Lair

by Carl Stubblefield

  Gus shook his head trying to take in all that had happened. The levels, the transformation, the new Nick, it was too much all at once… fortunately it was all good stuff for a change. His mother’s warning to always keep his watch with him was more than just a sentimental wish. What did that mean?

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Float On

  Day 7 1:54 PM

  3:09:16 remaining

  Gus finished trudging back to the manor. The day had taken its toll on him, and now he had an even shorter deadline. He just felt weary to his core, wrung out completely. He was still processing what had happened. His whole life he had felt like some insignificant dweeb, and nothing until the crash had showed him anything different. People treated him a certain way, and he felt ever insecure because he knew his life was lackluster and unimpressive.

  But there was a part of him that had always hoped things were different, and made him special somehow. Whatever had happened at level ten showed that he was actually right in thinking he was unique. Part of him refused to believe it. The other part chided him on wasting so much time feeling sorry for himself. Am I really destined for great things? For some reason it felt much more foreboding than enlightening. That his burden had increased, now that he wasn’t just the recipient of some lucky accident.

  He was set apart. And not knowing for what tickled a part of his brain that made him restless and uncomfortable. A pressing urgency, more than his deadlines, prodded him on. He had to get better, as soon as possible. Moving past simple existence and survival to actually doing something with his life. Gus almost swooned as he was hit with a wave of fatigue, distracting him from his musings.

  “Oooh. What is happening? Aren’t my Nth supposed to be absorbing energy now and helping me not be tired?”

  “Give them a bit, some things take a little time, Mr. Microwave-burrito-mentality, they’re repairing a ton of stuff after you Hulked out back there.”

  The more he travelled down the path, his drowsiness faded, but he still felt oppressively weak. Physical training was probably out, but he still felt a little restless. No more wasted time.

  His brain was foggy, and it was hard to focus on anything complicated. He decided that he should try to level Basic Flight at least once before the day ended, and cycle through his MP as much as possible. While he could hover for only three seconds before he had to stop and wait for his MP pool to refill, it was actually soothing to float for a bit. He would take a step and the momentum of his walk would carry him as he drifted down the path. Even the bottoms of Gus’ feet hurt as if bruised. Everything ached, and it was not wearing off as quickly as it usually did. Just before exiting the jungle it finally chimed a level increase.

  You have leveled up the skill: Basic Flight to Level 3!

  50 XP awarded

  100 FP awarded

  When he arrived at his suite, he took off his boots and gave his tired feet a rest. Sitting on the ground, he activated Basic Flight and due to his recent leveling event found he could hover now for five seconds. When he attempted to hover over to the table where he had placed various fruits in a bowl, he found that he couldn’t last a second when he tried maintaining a hover and moving. If he was already moving, he could drift, but no flying from a standstill. Damn. Doesn’t look like I’m flying anytime soon.

  Deciding to be patient, Gus positioned himself in front of the big panoramic view of the ocean along the side of the suite. Opening the window, he let the evening breeze blow into the room past him as he stared out toward the sea and practiced. The soothing crash of the waves calmed him, and Gus let go of his problems.

  Now that he had passed level ten and his Nth had evolved, he had a new lease on life. The guillotine above his neck was gone. Well, one of its blades was gone. He still had to figure out how to manage the volcano situation, but today had been a good day.

  The warm breeze blowing past him seemed to carry away the embers of worry and stress that had been burning inside, without him being aware of how they were affecting him deep down. Their insidious damage was now able to heal as Gus relaxed and just focused on floating and breathing.

  The tension he didn’t know he was carrying reluctantly released. His muscles were tentative at first, protective, but as he let himself be held aloft, they finally accepted the support the ether was providing. As he floated, he recalled that same sensation so long ago when he was floating in his space suit in the sea. Maybe it was the sedatives, but Gus remembered being totally relaxed. Gus opened himself up to that same level of relaxation and a chime sounded.

  You have leveled up the skill: Basic Flight to Level 4!

  50 XP awarded

  100 FP awarded

  Gus blinked away the log and regained his center. It was easier to maintain the skill when you didn’t try to make it happen. Like the difference between a back float and treading water. Both would keep you above the surface, but one took a lot of energy and was unsustainable for long periods of time.

  Slowly, he drifted from an upright position and fell prone, supported by a cushion of air and ether. Gus’ eyes grew heavy and he closed them. Handing his subconscious the reins, he fell asleep. Gus didn’t float there the whole night, but he did hover an inch above the plush carpet for much longer than any of his previous attempts. Eventually, the effect faded and he gently settled into the soft material for the night.

  Gus awoke early in the morning, a cool breeze brushing his skin, and a beam of light from the morning sunrise playing across his eyelids. His old friend the blue countdown timer greeted him. Gus waved it away in irritation, then closed his eyes again. Though he slept on the floor, Gus felt better than ever. Such a change from the torture of yesterday. Gus cracked his eyes open from where he lay on the floor. From this vantage, he was looking directly at the forgotten scored panel that he had carved so long ago to make Razorback. He had tossed it on the floor when he was reloading his backpack for his survey of the coastline.

  Picking it up with new-found awe, he wondered how else the material could be used. Armor? There wasn’t a lot of it here, though. It might be better to level up the Foundry first and unlock some better armor blueprints first. That reminded him that the Foundry should be done making everything he had queued by now. Nick cleared an imaginary throat but Gus ignored him. He could sense the virtual eye-roll.

  Taking the plate with him, he would leave it in the control room until he figured out exactly how to use it. He did not want to incorporate the Kroutonium into an item that he would quickly outgrow, essentially wasting the precious material. He could repurpose it then, but the possibility of losing a key perk existed, as well as any levels the item had developed. I’ll think of a good use for you.

  Gus arrived at the Foundry and, like before, lights directed him to a different area to gather his armor pieces. Trying them on, he found them extremely lightweight. Almost to the point where he doubted they would be that durable. From their weight, they felt like they were made out of compressed polystyrene. When he placed them in the appropriate places, they formed some kind of tight weld with the suit. The outer surface was rough and ribbed, like a sandpaper coated rasp. Running a finger along his cuirass, he could feel the rough surface catch and pull on the fabric of his gloves. With the armor in place, Gus decided to do some training and come back for the sensors and turrets later. A thought came to him.

  “Nick, can you quantify how much a stat change gives me?” Gus inquired, realizing this could save him a lot of experimentation.

  “I mean I can, but—”

  “Great! I want you to measure the changes in my skills after this training session and compare it to the logs of my previous fights. Damage dealt, attack speed, recovery rates, that sort of stuff. Then compare them on a chart based on my level of the appropriate stat.”

  “As you wish, master…” Nick said flatly, yawning with affected boredom.

  Gus arrived and stood on the skill scanner, wondering what was in store for today. While the mainframe analyzed and
processed all the changes to his skills and his new weapon, Gus practiced some of his attacks. The balance of the naginata was superb. Gus smiled, realizing that he would not have even been able to notice this about a weapon mere days ago. Swinging around, he practiced chaining some of the skills together in different ways. Gus was impressed with how his increases in agility and the improved weapon quality translated into a tighter, more focused movement. The scan complete, Gus received a prompt:

  Quest Granted: Kata Chameleon

  Quest Conditions:

  1) Master the three katas in the allotted time

  2) Use kata forms to defend and attack against 3 attackers

  Quest Rewards: 500 XP, 300 FP, skill increase

  Time Requirements: 3 hours

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

  Once the quest was accepted, Chop Chop came to life and began the lesson, showing some complicated katas to start. After watching it demonstrated, Gus dove in and thought, What a difference a day makes!

  Despite the complexity of movement, the forms were easier to learn than expected. Much easier. Gus began to see how each movement set up for another attack, much better than what he had been improvising. Gus felt the corrective coldness the tingle provided on a rarer and rarer basis. In less than an hour, Gus had finished all three katas. He checked his agility stat, twenty-five, which was more than triple what it had been when he had arrived on the island.

  A cadre of Mantid pillowbots lined up to attack him. When they began to move, Gus started the dance of the spear. Dance of the polearm? Using the katas, Gus could set himself up much more easily to both attack and defend, leaving himself less exposed and over-extended. He wished he had learned this earlier on, but his agility probably wouldn’t have allowed this level of grace and speed. As he flowed and moved, Gus could discern patterns in the Mantid’s movements, and it became more intuitive which forms to employ to be set up for an attack or parry. He even thought he could understand a bit better how he could incorporate jumps and leaps in his attacks, like the Mantids were wont to do, both to attack and to retreat. Gus was stymied on how he was able to absorb the training today so easily. Was his bump in agility responsible? Maybe intelligence played a part. Didn’t this type of muscle memory and training require years to learn? As he mused a chime sounded.

  You have leveled up the skill: Master of Tasks to Level 2!

  200 XP awarded

  400 FP awarded

  Gus had forgotten about the passive Master of Tasks bonus skill from reaching fractal level 1. The description said something about how it would make his training much easier, augmenting his high agility and improving muscle memory, but he hadn’t realized the effects would be so… immediate. Combining its effect with the katas had made today’s training a whole different experience, and would be invaluable with the inevitable enemies he would have to deal with.

  In practically no time, Gus had mortally wounded all the pillowbots, ending in a deep crouch, spear braced on his shoulder. The lights dimmed and he was finished, without even being winded by the whole training. He loved these katas! Avoiding another significant beating like the pillowbot had given him just yesterday was impressive alone. The ding sounded announcing the fruits of his labor:

  Quest Complete: Kata Chameleon

  Quest Rewards: 500 XP, 300 FP

  Gus stopped by the suite to grab the tactical backpack, then headed to the Foundry to get the scanning pylons. Each one was the same size as a beefy thermos, which Gus stuffed into the backpack. He was only able to fit eight inside. He carried the remaining four in his arms, carrying the new naginata in the crook of his hands until he got to the forest’s edge and dropped three of the sensors.

  “Dag yo! Real life has worse inventory problems than Fallout 76!” Gus complained. Not wanting to be without a weapon, Gus held the naginata in his left, dominant hand, and a sensor in his right. He dashed in two-hundred-fifty feet, then moved off the path to the left ten feet.

  Since the sensors had a scanning diameter of two-hundred-fifty feet, he wanted to place them as tactically as possible to get maximum coverage with their scanning radius. He was tired of being surprised. And lured into traps. And volcanos, but that’s another story. Since the forest quickly got difficult to penetrate farther away from the path, he was confident that at least initially he would not need to monitor areas too deep in the dense undergrowth.

  “Nick, can you place markers indicating the optimal placement of these?”

  Orange plumes of light appeared on his display. Gus easily found the first recommended site. Placing the first sensor on the ground, he pressed the button on the top. Something shot out from the bottom of the device, anchoring it, and the top telescoped into a metal cylinder the thickness of a broom handle. Gus could see the reflective mesh panels on the sides of the device that collected solar energy to power it. After a few seconds, a red light on the top winked green, which indicated it was activated and synced with the manor.

  Gus returned to the path and continued on, alternating to the right this time and placing another sensor. After placing the third, he retrieved the other sensors from the forest entry and continued placing the remainder of the sensors ever farther down the path. Occasionally he had to move a bit because of thick roots, or being in the center of a dense clump of plants. He would also have to see if he could make or access some sort of device that could give him some feedback with these new sensors.

  “Um, boss? Why don’t you just have it update the minimap? I’m all for maximum effort though, so if you really want to get your crafting on, it’s all good.”

  Gus facepalmed. Keep it simple, stupid. He zoomed out and found that he could see much more all around the entire manor. Fortunately, only the jungle had the fog of war; everything else was visible from the beach to the large hill the manor was embedded into. The coastline also had much better resolution, especially in the last part of his survey. Evaluating his results, he contemplated placing some sensors in the more sparse forest to the south of the manor where he first approached.

  From where Gus ended less than half a mile away from the forest entry, he could see that he had vastly underestimated the number of sensors necessary to blanket the path. Standing where he finished, Gus listened to the trill of birds and the chittering of some kind of frog, or was that a monkey? As he worked, Gus composed three fight song playlists, not wanting to get caught flat-footed again.

  “You could put some more 80’s songs in there, you know,” Nick offered.

  “I think I’m fine, thanks.”

  “Suit yourself,” Nick said petulantly.

  Gus vowed that if the animals ever got quiet again, he was not venturing any farther. He had forgotten how many sensors could be made per hour. If possible, he wanted to get some of the remaining sensors in place before it got too dark.

  “Nick, can you figure out how many more sensors I’ll need to cover the entire path?”

  “I gave you too much credit with the math thing earlier, didn’t I?” Nick snapped.

  “Just do it.”

  “Twenty-six in intelligence, going to waste…” Nick muttered.

  After all the sensors were in place, he would place the turrets. The plan was to give him a comfortable zone where he could retreat and the turrets could cover him while he made it to safety. He urgently wanted those turrets, but he needed to know what was happening so he could plan his responses, in case the Dark Nth made a move. They were already demonstrating that they were more organized than a bunch of hungry, mindless creatures.

  Unseen on a high branch, another blob-like creature sat observing Gus as he retreated down the path. After the defeat yesterday, Methiochos pulled his troops back instead of letting them be sacrificed unnecessarily. The attacks made when the Dark was in control had been uncoordinated and weak. Methiochos was a general and the past attacks without a strategy galled him.

  If the invader hadn’t interrupted his Mantids in the process of organizing his next attack, h
is forces wouldn’t have been routed. To effectively plan his attack, Methiochos needed to see whom he was dealing with, and how they fought in battle. He would place observers all along the path in strategic places. Because their amped stat was intelligence, they could create fields around them that masked their presence, and the unnerving effects other Dark Nth radiated that set wildlife on edge. They could even influence the unprepared. The tradeoff was that their agility and strength were reduced to almost zero, losing all capacity to move, save for the ability to rotate the many eyes that studded their jiggly hide. Once they were in position, they could transmit what they saw to Methiochos and also to the other Dark Nth, vastly aiding in ambushes and attacks.

  The observers also liked to mentally share their information with each other, and collaborated much as they had done in their lives before, when they were scientists and researchers, though this life was forgotten. They would observe this intruder and their council would mentally convene and analyze. This was the type of puzzle they loved to solve. Tactics and strategy, what a wonderful game! As long as they were safe and protected, the self-appointed kings would direct the pawns and rooks, bishops and knights to defeating their enemy.

  Chapter Thirty

  The Riddle

  Day 8 2:54 PM

  2:09:16 remaining

  Gus headed back to the Foundry, and looked up how many sensors could be made at one time. It turned out the number was twenty, and the bundle would take an hour to finish. To cover the entire path, Nick recommended he would need sixty-three sensors total. He added them to the queue again. The sensors seemed to not require any of the energy consumption from the manor, which was nice, considering it was a limited resource. It was just before noon, so he could get some more sensors placed before it got too late. A brief glance at his watch told him there was time to finish today. He paused, making a mental note to examine his watch at greater length.