Lair

by Carl Stubblefield

  “So how long have Nth been on Earth? Did you wait to activate powers until you had prepared our culture to understand and accept them?” Gus twirled the spear in front of him as he ran, trying to get used to the weight as Nick continued.

  “An advanced wave of Nth arrives years before the main body to start the process, stimulating the creativity and imagination of receptive individuals. They transmit this to the world in various fictions that become commonplace. This information is intended to allow the first generation supers to hit the ground running, and start using their powers productively, instead of selfishly. What these Nth do not do is explain the science behind the powers, so this is often poorly described by those who are inspired and create art, music and entertainment surrounding the super culture. It is generally accepted by most species, and falls under a willing suspension of disbelief due to the ideas being perceived as entertainment.”

  Gus became silent, pursing his lips as he thought about the implications. He reached the end of the path and took the spear he had left there. He immediately felt better as he left the jungle and climbed the small incline to the manor. His mind wouldn’t let him rest too much, however. If zombies are real, what else is real? Gus stopped walking, recalling something.

  “You didn’t really answer how powers work,” Gus realized, wondering if Nick was sidestepping the question.

  “I was getting to that. Take flying for instance, have you wondered how a super propels themselves through the air? There are no emissions coming from the supers’ feet. They do not alter gravity with subatomic particles—your past employer being an exception. So how do they move? All the powers function on science, but many concepts are millennia away from being understood and manipulated by humans unassisted by Nth.”

  “I hadn’t really thought about it, I guess,” Gus admitted, beginning to walk again.

  “One fundamental property that most powers of different classes use involves dimensional manipulation. The effects that many powers exhibit, especially those with a strength, agility, or constitution basis, are facilitated with matter that regs do not even know exists, for the most part.”

  Gus squinted his eyes, listening intently despite Nick speaking only in his mind. He felt he was about to hear a long-kept secret.

  “This may be hard to grasp, but imagine that any volume of space is filled with hanging sheets of fine nets within. The nets are made of a different type of matter than the human mind can perceive. Just as the human eye only sees a small slice of the electromagnetic spectrum, matter also varies in different fundamental ways along a spectrum. This is why you have not discovered a unified theory to explain everything—you try to explain the entirety of reality using only what you can measure. Most theories fall apart when dealing with very small or very large objects, where the limits of perception are reached.

  “These nets comprise the entire universe, and fill its volume like fluid fills a container. In the case of a flyer, they have developed the ability to secure themselves to this matter, which we call ether, and propel themselves through it, as a swimmer moves through water. The ability is largely controlled by the subconscious and mastered by trial and error. They often use a focus, like pointing their arms forward as they swim through the air.”

  “That is making my brain hurt,” Gus said while squinting, struggling to understand. “Give me some time to process this and we’ll talk about it more.” Gus had that feeling like when he was trying to learn math; his brain just seized up and it was hard to force it to absorb anything more. Maybe points in intelligence would help?

  “As you wish.”

  Gus continued to ponder what he had learned as he entered the manor and walked in silence to his room. His mind wandered to his guitar. Through his life, Gus had been able to relieve his stress through music. Gus longed to have his guitar that was lost on board Graviton’s station. It was nothing fancy, but it was something he doubted he could craft. He was about to ask about that, but Nick beat Gus to it.

  “Sorry, there are no musical instruments in the manor.”

  Gus frowned, but realized it was probably for the best not to get distracted. He remembered the isolation of Graviton’s station, which offered a different type of down time due to the radio silence. The crowded nature of henchmen accommodations had forced Gus to wear wireless headphones while playing guitar. He was pretty good, but not everyone was a music aficionado. If he ever made it back to civilization, he’d get a really nice one. He’d probably be able to play much better now that he had Nth assistance. He smiled as he imagined his fingers flitting across the fretboard with huge agility stats.

  “Gus, I have an alert of which you should be aware…” Nick reported urgently.

  “What’s up?”

  “A number of changes have occurred in the power grid that supplies the manor after you took possession. The manor followed some automated protocols and reallocated available energy stores to make the control center functional. This diverted perimeter defenses all around the island, and other barriers that appear to have maintained the magma in stasis, keeping the volcano dormant. The considerable energy required to maintain the bio-stasis field is interfering with energy distribution. Without these barriers, the magma is now expanding unchecked, and an eruption event is expected if this is not managed. Schematics dictate that this flow was to be diverted to various geothermal energy collectors that would power the manor, and convert enough thermal energy to cool the magma, preventing it from flowing up and out the volcano. The location of the obstruction lies in the same direction as the estimated point of origin of the zombies, so one may assume there is a correlation.”

  “Are you flipping kidding me?”

  “Of course not.”

  Gus rolled his eyes, sighing. He closed his eyes and tried to take a calming breath. He wasn’t strong enough to manage a frontal attack on a bunch of zombies, so what now?

  “For hell’s sake, can I get a break once in a while?” Gus spat, exasperated.

  “Do the controls allow us to do anything here?” Gus finally asked when he regained his composure.

  “Magma flows may be directed as they approach the underground structures designed to handle the flow, but it must first arrive into this network. The blockage is happening before the magma can enter the channels under control by the manor.”

  “I’ll have to deal with these Dark Nth eventually. I was hoping I could level up a bit before having to hit them head on, or kiting them so I can deal with them in smaller numbers. Not going to have that luxury now.” Gus tried to come up with how many levels would allow him to hold his own without being totally out of his league. After screwing up his face in thought, he realized it was all a guessing game. Maybe he could manage a work-around.

  “Would turning off the bio-stasis field help?” Gus asked hopefully.

  “It would have before this reaction has cascaded, and will be necessary to prevent a recurrence. Without turning it off, available energy in the manor will be capped at a fraction of total potential.”

  “Can you throw me a bone here?” Gus yelled to no one in particular, looking pleadingly above. He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. Even more to do, just when he thought he was already at the brink of being overwhelmed.

  “So defeat the zombies, so I can stop the magma and turn off the shield… does that about cover it? Anything else I need to do, like find a cure for cancer, perfect cold fusion, or come up with the grand unification theory?”

  “It’s not that bad,” Nick said sheepishly.

  Gus just shook his head and threw up his hands.

  “Ok, let’s do this. Is there any way to place sensors farther down the path to monitor zombie advances?”

  “There is, but it will require, once again, that the Foundry be unlocked. After it is enabled, the sub-facility Defensive Measures will need to be unlocked as well, to make turrets, traps, and sensors available for manufacture. Sensors have independent energy collection from solar chargers, and will t
ap into a data field that encompasses the island automatically when deployed, allowing it to sync with main control and provide telemetry.”

  “How many facility points are needed to unlock those two functions?”

  “Four thousand total, twenty-five-hundred for the Foundry and fifteen-hundred for the subspecialty.”

  Gus hadn’t thought that traps or turrets would be available as a defensive measure, but some automated guns that detected motion could be just what he needed. Since he had trained this morning, the arena wouldn’t be available for more training until tomorrow. Gus figured he would have to start developing a plan to eradicate the Dark Nth from the island.

  Finally reaching the jungle’s edge, he made his way back to the manor to start work on his next plans. “Nick, let me see what blueprints we have so I can get a better idea of what’s available.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Try This

  Day 5 10:20 PM

  9:14:16 remaining

  Things were becoming so much clearer now. As if he had been deep underwater and swimming upward toward a flickering light that pulsed in time with the shifting waters. He couldn’t see very far through the murk that surrounded him, and all his senses were muted.

  As he got nearer to the surface, more and more of his world began to resolve. The others called him The One, but it had not always been that way. He strained to see the memories that danced at the fringes of his mental darkness, but they darted in and out like colorful fish, refusing to get too close. Stretching upward toward the light, he sought to escape from this mental prison he had entered to keep himself alive and sane until the time was right.

  At long last, he broke through to the surface. Understanding and faculties snapped back to him that had been dormant from his long hibernation. He shook his head from the disorientation of trying to process too much at once. The darkness welled up again, trying to push him under and he was only able to retain control with a determined effort. Wave after wave of the dark influence battered at him, trying to submerge him back to his feral state, but he remained centered. At long last, the pressure eased, and he opened his eyes.

  ###!###

  Gus awoke early, feeling wide awake, which was uncommon for him. Usually he liked to lie in bed and slowly fight the battle of mind against mattress. The display in front of him was even more ominous than before. He was sure of it, the font size for the countdown was increasing. Obnoxiously.

  Gus quickly ate an energy bar and filled his thermos with some of the cold water from the dispenser in his suite. He needed to evaluate the blueprints and make plans about which facilities he would unlock, and in what order. Not being a morning person, he decided it would probably be good to get some training in to shake the fog of sleep from his head so he could focus better.

  He headed down to the arena, and Chop Chop, as Gus liked calling him, was in the center waiting for him. Arms folded, he stood in a blue column of light the holographic projector emanated, evaluating Gus as he approached.

  He stood on the platform, and the system scanned him. On a nearby screen he saw a message:

  Nanobot-sync loading… and a blue bar slowly filled up. Gus wondered how much more efficient training would be for an army that could customize each training regimen for that soldier. He felt like he had improved much more quickly than he would have without the feedback the Nth gave him in positioning his body and how quickly things became fluid and comfortable. With the scan complete a message flashed on his display:

  Quest Granted: Fight for your Right

  Quest Conditions:

  1) Review battle history

  2) Train and obtain the skills Parry and Counter-attack

  3) Level Counter-attack to level 2

  4) Defeat 3 virtual opponents (Mantids)

  Quest Rewards: 1000 XP, 500 Facility Points, unlocked skills

  Time Requirements: Must complete conditions in less than 3 hours after beginning training or forfeit all rewards, including unlocked skills. Initiate training at console.

  Do you want to accept this quest? (Y/N)

  Gus asked to review the previous battle and have it analyzed before he undertook the timed quest. Unlike the day before, the view that materialized was not a complete representation. Gus guessed that the previous battle took place away from available sensors and satellite. This replay was different, with a much less photorealistic projection of the fight. He could discern a humanoid constellation of tiny dots that Gus associated with himself because of the spear stance. The Nth scattered through his system must be reporting their position in three-dimensional space, rendering his movements. An orange figure clearly represented the Mantids. It made him wonder how Nth from two different people interacted. His mind considered how telepaths must have some Nth scanning ability that could pick up on the signals of other—

  “Hai!” Chop Chop shouted, brows furrowed and his lip even more pugged out than usual. Gus focused on the display again.

  Gus watched a playback of the entire battle, then the scene reversed back to the beginning. Chop Chop would play the video and Gus could see on the display where he had overextended during the fight, and other times where his stance was too narrow. The playback slowed in areas where he had scored a hit, so he could see what was working in his battle style. Each hit displayed a red numerical value on how much damage had accrued per attack during the battle. He remembered that they had been there when fighting, but he could only focus on so much.

  Gus leaned forward, studying what attacks were more effective. When the Mantid with Wreck-luse made its entry, the red numbers flashed in time as the toxin worked, -8 HP, -8 HP, -7 HP, -8 HP, and so on. Gus reviewed the areas where he needed improvement in his previous battle, rewinding to review critical hits and other times when he made an especially effective attack. After twenty minutes, he reached the end and Gus saw the prompt: ‘End Evaluation? (Y/N)’ Gus clicked yes and turned to face Chop Chop.

  Another message was displayed:

  Are you ready to begin the timed quest Fight for your Right? (Y/N)

  Gus accepted and a timer appeared in the upper left of his display. Simultaneously, a hologram of a Mantid appeared, and Chop Chop demonstrated a technique to block an attack from the talons on the metal band that spanned the center of the shaft between where Gus usually gripped the spear.

  Gus would have to search among the racks in the middle tier to find this upgraded type of spear, as he had only used spears that lacked this upgrade. The weapons were organized by type, but he saw no organization indicating which weapons dealt the most damage or which were superior. He mentally kicked himself for picking something so basic. Truth be told, he wasn’t trained to use it, so it may have not made any difference. Still, he needed every edge he could get.

  Chop Chop used a variety of movements to place the metal band in just the right place to block various types of attacks. Gus winced at how close the claws came to Chop Chop’s hands when he did the blocks. Not a lot of room for error. After the tutorial, Chop Chop retreated to the side of the arena and froze in place.

  Gus took that as a signal to find his weapons. He jogged up to the level where spears were. He searched until he found a spear with superior damage stats that also had the metal band in the middle. Grabbing three just like last time, he headed down to the arena.

  Once again the virtual display showed Gus’ form in a stance in blue. He oriented himself, then practiced following the prescribed moves as the program directed his movements. Since it was a more complicated move, the program began moving in slow motion, allowing him to get the feel of the block. After about ten minutes, he felt like he had gotten the gist of the action.

  One of the things that had helped the most when he was learning guitar was practicing at a slow speed until it was perfect, then slowly adding speed until the song was at normal tempo. Using that method, he avoided learning the song incorrectly, getting sloppy and repeating the same errors. It worked just as well with his spear training. Performing
the motion like he was doing tai chi, he flowed through the pattern. A little tone sounded when he had executed correctly. After he got three tones in a row, Gus sped up a tiny bit. After fifteen more minutes of focused movement, a chime sounded.

  You have learned the skill, Parry. You are now able to block certain attacks if attacked while equipped with a spear. This skill is upgradeable to Counter-attack!

  100 XP awarded

  200 FP awarded

  “That’s new, Nick. Are all skills upgradeable?”

  “Many are, but most are found by trial and error. Your Nth will try to increase and upgrade your skills as soon as you are ready, so you really are only limited by your diligence.”

  Gus grinned. He was good at grinding in video games, and he could do it in real life if the rewards were there. He shook his head and focused his attention again on the display, not wanting his tendency to get distracted to slow his progression.

  The display then changed to show Gus’ blue form, and an orange Mantid shape approaching and attacking. The Gus figure parried, deflecting the Mantid to the side, the representation then shifted, flowing into an attack on the follow through that hit the virtual Mantid in the back. The tutorial ended, and Gus again began practice in earnest.

  The arena provided a virtual Mantid to practice against, and Gus found he could slow down the speed of his attacker to use his method to practice this technique. It was difficult to know if the timing was right without any feedback. Gus had to rely on the tingle feedback he had experienced yesterday to evaluate if he was executing the attack correctly, as he could not look up at the virtual display and keep his eyes on the Mantid attacking him. The extra concentration this required was harder to coordinate and start hearing success tones.