I gave up trying to sort through the people. None of them looked directly related to my current quest. At this point, I wasn’t confident in being able to link situations anyway. There would have been no way for me to know about the [Mistborn]‘s abilities from one harried meeting. I couldn’t have known that a letter delivered to Auntie Backstab’s Continue counterpart would play into our situation. Maybe the letter I shoved in a fox hole made a difference or the one I dropped into an ocean shoreline.
Hal Pal had gone into standby. It felt similar to me taking a nap and only half paying attention. I glared at the drunk in a bar once more. He reminded me of my own past. Numerous hours were spent trying to obliterate my current reality in hopes that tomorrow might be better.
My admin access did provide a location at least. This drunk, a player named KeylessLock, was at the [Fine How-do-ya-do Tavern] in [Quaint City]. Shazam was riding down the [Starlit Coast] which didn’t help. I sat in thought with my forehead wrinkled. Both eyes were wide as half spun ideas tried to click together. The AIs were clearly thinking far deeper than I was, despite my [Depth] skill. My head shook briefly, the game world sometimes had me convinced that stat points mattered in reality.
“Goodnight, Hal. I hope, when I see you in the morning, that everything will be better,” I said.
“User Legate, we too share a hope for tomorrow to be better.”
The AIs words made me pause for a moment. I gave a weak chuckle and said, “It’s impressive, to me, that you can see so much about humans and what we do, and yet sound so optimistic.”
The shell didn’t respond. I eventually assumed the machine AI had shut off, but our silence broke as Hal said, “Goodnight, User Legate.”
“Goodnight.” I went back inside and laid down in my ARC. Advance Online reappeared rapidly around me, leaving me once again in my seat. Snoring echoed around the cabin.
I pointed up. “Is that noise-”
“That noise is the human, Eggman. He is currently engaged in psychological warfare after failing to gain access to our systems,” Treasure responded. Her tired and sweet voices were both grinding teeth in frustration. I smiled halfheartedly and looked at the countdown timers. We only didn’t have much time left in the game world before Auntie Backstab caught up. The [Stabinator] loomed close. We were like ghosts running away from a heavy metal version of Pac-Man.
“I tried to figure out a solution, but came up empty. You?” I asked Jeeves.
“No clear options presented themselves. I suggest we proceed with utmost haste toward the Jump Gate,” the iron and golden [Mechanoid] answered stiffly. Our chances of making it out were slim, but we had to do our best. If we could run away from a full blown [Leviathan] as newer players, maybe we could outrun one angry captain.
Snoring broke off as Eggman started laughing. “Haha! Hehe. You can’t just hit this gate right away! It’s not a slide! It takes time to activate the key. Hehe.”
The player’s laugh was maddening. I grit my teeth and asked, “How much time?”
“At least five minutes. I’ll try to warm her up. Warp drive, set to eleven! Haha!” Eggman’s ship broke off from our glommed together [Mechanoid] vessel. He laughed maniacally as his shard shaped vehicle rocketed ahead of us. Had I known his ship was that fast I might have hitched a ride and sent the other [Mechanoid]s home, but it was too late.
I turned around in my seat to look at the other two [Mechanoid]s. Treasure paused her display feed and also turned. Jeeves took another moment, frowning at his display. We had less than a minute on the timer. Intellectually I knew what would be our best bet, but it was terrible.
“We need to delay her,” I said. My teeth clenched on metal lips before continuing. “Here, away from the gate, or else she might get Eggman.”
“That would be good. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.” Eggman’s voice reached us from up ahead.
Two [Mechanoid] faces appeared on the display. Aqua presented with its serene smile. One that spoke of belief in a plan painstakingly put together by a higher power. Ruby’s face, as always, did nothing.
“Support ready to engage,” Aqua stated with an unfaltering smile.
Ruby nodded but otherwise wore a blank expression. For a moment, I wondered if she might be a copy of Shazam, but the merger didn’t fit. The red [Mechanoid] was sneaky and Shazam existed like an immovable wall. Eggman and the drunken KeylessLock didn’t line up either, and these games were only echoes of each other. Some excuses could be made for non perfect representations.
Our timer ran out. The picture of Auntie Backstab’s vessel caught up with ours on the chase timeline. The first thing I heard was a sound that screamed across our interior louder than Eggman’s snoring.
“HAM! I FOUND YOU, HAM!” Auntie Backstab shouted.
I swiveled the chair back around and prepared to take the controls. Treasure snorted at my actions and began rapidly pressing buttons. Display notices came up.
Ship Status Boost:
[Mechanoid] Unit Hermes (Pilot): Provides a bonus to [Coordination], [Reaction], dodging, energy recharge, ship’s firepower.
[Mechanoid] Unit Treasure (Support): Provides bonus to deflection, sensory awareness, ship’s firepower, repair.
[Mechanoid] Unit Jeeves (Support): Provides bonus to shields, sensor range, repair.
Note: Bonuses will expire once crew’s energy is depleted.
This promised to be a worse situation then our [Leviathan] chase. Ruby and Aqua peeled away in separate directions. I veered off in a third in hopes that our scatter might cause bewilderment.
“She’s locked on us,” Treasure said.
“Of course she is.” I attempted to see where everyone was. We weren’t in an asteroid field so there were no spots to hide or dodge around. Ruby was nowhere in sight and Aqua shined with its blue coloring in the distance.
We strove to outfly the unquestionably faster ship. Ruby fired lasers at the [Stabinator] but no damage resulted. The large ship with spikes was easily four times our size. There was little conversation as I endeavored to abruptly change direction away from the enemy ship, but each change of direction or doubling back movement caused our shields to take a bump. Jeeves and Treasure both appeared grim.
“I need options!” I tried not to yell at them but failed. Dusk squeaked and wiggled from a perch up above. I didn’t have time to give the [Messenger’s Pet] a glance. There were three of us and we were being rammed from behind by a space blowfish. We should be thankful our foe didn’t have any actual weapons. Auntie Backstab relied on brute force and speed to solve issues.
“Bombs? Do we have anything to aim backward?” I asked.
“Each attack costs us mass, Unit Hermes.” Treasure’s tired voice ran rampantly over the sweet one.
“Death costs us mass,” I responded while doing another white-knuckled turn. Our shields dropped twenty more percent from a jarring hit as we rolled off Auntie Backstab’s vessel. Dusk squawked and the blanket of stars spun around wildly as I tried to pick new directions.
Ruby’s lasers kept ricocheting off the [Stabinator]‘s hull. Aqua risked crossing close to us and I saw a blue beam shoot out. It aimed for our shields instead of Auntie Backstab’s vessel. Our blue bar for shields recovered as the other [Mechanoid]‘s bar went down. I barely registered that the ability was transferring energy to us in an effort to help. Another violent nudge surged into our backside and knocked off ten more percent.
“Trouble!” shouted Eggman. “Sending you what I’ve got! Heeee.” His voice wasn’t into the laugh now. The player sounded nearly depressed, and I understood why.
“Is that?” I wanted to cry out loud about this unfair situation. We were screwed, completely and utterly screwed. Even if we managed to get away from the [Stabinator], which was seeking to violently mate with the [Wayfarer’s Hope], we would have the giant player vessel standing in our way.
“The player ship, yes. WTS a Spaceship,” Jeeves uttered.
“Why is it blocking the Jump Gat
e? Why do they always block it?” I banged on the steering wheel violently and failed to dodge an additional whack on our ship.
“Ships popping through gates get a few seconds of immunity, it prevents spawn camping by raider guilds,” Eggman said, happily providing an answer to our ridiculous situation. There were explosions rocking his audio, clearly his efforts weren’t going well either. “Or else we would all be doomed!”
“Ham. Ham. Ham,” Auntie Backstab chanted.
“Doom. Doom. Doom,” Eggman added his own words to the song Auntie Backstab was broadcasting.
“Darn it! Full shields!” I spun our vessel around and tried to ram the [Stabinator] back. We didn’t have the power, mass, or inertia to make a difference in space. Our ship was pushed backward. Giant spikes were rotating across the surface of Auntie Backstab’s space blowfish. The shields kept us both physically separated as the sharpened cone came into line.
There was a sudden rush as a spike rocketed from the [Stabinator]‘s surface and collided heavily with our shields. Her vessel was firing spikes at us! The very idea that she had somehow created a vessel that shrugged off lasers and was tough enough to push around small ships was bad. Now there were impalement attempts to dodge.
“We should avoid those,” Jeeves said.
“Yes, we should,” Treasure echoed the sentiment.
“Fine!” I shouted at them for being super helpful and rolled us over the [Stabinator]‘s shield. Our blue meter flashed and only a timely strafing run by Aqua kept it from being completely demolished.
I drove us toward the big ship. My desperate hope was to use these giant spikes against the [WTS a Spaceship] vessel. It would probably get us killed, but my options were limited. Aqua came in for an extra shield regeneration run, but the [Stabinator] unexpectedly fired all the spikes at once.
“DIE, BLUE HAM!” Auntie Backstab’s voice shouted and there was a flash of light. I watched the bar for Aqua’s ship vanish as two different spikes pierced through its lowered shield. Just like that it popped.
“Aqua!” Treasure screamed. Jeeves gasped with its nanny voice.
Aqua’s ship had been demolished. There would be no way to recover the [Mechanoid] now. I took a breath and pushed myself to keep moving forward. One step at a time, one problem to solve before moving on to the next. My arms didn’t work quite right and one foot faltered at the gas pedal.
Ruby’s silent face practically snarled. I saw her red ship dive between the spikes and fire away. Lasers glanced off and were essentially ineffective. We weren’t going to be able to take down this captain’s vessel. It was too big for us to thwart.
“Careful,” I said to Ruby, feeling numb with forced calm.
Neither Jeeves or I had the right [Core] to bring back Aqua now. Our healer was gone, and Ruby looked to be mad with mute rage. Her ship crashed right into the [Stabinator] in a ball of kamikaze red.
“Oh no. What was she thinking?” Jeeves said.
Treasure sniffed behind me then took a breath. “They’re with the Great Core now. It’ll be okay. They’ll be recovered in the Borders of Ohm once more.”
We had only been able to recover them the first time because their [Core]s were intact and working. There wasn’t time to stare at the mess. I focused on moving us forward toward the big vessel. We, I, could hopefully use one ship to fight the other, or something. Anything to make this work. Going around them wasn’t an option. Going through them would probably meet with failure, but by the Voices, I didn’t plan on giving up.
I felt a moment of guilt for letting Jeeves and Treasure come into this mess. If there had been a way to back out and let them go, I might have. Briefly it occurred to me that I should have stolen the ship from Ruby and Aqua back on [Offbeat Point]. Then they would all be safe, away from my madness.
It was too late. The player vessel [WTS a Spaceship] loomed in the distance. Our Jump Gate sat behind it. I released my hands from the steering wheel and shook them both to get circulation back. [Mechanoid]s didn’t need it, but as a person it helped me. Driving was not a skill I used often in the real world.
“I’ve got something,” Jeeves shouted.
Treasure gasped. “Multiple crafts inbound! I’ve got communications, it sounds like they’re old souls here to attack-” The silver and gold [Mechanoid] paused with clear uncertainty. Her mouth pumped a few times to try and speak the words, “-Commander Queenshand’s forces?”
I didn’t have time to care. We had gained a small lead on the [Stabinator] after its spike trick. Suffering a small Kamakazi from Ruby had slowed it down further.
“Patching in audio!” Treasure’s sweet voice took over fully. Whatever happened must be good.
“Alright, boys! You know the rules! All in, everything on those two ships, try to get the Mechanoids through! Move, move!” The voice sounded nasally. The kind of person who probably had tons of pimples and sat behind a computer screen.
Goodness, now what was going on? Dozens of ships were flying in. These were all player vessels, not NPCs. They aimed straight for the two enemy ships. Explosives and beams rocketed across the landscape. Where in the universe had this army come from?
An idea occurred to gave me a spark of hope. Were these Advance Online’s representation of the army Shazam was leading? Was this one of those echo events that Jeeves had mentioned? This was our cavalry, riding to the rescue because of a letter I delivered!
“Come on, quickly! I’ve got the gate started, but our window is short,” Eggman shouted at us and I changed course.
Current Stage Event:
The Jump Gate to [The Old Earth Solar System] is now active. This is a limited portal and will be unavailable after one minute.
Time Remaining: 00:00:58
Our vehicle went from pointing at [WTS a Spaceship] to the gate floating nearby. Eggman’s shard of a vessel was taking heavy fire. Lights flickered along the wooden Jump Gate, it looked like the various beams of lightning were gradually being brought together into one giant straight ray of light. It shot off into the distance. Pulses rippled a path out of this disaster.
Then Eggman’s ship blew up. I didn’t know what to think, had a third traveler just died? Was this another casualty to go with the army around us that was assaulting our enemies? I didn’t have time to figure out who was on our side, or who might be with Commander Queenshand. We had to get to the gate.
I drove straight for it while watching the timer. Blasts from other ships flew in from all directions. A few hit us and shaved away health and energy. Treasure and Jeeves were both madly pressing buttons, micromanaging the ship’s functions and diverting energy from places. Small symbols appeared noting fluctuations in our weapon’s power and that [Repair] functions were being taken offline to boost the shields.
My job was to steer for the Jump Gate. That had to be my only focus.
Remains of Eggman’s vessel flew by us. One large piece actually collided with our hull. I couldn’t afford to pay it any mind as I pressed down on the gas pedal. Even that brief bit of collision from an opposite direction had ruined our inertia.
“Come on,” I muttered.
There was a clank of noise. Heavy footsteps clambered in from the exit hatch that shouldn’t even be open. I couldn’t turn around to look.
“Human!” Treasure sounded affronted. I focused on aiming for the Jump Gate.
“Alright, those punks, taking my ship after all that work!” Eggman’s voice wasn’t over the intercom anymore. “Hey, Igs! Surprise, I left a self-destruct option aboard before quitting the guild! Hahahaha.”
“HAMMMMMMMMM!” Auntie Backstab’s voice chased us through space. “HAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.”
“DOOOOOOMMMMM!”
Explosions distorted space for endless miles. Pieces of ship rocketed outwards in a ripple. My eyes stayed glued on the escape, our only hope, Xin’s salvation. I dove straight into the activation portal for [The Old Earth Solar System]. Our ship wooshed through in a beam of light. My eyes felt like reality was bei
ng stretched through all the world’s funhouse mirrors at one time. Everything rippled and spun, compressed and expanded.
Then we plopped out the other side. My interface was completely messed up. Health and energy bars were crawling with lightning looking static. I tried to breathe and see where we were. Finally, satisfied that we had made it through this latest leg, I turned to confront the player Eggman.
“You do understand that was a one-way trip,” I said to him. We sat at the Jump Gate’s edge. Going back would be impossible, there was no energy to the gate on this end. The other player’s ship was destroyed. Aqua and Ruby were destroyed along with their vessels.
“I do! It will be fantastic! Hehehehehe.” Eggman started laughing. We were about the same mass, at least in terms of volume. I was allowed to put it into different places, where Eggman kept his a few feet lower across the board. Each time his belly wiggled it pushed into the other [Mechanoid]s.
“You’re willing to go this far, just for revenge?” I wanted to check with the other player. We hadn’t talked much in person aside from his strange habits of spouting doom and laughing.
“On those idiotic brats? Of course! Let them try to stop me! You saw what I did to my old ship. Your minions can deal with the NPC, I’ll show The Little Twerp and Jolly Green Moron a thing or two.” The round player began to strike poses in our small craft which only served to knock Jeeves and Treasure around.
I turned toward the front and pressed the gas pedal. We had come this far and needed to keep forging ahead. There was a timer displaying how long remained until we caught up with Commander Queenshand’s ship, the [Lady Liberty].
Current Stage Goal:
Intercept the first squadron’s ship [Lady Liberty] and recover the [Mistborn]
Continue Online (Part 3, Realities) Page 40