by Harper North
“You’re in.” People are petty. “We’ll help you level up. Earn what you can in the XP department.” I’m getting a soft spot for Atlas and my thoughts wander into jealousy territory. But, depending on which way this new player swings, he might not be a threat.
My third recruit doesn’t arrive for another hour, a Meran male who specializes in scouting and Luck. His name is Lucky_Champ and he goes from cluster to cluster, selling rare loot on the side. He’ll be useful for scouting out tough maps and finding us new weapons. For what’s to come, I’ll need everything I can get.
“You’re in,” I tell him. “Stay as long or as little as you want. And if you sell on the black market, be careful that the ICC doesn’t track us.”
“Raven_Vex, I’ve been doing this for fifteen years,” he says. “I know where to look to find things the ICC doesn’t even want you to know about.” He has a cocky attitude and I can tell he loves this subversive stuff. Perfect. At least he wears his true nature on his sleeve. For some reason, that makes me more comfortable than someone who’s pompous. I’ll be able to track him.
The last recruit comes in when I consider wrapping up and tackling a map, itching to get started. The guy is hard to miss––bald and with animated tattoos all over his body. They plaster his leather vest, too. He walks up to my counter as a bunch of 2-bit animated ghosts chase a rounded creature along the circumference of his torso. I catch the player’s name. GloryStealer1.
“I’d like to join your cluster,” he says, eyeing my username and level.
He’s only a Level 10.
“How are you going to help us?” I lift one eyebrow at him.
“I’ve been leveling up since my last cluster kicked me out,” he said. “I’m a Sniper. I’ve worked hard and gained five more levels in the past few days. I can keep doing that and also earn a ton of XP for my new cluster.”
“And why did they kick you out? I’m not trying to be mean. I just have to know.” While I’m not familiar with early Earth arcade games, it takes a lot of effort to hold back a laugh.
“I was about to get a good kill shot on a boss, but someone shoved me out of the way and I missed,” he said with a shrug. “They blamed me.”
“Aren’t Snipers supposed to stay hidden?” I ask. “Camouflaged? And why did they shove you out of the way?” Something doesn’t sit right here.
“Some people don’t know what their role is,” he says. “Don’t you hate that?”
“Yes. I do,” I say.
An orange message appears on my log, demanding my attention.
Coco_Dream21 has suggested a map.
I’ve forgotten that I’m now going to get lots of cluster messages. Already, one of our members is set to go, but I need at least four for a party.
She speaks through my comm next, even though she’s long since left this map. “Just so you know, Raven, I have to log out in four real-life hours. Work. If we get five in our party, that might be enough to tackle this map. It’s not an easy one, but I hear there’s a lot of sniping involved, and the prize will be 5000 XP for each of us.”
“We have four,” I say. “No. Five. Someone else just joined.” Atlas is waiting, captive by Gen_W31 somewhere on Earth. 5000 XP will get me five more upgrades. I can’t wait any longer. “Come on, GloryStealer1. You’re in.” I hope I’m not making a mistake. But his level’s low enough to put me at ease. If he’s plotting against me, I can take him.
I close the terminal, now an official leader of my own cluster.
We all meet back outside the mining facility. GloryStealer1 eyes the crates, but I grab his arm to stop him from angering the Mining Bots. Coco_Dream21 explains the map, but my mind is on Atlas and where he might be right now. Once in the Pod, I’ll collect myself.
“Are we ready?” I ask, looking at my small, ragtag cluster.
“Yes,” GloryStealer1 says with great enthusiasm.
The door swings open and I board the Pod. GloryStealer1 and Vadie_77 climb in with me, while Lucky_Champ and Coco_Dream21 take the other. If they don’t realize that I’m the Credit winner yet, they will soon.
The door closes and The Hermit directs me to where on the map of Planet Yaren to click. Coco_Dream21 has suggested a map on the largest moon named Infernix. The Jump Pod takes off into flight and stars soar past the window.
But on the way, I pull up my log and type Atlas a simple message.
RAVEN_VEX: I hope you’re alive. I’ll find you.
CHAPTER 2
“GloryStealer, pay attention,” I order over the comm.
I’m not sure that this new cluster is going to work out as well as I had hoped. That’s what I get for recruiting the first people who came in the door.
Being on the moon Infernix, a large, lush planet looks down from overhead as GloryStealer, once again, stares at me from his position on a high ridge. He must be figuring out that I’m the Credit winner. Down below, the others are ready to strike from their positions. Being the only two snipers in our group, GloryStealer1 and I are stuck working closely together and often.
It makes me want to jump down from this ledge and sacrifice myself to the Level 35 Tenticlas below. The very one that continuously peeks out from its crater to swipe its massive arms along the moon’s gray surface.
Each time it does, Coco_Dream21 unleashes a torrent of blaster fire from behind a rock far below, dropping the monster’s health bar around ten percent. The boss must contain a high amount of Healing Rate points. It’s taken only a few minutes of tackling this boss to realize that I’ve already made a bad mistake: we don’t have a medic on our team. Other than level, the Tenticlas already has a major advantage over us.
And The Hermit hasn’t given me any ideas on how to find an exploit to defeat it.
“GloryStealer?” I practically snap.
“I am paying attention,” GloryStealer mutters. “Once the Tenticlas raises its head again, I’ll charge.”
“Not at a Level 10,” I say. “You can barely poke a needle in its hide. And Vadie needs to aggro it first—”
But GloryStealer, true to his name, leaps from behind the rock and jumps down to the flat surface of Infernix. The moon’s reduced gravity slows his descent through the air. He lands, tattooed body compressing for a moment as the Tenticlas rises from its crater again, surveying him with angry yellow eyes that sit deep in its gelatinous, green head. GloryStealer isn’t swayed. He charges over his own corpse, and then another one of his own corpses, raising his Sniper Rifle at the beast.
I might as well take the distraction that Vadie_77 is planned to provide. But Coco_Dream21 beats me to it. She emerges from behind her rock and loosens another round of Blaster fire on the monster, lowering its health below the ninety percent mark for the first time since we’ve started this fight. I raise my rifle and peer through the Scope in time to see GloryStealer get crushed under a giant tentacle. His health bar fills with red as he dies yet again and leaves yet another corpse lying with the others, bringing the number now up to an easy half dozen.
The Tenticlas turns on Coco as Vadie races out from behind another rock, Electric Glove ready. He pummels the Tenticlas’ side, taking its health bar down a quarter, but the monster is already focused on Coco_Dream. I fire my rifle, delivering a hit that decreases the boss’ health by a sliver. Really? Of course, a boss sitting in a fixed location isn’t that vulnerable to sniper attacks. No wonder Coco_Dream said this map was hard.
I breathe, trying to calm my nerves. “Meran pride. Remember that,” I say to myself. “We always stay calm and collected.” Right away, I feel slimy. My father used that saying all the time. The corners of my lips tilt into a frown. I haven’t spoken to my parents in rotations.
Coco’s silver avatar ducks behind the rock again, barely missing another swipe from a tentacle and redirecting my focus back to the game. As if sensing a full third of health loss, the boss slips back into its crater with a disgusting sloshing sound.
“Lucky_Champ!” I shout in my comm. “Where are you?�
��
“I just found an entire crate of Ground Bombs in this abandoned mine,” he replies.
“Well, we could use them here. The Tenticlas won’t part with its crater and we need to do as much damage as we can in the shortest amount of time.”
Then The Hermit speaks in my comm. “Raven,” he says in his calming voice. “You are right that you need to end this fight in the shortest amount of time.”
A swirling sense of dread gathers in my gut like a charged, oncoming storm.
There’s a timer at the top of my vision and it’s counting down from the thirty-minute mark. We’ve already been trying to fight the Tenticlas for the past half hour. This is one of those infuriating timed maps meant for the best strategists. In my need to level up quickly, I haven’t been paying attention to important details.
“Thanks,” I say to The Hermit, trying not to sound snarky. His own sense of timing is ridiculous too. “Lucky_Champ, get up here already!”
“Fine.”
I sigh and aim my scope on the crater again, watching as a green line grows in the boss’ health bar. A low growl emanates from the crater’s darkness. That’s something I haven’t heard this boss do before. It must be gearing up for another attack . . .
The Tenticlas rises, huge mouth open and spewing several green balls into the black sky.
My crosshairs lock onto the inside of its mouth and I fire. Sparks fly as its health bar drops by five percent. A critical hit. I ready to fire another shot. The whistling sound of green slime balls scaling the sky fades right before they descend toward us. I can get off one more shot—
“Raven, I have the Ground Bombs.”
Lucky_Champ’s voice jars me out of my focus. I lower my Scope and nearly start. The Meran Scout stands right beside me, holding out a crate of Ground Bombs proudly. He’s done his job and he’s done it well.
“We needed those before the battle,” I say.
The whistling returns.
A transparent green circle appears on the ground around me, indicating the boss’ slime attack area of effect.
Being at the edge, Lucky_Champ ducks out of the way, leaving me to my fate. Thanks to his distraction, I have no time before the world explodes into green and orange flames. My health bar drops rapidly to nothing, and the dreaded phrase fills my darkening vision.
YOU HAVE FALLEN IN BATTLE!
When I respawn, I’m back at the Jump Pod I used to get here next to the Save Station. GloryStealer1 is already running back to the map’s entrance, which is between a couple of gray jutting rocks straight ahead. The timer continues to count down. We must finish. As I run back toward my one corpse on the battlefield, I adjust my oxygen mask in the airless environment and speak into my comm.
“We need a new approach. Vadie, plant Ground Bombs around the crater. They might provide decent damage when the Tenticlas sweeps its tentacles around. But don’t use them all. Coco, maintain your fire. You and Vadie are doing great. GloryStealer, you’re outmatched here. Stand down.”
“But none of you are Level 35, either,” he protests.
“You’re holding us back,” I say. It feels good to tell him off. He’s the only Level 10 player, but at least the rest of us are close to Level 35. Even with The Hermit, I’m doubting that my Level 27 and Coco_Dream21’s Level 31 will be enough. We might have bitten off more than we can chew.
But GloryStealer runs down toward the crater to loot his multiple corpses. Mine remains behind the rock as slime fades all around it––easy to loot. At least Lucky_Champ hasn’t touched my corpse yet. A guy like him might try to loot my stuff. He couldn’t, anyway, with the ten-minute grace period.
My log tells me that GloryStealer1 has died, yet again. Coco continues to fire at the monster while Vadie does what he can with his Electric Glove. They’re distracting the monster enough to allow Lucky_Champ to sprinkle Ground Bombs around the crater’s mouth, although grudgingly. The guy throws a crate down and runs away, determined to get back into the mines and loot while the boss isn’t hanging around down there.
“No,” I shout at him. “You help the rest of us. GloryStealer, just stay at the Jump Pod unless you want to help Vadie distract the boss. Coco_Dream, keep firing . . .”
Now that I know how to get a critical hit on this thing and I’ve yelled enough at everyone, we slowly drop the monster’s health bar to half . . . and then a third . . . and then a quarter. Lucky_Champ tries to sneak back into the mine entrances once again, so I also keep my eye on him with orders to remain.
The Tenticlas’ health bar drops to ten percent.
“We’re going to get it!” Coco_Dream shouts.
The boss raises a slimy tentacle at Vadie, who dodges out of the way for the meaty arm to hit a Ground Bomb instead.
And then a shrill ringing sound fills the map and makes me want to cover my ears.
TIME UP. MISSION FAILED.
With those blinking red words in my vision, the Tenticlas slips back into darkness and deeper into the moon, becoming unreachable.
Lucky_Champ swears behind me as an air of disappointment falls over all of us.
“Everyone,” I order. “Up here. We’re having a happy chat.”
The emotional atmosphere around us thickens as the others climb to my position. GloryStealer has disobeyed my order to stay out of the way as he loots his multiple corpses and climbs back up the hillside and away from the crater. When my four new clustermates have assembled, I pace in front of their line-up to communicate authority. I hope that Earth players understand what that means.
“Vadie. Coco_Dream,” I say. “This isn’t directed at you. The two of you fulfilled your roles, but part of the reason we lost this mission is because we were out-leveled.” Even The Hermit hadn’t given me any suggestions on how to beat this boss. Hadn’t he done that for Atlas? I hoped he wasn’t plotting against me. “We were close, though,” I continue. “But GloryStealer and Lucky_Champ obviously know how to work in a cluster. That’s sarcasm, by the way. We are a team. If you want to be solo players, then leave now.” I now glare at them. Even GloryStealer1’s horribly animated tattoos can’t make me laugh.
“I’m not a solo player,” Lucky_Champ says.
“But we all saw your amazing teamwork,” I say, putting my arms behind my back. Atlas once shared how that conveyed authority to Earthans. “You aren’t trying to sabotage us, are you?” I feel bad the moment I say it.
“Why would I do something like that? I needed to get the Ground Bombs—”
“You looted every crate you found while down there, reporting your finds,” I continued. “We didn’t need Jump Pod Speed Boosters while fighting the Tenticlas, for instance.”
Lucky_Champ hangs his head. “I’ll focus better next time.”
Then I turn my aggression on GloryStealer. “You are a Sniper, right?”
“Well, I chose that as my starting specialty,” he says.
“And you need to stick to that,” I tell him. “Did charging the Tenticlas work out well for you?”
“I provided a distraction for the others.”
“Not enough distraction,” I say. “That is Vadie’s job. He can withstand taking damage much better than you can. At the most, you provided a couple of seconds for Coco_Dream to get some shots in. That’s all. You would have done better lying in wait for a critical shot.”
“I’m sorry,” GloryStealer says after a long pause.
“Good,” I say. “Next time, we’ll be better prepared to tackle this boss. The Ground Bombs did help a little, but this monster has a thick hide. Its weakness is its open mouth. It might take us all leveling up more before we’re able to really take this boss on, but we’re close.”
Coco_Dream eyes me like I’m crazed. “You really want to level up a lot,” she says.
“That’s why I formed this cluster,” I say. My shoulders hike with discomfort. People are watching me.
“But you already crossed The Binding,” GloryStealer points out. “Why do you need to level up so fa
st?”
So he does know. Great.
“It’s complicated,” I say.
Letting them know about my need to cross over to Earth in real-life and reach Atlas isn’t going to work right now. They’re more casual players, here to have fun rather than save a good friend’s life. The only reason they’re probably with me is because it’s cool to play with the one known winner of a Digital Transfer Credit. That’s the best-case scenario, anyway.
But that’s not what I tell them.
“The pressure is on me to be the best player I can be by the other Merans,” I finally answer. “I’m representing an entire world.”
The explanation seems to fly. I swallow, hating that I’ve lied. Liars cause pain to others. They can even be deadly.
No one asks any more questions, but Coco_Dream waves her hands, checking something on her HUD.
“I need to log out,” she says. “Work begins in an hour. We’ve all friended each other, right?”
“Yes,” I say, glad to change the subject. It’s been a crazy gameplay session.
I watch as she vanishes. That reminds me. I need to log out as well and face a real-world problem that, until now, I’ve forgotten about. The domed, underwater city of Raralin waits—and so do my obligations there.
I tell the others that I’ll meet them later and then wave my Options into view. After this time-battle disaster, I need space to breathe, to be alone, and need to figure out what to do next.
The Hermit stays silent. I log out and my display turns black as I turn my thoughts to him. Maybe he needs time to figure me out or to figure out the boss we’re trying to beat. He did do that with Atlas, if I remember correctly. And he hasn’t shown any signs of wanting to betray me.
I’m overreacting.
The feeling of gray slime surrounds my body as I wake inside the Immersion Box. Dread churns in my gut and I cringe when gray slime sloshes in my ears as I move. The lid creaks open—this is an old Immersion Box—and I sit up out of the mystery material, letting the solution slide off my body.