Kevin felt that his only chance of escape now lay in speed; he hoped to exit the building before security could get organized. Which is why he didn’t pause at the door exiting the building, the time for stealth was passed… at least for now.
Kevin had his blaster in his hand as he exited the door to see a surprised guard who was looking out toward the perimeter. Kevin figured that this guard hadn’t yet been told that the threat was from the inside, not the outside.
Before the guard could turn around at the sound of the door opening, Kevin shot him twice in the back, and then with all the speed he had in him, made a dash for the cover out beyond the perimeter.
About halfway to the perimeter, he felt a brief surge of intense pain from his chest and neck…
… Kevin’s world went dark.
Chapter 2 – Being Graded
Samantha’s voice came out of the darkness; “Congratulations Kevin, you almost managed to beat that scenario.”
Kevin said, “Lights on please.”
The lights to Kevin’s training room came back on.
In front of Kevin appeared his personal A.I., Samantha, she was an amazingly attractive young lady, about 1.7 meters tall, with short blond hair, parted on her right, a beautiful young face, and a perfect figure. Samantha had all the features that Kevin found most attractive in a woman. As an A.I. construct, she could appear in any form she wanted, but Samantha looked this way because she felt it was the form Kevin would find most pleasing.
In fact, that was her stated goal in life; she helped Kevin in whatever his goals were, and planned to help him live a long, healthy, and happy life.
Kevin still had some doubts about Samantha, but so far, she’d proven herself many times over. The only problems they had were more from too much attachment, rather than too little.
“So what happened?” asked Kevin.
“Your blaster fire alerted the perimeter guards, and you were shot by the tower guard on that side of the building.”
“Shit… Sam, it felt like there’s no way to win,” complained Kevin.
“There are ways; it’s just beyond your current rank. But you get a lot of exercise and training trying,” said Samantha.
Kevin paused at this news.
“Wait… Sam, why are you giving me impossible training missions, that you know I’ll fail, and what do you mean by rank?” Kevin asked.
“Well, you’re learning a lot from taking on challenges above your abilities, and like this last training mission, sometimes you get incredibly lucky. With just a few changes and a bit more luck, you could have completed that one.”
Samantha continued to explain; “The rank system is something designed by the Freelancers and Hunters Guild, to better match the complexity of an assignment to the skills of the guild member. If you check the job listings in the guild hall, only the mercenary or freelance jobs you're ranked to handle or one step higher will even appear for you.”
“So what is my rank in the guild then?” asked Kevin.
“You’re ranked as a Grade D bounty hunter, Grade F mercenary, and Grade G freelancer,” replied Samantha. “The levels go up from G, which is the lowest or unrated rank. It’s only because you were successful in bringing in so many bounties the month before last that you’re rated as a Grade D bounty hunter.”
“Since you were also working with Marines and another company you were also ranked as a Grade F mercenary.”
“Bounty hunting isn’t limited, you can hunt at whatever level you want. It’s just that when someone comes to the guild looking to hire a professional, the guild doesn’t want to send out people sure to fail, which is why they developed the system.”
“The ranks run from G up to A, with only a very few guild members ever being ranked S, usually posthumously.” said Samantha.
“So if that’s how the guild ranks me, what do you think my real ability is, based on my skills and stats? And what was the level of the training mission I just failed again?” asked Kevin, as he was starting to calm down. All the sneaking around on that last mission, and then ending up suddenly dead, had left him with a lot of nervous energy.
“Your skills right now probably place you in the E rank for both bounty hunting and mercenary work. Your training for your ship has been pretty basic, you’ve been training in novice level piloting and shipboard engineering, but over the next few weeks, we’ll be spending more time on your flight training. So a rank of F for freelancer would be generous, considering you don’t have your license to fly yet.” said Samantha.
“That last training mission had a C rating, and if you really wanted a chance at working at that level, you’ll need some support. Someone waiting on the outside to cause a distraction or take down a few guards, and you’d have cleared that last mission.” Samantha finished explaining.
“Ok Sam, thanks for clearing that up. So how do I increase my mercenary level in the guild, take on some E rank missions, I imagine?” asked Kevin.
“Yes, and we could use the credits.” said Samantha “I’ve been examining Sidonia’s change and maintenance logs, to understand what it will take to keep our Zenon 12 small scout ship flying. After reading her logs and notes, I can see why Aggressive Solutions decided to invest in a fabricator.
The fusion power plant and thrusters were both custom designs by Kasutaref Ship Yards, the Zenon 12 ship builders, to fit the tight design of the ship. But after failing to attract the interest of military customers, the company went out of business. They had fewer than a thousand of the Zenon 12 built at that time in expectation of sales, so those ships were auctioned off.”
“Our problem is that the Zenon 12 fusion power plant and thrusters were both custom and military spec units. Custom means there are no off the shelf replacement parts available, and military grade means the parts need to meet a high level of stress and tolerance standards. Add in the fact that the hull is made of layered carbon allotropes that can only be created in a high-end fabber, and you’ll come to the conclusion that we need to get our own class three system.”
“Of course, the problem is the price. Most class three fabricators list around 16,000 credits new, and I haven’t been able to find any for sale on this planet. That’s about two-thirds of all the credits we have, and there are many other supplies we need to purchase to get the ship ready for space. For instance, as you know there are almost no tools left in engineering. We’re just fortunate that all the minimal maintenance you’ve had to do while dirtside hasn’t required any.” said Samantha.
Kevin, as an engineer by training, actually liked the idea of being able to fabricate things aboard ship. So, he wasn’t going to fight the idea of purchasing one, even one so expensive. Even though the price she mentioned was a third of the value of the ship itself.
“Samantha, I like the idea of getting a fabricator, but how, if there are none for sale on the local in-game market?” asked Kevin.
“We can order a fabber through one of the local supply stores, hope one comes up for sale or go to a planet where they’re manufactured. The last option would mean a trip to one of the more populated hub worlds of the Imperium. Since you don’t have a license to fly, and waiting on a backwater world like Hassan for a fabber just to drop in our laps could take years, I would suggest placing an order. The cost will increase with shipping and insurance, but we need a fabber that will fit in the space on the ship that the last fabber was pulled from.”
“Sidonia’s fabber was a Hansiung Class 3 Auto Fabricator; the manufacturer has a good reputation for making reliable industrial machines. But the unit will cost a bit more, and then we need to cover the cost of shipping. We’re probably looking at spending 19 to 20k credits to get what we need.” concluded Samantha.
“Right now we’ve just over 27.8k credits in the bank, right?” asked Kevin.
“Yes. We also need to get your armor repaired and buy supplies for the ship. Whatever we do, we don’t want to run low on credits and have to sell the ship, so it would help to have some mo
ney set aside for emergencies. I estimate that restocking everything for the ship, and materials for the fabber will cost anywhere from 5 to 8k. If prices are high, as they can be on a frontier world, then we’ll be completely tapped for funds.” replied Samantha.
“I see, that’s more money than we have in the bank. So we need some priorities, and to get back to work making money.”
“I’m going to need my armor in shape to start taking on missions in Omnia. So I’ll start there, I’m sure Cairbre’s repair shop will have no trouble fixing the damage caused by my suicidal attack on the last gang of pirates.”
“Next, we need to order the fabber, while we aren’t grounded until it gets here, I would feel better with it aboard before we leave Hassan. Can you manage the details of ordering it, Sam?” asked Kevin.
“Yes, Kevin, I’ll do my best to get us a good deal, but I insist on shipping insurance. At least the insurance costs around here are down now that the pirate group was taken out,” replied Samantha.
“Good, I agree on the insurance, no point in risking all those funds. But see if you can order direct, instead of going through a local merchant. If we’re going to pay the freight, why pay a middle man?” Kevin said more than asked.
“I’ll get to work on ordering the fabber then, Kevin.” She replied.
“Good, when that is done, we should do a walkthrough of the ship and see what we need. But we’ll hold off on purchasing stores until I bring in a little more money,” said Kevin, as he thought through the list.
“Ok… For now, where am I in training, and can you show my current stats?” asked Kevin.
Samantha brought up a blue screen for Kevin to examine:
Name: Horatio Drake
Race: Human
Hit Points: 300
Combat Level: 4.1
Psionic Energy: 120 (200)
Psionic Level: 0.6
Strength: 3.0 (max 4.0)
Charisma: 2.6 (max 4.0)
Agility: 3.1 (max 4.1)
Intelligence: 2.5 (max 4.1)
Dexterity: 2.8 (max 4.0)
Wisdom: 2.0 (max 4.0)
Constitution: 3.0 (max 4.0)
Memory: 2.7 (max 4.1)
Maximum values are based on personal genetics.
“Your combat level is further enhanced by your martial arts and weapons training.” said Samantha.
Hand to Hand Combat: Advanced Beginner level 6
Small Arms: Advanced Beginner level 5
“I didn’t even notice that I moved up in skill from the novice level. Is this where the last two months allowance for Advanced Beginner skill books went?” asked Kevin.
“Yes, I felt that these basic survival skills took priority,” replied Samantha. “But remember you only get one free Advanced Beginner skill book each real life month, not an in-game month, so I had to buy the second skill book. Fortunately, an Advanced Beginner skill book only costs 100 credits. I would have mentioned it to you, but felt it was required and within my discretionary limits of spending, did I do alright Kevin?”
“Good call Sam. But getting back to my stats, the physical training has really helped a lot, but I’ve been feeling like my growth has been slowing down. Can you explain why this might be?” said Kevin.
“You’re right, Kevin. Two things are happening, you’re getting closer to your genetic maximums, and as you know, I’ve been slowly increasing the gravity in your virtual world and aboard the ship. The closer you get to your genetic limits, the harder it will be to improve your strength, agility, dexterity, and constitution. The amount of effort you need to put in will continue to grow as the gap narrows. This is also the reason we’ve slowly been increasing the gravity your training in over the last month, which has reached 50% higher than what you consider normal.”
“But it’s now time that we start slowing your physical training and start taking your mental development more seriously. You’ll continue to train your physical body, and your condition will continue to improve, just at a slower rate.”
“So, starting tomorrow your new training will focus more on advanced beginner martial arts, advanced beginner small arms, novice gymnastics, novice flight training, and novice engineering with a focus on aerospace.” said Samantha.
“Your ship skills are:”
Small Starship Engineer: Novice level 8
Small Starship Piloting: Novice level 7
“Great, I really want to fly our ship… What is this about gymnastics, though?” asked Kevin.
Samantha replied, “I was looking at some of your training, there are times when you dive or roll to avoid getting shot. So I figured learning gymnastic tumbling could help with both your martial arts training and your chance to dodge. My thinking was that you could focus on just that one part of gymnastics and that learning it to a novice level might be good enough. But the gymnastics training is going to be secondary to learning engineering and piloting. It’s back to the books for you boy.”
“I’ll be glad for the change, with the last six weeks so focused on my physical training… it was getting tedious. I know you tried to keep it interesting with the changes in missions and environments, but if it weren’t for the psionic training with Allacia I think my mind would have died from starvation.” said Kevin with a small grin at this exaggeration.
Samantha said, “Well it’s close to dinner time, so we might as well take a break now. We’ll finish out tonight with your routine and get started on the new plan tomorrow. By the way, when do you plan on taking your armor in for repair?” asked Samantha.
“Tomorrow is Saturday in Omnia, and I have the group training with Allacia, so I’ll drop it off at the shop before they close. I’ll just have to figure out a way to kill the time between 5 pm and 6 pm,” said Kevin.
After a moment’s thought, Kevin added, “Maybe tomorrow will be a good opportunity to see what the guild has in the way of E grade contracts. So what’s for dinner…?”
Chapter 3 – A New Science
“… I’ve been monitoring a disturbing trend in the number of people that are spending all or most of their time in their virtual home instead of in Omnia. I was going to wait for more observation time before bothering you with it, though.” said Matilda.
“Go ahead and tell me what you're finding.” said James.
“A lot of the Alpha players appear to be having trouble adjusting to the steep learning curve involved in playing Omnia. In fact, we might need to consider a ‘starting zone’ as an option for some players to allow them a period of more gradual adjustment. Right now the numbers aren’t precise since we’re still only two weeks into the three-month trial period. But it’s starting to look like about 30% of the players spend almost all their time in their virtual home, and not constructively either.”
“We have also spotted some cases of abuse among the players. It’s getting so bad that we might lose some A.I.s if a few people don’t change their patterns. In these cases players have developed abusive attitudes and behavior toward their A.I.s requiring their pod A.I. to reset and recreate themselves, due to extensive stress.” said Matilda.
James was a little surprised and disturbed by this news. It was not easy to abuse and stress an A.I. to the point where it would be forced to self-erase and reform into a new personality. A legal A.I. would do almost anything to please its person, since it worked in the privacy of a person’s mind, it would take on literally any form and perform any task its person asked of it. The exception being that it would not violate any of its core restrictions, like the one that prevented it from lying.
To abuse an A.I., a person would have to either demand that the A.I. lie, reveal secrets not its own, or continually give conflicting feedback. The conflicting feedback issue could sometimes happen if a person ordered their A.I. to do something, and then immediately punished or yelled at the A.I., even when the A.I. did exactly what was requested. This set up a feedback loop where the A.I. could not predict what its person wanted, which would lead to it becoming unstable, then
the system would crash killing the A.I..
A.I.s usually took a full month to permanently bond with their person. After a bond is complete, the death or permanent separation of the A.I. from its person would cause its death. During this bonding period, the A.I. was young and fragile. Since all legal A.I.s were created by a member of the Imperial family, they did not take reports of such events lightly.
It was even said that the Empress believed that the A.I.s once initiated with a person formed a soul of its own. If so this would go against the teachings of some religious factions in the Imperium, so it was just a rumor.
Rumor or not, James didn’t want to be the focus of the Empresses unfriendly attention.
Going forward, there would have to be a better system in place to monitor and warn to the players, a warning that abuse violates the terms of the agreement. James was confident that Matilda was already working on the problem.
“I forget just how mal-adjusted some Earth Humans are. How many out of the original thousand are being abusive to their A.I.s?” James asked. He was starting to wonder if a more careful screening of the first group of testers should have been done. No, the idea was, after all, to get a cross-section of the population to learn these kinds of things before the release.
“So far it’s only been four out of the thousand test subjects in the alpha group. Can we please remove these poor A.I.s from their tormentors. I’m worried that if we let the problem continue, one or more of the A.I.s might go mad, which would cause their crystal matrix to shatter destroying them. As it is, with only two weeks of life, we may be able to recondition their matrices, since they will still not have fully bonded with their Human partner.”
Making the Grade (Omnia Online Series Book 2) Page 3