Absolute Zero
Page 24
Banshee sheathed her katana and turned to the driver... That was it, my chance! The timing and positioning wasn’t perfect, but soon the bandits would begin to suspect that my plan wasn’t quite the one I’d told them about.
The driver was making excuses and trying to convince them that he knew nothing about any weapons or money. Ghost kept hitting him, and Offo pressed his revolver barrels into his stomach.
I headed for the bus at a fast pace, putting Banshee’s bald head in my sights. I pressed the trigger, but... that ballbuster suddenly somersaulted to the side and hid behind the bus. Damn, she was so quick!
Ghost lowered his fists and turned in confusion. A shot. The fighter waved his arms and fell on the driver. Another shot — Offo didn’t even have time to turn around before he dropped his revolvers and fell on the driver too, on top of Ghost. Two headshots in a row. Some gunman he was.
The driver struggled beneath the unlucky bandits’ bodies while I tried to see where Banshee went. Which side of the bus would she attack from? The left? The right? The top or the bott-
Something hit me in the legs. I fell, but didn’t drop my pistol. An unclear figure darted under the bus. Lying on my side, I shot three times. The shadow disappeared, the bus shook, iron thundered.
Banshee was already on the bus’s roof. She held her katana in both hands and leapt down on me. The blade reflected the setting sun, blinding me. I pulled the trigger again and again, but who knows where I was aiming — the blindness was slowly dissipating. She must have gotten the ability to blind enemies from being a blademaster.
I thought I managed to jump out of the way, dodge a strike. I shot and shot again. I couldn’t take a third shot: a terrible pain engulfed my right arm. I screamed. That pain seemed like the highest possible on the scale of possible painful sensations in Adam Online.
My vision came back, and I saw my left arm gripping the stump of my right. I felt like I was still pulling the trigger, but no shots happened. My pistol lay on the ground at my feet, along with my amputated hand...
Blood spurted out, bathing my clothes. The katana’s blade was already at my throat. Banshee stood facing me, her bald head blotting out the sun.
“I told you I’d cut your head off, right? I’m as good as my word...”
Then, suddenly, Banshee flew to the side, swept away by the driver’s heavy body. He shouted something, almost roaring. That gave me time to rise and... pick up my severed hand. It was a strange feeling to pull my own dead fingers off the pistol. But they were gripping so hard that by the time the blademaster had stunned the driver by hitting him with her katana pommel, I was still standing helpless and unarmed. Banshee raised her katana like a spear and rushed me. Now that I’d lost my gun, she knew victory was certain. She wanted to finish the fight with a flourish, which gave me a chance to draw my knife. I sat down, drawing my head into my shoulders. The threat of losing that head terrified me. How painful would that be?
I extended my knife out in front of me. Banshee’s run ended with her impaling herself on my knife with all her weight, throwing me down onto my back. We lay there for a moment as if resting after the fight. Banshee’s shocked face was an inch from mine.
“How...?” she murmured.
“Hmm. I guess you didn’t invest much in Luck, huh?”
A trickle of blood fell from the woman’s dead mouth. Her eyes closed and she went limp.
The driver approached me and pulled the dead body off me. “Thanks, Leonarm.”
Without asking permission, he lifted me over his shoulder and ran to the bus. He threw me onto a seat and then leapt into the driver’s seat, started the engine.
“My hand... My hand is back there... and my pistol...”
The driver floored it. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you a new hand and a new gun. Hold on tight! Umm... Sorry.”
The bus turned in place, leaning as if about to fall over. The inside went dark for a moment as the wheels threw up dust, and soon we were careering along the stone pavement of Town Zero.
“Out of the road, out of the road!” shouted the driver, leaning out of the window. He was back to rolling a cigar end in his mouth, dropping sparks.
* * *
The pain in my severed hand was still strong, but not as bad as it was for those few seconds after the cut... I felt certain the pain was nearly as bad it would be in real life. Remembering it made me want to be careful and prevent anything like it from happening again.
I managed to inject myself with a painkiller while I was thrown around on the bus’s seat, and even to bind the stump to stop the bleeding.
“Hold on,” the bus driver said again. “A little more and I’ll get you to Doctor Cid.”
Doctor Cid’s Clinic was a chain store where you could get treatment and buy medicine. It specialized in humans only. If you wanted to buy the best Health generation expansions for UniSuits, that’s where you went.
On top of that, Doctor Cid’s was the most expensive medical establishment.
“Hey, I don’t have any money...”
“You don’t need any money after saving me like that, my friend!”
I struggled to pull my tablet out of my backpack. I wanted to see the results of my actions.
Leonarm (Human) killed Ghost (Human) using a Glock X5 (+10 XP).
Leonarm (Human) killed Offo (Human) using a Glock X5 (+10 XP).
Leonarm (Human) killed Banshee (Human) using a Standard Knife (+10 XP).
Wonderful. Only the idiot driver hadn’t given me time to grab the loot. Lefaucheux revolvers were much better than the standard Glock. And I could have gotten at least five thousand gold for Banshee’s katana. Random passersby would probably take it all...
But I was in no position to complain. The main thing that I was alive, even though I’d taken a big risk! But that was always the way I’d lived in Adam Online — on the edge.
I read on.
Pistols and Revolvers skill increased: +5 XP.
Battlefield Surgery skill increased: +5 XP.
Knife Combat skill learned: +5 XP.
Achievement unlocked: Headhunter.
Perform five headshots in a row.
Completed: 2/5.
Completion reward:
+50 XP.
+1 skill point.
Alright, that was as expected. I made a mental note to aim for the head more often. What about my Reputation?
Eliminating three dangerous bandits from the community doesn’t quite make you a hero, but the authorities of all the Rims are nonetheless grateful. The streets are safer now.
+10 Reputation with the authorities of all Rims.
I aimed the tablet at the driver and confirmed that he no longer disliked me. My Reputation with him had been restored to one. My overall reputation was at two. Not great considering what I’d done, but better than nothing.
* * *
We stopped at the clinic. The driver climbed out of his seat and ran to me, obviously intending to grab me again and carry me into the clinic.
“Hey, hey, I can walk.”
I waved him off and got out of the bus myself. Then the driver ran ahead, shouting.
“Emergency patient! Out of the way, out of the way!”
It wasn’t clear why he was doing that. The clinic was empty already. Not counting the NPCs lying on operating tables in operating rooms with open doors. The surgeons dug around in their prostrate bodies, pulling out their guts. Or waving scalpels and painting the walls with blood. ‘Doctor Cid’s Clinic’ was famed for the grotesque appearance of its doctors and its bloody black humor, which, unsurprisingly, did not go down well with everyone.
One of the Cid bots welcomed us into an office. He was a beefy man in a gown splattered with blood and something yellow. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing off mighty hairy arms replete with tattoos in the shape of skulls. His face was covered by a similarly sanguine mask with a bloody palm print clearly imprinted across it, as if a dying patient had taken issue with his treatment
strategy.
Doctor Cid looked at my stump.
“Well? What’s the problem?”
“This...”
“What’s ‘this’? Where’s the hand?”
“It was cut off.”
“Did you not bring it with you?”
“No.”
“Then it’s going to cost more.”
“Money is no object,” the driver interrupted. “My friend’s health is at stake!”
The doctor walked over to a cupboard and grabbed an ordinary hand saw, red with blood. He looked at it and put it back. Then he decided on an electric rotary saw. He switched it on a couple of times to make sure it worked.
“Wait here,” the doctor said, then left.
A minute later I heard the whine of the saw from somewhere behind the wall, accompanied by screams of anguish. Doctor Cid returned. In one hand he carried a saw, its disc still spinning weakly and dripping blood. In his other hand was a sawn-off hand. He ordered me to sit before the table and placed the hand against my stump.
“It’ll do.”
Then he put up an opaque screen between us and began his ‘operation’. My eyes went dark for a moment.
Doctor Cid rose, rubbing his bloody hands on his gown. “Done. Three hundred.”
I moved my arm from under the screen and looked. It was my hand, good as new. Even the pain had gone. All that remained was a pink scar at the point of separation. The driver paid for me.
Before we left, Doctor Cid amicably bade us farewell. “Come back soon.”
My tablet squawked after his words. I took it out of my bag.
Quest available: Invalid.
The experts at Doctor Cid’s Clinic want to know how many times they can restore your lost limbs.
Completion reward:
+1 Agility.
+200 XP.
+15,000g.
10% discounts on goods at Doctor Cid’s Clinic.
Completed:
Right hand lost — 1.
Left hand lost — 0.
Right foot lost — 0.
Left foot lost — 0.
Lose my hands and feet? After the hellish pain I’d experienced? But then... A hundred XP was very tempting. Two whole levels at once. It’d get me straight out of Rim Zero.
The driver let me into his bus. “Thank you again for saving me. I... I have...”
Come on! I thought. Spit it out.
“I have a problem. Could you help solve it? A brave fella like you should be able to handle it.”
The tablet in my bag sounded off with the ping of an activated quest.
“Of course. What’s the problem, buddy?”
“They, they... They took my family!”
Chapter 32. Apple Innovations
THE DRIVER’S fat cheeks wobbled, and he formed his words with difficulty.
“They took my wife and child... they’re holding them hostage!”
“Calm down and take it slow. Who took them? When? Why aren’t the police helping?”
We settled in on the bus. The driver took the photograph of his wife and son from the dashboard. I’d seen it before when traveling to the Heap with Amy.
“The police won’t do anything because they don’t believe my story. They just declared my wife and child missing and put up a notice for the bounty hunters, saying that anyone who found their remains or information about their whereabouts should contact the Rim Zero police department.”
While I looked at the photograph, he grabbed a bottle of whiskey from under his seat, took a swig and handed it to me. “Tell me, Leonarm, why the hell should the authorities help some bounty hunters instead of helping the people?”
I drank some whiskey, assessing this post-modern plot twist: a game character complaining about the laws and rules of the game! And this while he himself was one of the conditions of this in-game situation. This meant that a human had been involved in developing this mission’s story, without a doubt. The artificial intelligence of the control system, be it three times more powerful than the next best computer in the world, couldn’t mix reality and imagination. It simply couldn’t perceive any difference between fact and fiction. Its only reality was the process of creating an illusion.
“Who took your family?”
“A gang that lives near the Mercurian Planes. Its leader is a criminal who goes by the name Three Bucks.”
I choked on my whiskey. Another Easter egg from the anonymous author who took part in developing this mission. Three dollars was the standard price for a quest synopsis. I learned that from an MSB employee that worked as a writer on the side. According to him, he created three or four synopses a month and sent them to Glocon (the Global Consortium of Standardization in Adam Online and Other Taharrated Virtual Worlds). They’d always put one of them into development, which added another ten dollars to the three. Thirteen dollars was a little more than my monthly paycheck. My colleague had lived like a pig in clover.
I handed the driver’s bottle back. “I’d gladly help you, but see, I don’t even have a knife, let alone a gun. I left everything at the bus stop.”
The driver looked at me strangely. “Don’t you want to know why they took my family?”
“Oh, sorry, buddy! Why’d they take ‘em?”
The driver took a big gulp. “Remember those restraints built into the seats?”
“How could I forget?”
“Well, that’s not standard equipment for a regular bus.”
“No, really?”
“Bandits installed them so that I could capture passengers and take them to the gang’s lair. So they could rob and kill them.”
Yep, a random mission that players occasionally got caught up in. Some of them were probably even subjected to sexual assault, if they allowed it in their game settings.
Incidentally... What was that set at on my account? I should turn it off. I wasn’t a fan.
“Why didn’t you take Amy and me to the bandits?” I asked.
The driver shrugged. “One of Three Bucks’ requirements is that I only capture rich passengers. Neither you nor the girl had any riches.”
I mentally praised the unknown author. Such a mission was a great way to make rich players pay twice: first they spent money on awesome equipment, then they died and lost it all.
“Then back to the issue of equipment...”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” the driver threw the empty bottle out of the window and sat at the wheel. “You’ll be well set up.”
He started the engine. “Next stop the Tenshot gun store,” he spoke drunkenly. “Fasten your... hic... seatbelts.”
Swerving dangerously and barely making it through the gates, the bus roared along the main street of Town Zero.
* * *
While he drove, I decided to fix my settings. I was concerned by the possibility of getting assaulted.
The system menu could be reached through the game menu, meaning through the tablet (or neurointerface), or through strength of will, like when I was quitting, by saying “CS, menu”. I didn’t like that method, since it was accompanied by a temporary loss of bodily sensation, which ruined immersion in Adam Online. All adamites preferred the first option.
I opened the Adam Online system menu on my tablet.
< BACK
> SYSTEM SETTINGS
> ADAM ONLINE SETTINGS
> SYSTEM TESTS
> EXIT
Incidentally, ‘System tests’ contained several useful simulations for calibrating the vestibular system, adjusting the physical relationship of the virtual body and the binary consciousness array, or adapting the perception of color. I should have performed those tests at the very beginning, when I first logged onto Adam. Especially considering that Leonarm belonged to an entirely different consciousness before me.
But now there was no point: I was already used to what I had. I opened the Adam Online settings and started to scroll through the long list, pausing in several places.
Hide nudity — [no]
Filter abusive language — [no]
I had a moment’s doubt. Should I change it? When I tracked down and killed that traitor Amy McDonald, the stream of cusses from her would sound like a sweet reward. All the same, I switched it to ‘moderate’. That meant that open swear words would be either silenced or replaced by a suitable alternative expression.
Racial intolerance — [maximum]
This setting didn’t relate to the races in Adam Online, but those in real life. It decided whether NPCs would approach you with “Hey, black bastard” or “Yo, chink” or “Stop, Russian pig”. Racial insults were also detected in player speech and were also removed. Strangely enough, many who played as a human actually liked this. I didn’t, so I switched it off completely.
Level of violence — [maximum]
Ah, so that was why every shot or hit resulted in incredible spurts of blood. Whatever. I was used to it now.
Level of violent NPC actions — [maximum]
I switched this setting to ‘default’. Now I could relax: NPCs wouldn’t use non-traditional violent actions against me. I couldn’t get my head around the fact that Leonarm’s previous owner was one of those perverts. At the maximum level, NPCs could perform unimaginable torture on the adamite, since he himself had agreed to it.
After rechecking all my settings, I pressed ‘Apply’.
Attention: username cannot be %Username% (Error! Check taharration system settings).