Absolute Zero

by Max Lagno

  “Impressive...”

  Grisha circled above his enemies. They began to get worried. The super jumped into the air and began to fly, leaving a jet trail behind him, trying to catch up to Grisha. But he went back into Dimension X and the super turned around.

  Grisha pulled up his stats on the screen.

  Grisha, Mechanodestructor.

  Frame: LeCube.

  Guild: Black Wave.

  Classes: Pilot, Defender.

  Level: 167.

  Strength: 29.

  Perception: 38.

  Agility: 91.

  Knowledge: 35.

  Health: 42.

  Luck: 29.

  Additional stats:

  Balance (Pilot): 12.

  Indestructibility (Defender): 6.

  Grisha merely glanced at the frame’s stats, just to confirm that they were as high as other flying vehicles at his level. He wanted to make sure that his pilot skills were compatible with the frame. They were, for the most part. Most of the list was green, but there were a few inactive lines. The Close-Range Aerial Combat line in particular worried him. That one was important. He’d invested a lot of time in leveling up that skill...

  “What does this mean? Why aren’t all the skills active?”

  “What did you expect?” Nika answered. “What works with a MiG doesn’t work with a Eurofighter. They’re different frames.”

  “But you promised that LeCube would be able to turn into whatever I wanted...”

  “And it can. But think about it. A single pistol can’t fire different calibers, right?”

  “Actually, some can.”

  “Don’t be pedantic!” Nika interrupted. “What I’m saying is that LeCube can turn into any pistol for the caliber you need.”

  “I get that. But if I want to activate Close-Range Aerial Combat, then Long-Range Aerial Combat will be unavailable?”

  “Of course. Just like if you switched from a Eurofighter to a MiG.”

  “Got it, but with LeCube I can switch, like, instantly?”

  “Well, not instantly. Transforming takes between two and seven seconds. Depends on your stats and the complexity of the config program.”

  Grisha thought for a moment. He flew in circles above Dimension X, looking at the roofs of numerous hangars. When he approached the gates, the system showed him the number of ground targets. It looked like there were more Langoliers. Two mechanodestructors had joined them in humanoid mech frames. If he waited any longer, the whole guild would be there!

  “Now let me guess,” Grisha said. “During that two to seven second transformation window... LeCube will be vulnerable, right?”

  “Well...” Nika answered after a pause. “Everything has its weakness.”

  “You said that LeCube could take the form of any known frame, right? But this form isn’t a MiG, or a Eurofighter, or a Rafale, or any other known brand.”

  “This is something I made, specially designed for LeCube. It has the optimal ratio of setup time and configuration complexity. But if you really want, you can buy and download anything you like.”

  “No, no, I like this one... Just the name is stupid. Let’s rename it.”

  “You’re the first and only customer of LeCube, so you decide.”

  “Let’s call it Nika.”

  “Very original. When I made my first frames, I named them all after myself. Until it started to get confusing. Believe me, numbers are better. Or name it after yourself.”

  “Umm, Multifunctional Flying Military Apparatus Grigory? Doesn’t quite do it for me. Hey, let’s name it after that guy that we blew up with the A-bomb. Leonarm is a good nickname.”

  “There are tons of Leonarms around.”

  “True... I got it! Grenika! We’ll combine our names.”

  “If you like,” Nika answered indifferently.

  “Assault Aircraft Grenika. Sounds alright. Or is it a fighter? Or multifunctional...

  Nika interrupted him.

  “Grisha, LeCube can be whatever you need it to be. You still haven’t abandoned your familiar concepts. You’re trying to fit it with the classes and parameters that you know.”

  “I’m trying...”

  “That’s why it’s easier for me to give my inventions numbers. A name is always a label. I understand your doubts. You’re unsure of LeCube’s capabilities, right? Then here, take this.

  Obtained: LeCube_000102.qcapp

  Obtained: LeCube_000002(ver4).qcapp

  Obtained: LeCube_000201.qcapp

  Grisha installed the new configuration programs. He quickly read their descriptions. Some sort of humanoid mech of unknown design, another flying machine...

  “These are demo versions with a limited duration,” Nika continued. “Your training targets are outside the gate. Start your test drive.”

  “What about ammunition?”

  “You have two options. One: use standard ammo designed for your chosen battle configuration.”

  “Not very convenient.”

  “Yep, you’ll have to stick to one set of ammunition. I developed a universal ammunition layout for that. It works only with LeCube.”

  “Let me guess. It’s a kind of mega shell that transforms into any other kind of shell?”

  “Basically, yeah. A component mass of the modified nanobots that LeCube itself is made of. It’s used to create the right amount of ammunition.”

  “And you have to buy that mass...”

  “Yes, from me. But you’ll get the option to create all kinds of ammunition on the move! Need a rocket? Make one. Need a supersonic homing missile? Easy. But in extreme danger, you can use LeCube itself to make ammunition. With the side effect of reducing its size, of course.”

  Grisha made another feint toward the enemy group at the gate. This time a mech fired two rockets at him. He barely had time to get back within the range of Dimension X’s anti-air guns. Enough risky maneuvers. He’d gotten to grips with controlling the Grenika now.

  Grisha returned to the hangar and hovered above it. He saw Nika standing, looking up and tracking his flight.

  “I won’t ask what you were smoking when you invented a weapon that fires itself. How much of that nanomass does it use?”

  “You’ll figure it out as you go. LeCube currently has an excess amount of components, enough to create a whole arsenal. Bullets will cost one amount, missiles or heavy bombs another. Energy weapons and charges for them are created using the same principle. Here...”

  Unlocked access to Component Nanomass (CN).

  Obtained: 11,000 CN.

  Grisha glanced at the unfamiliar interface.

  “Alright, so I got some CN, what next? How do I use it to make missiles or air cannon shells? And the air cannon itself, actually. And a plasma gun.”

  “Check out the Craft section.”

  “Craft? Oh no! Anything but crafting! I don’t want to craft anything, I just want to shoot and blow stuff up.”

  “Simmer down. I prepared some command templates in advance. Just pick what you need, LeCube will sort out the rest.”

  “Nice, crafting ammunition during a fight. What a good idea.”

  But Grisha was only complaining about the look of the thing. He quickly figured out the interface and realized that he wouldn’t need to do anything but confirm.

  Spent: 500 CN.

  Crated: Viper Air-Land Homing Missile (x24).

  Spent: 400 CN.

  Created: Marinen Synchronized Aircraft Cannons (x2).

  Spent: 1,800 CN.

  Created: Arena Plasmagun (x1).

  Spent: 3,750 CN.

  Created: BunkBust Bunker Bomb (x50).

  Spent: 2,000 CN.

  Created: Marinen Ammunition (x2000).

  Spent: 500 CN.

  Created: Energy Units (x500).

  Remaining: 50 CN.

  After ensuring that all his weapons were combat-ready, Grisha shot upwards, leaving the hangar. He climbed, made a small turn and began to dive toward his enemies at the gate.


  “Hold on now, assholes, I’m about to show you what right angles are capable of!”

  Chapter 22. About Face at the Gate

  THE LANGOLIERS were so sure of their numerical advantage that they didn’t bother with protection from force fields. They didn’t even get what was happening at first. They couldn’t accept the thought that Grisha was trying to attack alone. Why would he do that, if not for a heroic death?

  Grisha’s next run with his unknown flying machine was taken as another feint. But when the bunker bombs fell on the Langoliers, killing the bizoids hiding under the ground, they got the message and tried to shoot down the Grenika with missiles. The flying machine continued to head straight for them, ignoring the missiles. Could the pilot have decided to sacrifice himself to kill his enemies? But then, in flight, the machine suddenly lost its shape. For a second it transformed into a black cube, and in another second the cube stretched out, became smaller, grew arms and legs. A third second and it transformed into a humanoid mech. Braking engines kicked in on the soles of its feet. Its landing threw up earth and dust, and Grisha threw a few smoke grenades along with it. The battlefield was temporarily hidden in an impenetrable cloud.

  Steel arms grabbed one of the supers and tore him in half. The second managed to dodge a giant foot, but then was crushed by a mighty fist.

  The two enemy mechanodestructors - also giant robots - finally saw Grisha through the smoke using their thermal vision and rushed toward him. One waved a gigantic hammer, the second fired a machine gun on the move. Grisha froze for a while, as if wondering whether to run. But then he suddenly split into identical black cubes. The cubes span for a moment, then split into two groups, approached each other and gathered into two identical black spider robots.

  The first rushed the enemy with the hammer, grabbing him with its legs. The ends of its legs first turned into saws that tore into the enemy’s body, cutting it into pieces. Jumping off its opponent, the black spider aimed one leg at his head and the saw at the end of it turned into a barrel. A shot — then the shattered head of the mechanodestructor rolled across the ground and fell into a crater left by a bunker bomb.

  The second spider jumped, extending its legs straight ahead. They turned into thick rotating drills that pierced right through the enemy, drilling into its mechanical body and spitting out debris. The limp enemy fell to his knees, then tragically fell head-first into the ruined ground. His machine gun fired for a while longer but stilled when it filled with earth.

  The remaining Langoliers, the humans in UniSuits, scattered throughout the field, hiding behind the hills left by craters, and opened fire on Grisha with their energy rifles. When a beam hit one of the spiders, fragments of black mass fell from it.

  Grisha’s neurointerface reacted to each strike with a message.

  Lost: 3266 primary CN.

  Lost: 2497 primary CN.

  Lost: 6543 primary CN.

  Attention: unable to maintain current configuration; not enough CN. LeCube will take its primary form.

  The two spiderbots dispersed into cubes and drew together into one large monolith. Then Grisha turned LeCube back into the Grenika and ascended. A couple of seconds later, he released a hail of fire on the surviving soldiers. Grisha fired his plasmagun, air cannon and missiles all at once. The dust that had had time to settle once again rose, almost to the sky. When it settled again, it was all over. Not one enemy soldier had survived. The field was full of the fragments of weapons, torn off arms and legs, and scraps of UniSuits. The earth was covered in blood, and a greenish slush seeped out of the earth from the dead bizoids.

  Taking on the disk form to conserve energy units, Grisha descended and hovered over the field, trying to comprehend what had happened. The neurointerface was full of messages about killed opponents and points earned. He’d taken out enough enemies for a full level up.

  “Well, how was that?” Nika asked over the radio. “Good product?”

  “I just defeated half of an enemy guild,” Grisha answered. “Sure, their levels were lower than mine, but there were lots of them. And now they’re gone.” “Heh heh, they’re all scratching their heads at the respawn point, and they’re trying to figure out what happened too. The dumbest of them will be reporting the player Grisha to tech support for apparently using some kind of cheat.”

  “Let me ask again: LeCube isn’t a hack or a cheat, right?”

  “I haven’t used anything like that for a long time. I run an honest business. If LeCube contradicted the rules of Adam Online, the Controllers would have already impounded it and banned me. LeCube is no cheat, it’s the result of genius crafting.”

  “Hmm, but if you can make something like this, then others can too, right?”

  “They could, if they spent enough time as I have. And they’d be geniuses too.”

  Grisha ascended higher and headed back to the hangar.

  “By the way, Nika, what’s ‘primary CN’?”

  “The component mass that LeCube consists of. There’s around two hundred thousand units of it. But that’s an excessive amount. Even if you lose up to a hundred and forty thousand, LeCube can still take on a complex and large shape.”

  “What if it goes even lower?”

  “Lower than that you’ll get a big drop in capabilities. If you get to that point, you’re better off taking on a form that will help you get away from your enemy as fast as possible.”

  “Bah. Everything has its limits.”

  “What do you expect? Don’t get cocky and assume you’re the strongest in this sandbox of ours. I’ve been tracking your actions. If your opponent had known about LeCube’s weaknesses, they would have killed you while you were transforming into those spiders. You were almost defenseless.”

  “Alright, thanks for the warning. And get ready to sell me a few more configs and plenty of component mass. It’s time for me to complete the guild’s mission: take out that damn Jamilla, before my bro goes totally nuts.”

  * * *

  Humans are perhaps the only creatures in the world that dream of being something other than themselves. And they have persisted in making that dream a reality. At first with words. They invented stories of dragons, werewolves, a son of God resurrecting after his crucifixion. When film and three-dimensional graphics arrived, it became possible not only to see these stories in paintings, but also to watch as they moved.

  It became easier to imagine that you are not you, but a dark elf or an anime girl with a three-dimensional saber.

  The first computer games allowed people to control these fairytale beings, creating an illusion of reincarnation. Humanity strove for a time when they could finally cease to be what they were.

  The keyboard and the game controller first turned into a helmet and virtual-reality headsets. Then the gyrosphere came along, reducing the sensation of the physical body, although not entirely. Even if your character was a fire-breathing dragon, you still remained a person, walking inside a rotating sphere after covering your body with a network of neural transmitters.

  Spin it any which way, you were still imagining that you were a dragon. You imagined with the help of technology, but all the same, the transformation was happening inside your head, which was kept in an ordinary physical body entirely unlike a dragon.

  Taharration changed all that. It erased the border between the body and the mind. All that remained was pure consciousness, which was capable of fitting into any form. Or... not capable?

  Back in the years when taharration pods were initially spreading, there were arguments about how human consciousness was affected by being reborn in a non-human body. Would a human consciousness relocated into a tiger actually be a tiger consciousness? Or would the human not lose the sensations of their body after all? Even in the form of a tiger, would he try to walk on his hind legs? Or if he adapts, what would happen to him after he leaves the tiger’s body and transforms into, say, a dwarf? A tardigrade? A protoss or a zerg? Or that butterfly that the philosopher Zhuang Zhou saw i
n a dream, not knowing whether he was dreaming the butterfly, or the butterfly was dreaming him. Or were they both dreamt up by someone else?

  To add to the chaos, you can’t read another man’s soul. Some people would undergo taharration and slip right into any body, be it a tiger or a robot that transforms into another robot. Others couldn’t feel comfortable even in a virtual copy of their own body. It would take a long time for them to get used to it, they had to learn to walk and talk all over again.

  Many felt discomfort from the fact that their ordinary physiological functions had disappeared. The fact that they no longer had to eat or shit or sleep drove people crazy... But since the virtual world could copy the real world to infinity, those ‘naturalists’ were given defecation, baldness, fingernail growth, whatever they needed.

  But people adapted quickly, and then there were fewer and fewer ‘naturalists’. In a single generation, all of humanity learned to accept digital reincarnation.

  And people went much further. It was no longer enough to wander virtual worlds in one’s own body. Or even as an anime girl. Or even a dark elf or an orc. Experiments began with introducing the most fantastic of races.

  For dozens of standard years, the CSes generated various creatures and gave them to players for testing in Adam Online. It soon became clear that the more outlandish the body, the more fun it was for the digitized consciousness to take control of it. And so appeared mechanodestructors and androids. Initially they were a whole range of different classes, but standardization did its thing and they were reduced to two. The mechanodestructor became a character with a huge range of potential frames, while the android could install various chips in its head.

  The plastic human consciousness incredibly learned to meld with any shape, though naturally not without the help of the control systems. After all, the problem of the connection between the body and the consciousness had stopped being a problem. It turned out that the connection didn’t have to be broken, it was enough to replace it. That meant that bizoids and angels became the next step in this strange evolution of dehumanization. People didn’t just get used to not being themselves, they began to find it pleasurable.