“Dead or Alive. It’s gone. How?” she demanded.
“Kai helped us out. He gave us Blizzard’s rewards,” I nodded at our new team member who kept a prudent distance.
“Why?” she snapped in his direction.
“Just wanted to help, sweetheart,” our new Technomancer made a vague gesture. “Nothing else. We’re a team now, aren’t we?”
Alice breathed a fitful sigh as if accepting the necessary evil. What she did next surprised me. She bent down and laid Gerda’s broken sword on the floor, then kicked it toward Kai.
“It’s yours,” she sniffed her contempt. “Take it!”
“Thanks a lot, darling,” Kai replied with sarcastic courtesy as he lifted the broken blade by the hilt and studied it closely.
“You betray us, I kill you,” she snapped a brief warning, then turned to me. “Grey. Show me around?”
The only time she’d been inside one was as a prisoner. A strange expression didn’t leave her face as she studied the recreation rooms and the showers – the only places she’d been granted access to. I could tell that she felt uneasy under Kate 7’s invisible surveillance and couldn’t wait to get back outside to the comfort of nocturnal freedom. Still, the opportunity to spend a night in a safe location, have a wash and a change of clothes, and have a bit of a breather had overpowered her insatiable will for freedom. I left her to clean herself up and returned to Kai, still busy squeezing the terminal for information.
“It’s even worse than I thought,” he murmured. “Everything’s been destroyed. Everybody’s dead. Everything’s forgotten... The Incas are gone. The Monoliths are on standby. Translocation unavailable... Listen Grey, I really need to get to Blizzard’s old base. It’s next to the city of Pingxiang in the south east. What do you use as transport?”
“Nothing.”
“What do you mean, nothing? You didn’t cross the whole A-zone on foot and walk all the way up here, surely?”
I chuckled. “Actually, we did. But I know where to get an airmobile. It’s actually not very far from here.”
He perked up. “That sounds more like it. Mind telling me more about it?”
Having listened to my story about the Roc’s nest, he became restless. “An egg of the Roc! Grey, this is a unique opportunity. It’s not so much about the mission even: we’re talking the potential hatchling of a class-Gold A-monster. If we could tame it and turn it into a pet...”
“Could you tame it?” I asked, incredulous.
“Oh yes. Some of the stronger clan Enchanters have done it before. And it’s even easier with a newborn hatchling. A pet like that is potentially a powerful combat unit, but it’s also a permanent source of A-energy and a transport that can rival an airmobile, all rolled into one. It’s true you’ve already missed your bonus time and the mission is now available to everyone, but still we stand a good chance. Provided we get there first!”
“You shouldn’t forget about the Possessed,” I reminded. “I need to sound a Blue Alert in order to save Fort Angelo.”
“A Blue Alert,” he drawled, skeptical. “I find all this very strange, you know that? You see, Gnarl is officially dead. I remember very well how they closed the mission requiring his elimination. The Legion had gone to Kratos and destroyed both his labs and the nearby settlement of the local clan.”
“Well, he’s alive now.”
“Well, if he is, there can be two explanations of how that could have happened, and neither of them is worth jack shit,” he murmured. “So now they’ve attacked Fort Angelo. They had to be really desperate to do that. Angelo is heavily fortified. Even the Legion didn’t dare storm it at the time, for fear of high casualties.”
“So what do you suggest?”
“I think we need to go and take a look at that Roc’s nest,” Kai said pensively. “We need that egg and the airmobile. If ever we want to get rid of them, both clans and the Cats will fight over themselves to get their hands on them.”
“The cats?”
“Yes, the traveling peddlers. They’re a crazy bunch. A bit like a nomadic clan, you can find them all over the world. They are, how can I say... different. You can’t confuse their cats’ heads for anything.”
“You mean they’re A-mutants? Or just regular people? Traveling peddlers?”
“They’re all sorts,” Kai replied without a smile. “There used to be some Incas among them, too. From what I heard, they have their spies everywhere. They buy and sell, and they also collect rumors and all kinds of information. Very interesting people.”
“You sure they’re still around?”
“Oh yes. They’ve been around for hundreds of years. They’re a bit like a secret order, really.”
I’d learned more in a couple of hours of talking to him than I had in my entire albeit short life. Stellar, the Possessed, the Cats... Still, we had more pressing matters to take care of, and we were running short of time — we might have run out of it already. I had no idea what had been happening at Fort Angelo and whether the place was still in one piece. I didn’t know the outcome of the mutiny on board Avenger, either. For all I knew, Gnarl may well have already taken Angel’s citadel and razed it to the ground.
“Can you show me how to use the transmission center?” I asked.
“Absolutely. We’ll go there now,” the freshly-minted Technomancer replied. “But first let me give you a piece of advice.”
“Which is?”
“You should send an anonymous message via your cogitor. Don’t give them your name. Don’t answer any questions. Just upload the message, end of story. As soon as Stellar receives a confirmation, it’s gonna sound a Blue Alert. I’ve no idea how fast the Legion might respond. They can’t just up and go, anyway. An operation on this scale requires some preparation. That might give us 24 to 48 hours’ grace.”
“Why?”
“Just in case. What’s the point of getting on their radars? My relationship with the Legion is already strained. I’m not even talking about Alice, she’s got a record from hell. And as for you, I thought you were planning on visiting the City? Once the legionnaires know who you are, they’ll do everything they can to lay their hands on a new Inca. And they’re not used to getting no for an answer. I’m afraid you’re not quite in a position to speak to them on an equal footing yet. In fact, none of us are. So just trust me. I speak from experience. You should keep a low profile.”
I nodded. It made sense. It wasn’t as if I was itching to tell the world about my mysterious arrival, either. You never knew what kinds of problems and pitfalls might ensue.
The transmission module looked just like the terminal, the only difference being that it had several ring-shaped holographic projectors mounted at its center.
As soon as I touched the sensor panel, the air came alive with an augmented-reality projection of the globe studded with occasional shimmering dots. The largest of them was in fact a bunch of several signals clustered together which glowed in the north west. It was located on an enormous island which was more like a small continent.
“Now activating the transmission module... Analyzing the data... 17 available communication points found. D’you want me to contact the City, Incarnator?”
Chapter 25
A TRANSPARENT PILLAR of light flashed on. On a signal from me, Miko killed the holographic streaming. Kai had a point: showing my face to the City guys was probably not a good idea.
“This is what we can do, Incarnator. I can simply stream Rico’s video message to them. Would you please activate your vox or the data transmitter?”
I reached into my cryptor for the flat graphene chip containing the message. Rico had given it to me just before I’d left Fort Angelo when he’d sent me on this journey. Such smart Utopian gadgets could exchange messages between themselves or send them through any available networks.
The soft flashing light of the incoming call turned green. A dull monotonous voice spoke.
“Hello. This is the City speaking, Needle Tower, operator 3/5
in the main terminal. Please identify yourself and the purpose of your call.”
“All done! I’m sending it!”
I knew exactly what the invisible operator thousands of miles away was about to see. I’d watched the old Enchanter’s video message dozens of times. Was he still alive? Had Fort Angelo withstood the attacks or would the legionnaires arrive to scenes of lifeless ruins? Whatever the case, I was obliged to complete my mission.
Rico’s focused withered face stood before my eyes while I listened to his distress message.
“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! To everyone who can hear me. I am Rico from Icarus’ clan, the Enchanter at Fort Angelo. We have been attacked by a Rogues’ Convoy led by one of the Possessed whose name is Gnarl. The transmission tower has been damaged. We’re surrounded. Please inform the City and the Legion officers or forward this information to the nearest Stellar terminal. Our coordinates are attached, as well as all the details and video evidence.”
“They received it! I’ve got confirmation. We did it, Incarnator! They’re asking for our name and coordinates. D’you want me to cut them off?”
Definitely.
I switched off the transmission module and returned to the terminal. Kai was still busy next to it, leaning over a heap of new gear. Hearing me approach, he turned around and nodded.
It had worked. A new mission had appeared on the Alerts list.
Blue Alert!
Warning! Danger on regional scale!
Requires military intervention!
The neutral settlement of Fort Angelo has been attacked by a group of Possessed Ones.
Task: Liquidate the threat to the civilian population and prevent the enemy from taking or destroying the settlement.
Optional: Eliminate the Possessed group behind the attack.
Reward: unknown
Reward type: Commendation, Order of Merit.
A Blue Alert! A regional-scale threat in Stellar’s book. The Blizzard group had received ten commendations for completing the Hades alert. If we managed to tackle the Convoy and deal with Gnarl and Evyl, that would pull Alice out of the Renegades once and for all.
Still, somehow I didn’t think a small Incarnator group like our own could handle a massive task like this. The Rogues were just too numerous – and they also enjoyed the potential support of the Possessed crew on board Avenger who could cover the attackers’ backs at a moment’s notice.
“So what now?” I asked.
“Now the Legion is obliged to respond,” Kai said. “They’ve probably already called up a council and will soon send out a recon party. A Convoy is a serious force, so we can expect an adequate response. We’re looking at at least one cohort, possibly two.”
“So what do you think? What do we do now?”
He heaved a sigh. “The Roc’s nest. We need transport. Then we’ll just play it by ear. We don’t have enough data. Too many unknown variables. We need to work out the lay of the land. You just go to bed now and leave me to my misery. I might be stuck here for quite a while, sorting through all this shit,” he chuckled, nodding at the heap of gadgets, weapons and miscellaneous gear.
“One last question,” I said. “Those Orders of Merit, what do you do with them?”
“The Stars, you mean? You need them to rise through the ranks or to exchange for Arsenal gear. You’ll need your White Star in order to be promoted to officer. The Blue Star is strictly elite. You use it for Legate-level promotions or to exchange for Alpha-class gear. So you just keep it for the time being.”
Before I left, I checked the terminal to see if there were any new missions available. The system still allowed me to claim them, but the requirements had changed to “difficulty level 2”. Cleansing, for instance, now required the killing of 5,000 monsters; the requirements for Hunt had risen to 30 monsters; etc., etc.
Still, they were worth doing anyway because by now, Alice was only six commendations away from regaining her status. We might get three of them by completing The Egg of the Roc if we were lucky; the other three I didn’t worry about, knowing we’d earn them eventually somehow.
We spent the night in the comfort of the Monolith. We were so used to living rough that the habitual creature comforts of civilization, such as hot water and a soft bed in a safe place, felt like heaven on earth, a well-deserved reward for our tribulations. That was probably one of the Monoliths’ purpose, to ensure that Incarnators had a home they could always come back to. Unfortunately, the translocation network that used to connect them was now in disrepair, so there was no knowing what might have happened to the Incarnators’ other bases.
In the morning, Alice surprised me. She must have jumped at the chance to smarten herself up a bit. She was all neat and clean in her new jumpsuit, her hair plaited into a thick blonde braid. This was a completely different person: not a savage forest-dwelling shapeshifter but an attractive young woman who wasn’t at all aggressive – especially when she tried to smile. The only detail that ruined the impression was the grim heavy look in her shimmering green eyes.
Kai must have been busy with the gear all night at one of the Arsenal’s workshops. He'd promised me to take care of the group’s equipment. I’d given him all of the “black bone” I’d had on me, plus the skull of Rat King and all the other bits and pieces he could use.
He'd changed dramatically, too. He seemed to have grown taller and burlier overnight, his body stocky and powerful. He was wearing a helmet that I recognized as the one that used to belong to his group’s Technomancer. The suit of black bone plates lent him a slightly sinister look. He was playing with the monstrous bulk of a pulse machine gun in one hand while carrying a rattling bunch of miscellaneous weaponry in the other.
“They have a universal workbench and a replicator down there,” he gave me a wink, “plus I got access to our old gear. So here’s some equipment we can use... oh wow! Holy shit, Vixen! Did anyone tell you you can be a real stunner when you scrub yourself up?”
A growl escaped Alice’s throat. Her fingers curved into claws. “Don’t you. Ever. Call me. That.”
Kai turned slightly pale. “Okay, okay, sweetheart,” he hurried to add. “Here, take this. It might make you feel a bit better.”
He lobbed a small item to her which glinted in the air before landing in Alice’s hand: a thin unlocked bracelet topped with a transparent crystal. It was the cryptor suit we’d taken off Gerda’s body.
“The BBR,” the girl said with a strange expression, fumbling with it. “No. Not for me. For Grey.”
“It is a BBR, you’re right. Bio Booster Armor. Part of Gerda’s Alpha kit,” Kai replied with a hint of pride in his voice. “Grey can’t use it because... because this particular guyver was made for a female warrior. And seeing as you’re the only female among us and as you’re walking around au naturel anyway...”
With a furious glint in her eye, Alice locked the steel band around her neck and touched a finger to the crystal. I could tell she’d used this kind of thing before.
Immediately a thin silvery suit of hugging armor spread over her body, made of something that looked like layer upon layer of the finest fish scales.
“Even a coilgun can’t pierce this,” Kai said. “Blocks all kinetic and energy damage and partially repels Azuric damage. Plus – the guyver can change its shape and size to adjust to those of its owner. Try it.”
Alice cast a quick quizzical glance at me. I nodded.
In an instant, she shapeshifted into her animal form. Normally, this change reduced her regular clothes to tatters which was why the girl was constantly short of apparel. But now the guyver suit had imperceptibly transformed alongside her, turning the feline creature – the cross between a fox and a cat – into a beautiful graceful beast encased in a silvery suit of armor.
“What a pretty kitty,” Kai smirked. “Fancy a good scratch behind the ears?”
I chuckled. Our new team member was rather quick with a quip. Overall, he seemed quite normal – at least as far as four-hundred-year-old
Incarnators go. But predictably, Alice didn’t appreciate the joke.
“Okay, okay, forget it,” Kai raised his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “I have no desire to have my fingers snapped off. Now, I’ve got another gift for you. I’ve managed to restore Frost to its original glory. You’re the only Warrior among us. Take it. It’s yours now.”
He reached into his cryptor and proffered the weapon to her in his open palms.
Frost. His wife’s sword.
Its long thin blade resembled a sliver of transparent ice. Its hilt spiraled up, woven from hundreds of silver cobwebs and topped with the iridescent pommel of an Azuric artifact.
“That’s yours. Gerda’s,” Alice sniffed proudly, turning away. Still, I’d noticed the greedy glint in her eyes at the sight of the beautiful weapon.
The Enchanter (Project Stellar Book 2): LitRPG Series Page 30