by Rick Scott
“It’s one determined by human nature,” Bruce said. “There’s a segment of our population, however small, that rejects the Shards outright. Then there’s a bigger sector like myself who can appreciate it but prefer the real world. Then there are those who split their appeal for both worlds evenly. And then, just like those who reject it, there’s a small minority that would be willing to live in the Shards permanently.”
“The data shows there’s actually a large majority of the population willing to live in the Shards full-time,” Dennis said.
“The exact numbers don’t really matter,” Bruce said, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s principles I’m talking about here. The fact is you’ve got people who are going to reject full immersion no matter what the circumstances.”
“Well, of course, Bruce,” Dennis said, sounding irritated. “We went over this, hence the mandatory part?”
“And how long do you think your little virtual utopia would last before that resentment turned into rebellion? Anarchy?”
Dennis scoffed. “There are ways of controlling that.”
Holy crap…there it was. Right out in the open. He was planning some means of control once inside. He’d tipped his hand, but Bruce couldn’t let him know that he’d seen it. Better yet, he had to do the opposite.
He had to agree with the concept.
“Well, I think I have a better way to keep people happy than anything you might come up with.”
This truly took him aback now. Dennis raised a brow. “Do you now?”
“Someone told me once, that the only way you’d get the HUB squatters to live in the Shards is if you remade the HUB for them inside.” He glanced about. “So I got someone to do a mock-up to see what you think.”
“You want to recreate the hub?”
Bruce shrugged. “It’s where they feel comfortable.”
Dennis laughed. “Well, you get points for out-of-the-box thinking, I suppose.”
Arrogant prick. But once again Bruce kept his emotions in check. He was playing it completely by ear now. He checked the meter…just at 40%. He had to keep this phony conversation going a little while longer.
Dennis stepped about the clinic, examining the glass doors and the medical pods inside. “Can’t say it looks quite real,” he said with a frown. “Who’d you get to do this?”
Oh crap. Bruce forced himself to answer as casually as possible. “Some freelancer, but if this were for real, I’m sure we’re need a top-notch designer. Someone who could make the Hub look and feel just as real as that skanky sweat box you took me to.”
Dennis let out a laugh. “Aw, I thought you’d like it there. Pity we left early. Happy hour was just starting.”
“Yeah, right. I’m pretty sure happy hour never ends in a place like that.”
“Touché,” he said with a grin. He then looked at him with another squint. “Are you serious about this, Bruce?”
As much as he hated even the thought of full population immersion, he had to keep this going. Just a little while longer. He shrugged. “It’s just an idea. People need to feel real. Like it’s home, even if it’s not, right?”
“So why tell them?”
“Huh?”
“Why tell them that it’s not real. That’s what you’re saying, right?” Dennis flashed him a dangerous grin. “My goodness, Bruce, you do surprise me at times.”
“Don’t tell them? What are you talking about?”
“Well that’s what you’re hinting at, aren’t you?” He stepped around a medibooth to stand face to face with him. “I mean…what sense would it make, recreating this pigsty, if they knew it was fake?”
This wasn’t the direction Bruce was heading at all. In fact, he was hoping not to get into any kinds of details if he could avoid it. But now he had no choice. He checked the meter. 78%. Just a bit more and he could cut this conversation short.
“Ha!” Dennis said, hands on his hips. “So you’d really put everyone in the Shards, so long as they didn’t know? My gosh, Bruce, that’s absolutely brilliant.”
His stomach dropped. What the heck was this now? “No, I’m not saying anything like that. It was just an idea to make things more comfortable. To transition.”
His heart thundered in his chest so loud he feared Dennis might hear it. The software engineer gave him a knowing smile and Bruce could feel the balance of power shifting again.
Dennis was calling his bluff and Bruce wasn’t doing well to maintain it.
“Quite an idea though, isn’t it, Bruce?” Dennis said with a chuckle. “Could you imagine if you weren’t the first to come up with it?”
“What?”
“Think about it,” he said. “Maybe one of our ancestors already had your brilliant idea and plunged us all into stasis centuries ago. Maybe we just think this is all real because the Shards exist. Maybe that’s even their purpose—to give us something else to think of as fake. A faker version of reality so that the fake reality…becomes real.”
A tremor of fear ran through Bruce’s stomach. It wasn’t just what Dennis said but the way he said it. His eyes were glazed, staring into space as if looking into some other realm that Bruce couldn’t see. The thoughts of that conversation came back to him and took on an entirely new perspective in his mind.
Was he hinting at something here?
What if they were already trapped in some kind of stasis?
What if Dennis already had full control?
“That’d be ridiculous, of course,” Dennis said with a laugh. “But could you imagine?”
Bruce swallowed the hard lump in his throat. The rational side of his brain kicked in, pushing back the paranoid. He was sure he could dispel any such notion in hundreds of ways, but the concept alone was still terrifying.
“But back to your idea,” Dennis said. “It creates quite the ethical quandary, doesn’t it? To be honest, I’m surprised you came up with it, Bruce. Or did you not consider it that far?”
“I didn’t come up with anything,” Bruce said defensively and immediately regretted saying it. Crap, he was truly on the back foot now.
Dennis laughed. “Take it easy, Bruce. Probably wouldn’t matter anyway. They won’t be in there for that long.”
Bruce furrowed his brow. “What?”
Dennis must have caught the look on his face, because he quickly grinned. “In here, I mean,” he said and gestured to their surroundings. “Chances are they’d figure out it’s fake and go stark raving mad or something.”
His answer was as fake as the context.
“Yeah…” Bruce said, maintaining his guise of ignorance. “Probably.”
The data timer buzzed at 100%.
Thank God. He had to end this now.
“Well, like I said, just an idea.”
“And a good one, Bruce,” Dennis said. “The next time the motion for mandatory population immersion comes up, I trust you’ll share this with the rest of the board for their consideration.”
His stomach lurched again. Dennis was already setting up his next chess move. But Bruce was one step ahead. Soon he’d find out what this sneak was really up too. Still, he had to keep playing the game. Play the dumb Bruce that only cared about keeping his Board position and the city afloat.
Bruce swallowed deeply, and shifted his eyes left and right, feigning discomfort. He had to make Dennis feel that he feared him again. Not that it was that hard to do. Bruce did fear him, but from what was on that recording, or more specifically...what was not.
“Well, I’ve got maintenance to work on,” Bruce said. “I’ll catch you later.”
“Maybe I can flesh out this idea for you some more,” Dennis said. “Have it ready for presentation when the time is right.”
Bruce paused. He would have to press the issue, wouldn’t he? A final test of the bluff.
“Yeah…” Bruce said. “You do that.”
Crap what had he started now?
“See you later, Bruce,” Dennis said and vanished from sight.
&
nbsp; * * *
Bruce removed his rig and welcomed the breath of stale recycled air. For a second, Dennis’ nightmare scenario replayed in his mind and Bruce endured a short moment of panic as he considered whether the world he was in was not real, and that the whole of Citadel was just some alternate version of the Shards.
A shudder ran through him as he shook the thought away.
Takes Dennis to think of something so twisted. Just another mind game. Something else to throw me off.
Still, Bruce checked his knuckles and made sure the scars were still there as he reached for his comm device to give Carl a call.
Chapter 43: Siege War
A flaming tree trunk flies through the perimeter wall and crashes into the inner wall beyond. The entire keep shakes with the force of the hit and the flames give form to the nightmare unfolding around me.
It’s barely been an hour since my chat with General Lyons and already I’m having second thoughts about our chances.
The army surges back and forth against the outer wall like a rising tide, the giants and mammoths chiseling away at the impact zone with battering rams. The flames from the burning log join two more just like it and a mini inferno fills the narrow gap between the outer wall and inner.
“Reload!” Maxis shouts.
I snap out of my gawking and retrieve another iron-tipped bolt from the stockpile of ammunition behind me. My brother cranks the winch to the truck-sized contraption, pumping it back and forth in a fervor. Arrows whistle above my head as I load the bolt and then give Maxis a thumbs up.
Maxis gets behind the Ballista and with a strength that seems impossible for his size, lifts the huge crossbow to aim down at the giants manning the battering ram. He hits the trigger and the massive bow snaps with an ear-splitting THWOK!
The bolt flies true and pierces one of the giants.
Maxis uses the Ballista!
Maxis hits the Mountain Giant for 2875 damage!
Maxis defeats the Mountain Giant!
You gain 17500 experience points!
The giant falls, but its place on the ram is quickly taken up by one of its brethren. Another huge Ballista bolt flies in from our right, fired by a team of Rembrandt’s clones. It strikes a mammoth and the creature’s health bar is reduced by half. A few more of his clones concentrate their fire on the wounded animal with their dual pistols and finish it off.
Rembrandt defeats the Mammoth!
You gain 12800 experience points!
“Reece, Max! Incoming!” Aiko yells from atop the wall beside us.
My brother dives out of the way while performing a Block. A split second later the entire parapet explodes with splintering wood and rock.
Mountain Giant uses Rock Throw.
The Ballista takes 892 damage!
Maxis takes 298(853) damage!
Your shadow absorbs the attack!
A Ballista is destroyed.
Maxis rolls out of the carnage and lets loose a curse. “Dang it! That’s like the third time now!”
“I’ll set it to rebuild,” I say, recasting Shadow Copy.
The night is still young but I feel like I’ve been up for days already. My clothes are drenched in sweat but at the same time the freezing cold air bites through and chills me to the bone. The mixture of hot and cold is nauseating and wears me down even more.
A glowing white light surrounds Maxis.
Becky casts Heal III
Maxis regains +298 HP!
I look down to the courtyard where Becky is located next to Val Helena and give her a thumbs up. She’s been running back and forth between our Ballista and Rembrandt’s, healing his clones from stray arrow damage as well as topping them up with Second Winds so they can maintain their near constant firing into the mass of soldiers and giants below us. But Braxus has mages too. More than once I’ve seen Health bars on their side go up as well as down. But I don’t think they have that many. Still, this is turning into a battle of attrition. And one that we might not win.
No, scratch that. I knew we could never win it.
That was never the plan.
But now, I fear we might not even be able to hold the army back long enough to escape.
“What’s the ETA on the tunnel, Rem?” I say through the party chat, ducking low to avoid an arrow as it sails right over my head.
“I’ll check with Gilly,” he says, and a few seconds later, after relaying his message through the string of three clones he placed in the tunnel, he replies. “She says another two hours minimum.”
“Another two hours?” Maxis says incredulously as he presses his back against the wall. “Man, I don’t think we can hold this up for another two minutes!”
The sinking feeling in my gut tells me he’s right.
“Just keep it going!” Val Helena says from below as she loads the catapult with a huge rock. “The walls are still holding. That’s all that matters.”
She fires the device and the thirty-foot-long arm snaps erect, launching the stone into the night sky. A few seconds later a string of XP messages scroll onto our HUDs.
A Company Swordsman is defeated!
You gain 8950 experience points!
A Company Swordsman is defeated!
You gain 8950 experience points!
A Company Swordsman is defeated!
You gain 8950 experience points!
A Company Archer is defeated!
You gain 9150 experience points!
Becky has gained a Level!
Becky is now level 63!
At least Becky is getting her levels back like crazy now. And I’ve regained a Veteran Point as well. But I don’t think I’ll have a chance to spend it. Val Helena gets back to reloading the catapult and single-handedly cranks the large wheel to lower the boom again, a task I’m sure would normally take three or four people.
“We need that Ballista back up, Reece!” Rembrandt reminds me and draws my attention back to my task at hand. “This one’s bound to get hit soon.”
Crap. “Sorry! I’m on it!”
I hunker down with my back against the rampart like my brother, lowering my head just below the wall. I pull up the Keep resources and check our status.
Name: Camp Star Fall
Level: 1
Population: 7/0
Growth: 0
Food: 5/0
Income: 0 gold per day [no trade routes established]
Morale: +30%
Security: 274%
Production: 27 Labor units/day
Trade Routes: 0
Structures:
(4) Stone Perimeter Wall
North (100%)
South (100%)
East (100%)
West (44%) [Auto-Repair]
(4) Reinforced Stone Wall
North (100%)
South (100%)
East (100%)
West (74%) [Auto-Repair]
(1) Wayfaring Stone: [NULL]
(1) Common Hall (93%)
(1) Dining Hall (100%)
(1) Baths (100%)
(1) Ballista 1 (90%)
(1) Ballista 2 (0%)
(1) Catapult (95%)
Resources:
Gold: 0 units
Food: 5 units
Wood: 894 units
Stone: 163 units
Iron: 90 units
Actions:
Build
Demolish
Repair
I spend another 50 wood to rebuild the Ballista. The walls are already set on constant repair and thanks to Gilly we have all the extra stone we need, but the raw materials are no longer the problem. I pull up the nano reserves for the keep next.
368/1000 Nano-Fragments
367/1000 Nano-Fragments
366/1000 Nano-Fragments
The numbers are spinning down like a stopwatch. Holy crap. It truly puts into perspective how much damage they’re constantly doing to that wall. It also makes me think of back home and the struggle they’re facing with the nano s
hortage. Is this what Gilly’s dad has to deal with, day in day out? Constantly watching a countdown clock to doomsday? The thought makes me remember the real reason we’re even here. None of this matters unless we can get back home before Citadel’s nano reserves run to zero. And we won’t be able to save them if we can’t even save ourselves.
“Becky!” I shout through the chat. “More nano!”
“I’m watching it,” she says. “Got it covered.”
Below, the Halfling tosses a handful of pink crystals to the courtyard floor. As they’re absorbed into the stone, the numbers on the Nano reserves jump.
364/1000 Nano-Fragments
568/1000 Nano-Fragments
768/1000 Nano-Fragments
968/1000 Nano-Fragments
I do the math in my head and realize we’re blowing millions of credits worth of resources right now. And as much as we have, we’ll eventually run out.
Just like Citadel.
I filter out some of the data on my HUD and bring up the most important stats.
(1) Stone Perimeter Wall
West (52%) [Auto-Repair]
(1) Reinforced Stone Wall
West (81%) [Auto-Repair]
(1) Ballista 1 (90%)
(1) Ballista 2 (25%)
(1) Catapult (95%)
Resources:
Wood: 844 units
Stone: 169 units
Iron: 90 units
[967/1000 Nano-Fragments]
Just a few seconds have passed and already the numbers have changed. The walls are keeping up ahead of the damage being caused by the battering rams, but those catapult hits are taking off 15% or more each time. I watch the numbers for a few moments more. Eventually another log comes crashing through the perimeter wall.
The keep shakes but I keep my eye on the numbers.
(1) Stone Perimeter Wall
West (41%) [Auto-Repair]
(1) Reinforced Stone Wall
West (73%) [Auto-Repair]