by Marcus Sloss
The bad news was I sent tumbling and was bleeding; maybe a lot.
I patted my new epic body and removed chunks of wolfaroo remains embedded in my skin. Gross.
The great news was, the splattered red mess was indeed mostly not my blood. I was drenched nonetheless and even spat out what was probably chunks of lungs.
Uncaring about the mess I raised my arms into the air victoriously. Oddly there was no roaring adulation at our amazing victory. Well, semi amazing. Hands pointed at the frozard crawling for the arena exit. Half his body was mostly missing with entrails stringing behind him.
“I got this!” Willow said, screaming her most ferocious mousey battle cry.
She had, at most, at a two-pound rock in her hands. Her little legs raced her to the downed enemy. I kind of felt bad for that guy, he had been very useless.
Willow was out for some sweet mercy killing. Except I knew how this was going to play out. That rock, and that mouse body were so pathetic it was comical.
The frozard pleaded for its life. Willow would run around the arms trying to keep her at bay, smashing the head at every opening. The creature gave up, desperate to end the minor inflictions that were barely leading to an inevitable demise. When it turned its head, the eyes closed and Willow bashed the soft spot until brains squeezed out of the head.
The huzzah of the moment was immediate when the gong rang three times and the victory platform landed. Willow was stuck in a smashing brains mode, and I had to yank her back to semi-reality. She had a ragged pant, sparkling eyes of joy, and a grin of evil.
“Darling you not only survived, but you also earned a kill. Nancy will be jealous because the mounamine will find endless courage from your actions,” I said to her proudly.
She accepted my embrace. I set the mace on the sand and Willow said, “Thanks for saving me. How did Everly die?”
“Err… I killed her.” My shrug resulted in Willow’s eyes widening. “Sort of. She was in a cheap body. Hopefully, our one and a half percent adds up and she can get a new body,” I said with a chuckle.
Willow blushed and whispered, “You just want to fuck us with that even bigger cock.”
“Guilty! We’re so getting synthetics for fighting, training, and then buying sex bodies for toys,” I said, grabbing her little hips. I wanted to smack my crotch to her little butt but hesitated. She was in a male body. No gay lines were getting crossed! “I can do some big-time dominating with you in such a petite body, just pick a girl next time. Weirdo.”
“Ha! I know right. It was a desperation pick. Next time I want a tail, oh wings, and well, there are lots of options for my Master’s desires.” Willow said, snuggling into my blood soaked body. “And the blood spoiled the mood. But for future reference, I definitely want some play bodies.”
“Yeah, I can see about the siblings finding a good solution or shopping for one ourselves. I don’t mind using them at home, but in combat, even on defense, it will be a hazard. I am getting a prompt to pay for a clean and repair. How about you?” I asked Willow.
“A small cleaning fee. I am going to accept, see you in our bodies on the disks, my king.”
Her body went limp in my arms. I approved the repair and the cleaning fee before being sucked into blackness.
∞∞∞
When I returned to my disk I was greeted by three people I most certainly did not expect to see. General Ryan, Linda Growlen, and Sammie. I opened my mouth and closed it. A finger went in the air and I paused. I stuck a finger through Sammie who squeaked when my hand came out of her chest.
Okay, that was a fair reaction. The group spun seeing us return.
“Master Eric, I was glad to make it in time to witness your victory,” Sammie said and I saw her wearing a Koovorin collar, which meant she was here in the flesh. Her curtsy was flawless as always. “I convinced these two to come.”
“Oh really, why are you here?” I opined with a raised brow.
Sammie fidgeted when Everly held a hand up to speak first. “I am proud of you, King Eric. My body was cheap, my foe was dispatched quickly, and you secured our victory. Thank you for letting me bring honor to our home and another victory to my tally.”
Longoria fluttered her wings happily and said, “And your winnings can free a few hundred mounamine if you want them. Personally, I want that angelic body to toy with.”
“Yeah, those are like drugs. We will get to your shopping here soon. Sammie, why are you here?” I asked.
“Longoria needed more zinc. She was about to purchase the last of the equipment when someone siphoned a bundle of her funds to use a fancy body,” Sammie said, almost flinching in reaction. I tried to pet her ear and failed. “Soon enough Master. I miss your soothing touch already. The siblings sent me over with triple the zinc after the first machines arrived home safely. This is exactly what they need to build their masterpiece, they said. Based on the reports we are smart to get them what they need. Miss Growlen and Mr. Ryan were waiting at the Xgate with the tanks. They asked to journey with me to the city to deliver the zinc to Longoria and here we are.”
The fidgeting continued until Sammie lunged through Willow trying to hug her.
“You were so brave Mistress Willow, your glory will be sung in the burrows for ages.”
Toth gave a hearty slothish laugh. When he had our attention he said, “My work here is done. Stick to Koor City. Avoid offshoot cities for everyone’s safety. Trade up top, they are the best suited to deal with the needs of other planets. If you have a problem I am easy to reach for a video chat. The event was fun to watch. You humans are as reckless as the kerbians. When you are ready to go home I need all four of you to tap your disk since we physically have to haul you in the encased armor. We can do that for others at a steeper cost. You were the taste tester as they like to say.”
I went to shake his hand and he frowned at both the gesture and the fact I was not in a body. Right.
“Thank you for your help. Is there a second market we should visit?” I asked and he shook his head no. “Then have a great day.”
“Same to you, enjoy your stay. Remember to sell your bodies, even the dead panther has value, or take them with you,” he said walking up a ramp to leave.
When he was gone in the distance I turned to our group.
“Well Longoria, any luck with the youngins?”
She giggled and said, “I am ancient but I value the kind words. No such luck. The last of the machinery was purchased. We can go to the contract and job market or head home.”
“Master,” Sammie said, seeking attention with wiggling ears of hesitation. “The siblings said all was quiet when I asked if they needed you. They could use a few additional machines but I believe Longoria already acquired what was needed.”
“Ah, so to the contract and job market. I take it we can contract a set of builders, for say a month, and then they will come here when our contract is over?” I asked and Longoria bobbed her head. “How about you Linda, Ryan? What are your intentions?”
“Initially I wanted to visit to scratch my curiosity. The fact that I have no place in your home is most concerning. I think I do now,” Linda said, taking in the arena. “An arena manager would be a nice new corporation to run. Assuming you don’t mind, I have neilspar in my room that was in my personal bag.”
“I have yet to confiscate anything personal from anyone residing in the Bastion community. I am not starting now,” I said, folding my arms. “You sure about an arena?”
Everly snickered and said, “What about the digital worlds? I heard they can have time dilation to the point where you can go on a month-long retreat in the deepest jungle and sway on vines peacefully, but only have an hour go by in real time. At least that is what mom always pleaded for.”
“Fairies are builders, and the sluggeros are too busy. We would need some software designers or something along those lines,” Longoria said before turning to overlook the arena. “The pit makes sense. We would forgo contract shopping if we built up syn
thetics. And we have more finances at home. Could even start working out aggression and disputes.”
“Have people been back paid yet?” I asked.
Sammie shrugged. Longoria shrugged. Hmm…
“We are in no rush. Let us go contract shopping. How about we all go learn about the cost involved with running an arena or a virtual world? We don’t have to buy anything right this moment. I am sure producing bodies is not cheap. Or projecting into them,” I said, motioning us for the ramp.
When we were all on the platform Longoria input our destination for the market. We zoomed across the city in the traffic with our flight path being handled by some invisible operator. I was not sure how long a day lasted or what cycles gave aliens more freedom right now, but the city felt busier. We arrived on the outskirts of the market area in a massive parking pad. An elevator shot us down to the bottom and a moment later we were among the masses of shoppers crowding into and out of the vendor booths.
A young faced bear with a cat tail held up a digital sign.
Market tours. .000001 gram of neilspar.
Ouch. I walked for the lad when Longoria said, “We don’t need him.”
“Indeed, but I am here to learn not just about how to design something this grand, but about the residents too,” I said. The boy's sign lit up when I paid the fee and I named him Teddy.
“Oh,” Teddy said in surprise seeing he had a paying customer. The lad ran to my disk projection. “Thank you! I am your guide for the next.” The translator angrily calculate. “Two hour and fourteen minutes. How may I help you?”
“Do you know much about the arena or synthetics?” I asked bending over, placing my hands on my knees to lower myself to his height.
The boy wagged his tail in a gesture I was unable to comprehend. “No, sir I do not.”
“Virtual worlds and -”
“Yes, follow me,” Teddy said, interrupting my sentence. His excitement was mildly contagious as I jogged behind him with a grin. The others hollered when we started to outpace them. “My father is a systems manager at Virtabox just down the road. He will be able to get you everything you need if you buy his time.”
A quick shoulder check revealed the others keeping up. We never actually entered the market. We ducked through a short alleyway that I shouldn’t have actually ducked for. We exited onto a long busy road and a few minutes later Teddy pointed at a larger version of himself I named Ted. We stepped into a well-lit small store with a few boxes to use for virtual worlds.
“Can I help you Teddy?” the father asked the son. Ted pointed at me with a questioning look. “Are you here to enter our virtual world or something else?”
“I am from a different planet. We are upgrading a secure base, far from the Xgates. We could use equipment to help our citizens adapt to the new way of life through relaxation in virtual worlds,” I said while the rest of my team arrived. An eyebrow rose when Longoria fluttered in. “We have a few tech-savvy species.”
“Well, hiring my son was your best decision to get what you need. I have a cousin about a hundred floors down who sells fantastic ratio gear cheaper than the vendors up here,” Ted said. I grew confused and he continued. “The cheapest virtual machines are for a single person with no time dilation. You can tweak the cheap stuff only so far. Their core coding is ingrained and their processing power limited. Basically either you buy nice or buy something that you can afford and replace it one day with a better version.”
Longoria stepped up. “We would need a twenty to one, a hundred thousand server.”
“Huh?” I said and noticed everyone else from Earth was equally lost.
Teddy chuckled and said, “Is there anything else you would like to tour, boss?”
“Are we done here?” I was still confused about random server numbers and ratios.
Ted peeled back large canines when he smirked. A prompt for a hundred and twenty pounds of zinc hit my display. Longoria accepted before I could.
“Eric you genius, we saved twenty percent,” Longoria said. “Even after he got five percent. For his time. Ha!”
“Hey, you came to the right place, thanks for sending my kid to advanced schooling. That was a figure of speech, Teddy, get back to work,” Ted said sternly, pointing at his son. There was a hidden happy gleam to his eyes that made the tone fall flat.
I put a hand in the air for clarity when I received an incoming priority notification.
“This is Sally, you have raiders shifting through Colorado Springs and Aspen residents refusing to leave. Please return home.”
That was enough for me.
“Tap your feet, we're going home.”
The four of us reached down to between our toes and selected to return to our bodies.
CHAPTER 21
The Koovorin Council facilitated a hasty exit to return us back to Earth. I exited the submersible container sprinting into a fevered run for the blue portal. The only one faster than me was Everly with her long legs. My army was not waiting for me, instead, it was a company of heavy TG99s arranged to protect the exit.
When the blue shined in my eyes and I stepped back onto Earth I was relieved. My Gpad went crazy with alerts that I chose to ignore. AH1 dropped down from the heavens above to cut me off. I darted up the back ramp racing across the hanger. The moment I was in the captain’s room I called Jevon.
“Update as follows: the enemy has a high level of technology. They are utilizing a combination army. An insect humanoid we have termed the butterflin are carrying a slithering snake humanoid species we termed the naga. They are pilfering the last of Colorado Springs. Our new Gtower there has shown they are in the process of continuing the assault in our direction. We expect them to transition into Aspen. We have issued a mandatory evacuation of all residents. Seven hundred humans have not complied fearing we are tricking them out of their homes to relocate.”
I kicked the wall in frustration while I waited for additional details. Nothing. Hmm… I twisted my jaw in a grimace.
“Force status update,” I requested.
“Looting has been pulled in, the majority of the army is gathered around Rubble, what are your orders Cap,” Jevon asked.
I mulled it over. The screens were populating as Willow and Longoria arrived. Everly went to captain a TG99 company and I needed to decide a lot of things with only Willow to boss around.
“Await orders,” I said to the command net. I dialed into the local tank commanders. “Pull off Xgate 232, proceed direct Rubble.”
“Us too?” Longoria asked sharply.
I sighed seeing Sammie without new purchases racing for this Xgate. “Hold position, we will leave them if we need to. Get me the video of the enemy, Willow.”
“This is a good time for me to intercede,” Sally said. “Those people in Aspen were on the fence about moving underground. There was a low probability of them accepting their new home without seeing what we have constructed. May I send an emergency -”
“Yes, convince them to flee Aspen. We can’t defend its infinite alleyways, rooftops, and balconies from an invading flying army,” I said with hostility. “Actually let me tell them.”
My inner warrior demanded I scream with rage at the idiocy of humans. Why!? A few deep breaths later and I saw the enemy going into tandem formation.
“All residents of Bastion Community. We are at war. If you do not retreat to a defensible position you will be abandoned. I cannot risk an army for the naive. I implore you, I beg you, and I demand you leave Aspen at once for the underway.”
My eyes never left the developing situation. There must be ten thousand snaked warriors wearing armor with some form of plasma weapon. Their effort to combine with a butterfly humanoid was smooth as the tandem lifted off in droves. The first flights picked up and we held bated breath. I groaned when they flew directly for Aspen. I was immediately stuck with two bad choices.
Let the civilians get killed or captured. Or fight a close-quarters fight that would ravage Aspen. And this is why we
were moving. I glanced at the video showing Sammie two minutes out.
I dialed Everly and said, “Assign a tank to take Sammie home.”
“Boss, I got hostiles on the move,” Jevon said before I could call him.
“We fight, but Aspen companies only besides Mitchell on harass. I want Eddy, and Slister on ready to go in a flexible position. If we get hit in Mansion at the same time there is no sense of having all our forces in one spot,” I ordered. Mclain sent me a question mark text before I could address his unit. “Mclain’s heavy infantry beat feet for Mansion. Bastion forces! Go! Go! Go!”
Longoria hoisted us off the deck and we shot forward. Umm… Oh, we were going for the tanks. A video played off my Gpad showing the invading army. I saw the screen of the Aspen underway platform suddenly flooding with people heeding my warning. The guards at the ground choke points were requesting orders. Sally got to them before I could and sent them to defend the platform at all costs. I still showed hundreds of people huddling inside homes refusing to flee.
AH1 drifted into a hover over Ulanda’s command tank with the sled packed high with shielding generators. Our forces were on the move with Torrez and his infantry on sleds being pulled into the fight. Bonnet had her light tanks already swarming into Aspen. We would be outnumbered but not outgunned.
“Requesting sitrep on enemy intel,” I said over the command channel.
I was surprised when it was Harvard who answered and said, “Enemy forces adapted to using nitrogen power. They have smaller power packs than we use with less output and no heavy weapons. This is a light unit assaulting us. I caught enemy drones reconning Aspen. Our defenses have been sparse there ever since the enemy arrived out of their Xgate. I am predicting they’re noticing our army coming to intercede. They can beat the heavy tanks into Aspen if they speed up, meaning they will get a foothold even if you go full speed.”
