I came up with an answer to the Pilot’s question:
“They think they took everyone down and now they’re simply standing guard over their prey and waiting for their masters. Either that or they’re confident we have no way of escaping their trap and flying away. In any case, there’s no sense in them shooting because an undamaged frigate has a significantly higher value than a pile of debris. For now. I’m sure that if we try to turn on thrusters or activate turrets, we will be annihilated in an instant.”
I repeated the last sentence two times, the second especially for Denni Marko, who was in the gunner’s seat. After that, Denni hastily pulled his hand away from the firing control system in fear and confirmed that he was not going to do anything without an order from his captain.
The situation was really coming together unpleasantly. But it wasn’t altogether hopeless. I waited for the Scanning ability to reload and activated it again, watching the marker that appeared on the mini-map with curiosity:
Immolator. Meleyephatian automated security complex. Chance of making inoperable 67%. Total control chance 51%.
Not bad at all – my chances of taking control of one enemy robot was over half! And of course, I tried to do so immediately.
Psionic skill increased to level ninety-one!
Machine Control skill increased to level ninety-two!
Before I could even start to celebrate, though, the other four Immolators instantly turned and destroyed their mutinous counterpart! Damn!!! One hundred sixty thousand crystals out the window.
You have reached level eighty-seven!
You have received three skill points (total points accumulated: six).
Well, at least the game system generously rewarded my Gnat with experience for destroying the huge dangerous robot. The level-up slightly mitigated the bitter pill of disappointment. But Uline Tar wouldn’t be too happy. My furry friend already basically considered the Immolators our property and had even begun looking for a buyer. Oh well, it would be a lesson for the future: never count your chickens before they hatch.
I suspect that if I had simply turned off the robot, the result would have been similar – one of the Immolators acting strange would not have gone unnoticed and the others would have taken measures. No, I needed to try something a bit different... I took out my Prospector Scanner and a geological analyzer.
“Ayukh, cut power to the frigate! The defensive shield won’t be able to help us if the robots decide to attack anyway. And better to sit a bit in the dark than having to change out a bunch of fried electronics later!”
While the Navigator carried out his unusual assignment, I set my device to give an electromagnetic pulse at maximum power. And once the frigate’s interior was submerged in darkness, I activated a metal tripod.
Scanning skill increased to level fifty-seven!
Done! I looked at the results of the scan and saw four inactive Immolators with their limbs splayed out in contorted poses. Great! I should have done that right away! I ordered Ayukh to turn on the power again, then asked the experienced Navigator whether he could reprogram the guard robots so they wouldn’t attack us when turned back on.
“No, captain, I cannot. I don’t have either the experience or skills necessary to do that. You’ll have to ask Vasha and Basha. They’re both Heavy Robot Operators and are actually specialized in setup and control. But I can fold them up and load them into the hold. It won’t be hard at all. And just in case, I’ll disconnect the Immolators’ lead terminals from their power units.”
“Better have Denni Marko and Gerd Ayni do that. You have a more important job to do: go into the real world and get in touch with Uline, Avan Toi and Vasha and Basha. Do you still have their contact information? Okay, great! Find out where they set their respawn points. If they’re on the Kasti-Utsh III station, have them stay there and wait for us. If they changed them to Earth... Well, we’ll have to think up another way out. It’s too risky to land the starship on a massive planet without an experienced Starship Pilot. Although...” I turned to San-Doon, who was listening in but not understanding much. “This could be our Copilot’s chance to prove his mettle!”
“MASTER GNAT, I GOT it open!” Tini, impossibly satisfied, disconnected the code breaker’s interface cable from the panel of a massive ceramic-composite door that was blocking our path into the tunnel just a few seconds earlier.
I watched the two-foot-thick barrier slide into a wall slot then saw a cloud of ultra-fine dust flood out of the tunnel. By the looks of things, there was still some air inside the asteroid before we opened the external door. Watching the dust slowly settle and disperse, my gaze caught on an opaque distortion dome that flowed with all the colors of the rainbow – yes, the entrance to the underground complex was hidden behind active camouflage. After that, I read my ward’s information as he picked up his tools:
Tini Wi-Gnat. Miyelonian. Relict Faction. Level-90 Thief.
Ninety??? When did the clever little thief overtake me in level? I didn’t even notice. Though I had to admit that the Miyelonian youngster was using his main skills constantly. He seemed to be having an easier and easier time breaking down doors and turning off security systems. And the kitten’s confidence was noticeably improving alongside his abilities. He was already bold enough to jump into conversations with adults and voice his opinion. I praised my capable ward, turned my forehead light a bit brighter, then walked first into the tunnel, which led deep into the asteroid. However, it turned out to be quite short and ended in a cave packed full of all kinds of technology.
I even whistled in surprised delight. We had come to the right place! A nuclear generator. Two drilling installations. Six, no, a whole eight automatic mining rigs, and with them three enrichment plants. Several heavy all-terrain loaders. Storage was filled with metal containers ready for shipment. I opened the first container I came across and pointed my flashlight inside. Wow!!! The box was filled to the brim with platinum sponge! And there were fifteen others just like it!!! We just solved all our financial problems!!!
For the next half hour, along with the two Miyelonians, I walked between rows of active automatic mining rigs, which gave off a slight vibrating hum. I peered into huge vats of acid where chemical processes were separating inert platinum from other metals. One after the other, I opened the boxes of enriched metal and a blissful smile spread across my face from ear to ear.
I strongly reconsidered hauling away all the valuable equipment. We’d take the ore that was ready to sell, of course. We’d even take one loader on the frigate to replace the one we lost. But all these mining rigs, the nuclear power unit, the camouflage dome and enrichment plant we’d leave in working order. Let them keep doing their thing, just for me and my crew instead! In the real world, Ayukh could get in touch with Uline Tar, who was most experienced in these matters, and the Trader would get us platinum mining rights through all the proper channels. After that, defending the mine would fall on the shoulders of the official Geckho authorities.
Although... As far as I understood the apathetic and lazy Geckho administration, they wouldn’t lift a finger unless we provided the proper stimulus. No, we had to try a different tactic. For example, offer a share of the mining enterprise to Viceroy of Earth Kosta Dykhsh. We could offer the representative of the suzerains a third of the income from selling the platinum in return for protecting the mine! As far as I knew the viceroy’s character, he would find the funds for space security if it meant personal gain. He would even place a sizable garrison right here on the asteroid. That really was a promising idea. The illegal platinum miner, no matter who they may have been, would most likely not want to tangle with official authorities or Geckho troopers!
All that remained now was to make sure the secret of our discovery wouldn’t get out. I crouched down to make my height match the Miyelonians, and set the armored gloves of my space-suit onto my companions’ shoulders. I saw that both crew members were listening to me carefully, so I started pouring a generous amount of Magi
c Points into each sentence I spoke:
“Ayni, Tini, no one outside of our crew can find out about this! It’s very important! Our future depends on it! Uline and I need time to become the legal owners of all this equipment, and the less players know about it, the higher our chance of keeping it all in one piece. So no matter how badly you might want to boast about your achievements, not a word to anyone! And that especially goes for you, Tini. You know what I’m talking about.”
Psionic skill increased to level ninety-two!
Mysticism skill increased to level forty-two!
After a five-second delay, the kitten gave a nod. Loyalty to his captain and excitement at the chance of a big score outweighed his loyalty to the Great Priestess of the Miyelonian race, whom the kitten was still sending regular reports to about the voyages of the Listener Leng Gnat. Then Tini bared his little teeth, unable to contain his joy:
“Just think, the ‘big brazen mine owner,’ the Jarg mentioned earlier is now my captain!”
Gerd Ayni also snorted in satisfaction and confirmed that she would keep quiet. Just great!
“Then come help me carry these boxes! We’ll bring them on the frigate together with the loader. I don’t see any reason to stay on this asteroid longer than we need to. As soon as we have it all loaded up, let’s take off!”
Chapter Four. Getting a Team Together
SECURITY DID NOTHING to impede my entry to the Dome administration building. Although I was seeing most of the armed people for the first time, they clearly knew me because they all fell into a respectful silence when they saw me coming. And my sensitive hearing caught a heated exchange of whispers behind me: “There he is, the Gnat!” I’m not sure what kind of drivel the Dome residents were filling the heads of the “outside” security with, but I could hear respect and admiration in their voices. I walked down the corridor, opened the door to Ivan Lozovsky’s office and six pairs of eyes immediately fixated on me. I could read confusion, perturbation and even a certain measure of fear on their faces. It looked like they were frankly just not expecting me to show up.
“Gnat?” Lozovsky asked, not trying to hide his surprise.
I have to admit, I was also surprised. Although I expected to see Human-3 security director Alexander Antipov, encountering members of my crew in the office caught me off guard. And that included Dmitry Zheltov and Vasily Filippov, but also Imran and Eduard Boyko, who weren’t even tangentially related to directorship positions. All four of them were already in the Relict Faction, so Lozovsky had no authority over them. Nevertheless, after their characters died on the asteroid, they had all run over to see him.
“What, Kirill, did your picture-perfect fairytale finally come to an end? I heard your starship got taken out in the asteroid belt,” I could hear a distinct measure of schadenfreude in Ivan Lozovsky’s voice as he sat back stately in his armchair. “And if the council of mages in the parallel world also votes to depose you, what of your former accomplishments will you even have left? Nothing more than a wet fart. Even your closest allies already know that,” the director pointed at all the members of Team Gnat in his office.
The mask of respect and politeness I was accustomed to seeing on the face of the leader of the Human-3 Faction finally dropped. Ivan Lozovsky considered me well and truly beaten, so he figured there was no more reason to put on airs. Okay, I’d keep this in mind for the future...
I’ll admit, until that very moment, I was going to tell the Dome directors what happened on the asteroid, and inform them about the valuable trophies I captured and my plans for the future. I also wanted to share a map of the virtual planet with my former faction, blueprints for the mobile security robots, and perhaps even a share of the profits from the platinum mine. And why not? It could solve the Human-3 Faction’s severe deficit of space currency, and allow humanity as a whole to develop faster. But after such flagrant boorishness on the faction leader’s part and his jeering mockery of my supposed failures, I had an abrupt change of mind. I already had my own faction, so I’d keep my funds and spend them on my projects! Still I didn’t respond to Ivan Lozovsky’s rude line of questioning, instead turning to the members of my crew:
“All the Geckho in the crew, all the Miyelonians and those from the other branches of humanity remained loyal to their captain and faction leader. So I find it very frustrating and surprising that only the natives of my own homeworld tucked their tails between their legs and ran back to their former leaders at the first sign of trouble, doing their best to curry some long-overdue favor!”
Three of the crew lowered their heads dejectedly when I hit them with a heavy gaze, feeling that my criticism was fair. But Eduard Boyko jumped ardently to his own defense:
“Captain, you are wrong! I have remained loyal to you through and through! I’m not here for any untoward reason! It’s just that the Dome director summoned the frigate crew here to tell him about the disaster on the asteroid and I came along. Also...” the muscle-bound redhead hesitated for some reason, and his sentence was finished by Imran the Dagestani:
“We also had a conference and decided to come clean about the fact you are hiding the wanted runaway Anna in our crew. It seemed wrong to keep that from our comrades, who that no good hussy tried to kill in cold blood! I still can’t forget the look in Irina Chuskovkina’s eyes while she died in my arms! Kirill, I was always on your side and I still am, but I just couldn’t keep quiet about Anna. It would have been a disgrace and dishonor to my name!”
I took a deep sigh, covered my eyes and slowly counted to ten, trying to calm myself down and not say anything I might come to regret.
“With all due respect, friends, what could you possibly have had to say about the events on the asteroid? You all died one second after the external hatches were opened! And furthermore, what could you possibly know about Anna being in our crew? For your information, the real Anna is still in the care of Earth’s Geckho Viceroy, Kosta Dykhsh. She is staying in a residential building not far from the spaceport where other humans are not allowed.”
“Is that so? Very interesting...” came Antipov the fed, first to fill the lingering void of silence. “But then who was on your ship when it left Earth, Kirill?”
I just shrugged my shoulders because I didn’t really know:
“I can only say that it is an entity by the name of Vaa and that, two hundred years ago, it was already considered old and wise. Most likely, it is a Morphian of some unfathomably high level. Anyway, it has never been shown as a Morphian in my scans, even though it has fallen inside my scanning radius a number of times. My Prospector Scanner couldn’t clearly identify the entity either, twice giving bizarre responses... Very strange... anyway, it doesn’t matter. Much more important is that the monster terrorizing our lumberjacks in the forests of the Capital node is no more. I have taken it with me.”
Ivan Lozovsky crossed his arms on his chest for show and threw himself back into his armchair, not making any comment. The others were not deterred though and started exchanging glances and discussing amongst themselves. Clearly nobody was expecting this twist in the story of “Anya from First Medical.”
“Good news!” the fed must have decided to take the initiative in this conversation, given the faction leader was sitting with a sulky look. “Okay, can you tell us what became of your starship then? Was it really attacked and destroyed by walking Meleyephatian robots, as your crew said? Or were you able to escape?”
The room awaited my response eagerly. But I had already decided to be difficult and refused to answer:
“According to documents signed by all of my crew, the status of the Tolili-Ukh X frigate is top-secret and not to be disclosed to anyone outside the narrow circle of our crew. In any case, as for whether the frigate was destroyed or escaped, you four,” I led my gaze over the members of Team Gnat, who were watching me attentively, “stay out of matters that don’t concern you and get back into the game! There is a freight-passenger shuttle taking off from Earth for Kasti-Utsh III in a qu
arter ummi. Captain’s assistant Uline Tar and the rest of the respawned crew are waiting on you to buy tickets and leave Earth. I will meet you at the space station.”
No objections or arguments followed. All four of them stood up at once and headed for the exit. I also wanted to leave with them and had in fact already left, but Alexander Antipov caught up to me in the hallway:
“Gnat, I’d like to apologize for Lozovksy’s behavior. There’s a good reason for it, believe me. I just can’t say anything yet. I have also signed nondisclosure agreements. You’ll find out in a few days. And another thing. I understand that this might be bad timing, but still...”
The fed extended a thick packet of stapled papers. A table with names and some numbers... What is this? Looks like a printout of character statistics. I raised a surprised gaze.
“At the high-profile player meeting you said you needed more people for your faction, and that you’re willing to prioritize candidates from the H3 Faction. Well I had my commanders conduct a survey of our troops and draw up a list of volunteers right after that. But then we all got wrapped up in the war with the Dark Faction and didn’t have time. Basically, it may be a bit late, but here is the list. It contains four hundred and eight people, so you have plenty of options.”
“How many now? A bit over four hundred?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
I was under the impression that the players of the Human-3 Faction mostly had a fairly lukewarm opinion of me, in some cases even hostile. But here a whole four hundred of them were expressing a desire to join Team Gnat... Surprising. And nice to hear, holy cow!
“These aren’t all players from our faction. The list also contains Germans, and even some from the Chinese faction. The printout gives their names, in-game professions, levels, statistics and a very brief overview. And take note, there are even a couple Gerds on the list! I understand your time is vanishingly short, and the shuttle with your crew will soon take off from Earth, but maybe next time...”
A Jump into the Unknown (Reality Benders Book #5) LitRPG Series Page 6