Winter Harvest

by Dawn Chapman

  “It was supposed to be so much more for us. More than a seek-and-find mission. Of course, we never expected a full-on war, something that would go on for years.”

  Their timeline was throwing me After all I’d taken into consideration, if Jai and Denn had seen everything they had described, and their ages were correct, Jai technically would have been one hundred and twelve. That kind of life would have been horrid in most normal circumstances, but to be a new denti and know what they were signing up for? That took some guts in my mind. I shrugged the thought away.

  “We need to think on this, what the next stage is.” Rei came up behind Jai, and I watched as he placed weapons on the counter closest to me.

  “You’re one of us. Pick one that suits what you want to do. If you’re going to be taking the brunt of the enemy hits, you’ll need something strong and one-handed. You’ll need to start working on upgrading your shields too, and your muscle.”

  I already knew this; they’d mentioned it before. “Food?”

  Rei looked to the doors. “Yeah, I’m going hunting, but not quite what you’re thinking of. We’ll need materials and to let you nail some more mobs to be able to bypass your earlier programming and get you up past basic.”

  I looked to my stat sheet. Everything was improving in leaps and bounds. I even glanced down to my hand. It was almost fully regrown now, and it still tingled, but I could use it properly and feel everything I touched. Overall, I’d moved up to level twenty-five, but the next main rank to Novice was still a long way off. I didn’t understand any of it. It looked like a wall of text that was all maths and numbers I wouldn’t be able to work through without breaking it all down. Did I want to? Sure. But I didn’t have the time for it today. I checked back to the other two sheets while I still had access.

  Name - Naylar

  Species - Human/Denti

  Year of Death - 2601

  Class - Ranger

  Age = 18 + 28

  Level = 54 Journeyman

  Respawns = 2

  Memories = 98% Sold 0%

  Health = 79%

  Mana = 1982

  Nanites x 37,278

  Body Type = Model 7812 A Class

  Structural Integrity = Camite Silver

  Internal AI Chip = X Class

  Skin Strength = 221

  Blood Capacity = 72

  Healing Speed = 98

  Strength = 27

  Dexterity = 64

  Constitution = 86

  Intelligence = 23

  Wisdom = 79

  Charisma = 28

  Luck = 16

  Name – Rei

  Species - Human/Denti

  Year of Death - 2604

  Class - Monk

  Age = 18 + 25

  Level = 48 Trainee

  Respawns = 21

  Memories = 78% Sold 2%

  Health = 74%

  Mana = 287

  Nanites x 271,278

  Body Type = Model 7812 A Class

  Structural Integrity = Camite Gold

  Internal AI Chip = X Class

  Skin Strength = 38

  Blood Capacity = 32

  Healing Speed = 41

  Strength = 37

  Dexterity = 78

  Constitution = 34

  Intelligence = 25

  Wisdom = 55

  Charisma = 22

  Luck = 17

  “Yes, your body needs a few things we can get out on the planet’s surface. Once your nites start to use it and replicate a lot more, we can then integrate some of the other bits and pieces we have. You’re already adept at a lot of things most would struggle with, and that’s because you’re a tech already. Way above what we expected.”

  “It’s really a lot more basic than you think,” I said, confused. I looked from him to the others and shrugged.

  “No, you’re just smarter than us in that department, but you’re still being held back, in my opinion,” Naylar spoke. “If Denn was able to hook you to her internal, maybe you could see past that ‘basic level’ block. Without her on her feet, we can’t.”

  I was missing something else here, but I didn’t feel like I wanted to ask just yet.

  Naylar stood, leaving Denn’s side, and turned to Jai adding, “Rei and I will head out hunting. We’ll find some of the metals and critters we need. But you’re going to have to watch her and keep hold of him. That means not to let him near any systems—he’s too damned curious to not go rooting where he shouldn’t.”

  I wanted to say I wouldn’t go near anything. I’d just taken a pretty strong binding oath to join their team. But I felt that anything I could say here would just poke fun at what they already knew about me.

  I watched as Naylar and Rei left, and then I was left looking at Jai and Denn.

  He pulled up a seat before me. “You know I’m going to ask, but will you let me?”

  “You want to see what is on the inside?”

  “Yep. I may be old-school, but if you’ve got different schematics and elements because of a new upgrade, then I need to know. This could affect the future for all of us. Especially because each time we lost our lives and respawned lately there seem to have been problems.”

  “Problems?”

  Jai tapped his arm. “Yes. Some more serious than others, like I can’t get access to my main helm anymore.”

  He pointed to the ceiling, though I don’t think he meant that. Something out in space?

  “You have access to a ship?” I asked.

  He grinned. “Not just a ship, the ship. I just can’t access her, which was another reason we were sent here. A few trails, bits of info here and there, but I believe the base we were going to blow held some answers, maybe a fix?”

  “So you didn’t just have a mission to blow that base up. You need something else from it.” My mind worked without Hiroto or Xirob there. It started to make much more sense of here, now. “Without Denn, you don’t know you’d even get access or know what you were looking for, right?”

  He grinned. “Kid, you’ve no idea.”

  I really didn’t. But the thing was I wanted to know, I wanted to learn, too. “Tell me. What’s it really going to take for me to get this thing—” I prodded my chest with a finger, “—levelled up really?”

  “We’re here for a week, maybe more. There’s not a lot of time left now. They’ll be okay out there, but you need several metals inside you for the nites to really start working on your endoskeleton. For each metal they ingest and work with, you’ll start to see improvements on a micro level, and when they’re working much better, we can start to think about letting you loose on some early blueprints. We all earned and fought for the ones we have, but if we want to get you up to Apprentice, we need you to understand the fundamentals and science. If you’re really as smart as you say you are—and if your internal is just as quick—we’re in for some really big gear changes, right?”

  “Hopefully. I don’t want to have to do anything too untoward, but I also wouldn’t be against it now, if it helped.” I swallowed, thinking I’d overstepped the mark. It was pretty common knowledge that in most space-faring games there were a good number of pirates, black marketers, and more. “There’s an underground system that allows people to cheat. You know that, though.”

  Jai nodded. “They’re not quite the people we usually associate with, but I think we can make an exception because of you.”

  “Don’t put anyone at risk if you don’t have to.”

  “I don’t think we have that much of a choice to get you up to speed and for us to not lose everything once we’re out of here. We need to locate a few things for you.”

  “Okay. So what can I be doing now?”

  “To help?”

  “Of course.”

  “How about you let me take a look at your internal, and then I can see what we really have on our plates.”

  I watched as Jai pulled a chair over to me and rummaged around for his bag. He pulled out a white pad, but I could see as he access
ed it that it was a portable computer system.

  “This will allow me to record all this so I can show Denn at a later date. She will want to know what I did and what else we can do, when the time comes.”

  “You guys do love digging in my head.” I tried to smile, but the truth was all this internal stuff was making it much harder for me to feel like anything but a flake. Like they really did just want me for my tech, which was actually true no matter what way I looked at it.

  The feeling that he was watching my every move and wouldn’t like what he saw in me was a bitter pill. What if he was able to see the synapses of Hiroto, or to feel that Xirob was in there?

  Yet when he opened his arm up, he said, “Don’t think about it. Just let it happen. These guys wouldn’t be here if we didn’t share much more than just the missions. Trust me. Trust us.”

  It was almost as though I could see the sincerity there, but all my mind was telling me was that I needed to keep up the Shade Brain. I hesitated. I could turn it off. Rytin had shown me that… I just… I had trusted too many people in the past, and I was nervous.

  Jai worked much quicker than Denn had been but he was also a lot rougher. “I don’t do Bluetooth stuff, sorry my system is too old.”

  He took my hand, and I felt a slight prick as he connected the good ole-fashioned way. Hard.

  “I know you can turn off the Shade Brain. But that’s okay. I know you don’t want to share your full character. I get that.” He didn’t seem angry. “I can see you’ve several hidden files and pieces to your system. Even I can’t get access to them. I wonder if Denn saw them?”

  I shook my head. Feeling him poke about wasn’t good. “What do you mean hidden?”

  “Like there’s always going to be bonuses when you level up or reach a higher skill set. These are tied to you in a way I think they’ll release, but I’m not a hundred percent sure.”

  Sounded typical. I focused and tried to see what he was looking at, but I couldn’t see it. In fact, I couldn’t see where he was poking about at all. “Where are you?”

  “Looking deep into your code. I don’t think you can see any of this at all yet, you’re still too new. But you should be able to when you level up some more. Especially as you say you’re used to tech.”

  “Ah, okay. So I can learn it.”

  Jai let go of my hand. “Here. I’ll start to run through it with you so you can start to pick up some more of the basics.”

  He brought the white pad forwards, and with deft fingers soon had a video up. I watched closely as things moved slowly through how I was supposed to do things. Really basic things.

  “I’ll go check on the others and be back in a bit. Keep learning, okay?”

  I nodded and moved to sit back down where I could watch better. It was interesting, seeing how my system should look because it didn’t look anything like what was on the screen. Reminded me of some tutorials we used to have to watch at college. As it was showing me code, I called up my inner screens and made sure I was following along.

  This was quite a task, keeping one eye on the screen and working with what I had on the other. But I really wanted to do it this way. It was the easiest, and while no one was here, it was much better on me in general.

  By the time I had gotten through a couple of them, I had learned a lot more about this whole gaming system and how I was actually supposed to function in it. I also got a good list of the skill sets I could and wanted to attain.

  As I watched, the playback notifications were activating all over the place, some very simple ones, but these few caught my eye the most.

  CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE LEARNED SOME BASIC SKILLS!

  ACTIVE SKILL = CAD TECH - RANK 12

  YOU’RE WELL BENEATH ALL OTHERS OUT IN THE FIELD, CONSIDERING YOUR “COUGH” LANDING. YOU’RE DAMNED LUCKY YOU RETAINED SEVERAL SKILLS SETS FROM YOUR REAL LIFE.

  TO LEARN MORE PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS, YOU MUST DO THINGS.

  PLEASE STOP WALLOWING IN SELF-PITY AND TRY TO LEARN. WITH THE RIGHT TOOLS, AND THE WEAPONS YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN THEY CAN BE MODIFIED, BUT YOUR NEW FRIENDS DON’T KNOW HOW. FIND OUT.

  NANITE ENGINEER - RANK 20 ACHIEVED

  SO YOU GO AND LOSE YOUR HAND, SIGH. NEW NANITES AND PROGRAMMING, AND THEY NOT ONLY HAD TO FIX YOU BUT LEVEL UP AS QUICKLY AS THEY COULD. THEY DID CANNIBALISE SOME OF YOUR OTHER SYSTEMS THOUGH, SO YOU’VE A FEW ERRORS HERE AND THERE. BUT THAT’S OKAY, RIGHT?

  YOU’RE A FAIR BIT OFF RANK 26 AND NEED SEVERAL MATERIALS TO AID IN THIS. YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE? IF SO, YOU NEED TO ACCEPT SOME OF YOUR MISSION LOGS. CAUSE YOU’RE NOT LISTENING TO ME!

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Quickly accessing the right screens and logs, I found what I was looking for. Crap, I’d missed out on a lot of experience points, and there now before me were the ones the system was going on about. I guess without Hiroto to point me in the right direction or even Xe, things were just that difficult.

  MISSION LOG - LOCATE AND HARVEST RINNIUM AND FOLX

  0/80

  ACCEPT Y/N

  I had no idea where to start to even look for this. A red icon flashed.

  Would you like to phone a friend?

  Hiroto? I asked.

  No, dumbass. It’s Xe!

  How? What?

  I hid. Sorry. I really didn’t have time or the resources to start to defend myself. So I just hoped that I would be able to find and figure out the right time to come back.

  Xirob and Hiroto are working on getting back to me. I don’t think Hiroto trusted you or the nites anymore. He was sure you’d been compromised.

  I can talk with them and you for now, she said. I’m the one who fixes your shit, and I need that Rinnium. If you’d give me the chance?

  I could almost see her standing in front of me with hand on hip, posturing.

  She was really annoyed.

  Okay, I spluttered out. I’ll get you the stuff you need. Will you help me?

  MISSION TO GATHER RESOURCES ACCEPTED!

  A map of the facility came up again, and I saw three red dots. You should be able to get all that we need by visiting these locations.

  What are the chances there’s a lot more creatures down there?

  A good amount. At least she didn’t lie to me about it.

  I placed the pad down, as it was obvious that my learning for the day was over. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try and find some of this stuff. I wondered about wandering off on my own, but these rooms weren’t that far from here at all. I wouldn’t go too far. I would just take a look, and see if I could spot what I needed in the other room. I’d still be in earshot of Denn, and I’d see the others return. I picked up my gun and headed for the door.

  As I made my way through the room to the next one, I wanted to see what else I could pick up by myself. I was going to locate what I needed and get back here before they knew I’d gone. That was my plan, and I was going to stick to it.

  The first room I needed to get into was locked, and I didn’t want to try and break into it since that would cause me more damage, so I left that one till last. Maybe it was locked for a reason, and I just needed to work out why.

  I glanced back to the room where Denn was. I was still in earshot. I wouldn’t go much farther. It would be okay.

  The next room was open but a mess. There were desks strewn everywhere, and there was a lot of clutter. There was a great deal of blood to go with it. This unsettled me at first, but then I thought about what had happened and realised that whatever creatures had been in here or did the damage, they were long gone.

  At the far side of the room, the little icon was blinking at me. I cautiously stepped in, one foot in front of the other towards it. I felt sweat dripping down my back and the uncomfortable feeling of something watching me.

  The only darned thing watching you is me.

  I shook my head. Creepy ass voice. I was imagining it.

  Get moving, or your team will be back and wonder why the hell you abandoned Denn!

  I didn’t kno
w if it was wanting me to keep going or retreat. I knew I shouldn’t leave Denn. That was wrong.

  My stomach sank, and I looked back to where I had come from. There was a time I would never have done this, left someone. And I realised I was doing wrong. Listening to something that wasn’t real, that was in my head.

  I stopped moving forwards and retreated, back past the locked room. I didn’t need to lose another hand—or worse, my life—because I was on my own. There was a side of me that was really disappointed in my progress, but the others had already told me how much they needed me to be a part of their team and how valuable I was as a designer. I walked back into the room where Denn was. I noted her condition was still the same and picked up the pad once more so that I could continue to study. I would make a better job out of working what I had than getting myself killed looking for stuff I didn’t even need because it wasn’t life or death.

  There was a part of me that worried about failing the mission, and as I hit play on the vid screen, to learn more of what I was, there was a red flash.

  MISSION FAILED.

  YOU DIDN’T GATHER ANY REQUESTED ITEMS.

  MISSION TO PROTECT YOUR TEAM COMPLETE.

  YOU CHOSE THE RIGHT PATH, WHICH MEANS YOUR HEART IS ALWAYS IN THE RIGHT PLACE AND YOUR TEAMMATES WILL NEVER DOUBT YOUR INTENTIONS.

  BONUS = JAI, REI, AND NAYLAR ARE ALREADY ON THEIR WAY BACK WITH THE ITEMS YOU NEED TO REGENERATE.

  SUPER BONUS = YOUR HEAD NANITE KNOWS YOUR LOYALTIES AND WILL RESPECT YOUR DECISIONS IN THE FUTURE, WORKING WITH YOU INSTEAD OF AGAINST YOU.

  I questioned my system notifications and how much it could know.

  But I smiled and watched more of the tutorials on body and skin management.

  This was all super interesting. I knew I wasn’t just made of flesh, but metal too. Compared to Jai, who was mostly just metal with some DNA features. But what I was seemed so different to them because of both Hiroto and Xirob. I had a few genetic markers that they didn’t. I wanted to study this some more. I understood it a lot better than I had when I first spawned, but I had a long way to go to be a master at anything. I was relying on a lot of other things here, my experience in games and programming for Tech School.