Universe Online - Enter the Game: Complete Edition

by Ryan 'Viken' Henning

  “Just do what you guys can. We'll deal with the problem when it becomes an issue.” Andrix's word was final, and they all go back to work.

  From there, he leads me through a few more places, before finally going into a workshop.

  In there, I can see people working on both space suits and mechanical suits.

  “As you can guess, there are a lot of people who want to get off of this rock. We have suits that'll work in space, but they've been hard used over the years. Also, most of our mechanical support units aren't qualified for space work. So a few of them are getting overhauls, although that’s delicate work.”

  Andrix explains to me, and for a moment I just nod and look around. There are several people at computers, reading and writing coding for their suit cores. I walk over to one and see what he's doing.

  Come to find out, he's trying to write the programs that'll allow the mech-suit to work in zero-gravity conditions.

  Another light-bulb flicks on over my head.

  “Ah, here.” I say, stepping up beside the man before plugging my suit into the computer. A quick upload later, and a whole bunch of new coding comes up on the monitors. A full copy of my own suit core.

  The man stares flabbergasted at me, and the others soon notice. I actually laugh at the look.

  “Its a copy of the stored memory from my own core. I checked it out on the way down to the planet, cause I had twelve hours of time on my hand.”

  “Eeeh! But this is coding for the Mark 13x mobile core! It was state of the art, released just before the Drex attacked! No one had one of those!” That seemed to have caught the attention of everyone involved, and a shouting match starts up.

  I end up having to sit down when I let them remove the core from my suit so they can study it. Not just the software, but the hardware as well. They cannot reproduce it yet, but they never thought that they'd get the chance to see one, either. All in all, it’s a pretty fun scene to be a part of.

  I do get it back though. It’s marked as my personal property, so tampering without permission isn't allowed.

  “You cause an uproar wherever you go, don't you, Allec?” Andrix actually teases me a bit once we leave and start heading back to the hangar bay. My ship is unloaded, and there isn't much else I can do that the others cannot at the moment. That, and Andrix received a message saying that the group wanting to go off world is assembled there.

  I just grin as we walk back to my ship.

  The group that's assembled is large. Nearly three hundred people. Men and women. Jeeze. They are all either talking or arguing about who should go and why and what they can bring to it. Andrix rolls his eyes, and I'm tempted to do the same.

  “Enough! Gather round, people! Allec here is going to sort this out, and no back talking! I'll kick your asses out onto the surface myself if I have to!”

  Way to go. That shuts them up fast, and they become meek and quiet as they gather around. I look them over, but keep a slight smile anyway.

  “Thank you, Andrix. Now then, here's the deal. I can take a max of eight people. Five people will have to live in an itty-bitty escape capsule, but it doesn't have a proper airlock. That means full suits, full-time until one is built around the hatch. And one of you will be sleeping in the very cramped space in the cockpit.

  “Then there's one more in my ship, and two more in another Tug that's currently non-operational. It'll need to be fixed, with a minimum of just the life support. That'll be first on the agenda after pulling it out of the bay. Next, the hold I've set up my base in doesn't have a proper external hatch. Just a hole in the hull. That means we are going to have to cut it open to get full access. And probably remove a couple of bulkheads in between the neighboring compartments to open up enough space for everything.

  “Finally, there will be a mining detail in the asteroid field. I plan to do that rather quickly, cause the Site here isn't bringing in enough water any more. That means we need ice. And any raw ore or other materials we come across. Getting the tug working, or finding others is necessary for that.

  “Now, any other questions?”

  I look around, and see that many of them, after hearing the conditions, don't want to go anymore. It isn't surprising. They just didn't realize that the station is just as uninhabitable as the planet is at the moment.

  Still, a woman does step up. Big, tall, hair streaked with gray and green eyes. She has the look of a miner, or a fighter.

  “I'll go. I ran one of the crustal mining crews until it was shut down a few years ago. Pretty good with a wrench, as well. I don't know jack about piloting a ship though.”

  Her speech is straightforward and refreshing, and I nod to her. That's the sort of no-nonsense that is needed.

  “Good. You'll be the crew boss, and act as my second-in-command on the station. If we can get the other Tug functional, you'll get first dibs, assuming you want to learn how to pilot it yourself, or find someone you trust at the stick.”

  My words shock them, and soon enough others are stepping forward. I make a list of their expertise and experience, and nod my head. It’s a wide mix; but at the moment I'm only interested in certain things.

  Mainly engineering and mechanical work. Those experienced with fixing things are needed; although I have to apologize to Andrix for stealing them away.

  In the end, it comes out with three women and five men. The forewoman, whose name is Celes (pronounced Celese), and two guys have mining experience. They've worked together before. The other four have mechanical or repair experience, and one has manufacturing experience. The last one is security. A suggestion by Andrix, one which I agree with.

  One of the guards from before steps up and offers to go. A young man, but with the look of a trained soldier. Andrix actually tells me that because they have a good power supply, they heavily train their guards in both exercise and laser weapons. Good enough for me.

  “Good. Go and collect your space suits from the workshop and your gear. We're out of here as soon as the supplies are loaded up.” I give my command, and Andrix nods his head in agreement. Already containers of water, a few large batteries, several solar cells, which they haven't been able to use and fuel are being loaded into my Tug.

  “If we get through this, just about everyone is going to want to move to the station, you know. Site Prime is likely going to end up as a research site full of greenhouses and hydroponic farms.”

  Andrix's voice is low and sounds just a touch sad. I grin and slap him on the shoulder.

  “That may be true, but there's a lot of time before that happens. I'm not in the business of letting my race die out, either.” My words bring a grin back to him, and he nods before leaning close to me.

  “Be careful out there, okay? Especially with Trident. I haven't told you everything yet, but I will say that you better not go touching things. The Trident, along with the Imperial-class shielding system should be declared off limits until we have the chance to go over them properly.

  “The rest of the station is yours. I do not care if you claim it as your own bit of the heavens. I don't give a damn if others grumble that you're taking all the loot, or are pushing things in a direction they don't agree with. You just get us out of this mess alive and whole.”

  His words sober me, and I nod. It’s good advice, and I take it to heart.

  “I'll remember that. Just keep these people down here alive long enough for me to help save them.” I respond, which breaks the moment and we both get a chuckle.

  I start back to my ship while Andrix waves me off to get back to his own work, and I wait outside the airlock for my new crew to approach. Most of them only bring a single bag of supplies, although the soon-to-be space marine brings an entire trunk, which he explains has extra weapons and other things, including an assembly kit in case we need to make repairs.

  I nod, have them check their suits one last time, with the helmets on, then lead them inside. It’s a tight squeeze, especially with the stuff that's been stacked up inside. Food sup
plies and more water. One of the guys offers to cook during the trip, and I gladly accept.

  I bring Celes up into the cockpit with me and have her sit at the mining controls, explaining everything as I start up the tug's system. Outside, loading of the supplies is finishing up, and I get a green-light over the comms. I close the hatch, start up the engines, make sure everyone is good to go and we fly out of Site Prime.

  Celes is crying as she watches the monitors showing the landscape below, and below I can hear one or more of my crew crying. They're seeing the same thing as we are on the monitors below.

  Getting out into space seems to bring them back down though, and Celes turns to me with a hard look in her eyes.

  “Can you do it? Really?”

  Her question is simple, and yet oh so complex at the same time. The only thing I can offer is a wry grin.

  “Well, if I don't, none of us are going to survive. Space is a war. A war for survival. It’s vast and empty and cold and merciless. But we've survived before. We can do it again.”

  My words seem to shock her, but she finally laughs and slaps me on the back of the shoulder. Her large hand hurts!

  I flinch. Yep. Totally grimaced and flinched.

  “Well said, Boss. Just point us where we gotta go, and tell us what we gotta do, and we'll get it done.”

  -|- -|- -|-

  Fun Fact #8: Unlike weather-based farming, hydroponics and aeroponics allow for a technique called ‘Vertical Farming’, where you can get far more interior space allocated to growing plants than you can get with simply planting acreage.

  Chapter 8 – Asteroid Mining

  A player has uncovered a great secret concerning the Drex! The news of this achievement will reach across stars and empires, and will force a change in both economic and military power. Alliances will break, and new ones will be forged. Trade will flourish, and the machines of war will take center stage.

  War is coming to the Milky Way Galaxy. Will you be on the front lines?

  The message popped up in front of every player in the game, almost at the same time. It didn't matter if the person was in the middle of working or not. Indeed, many were distracted and were only forced to curse and deal with what was going on.

  Unlike normal message pop-ups, this one didn't go away until the player had read it personally. The system made sure that everyone knew it.

  The response was massive, to say the least. Within hours the internet was bombarded with hundreds of thousands of comments and questions. Universe Now was slammed with so many that the website bogged down, and the forums were shut down due to server overload. Special broadcasts were pushed in front of regular programming, and almost everyone had the same questions.

  Who was it? And did it have anything to do with the mysterious Rank A+ quest?

  The message was almost identical to how that one had been reported, after all. That great things were happening, and yet no one knew what was going on. The response was like a wildfire raging out of control.

  Everyone wanted to know, and entire Companies (UO guilds) set out trying to find out. Their efforts will prove for naught in the long run though.

  Only a very few people knew what was potentially going on. Cristy Anthems was one of them. But even she didn't have all the information. Nor was she allowed to say it. It left a sour taste in her mouth; but that was the agreement.

  An exclusive. An exclusive, inside track into the Rank A+ Quest and potential access to the player behind it. Nurse Karren had been thorough in her arrangements with Universe Now. Simply thinking about the hours-long discussion that had happened brings a wickedly cute, naughty smile to her lips.

  She cannot wait to see Allec's face when he finds out the surprise~

  And the fact that the rest of the world was waiting and wanting only made it all the more amusing.

  Standing over it all, Solar Dynamics remained a silent tower, refusing to say a peep about what was going on in-game. Though they had their own worries. Something very odd was afoot inside their creation...

  The rest of the world would simply have to deal with burning itself into oblivion with the need to know.

  -|- -|- -|-

  Let me tell you this up front. Traveling in space when there are more people is a lot more fun than flying around for twelve hours by myself. The Drune Rex are a naturally smart and oddly rambunctious people. They joke and play and have a good time.

  My crew seems to have relaxed greatly after losing sight of Drune. Until then they'd stared at the planet on the monitors and cried with silent sorrow. Now that they’ve had time to relax some of them have started to get rowdy.

  So much so, in fact, that Celes had to go down there and knock a couple of heads. They were in space. Out of danger. Alive and well and with a job to do. I actually chuckle while watching the drama unfold from the cockpit; loud enough that Celes could hear me and shouts at me to drive the damned ship and not make matters worse.

  I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy working with the big woman.

  Still, I stay in the pilot seat for about an hour before unbuckling myself and head downstairs. The fit is tight, but most of us are rather on the thin side, so there is still room.

  “Okay, one of you promised food. Hop-hop. I'm ready for my first real meal since I woke up.”

  Yep, I gotta fill that gnawing hole that has become my stomach. I could simply open my mouth and watch the drool run down my chin like a waterfall. And really, who could blame me? Rations in Universe Online are like the stale bread you get in every other VR game. You get really tired of it, really quickly.

  A guy gets up and heads into the galley. It’s fully functional and is stocked with as many food supplies as the guys down at Site Prime could stuff into the space. Not to mention what's in the cargo hold. While we could easily live off the rations, real food is still a far more valuable mental crutch.

  Hard working people need plates of steaming grub! It’s been that way ever since the Ancient Egyptians built the bloody Pyramids and has continued to be tradition ever since! Woe be to the Captain who doesn't feed his crew hot grub!

  Too bad there isn't any rum. Or rather, I'm not sure I want alcohol while out in space.

  Yeah, that could be bad. Like tallywhacking a solar panel to feel the toasty heat of solar radiation. Can someone say sunburn? Definitely not the smartest move there, people.

  But just like any other game, someone somewhere is going to do it. And then get a million or more views when it shows up on the Internet. At least we'd get a laugh out of it. Otherwise... ouch.

  Like any other (sane) man, I value my working parts. They're important.

  Anyway, the rest of us sit down at the small table or on the two bunks, the guys on the top actually having to lean over so they don’t knock their heads on the ceiling. Someone actually pulls out a pack of cards, and I'm introduced to a game oddly like Blackjack, except with the reverse rules.

  Trying to get the lowest number possible without hitting 1, which is an automatic out. That means that Aces, unless taken as a 10 are bad. It’s pretty fun, but I do admit that I become very distracted by the smells coming out of the kitchen area.

  Ah, I can smell meat! And grease! And other things best left to the imagination and empty bellies!

  And beans, but whatever. I'll mash 'em up and re-cook them and see if I can create an imitation of refried beans later. I don't really know jack about cooking, due to my real life circumstances, but you do pick up things in games.

  Especially when food can provide bonuses and boosts to stats and the like. I'm not really sure how that works here in Universe Online though. It isn't one of the -few- topics covered in the manual. It probably does though, in some fashion.

  Thankfully we're just playing for fun and not credits. In some cases I'm an okay gambler, but obviously not right now. It’s like those amateur guys who get the woman sitting in their laps during a poker game. Idiots end up so distracted that they cannot concentrate on their hand.

 
; Yeah, I've got it that bad.

  And I'm ready to hug the smug bastard that brings the food out a few minutes later. Like, for real. Bro-hug! But I don't, and simply grin.

  “Thank the gods. Or whoever it is that's supposed to live up here with us. I'm more than ready to eat.”

  What's set down on the table... I'll just call it a hotpot. Yeah. Chunks of meat, a thick sauce, beans and other things. I'm really not sure what exactly it is. It doesn't look all that good. But the smell... Yeah, my mouth is watering. It cannot be any worse than that old TV show Bizarre Foods.

  With bowls and silverware put out, we get right down to business. Aaaah! It’s warm and good, and we all go through a couple of bowls of it.