“Take the best position,” I commanded, marking the locations of the closest space defense towers. Those had to be destroyed first.
“Yes, sir.” With a small twitch, the ship adjusted its course, moving a mile up and turning to the left. “Starting fire,” it informed a moment before shooting.
Now I had nothing to do but appraise the AI’s precision and mark the next targets to replace the destroyed ones. The new aiming system allowed me to see everything in real-life size, including the hits. It was totally worth all the lot of money I had spent on it, once again leaving none for my real-life expenses.
“Ship detected!” the camouflage system screamed before shutting off as I was detected by the enemy’s space defense. The next moment I saw the turrets turn in my direction, laser rays shooting out fast.
Change position. Maximal acceleration, I instantly made a decision and looked at the new spot, commanding the AI to take the ship there.
I went deaf for a moment, my blood pressure jumping so high that blood sprayed from my nose, staining the spacesuit visor from the inside. I really need a new gravity compensators, I thought, looking at the spray. Such G-loads can kill you.
I already knew—and now I could also feel—that the cheapest compensators currently installed could barely cope with the AI’s sharp maneuvering, particularly in a speedy fight. I made a mental note that they had to be replaced unless I wanted to become a bloody cutlet inside my cockpit.
Ship irradiated by radars. Massive space defense fire! the camouflage system squeaked hysterically. It still provided attack warnings while off.
Cease fire. Ship’s survival is our top priority, I commanded the AI that instantly yanked the ship off and maneuvered through the space, making me feel sick and dizzy.
What are the rest of them doing? Why’s there no support? I wondered, unable to see what was going on outside. The systems were not good enough to show the battle during abrupt turns, changes in altitude, or maneuvering. I could only see blurred shapes flashing outside the cockpit. Eventually, I had to turn the sensors off to have the cockpit inside as something steady to fix my eyes upon.
Troop carriers incoming.
All fighters: neutralize the air and space defense forces by all means!
Chapter 22
Following this message, the enemy fire started to subside. Still breathing deeply through my nose to stop myself from vomiting, I managed to activate the aiming system once the ship started to hover. I saw the other nine fighters being hard at work, attacking the towers that were now firing at them instead of me. At last.
Maximal height. Attack the space defense, I commanded the AI. What’s happening in the voice chat? I added the volume slightly only to regret this decision immediately.
“L0St, you idiot! Come down and help us!” a stranger nicknamed “Boss” yelled.
Is he an idiot? It took me some time to realize that the other pilot was addressing me. When I got it, I almost burst out laughing. I had already done more than all of them combined, by hitting five space defense towers and distracting the rest so that they were now all attacking me. The other players either failed to see that or were stupid enough to believe that the towers were all firing in the same direction for the lulz. Do these pilots really think they are the ones distracting the towers, heroically engaging them in close combat, while I’m doing nothing to help them?
Utter fools, I thought when three more voices burst into the chat, demanding me to help. I switched the chat off again. The shouting I had already heard was enough to assess their intelligence level and realize the uselessness of further arguing.
Continue attacking the space defense on the carriers’ approach. The map showed where they were coming from; I had to concentrate my fire there to prevent them from being hit. Marking the new towers, I gave control back to the AI that started knocking them down just as before, sometimes changing the angle and altitude.
Soon enough I could see the descending carriers without zooming in on them. The heavy shuttles came down, showering the landing spot with fire, and opened the ramps for the armored vehicles and tanks which then formed a chain and rushed to storm the city’s fortifications. Dropping their load, the carriers soared steeply, giving place to the next ones. This line of descending and ascending shuttles became continuous, interrupted only by the arrival of smaller carriers with infantry troops; then those smaller ones joined the merry-go-round.
The wave of troops, which increased with each minute, became so dense that the fortified dots by the wall shield were silenced at once. When the shield gave a few blinks and faded, the wall was instantly destroyed by tank fire. The wall of attackers poured into the city, killing all those who resisted.
Military task: Destroy all enemy air and space defense towers. You will get a bonus for each destroyed tower.
I had already destroyed about thirty of them, so I just continued scoring, wiping out all dots that still fired at the attackers.
The city’s resistance was crushed within an hour. Silence fell, interrupted only by occasional blaster flashes or rifle shots. The quest designed as an eight-hour one was accomplished in just two, including the time spent waiting inside the carriers.
Level 5 quest complete: The Tiun City
You get 10,000 credits.
You gain +10 reputation with the Wargs.
Level up! Congratulations!
Level up! Congratulations!
Level up! Congratulations!
Level up! Congratulations!
Level up! Congratulations!
Level up! Congratulations!
You have unlocked 2 skill slots.
You get 10 skill points.
Bonus for destroyed space defense towers: 3,800 credits
You may return to the shuttle to exit the mission.
Having no reason to hurry, I just hovered over the captured city, relishing the newly gained experience and level ups, along with the skill slots and added points.
From the shuttles hovering in the outer space, familiar ships descended. Out of them came the robots that started to install lots of teleports to bring the infantry and machines back home. The happy soldiers completed their looting and left in groups, apparently rejoicing at getting rich that fast. The machines followed once there were enough teleports for them.
Before boarding the shuttle, I decided to take a final look at the battlefield. Zooming in, I saw the broken bodies of dead enemies scattered as far as I could see, dressed in plain overalls instead of red-and-silver uniforms. There were not only adults, but kids, too.
To my surprise, none of the bodies looked like an android; they all bled and had real bones and tissue, and the expressions on their faces were extremely realistic, unlike those I had seen on the dull, compound-eyed mugs of those insects.
Great job, devs, I praised the game creators, commanding the AI to gain height and dock the carrier ship. The enemies look real, and the city’s no longer Lego-like. This level five quest was cool. I’ll gladly take more of them.
The lifting acceleration pressed me into the chair, but that was a massage after what I had endured in the battle. The carrier ship opened a boarding corridor; the AI navigated the ship through it. Ten minutes later, I was on the familiar deck, on that very teleport square I had found myself in at the beginning of the quest.
Quest complete. Select the available trophies to be added to your warehouse.
Before me opened a table with undreds of broken fragments and components—my loot. It was a pity that I could only take twenty. I selected the most expensive items, which were the laser guns from the destroyed air and space defense towers.
Transfer the cargo to your hangar, or sell it now?
The new message made me think. Most of the trophies were heavy laser guns that couldn’t be installed into my ship, so I decided to sell them instead of cramming them into my warehouse space.
“Sell,” I selected the second option in the menu.
86,000 credits have been added to your account.
Loading…
Back in my room, I lay still for several minutes, unable to believe my luck. A windfall fell upon me. A windfall I did not know how to spend.
It’s a pity that you can’t shop from home, I sighed, standing up. That would make things so much easier. But, alas, I had to go to the square and take a taxi. I spotted several players on the square vividly discussing the recent operation. Everyone was excited, mainly about the earned income. As far as I understood, even the infantry made good money on their loot, though probably not as much as I had gotten for the heavy space defense weapons.
“Greetings, visitor. We have new goods and a discount system for regular customers,” the merchant informed once I entered the shop I had bought my ship in.
“Great. Please show me the new items,” I said politely, although the NPC probably didn’t care about my manners (or did it?).
The interactive wall showed a large picture with a dozen of systems and weapons that I hadn’t seen before. My eye was instantly drawn to the new railgun.
Weapon type: Electromagnetic
Model: EMR-98
Charges: 0/50,000
Condition: perfect
This one was by 20% better than mine in every single aspect: fire range, precision, and damage. All is great except the price. I winced upon seeing the 200,000 credits on the price tag. I still had to buy new gravity compensators. The battle revealed that I needed them badly unless I wanted the G-loads to kill me.
“We are open to accepting your trophies, or a trade-in of your current systems, as part of the payment,” the NPC informed, seeing me linger in front of the new gun for a while in thought. “We will also de-install the old components and install the new ones at no charge if the purchase amount is over 50,000 credits,” he added, driving my hesitation away.
“Please show me the gravity compensation systems.” I decided to buy the gun, but I also wanted to know the total cost with my old gun and compensators included as trade-ins.
“Here you are. The latest models,” he replied.
The wall revealed the full range of options, from those like mine, coming at 50,000 credits, and up to those priced at millions of credits. The most expensive ones came with a new hull because they could not be installed on any other one; their properties were outright fantastic. To me, they even seemed excessive, so settled for a good-enough option at just 120,000.
“Please calculate the amount I have to pay if I trade my weapon and gravity compensators in for these.” I pointed at the items of my choice.
“With a ten percent discount and trade-in of old components, your total is 132,600 credits. You get free installation of new systems and free ship repairs, provided that the damage is no greater than ten percent, as purchase bonuses.”
“Um…” I only had the 86,000 I had earned in the last battle on my account, not counting the engine and other items from the earlier missions stored in my hangar. If all of those are not enough to cover the difference, I’ll have to cancel the purchase.
“Please calculate the value of all items in my hangar on top of my account balance. Is that enough?”
“Yes. We can give you 40,000 for the engine and 6,000 for everything else. So you pay only 600 credits more.”
The NPC’s words startled me. I remembered that the engine alone was worth 60,000 credits.
“But the engine costs more!” I tried to sort the matter out.
“We’ll need to put money in its repair, restoration, and calibration. 40,000 credits is the best offer we can give,” he told me calmly.
Oh God. I had no idea what to do in a situation when you are making a 320,000 credits deal and lack only six hundred to complete it. I should have sold that engine for 60,000 credits right after the mission. But I kept it in hope of finding a matching one so that I could put both onto my ship.
Knowing the exact amount after a battle but having the shop pay you much less was an odd pricing system. It came all of a sudden to me. I hadn’t sold anything before.
I didn’t seem to have much choice anyway. There was no way to change the NPC’s decision.
I need just six hundred credits, I thought. I can take a short quest and get them in four hours or so. Completing the purchase will leave me with no money at all, but I can handle that. I have my noodles. The utilities won’t be cut off until the debt is two months old.
“Please put them aside for me. I’ll be back soon with the full amount,” I asked the NPC. He agreed to reserve my items, informing me that the reservation would be valid for 24 hours. So I had to hurry and earn the damn six hundred credits to get my new gun and gravity compensators before the time runs out.
Chapter 23
“Home! Clean linen. Boil the water to make noodles when I get out of the shower.”
I fell out of the capsule exhausted, but absolutely happy. I wanted to leave immediately after completing the quest and paying for my purchases, but then I decided to watch them be installed, which kept me in the game for another four hours.
I watched the drones deliver the purchases in huge boxes, rip the hull open to remove the old components, install the new ones and spend a long time welding the ship armor to close it. They also removed the damaged anti-laser coating at no charge which only added to my happiness.
I spent another hour setting and adjusting the interface after the drones had left. The system had new options now. I increased the AI’s upper G-load threshold according to the new compensation system’s properties, as well as the fire range according to what the new gun’s capabilities.
The only step I skipped was testing the systems in another quest. I had realized that I had already been in the game too long; the buzzing in my head and the overall heaviness that I was feeling only confirmed that. So I just completed the setup and left the game.
I was in the shower when the AI startled me with the following news: “Viktor, your mother called. She was concerned about the account being empty and transferred five hundred dollars onto it. She also told me to spend it on groceries, so now I can make you a regular breakfast instead of noodles.”
Oh dear. I was embarrassed. I totally forgot I had given mom a higher level of access when she had stayed in my apartment while Masha and I were on vacation. So awkward. A grown-up son still being fed by his mom.
“Viktor?”
“Yes. Regular breakfast, please.”
I need to call her back and thank her, I made a mental note. She couldn’t make herself leave Home’s account empty. She realized that I had nothing to eat.
Completing my shower and getting down for breakfast, I dialed mom’s number. Her anxious face appeared on the wall.
“Why can’t I reach you?” she asked right away, not greeting me back.
“I turn the phone off while gaming, mom. To avoid distractions.”
“Are you broke? Why aren’t you buying any food?”
“I’m all right, mom.” If she realized that I was out of money, she would surely come to visit. I would do my best to prevent that from happening.
She kept asking questions for another five minutes, but I managed to comfort her, convincing her that I was absolutely fine and was having temporary hardships. I expressed my gratitude for the money and promised to repay it soon.
Disconnecting, I looked at my already cold breakfast. “Good thing she didn’t ask about Masha. It would’ve taken me five more minutes to explain our quarrel to her.”
Actually, I couldn’t explain that quarrel even to myself. Reasons behind it were beyond me. While both of us were well-off, I was paying for everything. The moment we hit a bump on the road, she makes a smart move and separates our accounts. So much for her talk about partnership. That was the main thing keeping me from simply forgetting her words and trying to mak
e up. I would rather not call or message her. I would keep waiting for her to realize that it was me who had the rights to be angry.
***
I was having dinner before entering the game after a 48-hour break. I had slept through the day following my lengthy session. Then dad called, asking me to come over because mom hadn’t really been comforted by our phone talk and kept going over and over about my situation. “You must come if you don’t want her to have a heart attack”, he told me. That left me with no choice but to go and visit my parents and stay at their place for a night. That was the only way to soothe mom and clear my conscience before leaving for my own place the next morning.
I’ll get to testing the new gun after a light dinner. The front door clicked. The clatter of high heels came from the hall, I was taken aback.
“Good afternoon, Mariya. Welcome back.” The AI instantly made it clear who had produced those sounds.
“I’m home!” Masha’s sad face appeared in the doorway. Seeing me at the table, with a raised fork in my hand and mouth as full as the plate before me, she rejoiced. “Oh, you are so cute.” She hugged me, her breasts pressed against me. I had only enough time to put the plate and fork aside to avoid smearing her with food.
“I really missed you.” Saying that, she finally stopped smothering me and lay down onto the sofa, putting her head onto my lap.
Chewing the last bit of my dinner and swallowing it, I looked down at her and warily asked: “What’s up with you? We kinda had a quarrel.”
“No, no.” She shook her head. “I didn’t want to make up. The entire ride to here I kept thinking about the nasty things I was going to tell you. But when I saw just how cute you are, I simply couldn’t…”
“That simple, huh? Had I known, I would have let you see me like that a long time ago.” Putting the fork aside, I pat her on the head. She buried her face in my lap.
“How I hate them,” she suddenly said. “If you only knew how much I hate them. They’re totally ruining the play.”
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