks, we still get these lucrative quests?”

  Mark tried to sort out the diverse group of creatures traveling with them, but he had no idea who was enthralled and to which Collector.

  “Excellent question,” the lead centaur said. “The answer is no, but in such a fortunate case, any team that sees this mission through will be granted an immediate follow-up test of your capabilities in Orb Fort.”

  “Then let us wish for an ambush!” said a black-and-white striped tiger with a deep voice.

  A centaur-woman with pink hair who had a holstered pistol on each hip turned toward him with disgust clear on her face.

  “Don’t be asinine,” she said. “The safe delivery of the cargo is all that matters.”

  “Fucking Collectors,” Derurto murmured before he picked up his speed to a canter. “Soldiers, take your positions,” he yelled as he rode out ahead of the transport. “Collectors… just watch our asses.”

  Mark and his team quietly followed orders and slowed their pace until they were about thirty yards behind the transport. The other Collector groups did the same, and he started to see who was paired up with whom.

  There seemed to be three other teams with him. The pink-haired centaur with the laser pistols trotted alongside another smaller centaur female with short blue hair. She had a long rifle slung on her back, and both had matching cybernetic eyes. Mark didn’t have to look too deeply to know that the pink-haired one was calling the shots.

  The huge-assed elephant woman seemed paired up with a yellow-skinned fairy creature, and she was about a foot bigger than the admin AI he’d named Maliah. Walking between them was a stoic human male with a spiked silver crown resting on golden curls, a boomerang tucked into his belt, and an ornate leather-bound book in his hand. Although they moved closely as a group, the size difference between them all was close to ridiculous.

  Then there was the striped tiger-man, a similar sleek tiger-woman that could be his twin, and an interesting robot-woman. The tiger-people were like the Vulpath in form, including the savage claws, but these two had much larger predatory fangs hanging out of their stubby muzzles.

  The male wore a painted leather shield on his back along with a coiled whip at his side, while the female barely wore anything, and the sharp cuts of her wiry muscles were defined enough to see under her sleek, black-and-white striped fur. Mark felt something familiar about the cat-woman and her long, weaving tail. His eyes lingered on her exotic form for longer than he intended, but the shiny robot-woman that sashayed along between the two tiger-people couldn’t be ignored. Chrome plating covered most of her body, and her nipples were perky red lightbulbs. She had a similar spiked crown on her head, and Mark put it together that both she and the other human were Hexers.

  He took a deep breath of the fresh air as they passed through the electrified fence’s gate and prepared to try and make even more new friends.

  “Hey everyone,” he said, with a small wave. “I’m Mark, and this is Sasha, Jezebel, and Abby. If we have a long walk ahead of us and are going to be potentially fighting alongside each other, perhaps we should get to know one another- or at least our roles in combat. I’m a Lover by the way and can Heal anyone who might get injured.”

  The white-eyed robot-woman turned her head to face him, and of course, her perfectly symmetrical face was absolutely stunning.

  “You can’t heal me, Lover,” she said in a flirtatious yet artificial voice.

  “You’d be surprised by what Mark can do,” Jezebel responded quickly.

  The two-foot-tall fairy woman buzzed her insect wings to reposition herself in front of Mark and hovered backward while they walked- as if she were a hummingbird.

  “That’s right, the Overseer said something about broken abilities, didn’t he? Also, hi! I’m Gwenthwip! Bann is my Hexer Collector, and that ample pile of armored woman is Torf. It’s wonderful to meet you all!”

  The human named Bann nodded once before turning his dark eyes back to scan the horizon, and Torf the elephant-woman didn’t respond at all.

  Mark wondered how Bann handled the glaring size difference between the one-foot-tall fairy and the thick, eight-foot-tall elephant-creature- but he got at least half an answer soon enough.

  The insect-woman with ice-blue eyes and short white dress swelled to about Abby’s size before she landed on her bare feet.

  She winked at Mark before skipping over to walk alongside Bann.

  “Fascinating,” muttered Jezebel.

  “While we are being cordial,” the metallic woman began, “I am Iona, and these two furry bundles of joy are Tar and Sar.”

  “Cute,” said the pink-haired centaur woman. “I’m Ari, and this is Jocia. Just stay out of our line of fire, and everything will go smoothly.”

  “You’re a Fighter, right?” Mark asked
,

  “Yes, and that’s why you all should let us do the fighting.” The heavily implanted centaur flicked her pink horse tail, and Mark picked up a large amount of disdain contained in that subtle act.

  “If there is going to be any fighting,” the tiger-woman named Sar said with a sigh as she flexed her claws. “I crave the spilling of blood.”

  The remarkably human-like metal creature who’d enthralled these two cat-people wrapped an arm around her bonded female and began nuzzling her smooth face into Sar’s furry neck.

  “If we don’t get any action today, I’ll make sure we go on a hunt tonight before heading back. Sound good?”

  Mark heard the striped tiger-woman purring and felt love and adoration echo around that group’s emotional tethers. Not only did he have endless questions about Iona, but he felt Jezebel virtually bursting at the seams with curiosity.

  The four teams of Collectors and Enthralled walked in silence for a long while, and Mark’s magic eye picked up eight pinpoints of light scattered around the area that linked to the dimension of Lagos and one linking to Wrongside. As they travelled behind the tank-like shipping container, the waving plains of green and yellow weeds transitioned to rolling hills. There were still over a hundred yards of flat space to either side of the dirt road, but the possibility of an ambush ratcheted up a few notches.

  Mark counted the fifteenth crossover point to Learis’s home universe before Jezebel couldn’t help herself and trotted closer to the metal woman.

  “I’m sorry if this is rude, Iona, but I’ve never seen anyone like you before. Do you mind telling me about your origin?”

  “My origin?” she responded, confusion in her tinny voice. “Sure, I was constructed in South Jasperton, but my guardians decided to drag me to the cliffs of Neverstone so they could analyze the flesh-eating flora in the jungles below.” The sensually built robot wrapped her arm around the tiger-woman again and pulled her close. “I was exploring those steamy jungles when I met the loves of my life.”