by Harper North
I pull up my hotbar. My 4th Tier Sniper Scope is highlighted in flashing orange and so is my Advanced Nanobot Pack. The rogue cluster’s vehicles do the same and all the flood lights around the excavation site go out, casting the area in gloom. Vadie and Coco_Dream finish pushing the Nitro Bombs towards the hole. Thankfully, they’re not highlighted in orange.
“Inside!” I shout, even though many of the dots on my map hesitate. Everyone in the area would have gotten the EMP message. Countless weapons are useless.
“Blasters are down,” Coco_Dream shouts.
“My armor won’t protect me now?” GloryStealer asks.
“We might take fall damage,” I shout. “This isn’t a small moon. Someone will need to detonate the Nitro Bombs.” I face the green crates as I crouch near the hole. I can barely see the bottom and it’s about twenty feet down and full of rubble.
“I have Reflecting Stars,” Vadie shouts.
“That will work.” I drop.
My health bar drops by ten percent as I hit bottom. Scrambling out of the stony rubble, I stand in the underground’s darkness as the others join me. GloryStealer’s health bar drops by a quarter, but Vadie tosses him a regular Nanobot Pack, which still works. Once we’re all down, Vadie throws a Reflecting Star to the top of the hole.
The horde of red dots is much closer now. The first cluster members burst onto the landing strip.
A red star sails upward and strikes a green crate. It rumbles like thunder and shifts.
“Run!” Coco_Dream shouts.
We scatter into darkness as the world explodes and more rubble rains down. Everything quakes and dust flies. I cough as I turn, searching for my clustermates. The dust settles quickly, far faster than it would in real life, as if the developers knew what a nuisance it would be.
Daylight no longer shines through. It seems we’ve detonated all the Nitro Bombs in a chain reaction, blasting parts of the ruined building across the underground’s entrance.
“Flashlight,” I say, coughing again.
“I have one!” GloryStealer says. He tries to turn it on, but nothing happens. “Oh. The EMP.”
I’ve already forgotten too. But soon my eyes adjust, and I make out my clustermates in the dark. Far above, usernames mesh together as the rogue cluster gathers on the landing strip. I can’t see anything other than that. We stand under a long, stone ceiling. It takes a minute for me to realize that we’re in an ancient, abandoned tunnel. We circle the pile of debris. I study each of my clustermates, moving from body to body, and still. To my left, I discover a way around the debris and into the tunnel system.
GloryStealer unequips his armor. His animated tattoos show up in the dark. Old Earth arcade games play out on his chest.
“What are you doing?” Vadie asks.
“It says my armor is crap right now,” he says. “Why wear it?”
“Fifty percent is better than nothing,” I say. “Come on. It looks like this tunnel slopes downward. That’s promising. And I’m sure we blew up all those Nitro Bombs, so that cluster won’t follow us soon.”
We walk together, though GloryStealer keeps his armor off. My map picks up no new dots and Lucky_Champ says nothing. Staying silent to listen for any mobs, I check the surroundings now that my eyes have fully adjusted. The entire tunnel is stone with alien symbols etched into the supports. They match the ones from the data terminal.
As we descend, the ambient light increases enough for me to see a metal double door straight ahead. There’s nowhere else to go. The large doors are surrounded by mounted green lights shining on the wall—all in the shape of a diamond. They must not run on the same power as our weapons, which are still out of commission.
“Well, this looks important,” Lucky_Champ says with a gleam in his eyes.
After checking for traps and finding none, I press on the door. The facade promises some high tech inside. The doors don’t move and feel for any handles or buttons and find none.
“It could be a puzzle,” Lucky says, stepping forward. “We might have to turn these lights in a certain order. Do the symbols on the walls give us any clues?”
“I hate these challenges,” I say and kick the door.
“That’s because you can’t shoot them,” Lucky says.
“I’m a Sniper, okay?”
Lucky tries to turn the diamond lights around the door, even climbing the engraved stone wall to reach the top one. But they all refuse to move.
“Maybe this door was sealed from the inside,” Coco_Dream says. “TheBigGuy said this is supposed to an old lab, right?”
“Possible,” I say. “The cluster above hasn’t cracked the code yet. But maybe we can.” Already, I formulate an excuse so I can keep hiding The Hermit. “Maybe there’s a weak spot or—”
“This cluster’s already tried everything,” Vadie says, pointing to some open loot crates. “There are more Ground Bombs in here than we’ll ever need. And I’m sure they’ve gone the Nitro Bomb route already. Still sealed.”
“Maybe the race who built this city hid inside when the universe ripped in half,” Lucky says. “They didn’t want anyone getting in. The city looks old enough for that.”
So, this is the challenge. I pace.
And The Hermit doesn’t fail me.
“Raven, this door is sealed from the inside and welded shut. The green lights must be turned in a sequence to open the door as Lucky believes. Upon meditation, I have learned that the race who locked themselves inside welded the locking mechanism together. I have analyzed the weak points. Placing a Ground Bomb or two above the upper left light structure and detonating them will likely loosen the mechanism and allow entry.”
I hold out my hand, identifying what he’s talking about. “Maybe there’s a lock on this door, but it needs to be jarred loose,” I say, knowing this will raise suspicion if this works. “Let’s place a Ground Bomb in the grooves right above each light. I say we start with this as our first step.”
Ground Bombs are meant to go off when stepped on or shot, but I’m guessing a Reflecting Star will work. I watch as Lucky crams a Ground Bomb right above the left light as The Hermit instructed. He backs off and shrugs. “So, we shoot it? This is a long shot.”
Coco_Dream gets out a Reflecting Star. “General Accuracy is my game,” she says. “Stand back.”
She throws the weapon and the star turns to a red disc as it sails toward the lodged Ground Bomb. It detonates, destroying the Star and shaking the light ever so slightly. The Hermit is right. We’ve loosened a locking mechanism.
“Did you see that?” Lucky asks.
“Now try different combinations,” I say. “The left light shook and must be the first one turned. So that helps.”
Lucky rubs his hands together and walks to the door, climbing the grooved stone and hooking his boots inside the alien symbols.
The Hermit speaks. “Failing to use the correct combination will fill this chamber with immense amounts of radiation.”
“Wait,” I shout. “I . . . I think I remember seeing something on the forums about these kinds of doors not too long ago. The wrong combo will kill us all.”
“That’s nice,” Vadie says.
Lucky turns the upper left light, leaving the other four. “We’re not dead yet.”
“Bottom right,” The Hermit says.
I relay the information. Lucky nods, uncertain, as he jumps down and turns it. A low hum begins.
“We’re getting somewhere!” GloryStealer shouts.
“Upper right,” The Hermit says.
I repeat that. The hum increases, but no log message warns me of radiation.
“Top.”
The hum now threatens to shake the chamber.
“Well, that leaves one more choice,” Lucky says, staring at me in astonishment. He turns the lower left light.
The hum stops and the door melts away, forming a ring that widens from the middle. The door ripples like fluid as the hole widens, revealing an eerie green glow from within. Anci
ent computer terminals––like the ones in the city above––rest within stone squares as diamond-shaped lights hang overhead.
The Hermit speaks. “This ancient race appears to have a connection to The Binding that now holds the universe together. The diamond shape is significant. Perhaps they had a hand in developing the technology to keep both sides connected?”
I don’t answer him. Stepping through first, I sense the others’ eyes on me, but wonder quickly takes over.
“Bodies,” Coco_Dream says with disgust.
Then I see the dead aliens leaning over their computer terminals. They’re more like mummies, dried and shriveled with leathered skin. This ancient race is neither Human nor Meran, who had both shared of how they had worked together to keep the universe from completely ripping apart after an attack by a mysterious, hostile alien force. Until now, I haven’t heard of a third race that had worked to save everyone.
“Can you imagine the lore here?” Lucky_Champ asks.
I pass the rows of bodies. A musty smell hangs in the air. These beings all have dark gray skin that may have been blue at one point, with black hair that has all but turned to dust. All wear brown uniforms made from a shimmering material. Some lie on the floor as if an attack happened quickly. They may have sealed themselves in this place, but something had still entered and killed them.
We progress through without any more words. The room is large and dead. At the end is another doorway which leads into a round chamber. The green light intensifies. There are no alien mummies in here, but there’s another data terminal that is surrounded by hanging green diamonds.
“Bingo,” Lucky says. “Let’s turn the computer on and see what it says.”
He does so, placing his hand on the pad. Another hum fills the chamber as a large, flat screen rises from the center of the terminal.
It fizzles on and an image of a blue man with dark hair comes to life. He’s panting, as if struggling against illness. Behind him, others work at terminals, but many of his coworkers lean over, dying. It’s a horrific sight and I have to force myself to keep watching.
My log displays a message as he begins to speak:
Translating unknown alien language . . .
“We’re dying,” he says, gasping for air. “It’s too late. The Golgans and their death cult are about to tear apart the universe. They’ve found our incomplete compound and they’re sending in gamma rays.” He coughs. “They know we’ve helped develop The Binding. Everyone’s dying. There’s no hope other than bandaging the universe, if they succeed.” He goes into such a fit gagging that GloryStealer jumps back. “If anyone survives the cataclysm and finds this, know that we have developed a prototype weapon that may turn the tide on the Golgans. It’s stored under the panel of this data terminal. It’s the only one in the universe. Find the Golgans and destroy them.”
Static fills the screen and the recording dies.
Lucky looks at us with wide eyes. “Should I?”
“Yes,” I say after a pause. The Hermit doesn’t mention any traps. Not that these people would have left one for non-Golgans, whatever they are.
Lucky pries off a panel under the keyboard. The orange glow is a good sign that inside is something none of us have seen before. Lucky pulls out an object that looks like a stone sleeve with glowing green lines crisscrossing over it.
“New achievement,” Lucky says, a bit breathless. He reads off his display: “Double Trouble. Now you can always see how hot you look.”
“I want to try that,” GloryStealer says.
I watch the EMP expiration timer in my log as Lucky_Champ slides the strange sleeve onto his arm. A green beam shoots from the sleeve and hits the floor. My mouth falls open when a hologram of Lucky builds from the floor up in a green outline until the Meran avatar solidifies, complete with a username and health bar. Lucky_Champ’s double is named Lucky_Champ (Clone) and just stands there, no weapon in hand. The AI clone doesn’t speak or move, either.
But it’s still a Level 27.
“Wow,” Coco_Dream says. “Me next. If my clone has my inventory, it’ll have my new Blaster Mod. Can you imagine that in battle?”
She goes next and we watch as a Coco_Dream clone appears with a faint buzz. Two Androids now stand before us.
I go next. The same achievement flashes in my vision as I watch a clone of myself appear before me. Like the others, it waits. There’s no one to shoot right now.
A message appears in my log, telling me that my clone is able to mimic my fighting style and has access to all my weapons. I check my stats to make sure they’re not halved. I’m astonished that they’re not. This is far better than using a duplicate weapon. It’s no wonder this is the only Replica in the universe.
Vadie goes next. His Human avatar doubles, complete with his Plasteel Armor. GloryStealer is practically bouncing on his feet when Vadie hands him the Replica. He creates his clone, double the set of ridiculous animated tattoos flash in the space. I wait for GloryStealer to say how awesome he looks, but his face falls as he studies his cloned avatar. Vadie can barely suppress his smile.
“What?” GloryStealer asks, his voice embarrassed. “I didn’t think my tattoos looked like that. Did I press a button wrong when I picked them out? I . . . I didn’t mean to have Pac-Man racing around my torso! He was supposed to be on my arm.”
“Sure,” Vadie says.
And then he re-equips his Plasteel Armor. His clone does the same.
“They copy us,” I say, equipping my 4th Tier Sniper Scope and Rifle.
My clone does the same, waiting.
“We’ll have to see how they fight,” Coco_Dream says, pushing her clone. It stumbles forward but catches its balance. “At least the EMP has worn off.”
“Um . . .” Lucky Champ says in that tone. “That means our friends now all have working weapons. They must have detonated something, because they’re coming.”
Then I see the horde of dots pouring towards us. I eye the clones and hope that my log is right about replicating our fighting styles. It’s the only chance we have.
“Come on,” I shout, stuffing the Replica in my inventory. “We’re meeting them with a surprise. Arm yourselves. Charge.”
CHAPTER 8
“These clones instantly respawn!” Vadie shouts. “That’s awesome!”
His voice cuts through the heat of battle and echoes off the stone passage wall as I train my 4th Tier Sniper Rifle on an Android member of the opposing cluster. He peeks his head up from behind the crate, allowing me to get a one-hit kill. Critical hit. His health bar drops to nothing.
Beside me, my clone also fires while using a 4th Tier Sniper Scope. Together, we’re able to take out a Level 30 Human avatar who runs out from behind a stone pillar while holding Ground Bombs.
And having two versions of Coco_Dream is, well, a dream. Her clone fires her Blaster, which is equipped with a Mod that triples the blasts. Being the highest level, she focuses on the opposing higher-level players. It feels as if we’re cheating but, with the two dozen players in front of us, we can’t waste time.
“This could land us so much loot!” GloryStealer shouts. “Right?” Despite his clone helping out, it’s copied his fighting style and died the most. His clone runs forward with its Sniper Rifle and tries to take out players with Blasters. It doesn’t work so well. His clone dies in a barrage of gunfire over and over, respawning next to GloryStealer each time.
But GloryStealer is getting better. He keeps cover. It helps that I’ve told him that, if he dies, his clone will probably die and then will need to be reset by him. And we can’t stop and use the Replica in the middle of a fight.
“Move forward!” I shout. I can see the ladder poking down from a new blast hole. Apparently, this cluster had more explosives at the ready. “We need to get out of here!” Keeping the Ancient Replica is all that matters.
“But the loot!” Lucky_Champ shouts. He steps over a body in the temporary quiet. When we kill these players of varying levels, more run
back to the landing strip. They’re in full attack mode now. If not for the clones, we never would have made it out of the ancient lab.
“Forget it!” I yell. “It’s just regular stuff.” That’s a lie. Coco_Dream and her clone took out a Level 33 Sniper who might have had 5th Tier gear. It pains me to leave it behind.
I hope our clones can climb. Sweating, I eye my in-game map. Dots are scattered everywhere. The cluster is heading back to the landing strip from various respawn points. But there’s a section of the city that’s clear of enemies: the north side. We can head to those Jump Pods, marked in blue. The danger with that plan is if one of us dies, they’ll respawn back at the Save Station near the other Jump Pods. And, if our party gets separated, we lose a clone.
The clones do climb, but we must go first for them to copy our motions. I can’t order the clones around. Their AI is simple: fight and follow. But they don’t fear death, at least. Once we emerge from the new hole and onto the landing strip, my clone instantly kneels and takes out another Sniper in the tower we occupied before the attack.
“Good job!” I tell it, but the clone rises and doesn’t care. “Everyone, follow me. The north is clear! Let the clones do the work. They’ll cover us.”
My focus is on escape. Once in the Jump Pods, this cluster can’t hurt us. They can’t follow unless they know where we’re going too. My party runs as fast as we can, with GloryStealer and Vadie struggling to keep up. Lucky hesitates and fires at a few players trying to follow, but they’re higher-level players who don’t die from his attacks.
The clones do have another downside: they don’t turn around and fight if we’re all running away from something.
But the Jump Pod’s blue glow compels me forward. A platform and a Save Station wait in another crumbling plaza. “Lazara Region!” I shout. “Everyone go there!”
I climb into the Pod with GloryStealer and Lucky as Vadie and Coco_Dream take the other. Not one of the clones follows us in. It seems they can’t use Jump Pods. At The Hermit’s direction, I find the Lazara Region––a small region near Planet Yaren’s equator. It looks like a nothing region.