by Drew Cordell
“We need to keep moving,” Jess yelled, leading them forward through the hall. “We’ll try to work our way back to the Hopper and warn the Delver. We need to get the hell out of here.”
18
“How far out?” Reggie asked Jason.
“We’ll land in five minutes, sir.”
Reggie nodded. He was anxious, and the visual scans of the Hopper weren’t promising. The scanners weren’t reporting any physical damage on the outside of the ship, but that didn’t mean there weren’t interior problems. The Hopper was docked to Lunar Base Echo, but there was no way to tell if Jess and the others had already gone inside.
“Still nothing on the radio, sir. No power signatures on Echo either,” Jason said.
“Copy, let’s just be ready to move,” Reggie said. He was already wearing his vacuum suit, and his rifle was anchored into one of the weapon holders by his flight seat.
A red blip erupted on the radar, and it was moving toward the Delver at an alarming speed.
19
Nick’s heart was pounding in his chest, and he scrambled to keep up with the others. Running, or the awkward jumping he was doing, was difficult for him in the strange gravity of the Moon, but he had to get away from whatever was chasing them. His dad had hit it with the air tank, but like the grownups, Nick didn’t think it was destroyed. He wanted to get out of here, but he had to trust that his mom and dad would get them out of the base and back to the Delver.
They had cleared a few doors now, and there hadn’t been anything else waiting for them other than lifelessness. There weren’t any bodies, and they have time to stop moving. As they cleared another door, they entered a large, circular room with an airlock leading to the outside of the base. There were windows, and there was only one door leading into the room they were in. It was a dead end.
“Hold tight,” Nick’s dad shouted, rushing back toward the door and slamming it shut. He took out a fusion torch from his pack and began fusing the door to its frame. Through the small porthole, Nick could see the robot shambling down the hall toward them, but it looked badly damaged from where the tank had hit it. Its chest was dented in the middle, and sparks were shooting out from the center.
“Nice trick,” the voice said over the radio. “Looks like your friends are almost here.”
Nick looked out one of the windows in the room and saw something approaching the base. He couldn’t make out the ship itself, but the bright lights on the exterior of the hull revealed the outline of the Delver.
“I see the Delver!” Nick yelled to the others.
“I’ve got another treat for your friends,” the static voice said.
Suddenly, a blinding bluish white nova appeared in the sky where the Delver had been. When it faded, the Delver was simply gone.
“The Delver’s gone!” Nick screamed in shock. It had to be another missile. The adults rushed to the window to watch as the vapor and fragments of metal rained down on the surface of the Moon right outside the base. Nick knew everyone that had been on the Delver was dead. There was nothing left.
“My God,” Ms. Li stammered. The adults were all cursing now and acting like they were crazy. Nick was in shock, but he had a knack for focusing in the face of disaster. They weren’t out of danger yet, and they needed to act. It wouldn’t be fair to Haley, Nicole, and everyone else on the Delver if they didn’t work the situation and escape.
“That door isn’t going to hold, we need to go outside the base and board the Hopper from outside,” Nick yelled, trying to pull them back into reality.
“He’s right,” Nick’s dad said, snapping out of the shock and running to the airlock on the edge of the room. There wasn’t time to look at the robot creeping ever closer to the door. One piece of plas-mesh covered metal separated them from the machine, and Nick didn’t want to be in this room when it got through the door. It wasn’t a question of if, but when it would get through the door. Working his datapad and battery, Nick’s dad managed to override the safety locks on the airlock and force open the door. Still rushing, the group of survivors ran out onto the surface of the Moon and hopped to the Delver as fast possible. Nick focused on his leaps, trying not to tumble and fall. He looked back and saw the robot was now outside of the base with them, but it was struggling to navigate the uneven surface of the Moon. It looked like they’d make it out.
20
When everyone was strapped in, and the airlock was disconnected, Jess punched the throttle for a vertical takeoff before kicking the rear thrusters and shooting the Hopper into a diagonal climb. There was nothing for them on the Moon, and their only option was going to Mars or take their chances back on Earth. If they could at least partially refuel and resupply on Mars, Jess thought they’d be able to make it back to Earth if things didn’t work out there. The others were silent as Jess flew, probably contemplating just how alone they were now. They could very well be the last three humans alive in the galaxy. It was a staggering, terrifying thought that she couldn’t afford to think right now. She had a duty to get the others away from danger, and that meant burning the engines like hell. She didn’t know exactly how much food they had on board, but it probably wouldn’t be enough for the standard month-long trip to Mars with limited fuel use. They needed to get there faster, and she only needed enough fuel for heavy deceleration and some planetary cruising.
“Jess, we’ve got another missile locked onto us. Get us out!” Chelsea yelled.
“Mouth guards and pills now!” Jess shouted, tossing in a handful of stims into her mouth, crunching down on them and feeling her blood ignite after she managed to choke down the bitter powder. Jess didn’t bother to count the pills out, she took way too many, but it didn’t matter now. If she didn’t stay conscious during the maneuver, then everyone would die. The others weren’t going to be conscious during this, but the stims they took would help prevent health complications. The pills would keep them from choking to death on their own vomit, and the mouth guard would prevent them from biting off their tongues. Most importantly, the stims kept blood flowing even as the forces of gravity tried to pull it away from their organs. Jess hit the chair adjustment button to rotate everyone’s flight chairs forward before putting in her mouth guard and punching the accelerator forward to 5G. The force was crushing, but through her blurred vision, she saw the missile was still closing in. It wasn’t enough. Using the mechanical wrist brace to support her movement, Jess clicked the button on the side of the handle and slid it forward to 10g. Her brain seemed to be tearing itself in half, but the stims were slowly working their way through her blood and reducing the splitting pain.
The missile was still closing in.
Her jaw was locked from the force, but she cursed internally when her words failed. 15G. Her whole body was shaking, and it felt like something was going to break loose. Somehow, the drugs were working, but she was struggling to move her arms even with the help of the mechanical braces. The missile was still closing in, and she had no other choice but to screw protocol and get them the hell out. As blackness swam in the edges of her vision, she slid the accelerator up to 20G and blacked out several seconds later after cutting the thrusters completely.
21
Nick woke up to the buzz of his alarm clock and punched it off. He always liked to wake up a little early so he had time for a longer breakfast before his shift. He was still the youngest engineer on the base and had been for thirteen years now. There was still a lot to learn from his old man, but he considered himself the second best out of their eight-man crew. It was the fifteen-year anniversary of their arrival on International Martian Base Ares, and Nick still couldn’t believe they’d been lucky enough to escape the Moon. Jess and his family were the only survivors from the ISS. Something was still happening on the Moon and Earth, but they all knew not to go digging into it. Whatever was out there wasn’t worth messing with, and they needed to do everything in their power to keep from angering it again. Their base was thriving, and now, over one hundred people c
alled Ares their home.
Ares was thriving and had been enhanced from the remaining wreckage of Martian Base Alpha. The initial survivors of Alpha had fled Mars, seeking refuge on Lunar Base Echo when they experienced issues with farming and life support systems. Ares had offered to help, but most of the survivors on Alpha had elected to take the USS Light Hammer and large portions of the former Martian base to the Moon to start new lives and maybe eventually move back to Earth. Something had gone wrong, and Nick still couldn’t explain the robot that had tried to kill them when he was with Jess and his parents on the lunar base. He couldn’t explain why someone or something decided to shoot down the ISS and the Delver, and he couldn’t explain why he was alive and almost everyone he had known in his former life was dead. He tried not to think back on it, but eventually, his thoughts would drift back to it, and he’d find himself trying to piece together abstract facts that would never line up.
“Nick, you up?” Kirsten asked, walking into his room wearing her baggy jumpsuit pants and a newly woven tank top.
“Yeah, I’m up,” he said, pulling himself out of his thoughts and focusing on his beautiful wife. “How was your shift?”
Kirsten grinned, pulling out the band that held her hair in a bun and letting it fall to her shoulders. “Great. The okra is coming along nice, and Jenny thinks we’ll have an exceptional yield this season.”
“That’s awesome,” Nick said, returning her smile. “I’m probably going to be working on the Voyager with the crew again today.”
“Do you think we’ll ever actually go back to Earth?” she asked.
Nick shrugged. “I don’t know, sweetheart. It’s good to have the ship ready in case something goes wrong on the base, though. It’s good to have options.” Nick’s thoughts drifted back to the ISS and the Moon. In truth, he wanted to return to the Earth and uncover the reason why his friends were dead, but he couldn’t be selfish and give up the life he had here. Monica had sent her algorithm, and the data from the Phantom broadcast to the Hopper before the Delver was destroyed, but they hadn’t done anything with the data for fear of ruining their lives on Ares. Things on the base were good, and the life he had built here was more than enough. He was needed here, he was respected, and he was loved. And while he’d probably never have closure from his past, his heart was strangely at peace. The way Kirsten looked at him—the way she loved him, was always enough, and whenever his selfish desire to steal the Hopper and return to the Earth came up, she’d pull him back into reality and make him realize how irrational his thoughts were. He had to let the past go, and he knew he was closer than ever to making it happen.
Kirsten walked over and kissed Nick, rubbing the sides of his stubbly face gently then kissing him on the forehead. “I’m going to get some sleep, honey. Have a good shift, and I love you,” she said, climbing into bed and pulling on the covers.
“I love you too, sweetheart,” he said, kissing her on the forehead and contemplating just how much he loved her.
Your Next Great Read
I sincerely hope You’ve enjoyed the Absolute Knowledge Box Set (Books 1-3) and invite you to check out the first book of my LitRPG series: Stratus Online: Awakening.
Stratus Online: Awakening is the first book in a LitRPG series featuring awesome game mechanics, an epic, high-stakes quest, and lots of legendary loot.
Enjoy an excerpt on the next page or jump right in and get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Stratus-Online-Awakening-LitRPG-Book-ebook/dp/B071ZZTYDB
1
“You’re going to die in eight seconds!” Gaz screamed in my ear. He was right.
The Minotaur in front of me had broken through my defenses, and all my abilities were on cooldown. Oh, and I was bleeding profusely. Gaz cursed as he continued to pour light magic into my failing body. We were all low, and we didn’t have much time. I pivoted my feet and threw my body to the side as the beast charged, narrowly dodging the rush attack.
If I could smell in Sakarn Online, I'm sure the Minotaur would have smelled horrible. It was a large, stocky, muscle-bound creature with glowing red eyes. Its matted fur was tangled in thick knots that acted as dense armor. The fur and natural brawn led to a very tanky, hard-hitting boss. It wasn't the most terrifying monster in Sakarn Online, but my heart was pounding a lot harder than it normally did when I played since no one had killed the Minotaur yet. The stakes were much higher now. For all we knew, we were the first to encounter the boss.
The haptic sensors on my arms and legs vibrated intensely, and a warning flashed across my HUD. Of all things, in addition to my sundered armor, I sprained my ankle during the fall, and my movement speed was now halved by the debuff. Damn.
“Less than that,” I growled as the Minotaur whirled around to charge again. Gaz tried to draw its attention and attempted to cast something from his bulky tome, raising his glowing mace with the other hand. His dwarven frame was larger with his plate armor, but he was tiny compared to the huge monster we were fighting. The ploy didn’t work, and the Minotaur kept its attention on me.
One of my cooldowns refreshed, and I cast Divine Aegis on myself before the beast could hit. It was one of the cheaper spells available to me with my Paladin kit, but the cooldown was two and a half minutes.
I was low on mana to cast spells, and my health was below the ten percent mark. Divine Aegis gave me a slight armor boost and gave me a small chance to block all damage from attacks for the next ten seconds. I timed it to mitigate the Minotaur’s charge completely and use my remaining stamina to take a large chunk of its health with a critical hit to the head.
I hefted my great axe and took a swing at the beast as it hit me, but it wasn’t enough. Even with the bonus armor from my ability, I probably wasn’t getting out of this alive. Divine Aegis blocked some of the bleeding leeching my health but didn’t stop the main charge attack. The haptic sensors covering my body buzzed violently before going still, and my screen faded to black as Gaz cursed again.
A few seconds later, Gaz returned to the public lobby with John and Kirsten. We had failed the encounter for the fourth time this morning and still needed to adjust our strategy. It wasn’t my best attempt, but I wasn’t ready to give up on tanking with my Paladin build just yet. It was my best class, and I didn't really want to switch it up for a different tanking style.
“Edwin, come on man. I told you to save Smite for the berserker phase. You need to stun it before it stacks attack speed. It’s shredding through your armor, and I can’t keep up with my heals,” Gaz grumbled. “The fight is too hard to make mistakes like that; the Minotaur is one bad ass boss and will punish us if we mess things up.”
I wanted to argue that John and Kirsten weren’t doing enough damage, but there was no point starting a fight. It was my fault and I knew it. “Sorry, guys. My head isn’t in it today,” I said. It was the truth.
I had barely gotten any sleep, but we needed to clear this boss before other players found it. Maybe it had some good loot worth some real-world cash. It sure was one hell of an adversary to fight, and if I knew one thing from Sakarn Online, tough enemies dropped good, valuable loot. This was our eighth time fighting the Minotaur, and it still displayed as level ??? opponent. The four of us were maxed out in Sakarn Online in almost every class collectively, and this Minotaur was proving more difficult to beat than most of the end-game bosses and dungeons we could clear with ease. The game was our religion, and when we weren’t working to put food on the table, we were playing.
I was probably playing more than I should be, and even after three years at my crappy job at Burger Planet, things hadn’t improved. The food was greasy and it sucked, but the small burger joint was packed on a daily basis. My boss, a 40-something by the name of Gary, always seemed to be on me and never had anything better to do than snack on the fries in the kitchen and flirt with Rachel, a 19-year-old manipulative tease with long, curly hair who knew Gary would let her coast through her job if she unfastened an extra button on her shirt. Meanwhile, Gary made
my life in the kitchen hell and didn’t bother helping me when we were understaffed. Needless to say, I hated my job.
I sighed and rubbed the skin between my eyes after lifting off my VR headset. “I have to log out guys. I work in thirty minutes.”
“Seriously? Can't you make one more attempt? We’re close, and the longer it takes, the more likely someone is going to sweep this away from us. Think about the money,” Kirsten said.
She was right. People spent a lot of real-world money in Sakarn online. One of my biggest gripes with the game was that people could replace skill with money. They could bankroll their characters and pimp them out with the best gear in exchange for a fat wad of cash. If the Minotaur dropped some sweet swag, we might be able to sell it for real-world money or find some new piece of equipment to boost our character in one of our classes. My group of friends was great at the game, we each had pretty high-tier gear for a few of our favorite classes, and we didn’t spend any money other than our initial investment in the hardware needed to play. We easily covered our monthly subscriptions with in-game gold, and John was the business guru behind it.
