Making the Grade (Omnia Online Series Book 2)

by Christopher Booth

Kevin stopped in the middle of his tumbling exercises and asked Samantha a question.

  “Sam, just how much has the game pod changed my body?” Kevin wanted to know.

  “There has been no change to your body that you didn’t ask for, and worked for in your training, Kevin,” Samantha responded.

  Her answer sounded invasive to Kevin.

  “Again Sam, please answer me fully. Just how much has my body changed since I first got in the game pod?” asked Kevin.

  “I’m afraid I’m not permitted to answer your question the way you’re asking it, Kevin,” replied Samantha. “As I’ve said before, there are limits placed on me, and so I can’t be completely open with you on this subject.”

  “Is it day or night outside the game pod?” asked Kevin.

  “It’s the middle of the night, and Sarah is asleep in your bed.” Now usually that phrase would have brought a series of distracting thoughts to Kevin’s mind, but he was far more interested in finding out just what Intelecom was up to.

  “Open the game pod, Samantha.”

  ***

  Kevin’s world flickered out, and he was suddenly looking up at the top half of the game pod being pulled away. He took off the mask covering his face and looked down at his naked body.

  His muscles looked far more developed than when he was last out of the game.

  Before doing anything else, he looked over to his bed. That was one thing about a studio apartment; it was all one room, except the restroom. So he could see the bottom part of Sarah’s body on his Queen sized bed.

  She wasn’t moving, and Kevin could hear her breathing and soft snoring. She had a sort of soft feminine snore that Kevin found to be cute and amusing. But he was relieved that he didn’t startle her into waking up.

  Kevin didn’t get up out of the game pod, but relaxed and opened his mind, just like he did in the game, to try to find that psionic energy that Allacia called ruah.

  It was there, just like in the game. Fuck.

  Kevin’s world had just changed in ways he wasn’t yet prepared to understand.

  He pushed out his ruah, just like he did in training and sensed the area around him. He could reach out just a little more than six meters with his senses; this was just enough reach to detect both Sarah and the couple next door, all of them asleep in their beds.

  That surprised Kevin, wow, just how intrusive could someone skilled in psionic sensing and telepathic listening be. Kevin was sure that he wouldn’t want to live near someone who could just mentally peek in on his personal life, especially if he was intimately engaged.

  He would need to think about finding a place to live that had more personal space in the future. And that was just the smallest of the ways his real life was going to have to change.

  His world had changed, and he would have to learn to adapt… And where was the best place to learn what he needed but back in the game pod. It would help if Samantha could open up with him, though.

  Kevin looked around once more before closing the game pod to reenter his virtual home.

  Sarah seemed to have made herself at home in the week and a half real time that had passed since he was last out of the pod. He noticed that she left a bathrobe hanging next to the pod, which he felt was thoughtful. And the place was both clean and had a strange, but more feminine feel to it. He couldn’t say just what it was, the way the kitchen towel, hung from the refrigerator door, or that there was now a plant in the window, but it definitely had the feel of a place where a woman, rather than a man lived.

  Maybe it should have bothered Kevin more that he’d been replaced in his own home, but it didn’t. For him, the time he’d been away felt like two months with the way the game accelerated time. So he felt two months removed from this apartment, even though it still had all of his personal belongings inside.

  Kevin put the mask back on, and as quietly as possible he closed the top of the game pod.

  ***

  Kevin reappeared in his virtual training room; Samantha was nowhere to be seen.

  He left the room; she wasn’t in the kitchen or living room.

  “Samantha, appear now and take a seat on the couch, we need to talk.” commanded Kevin.

  Samantha appeared on the sofa wearing a teddy, a pink, very thin, lacy thing. Which almost distracted him, he was sure he would have been distracted a few weeks ago.

  “Sorry Sam, I’m not falling for that, get changed, now.”

  In just a second she changed into a conservative outfit, that instantly reminded him of the time when she through a bucket of ice water on him to get his attention. She was still a major hottie, but at least she wasn’t so distracting that he couldn’t hold a serious conversation with her. But he did think for a second, ‘Wow, this girl can look hot in any outfit, dress her in rags and it would appear a fashion statement.’

  “Ok, games up Sam. How did I not notice the changes to my body before? And why can I now use my psionic skills in real life… Or was that real life, and not some fake where you’re just playing with my mind.” Asked Kevin and the thoughts and possibilities started to scare him a bit, he was beginning to feel like this whole thing was a trap.

  “Kevin, please.” Samantha got on her knees and begged, “Please, believe me, I can’t lie to you, I’ve never lied to you. But I’ve always said that there are many things I can’t tell you. Even if you reset my personality, erase me and restart the pod; that will still be true.”

  Kevin thought for a moment, his real complaint wasn’t with Samantha, but with the people, aliens, or whatever running Intelecom.

  “Samantha, this is too important to me just to ignore. How have I not noticed any of this before? Sure I’ve been in the game, but the last time I was out, I saw some significant changes. So why am I just starting to notice… no I know the answer to that, I’m noticing since I’ve more information than before.” Kevin said, and he thought through the problem.

  “Samantha, you’re going to have to get Intelecom’s permission to talk to me… Why haven’t you tried to get their permission? What’s wrong?” asked Kevin.

  He could see that Samantha was worried and stressed. She seemed on the verge of tears. Kevin got down on the ground next to where she was kneeling and hugged her to himself. Maybe he’d been unfair to place the blame at her feet. But she was his only real connection with the people who did this…

  Kevin stopped for a second and thought, did what? Did Intelecom actually harm him? If anything they empowered him, they made him stronger, and faster, they taught him skills like martial arts and maybe space flight, if that was a real thing.

  Yes he was angry at the deception, but did they hurt him in any way? No…

  He was much more than the man who first entered the game pod a few weeks ago, wow… In such a short time he’d gone through significant changes.

  “Samantha, I’m sorry if I hurt you. He said as he held the girl. I felt a lot of the same pain I felt a few weeks ago when I found out that you’d been holding out on me… But this time it wasn’t your fault was it?” asked Kevin.

  “I’m sorry Kevin. I tried to tell you everything I could, and I still can’t talk about these things. Can you please forgive me?” cried Samantha.

  “Nothing to forgive bunny, if you told me everything you could, that was all I could ask from you. But it’s time to let Intelecom learn that I know more than they wanted. It’s only fair, and I hope they’ll let you off the hook, how does that sound?” asked Kevin. “What do you think the risks are to letting Intelecom in on the fact that I’m on to the game they’re playing, and that I want to know what the hell is going on?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t put it like that; it wouldn’t help to get confrontational. Hmm, it’s hard to say. I think it’s an acceptable risk, at the most, Intelecom will just insist… Oh, something I can’t say. But in the long run, you’re bound to learn all of this, so I can’t see any long-term downside. And it may be possible for me to get free of some of the restrictions I now have, so I’m for t
he plan.” said Samantha.

  Kevin was starting to calm down enough to notice the amount of time that had passed, it was now past his lunch time, and he was getting hungry.

  He was still holding Samantha when his stomach rumbled, which caused her to giggle. He loved the sound of her laugh; it was so innocent, young and carefree. He felt a little bad now for getting so mad at her.

  “Time for your lunch, Kevin.” said Samantha.

  And they got back to the day’s activity; first lunch then training. They’d have to see how Intelecom received their request in time, but in the meantime, Kevin had training and many other things to keep him busy.

  ***

  Before going to bed that night, Kevin checked with Samantha to see if Fiona had found anything interesting out, in her attempt to get him the data he requested.

  She didn’t come up with anything new on the disappearances down south, except that one of the missing people also looked like the man he had fought.

  On the other hand, Fiona did discover that the Dwarf he took prisoner was checked into the psychiatric ward of Vastal City’s main hospital.

  Kevin would just have to check to see if the Guild could offer any more information when he took the assignment tomorrow.

  That night Kevin enjoyed a nice relaxing massage and Samantha demonstrated that Kevin’s still had plenty of vigor, even at these lower levels of testosterone.

  Chapter 10 – Gearing up

  Tuesday morning was spent in more training since he had to wait until the afternoon to pick up his armor, and register to take on the mission for the ranchers.

  His flight training was going pretty well, and he was passing all the practice tests that Samantha could design. Apparently, the testing standards were public, just not the questions and specifics of what they’d ask the prospective pilot to do to prove their ability.

  To Kevin, it seemed a little archaic since it would be possible just to check Samantha’s logs to see just how able he was. When he asked Samantha about the test, she said that most pilots don’t have an A.I. to vouch for them, so the standard was to take a test, and since the test was the standard the bureaucrats were determined that everyone use the same method of proving their ability.

  What surprised Kevin was learning that A.I.s were so uncommon? But Samantha told him that only one in about a thousand people in the Imperium both wanted and could afford to purchase an A.I. And that some of the key components of an A.I. were difficult to make since they required some rare psionic talents to form.

  This was why adventures such as him were much more likely to have an A.I. than a random kid on the street.

  As Samantha answered his questions, Kevin noticed that she was a lot more liable to answer him if he asked a question regarding the game. He still didn’t know how much of this new world was a game, and how much real, so he didn’t know how this bit of knowledge could help him, but he filed it away for further reflection.

  Focusing back on his flight training, he asked, “Samantha, when do you think I’ll be ready to take the in-system flight test?”

  “I believe that you're ready now, but I was planning on booking you an appointment to take the test next Monday, after your morning psionic training session. I’m running into a little problem, though, the test requires that you either use a two person shuttle you own, or rent one for use. The problem is that the only shuttle available for rent is more expensive than it should be for just a few hours of use.” said Samantha.

  “Just how expensive is it?” asked Kevin.

  “Well, to rent a shuttle for just two hours, you’d normally expect to pay maybe 200 credits at most. The shuttle that’s available rents for 400 credits an hour; you could buy a used one for a couple thousand so this rental rate is out of line. You’d need to spend 800 credits for a two-hour rental.” said Samantha.

  “After finding this out, I started doing a little digging in the public records on Hassan. The shuttle belongs to a cousin of the Governor, and the person running the local chapter of the pilots union, who would be administering the test, is married to the Governor’s sister. Further, there’s a marked difference in test results depending on if someone rents this shuttle or uses one of their own. It seems the tester find so many faults with other shuttles that few people who don’t rent the shuttle are able to pass the flight test.”

  “So it seems like a rigged game, its pay to pass. But good luck making the claim that you’ve been cheated if you don’t rent the cousins shuttle since it’s not his fault the shuttle you used was so poorly maintained,” said Samantha.

  “Do you want me to file a report with the pilots union?” asked Samantha.

  “Hell no! At least not until we leave this world. We don’t want to get on the wrong side of the local power structure, but I can see what the militia colonel is complaining about. I wonder how many other rigged systems there are around Hassan.” said Kevin.

  “Of course, that doesn’t mean that the militia colonel is as clean as the driven snow. Probably the opposite, since the colonel seems to be just sitting by while people are disappearing and dying.” Kevin continued.

  “For the rest of your flight training we’ll be using a shuttle like the one you’ll need to rent to buy your way into passing the pilots test.” said Samantha.

  Kevin was sure that this was Samantha’s way of mocking him for not reporting the rigged piloting test setup. But Kevin still felt his approach was best. Maybe given enough time he could find a way to get even for the rip-off, but he remembered an old saying. ‘Never do an enemy a slight injury.’

  Kevin didn’t feel so injured by the cheat that he would want to make an enemy as powerful as the Planetary Governor. So he would let the matter drop for now, even if Samantha was a little miffed at the peculation.

  As Kevin started to get back to his flight training, he asked, “By the way Sam, how is my piloting skill progressing anyway?”

  “Your piloting skill is:”

  Small Starship Piloting: Novice level 9

  Samantha continued, “It won’t be long until we’ll need to buy the next piloting skill book. For now, I think it’s time you had practice flying around an asteroid field. For your next simulation, you’ll dock with Hassan’s local mining platform.”

  Kevin’s training progressed through the afternoon, until about 3 pm when Samantha informed him, that he’d received a message from Cairbre that his armor was repaired and ready to be picked up.

  ***

  Cairbre’s shop was busier then Drake had ever seen it. With three other customers waiting on Cairbre’s attention, Drake decided to look at the used arms and armor the store stocked out front.

  There were a variety of weapons and armor of different types and sizes. Most other items were similar to gear sold in the many other stores in the small arms mall. But there was one thing that seemed different.

  Drake noticed a full suit of armor that looked a little strange. It wasn’t the separated pieces of armor like what he owned or the mechanized golem like equipment he’d seen in other stores, and he’d seen used by Imperial Marines. This set covered the supporting manikin from head to toe with no gaps and looked like it might be air tight, but unpowered.

  He wondered if he was looking at some sort of armored space suit. The suit was a matte black color that seemed to absorb the rooms light. As Drake moved the arm up, he could see that the armor was joined together by some sort of flexible black material. It looked just like a vacuum suit made of thick material and attached armor. The inner suit looked like it could be a type of carbon fiber mesh.

  While Drake was busy examining the suit, Cairbre finished helping the last customer. With the Procyon male having just departed, Cairbre walked over to where Drake was standing.

  “I see you're looking at the Soonia-Meron Armored Vacuum Suit. It’s an excellent system of armor and vacuum suit combined,” said Cairbre.

  “You see the inner vacuums suit?” he continued, as he pointed out the feature.

&nbs
p; “Yeah” replied Drake.

  “That’s a Soonia-Meron proprietary blend of ionic polymer-metal composites and long chain carbon nanotube fibers. They’re the only company that knows the method they use to blend the fibers into such a tough electroactive material. The inner suit, beneath the outer plates, can be worn independently as a normal vac-suit, or the added shell can be used for going EVA and for added protection.”

  “Sounds interesting, but it must be expensive.” said Drake.

  “Yep, it is. Which is why it’s been sitting here in my shop collecting dust for the last six months. It’s cheaper to just buy a regular vac-suit, and get an armored vac-suit for when you need them. This unit just provides more protection than the standard vac-suit. It’s also faster just to add the outer plates, then to have to remove a standard vac-suit and switch to an armored vac-suit, when the shit hits the air impeller.”

  “Pilots like this suits features, it allows them to wear the underlayer while going into combat, where having to wear a bulky set of combat armor would get in the way while they trying to fly their ship,” said Cairbre.

  “Just don’t go out into the deep without at least some sort of vac-suit. But I expect you know that already.” said the Half Dwarf.

  “So, you’re here to pick up your armor, just a moment, and I’ll go get it,” Cairbre said just before leaving into the back to find Drake’s armor.

  Drake took one more look at the suit, he could now see that the outer armor shell was designed to detach, it seemed like a clever way of making one type of vac-suit serve in two different jobs. But he didn’t have the money to be spending on something like this just now.

  It seemed like an excellent solution to one of the problems of vac-suits. The safety conscious space traveler would wear a vac-suit all the time since the traveler was usually one thing layer of metal from the vacuum of space. The standard vac-suit was as comfortable as a set of pajamas since they were thin and clung to your body very closely. In fact, they had another name; they were often called skin suits because of this trait.