by Cosimo Yap
Any officer in any organization rank D or above or a party member that meets the minimum safety requirements should suffice.
Alan almost face palmed, he should have asked this question earlier. He could have hired a bodyguard, without annoying Phantom. Of course, the bodyguard might have betrayed him, or maybe Phantom was planning a trap… No, he wouldn’t risk getting on the Chief Administrator’s bad side, right?
Alan: Um, apparently any officer of an organization rank D or above has to grant me the authority.
Phantom: Well, I think I’m an officer and the Black Rose Guild is an A rank guild, so I guess you’re in luck, kiddo. Give me the Administrator’s contact info.
Alan quickly did so.
Alright, Traveler, you are granted permission to enter the Undercity. Please wait here for a guide that will take you to the entrance.
Okay, thanks for your help!
Alan cut off the connection with the Administrator, sending a quick reply to Phantom.
Alan: Thanks a lot for the help, they said they’d let me through! Um, a quick question, how far away is the place that holds the package? I’m a bit worried about time.
Phantom: Really? It was that easy? Huh. The destination isn’t too far, just maybe a twenty minute run from the Administrator’s entrance. Your quest should update itself.
Alan: Oh, how did you expect me to get into the Undercity? Um, also, I don’t suppose you could give me any sort of emblem that would grant me some sort of authority as a courier of the Black Rose guild? How am I supposed to let them know you sent me, otherwise?
Phantom: I hear most people sneak into the entrance. I wasn’t even aware the Administrators knew it existed… Also, sorry, as you aren’t yet a member yet I can’t give you any sort of emblem. Now, this package pickup is sort of under the table so don’t tell them who sent you, okay? No mentioning the Black Rose guild or me. Tell them the boss sent you to pick up the designated package, the quest will give you the info about which. These deals happen all the time in the Undercity. Now, I’m getting back to sleep. I was up late doing guild stuff. Important guild stuff. Only message me again if the planet’s about to explode or something like that, okay?
Alan: Um alright.
Phantom ended the conversation.
A few moments later, a humanoid figure wearing a grey, flowing robe walked up to Alan. Like so many other people, they had a hood on, hiding their face. A gruff, digitized male voice said from beneath the hood, “Are you Alan?”
Alan nodded.
“Alright, follow me.”
The figure turned around, surprisingly agile despite Alan's assumption it was an older man or construct. Alan rapidly followed the guide down a back hallway, then through a series of red walls of light. Each time they turned a corner or entered a hallway, the lights would turn on above them. When they left, they would turn off, plunging the area into darkness. Each and every inch of space was the exact same grey, silver metal. The walls, the ceiling, even the floor.
Alan was led down into a hidden staircase within another stairway. It was opened when his guide pressed his palm into the wall. Alan saw a glimpse of a hand with only three long, clawed fingers. They walked down the staircase in silence. It led almost straight down, with no end in sight. After a few minutes, an exit abruptly appeared, which they took. Alan continued following the guide for a series of additional twists and turns. How he was ever supposed to have found his own way down here, he had no idea. Maybe that was supposed to have been part of the challenge.
Still, the place was definitely barren, so he probably could have gotten away with sneaking around. Alan hadn’t seen another living or mechanical soul down here. Finally, after around a half hour of walking, the guide stopped in front of a wall, which Alan assumed to actually be a doorway.
“Here is the lift down to the Undercity. It should be back up soon. 15 minutes down, 15 minutes up, a continuous ride between bottom and top. Once you get out continue until you reach the light.
"Let an Administrator know when you are back up and they will send someone to guide you out. Do not sneak around, as you are more likely to get yourself killed than find any secrets. Most of the rooms are empty death traps. Good luck with whatever it is you’re trying to do.”
Abruptly, the guide turned around and left, walking the complete opposite way they had came.
There are also numerous hidden sensors spread around this area, Eve let Alan know. I doubt Phantom or anyone else was able to come here without the Administrator’s knowledge.
Interesting. It isn’t like I planned on sneaking around here, anyways…
Alan silently waited in front of the metal wall, hoping this wasn’t some sort of practical joke. He should probably be more trusting of people, instead of imagining all the horrible stuff that might happen. Then, the wall suddenly opened up, revealing a metal room. Within was a girl, around Alan's age, who seemed as surprised to see Alan as Alan was to see her. She was tall and pretty, with long blonde hair and blue eyes.
The girl wore a grey, leather outfit with a hood, almost straight out of an assassin’s game, nicely accentuating a beautiful figure. Strapped to her sides was a knife and what appeared to be a wooden stake. Looking closer, she appeared to be wounded, with blood on her shoulder—
GET IN THE LIFT, NOW.
The door in the wall had begun to close, the room beginning to descend. Alan dived forward as the girl was jarred into action as well. They quickly moved out of each other’s way, eyes briefly meeting as they passed each other by, the girl leaping out, Alan diving in. Alan landed in the metal room, able to get a last glance at the girl’s shapely departing figure as she threw up her hood.
Alan closed his eyes and concentrated, quickly having Eve bring up an image of the girl, telling himself it was to figure out more about her, not just to look at her. A few details had escaped his initial glance. Upon closer inspection, the stave he had seen had a number of light blue glowing runes on it, making the girl a Psionic ability user. Additionally, the blood on her didn’t seem to stem from any obvious wound, making Alan suspect it was someone else’s. Finally, her ears were distinctly pointed, making her a space elf or something. Eve quickly brought up a list of about 20 humanoid species with pointed ears, which Alan closed.
Wondering what the girl had been up to, Alan began to think about the day so far. In the end, Alan felt a bit disappointed. Khersath was simply a city. A humongous, futuristic city, yes, but like any other city it was basically a collection of buildings and people, most of which Alan would never see the insides of or even know the use of. A hive of activity and experience that simply was. Everything felt chaotic, too many new variables being thrown after him one after the other. Alan shook his head, such thoughts were irrelevant now, he had a task to complete.
We should arrive soon, Eve sent. I advise entering into stealth mode, which is just sneaking about rather than an activated ability or mode, in case you were wondering. Prepare to activate the armor’s invisibility and run, depending upon what awaits us at the bottom.
Alan nodded, and hid in the corner opposite the entrance. Of course, it was the wall that he had his back to that opened a minute later.
Alan turned around, but all he saw was a dark tunnel, like the guide had said there would be. As he stepped into the tunnel, the door to the lift closed behind him and a new message appeared:
You have entered into the lower levels of Khersath. Once you exit this tunnel, you have left the safe zone. Death penalties will once again apply, along with all the risks typically associated with the Game. An unsafe zone does not equate with a lawless zone, and all players are reminded that local rules should still be adhered to. That includes theft, murder and unwanted soliciting.
Shortly thereafter, Alan emerged from the tunnel into the Undercity, and froze. He’d expected maybe a seedy looking downtown area, or a ghetto slum. Instead, it was a fairly well lit, clean space, looking similar to the top level, with hundreds of people going about their b
usiness. The “sky” was a ceiling, about 100 stories upwards, providing artificial light similar to sunlight.
In front of Alan was a city gate, accompanied by numerous armed guards guiding people in and out, inspecting them carefully. Everything seemed quite neat, even orderly, with shops and compounds lined up along streets like city blocks within the Undercity’s walls. The first immediate, noticeable difference was the presence of armed guards everywhere, guarding merchants, stores, and lining the walls. Most of the guards above ground in the plaza had been carrying nonlethal weapons, stun batons and constraining weaponry. Everyone here carried weapons that were capable of deadly force. The second thing Alan noticed was the way most people were carrying themselves. Everyone was seemingly alert, constantly scanning their surroundings. Alan began to relax a little; there didn’t appear to be any immediate danger. Then, numerous red marks started to fill his vision.
Eve constantly scanned for possible threats, and right now everyone was turning up dangerous.
I advise walking steadily towards the location indicated by the quest, acting as though you are on official business, Eve sent. Answer no one unless they are important or an official working for the Undercity. Street smarts, as we’ve gone over.
Taking a deep breath, which hopefully no one noticed as his face was completely behind his helmet, Alan began walking with purpose towards the city gate. One of Eve’s initial lessons had been on posture, and how to carry himself. Additionally, Eve had taught him different simple methods to avoid confrontation in case someone approached him, such as simply holding out his arm, bent at the elbow, to stop people that tried to get too close. Of course, these were lessons from Earth, but the general principle should still apply. Most of the “spotters” that Eve had pointed out seemed to ignore him, either assuming he wasn’t worth the trouble or he wasn’t among the list of targets they were looking for. Bounty hunting was, after all, a remarkably lucrative job in the Game.
The guards standing at the city gates had simple, uncolored metal power armor with an emblem of a single metal cube, which Alan assumed to be a platinum mark. They generally carried a laser rifle on their back, a laser sword in a holster to their side and an assortment of what looked to be grenades.
As Alan was about to enter the city, a guard turned to look at him.
“Halt. Please state your business in this city and reveal your identity.”
Quick, hand over a gold mark, but make sure to not reveal any other marks. Deflect.
Alan slid his hand to a compartment that held the remaining gold marks Alan had, and then quickly flicked one into the guard’s outstretched hand stopping him.
“I’m here to perform a simple business transaction, and would like to keep my identity to myself,” Alan said with more confidence than he felt.
The guard quickly glanced down to see what Alan had tossed him, and, upon seeing gold, quickly shoved the mark into a pocket compartment of his own.
“Of course, sir, please have a pleasant visit.”
Alan, having learned it was better to keep his mouth shut, simply nodded, and continued on his way. Neither he nor Eve noticed a watcher, hidden in the shadows.
Chapter 15
Alan looked at the buildings he passed as he made his way to the location indicated by the quest. Most were shops, with guards stationed outside. Interestingly, the majority of stores had messages saying that they didn’t allow walk-ins, and required some sort of identifying symbol or authorization to enter. There were probably some black market stores he could get into with the coin he’d gotten from the shady merchant back on Earth.
Rather than specific emblems, most players seemed to wear specific colors, probably representing gangs of some sort. The most common colors were a dark purple and a tarnished gold, almost bronze. Some article of clothing or weapon would be painted in one of these colors, but never both. Alan was worried he was sticking out too much, as he had no such identification, until he noticed a few other similarly unmarked players.
They were apparently meeting up as a group, heading into the ruins of an old building. Alan noted that there were a surprisingly large number of guards around the building, despite its dilapidated state. All the guards wore a purple tabard with a silver crown etched into it over there power armor.
Hey, Eve, what’s that?
It is likely an entrance to the Abyss Labyrinth.
The Abyss Labyrinth?
Yes, the Undercity the lowest inhabited region of Khersath. The remnants of an even older civilization lies further below. This area is named the Abyss Labyrinth, as even after countless years and exploration parties no one has ever managed to reach the bottom. There are rumors that there isn’t even a bottom, that it simply continues down into a black abyss.
Of course, that is likely superstitious nonsense. There are numerous Capture Points that have been taken and briefly held, even smaller dungeons within the greater labyrinth. This has caused many players to believe there is a major capture point, likely located in the center of the planet, which would give one control over the Undercity and lower levels of Khersath. This power could easily rival the control of any of the four main districts.
Scouting parties are often sent in to the dungeon, paid to map it out. No one has made it too far down, or at least they aren’t revealing that information to the public. Still, new entrances into the Abyss Labyrinth are often found, and lead to dungeons with decent treasure and enemies. That is likely one such entrance.
Ah, got it.
Alan walked by the ruins, continuing onwards. The buildings around him turned into large, steel warehouses, generally with only one or two bored looking guards. There were fewer and fewer people walking down the streets, as Alan was leaving the main market district.
Someone may be following us. I did not notice them before due to the density of people, but now I believe there’s a high probability they have been tailing us since the entrance gate.
What? Alan began to glance backwards, then, remembering his lessons with Eve, forced himself to keep his eyes forward so as to not alert his stalker.
Enter the alleyway indicated ahead. Immediately when you enter and are out of sight I will activate your armor’s invisibility. Then, once invisible, promptly turn around and continue to the quest destination.
Got it.
Alan turned into the alley indicated, then proceeded to turn right back and exit once the invisibility field was activated. He continued down the street, picking up his pace, glancing behind him. He noticed a man with a dark purple glove stroll pass the alleyway. The man wore a set of black formal attire. He took a brief, discrete glance down the alleyway then continued on. A small metal ball dropped from the man’s pocket, rolling into the alleyway.
That’s a scanner. Run! Eve sent.
A blue outline of the scanner’s potential range appeared in Alan’s view. He leaped forwards, barely crossing the line before a small electronic pulse showed up right behind him.
The man that had dropped the ball frowned then murmured a few words into a communicator on his wrist.
We should be in the clear, right?
I’m not sure. If he was on the lookout for you specifically, he may continue looking. We are uncertain of who he contacted as well. Try to finish this task quickly.
Alright.
Alan started jogging towards the quest marker, moving past warehouse after warehouse. A few had guards, others had squatters. Eve highlighted a few players doing some sort of drug in an alleyway, but Alan didn’t care about such things and tried to ignore them. A few minutes later, he reached another, nondescript large steel warehouse, apparently the destination of his quest.
There were two guards in front, both in dark grey, almost black army fatigues rather than power armor. They each held a number of strange devices on a belt, and held their weapons at the ready with a quiet ease. One had a dark-metal sword, the other a mechanical rifle. Unlike many of the other guards Alan had seen, they weren’t fooling around or talkin
g to each other. They were quietly scanning the area, and had their levels hidden unlike many of the other guards. Neither wore an emblem.
I suggest we deactivate our invisibility from around the corner, then approach cautiously. Also, the quest has updated, we are to ask for package E51, on the behalf of Master Silver.
Sure.
Alan walked back around the corner, then deactivated the invisibility and checked on the power of the armor. It had 440 energy remaining. He then slowly approached the guards, who turned to look at him, standing at attention.
“Hi, I’m here to pick up package E51 for Master Silver.”
The two guards briefly glanced at each other, then the one on the right who held the sword spoke.
“Oh, and what proof do you have that Master Silver sent you?”
Thinking quickly, Alan replied, “Proof? Isn’t my presence here enough? My master made no mention that such proof would be needed, and I’m sure he wouldn’t have sent me here to come back empty handed.”
“Look, I’m sorry, I’m sure Silver is an important person, but at the very least you should have an emblem or symbol to demonstrate that you are part of his faction, yet here you stand devoid of any such signifiers.”
Shit, Eve, what now?
Try a bit of intimidation, I will try to gauge their responses.
“Do you know what is in the package?” Alan asked in a quiet tone.
“No, we do not, sir,” the guard said.
“Well then, I don’t think it is your place to question the orders of my master. Are you sure that you wish to offend him?”
The two guards shared another glance.
They seem more confused than anything else. They aren’t intimidated in the slightest. Time to try different tactics, perhaps a bit of bribery. Diamond marks, not gold.
But, those are worth 20,000 credits, each!
And completing this quest with little difficulty is worth a great deal more. I estimate the guards are both at least level 400, thus we have little to no chance of defeating them.