Earth's Gambit (The Gam3 Book 2)

by Cosimo Yap

  Yes, but I have also verified this fact with others.

  Other AI.

  People tend to make friends at school and boot camp. Go out and do it.

  Fine.

  Alan approached the rifle training class, looking for anyone familiar.

  “Hey, Alan, whassup?”

  By the time Alan turned around, Sidestep was already next to him.

  “Hi, I’m here for the training class,” Alan said.

  “What a coincidence, I’m here for the exact same reason. Almost as if it was a daily scheduled activity,” Sidestep said.

  Say ‘Nice one, dude!’ and slap him on the back, Eve sent.

  No.

  “Yeah, I’ve been training and haven’t had time to get out much,” Alan said instead.

  “But you’ve been back to the Hunting Grounds, right?”

  “No, I haven’t. Why?”

  Sidestep stared at Alan. “Dude, it’s the best place to farm in the Academy, free shit for days. Have you been hiding under a rock?”

  “No, I’ve had more important training,” Alan said.

  Sidestep shook his head. “Are you spending all your time in your bunk? The ladies here are fine, but not that fine.” He waved at a group of female Ælven in power armor. They raised their weapons at him.

  There was a loud noise overhead as a large helicopter-jet-hybrid approached the landing strip. It landed a few seconds later. A person covered in deep, jungle-green power armor carrying a similarly colored rifle stepped out of the vehicle.

  “Everyone, it’s time to head out, you know the drill. Today we’re hunting Razor Puffballs. Don’t let their names fool you, these creatures’ hairs have the range and strength of a fully automatic weapon. They’re small, but move fast, making them ideal for target practice.

  “You will be limited to ten kills. If you need help or advice, send me, Hunter2, a message. Otherwise you’re on your own. Get back to the jet in five hours, or we’ll leave without you. That’s by 13:00, numbskulls. Also, remember we scan combat logs to see where there might be room for improvement, and to make sure you do not kill any creatures that we are not targeting. The Academy takes care to maintain the Hunting Grounds numbers.”

  As they stepped aboard the jet, Sidestep whispered to Alan, “They also do it to make sure no one takes out any of the other students. Aurora would be here, but I hear the assassins game is coming down to the final few players; she’s not going anywhere out in the open at this point.”

  “Does anyone know who the sniper is that took me out?” Alan asked.

  “Nope,” Sidestep said. “It should be one of the finalists, why?”

  “Nothing,” Alan said. He had decided that spending too much time on the quest was a bad idea; there were wiser things he could be doing with his time.

  ***

  Alan missed. A lot.

  The puffballs were small, which was part of the problem.

  The other problem was that he couldn’t aim without Eve.

  “Alan, you suck! You haven’t hit a single shot the entire morning, what are you doing?” Sidestep called out. He was using his sidestep skill, which Eve now said was a variation of the blink ability, to chase down puffballs and shoot them point blank.

  “I told you, I’m trying to do this ability-less; I’ve been overly dependent on one in particular.” Alan fired another burst at a puffball, then dove behind a tree as it shot of a spray of small metal spikes back at him.

  “You need to use that skill bro—we have to start heading back or we’ll be late. I had to make the trek back once on my own and it took me half a day, a total buzzkill. It’d probably take you two days, maybe three.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Alan said as he looked out from behind the tree. He took a razor-sharp spike to the face, halving his shield energy.

  Fine, I give up. Eve, help me.

  Are you sure? Eve asked.

  Yes. A familiar stream of information returned to Alan, tracking the six different puffballs in the area as well their intended movements.

  He fired a blast at one puffball, then turned and shot another.

  He activated his armor’s advanced invisibility and climbed up a tree; then with a quick slice of his blades, he swept away the brush that was blocking his vision. From the high ground he took out the four remaining puffballs in quick succession.

  A message appeared:

  Level up!

  “Hey, that was my kill!” Sidestep said.

  “I thought someone said something about hurrying up. Anyways, I’m sure we’ll catch more on the way.”

  “Sure, but what about—” Sidestep paused, taking a look around. “You took all of them out, just like that?”

  “Yes, let’s get moving,” Alan said. He climbed down and checked the puffballs for loot, but unfortunately there wasn’t much; they were simply good for a bit of XP.

  “It took me all morning to get eight kills and you get five in one go? That’s so unfair.”

  Alan smiled. “Six, actually.”

  Sidestep sighed. “Well, at least now I don’t feel so bad about losing to you in the duel. You obviously have aim hacks which counteract my abilities perfectly; it’s no surprise I lost.”

  “Tell yourself whatever you want, you still lost,” Alan said.

  “That time. We’ll see about the next.”

  “Sure,” Alan said as he shot two puffballs he’d detected. “I’m up to eight kills now.”

  “What? How did you even see those?” Sidestep asked as he blinked over to the two corpses, hidden behind a bit of brush.

  “Aim hacks.”

  “Well, I can see how your ability might take the fun and skill out of the Game, but I’ve always thought you should take what you can get and run with it. Don’t let anyone else tell you what to do. If you have an idea, develop it; if you have a dream, chase it,” Sidestep said. He looked off in the distance, scanning for additional enemies.

  “Oh, and why’s that?” Alan asked.

  “Well it might surprise you, the cultural savant, but I wasn’t always part of the top brass, associating with the Ælven royalty and whatnot,” Sidestep said.

  “I never would have guessed,” Alan said.

  Sidestep stepped right next to Alan. “Yea, well, I was good. Good enough to have dreams, good enough to think that I could make it to the top. But not the best.”

  Sidestep raised his right arm, glowing green veins of energy pulsing through tubes in his power armor. “So I took a risk. A procedure. It could have ruined me, destroyed my psionic power or whatever. I earned my place here, I laid everything on the line. So don’t you hold back. The guild might not care, you might not care, but I do.”

  “What are you trying to say?” Alan took a half step back.

  “I’m saying don’t be a moron and not use some ability ‘cause it isn’t fun, or isn’t fair,” Sidestep said. “The Game isn’t fair. You can use everything you have, every advantage, and probably still fail. But use it all, push it to the limit. Either you break, or it breaks, but it’s the only way you can reach the top. Sacrifices have to be made, risks taken.”

  “I don’t think you understand my predicament, exactly.” Alan began walking back to the jet.

  “No, I don’t.” Sidestep blinked in front of Alan. “You might listen to me, though. Aurora won’t, she was born privileged and will stay that way. She won’t ever know that desperation, that hunger to be the best. She was born knowing she was the best.”

  Alan looked around. “Aren’t you her bodyguard? Should you be saying stuff like that about her?”

  “Bodyguard? She’s the last person that needs a bodyguard. No, we’re at the top of our class in the guild, and my mentor knows Elissandra. We were paired for missions. My mentor helped me with my own psionic abilities; he could help you too.”

  “I don’t really use psionic abilities,” Alan said.

  “Hey, man, us Revenants need to stick together.”

  Alan looked o
ver at Sidestep, who stared back with a knowing grin.

  “So you are one. You need to learn to lie better if you’re going to maneuver around the Game safely.” A new title appeared above Sidestep’s head, Revenant Agent, and then disappeared. “I mean, you’re traipsing around in the armor and everything.”

  Activate hypercognition, Eve sent. Alan did so, but Sidestep already had a green blade at his neck.

  “Hey, man, I showed you mine,” Sidestep said.

  Show the Revenant Initiate title for a second, Alan commanded Eve. Sidestep removed the blade from Alan’s neck.

  We really need a shorter code phrase so I can activate hypercognition sooner, Alan sent.

  You would not have been able to react in time anyways, Eve sent. Your physical body is too slow, you would have simply seen the blow coming. It makes no difference now.

  If you say so.

  “Sorry, you never can be too careful,” Sidestep said.

  “What would killing me accomplish? I would have revived knowing you were a Revenant,” Alan said.

  “No, you wouldn’t have,” Sidestep said. “I don’t know who rigged it up, but if you kill someone that knows you’re a Revenant before they reach a capsule, they’ll forget the memory. It will be wiped clean. Well, they’ll still remember how they died, so you have to be subtle, but they’ll forget the Revenant part. Also, killing them before they can tell anyone else is usually a good idea.”

  “That’s convenient,” Alan said. “I didn’t expect you’d be part of the faction.”

  “That’s part of the whole point,” Sidestep said. “Wait a second, you didn’t know about the memory wipe thing? Who invited you?”

  Do we tell him? Alan sent Eve.

  Before she responded, Sidestep said, “No, don’t answer that. You’re an initiate, which means you know jack shit. I didn’t tell you anything, okay? Damn, I doubt you’d be able to help. I just assumed, given the armor, that…Never mind. We should get back.”

  “Help? Help with what?” Alan asked. “You can trust me.”

  “All right, it’s just a rumor, but my mentor mentioned a second treasure vault, other than the planet Volta, in the Academy System,” Sidestep said. “Except, instead of items, it contains information. I’ve been searching everywhere, but haven’t found a single mention of a data vault. I thought you or your AI might be able to help.”

  A new quest appeared:

  Phase Unknown:

  Discover the entrance and fulfill the requirements to enter the Academy’s so-called Data Vault.

  Reward: ???

  “I haven’t heard anything, but if I do find something I’ll let you know,” Alan said.

  “Sure. We really do need to head back, though.”

  Alan nodded, then began running back to the jet. He wondered what else Sidestep might know about the Revenants, and what other secrets he might be hiding.

  I suspect that his armor has an invisibility function, Eve sent.

  What?

  Examining it further, comparing it to our own Revenant armor, there are a few similarities. As both have the Rogue classification, I suspect Sidestep and Aurora are trained assassins.

  Really? Damn. Is there anyone that isn’t super shady?

  Everyone has their secrets; I advise not trusting anyone but yourself.

  Without further comment, Alan and Sidestep made it back to the jet. As Alan stepped aboard, a message appeared:

  Demonstrating knowledge and ability, you have gained the skill Rifle Mastery (Basic).

  +5 Agility +10 Perception.

  Alan said goodbye to Sidestep after they returned to the Terra Jungle Base Administrative Center. He grabbed a block of gel to eat, then teleported to the second lesson of the day.

  ***

  The lesson on customizing armor was barely a lesson at all. Instead, it seemed to be a place for people to gather and gossip, trade information, and form teams for challenges in the Academy System.

  With Eve’s help, Alan generated a barcode and Black Rose emblem to put on his armor. It cost 500 credits to make each change. Alan’s weekly budget for customization given to him by the Academy was 1,000 credits. He finalized the changes and put his armor back on.

  A message appeared:

  Customizing your armor, you have gained a new ability, Fashion Sense (Basic)!

  +10 Charisma

  “What is that?” S asked, pointing at the barcode.

  “A signifier for machines on Earth. These codes that represent data,” Alan said.

  “And why would they use these lines and bars?”

  “Because at its base, all data has to be stored in some basic form, for our classical computers bits of 1’s and 0’s, for the Game…I’m not sure.”

  “But that basic element, that would be useful to know, would it not?” S asked as he carefully removed the right arm of his power armor and inserted it into the Foundry.

  “Perhaps. Many improvements in efficiency can be done at the bit level, but the higher level is just as important. And everything has been abstracted away to such a degree that trying to understand such low-level code is almost impossible,” Alan said.

  “I’m lost,” Luna said. “Anyways, S, what are you putting on your armor? Let me guess, a symbol of the empire?”

  “Well,” S said, “I was thinking of a target sign.” He ducked low as a laser bolt raced above his head.

  Alan activated hypercognition, just in time to see a figure dart out of the room. Luna fired two blades of ice, but they missed. She and S leapt into action, chasing the figure.

  Should I follow? Alan asked Eve. He began to rise from his seat.

  Before heading out the door, S said, “Stay. I don’t trust you.”

  Alan looked around the classroom. No one seemed too surprised.

  “I hate the assassins game,” was the instructor’s only comment. She took a long puff of some chemical from a mechanical finger and then went back to looking at a student’s design.

  Wondering what he should do, Alan walked over to Ace and Daisy’s table. Ace was trying to fit a large American flag and eagle on the front of his power armor’s chest.

  “You should put the words ‘America, F*** Yeah!’ underneath that,” Alan said.

  “What?” Ace said.

  “Nothing. Hey, do you guys know who that was sitting with you, the person that just took a shot at S?” Alan asked as he took a seat.

  Daisy looked at Ace, then said, “Yes, we know who it is, but they might not appreciate it if we told you.”

  It’s Thiago, right? Alan asked Eve.

  Based on matching heights and builds, there is a high chance it is, Eve sent. This person was wearing slightly different power armor than what Thiago wore on Incipe, but he could have upgraded easily.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s Thiago,” Alan said.

  Daisy sighed. “Fine, it is, but you didn’t hear it from us. Why? Do you want revenge? Wasn’t it all part of this assassins game?”

  Alan shrugged. “I was just curious. Wondering where he got the sniper rifle, and the skills to use it.”

  Send a message to the Tyrant, tell it I’ve identified my assassin as Thiago of Earth.

  Message sent.

  “He spent his racial bonus points,” Ace said.

  “Racial bonus points?” Alan asked.

  “The points we got after the Tutorial because we were from Earth, and new to the game,” Daisy said.

  “Oh, right,” Alan said, “I spent my points on upgrading my AI.” He didn’t mention that they also helped him become a Machine Lord.

  “Have you thought more about joining the United World Government, Alan?” Ace asked. He looked up from the screen to stare at Alan. “The time to pick a side has almost passed, and whoever is not our ally must be an enemy.”

  “That’s a bit harsh,” Alan said.

  Ace stared at the design in front of him before deleting it. “Perhaps. The war could very well be over before we leave this academy.” He stood up
and strode out of the room.

  “Are things going poorly for the UWG?” Alan asked Daisy.

  “If anything, it’s the opposite. The Legion of Man is absolutely crushed in any frontal assaults, and has been rapidly ceding territory. It looks like they’ll have to abandon Earth any day now, which means Ace will never get to see combat. Things get more complicated after that, though.”

  “And why is that?”

  “The Legion of Man has Mars under their control, with defenses capable of stopping the UWG’s one capital ship from getting close enough to land troops,” Daisy said. “They could try to ferry troops with civilian and merchant ships, but the cost is exorbitant, something the UWG wants to avoid at all costs. The UWG could also bombard the Mars Colony from afar, blowing it to smithereens, but they are trying to avoid any action that will hurt all of humanity.

  “At the same time, the Legion of Man is incapable of getting supplies or troops to Mars or Earth, because again, the one capital-class ship is controlled by the UWG. So, I guess it is a stalemate, but one that the Legion of Man will lose as they run low in supplies. That could take years, though, years no one has.”

  “You seem to know an awful lot about this,” Alan said.

  “I frequently talk to my mother. All of this info is on the globalnet anyways, I haven’t told you anything confidential,” Daisy said.

  “Do you know where Thiago might be staying? I have something I want to talk to him about; it can even be after the assassins game has ended,” Alan said.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you,” Daisy said. “Even I’ve heard about the bounty the Tyrant put on his head. Message him yourself. Anyways, you need to learn better manners. You didn’t even say goodbye after the knife lesson.”

  “Oh, sorry,” Alan said.

  Ask her if there’s any way you can repay her, Eve sent.

  “Maybe I can make it up to you,” Alan said.

  “What were you thinking?” Daisy asked.

  “I was going to check out the Market,” Alan said.

  “Been there, done that.” Daisy browsed through emblems for her armor.

  “Have you been to the pet section of the Market?” Alan asked.