Singularity

by Drew Cordell

  We obliged, following Gwen as quickly as we could. I thoroughly expected one of the massive ballistic rounds from the bounty hunter’s hand cannon to catch me between the shoulder blades and send me back to the respawn lobby. It would rip through my armored vest, turn most of my insides into outsides, and do a lot of damage to whoever was unlucky enough to be standing in front of me at the time. The boom of the hand cannon didn’t come, only a small pop followed by angry, high-pitched crackling.

  I stole a glance back to see tendrils of electrical arcs writhing through the air and encapsulating the bounty hunter. He seized as the electricity jumped across his armor. It wasn’t killing him, but he also wasn’t going anywhere for as long as the electric grenade was active. This was our chance to escape.

  We cleared the end of the hallway, crashing through another door to get to a neglected staircase that brought us into a dirty alleyway at the back of the bar/brothel combo we’d passed through. All of us, excluding Fen, were panting for breath. Brandon was wounded, but my Mana Shield and the armored vest he’d borrowed from Mac had absorbed the worst of the damage, keeping his health above 90%. We didn’t stop running, following Gwen to what she assured us would be a clean escape through a private service elevator. It would take us back to the level of the station where we could grab our gear from Mac and grab a taxi to the docking bays and fast track our departure on Gwen’s starship.

  Police sirens from ground cars and hover speeders howled, closing in on Gilson’s Bar, but we had no intention of sticking around to see them arrive. That homicidal maniac was still after Gwen—and probably the rest of us now that we’d given him the slip and done damage to his expensive armor. If it wasn’t before, now it would be personal.

  When we were certain we’d lost our pursuer, we slowed down, remaining cautious and scanning our surroundings as we approached the service elevator. My hearing was returning slowly, replacing the soft, empty sensation in my ears, but the throbbing headache wasn’t going away.

  “That’s why you don’t screw with Sleepers—especially if they have full Treshian Commando Armor. They’re walking fortresses. The only thing you can do is try to disable it from the outside, and even then you’ll likely only do little more than piss them off,” Gwen seethed.

  “Hey, we saved your life,” I said, knowing it might be an overstatement.

  “Why is someone like that after you?” Brandon demanded before Gwen could respond to me.

  Gwen looked collected, but her wavering voice betrayed her fear. “Probably working a contract for Dalthaxia. If that’s the case, then they know I ripped off the map. Once we’re on my ship, I might need to take a couple days off from playing to ensure my real-world location is secure. Dalthaxia might want to find me in real life once they realize how valuable this map is to their war efforts. I’ve taken steps to prevent that from happening, but you can never be too careful.”

  “Do you have any idea of who he is yet?” I asked.

  Gwen nodded. “We’ll see. I ripped some identity code fragments from his armor’s transponder during the chase, but I’ll need to run them through my ship’s AI to piece together anything meaningful and break through the encryption. I doubt I pulled his contract though, especially if it’s Bounty or Blacknet, but that would give us information on who greenlit this killing spree through my favorite drinking hole on Vrenn.”

  “Okay. Let’s get our gear and get the hell off of Vrenn before that guy can find us again,” I suggested. “You’re sure he’s not going to be able to trace your ship to its docking bay?”

  “Private registration and anonymous docking. Even if he can access station records, we’re safe for at least as long as it’s going to take us to get the hell out of here,” Gwen said. “But the longer we’re here, the more danger we’re in. If Dalthaxia put out a capture/kill bounty on me, they’re sure as Gesh willing to pay for information too. If they learn I’m here on Vrenn, they’ll come.”

  “I think I know who the bounty hunter is working for,” a gentle voice said in what sounded like an old-world Chinese accent. It was the first thing we heard Fen say.

  17

  The service elevator was a claustrophobic two-meter cube lit by a single LED cell node. It had a sticker on the inside reading: ‘ESSENTIAL MAINTENANCE OVERDUE. DO NOT OPERATE—.’ Half of the sticker was torn off, including the segment which must have included the date the cryptic warning had been issued. The sticker showed no signs of being newly printed. Gwen ignored the message, punching the grimy button to activate the motor once our group was crammed inside the elevator like a tin of brine velrish.

  The service elevator door lowered in front of us, failing to lock into place. An angry alarm buzzed overhead where the main light node flickered to red to emphasize the error. The elevator didn’t move.

  “Clean escape, huh?” I asked, feeling the discomfort of the elevator toll start to take its toll. Brandon’s breath was hot and sticky on the back of my neck; droplets of moisture beaded on my skin. It was way too cramped inside the elevator, and the composite paneling on the front of the gate caging was making the air thicken with the scent of alcohol and sweat as the temperature rose. If the bounty hunter caught up with us now, he’d have little trouble shooting through the flimsy paneling of the elevator, and this enclosed space meant for miniscule cargo transportation would become our coffin.

  Gwen cursed, voicing colorful obscenities at the elevator before punching the activation button even harder. This time, the gate locked into place correctly, and the elevator groaned to life, beeping in reluctant compliance. “There’s your clean escape, Kyle. Now, Fen, you were saying?” she prompted.

  I wasn’t sure if Fen was going to speak again, but she surprised me again and spoke up. “I’m not going to ask about your real-world location, but if you’re from Dalthaxia or stations flying their flag, then you’re probably familiar with the Black Lotus Cartel. I saw their insignia painted on the bounty hunter’s shoulder as he was pursuing us. Either he acquired the armor from them, or he’s with them—maybe subcontracted out or working on his own accord.”

  I frowned. “Fen, I was up close and personal with him. I didn’t see anything on his armor other than some denting and scratches. He also didn’t sound like he had an accent, but maybe that was voice processing with a filter through his helmet.”

  “Subtle printing, it is only visible with ultraviolet vision or light. The yōkai race see in the full spectrum without augmentations. Most vision systems in an EVA suit or combat helmets would have picked up on the insignia, but most people would miss it.”

  Gwen didn’t seem to like that—her voice sounded more frustrated than anything else—but I could tell she was still shaken up from the chase’s potential real-world implications. “I haven’t done anything to piss off the Black Lotus Cartel that I know of, and he seemed to be after me, not you, Fen.”

  “I have not crossed paths with them either. What if the cartel is working for Dalthaxia? Is that too far of a stretch?” Fen proposed.

  The elevator lurched, tumbling to the side as the mechanical winch hauling us down the track whined and was cast off balance. We all tumbled into one another, groping around to keep our footing as the elevator corrected itself with some hesitation.

  “Damn thing,” Gwen huffed. “I wouldn’t put it past Dalthaxia, the scumballs.”

  “Let me ask you a question,” I said, bracing myself against the dirty wall of the elevator and ducking down to search for fresher air to breathe. “Why would you conscript yourself into the Dalthaxian Military if you hate their government?”

  “The credits, mostly. Also, to see other parts of the game world and not slave away working the same day job I already do on the real Dalthaxia. Besides, I defected from that. I’m neutral now, as is Fen, who yes, is another player. I told myself from the start that I’d slip away the second it was feasible. That moment came when the rest of my squad was wiped out and I managed to extract a Strexian relic and carry it safely off-world. To be
honest, I might side with the Salgon Empire once the dust settles—assuming they’re poised to win the war. Anything’s got to be better than living in the Dalthaxian Slums.”

  I winced at that. I knew from experience the Salgon Empire wasn’t any better than the Dalthaxian Alliance, but I didn’t have a reason to tell Gwen that. I would never be able to return to Salgon again, even though I had called the streets of the worst parts of the planet my home. I had never been fortunate enough to live on one of the better stations flying the flag and maybe that was okay.

  Brandon joined in the conversation. “I get that sentiment, believe me. I have a sister—”

  I punched him in the arm, cutting off his sentence. “Brandon, we should probably limit our conversations about real-world identity, at least until we can establish more trust. We have a potential partnership in Eternity Online, nothing more. No offense intended to either of our new friends.”

  “None taken. It’s smart, actually,” Gwen said. “We’ll share sensitive real-world information when necessary, but other than that, let’s limit it for the time being while we establish trust.”

  I was glad Gwen wasn’t upset about it. I didn’t particularly care to deal with conflict between our two sub-groups right now, especially since we were trying to get off Vrenn and establish an incredibly lucrative partnership as fast as possible. We could hammer out the finer details of our working relationship once we were safely away from Vrenn, jumping into the black sea of stars.

  “So I’m guessing finding a mechanic is off the table then?” Brandon asked.

  Gwen sighed. “We can’t risk hiring one on Vrenn, it’s an unnecessary risk now that we’re no longer anonymous here. I don’t think we’ll be as lucky if we run into that bounty hunter a second time while we’re here. We need to grab essential supplies and leave. I’m expecting you and Kyle to chip in and pay your share of everything we need for the voyage.”

  I wasn’t eager to dish out a ton of eCr on supplies, but it was fair and it wasn’t the time for argument. Gwen was right; we needed to get the hell out of here before the bounty hunter found us again. “And what about this carbine Brandon has been hauling around for you?”

  “I’ll gladly take it off your hands once we’re back at Mac’s. It’s disassembled right now anyway so I appreciate you carrying it for the time being.”

  “Not a problem,” Brandon said without a second thought.

  I checked my AIVO, refreshing my mail and desperately hoping my wire transfer from the insurance company would come through. We were low on credits, and visiting an exchange to liquidate real-world credits into Eternity Online would take way too long. With any luck, I could interface with the communications array on Gwen’s ship and confirm my updated credit balance remotely—even if we were in the void beyond most civilized space.

  No new mail.

  I closed the window on my user interface, freeing up visual space and reducing clutter. I didn’t like playing without a link to an AI node that could give us extra processing power and information. I really needed to invest in a personal AI node for when I was out of range of a much larger one, even though legitimate personal AI implants were rare and highly expensive. Costs a hell of a lot less than my Strexian implant, I thought with some satisfaction.

  The elevator came to a shuddering stop in a poorly lit area anchoring to its designated unloading platform. I was expecting fresh air as soon as the gate opened, but was met with an unpleasant surprise.

  The service elevator docked in a section of the station without the luxury of full life support systems. It was a lot cheaper to build stations with ‘Hollows’ to create storage and transportation space while keeping the overall cost of life support, heating, and oxygen scrubbing down. Stations did it in real life, and they apparently did it in Eternity Online as well. The air was thin, and I found myself feeling unsteady almost immediately as I braced my arm on a cold surface. The temperature in here was freezing too, significantly below the standardized freezing point of water.

  “Move quickly, but not too fast,” Gwen suggested before adding, “I know my way out, so stay close.”

  Gwen pulled something from her coat, a small autonomous QuadraDrone by the looks of it. The small palm-sized robot animated to life, hovering over her hand with the sound of a thrumming propulsion system before taking off and positioning itself a few meters in front of her. The drone ignited into an orb of light, illuminating the dark, cavernous space of bulkheads and metal walls around us. Cargo crates anchored by synthetic restraints populated the hall in several locations. Old repulsion machinery for hauling small payloads rested in docking spaces, covered in dust and crystalized frost.

  “So this is why you were wearing the coat, huh?” I asked. The combination of low oxygen and an extremely cold temperature was getting dangerous. The colossus race ran at higher standard body temperature than humans did, and with Brandon’s extra mass, he seemed to be doing a lot better than me as we traveled through this lifeless region of Vrenn.

  I dismissed the Asphyxia I and Hypothermia I debuffs as they flared across my UI, knowing they were only going to get worse until we made it back to the survivable section of Vrenn. There were reinforced maintenance doors every 20 meters along the dark passageway, but most of them had been spot-welded shut, probably to keep kids or petty criminals from accessing this part of the station. All of the light panels on the walls were covered in frosted dust, and weren’t operational—probably hadn’t been for a long time.

  I shivered hard, and gooseflesh pebbled across my forearms, creeping across the rest of my body with an incredibly lifelike sensation. More messages flared across my UI in angry red text, warning that the debuffs from the environment were going to get a lot worse if I didn’t get out of here or do something to fix it. “Gwen. We need to get out of here s-ss-soon or I’m not going to make it.” My teeth were chattering like metal ingots now, and my head was swimming. I zeroed in on the orb of light guiding us through the frigid darkness, forcing my aching muscles to keep moving forward, knowing they wouldn't for much longer.

  “Almos-s-st there, just a little farther,” Gwen assured me. She was shivering too, even with the jacket on. Brandon looked uncomfortable as well but hadn’t complained yet. He’d be the one carrying me if I passed out, and even then, I wouldn’t have long until my medical situation would deteriorate further.

  Time slowed as we reached what seemed to be the only operational exit in this deathtrap of a maintenance hallway. Passing through two somewhat functional airlocks, we were back in the livable space of Vrenn. The air was blissfully warm, but I was still feeling the effects of the cold, low-oxygen tomb. “Can we sit down for a minute?” I asked, eyeing an empty bench along the upcoming pedestrian walkway with instinctual desire.

  “No time. The effects will fade, even if it sucks now. Sorry we had to go that way,” Gwen said.

  I groaned but knew she was right. I didn't plan on running into that bounty hunter again, and we had to be fast with our remaining stops if we wanted to make it off the station alive.

  Minutes later the last traces of my debuffs were fading as my body recovered. We finished the walk to Mac’s, heading into the shop. Mac was helping a couple of NPC customers by listing out the factory differences between two popular models of blasters. He nodded to us as we came in, raising a clawed finger to indicate he'd be with us in a minute.

  Gwen prompted Brandon to give her the carbine he'd been carrying now that we were in relative safety and had some downtime. I could tell Gwen was irritated that Mac was helping other customers, but apparently not irritated enough to drive business away from him.

  “Your signature, please,” Brandon said. In the heat of things, we hadn't had time to take care of getting her signature earlier.

  Gwen obliged, signing the digital transfer of custody document. Brandon sent the signed document over to Mac, completing our quest and automatically gifting us some XP, enough to push us over the edge to level four, and a notification that
eCr had been transferred to our respective accounts, split evenly down the line. I pulled up the quest completion notification, examining the rewards:

  Quest Complete: Ordinance Delivery

  You have successfully delivered the package to Gwen Delarine, completing the requirements of your contract with Mac’s Armory LLC. Rewards acquired.

  Rewards gained: 9 XP, 100 reputation with Mac’s Armory LLC, weapon and armor repair services, and 219.25 eCr.

  Level Up!

  Congratulations! You have reached character level four and now have one attribute point to spend.

  Current XP progression to level 5: 2/120 (98% XP remaining until next level.)

  Next, I checked the XP progression for my skills and abilities in from the time I’d last generated the report before our first death. Progression in Eternity Online wasn't only linked to kills. Players still received XP as they spent time performing tasks. More time in, more XP out.

  Skill and Ability Progression:

  Progression Update:

  - Mana Ball Level 1 + 1%

  - Mana Shield Level 2 + 5%

  - Light Armor: Level 1 + 1%

  - Piloting: Level 2 + 5%

  - Interceptor Piloting: Level 2 + 5%

  - Light Blaster Pistols Level 3 + 1%

  - Blasters Level 3 + 1%

  I closed my progression report, quickly opening my character sheet to spend my attribute point, investing it into Mind. This brought me up to 30 HP and 45 mana with three attribute points invested in Mind and one in Tech. By the looks of it, Brandon had already plugged his new attribute point into Body, bringing his maximum health cap up another 10 points.

  Gwen and Brandon set to work at assembling the Treshian carbine on top of an unused display case, engrossed in the task while Fen kept an eye on the main entrance to the shop, one of her slender hands poised on the hilt of an unseen blade.