Change

by Tony Corden

  Artificial gravity was used in Cosmos Online for both space stations and space ships, but current restrictions allowed a maximum artificial dampening of acceleration to 4g. If Leah accelerated at the maximum for which the Corvette was rated, she and John would need to use the separate acceleration couches. After thirty minutes at 4g, they were travelling just over 70,000 metres per second and had travelled over 63,000 kilometres.

  The Annoyance had three ships approaching them at three different speeds from three different positions in space. John returned to the bridge and said, “The Gravitation missile is programmed.”

  “Great John. There is a course change and increased acceleration in four minutes. I’ve sent you some coordinates and several parameters for you to load into six missiles, they will accelerate and then go ballistic. I’ve tried to anticipate the most likely times they will see our course change and respond. The missiles should be set to acquire targets as outlined. Send two for each ship as designated.”

  “Aye, Aye, Captain.”

  Just three minutes later John said, “Missiles prepared and ready for automatic launch.”

  “Prepare for vector change and real 7g acceleration, relative 3g, in fifteen-seconds.”

  The ships internal mechanisms rotated the ship around its centre of gravity to bring the ship to a new course as the drive system increased acceleration to 7g. Leah and John were pressed back into their couches. Moments later six missiles were fired from four different missile tubes. Each missile accelerated at 100 gravities for just under three minutes, and then went ballistic.

  Sixty minutes later and John said, “I’m sick of the extra weight already.”

  “Only fifteen more minutes, all three ships are getting closer, and two seem like they are at eight gravities. They are really keen. Coming up on missile acquisition in two minutes.”

  Two minutes later they saw all three ships fire blasters and anti-missile systems. One ship disappeared from the projection while the other two seemed to have defeated the attack. Both were catching up on the Annoyance.

  “Annoyance, Banshee is in position, missiles are launched for timed explosion. We will deal with the riff-raff.”

  “John, Gravity missile is a go. Proceed to automatic.”

  “Automatic fire is on.”

  Just over twelve minutes later the Annoyance fired a Gravitational missile from its forward tubes which travelled for five-seconds before exploding. Within microseconds of the gravity bomb exploding two missiles from the Banshee exploded on either side of the Annoyance's stern. Fourteen nanoseconds after the Gravitational Missile detonated the Annoyance translated to Plankian Space. At this exact moment in time, as recorded by the sensors, radiation from both Banshee missiles were just reaching the Annoyance at the same time as the small black hole created by the Gravity bomb began to exert a crushing hold on the bow. Cosmic Online used the various readings of space near the surface of the Annoyance to calculate its resultant speed and direction on entry into Plankian Space. The effect of the three explosions caused the algorithm to increase the speed of the Annoyance from 405,910 meters per second to 612,467 metres per second, but it also changed the direction of travel by almost fifteen degrees.

  Simultaneously, the Banshee, which had been for the most part travelling on a ballistic path, opened fire on the remaining two ships, destroying them entirely. It then resumed its journey with only incremental changes until it was beyond the sensors of any ship in the area. It then changed direction and speed to predetermined values, and translated into Plankian Space.

  The Annoyance was now travelling at 230 times the speed of light and headed for a small unnamed star system in space 3.54 light years from 55 Cancri. They would reach this in just under six days, or, if everything went to plan, in forty-five real-time hours. The Banshee would be waiting for them. Anyone following would hopefully search the star systems in line with the Annoyance’s observed direction of travel.

  The diversion had been necessary because one of the rules of travel in Cosmos Online was that ships could not translate from Plankian space except within a star system. Empty space was just that, empty. The only exceptions were in particular quests when some object or station existed in the emptiness between the stars. Leah, John and Gèng planned to use the time to review the star-charts provided to Mahigan by Packlord Filtiarn. While in Plankian space the players did not need to remain online, but the pilot did need to be online for transition from Plankian Space and during any combat.

  Leah began to review the information in the charts while John started on the plans provided in the data cube. After six hours Leah said, “Time to log out John. I’ve only managed a rough glance at less than a fifth of the material in the charts. It has information on hundreds of systems. Many of which aren’t mentioned at all in the forums or guides. No wonder Mahigan is so mad, it must be worth billions. I surprised the Administrators allowed it to be distributed to a player.”

  “Don’t complain Leah. We need to find some place we can exploit it and prepare to fight back.”

  “Agreed. I am out of here. I need some food, and then I’m off to fight a Kraken.”

  “I’ll need a break and need to do another review of the security. After that, I will spend some time working with my AI. If you’re free after breakfast later today it would be good if you are seen outside, the first chores session is being held. It might be good to see how things have started with our guests.”

  “Ok. I’ll make time for that. Bye John.”

  Leah logged out, pleased at having rescued the ship and eluded capture.

  Leah appeared in Dunyanin back in the room prepared for her by Patriarch Eilif. She had spent time reviewing the only two references to Rock Krakens in the guides and forums. Essentially it was similar to the more numerous Ocean Kraken. The creature had eight arms and two much longer tentacles. Each arm had numerous large suckers, each equipped with numerous hooks to grasp both rock and prey. Each tentacle ended with a sharp rotating tip that was used to drill through stone as well as to spear unsuspecting prey.

  The only recorded sighting estimated that each arm was between twenty and thirty metres in length and the tentacles were at least twice that. Fortunately, they did not use mana but possessed rudimentary eyes at the end of each arm. The eyes sensed movement more than light, or maybe heat. Either way, the eyes helped track moving creatures to hunt. The arms could be controlled by the central brain in the main body or could act semi-independently using a smaller brain near the ends.

  There was no record of a Kraken being killed, but the person who had seen one described how destroying a brain, on one of the arms, was the only way they had significantly reduced the overall health of the Kraken. The skin was described as ‘devoid of scales or hair and able to match the colour of whatever rock it lay on’.

  Leaving the room, she was escorted into the main cavern where Eilif was just finishing his breakfast. He said, “Welcome! I trust you had pleasant travels as you slept. I have two items of news for you. First, Guardian Korucu has volunteered to guide you to the entrance of the Kraken’s hunting grounds. Second, my spies tell me that a group of Travellers has arrived at the settlement looking for you. They have been given entrance to the tunnels and are searching for you. Normally we would lead them in circles for days before either killing them or leading them to a different exit where they would leave, none the wiser to our existence. These travellers, however, all have high levels, and I believe they could be a danger to my clan. I suggest that we lead them to the Kraken hunting grounds and you can fight it out down there.”

  Leah sat for a while and pondered her options. She was almost sure that entering the Kraken hunting grounds would be like entering a dungeon. If that were so then, she would be in a separate reality to the others, whom she supposed were the team from Merideath. If they killed the Kraken, then she might lose the opportunity to get the sword and treasures. Finally, she said, “Could you lead them in circles and I will kill them for you? Then I will go
after the Kraken.”

  “They are all at a higher level than you!”

  “If they are who I imagine they are then I have already killed them once. As long as I can fight one-on-one from an ambush, then I might prevail.”

  “So shall it be. There are six of them. We shall lead them away from our home. You travel with Korucu, and he will lead you directly to a series of tunnels where you may separate them. You will arrive ahead of them and can set up your ambush. It was good to meet you Lady Atherleah. I believe that one way or another you will soon be dead but that I might also be rid of the Kraken, one way or another.”

  “Goodbye Patriarch Eilif! I suggest that you be wary of these six. If they destroy the Kraken, I fear they may come for you.”

  “Fear not. We will be ready!”

  Korucu led Leah away and through a complex labyrinth of tunnels toward the ambush site. As she walked she practised the skill of Shadow Walking and with tips from Korucu was soon moving in silence through the darkness. It was almost an hour later when he said, “Lady Atherleah, we have arrived. Here is a map of the tunnels in this area. The darker lines are tunnels in solid rock, the lighter are moveable sections that change the overall configuration, the tunnels in red are used by the clan to move secretly between sections. These have been dug in the level above and are accessed by small pipes through which we can mist but those unchanged cannot. I will show you how to move the sections and then leave you to deal with your pursuers. They will be here in about ten minutes.”

  After learning how to move the walls, Leah sat and considered the various tunnels and options. Altogether this section was made up of several kilometres of intersecting tunnels and numerous places for ambush. The locking mechanisms for the walls were all contained in the vampire-only accessible tunnels. Finally, she headed to the entrance and placed her eye to one of the small viewing holes, waiting to see who was coming. She allowed her fangs and claws to show; Korucu had explained that in this form she would be able to sense, if not see, even a cloaked person because of their blood.

  The first person she saw was cloaked, but Leah could sense the blood moving through the body with each heartbeat. She concentrated on the blood, and slowly the women archer who had shot her on the banks of the Hizli, Bloodarrow_007, came into focus. Bloodarrow was followed by the Ranger who Leah identified as Jack_Strider_01, then Fiore, the Paladin CindraElla, the Archer-Mage Peter_Firedrake and finally the Dwarf, Son_of_Aulë. Silently she moved to the next moveable section, and as Fiore passed, she slammed the moveable wall between him and the Paladin. The last three were now trapped in a large maze that she hoped would take them some time to map. For several moments players on both sides of the moving section tried to break through but had no success. Soon, and now moving much slower, the front group moved on. The rear three began to retrace their steps but discovered the path had been closed and they moved carefully into the new path, unaware they were trapped.

  Leah assumed the first three were the most dangerous and wanted to deal with them first. Again Bloodarrow_007 was cloaked and moving ahead of the rest. Just as she turned a corner Leah silently shifted the walls and again split the group. Leah misted through the pipes and equipping her bow sighted it at the base of Bloodarrow’s neck. She had chosen one of the metal arrows and was pleased to see it drive the scout forward. A second arrow followed the first and Leah stepped forward and drove her knife through the back of the skull. As Bloodarrow turned transparent, Leah received a message informing her she had killed a player but would not be labelled as a PK as the player had been hunting her.

  She misted back into the upper story and hurried to catch up with Jack_Strider_01 and Fiore. When she found them they were close together and moving very slowly and carefully; checking and rechecking before they took any steps. She left them, hoping they would let their guard down after a while and went to deal with the other three. First, she separated out the Dwarf and killed him with arrows from a distance. Next was the Paladin, she was well armoured and almost certainly had magic. Leah drank a vial of Manather Blood before misting behind the Paladin. As she coalesced, the Paladin turned and cast a spell at Leah, but because of the Manather Blood Leah merely absorbed the spell before casting Chain Lightning and following up with Merdiven and her swords. As the Paladin died, a female figure with deep scars on one half of her body appeared and said, “Counsellor Atherleah. That is the second time you have killed my Paladin. I liked what you said at the Pantheon, but this is making me quite upset. She is my highest ranked Paladin, and I have plans for her.”

  After identifying the goddess, Atherleah said, “Lady Intikam, Goddess of Revenge, I wish I could promise to spare her, but she is hunting me. Be assured she hunts for reasons which would please you. The head of her clan seeks revenge on me and I on her. Whoever is killed between your Paladin and me meets your purposes. I ask that you grant me a dispensation to both protect myself and have my revenge on the one who would enslave me.”

  “So you seek vengeance for being enslaved, why does she seek vengeance?”

  “Because I escaped and in doing so I did damage to her family, her reputation, her fortune, and her plans.”

  “How long do you plan to pursue this vengeance?”

  “Until she stops enslaving people or she is too weak to continue.”

  “Would you like to be my Paladin?”

  “I thank you for your offer, but I must decline. I follow a God, and though I know he would not approve of me acting out of vengeance, I know he loves to set captives free. Either way, if I serve, then I am committed to serving him and him alone.”

  “Which God?”

  “He is God of the traveller’s world, Lady Intikam.”

  Intikam pulled a mirror from thin air and said, “It is a shame. Still, I am empowered by the explanation of your reasons and those of my Paladin. Accept this gift to aid in achieving revenge against your enslaver.” She then disappeared.

  Leah looked to the mirror and read

  Intikam Aynasi - A Mirror of Revenge (1/4)

  Intikam Goddess of Revenge and Retribution created four mirrors through which to see those in the world who show arrogance to the Gods or upset the natural justice of the world. This is one of those mirrors. One is given to her high priest, one to her supreme Paladin and one she keeps.

  Once each day you may use the Mirror to seek injustice that requires action. If you know of someone upon whom revenge should come then speak their name before using the mirror, and you shall see and hear them so that you may find them.

  Minimum: Level 300 (A150, S150, W150)

  Base Damage: NA

  Soul Bound

  Placing this in her bag she quickly searched the tunnels until she found the mage. She again misted through the pipes and with her Manather protection against Mana she kept her distance and killed the mage with arrows. She retraced her steps and found Fiore and Jack_Strider_01 standing back to back in a tunnel waiting. She wondered what was happening until Fiore said “Atherleah, we know you are in the tunnels. We know you hunt us. We will wait here for you.”

  She waited, and five minutes later he said the same thing. Finally, after the fifth time, Jack_Strider_01 said, “Give it a break man. She’s long gone.”

  “Have patience Jack, she’ll be back.”

  Leah calmly waited another hour until Jack said, “That’s it. I’m looking for an exit.” He began to walk off, and this was what Leah had been waiting for. Before Fiore could call him back, he had passed one of the moveable sections, and Leah separated the two. She dealt with Jack first. She teleported behind him and removed his head. Finally, she returned to Fiore who was waiting in the middle of a straight section of the tunnel. Leah coalesced some distance away and walked to one end of the straight section.

  Fiore had a small lantern by which he was navigating the tunnels. As she came into the edge of the light he said, “You have no friends this time.”

  “True, but neither do you. Look, I don’t really want to fight you t
hough. I just want to be left in peace.”

  “Merideath has declared you an enemy.”

  “So what? It doesn’t bother me, why do you care what she says?”

  “She is leader of my clan, she is my employer, she is not someone I would cross.”

  “So you are a sheep and she the wolf.”

  “No, we are both wolves, and she is the alpha.”

  “Well look, I have things to do, so goodbye.” Leah stepped back out of the night and into a patch of shadow. As Fiore rushed toward her holding the lantern ahead of him, she stepped through the shadows to the darkness behind him and thrust her sword through his back. She quickly cast chain lightning and then followed it up by bringing the Morningstar down on his head. Instead of connecting it hit a protective barrier. She looked down at Fiore who took a potion, closed his eyes and said, “I am not so easy to kill this time. Wait a few minutes while I heal and then I will kill you.

  Leah brought Merdiven down once more with similar results. She remembered the spell Shatter she had learned in the Dungeon with the Dark Lord. She quickly grabbed her spell book to refresh her memory, and after raising its level with some of her unused skill points, she cast Shatter at Fiore. There was a loud explosion, and though driven back a step she still managed to bring the Morningstar down on Fiore’s head before he rose. He was stunned, so she chopped off his head with her Haladie.

  As soon as he died, she heard Korucu say, “Lady Atherleah, now the travellers are dead, are you ready to visit the Kraken?”

  She quickly collected the few things Fiore had left behind, nodded and followed Korucu as he began to head down the tunnel toward the Kraken hunting grounds. It was another hour before they reached the end of a long tunnel and Korucu said, “We mark this as the start of the Kraken Hunting Grounds. From here the number of Cave Mites, Slimes, Scorpiders, Hell Beetles, and sometimes even Rock Manders begin to increase. The Kraken feasts on them as they feast on each other. I shall return to Father Eilif now. If we hear the death cry of the Kraken, I will return.”