Lost in Space

by Dmitry Raspopov

  Looking at the other carriers of our fleet, I was not surprised to see all of them having a similar build and the same bizarre material. Only those carrying infantry troops were slightly different, with solid hulls looking like giant warty cucumbers.

  Military task: Provide air cover to the landing troops; destroy the shipyard’s space defense.

  A reminder about my responsibilities interrupted my relaxed sightseeing session.

  “Did everyone get that task?” I asked in the chat. A few tired voices responded, no longer arguing with me or among themselves.

  “Flit about the shipyard for a while. I need time to detect all of the defense dots. Don’t attack. I’ll shoot them from afar,” I ordered. No one protested or made snarky comments. Someone said “Yeah”, and the whole group headed for the shipyard, turning around and changing their order.

  Once the fighters approached the giant structure, the turrets opened fire, enabling me to detect them and mark them in order of priority. The AI started to take them out one by one. I was at a relatively safe distance. Although the enemy ships were no more, the long-range turrets could still reach me; I even had to move position once or twice.

  “L0St, how much did you pay for this ship?” the pilot whose ship was down on the deck asked. He seemed to be the only one who had nothing to do; everyone else was bustling about the shipyard, destroying the turrets. Those who carried missiles were particularly good at that, but soon they were out of ammo and back to acting as baits.

  “L0St, is your ego too large to answer?” the pilot kept making noise, distracting me from searching for new towers, which would start shooting once a fighter enters their fire range.

  “Hey, shut up,” someone said in the chat. “Unlike you, we’re all busy doing our job, so be quiet and be happy that you didn’t lose your ship.”

  “Happy? I’ll have to shell out ten thousand for repairs. At least!” He went on, moaning how difficult it was for him to pay for those damn repairs and that damn fuel all the time. However, everyone was really too busy to take any further notice. The task was still active. We had to destroy more defense towers.

  Military task complete. First mission goal complete.

  Return to the base. The task will be updated after the shipyard has been captured by the landing troops.

  “That’s all.” I turned my fighter around once I saw the message. “Let’s have some rest. Looks like they’re allowing us to take a breather and re-fuel.”

  Taking control from the AI, I flew to the carrier. Approaching its open side, I saw commotion inside of it. Giant 30-40 feet tall, squid-like, creatures in spacesuits easily picked up the hit fighter from the deck, carried it to the teleport and immediately applied strange tools in order to repair, charge, and fuel the ship.

  Landing in the hangar, I was approached by two more of those creatures. I couldn’t see their faces, or snouts, through the shimmering spacesuits visors, but their long armored tentacles were nimble at wielding the equipment they had brought with them.

  “What the hell are these squids?” Surprised voices came from the chat as more fighters took their places. There were only eight creatures, but they were fast to repair, fuel, and replenish the ammo on all our ships.

  “Fuck if I know. But they look stunnin’.” Left with no immediate tasks to complete, the pilots engaged in a leisurely conversation. “Never seen ‘em before. Last mission had some fishmen.”

  “Hey, L0St! You’ve been on the first level 5 missions, too, haven’t you? Why didn’t you answer us? We thought you were evading the fight to leave all the shit to us. That made everyone really angry at you.”

  “Yeah... And the defense towers just exploded by themselves,” I couldn’t help saying.

  “Oh, my bad. Today we’ve seen that that’s your fighting style. Are you a stealth sniper?”

  “Yes. I’m leveling up as that.”

  “Hey, by the way… Why did you choose that nickname? I know another L0St. A sharp player for Drones, a Russian pro team. I didn’t see him at the last Int, though. That’s odd.”

  “A Russian team? Are you not from Russia?” another man asked him.

  “I’m not. I’m from India. A Starry Sky fan.”

  “You have no accent at all,” the other speaker was surprised.

  “Are you kidding? I’m talking to you in Hindi, just like you are with me. Don’t you know that this game translates all languages?”

  “I know that. But I didn’t give much thought to where other players are from.”

  “Oh, by the way... Where are you all from?” the guy who had been badgering me appeared up again.

  “China.”

  “USA.”

  “Russia.”

  “Mother Russia.”

  “Canada.”

  “India.”

  This brief survey revealed the surprisingly diverse composition of my team.

  “Oh, cool. When will those damn commandos get to the shipyard? We still need to do finish the mission on the planet.”

  In my group leader folder, I could see the overall mission progress, the losses — total and those of my group — and also the progress on the current goal.

  “Seventy percent complete, I see. Let’s wait. Our last ship is still under repair.”

  “I wonder why they live here… It’s so odd.” I recognized the Indian player’s voice among all the others. “This ship’s a real sieve. Doesn’t it bother them that they can’t get out of the spacesuits?”

  “I don’t think they really live here. They may be using this ship only to carry the fighters. Maybe they have a small living module for themselves.”

  “Small? Did you see them? They are huge! Larger than our fighters!”

  “Small compared to the whole ship, I mean. Chill. The ship’s just huge. They might have a place to live where they don’t need the spacesuits.”

  Absentmindedly listening to their chatter, I watched the battle with my sensors, zoomed in to the maximum. The docking capsules with landing troops were all over the multi-layered shipyard; the fighters’ withdrawal delayed its end but only for a little while. I wished that I could see what was going on inside.

  Hey, I have the landing troops’ voice chats, I reminded myself and went over the folders. Finding a relevant one, I connected to it.

  Chapter 26

  “Johnny, leave! There’s a turret there!” a thick voice reached my ears, making me turn down the volume.

  “I see it, Roberto. I’ll get it with my plasma gun.”

  “Fucking alien defense. Getting through it is a pain.”

  “Yeah. But they explode in such funny way. Crunch — and splashes all around.”

  “Oh yes. Not like those fish people in the past mission. Those looked almost human save for the head. Killing them felt creepy.”

  “And these are just creepy... They look like fucking shellfish or shrimps.”

  “Don’t shoot at maximum next time. That reduces them to morsels. I’m curious to see what their whole body looks like.”

  “Great idea, Roberto. You’re really smart.”

  “Yes. That’s why I got to be a leader.”

  What shrimps? The overheard talk surprised me. I didn’t remember seeing any shrimps there; only the giant squids that were carrying us on their troopships.

  Going over other chats, I heard nothing really interesting except two things. The first was that our enemies actually looked like giant shrimps; the second was that there was zero gravity inside the shipyard so the landing troops had to make their way through the fortified corridors while being weightless.

  This raised even more questions — against whom were we fighting, and on whose side we were on. This mission, unlike the past one, was set in a different star system. I was no astronomer, sure, but I could still tell apart the most basic constellations; none of the ones that I had seen in the past mission were present here. I was almost ready to agree with the scientist I had heard speaking on TV. The developers’ imagination, and th
e level of detail and effort they had put into their starry worlds, was just stunning. Nothing like that had ever been done in any other game.

  Military task: Provide air cover to the landing troops; destroy the planet’s space defense.

  The system message interrupted my train of thought.

  “Let’s follow the same strategy, guys,” I said to my group chat. “You find the dots, I destroy them.”

  “Oh yeah… And you take all the loot, too. How smart.”

  “I don’t insist on my plan. You may destroy them, too,” I said, tired of arguing. They could decide what was best for themselves.

  “No, thanks. I’d rather follow L0St’s plan,” the Indian player said firmly. “Loot a bit less but keep my ship safe. The last patch nerfed the trophy prices, anyway. In the last mission, a level 4 one, I got a third less than usual. What idiot is inventing these new rules? Why? Twenty slots is really, really too little for me to take everything I need. I can’t wait to reach pilot level 5. Teamwork now gets a skill that allows you to have more trophy slots.”

  “That was in the new patch?” I inquired, realizing what a mess I was in. Off for 48 hours. Unaware of the latest changes. I’ve really become too relaxed… I haven’t been developing as a player. Was it my relationship problems or the lack of money, I wasn’t sure, but I was apparently playing way worse than I used to. To miss such major issues... A real shame for a pro.

  Brace up, Viktor. I opened the list of changes again. Surely enough, there was the one that had just been mentioned; the one that I had missed, considering it unimportant. Being in a relationship is good, but I shouldn’t neglect the game because of it. One mistake and I’ll be back in the infantry. And I’ll stay there for long. There are no more starter bonuses. I’d g feel the hardships of the new missions in the trenches, or as part of the landing troops.

  “Yes. On page three,” one of the team members replied when I’d already found the line myself. “Oh, I’m being pushed out,” he changed the subject. “Please cover me. I don’t want to lose everything at the very end of the mission.”

  The carrier deck started throwing our fighters out into space, one after another, beginning with those arriving last. Landing second, I came out before the last one — a hit ship that had looked like an opened can not so long ago and that was now boasting a shiny, brand-new armor and coating. The squids had done all the repairs at no charge. So much for all his moaning about costs.

  Forming a straight V deployment, we soon reached the planet. The space defense opened fire once we started to come down from the orbit, making us scatter.

  It was much simpler this time. Most of the team followed my plan. Dividing our responsibilities according to it, we started destroying the dots dispersed chaotically over the planet’s surface, which was all swamps and jungle. I failed to imagine who, or what, could live in a place like that but, judging by the fire density, they had much to defend.

  With five ships obeying my commands, we detected and destroyed the space and air defense towers that differed both in fire strength and range. The air defense towers had missiles that did quite some damage to our ships. It was a good thing that a couple of us had strong anti-missile protection. Due to them shielding others, none of our ships got hit. Same could not be said for those who went fighting and looting on their own. Three of them were destroyed by multiple missile hits before they could even say anything in the chat, save for one brief swear. In a heartbeat, I saw three ship icons fading on my leader panel.

  Seeing their fate, the last of those free hunters decided not to take any further risk and joined us. His rotary systems brought the missiles down rather efficiently, except when they got shot by all the nearby towers at once.

  My role was reduced to data transfer. Having better guidance and detection systems than any other ship in the group, I was in a perfect position to coordinate our teamwork. The advanced ship AI handled all of the aiming, firing, and maneuvering operations, so I was sure that I wouldn’t be hit by a missile or a laser beam.

  Military task complete.

  Provide air cover to the landing troops.

  I exhaled in relief. Our job was technically done; no more enemies to cover the landing troops from. The troop carriers came as low as they could, which was five miles above the planet’s surface. Blue power rays appeared from them, transporting ground machines onto the surface.

  I gaped at that the sight. I thought that they would actually land, but instead the great ships with a pulsing coating all over their armor, hovered above the surface, dropping incessant flows of machines and soldiers through huge circular portals.

  No one seemed to be aware of the exact location of the shrimp cities. The air scanning failed to detect them because of the planet’s thick vegetation, so the troops were dropped at five different spots, one of which was close to my group.

  Swearing heavily, the rows of infantry turned round and started into the swamps. As I learned later, the locals had large underwater cities. Before finding them, our infantry, armored vehicles, and tanks on gravity platforms had to cover five hundred miles on foot and wheels, which made the mission last much longer than the initial time estimate, but no one complained. Everyone knew what lavish bonuses were awarded for.

  The long-awaited system message confirmed our expectations; the extra time we had spent on the planet had been paid generously.

  Mission complete: The Shipyard of Al’de’ral!

  Duration: 8h + 7h extra time

  Mission reward: 100,000 credits +150,000 bonus credits

  Extra mission reward: +50 reputation

  Superiority bonus: 75,000 credits

  Group leader bonus: 50 fame points

  Level up! Congratulations!

  Level up! Congratulations!

  You have unlocked 2 skill slots.

  You get 10 skill points.

  Hey! What the fuck?! I was outraged. Where is my x30 for superiority? Why just 75,000 credits?

  Merry voices came from the chat.

  “Wow! That’s a lot of money!”

  “A pity they changed the coefficients. Now they work as percentage of the total amount, not as multipliers.”

  “Where’s that written?” I asked in the chat.

  “In the update. Haven’t you read it, L0St?” he asked back venomously.

  “Must have missed that.” I did my best to keep my voice calm while filthily swearing my own carelessness. Money and relationship problems had started to take their toll on my play. This was the second red flag today. I’d rather not receive the third.

  “Well, thanks everyone. I’m leaving. This mission has already lasted too long.”

  The pilots in the chat said goodbye to each other. Their fighters soared one by one, heading for the carrier. I was left alone to go over my blunders.

  Mission complete.

  Return to the carrier ship.

  Time till fighter teleportation: 20 minutes

  The game reminded me that all good things must come to an end.

  “Attention!” the AI suddenly flared. “Enemy detected! Open fire?”

  What?! What enemy? I looked at the map in confusion. A single red dot flashed on it, close to my current location and very far from the troop carriers accepting people back on board, picking them up with the same weird blue rays they had used for landing.

  “Attention! Enemy detected! Open fire?”

  “No. Scan and identify the enemy.” I didn’t understand why I should attack anything when I was safe. There were no enemies firing at me. I was just curious about what exactly had the AI detected.

  “Scanning complete. The object is an enemy ship. Open fire?”

  “Hold your horses.” I looked at the picture that the AI had zoomed in on of a spacecraft shaped like an ellipse, which had surfaced from the swamp right beneath me, covered in duckweed.

  “Come down. I want to get a closer look.” I was intrigued. This was the first time I had seen an, apparently, undamaged enemy ship not trying to a
ttack. I was curious about the reasons behind this strange behavior.

  “The object is an enemy ship. Open fire?” The AI asked instead of following my order. Annoyed, I took control over the ship and made the maneuver myself.

  “Open the cockpit.”

  “The object is an enemy ship. Open fire?”

  Damn you. I opened the menu and found the respective command. The air whistled out of the cockpit. The smell of rotting plants came through the spacesuit’s filters. I immediately switched to the spacesuit’s internal oxygen reserve.

  My fighter hovered, engines running, in level with the alien ship that was about half as big as mine, but very hi-tech in looks. It was beautiful with its fine armor, smooth curves, and seamlessness.

  I was careful not to step on the other ship as it could sink under my weight, drowning me. Instead, I decided to pull it closer to my fighter for a better look.

  I reached a protruding part that seemed to be the only thing one could grab the alien ship by. A piece of armor suddenly slipped aside beneath my hand and a giant shrimp with big, bulging black eyes peered at me from the hole.

  “Fucking shit!” I started for the cockpit where my rifle was.

  “Stop! Foe! Don’t kill!”

  The voice filters brought screeching sounds to my ears, and words translated by the built-in translator almost made me fall off the smooth ship armor. Fortunately, the boot magnets kept me on.

  “Don’t kill! Foe!”

  Retrieving my rifle, I pointed it at the creature. It didn’t actually look like a shrimp. Yes, it had a chitin shell and lots of small limbs, but it was also dressed in silvery fabric enveloping its whole body save for the limbs and the head.