by Rick Scott
Maxis just nods.
“So they can just make them spawn again and we can leave right?” Gilly says.
“They already accelerated the schedule with this last jump,” Rembrandt says. “He wouldn’t risk it again. Frequency is as bad as duration. That’s why it’s once a month.”
“So that’s why…” Val Helena lets out a little chuckle, but a mirthless one. “And here I was thinking it was all random.”
“So this means, until a world boss spawns again and is defeated, we’re stuck here?” I ask.
“Yes and no,” Maxis says. “There is another way…supposedly. The Wayfaring Stones. We call them receiving nodes. They’re like hard wired inputs that lead back to Citadel. There’s usually one in every town and they spawn from boss battles too. But lately all of them have been dead. Even the boss ones. It’s why we haven’t been able to get any nano back to the city for years.”
“Why are they not working?” Gilly asks.
Maxis shrugs. “Beats me…”
“So how do we get the nano back then?” I ask. “Will we have to wait for another world boss spawn?”
“No,” Maxis says. “That will only allow us to log out. Our nano bodies along with any nano we got will remain here. Which reminds me. Top of my agenda is to find my last despawn point. I think I had at least three full cubes on me at the time. That’s like 3 billion credits worth of nano if you need to ask.”
Holy crap…
“So how do we get it back then?” Gilly asks. “Without one of these nodes?”
“We think we may need to travel to the citadel…” Rembrandt says. “Physically. And turn them in by hand.”
“What?” I say. “You mean walk back home? In these bodies?”
I have a vision of me running around the hub like this. Part of it seems kind of bad ass, but then I think about staring at my own body in stasis and start to wig out. What the heck would my mom even think? Geez, with all of this, I can’t forget that she’s the main reason I need to get back home. And with plenty of hard nano in hand.
“So…” Val Helena says, leaning on the table and leveling her eyes at my brother. “Your goal is to get as much nano as you can, head back to Citadel on foot and then kill a builder along the way?”
“Yeah,” Maxis says, leaning on the table to meet her gaze. “Except it’s not that simple.”
Val Helena laughs sardonically. “You think?”
“It’s not for the reason you’re guessing,” Maxis says. “The builder’s not the real issue. It’s getting to Citadel that going to be the problem.”
“Why?” Gilly says. “Where is it?”
“That’s just it,” Maxis says. “No one knows.”
Chapter 4: Karma
Bruce Peters glanced over the dossiers on his data pad and frowned. “So… only six in total now?”
“Yes,” Dennis said. “One them unfortunately expired already.”
A knot tightened in his stomach. That could have been Jill. He gazed through the picture glass window of the observation lounge. The small, booth like office overlooked the stasis chamber where now more than a third of the city’s one million inhabitants dwelled. The chamber itself was cylindrical in shape and built vertically like a missile silo to maximize the use of space. The stasis capsules hung on racks and were packed tightly together. Each one contained a person and when the racks moved to accept new residents, it always reminded Bruce of clothes at a dry cleaner. Sad to think, that this is where they would all be heading soon.
Unless Mike pulled through for them this time.
He eased back warily in the roller chair that was opposite Dennis. “You’re certain there’s nothing that can be done?”
“Not without risking the community.” Dennis regarded his own data pad as he spoke, tapping on it lightly. “Three weeks minimum before we could try again. And even then I’d suggest a full month. The barrier programs were just barely able to give us a full minute of transmission time. I’ll need to work on a few more to be safe. Developing the encryption will take time.”
A whole month out there. He hated this. “Feels like we’re in a damn submarine. So blind to everything.”
“She’s in the best hands possible, Bruce. Mike’s the best scout we’ve had in a generation. And if his younger brother is anything like him, I’d say doubly so.”
That was one way to look at it.
“Did you go and see their mother?” Dennis asked. “Like you said?”
That sent another knot twisting through his stomach. He’d purposed to, but in the end, he just hadn’t had the courage. Not to look the woman in the eye. A woman, whose sickness he had used to manipulate her own son. A woman he could have cured with an executive decision, but chose not to, because he needed to keep sending Mike back. Needing to keep him searching for the panacea that would one day save them all. Heaven forgive me. History was repeating itself again. And now both her sons were on the surface, thanks to him.
But then, so was his daughter. Karma indeed. He deserved every second of it.
“It would have been too awkward,” he said eventually. “I sent the normal detail instead. They said she signed the non-disclosure no problem.”
“Do you think she suspects?”
Bruce merely shrugged. “She’s a smart woman. She can put two and two together. But it won’t matter anyway. Not now. We’re all sitting on a six-month time line…just like her.”
“Four months,” Dennis said.
Bruce perked up at that. “What?”
“The hub population is using more hard resources than I first calculated. The air scrubbers alone are a huge sink. Almost a hundred million hard credits a day.”
Mercy. “What are the reserves down to now?”
Dennis regarded his data pad again. “30 percent, give or take. With the population holding at 1.1 million, I’ll probably need to lower the hard limit again. To 500k this time.”
More tension knotted his stomach, but the normal variety. His usual stress of having to somehow keep this sinking ship afloat. “Any suggestions?”
“We could turn them off.”
“What?”
“The air scrubber for the hub. We could turn them off.”
Bruce scoffed but then stopped short when he saw Dennis was not joking. “You’re serious.”
“It would buy us another month.”
Fire and sickness lit within his stomach. “What do you mean, us? Do you not consider those people a part of us?”
“They’re a minority that have a negative impact on the economy and use far more resources than anyone else. When it comes to a triage situation, they’re the obvious first choice to be sacrificed to ensure the majority survive. It’s just logic, Bruce.”
Bruce glared at him. “You’d sacrifice one hundred thousand people?”
The software engineer just shrugged. “You asked for a suggestion. I gave you one. I didn’t say it would be palatable. But we’re approaching the time for tough decision, Bruce. And you’re the man that’s been elected to make them.”
“Well thank goodness for that,” Bruce said with disdain. “I don’t want to hear another suggestion like that again, you hear? Ever. Not while I still hold responsibility for this city. I’d rather see us all perish as equals, than a few survive off the backs of those we considered less worthy to live.”
Dennis chortled. “You can save the speeches for the board meeting. I’m sure we’ll be having one soon enough to discuss this very topic. In the meantime, do you have a solution?”
Resentment lingered in Bruce’s psyche at the challenge. How Dennis could even conceive of such a notion he’d never know. But then, perhaps he’d spent so much time battling those damn AIs that he was starting to think like one as well. “Run another lottery to incentivize the full immersion vacation program. If you need less people in the hubs, then I’d rather see them here in stasis, burning half the resources, than melting down in the vats.”
Dennis smiled like a crocodile. “
As you wish, Mr. Chairman.”
Chapter 5: Ties that Bind
I’m still trying to comprehend the latest bombshell from my big brother. He couldn’t have said what I just think he did. “What do you mean, ‘no one knows?’” I say. “You’re telling me we don’t know where the heck we even live?”
“Yes,” Maxis says a bit testily. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you. We broadcast randomly and blindly so that the true location of Citadel remains unknown… even to us.”
“You can’t be serious,” Gilly says. “How’s it make any kind of sense to do that?”
“It’s for our protection,” Rembrandt says. “And Citadel’s. If we knew the location in relation to the real world, we could be interrogated by the AIs and then they’d have a clear path to find and destroy us.”
Holy crap! This is sounding like a nightmare. “So how are we supposed to find it then?”
Maxis folds his arms and lets out a sigh. “I don’t know yet.”
The table goes quiet, everyone digesting what we just heard. The doors then open and Wilbur enters with a couple of young boys carrying a large pot and a basket behind him.
“Your meal,” he announces and the boys set the pot on the table, along with wooden bowls and a few loafs of bread. The interruption is a welcome distraction from our shellshock and we thank him before digging in. We don’t say much as we eat, perhaps still trying to come to grips with the situation.
And then Val Helena decides to drop a bombshell of her own.
“I think it’s time we went our separate ways,” she says and the entire table goes quiet again.
“What are you talking about?” Maxis says.
“The problem you’re dealing with could take weeks or forever to solve,” Val Helena says. “But I have something more pressing to deal with first.”
Maxis eases back with a furrow on his brow. “What about ‘all of us die in six months’, do you not get, lady? Finding Citadel is the only priority we got.”
She isn’t so quick to respond as she casts her gaze down at the table’s rough wooden surface. “There are worse things than death,” she says. “And if you’re right and we fail to get the nano back in time, and our bodies die, then we’ll all experience it as well.”
The way she says it sends chills up my spine.
“What do you mean?” Gilly asks.
“I mean what happens to you here, when your body dies back in Citadel.”
I never even contemplated that. “Won’t we just die too?”
“In a way,” Val Helena says. “But not like you think. You lose connection with your humanity, but you don’t cease to exist. You become...something else.”
Now she’s really got me spooked out.
“You mean a shard wraith…” Maxis says, dropping his spoon into his wooden bowl with a sigh. “Don’t tell me that that’s the real reason you’re here.”
“I hope not,” Val Helena says. “She was only just starting to turn when I last left. But it’s why I need to reach her quickly now. Before it’s too late.”
“Reach who exactly?” I ask.
“My best friend,” Val Helena says. “Her name is Rebecca. And she’s also Aiko’s sister.”
Holy smokes…
“If I can find her before she turns then maybe I can still save her.”
“Turns into what?” Gilly says. “This shard wraith thing?”
Val Helena only nods. I want to ask more questions about what exactly it is, but I can tell it’s hitting a bit too close to home for her. Maybe I’ll ask my brother later.
“And how do you expect to save her?” Maxis says.
“She needs to reconnect to her body. She’s trapped in the Labyrinth of Onizoso. A place where she can’t log out, even when a world boss is defeated. And it’s slowly killing her back in the real world.”
“This labyrinth place…” Rembrandt says. “I’ve heard of it. Some people say it’s like a weird version of the plains.”
“Me too,” Maxis says distastefully. “And we’re not going. No way I’m risking all of us getting trapped in there.”
“That’s why I said we need to part ways,” Val Helena says. “Time is running out for her. I can’t waste it searching for Citadel.”
“Saving your friend won’t matter if we don’t find Citadel,” Maxis says. “We’ll all turn into wraiths then!”
“I don’t care!” Val Helena shouts. “There’s more to it than that. If her time runs out, then I need to be the one to do it. Understand? That’s why I need to move now.”
“Do what?” Gilly asks.
“Kill her before she turns completely. Or…kill what she’s become, if she already has.”
My blood goes cold. I’m barely processing all this. “You need me to help you kill Aiko’s sister?”
“Yes,” Val Helena says as she looks down at me. “…if it comes to it. I hope you can appreciate why I couldn’t share any of these details with you until now, Reece. It’s just… too much.”
“It’s okay,” I say and reach out to place my hand over hers when I see tears well in her eyes. “I understand. I’m still here for you, Val.”
“Seems to me you’ll be buggered either way,” Rembrandt says. “You really going to put yourself through all that?”
“I have to,” she says. “I got her stuck in the labyrinth. I’m the reason she’s in the state she’s in. It’s my responsibility.”
A pause settles over the table, everyone focused on their own thoughts.
“Well, the way I see it,” Gilly says. “There’s no reason for us to split up at all. The two goals need not be mutually exclusive.”
Maxis looks at her. “Huh?”
“You need shards and a way to find citadel, right?” she says looking at him. “If not, we’re all gonna die anyway or turn into wraiths or whatever. And Val Helena needs to find her friend. But we can still accomplish your goal by helping Val. Don’t you have to kill some Night King or something, Val?”
“Shadow King. And yes. It guards the entrance to the labyrinth.”
“And he’ll drop lots of shards I’m assuming, right?”
“Perhaps,” she says.
Gilly beams with a smile. “So we can do both. We help Val and then we all find Citadel together.”
“We could get lost in that labyrinth looking for her,” Maxis says. “Not something I want to risk. And besides, if we find this Builder that’s near Citadel, we won’t even need to kill any bosses. That’ll be all the nano we need right there.”
“Well, I hate to say it,” Val Helena says. “But at the end of the day, the choice isn’t up to you…” And then she looks right at me. “…it’s up to him.”
My heart jumps as I snap out of my daze. “What?”
“You’re the main tank, Reece,” she says. “We can’t do any of this without you. So you need to decide.”
“Hey, I can tank just fine,” Maxis says.
“Can tank, yes, but you’re not a tank,” Val Helena says. “Not a proper one. And I need one for what I’m doing. A Dodge Tank specifically for the Shadow King. And if you even think you’re going to fight a Builder, you’ll need one as well. So it’s up to you, Reece. Where are we headed next?”
My brother groans and rolls his eyes.
I look to Gilly. “I think Gilly’s idea is best. We can do both. But Val Helena’s mission comes first. Sorry, Mike, but it’s the main reason I came here.”
“I agree,” Rembrandt says. “It won’t hurt our mission none, like you say, it could take us weeks. But we need to stick together. It’s rare enough to even find other Shard Warriors out here. No sense us splitting up.”
Maxis glances at Rembrandt over his dark glasses. “Man, whose side are you on?”
Val Helena nods. “So it’s decided then. Our next move will be heading to the Vale of Sorrows.”
“Okay, hold up,” Maxis says. “This isn’t happening.”
“It just did,” Val Helena says leveling eyes with him a
nd a tension fills the air as they lock gazes. My brother’s face is stern and so is Val Helena’s, but she has a slight smile tugging on the corner of her full lips, that softens her some.
“Mike,” Rembrandt says. “They’re talking sense, mate. We got a whole month. A few days detour won’t hurt.”
Maxis glances at Rembrandt and then blows out a frustrated sigh. “Fine. You win. But if you guys are all overruling me to go on this suicide run with Ms. Gentle Giant here, then I’m at least going to be the designated driver.” He taps his thick index finger on the table. “And I say, we’re not leaving this village until those two noobs over there are max level and got some decent experience and gear. That’s still my kid brother and Bruce’s daughter and besides saving my mom back home, keeping them alive is the only thing that matters to me.”
I’m both embarrassed and warmed by his words. Maybe my brother does really love me.
“Hey,” Val Helena says softly and rests a hand on my brother’s forearm. “I understand that. They’re both important to me as well. So I agree. Getting Gilly and Reece leveled up should be the top priority before we go anywhere else.”
I look to Gilly and she nods.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” I say. “And we can probably help this village too. There’s a lot of stuff that needs to be built.”
“Just don’t get too attached,” Maxis says. “Cause we won’t be staying here for long. You two need to be ready to go in a couple of days. The Vale of Sorrows is a good trek from here and if she’s in a hurry, then you two need to be ready to go…pronto.”
“A couple of days?” Gilly says. “But I’m only level 26.”
Maxis belches loudly and then gets up from the table. “Then I guess you got some work to do.”
* * *
We decide to make a fresh go at it in the morning and bed down for the night in the common hall. Wilbur brings us some blankets and more water and we each find a spot to settle in. Gilly and I find a corner to ourselves while Val Helena, Rembrandt and Maxis spread out. The floor is hard and the thin blankets do little to add comfort, but as I lay on my back with Gilly nestled beside me, I think I’m the happiest guy alive.