by R H Nolan
Bodies flew in all directions, followed by energy in all directions, and Max took in a gasping breath. If he’d been trying to aim by firing through the himirini, he probably wouldn’t have hit anything—but all his targets had been at point-blank range.
He wished it hadn’t taken him so long to remember Zryk’s explanation of how the armor worked with his power. But at least it had kept him from being crushed and eaten alive at the same time.
HEALTH: 836/1200 (70%)
Core: 562/600
Secondary: 89/400
Nourishment: 93/100
Sleep: 92/100
STRENGTH: 77/110
STAMINA: 168/240
AGILITY: 80/114
ENHANCEMENTS: Level 3
Energy Reserves: 0/3000
Disintegration
Efficiency: 22 units per cc
Energy Blast
Intensity: 3000
Base Range: 40 feet
Accuracy: 53%
Rapidfire
Intensity: 5 rounds of 600
Accuracy: 39%
Lightwave
Intensity: 300
Focus: 20
Electrical Current
Intensity: 300 volts
Base Range: 2 feet
Accuracy: 50%
SOUL POINTS: 625
ARMOR: 65/100 (65%)
Chest 65/100 (65%)
He was taking a beating, but at least he was building up more Accuracy.
Max disintegrated the wall behind him, then fired at the giant Sandwalker who’d pulled him off the power generator.
The thing staggered toward him under Max’s continuous energy blasts. It took six to bring it down.
His Soul Points bumped up to 645, and Max realized how close he was to Level 4.
Now he could clearly count what remained in the energy chamber—seven regular Sandwalkers rushing toward him, their Health ranging from 24% to 52%, and three more of the huge ones overloaded with muscle.
Ten on one seemed a lot more doable than when he’d entered the chamber. As long as he didn’t get smacked around too much before he killed them.
He reactivated his skates and pushed off up the small incline away from the Sandwalkers. They scrambled after him with much more difficulty, especially since he was using his skates.
Max pulled himself along the control panel along the wall, disintegrating as he went and turning back to let off a few more energy blasts. He took down the mutant with the lowest Health, but shooting backward took a kind of skill he didn’t have. Yet.
Once he reached the aft wall, he stopped and wedged his skates between the back corner of the generator and the wall. Then he disintegrated and let the energy blasts fly.
The Sandwalkers struggled against each other and the incline of the tilted ship, but they were still too far away for Max to hit them with every single attack. However, at least two thirds of his shots landed.
Three more fell, and the other three seemed to cower away from the giant one grunting and slavering past them. Maybe it weighed enough to keep it from sliding as easily down the tilting floor, but it stomped up the energy chamber toward Max.
He put three more energy blasts into it before the thing reached out to grab the generator coils and hoist itself toward him.
Max stepped out from behind the generator and slid a bit. But his glowing hand wrapped firmly around the closest coil, and he sent an energy current racing through it. The giant Sandwalker sputtered and jerked, caught fully in the surge—and yet it still had 27% Health after the attack was over.
With a growl of rage, the giant launched itself at him and caught his skate in its grip. They both fell to the ground and started sliding again.
Max dragged his hands along the floor, disintegrated, and might have gone a little overboard by sending both energy blasts into the creature’s bulbous head. Its skull exploded, leaving only a charred, smoking hull.
The three smaller Sandwalkers screeched and reached up from where they clambered across the floor, trying to snag him.
Max kicked one in the face and grabbed the lip of the generator’s base. He pulled himself quickly to his feet and climbed up onto the generator again, hooking one leg through the coil. It was a lot easier to disintegrate the coil overhead and blast away as he went.
Three shots, three more dead Sandwalkers.
The gray orbs of energy lifted and careened toward him, then Max realized how far he’d finally come with his Soul Points now at 785.
The generator shuddered beneath him with a metallic ring, and he turned his head to see another giant mutant standing on it with him. The thing let go of the coils and shuffled down the tilted surface toward him, shrieking and hitting its head three times on the coils before it finally ducked beneath the metal loops.
Max disintegrated the coil in front of him and hit the thing with four energy blasts. That was all the time he had.
The blasts took the Sandwalker off its feet, but it kept sliding toward him, smearing a dark, bloody trail behind it from its charred and split ribs. Then it knocked Max off his feet, and they both slid off the generator with a thump.
The Sandwalker grabbed the sleeve of Max’s jacket and jerked him closer as they kept sliding. It brought the side of its fist down into the center of the himirini chest plate, and Max cried out under the jarring force.
HEALTH: 702/1200 (59%)
SOUL POINTS: 785
ARMOR: 40/100 (40%)
Chest 40/100 (40%)
Max bumped into a clammy Sandwalker corpse behind him, and he grabbed it to disintegrate it.
It slowed his descent a little, but the huge mutant came right at him and pushed him all the way back into the fore wall of the engine chamber.
Max cried out again under so much extra weight on top of him.
Fingers clawed at his chest plate as the giant mutant pulled itself toward him over the piled bodies.
Max fired. Both his energy blasts hit it on the right and left shoulders, and the thing screamed, then its head drooped and slammed against Max’s legs.
But there wasn’t a gray orb of light.
Panting, Max stared at the thing practically lying on top of him.
Its Health still showed at 4%.
Before he fully registered it, the mutant’s massive, disgusting head snapped back up. Spit and blood spattered across Max’s chest plate when the thing snarled and snapped its noxious teeth.
Max jerked up and slapped the Sandwalker’s temple, then Disintegrated, his hand sinking into the creature’s skull—
The mutant screamed, and its head flopped down again as a gray orb floated up into Max.
Max’s body filled with a brief burst of tingling pain. Blinding white light filled his entire vision, and an eyeblink later it was gone.
HEALTH: 1300/1300 (100%)
Core: 650/650
Secondary: 450/450
Nourishment: 100/100
Sleep: 100/100
STRENGTH: 115/115
STAMINA: 250/250
AGILITY: 116/116
ENHANCEMENTS: Level 4
Energy Reserves: 0/3500
Disintegration
Efficiency: 23 units per cc
Energy Blast
Intensity: 3500
Base Range: 50 feet
Accuracy: 38%
Rapidfire
Intensity: 5 rounds of 700
Base Range: 50 feet
Accuracy: 29%
Lightwave
Intensity: 400
Focus: 40
Electrical Current
Intensity: 400 volts
Base Range: 4 feet
Accuracy: 50%
SOUL POINTS: 5
ARMOR: 32/100 (45%)
Chest 32/100 (45%)
Max lay there, panting, and enjoyed the sudden surge of being back at full Health.
Level 4 felt great, even though he hadn’t gained any new abilities. That was probably for the best; he still had a way to go in refining the ones he
already had.
With a groan, he pushed the huge corpse off himself enough to wriggle out.
When he stood, he almost laughed to see the energy core sitting alone beside the pile of bodies, glowing blue in the darkness of the chamber.
A wet crunch and chewing sounds broke the silence. Max glanced across the room to see the last intensely muscled Sandwalker—its health at 53%—hunched over one of its own. It took Max a few minutes to recognize the thing was feeding, and his nostrils flared in disgust.
The thing seemed pretty focused on its meal. Max took a slow step toward the energy core, and the mutant froze. Then it spun around and snarled at him from over halfway across the room. Max stopped and stared at it, but the Sandwalker turned back around for its meal.
Max disintegrated a portion of the wall. His hands lit up with yellow energy, and he took another step toward the energy core.
The last mutant spun around with incredible speed and barreled toward him.
Max let off both energy blasts, incredibly surprised to find that the first one took the mad creature’s health down to 18%. The second blast ripped through its chest and sent the mutant slamming back against the ship’s floor, where it collapsed into a wheezing, smoking wreck.
Max made damn sure the thing gave up an orb of light. Only after that did he relax.
Holding his breath, Max listened for any sign of Sandwalkers he might have missed.
The ship was so silent, his ears started to ring. So he puffed out his breath and went to the energy core.
His pack slipped easily from his shoulder, and he stuffed his prize inside before slinging the strap back over his arms and stepping over the bodies littering the engine chamber. He shuddered to think what it would smell like in here in a few days.
Only once he kicked his skates back up through the corridor did he realize his feet no longer burned like he was walking on shattered glass with every step. He was definitely grateful for making Level 4, but it felt like mostly luck.
15
Zryk let out a long hiss and took a few excited steps toward Max when he entered the Qirinian stasis chamber. “That was well done, Max.”
Max flinched at the sudden voice inside his head again, but he met the Bug at the central computer and slipped off his pack. “We need to talk about a few adjustments to your mapping system.”
Zryk looked longingly at the pack, his hands reaching out greedily.
Max paused with his fingers wrapped around the energy core. “Zryk, did you hear me?”
The Bug jerked his head up quickly. “What? Yes, of course. What adjustments?”
“Any way to program that flashing guide light so it chooses the path with the least amount of physical obstacles instead of the shortest straight line?”
He frowned at the Qirinian. He was still just a little irritated that the other elevator shaft in the human starship had been completely empty. The elevator had stuck on the upper deck, giving him a clear and much easier time getting back to the airlock. He’d found and killed three other fairly weak Sandwalkers on the way out, but that was it.
“The least perilous route… yes, that can be arranged. This is also for you.”
The Bug waved a hand at the tray atop the computer, which was once more filled with apples, pears, oranges, and cucumbers.
Max’s mouth salivated. While reaching Level 4 had healed him, it hadn’t filled his belly. And if he didn’t eat, he would start to lose crucial Health points.
With a nod, Max handed over the energy core. Zryk received the item with as much enthusiasm and excitement as Max thought a Qirinian could ever fully express to a human.
The Bug headed toward one end of the main computer, and Max stepped forward to stuff his face with freshly cloned food. It was just as delicious as the last time, just as real-tasting, but he had to bring Zryk something else from the city. He didn’t think anyone could live on fruit and cucumbers alone, despite how much his body had been missing this kind of nourishment for so long.
He hadn’t paid any attention to what Zryk was doing with the energy core until the entire stasis chamber lit up with soft yellow light. Consoles and panels glowed all over the room, buoyed by a soft hum. Max stepped away from the computer and the tray of food, chewing slowly, and turned to look at the Bug.
“It will do for now,” the Qirinian told him. “With the energy core, we should now be able to communicate when you are not on my ship.”
Max’s eyes widened. Did he really want the Bug’s voice in his head all the time?
Then again, it would definitely help if he found himself needing a bit of direction. Clearly, Zryk had access to things here on his ship that Max would never be able to see while he was out there gathering these different parts.
“Uh, that’s cool,” he said, wanting to at least say something about it.
Zryk turned around to look at him. “Are you feeling cold, Max?”
It took Max a second to recognize the Bug’s latest misinterpretation.
“Uh, no. It means… I guess it means I like it. Being able to communicate.”
The Qirinian let out a short hiss, then stepped awkwardly around the main computer and bent to retrieve something. When he lifted the item, Max frowned; it looked an awful lot like the chest piece he still wore. He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about Zryk only making him multiple chest pieces.
“The rear,” Zryk said, clicking. “The…”
One of the arms protruding from his back bent to pat his own back behind his head.
“Oh,” Max realized. “For my back.”
“Yes, yes.” Zryk stepped around the computer again to deliver Max the new item. “You do realize what you wear now is completely useless, do you not?”
Max looked up from the back piece of Qirinian craftsmanship, also black like the chest plate.
“What do you mean, ‘useless’? My stats are showing it still at 40%.”
While that wasn’t the best, it was a far cry from what Max would ever consider useless.
“Not the chest piece – the… body suit, is that the term?” Zryk replied, reaching out to tap the closefitting black sleeve of what Max had realized was nothing compared to the himirini. “It has taken too much damage to absorb anymore.”
“Ohhh… gotcha. Do you want it back?”
“No. Incomplete himirini does not bind on its own. The body suit will at least bind the other pieces to it. Keep it, but remember it does nothing to lessen damage.”
“Well that’s good to know.” Max turned the new back piece over in his hands. “Why doesn’t the himirini repair itself when I reach a new Level?”
“Himirini is organic, yes, but it is not alive. Thus it is unaffected by your evolutionary increases in Level. I must repair himirini for you.”
“How about now?” Max asked.
He liked having armor, but he didn’t like having armor that wouldn’t take much more of a beating after today.
“This is good, Max. I work with technology on this ship, and you think of what must happen out there.” The Bug bent his knees to lean back and glance up at the ceiling. “We make good mates.”
Max nearly dropped the back piece.
“Partners, Zryk,” he said, trying not to laugh. “It’s partners.”
“Yes. Partners.”
Zryk extended a hand, and Max slipped his fingers beneath the upper ridge of the chest plate. The armor came off with one quick tug, and he handed it over.
“I will have this fully repaired for you tomorrow. The next item I need is a piece of Qirinian technology stolen from a Qirinian ship. I have found its location within the city of humans.”
Max started to say something about it being ‘stolen,’ but he didn’t. If their situations were reversed, he would have probably called it stealing as well.
Having to go back into Neo Angeles wasn’t really the best news, with the City Dwellers probably still on alert after his last escape. But he could do it, especially with Zryk’s map system and two pieces o
f armor.
“Will the piece you need be on the map?” he asked.
“Of course.”
Nodding, Max stepped toward the computer, eyeing the food again, and remembered the other issue he’d come across in his last retrieval mission from the Qirinian.
“My skates burned my feet when I used my Electrical Current power.”
“Yes, I remember your noises of pain. Most probably the current jumped through the magnetic field and overloaded the generator inside, causing it to heat up greatly.”
“Can you fix it so it doesn’t happen again?”
Zryk tilted his head. “This depends on the size and strength of the field. If it has been charged with large quantities of—”
“I’m just talking about my skates,” Max interrupted, not wanting a lecture on how this stuff worked. He knew enough to realize he’d messed up in sending an energy current through the floor with his skates on, and all he wanted was to make sure that didn’t happen again. Getting rid of the skates wasn’t really an option.
“It is incredibly simple,” Zryk replied with a hiss.
“Great.” Max chose not to feel insulted by that. “How long will it take?”
“I believe as long as it will take you to eat.”
Max removed the skates and handed them over. A wave of protective anxiety washed through him; those skates were the one real connection to his dad he had left, besides his mom and Kier. But if he was trusting Zryk to give him accurate information in the maps and make him armor—heck, if he trusted the Qirinian to stick him in an energy chamber for induced evolution—he could trust Zryk with his most prized possession, too.
The Bug sidled down the main computer toward some other station at the very end, and Max peeled off the black armor bodysuit he’d been wearing for two days now. If it was worthless as protection and only served to bind the himirini to him, it didn’t make any sense to keep wearing it. He draped it over the computer, then grabbed his pack from the floor and went to the tray of food. He’d eaten just under half of it again, though there was so much more than yesterday. The rest of it, of course, was going back to his family.