Earth's Gambit (The Gam3 Book 2)

by Cosimo Yap

  x2 Bonus XP for slaying an enemy over 200 levels higher

  Level up!

  “Thanks for the help,” Ace called out, “but you know it wasn’t really needed.”

  “It didn’t look that way to me,” Alan said.

  Ace shrugged. “I still had some tricks up my sleeve.”

  “So…” Alan said. An awkward silence followed.

  “So, what?” Ace finally asked. “Why are you here? Following me?”

  “No! I just came here trying to gather resources to complete the quest, like you. My AI picked up tracks. I didn’t know they were yours.”

  “So you just follow random tracks, to see where they lead?”

  “Um, yeah.”

  Ace shook his head. “Whatever. I can’t carry more than two stone wolves at a time, so you can have the third corpse. The Administrator at the Student Center buys them for around 5,000 credits each.”

  “Oh, but, don’t the corpses despawn?”

  “If you don’t loot them, you can harvest bodies. Carrion feeders would eat the body anyway.”

  “I’ll take the third wolf, then, thanks. By the way, I’ve been wanting to ask you something…”

  “Yes?”

  “Did you know the United World Government is doomed?” Alan asked.

  Ace froze in the middle of examining one of the wolf’s corpses. He looked up sharply, staring at Alan, his lips pursed. Ace then slowly turned his head to look about, ensuring there was no one around them. He stood up, opening his mouth—

  “Wait,” Alan said. “Before you say anything, let me make sure of something.”

  Eve, activate Program1.

  Activating.

  Alan closed his eyes, then opened them. The world itself, and his immediate surroundings, didn’t look much different. But the sky had changed; it was now a whirl of light to him, with streaks of all the colors of the rainbow rushing by overhead. And there was a little pinpoint of light in front of him, a faint yellow beacon coming from Ace.

  “Ace?” Alan asked, but Ace was backing away, adopting a combat stance.

  “What are you doing? Your eyes have turned silver and are all mechanical. Are you a cyborg?” Ace asked.

  “What? No! I’m just checking for bugs, nothing more, and I think that you would like to know that you have an unidentified device planted on the back of your leg!” Alan said.

  Deactivate, he thought, and Eve stopped Program1.

  Ace paused, seeming to calm down a bit once Alan’s eyes returned to normal. He reached behind him, feeling his legs.

  “I think it’s inside your power armor, not on the surface,” Alan said after Ace found nothing. Ace frowned, but chose to trust Alan.

  “No funny business as I take off my power armor, okay?”

  “Sure,” Alan said. “Here, I’ll even disarm myself.” He threw Orion’s Cores at Ace’s feet. Ace stared at the pistols, then shook his head.

  “That was foolish of you, never leave yourself unarmed.” Ace kicked the weapons back and began taking his power armor off. Alan shrugged, picking up his weapons. Eve would have warned him if throwing away his weapons had been a bad idea.

  It was a bad idea, but it wouldn’t have put you in significantly more danger, Eve sent.

  Alan ignored Eve, trying to remember the beacon of light he saw. After a bit of rummaging about with Ace, they finally found the source. A small metal button, found behind padding within Ace’s armor.

  “A listening device,” Ace murmured. He then crushed it in his fingers.

  “Wait, maybe I can track back to who’s listening,” Alan said, but it was too late. The device was destroyed.

  “Oh, how would you have done that?” Ace asked. “How did you even know the device was there?”

  “I used an augment,” Alan said. “My eyes basically just scan for hidden devices.”

  Program1 does much more than that, Eve sent.

  Yes, but Ace doesn’t need to know that, does he? Alan sent back. Phantom’s invention amazed him. The concept seemed sound, but Alan still had no idea exactly how it all worked. Somehow, Program1 allowed him to see all communication signals. It opened his eyes to the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and deciphered everything from gamma rays to radio waves. It then showed him anything significant on top of the normal, visible spectrum of light. When Alan had first heard that, he was semi-impressed. But then he had thought about it more, and was blown away.

  It turned out that these communication signals were used by almost everything, as Program1 was open to all electrical signals. Not only did that include messages that players sent, but any sort of device within the world that was interacting with space in any way also created electrical signals of some sort. And Program1 made them visible. Simply put, it scanned through all the noise in the electromagnetic spectrum so that Alan could check for anything useful. Alan had a feeling that his Detect Presence ability worked in a similar way, but it only worked on conscious beings.

  Unfortunately, while Program1 could be used to detect all these signals, they couldn’t be easily deciphered—or at least that was what Phantom thought. Eve thought differently, but she and Alan had failed to make any progress on that front. Also, in busy areas there was so much noise that it took all of Eve’s processing power to isolate a single signal. Program1 cost five energy per second to keep active, and Alan only had an energy pool of 400.

  “Can we talk now?” Ace asked after he put his armor back on.

  “Nothing I can detect is listening,” Alan said.

  “Let me skip ahead and guess what you were about to say. The United World Government is going to go bankrupt, the Haxlardians will take over everything, and we need to jump ship. Does that sound about right?” Ace asked, stepping forward, closer to Alan.

  “Um, yeah,” Alan said. He backed away a bit, then forced himself to look into Ace’s eyes.

  “Well, we aren’t bankrupt yet. We still have a chance to bring this around, and that’s all you really need. A chance. According to official statistics we need to crank production up and increase every player’s efficiency by 700%.”

  “What? That’s insane,” Alan said. “There’s no way we can do that.”

  “I agree with you,” Ace said. Alan stared at Ace, confused. He gave a lopsided smile. “But this is better than starving, better than being slaughtered in the streets, yes? Things get worse. Now though, things seem pretty good. All we do is play this Game.”

  “Don’t you think people deserve to know, though, that the numbers are showing that the government is going to go bankrupt within a few years?” Alan asked.

  “Numbers? Since when did people listen to numbers? People don’t trust numbers; they don’t understand them, and they won’t follow them. Many wars have been fought undermanned and under-gunned, but do people care? No.” Ace spat on the ground. “Projections and mathematical models are like prophecies. People see them, and they feel informed, but people don’t act like numbers. So, you can tell everyone that the models say the UWG is doomed, and a few will panic and jump ship, but most will just continue on. Because what else can they do?”

  “At least, that’s my take on it,” Ace said. “My superiors feel differently, so this information is on lockdown. Personally, I couldn’t care less if the information was leaked…”

  “Um, right,” Alan said. “I would rather not piss off the government. Especially since it still controls the resources of the solar system.”

  Ace shrugged. “Your choice.”

  “But what about other options?” Alan asked. “What about the Legion of Man?”

  “Ha!” Ace let out a hearty laugh, then looked over at Alan, who was staring at him. “Wait, were you serious? That group is a joke. Their leaders have off-world backing and are just being used to drain UWG resources faster.”

  “Oh,” was all Alan said.

  “Right—if you want to help Earth, I suggest you get strong, and fast. A war is coming,” Ace said.

  “What?” Alan asked,
tensing up, suddenly worried. If Ace was part of the hidden war for Earth…

  “Let’s just say that the UWG will declare war on the Haxlardian Empire before the government defaults on any loans,” Ace said. “You know debt has specials rules once a war starts, right?”

  “Sure, if the debtor defeats their debt-holder, the debt can be forgiven. But a single solar system with one inhabited planet against an entire empire that hasn’t lost a full-scale war in the history of the Game? The government will be crushed, and then it will be in an even worse position,” Alan said.

  Ace shrugged. “You might be surprised. Let the bigwigs plan out the future. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

  “Um, that was it,” Alan said.

  “Then let’s move out. Daylight is burning,” Ace said. He picked up two stone wolf corpses, then started jogging back to the Academic Center.

  Alan stopped to pick up the third corpse. He lifted it up, then staggered, his legs almost giving way.

  Remember, the stone wolves are made of a stone-like substance, and thus weigh an average of 100 kg, Eve sent.

  That’s over 200 pounds! How is Ace carrying two of them so easily?

  He is stronger than you. Now hurry up and catch up with him; this will be good training.

  Alan ran after Ace with a groan. The sun steadily beat down as Alan ran, his muscles aching. He jogged forward, unable to concentrate on anything but the pain each step caused. The stone wolf grew heavier, weighing down on his shoulders.

  Then, slowly, the heat began to get to him. He felt hot, too hot, his throat completely dry. Unable to take the pain anymore, he threw the stone wolf’s corpse to the ground. He collapsed to the ground, all of his energy vanishing.

  Alan fumbled around for his water bottle.

  Stop, Eve sent. Get back up. Do not drink the water—it will likely cause you additional pain from cramps.

  Alan stared at the water bottle that he had just raised to his lips.

  I can’t drink? he sent.

  You should not. You can rinse the water in your mouth and spit it out, but don’t swallow.

  Alan did so, and it momentarily relieved his mind. But his throat still felt so dry.

  “Are you all right?” Ace called out.

  “Yeah, just taking a break,” Alan replied. Ace nodded, setting the two corpses down.

  “All right, I wouldn’t mind a breather,” Ace said.

  “Thanks.”

  Get up, you can keep going. Run harder and faster.

  No, I don’t think I can, Alan sent back. His mind felt weak, delirious; the heat was simply too much. Everything seemed hazy, and a headache was starting to form.

  Yes, you can, Eve sent back. Your body isn’t even functioning at 60% of capacity. You can do much better, but you are letting pain rule you. You are weak. Get up and run. Or abandon the idea of becoming the best.

  But, I’m tired…

  GET UP AND GO.

  Alan struggled to his feet, his anger rising. He lifted up the wolf and let out a silent scream.

  FINE, IF YOU WANT ME TO GO, I’LL GO, he yelled at Eve. He began sprinting forward with all his might, catching back up to Ace in seconds.

  “Let’s move,” he said to Ace, continuing forward without looking back.

  Every step felt strangely light as Alan rushed onward, back into the dense, humid jungle. But then the adrenaline high faded, leaving him feeling even weaker than before. Still he jogged forward, putting one foot in front of the other. It was just so hot…

  STOP, Eve suddenly yelled. Alan did so, thankful for a reason to pause. His mind felt blank—there was nothing but overbearing heat. Then, suddenly, there was a rush of cool air filtering through his power armor. It was nice, but he still felt hot, so hot. He collapsed onto the ground and lost consciousness.

  ***

  When Alan opened his eyes, he found himself back in the Student Center, lying on a bed. He still felt weak.

  What happened? Alan asked.

  You suffered from a heat stroke, Eve replied.

  What? How did that happen? Shouldn’t you have detected it?

  Strenuous activity in the heat can cause exertional heat stroke, which can happen even in the young and healthy. You were mentioning signs associated with the illness.

  Yes I was, which is why I wanted a break. Wait, this is all your fault. The only reason it was so hot was because you wanted to preserve shield energy.

  I expected you to gain heat exhaustion resistance, but you did not, Eve sent. All of my calculations indicate that you should not have suffered from heat stroke, given the amount of exertion you performed and the heat in the suit. My conclusion is that your heightened mental state caused you to use up far more energy in a small amount of time, leading us to our current predicament.

  MY heightened mental state? If I recall correctly, the only reason I was so angry was because YOU wouldn’t let me rest. I clearly needed that rest, too!

  There was a pause.

  Yes, Eve finally sent. I apologize for not taking this possibility into account, and will strive to take such human limitations into account in the future.

  Thanks, I guess, Alan sent. He adjusted the pillow behind his back. How did I get here?

  After you collapsed, Ace dropped one of the stone wolves and carried you back instead. He said it was to pay back his debt for your finding the bug in his power armor. The other two stone wolf corpses have likely been scavenged by now. Additionally, due to your heat stroke, it is recommended that you not exert yourself physically for a day or two.

  Oh, Alan said. His body did feel fairly weak. So what do we do, then?

  I believe I should teach you what was in the tests, with the hope that you can better communicate the status of your mind and desires. While I am able to access the status of your body through various physical indicators, I am unable to reach into your mind and truly feel life as you experience it. Thus, we require better communication, and to communicate, you need to know the proper words…

  All right, Alan said, lying down and looking up at the ceiling. Let’s get to it.

  ***

  Two days later, Alan stood outside the Student Center, feeling much better. He also had a better grasp of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. He had learned far more than he had thought possible in such a short time span, and felt happy about the progress he had made. The calculations Eve constantly ran in the background of his head made slightly more sense now…or at least he recognized a few more variables. That was progress.

  Where to now? Alan asked Eve.

  I believe you know the answer, Eve replied.

  Alan sighed. He hated bugs.

  But what if they’re in an uproar after what happened? Alan asked. Won’t they have improved their defenses? Also, after receiving that stupid prize, is there even anything else of value there?

  Assuredly, there is plenty of value. However, I believe there is a fairly easy and lucrative resource within the arachnid colony.

  And what’s that?

  Do you remember the cavern with the glistening lake?

  Yeah, it glowed like it was full of energy.

  Well, I believe that is a special type of enhanced water, capable of replenishing or even permanently increasing a player’s psionic energy.

  Like a mana well.

  Yes. A few containers’ worth of the liquid would likely be worth 100,000 credits.

  What? Why did you have me go out and search for resources if it is as easy as sneaking into someplace we’ve been before and taking some water!

  I wanted to explore the planet further, with the hope of finding something particularly valuable. The Hunting Grounds are known to contain rare, high-leveled prey. Additionally, we are likely being tested on our actions, and I wanted to prove that you were capable of great feats of strength. Now, however, we have fallen slightly behind. It would be best to finish this resource-gathering task as soon as possible—perhaps we should sell the Spider Egg we recei
ved earlier.

  No. I bet it’s the key to some puzzle, or maybe it could be useful later on.

  Very well.

  Alan sighed, and then acquired a few containers to hold the liquid. After that, he managed to sneak into the insect’s underground base. He filled up the two containers and, with a bit more trouble, made his way back to the Student Center.

  He handed over the two containers of water.

  Thank you, Traveler. We will provide 20,000 credits for the Psionic Elixir (Rank C).

  Really? It’s that easy? Alan asked.

  Yes.

  Alan sighed.

  ***

  Five more trips and twelve hours later, Alan was back at the Student Center. He chose to keep one container full of elixir for himself, even though it had no effect on his own Computational Energy. He gave another to Aurora, who was finishing up with her exams, to share with Kitana and Sidestep. It was time to leave this planet and find a Teacher.

  Are you sure you wish to leave Incipe? the Administrator asked.

  I am, Alan said.

  Proceed to the capsule room and return to your Home; then you will be teleported to your next destination.

  All right.

  Alan proceeded Home. From there, he could access the Teleportation menu. One destination was available to him, without a picture. It was titled: Capsule Room, Castle 1B, Ænigma, Academy System.

  He hit the teleport button.

  ***

  Alan stepped out of the capsule. A message appeared:

  Welcome to Ænigma! The area Capsule Room is a safe zone. Outside is not. Thus, should you die, there will be no penalty unless you leave the area. You may not enter any unsafe area against your will. Any unjustified acts of violence or breaking of laws will be appropriately punished by the Academy, ranging from a simple detention to expulsion, depending on the nature of your crime.

  The room looked like an ordinary capsule room with two rows of four grey ovals. A single Administrator stood in a corner. Alan checked his surroundings and detected no one.