by John Gold
Probability of being discovered within five minutes: 99.9%. No transportation capable of leaving the island. More opponents identified. Requests sent from the satellite to track the location of super admin. Orbital security droids belonging to Lunar identified. Attempting to establish communications with super admin. Opponent’s scanning system hacked. Replaced waves searching for signals from super admin’s neuronet. Attempt to disorient opponent. Fire alarm in basement activated. Radiation meters leading to basement hacked. Attempt successful. Evidence of breach removed. Critical threat. Probability of being discovered within one minute: 100%.
One of the aids got to Sagie’s room and found the bloody trail leading out the gap in the wall. The video communication camera in the wall followed his movements and transmitted his orders to the other aids.
Data transfer to Lunar identified. More opponents identified. Physical lockdown of all means of transportation on the island identified. Military tracking satellites identified. Building route with best chance of survival.
The young man was already running through the forest, though he suddenly changed course and headed toward the ocean. Dashing down the wharf between the rowboats, he dove into the water. Ledge modified his route, periodically compromising the military tracking satellites. They couldn’t stay compromised, so the strategy included evasive maneuvers, loss of contact, space trash, an obscured tracking area, and an overload that caused some hardware to malfunction.
Swimming onward, the young man left a bloody trail behind him. The burst blood vessels that had just closed reopened from the stress. It had been three and a half hours since the SOS signal was received, but he kept swimming, Ledge forcing him onto his back every time he fatigued. But he couldn’t go on like that forever. For the final thirty minutes, Anji could only swim on his back, his feet barely kicking.
Serious blood loss. Arterial blood pressure down to 60 mmHg. Terminal condition in 120 seconds. Bradycardia identified. Super admin heart beat slowing. Heart will stop in three minutes.
The dying boy floated on his back in the middle of the ocean. Five hours of swimming and constantly bleeding had completely exhausted him, even as his training and the swimming technique he’d honed over the previous five years had enabled him to do what was practically impossible. Ledge had gotten him to the spot in the ocean where the floating island was supposed to be. The only time the super admin had ever visited it, he’d noticed electromagnetic waves in the air that betrayed a powerful energy source, and the data he’d collected had been enough to set the island’s route, schedule, and movement speed. But while Ledge had been hoping to find a med capsule on the island, there simply wasn’t anything there. Anji had been in a critical condition for the past six hours; he’d swum twenty-eight kilometers, and Ledge had barely been able to keep up with the data flows coming in from the satellites and throngs of opponents. It had all been for nothing.
Pulse weakening. One minute until heart stops. External musculature, digestive organs, and lymph system shutting down. All remaining nervous activity focused on heart and lungs.
The young man’s heart stopped, and he started to sink into the water. All Ledge could do was watch its creator die. The super admin’s body had lost three and a half liters of blood, his nervous system had failed, the glia in his brain were depleting, and there were twenty-six hemorrhages in his brain. It was probably a good thing that he’d been unconscious for most of the time.
Ledge made one final entry in Anji Ganet’s file:
Died on June 18, 2208 at 23:59, Earth time.
Suddenly, a small island appeared beneath the boy, his body practically centered on top of it. There was an almost perfectly shaped ledge right next to him. All the flora on the island, along with the soil, was a single living organism. The vegetation was sleeping, while stones, acting as service droids, lifted the body and dragged it into the ledge, which led to a passageway. And as soon as that happened, the stone wall closed tight once again. The island disappeared into the water.
Ledge’s sensors didn’t notice this happening, however, having lost sight of the body of its creator less than a second before the island had appeared to obscure it with optical concealment.
∞ ∞ ∞
Inside the enormous space ship, there were only two living creatures. The first was Matthew Novak, an inventor and scientist who had been to the Eru home planet and remained on Earth with his friend Adrok Torston after the emergence of Lunar. The human ship had returned to its home planet, which was turned into a resort, after its travels. Over the past hundred and thirty years, only ten people had been on the ship, all of them old friends from Lunar.
A snake-like creature with two arms and one eye flew into the room where Matthew was sitting. It was Adrok’s pseudo-skin, one he could use to move around the world while still maintaining contact with his main body via his organic quantum communicator.
When Matthew noticed his friend return, he turned to him.
“What took you so long? Something’s going on in your resort—radiation sensors went off in the basement, almost as if there was a leak in the reactor. Two minutes more and you would be dead. There was a reason we built the whole thing out of concrete, set up screens, and built energy barriers. And you weren’t responding.”
The snake-like creature circled the bald man as if trying to decide if it should reply or not.
“I’m sorry. I was waiting for the alarm to die down, and I was in the middle of switching the bunker over into autonomous mode. Then, the sensors around the perimeter identified an attempt to track communication signals—that’s why I didn’t get in touch. I came as soon as I could. I knew you’d be worried about me.”
“Why has the ship been sitting here for an hour already?”
“What if they’re looking for me? Who knows what Akashi has on his mind?”
“Oh, right about that, he was asking if a kid around the age of twenty had shown up. What, he thinks we have damn guests around here?! Nobody’s shown up in fourteen years.”
“Okay, I’m going to get some rest. We can’t sail while I’m like this anyway.”
The snake flew out into the passageway and finally opened the message from the boy’s med capsule. Adrok had doubted until the final second whether taking him onboard was the right thing to do, and it was only when his body had sunk below the waves and he saw the glassy eyes that he made his decision. No, Akashi was definitely looking for the kid. But what was so important about him?
There isn’t a whole lot you can do to have fun when you’re turned into a space ship. But this was interesting, and the dead boy’s neuronet came to life and started working at peak capacity as soon as his body was dipped into the medical solution. Most importantly, someone was trying to make contact with the ship through his body. A message Adrok had long been waiting to see popped up on the screen.
Can we talk?
∞ ∞ ∞
The young man’s body appeared on the island prison in Papilio. He wasn’t howling in pain, he wasn’t screaming, and he wasn’t drooling. He just lay there quietly, his breathing even. The warden could tell the prisoner was behaving unnaturally considering his condition.
A paper appeared in his hands, though the wind immediately grabbed it and sent it fluttering away. The text appeared in the chat.
Nobody’s going to help you. You have to do this on your own. But one day, we’ll meet personally, and I’ll finally be able to shake your hand in appreciation for everything you’ve done for humanity.
Akashi
∞ ∞ ∞
I was woken by a blade of grass touching my hand. Was it a dream? Probably not, since I was able to feel the touch. Once again, we are walking through a field of flowers, this time though, everything seems brighter and somewhat more real. The scent of the flowers is in the air and the pollen makes my nose itch.
The lady who has walked by my side through the fields all these years has not changed a bit. I see her long red hair reaching down to her shoulders, a
petite straw hat on her back, and a light dress she is wearing. Only now have I realized my body looks as if I were twelve, and have entered into Chrysalis for the first time.
“….that boy, Aurin from the second generation. He, too, suffers from lack of parental love. The child from the eleventh marriage of Akashi. He is driven by his desire to attain his father’s approval and by an ambition to preside on the throne in the society of The First Men. If it weren’t for Femida, from the fourth generation, the grand-granddaughter of Miguel Elmaro, her unique talent, her grandfather’s bequest, wouldn’t flourish. And finally, you my last child — oblivious to everything The First Men have plotted.”
“Who am I?”
“I named you Anji. Your last name is Ganet, you got it from your father. Should everything go as planned, you will meet us, in real life(realityin person)”
“But who am I to you? Why are we here?”
For the first time in our dream that has gone on for five years, we have stopped. She turned around and I could see her face. It was quite ordinary, nothing stood out, but at the same time it looked so familiar as if I had seen her a thousand times but could not remember it.
“Do you know who I am?”
“No, this is impossible. I’ve checked everyone on the station. Anyone who could possibly be my parents - alive, dead, or reported missing. All of the people living there at the time of my birth. Not a single genetic match. I could not find any photos, or videos of my birth, nor a hospital where I was brought into this world. Just a blank space in place of birth. I’ve looked everywhere… even after Chrysalis gave me my parents….”
“I didn’t give them to you. But, go on…”
“You… you were never really here. No matter how hard I searched… or all that data I hacked into. Ledge, who hacked the database of space nomads could not find anything. I’ve looked everywhere - on Venice, Mars, and Old Earth immigrants base… everywhere I could!”
“I have always been here and looked over you. Although only in dreams, but I have been here.”
“That’s not enough. That’s not the mother I longed for…”
“You don’t get to choose your parents. I may be a bad mother, Anji. But that’s the mother you’ve had all along. I don’t exist in this world anymore, that’s why you can’t see me in person. If it weren’t for my sleep walking (dream walking) ability, and our relation, and your upcoming death, we wouldn’t be able to talk at all. Don’t be afraid. You were meant to die since you’ve been born.”
“Die?”
“She raised her hand in which she held a seed. Just then, in a matter of seconds, it transformed into a blossoming flower.
“Being reborn is one of the greatest gifts I can give you. You will inherit your experience form this life.”
“I don’t want to die!”
She smiled and gently knocked on my forehead with her index finger.
“Your body can no longer withstand what you are trying to force upon it. No doctor will be able to save you. Not after all those wounds inflicted upon you in both of the worlds. The Keepers won’t tolerate any change in what they have planned. Lunar won’t leave you alone. Haven’t you realized, all these years you lived in a comfort of the playground called Chrysalis. The game solved all your problems for you. Everything was so simple. Easy enemies, money, mob killings free of emotion or moral torments. There were simple ethics to follow and some primitive magic along with a simplified approach to both the game and life. No matter how accustomed you’ve grown to associate yourself with Chrysalis, you must understand it is just a game. Chrysalis is a game. You are an adult now, who lives beyond the boundaries of this world. Your childhood is over, it is time your real life started.”
“How could you, my real mother, offer me death. I don’t want to make this choice.”
“You were meant to. The way your body started to fail.”
“Then, I refuse this choice.”
“A child’s whim, no more…” She smiled once again. “…one of the first memories. When I was little, children didn’t want to transfer schools, being afraid of changing the environment and the world around them. They were rebellious, refused to eat, talk, or do what they were told. I was just like that. Catty and bad-tempered, sometimes dreamy, yet always rebellious towards my mother’s authority. Having lived under my parents’ wing, making choices for me was their prerogative. That is the case when you do not have a choice, Anji. Your path in this world ends here.”
“What about my affairs? My friends? What will happen to my family?”
This time, I got a painful flick in my forehead. Had I been asleep, I was sure I wouldn’t have felt it.
“Your affairs are over. But….! You won’t admit it.”
“I’ve got so many questions…”
“How many of those actually matter now, that your path has ended. Accept the fact your real life, and not the casket with ___ and toys. But your real life, as complex and interesting as it is, just begins. You’re eighteen now, and parents no longer give you pocket money. You must find a job. What? Oh, yes. You have never really been an adult. You’ve always avoided adult responsibility, setting life goals, family, and all the rest that felt outside your comfort zone. I presume, living in the Chrysalis’ cocoon was pretty comfortable? Fame, money, primitive life and… degradation you were unaware of. The tunnel vision you held towards things. All that shit you’ve gone through in the last fourteen years, was nothing but a foreplay before real-life kicks in.”
“You seem anything but my mother.”
“Oh no, no no! You’re my baby who’s trying to escape from reality. I know I am no angel. I have neither time nor desire to be stuck here breaking down for you how life really works.”
“Mothers are not supposed to be this way…”
“The game will remain a game. You got so carried away playing Sagie, you forgot who you really are. You can’t distinguish your real self from your game character. Don’t tell me how mothers are supposed to be and how to bring up children. Your sisters were some wild children, but they have grown up into normal, healthy women. However, you - Anji Ganet are my son, whether you want it or not. And if I say your time in this world is over, then it is over.”
The more I listened to Persea de Bran, the more it became clear to me it was exactly the way parents were supposed to be, if they truly cared about their children. Yes, there was nothing easy about my mother’s temper, but it was supposed to be that way. She was a dragon wearing a skirt.
“What happens next?”
Mother was turning the flower over her palm, without touching it.
“New life and new body. But you will remain Anji Ganet. Our mighty leader Akashi, having researched the fate of this world for five years, called it imperfect perfectness we have forgotten about. Miguel has lost track of possible ways the future might unfold, in which there is no place for good old Keepers, but rather, other powers keeping the guard and preventing the world from self-destruction.
“You were the third. What do you think about this world?”
Europe smiled and with a simple hand gesture rose all of the flowers in the field into the sky.
“I think this is not the best place to grow up, my dear child. The world we all deserve. The world we have all forgotten.”
∞ ∞ ∞
Akashi received an email from an unknown sender. It was a short one, yet so clear, without any double meaning. Just a simple text meant just for only one recipient.
“Nobody will help you now. I will find you myself. One day, we will meet and I will punch your face for everything you’ve done to mankind.”
Having read it multiple times, it became apparent to Akashi who the sender was. He also knew who had helped the sender in getting his email address. He immediately forwarded it to Miguel and without further delay received a reply.
“Looks like this guy won’t ever leave you alone. Though, I must admit, Europe has her talents. This may just be the best possible move for all of us.�
��
Akashi smiled to himself. For the first time he himself was able to see a brighter end.
The same day, the nickname Sagie disappeared from all the tree worlds as if having left the boundaries of the game universe.
The end.
Book Recommendations:
Thank you for reading this book.
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I also want to recommend Realm of Arkon, a great series written by a friend of mine: G. Akella. He is one of the most popular and best-selling LitRPG authors in Russia. Book one is currently available for free until the end of the month on Amazon.
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