I figured this was the right time to take my last possible skill for now: Danger Sense. After Minn-O La-Fin’s clear demonstration of its usefulness, I had decided it was vitally necessary.
You have taken the skill Danger Sense level 1.
After that, I spent a long time listening to my inner feelings but didn’t feel anything. Either the skill worked another way, or there simply was no danger around me.
For around a half an hour, I scanned the many-mile length of the crevasse, watching for more guard drones or other hidden dangers. Uline brought me around the crack on the levitator so I could look from different vantage points. After I was sure the coast was clear, we headed down. In that time, I raised my Targeting skill to 7, Eagle Eye to 36, Scanning to 35, and Astrolinguistics to 28. Danger Sense stayed at one, though.
During my prolonged observation, my progress bar practically filled up. I needed just a few percent more to get to level twenty-seven.
The three Geckho, not wanting to risk it and die stupidly, patiently awaited my final verdict. Finally, I gave the go-ahead, and the four of us went down to the drill site on two flying surfboards. The corpses of the dead crew were already long gone. Just a few dropped items remained to mark the site of the tragedy. We didn’t touch their things. Let the owners pick them up when they came back.
An ideally circular hole had either been drilled or burned into the wall. The beginning of the dark corridor was filled with caved in rubble, and the walls were covered with blocks of porous white stone. Before we entered, Uline stopped us:
“Friends, I beg you not to rush. We need to record this historic moment on video. It’s the first time any living creature has been in this Relict outpost in tens of thousands of Tongs.”
Uline clipped a camera on the shoulder of her space suit and started adjusting the color of her headlamp. We stopped, lighting up the corridor ahead and looking at the incomprehensible symbols on several of the wall tiles. If this base once had breathable air, after the hole was drilled, practically all of it got sucked out. The air gauge on my sleeve was showing a pressure of less than four Pascals, thirty thousand times less than what humans can survive.
Finally, we were ready, and I heard Uline cry out in a celebratory tone:
“Based on these ancient tiles, it’s been ten thousand Tongs since intelligent life has been here. We once thought the mysteries and knowledge of the Relicts had been lost forever. But now, it’s been rediscovered! Four valiant explorers enter the Relict base! Remember the names of these fearless heroes: the Geckho Uline Tar, the Geckho Basha Tushihh, the Geckho Vasha Tushihh and the Human Gnat! What mysteries and dangers await us?”
Fame increased to 18.
Fame increased to 19.
You have reached level twenty-seven!
You have received three skill points! (total points accumulated: twelve)
Chapter Twenty-Eight. Gnat’s Luck
WE WERE WALKING extremely carefully. We expected traps, combat drones or security systems at every step. The long corridor gradually curved to the left, leading us into a small round room with a caved-in ceiling, half filled with large many-ton pieces of nickel-iron ore and scattered with shards of strange complicated technology.
“I'm getting the impression the catastrophe that happened here and the formation of the crevasse are somehow connected,” the Geckho woman posited, looking around at the mess. “A strong impact must have destroyed this whole underground base and nearly shattered the whole asteroid.”
We were walking through the debris, squeezing in the cracks between stones and pushing aside some twisted structures, when Uline suddenly exclaimed in fear, pointing with her gloved hand in the darkness. I immediately turned and shined my flashlight.
Crushed by a tile, in an unnatural and deformed pose, there was a being lying there. It was entirely impossible to make out what it had looked like initially. The flesh was too dried out by the preceding centuries then deformed by the more recent vacuum. Some bits of skin or flesh, a broken armored suit... or was that bones? I walked up closer.
Listener remains.
So, this, I guess, was a Relict “Listener.” I wondered what exactly a Listener was. Profession? Rank? Or maybe just a name? It told me nothing, but I immediately noticed that I could open its inventory window and take items.
A strange flat metal disk engraved with symbols...
Attention! Your character has insufficient Intelligence to determine the properties of this object. Minimum Intelligence: 22.
A smooth unadorned bracelet made from what seemed to be bronze.
Attention! Your character has insufficient Intelligence to determine the properties of this object. Minimum Intelligence: 28.
A short wand, that looked approximately like a silver pencil.
Attention! Your character has insufficient Intelligence to determine the properties of this object. Minimum Intelligence: 24.
And... here my breathing stopped in excitement. I could not only pick up the armor or spacesuit of the ancient creature, I could read about it:
Relict energy armor suit (primary Listener combat armor)
Radiation defense: +32
Armor: 54
Reactive force field: 2800 points (inactive)
Built-in filtration system (inactive)
Single air tank duration: 6.5 hours.
Statistic requirements: Constitution 13, Strength 13, Intelligence 19.
Skill requirements: Medium Armor 40
Attention! Your character has insufficient Intelligence and Strength to equip this apparel.
Attention! Your character has insufficient Medium Armor skill to equip this apparel.
Attention! This object is for the Relict race and cannot be used by Humans.
Attention! Critically low nuclear battery. Current charge: less than 4%! Some of the energy-armor suit's functions are unavailable. Replace the nuclear battery to use fully!
I read the text again and again and, every time, I stopped on the race limitation. None of the other requirements were impossible to meet. I could raise Strength and Intelligence by intensive physical and mental training. I could also level Medium Armor, and probably even drum up a nuclear battery. But changing race was absolutely impossible in the game that bends reality...
My companions, meanwhile, were digging up treasures of their own. I was just standing in muted astonishment, looking at the old Relict suit when an unfamiliar and authoritative voice suddenly boomed out in my earphones in Geckho:
“This is Waid Shishish! Attention, all members of Uraz Tukhsh’s crew! Your captain has sold me the rights to take treasure from the Relict complex, so I order you to immediately leave the excavation zone and return to the Shiamiru!”
The twin brothers exchanged surprised glances, then looked at Uline and I. The Geckho woman swore barely audibly, then said loud and clear, understanding perfectly that we would be heard:
“We have all heard the esteemed Leng’s order. We will leave the base at once and return to our ship!”
Then I saw Uline Tar and both twin brothers rush to place anything that might be of value into their inventories: metal parts, bronze disks with symbols, fragments of broken technology... Seeing that, I stuck the large armored suit into my backpack. There simply wasn’t room for more. All my inventory slots were full. I could put the bracelet on my wrist though, which I did. The disk with symbols and silver wand I handed to Uline, and the Geckho woman silently transferred the valuable artifacts to her inventory, then placed a hand to her spacesuit helmet at mouth level, which clearly meant “we can talk about this later.”
The Geckho were hurrying to the exit. Based on what they told me, Leng Waid Shishish was known for his very unforgiving mannerisms, and they didn’t want to give him even the slightest reason to be upset. I ran with the others down the corridor to our levitators near the base exit, feeling aggrieved that we'd managed to see only the first of the many rooms, and only partially at that. Ugh, if only we knew the future, we would
have acted totally differently. We’d have moved swiftly and intently, trying to see as many rooms in as little time as possible all while cramming everything of value in our backpacks. We hadn’t encountered any traps or hidden dangers in the underground base, and we wasted an inordinate amount of time looking for them...
Near the exit from the Relict base, we met a large group of Geckho soldiers in identically adorned screamingly red heavy armored assault spacesuits. They were all armed, some of them carrying boxes of equipment. When the four of us appeared from the tunnel, all the shocktroops got on guard, turning on their force fields. Their twenty barrels were instantly trained on us. They were especially worried by me. At least half of the red shocktroops were holding me in their sights.
My heart was seizing in panic. I understood that any sudden movement could instantly be the end of me.
Danger Sense skill increased to level two!
So, that’s how it worked... I froze, as did all three of my companions. A pregnant pause arose. They must have been consulting with their leaders. Not long after that, one of the red soldiers lowered the huge bazooka-like cannon from his shoulder and ordered us to leave this area as quickly as possible.
Both levitators were still in place, so we used them to head straight for the Shiamiru. We’d barely gotten to the surface when I noticed a colossal disk-shaped starship that blocked the sun. It was hovering just a few miles over our asteroid.
Tinakuro. Geckho combat cruiser.
Uline also saw the combat ship and clearly grew nervous, taking a risky route on the levitator between cliffs. While on our way to the Shiamiru, I noticed that there was fervent work underway next to our shuttle. Our technicians were preparing the ship for launch. They had already folded up the ore processor and stashed it in the cargo hold. Apparently, we were just about to take off. But what about the drill we’d left at the bottom of the crevasse? And the gravitational crane with the invaluable drone? One of the heavy loaders was also there...
I asked Uline that question, but again instead of answering, she placed a hand placed to her mouth. “We can talk later, now’s not the time.” Alright. That all was strange, but I could bear it, as long as I could satisfy my curiosity later. After we landed, Uline stored the levitator and advised me not to stand in the way and block the scurrying crew members. I went to our bunk, but Trader headed to Captain Uraz Tukhsh to figure out why we had to leave, and why we were in such a hurry.
* * *
In the Shiamiru's bunk area, I finally removed my spacesuit, replacing it with my terrestrial camouflage and Kevlar armored vest, sat down in exhaustion on the bench and stretched out my tired legs in satisfaction. Not three minutes later, Uline joined me. Pulling off her helmet in exhaustion, my roommate complained:
“Uraz Tukhsh is despondent. I can’t get a word out of him. I’ve never seen out captain like this. He had me place an order to replace the stuff we left by the Relict base. Leng Waid Shishish didn’t give approval to remove it. Basically, he ordered us to leave everything near the crevasse. The Leng must have been afraid we’d try to sneak something valuable out of the underground complex. It’s actually strange that, despite his pathological mistrust, the upper aristocrat let us leave the base alive...”
“What, did Leng Waid Shishish buy the exploration rights?” I enquired, to which Uline waved her hand just like a human:
“Gnat, I’ve told you a hundred times that Uraz Tukhsh is a chronic loser. And he just proved it yet again. That place was full of invaluable treasure, but he was dumb enough to let it slip through his fingers. After the guard drone took down the captain and crew, they all respawned at the Kasti-Utsh III space station, as I supposed. And there, Uraz Tukhsh couldn’t think up a smarter plan than to ask for help from his protector and distant relative Leng Waid Shishish, whose cruiser happened to be docked at the station. The Leng promised to help, got the information about the secret Relict base from our naive captain, and made a harsh offer in reply. Either Uraz Tukhsh sell him the base coordinates and exploration rights the easy way for six million crystals, or Leng Waid Shishish would interrogate his crew for the information and not pay a dime. The captain chose the first option... Uraz Tukhsh and the crew were brought here and given a quarter ummi to get off the asteroid, otherwise Leng Shishish’s cruiser will destroy our Shiamiru.”
Everything became abundantly clear, both the captain’s annoyance and the rush to leave. And although six million crystals was a lot, the artifacts, equipment and technology of the ancient Relict race were probably worth several orders of magnitude more. And a quarter ummi was approximately one hour and twenty minutes — very little time to pack up the automatic processor and prepare the ship for take-off. Seemingly, the Leng was simply mocking his distant relative and showing the young captain who was in charge.
The huge Basha and Vasha entered our bunk, and it got cramped again. By the way... I took advantage of the opportunity and asked my companions why they didn’t go into the real world during space travel.
“There’s no sense,” Uline answered for everyone. “Space is a red zone, and a character will never disappear from the game that bends reality here, so you’ll just have to worry what might happen while you're gone...”
The trader's speech was interrupted by the captain’s voice thundering down the corridor:
“Everyone get ready! We’re taking off! Navigator, set a course for the space port we left from. We’ll load up the new equipment and let Gnat off on his home planet. Just try not to hit that cruiser when we take off... It’s hovering right over the Shiamiru...”
The thrusters whistled to life, the walls of the shuttle started vibrating. The tone of the whistle changed, and I immediately felt a high G-force. About a minute passed before suddenly...
I strained up and grabbed for the handle, though I couldn’t say why. A second later, our shuttle shook hard. Many of the things stuck to the walls couldn’t bear the force and fell to the floor. The light went out for a second, then changed to emergency mode. A siren roared down the Shiamiru’s corridors. My first guess was that Uraz Tukhsh had messed up piloting and we’d run into Leng Waid Shishish’s cruiser.
But it must have been something totally different, because the captain’s peeved voice, amplified by the speakers, sounded out throughout the ship:
“Gnnnnat! Uline! Both of you report to the bridge at once!!!”
Not wanting to make the captain wait, Uline and I instantly burst from place and raced onto the bridge. What I saw on the huge semicircular screen made my jaw drop.
The asteroid where we’d spent so much time no longer existed. Instead, in the blackness of space, there was now a huge unbearably bright cloud. There were thousands and thousands of bits of debris flying out of its depths. The Shiamiru had escaped miraculously and was speeding away from the cataclysm, but I could not see the Tinakuro cruiser...
“Is this your doing?” the captain asked severely, pointing a clawed hand at the huge blast. “Admit it, what did you touch in the base?”
Naturally, Uline and I categorically denied everything. We told him that we had just managed to get into the hallway nearest the crevasse, and a badly ruined room just off it, and weren’t even considering going further before we were ordered to return. I also turned the captain’s attention to the fact that we saw Leng Waid Shishish’s shock troops, and they were about to go deep into the Relict base dragging all kinds of equipment.
“They probably got further than us, and set off some guard system that initiated a self-destruct sequence!”
The captain thoughtfully tapped his claws on the armrest of his luxurious rotating chair, then shuddered:
“What can I say, Gnat? That’s a very believable explanation. That’s probably what happened. When Leng Shishish respawns he will have nothing to reproach us for. I’ll send the esteemed Leng an official statement that my crew had nothing to do with this explosion. But that means,” Uraz Tukhsh bared his teeth in satisfaction and started growling, “that we just go
t very, very lucky. If you had made it any further into the base, you’d have set it off yourself. But you didn’t, and we were far enough from the epicenter not to be hurt!”
I also thought we were very lucky the shuttle wasn’t damaged. But us four were especially lucky, as we’d moved our respawn point to the Shiamiru. For Basha, Vasha, Uline and I, if the shuttle had been destroyed, we’d be out of the game for good... Ghastly!
Just then, I understood just how serious the safety instructions were and promised myself I'd never do it again... just no... NEVER, NEVER EVER PLACE MY RESPAWN POINT ON A STARSHIP!!!
Chapter Twenty-Nine. Gnat's Triumph
AFTER HEARING OUR EXPLANATION, the captain’s mood sharply changed for the better. Uraz Tukhsh sat back in the pilot’s seat, looking stately and rumbling in satisfaction, placing his huge legs up on the control panel. After asking the trader how much it would cost and how long it would take to replace what we'd lost on the asteroid, the captain asked our mechanics for a parts list to repair the gravity compensator that died last trip. After that, he and Uline and spent a long time doing calculations. Finally, Uraz Tukhsh grinned in satisfaction and commented with clear pride:
“My finances are in the green for the first time since I bought this Shiamiru. I’d begun to think that would never happen. I nearly lost spirit with the constant misfortunes. You know, this merits celebration!”
Uraz Tukhsh turned on the microphone and said through the loudspeaker that fortune had finally smiled on him and he could now pay all the debts he owed his team from past voyages. What was more, the captain promised to pay the whole crew double for the last trip. From the corridor, I heard shouts of elation. The captain listened to the praise and gave a growl of satisfaction. Finally, closing the door to the corridor with a remote, he turned to Uline and I:
Countdown (Reality Benders Book #1) LitRPG Series Page 24