by Rick Scott
He blinks at me with surprise. “What?”
“Yeah…sorry. It was after I fixed my legs. I wanted to see where you were going every night.”
He stares at me still perplexed but eventually he shakes his head and chuckles. “Don’t worry about it. Ancient history now.”
I take that as my all clear to ask my question.
“I remember Gilly’s dad saying something to you that night.” I try to recall the conversation exactly. “Something like, you’ve got other reasons for coming here? What did he mean?”
My brother squints his eyes but then looks away. “I don’t really remember.”
Did he really not remember? “He said you had more reasons to come to the surface besides just saving mom.”
My brother continues to look away but his eyes glisten.
He’s holding back something again. But what? “Come on, man. You can’t seriously be keeping more secrets. What happened to all that crap we said just now?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know if I should...”
“What?” I stand up frustrated. “Come on, Mike!”
He looks up at me. “Look, some things aren’t good to know, okay?”
I match his gaze. “If you meant what you said about me just now, then trust me that I can handle whatever you have to say. If it’s a burden, then let me bear it with you. That’s what I’m here for. I’m your brother, man.”
Mike looks away for a moment contemplating it and then lets out a sigh. “All right, bro. One last secret, I guess.” He turns back to me and says, “You heard right, Ryan. Even after we save Mom and Citadel, I’d still come back here, because saving them is not the main reason I come to the surface.”
“What?” My heart beats faster as I ask, afraid of the answer. “Then why? Why are you here?”
Maxis looks away from me and out into the darkness of the Wild.
“Because I think Dad’s still out here.”
Chapter 39: House Call
Bruce Peters rapped on the hatch of the habitat and took a healthy steep back from the front door. He’d sent a message that he was coming, but purposely hadn’t called to ensure Gina Roberts wouldn’t shoot him down over the comm.
Anxiety built within his gut as he waited for the door to be answered. In his hands he clutched the small communication device that served as his excuse for paying her a visit; a small plastic cylinder no bigger than a pen top that would relay the vitals of Mike and Ryan Roberts directly to their mother.
If she accepted it.
A bang from behind the hatch caused Bruce’s heart to race. He cleared his throat and put on his practiced politician’s smile. He almost thought against it. This woman smelled bull crap a mile away and that smile was full of it. But it was too late to drop when Gina Roberts finally opened the hatch and stood behind the door.
“Yes,” she said. Gina’s deep blue eyes were still fiery and Bruce could feel every ounce of her disdain.
“I ah… thanks for allowing me to stop by,” Bruce said, still unable to drop that stupid smile. He fumbled with the comm device and held it towards her. “I wanted to give you this. Personally.”
Her eyes relaxed a bit with interest, but then squinted with suspicion. “What is it?”
“A monitoring device,” he said. “I’ve had your sons’ vital readings relayed to it. They update in real time. If their conditions change. It’ll alarm.”
Gina frowned. “And should I be worried about that happening?”
Damn this woman really knew how to make him squirm. “It’s a…precaution. I just thought you’d want to know as soon as possible.” He then added quickly. “If anything were to occur, that is.”
She looked at the device in his hand a moment more and then took it from him. “Thank you.”
Gina Roberts turned her back and the hatch began to close. Shame and impotence crept up Bruce’s spine like a serpent made of ice. He wanted to say more. Do more. But what could he say…without revealing everything?
“I… I remember your husband,” he blurted out and the door stopped.
She didn’t say anything but Gina Roberts looked back at him through the crack in the door with those accusing blue eyes.
“He was a good man,” Bruce said. “Skilled and selfless. It was an honor for me to have known him.”
“Did you do some research?” Gina said.
Bruce furrowed his brows together. “I’m sorry?”
“You barely knew him before, when I asked. I’m guessing you had time to jog your memory?”
Bruce laughed. “To be completely honest I…” Bruce caught himself and paused. Should he say anymore? He sighed inwardly. They could all be dead in six months anyway, so what did it matter? He dropped the smile and spoke soberly. “Honestly…there are times I wish I could forget him…”
Her gaze softened, perhaps realizing the gravity of the admission he’d just made.
She looked down to the floor for a moment and then back up at him. “Would you like to come inside for some tea?”
Bruce Peters put on a smile, but a real one this time. “Yes. I think I’d like that very much.”
* * *
My mind is awash in a turmoil of emotions. My father. A man I never knew. Never had a hope to know…is alive? I say it out loud just to make sure I’m thinking straight. “Dad’s here on the surface? And alive?”
“Might be,” Maxis stresses. “Emphasis on might.”
I spin in a circle with my hands atop my head, kicking black shale everywhere. I can’t believe this. “What the heck, man? Are you serious?! How? Does mom know this?”
“Take it easy.” Maxis pumps his palms towards me in a slow-down fashion. “See? This is why I didn’t want to tell you.”
“Are you crazy, man?” I still can’t believe this. “Dad’s here on the surface and you weren’t going to tell me?”
“I said I ‘think’ he might be here. And if he is, I don’t know where to find him.” Maxis frowns a little. “Not yet. He might as well be Citadel for as much luck as I’ve had looking for him so far.”
“But how do you even know it’s a possibility?” I ask sitting down next to him again. My mind is racing and I can barely keep still. My Dad… holy crap! My DAD!
Maxis sighs. “Because his body is still stuck in stasis back home.”
My heart thunders in my chest. “And Mom doesn’t know this?”
“No. They kept all this stuff a secret. Even to the family. Like I said, keeping secrets is in our DNA. Dad never told Mom a thing.”
“Holy cow…” I’ve seen images and videos of my Dad. Mike resembles him a lot. Except for the eyes. Dad’s are brown. We got the crystal blues from Mom, I guess. But I can imagine him heading out of the hab in secret, much like Mike did. It was no wonder Mom was always so worried about Mike. He was probably given her flash backs! “So Dad was a Shard Warrior like us?”
“One of the best according to Gilly’s old man.” Maxis folds him arms. “They did it different back then though. I don’t think they used the Shards like we do. With the world bosses granting access and stuff.”
“No?”
“Dennis added that, I think. To make the most of the limited transmission times and nano, to make sure whoever we sent was the best. But I think back in Dad’s day they used to just train on the games and then get sent out for real. No restrictions. They still had to beat an AI to make the interface, but no fake world boss stuff. The people who were sent knew what they were getting into. And prepared for it.”
“Man…How do you even know all this stuff, Mike?”
He shrugs. “I won a PvP tournament. Got sent here. Survived somehow. And then when I got back, I woke up in stasis and was basically recruited by Bruce.”
“And Mom didn’t notice?”
He chuckles. “You didn’t either. I was always out of the house, remember? Mom just figured I was shacking up with some chick. And I wasn’t gone for that long. Maybe a couple days tops.”
“But
I thought the world bosses only spawn once a month?”
“They do, but the PvP match sets the primer code, remember? Some team must have defeated a world boss right after I entered. So as soon as I got the permission to logout, I was gone.”
“Wow,” I say. “That must have been crazy scary for you the first time.”
Maxis eases back with his hands behind his head. “You don’t even want to know, man. But after that I got ‘debriefed’ by Bruce. He explained who he was and then he told me all about Dad. It’s been my mission to find him ever since.”
“Holy crap…” I can’t believe it. “Does Bruce think Dad’s still alive too?”
“I don’t know. Bruce said Dad’s in some kind of really deep coma like state, even more so than just normal stasis. He doesn’t know what to make of it. Only seen it happen a couple of times. He said after a year they made his death official and told Mom. Think you were only 2 or 3 at the time.”
I nod, almost wishing that I could remember back that far. “But his condition hasn’t changed all that time?”
“Fifteen years, man,” Maxis says shaking his head. “No change.”
A sinking feeling hits my stomach. “You don’t think that maybe he might never come back, do you?”
“That’s why I said might. And why we can’t ever tell Mom about this either. Not unless we actually find him…alive.” He then looks at me sternly. “She’s already lost Dad and grieved for him, understand? Opening this up would be more than cruel. It’ll send her off the deep end.”
“I can understand that,” I say. “But don’t you think that maybe it might give her hope too?”
Maxis frowns. “Hope can be a dangerous thing. It’s what caused mom to get sick really.”
My eyes go wide. “What are you talking about?”
“Another story I probably shouldn’t tell you, but anyway. Like I said they did things different back then. In the old, old days, Bruce said they used to send people out physically. In suits and stuff. When Dad went on his excursions, that’s what they told Mom and everyone else was going on. That they were on scouting missions to the old world. But in reality they were in stasis and being beamed and printed in nano form. Just like us.
“When Dad didn’t come back they said he went missing during an excursion on the surface. Which technically wasn’t a lie, when you think about it, but to Mom it meant something completely different. After a few months and them coming back and telling her each time that they couldn’t find him, she decided to take matters into her own hands.”
“What did she do?”
Maxis chuckles. “You know Mom. She used her maintenance access to get to the top of the hub and went outside through a vent shaft to go look for him herself.”
“Holy crap.”
“It’s how she got exposed to the radiation,” Maxis says and then pauses for a bit before grimacing, perhaps reflecting on Mom’s current condition. I do as well, and can’t help but think how brave she must have been to do that; to risk her life to find our father. Especially with the risk of leaving two young kids behind.
“I think after that is when they decided to call it quits on searching for Dad and told Mom that they found him dead.” Maxis pauses and swallows a lump in his throat. I don’t ask, but the thought must stir memories for him. I was only two but he would have been old enough to remember the day when they came to tell Mom that Dad was dead. It must have been traumatizing for him. “They gave her his wedding band as proof, but told her his body was unrecoverable. I guess they were worried she’d keep heading out and looking for him if they didn’t. They were probably right too, knowing her.”
I begin to understand what my brother means now, about hope being a dangerous thing.
It can lead to desperation.
“Oh man…” My head is swimming. “So Gilly’s dad knows all this?”
Maxis nods. “Trust me, I belted him a good one when he first told me. But after a while I understood why they had to do it. To protect mom. To protect us. One thing he did say was that Dad had the reflexes of a mongoose and that he couldn’t understand what could have happened to him up here. That was his nickname, by the way.”
“What? Mongoose?”
He chuckles. “Stupid right? He said I was a chip off the old block. Fast just like him.” My brother then smiles at me. “I think you are, too…maybe even more so.”
Whoa. That’s a pretty amazing complement coming from him.
“You know what?” Maxis breaths out a long sigh that ends in a whistle. “I actually do feel better telling you all that crap. Thanks, man.”
I look at him perplexed and then stare at the ground. “I don’t know what to think.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty heavy right?”
“Totally.”
I still can hardly believe it. My Dad could be alive. And we can find him!
“But you can’t go telling Gilly or anyone else,” Maxis says. “Way too much crap to explain.”
“Yeah, no doubt,” I say. “I guess we’re still keeping secrets.”
“Like I said. In our DNA.” He shrugs. “But hey, I guess you got to sometimes. Especially if it means protecting a loved one.”
I can’t argue with him there. “So now what do we do?”
He scoffs at me like I just asked the dumbest question in the world. “What we came here to do, stupid.” And then he grins at me. “You get to tank the Shadow King.”
Chapter 40: Preparation
I spend the next few minutes sitting quietly with my brother, silently reflecting on my Dad. It still feels like a bit of a dream to me and I can’t keep the smile off my face. Of all the things Mike could have been hiding, this was the last thing I would have thought of, but at the same time, it’s the most amazing.
I think of my mom back in Citadel and whisper a promise to her. I’ll find Dad. I’ll bring him home to you. I look over at my brother and smile. We’ll do it together. We’ll find our Dad and be a family again.
Be the family I never got to have.
“You ready?” Maxis says.
I give my brother a nod as I push the thoughts aside to focus on the present. It’s time to do what I came here to do. What Val Helena put all her trust in me to do.
It’s time to defeat the Shadow King.
* * *
Maxis and I re-emerge from our impromptu family counseling session to see the whole team waiting for us on pins and needles. It almost makes me laugh to see them all so pensive about the outcome of our conversation. It’s a shame I can’t share it. Although inside, I’m bursting to.
Gilly steps forward, tapping her fingertips together while wearing a worried expression. “So…you guys all cool now?”
“Yeah,” Maxis says with a smile. “But don’t expect a wrestling match.”
That gives everyone a laugh.
“Yeah, we’re good,” I say. “But it’s time to get on with the mission.” I shift gears mentally, preparing for the challenge to come. “Where is this thing exactly, Val?”
Val Helena steps forward and I can see despite the joke we all just shared, her countenance hasn’t really shifted from the pensiveness stare she held before. It’s perhaps trepidation now; her mission of saving her sister and finding out her true fate finally coming to a head. “I’ll lead the way,” she says.
We follow behind the giantess as we make our way through the rocky shale. The land is desolate and barren and the air warms the further we travel. Cliffs begin to rise on either side of us as we make a cut through a portion of the mountain range. Eventually it becomes a narrow channel that ends at a cliff face like a crack in a wall. We stop and peer out of the exit, into what looks like a massive caldera that’s at least a couple miles across. The earth is cracked and worn and made of the same dark shale we’ve been walking on for the last twenty minutes. To the south, the ridge of the caldera is lined with a thick forest that leads upwards and into the mountains.
“That must be the mountain pass,” Rembrandt says poi
nting toward it. “We cut a good bit of time that’s for sure.”
No doubt. Although we had to run a gauntlet through the Wild, getting up and over the towering mountains I now see before me, wouldn’t have been a picnic either.
“Where’s the Shadow King?” I ask.
“It spawns at the center of the basin down there.” Val Helena points. “It should react to us when we get close. Once we kill it, a portal to the labyrinth will appear. It only lasts a moment so we’ll have to be quick to enter.” She then adds after a pause. “And then the real hard part starts…”
Maxis rubs the small of her back. “Hey, your sister’s going to be fine. We got here as fast as we could.” My brother then gives me a nod. “Thanks to him.”
“Yes,” she says looking back at me. “Thank you for that, Reece.”
I smile and nod. “No problem. Okay so… what’s the game plan? What should we expect?”
“You’re the quarterback, Val,” Aiko says nudging her. “Set the play.”
The giantess blows out a sigh as she thinks about it. “Well, as for the mob itself, I’ll defer to you, Aiko, since you’re the one that tanked it. All I know is its attacks are really fast and it has this AOE move that it can spam.”
“Sounds good so far,” I joke.
“When the arena spawns there will be three pillars at the edges. When the boss moves to the center of the arena it’s going to start using energy from the pillars to power up. After it does, an arena wide attack goes off. We need to destroy at least two of the pillars, to survive it. Three if possible. They each have a different color. I’ll call out which color pillar to attack first so that we can focus it down fast. Gilly, even you’ll need to DPS during that phase.”
“Got it,” she says.
“But right after the AOE goes off, we’ll need to all run to Gilly so she can heal us up with a Great Heal.”
“Understood,” Rembrandt says.
“Does it spawn any adds?” Maxis asks.
“Yes,” Aiko says. “Two miniatures of itself. And they’re fairly tough too. But I can tank them for you.”