RTU- Robotic Transfer Universe

by Randy Thao

  Dee shook his head trying to remember as much as he could. The smell of soup, ribs and freshly baked bread filled the tavern. Clattering pots and pans could be heard from the back. He took a deep breath and said, "Her name is Keeper."

  "It was another woman?!" burst Mara. Suddenly noticing what she had said, she covered her mouth in shock and regain her posture. "Heh, sorry. Um, her name's Keeper?"

  "But we ain't seen another soul there. Mara and I checked the whole place out. That's how we found our good friend Muada sleeping within the tunnel. Funny they named the town after that monster." explained Bu. "Right Mara?"

  Mara looked away at the corner of the room a bit nervous. Just then, Wendy came out. The food had arrived. Steam rose from the delicious food that cost them about a hundred and twenty met-coins. The colors and freshly prepared food grabbed their attention from the conversation. Bu finally got his apple pig ribs and Dee his corn rabbit soup. Mara settled for the freshly baked cinnamon bread. They ate as if they had not eaten in days. The food was of great restaurant quality. Who better to know then the Nano-bots that have been programed to put it together from out of thin air?

  As they ate, Dee continued to tell them about what had happened, and what Keeper told him.

  "So, she's not a player or an admin. Is she an NPC? A non-playable character?" asked Mara.

  "Remember, Dee said that they were within a glitch or gap of the game of some sort," reminded Bu. "Could it be a hacker?"

  Dee shrugged this shoulders. "I doubt that since Adrenaline has one of the best anti-hack security systems out there. I work for CodeKen, a company Adrenaline bought out a few years ago, and the first thing they did was send some of their men to restructure our security, firewalls and antiviruses."

  "Hackers seek to steal or leak information to expose and take advantage of many huge corporations around the world. Some, just for the fun of it. She wouldn't be asking you for help if she were," Bu thought outloud.

  "True," agreed Dee. "Keeper also handed me this."

  He held his hand out and scrolled through to his inventory. After a few seconds, it appeared. It looked like a black, small hockey puck that fit in the palm of his hand. In the center of it, a small spinning dial beneath a glass cover. It reflected the oranges and the yellows of the fire dancing in the lamp on their table. The edges were smooth to the touch without any sign of a seal. Dee flipped it around to the back where circuit like designs glowed with the flow of energy.

  Confused, Mara focused on it to get a description of the item. "Unknown" it read. She asked, "You defeat Muada with that?"

  "From above, I saw Bu about to be swallowed. For some reason, my inventory menu option kept on blinking making it hard to focus. Turns out, it was this item. Whatever it is, was calling for attention. I took it out of inventory, and it sort of stuck onto my hand. The dial started to spin extremely fast. At the same time, I could feel the energy being drained from me. Then like a magnet, it shot straight down at Muada dragging me with it. It just happened so fast," explained Dee.

  Thinking over what Dee had recounted, Mara concluded, "It surely isn't a spell. Yet, we perish in game when our energy level is depleted. That piece of equipment drained every drop of energy you had to take down Muada. Yet, the dial seemed to have multiplied it exponentially. Impressive. Meanwhile, we will have to see if this 'Keeper' shows up again. I think we all would like to ask her a few more questions. Especially about getting out of this place."

  "Well, as long as we got the kill right guys?!" bellowed Bu. "Did you get the kill Dee?"

  Dee smiled and replied, "I did. We all got a fair share of the met-coins, 50 each, so 150 in total. I assume we all have gone up a few levels as well."

  Mara then pulled something from her inventory. "I almost forgot. Since you weren't able to collect your loot, here it is!" surprised Mara.

  They all received a valuable item from defeating Muada. Bu, a nice chest piece and Mara a wand. For Dee, he got a black cape. He placed it around his neck, and suddenly, it fused to the white suit like connecting a peripheral device to a computer. When Dee set focus on it, the description read, "Move with cat like reflexes."

  They had a round of drinks and after, Mara decided to hit the sack first. She held a long yawn and waved goodbye heading upstairs.

  "I'm beat, lets continue our conversation tomorrow," suggested Mara. "Goodnight."

  "Goodnight," said Dee and Bu. They watched as she made her way upstairs and then into a room. The lock on the doorknob gave out two clicks, and then, there was silence.

  Bu turned around to Dee and in a whisper he confessed, "Dee. Have you noticed anything strange with....," Bu jerked his head in the direction of Mara.

  "Glad I wasn't the only one," agreed Dee.

  "I mean, ever since she joined our group, she's been a little obsessed with collecting met-coins. It's only in game currency. Can't get you anything outside of here," told Bu. "You know why we were fighting Muada in the first place? While we were spread out searching the area, I made my way back to where we started. She had gone down into the tunnels beneath the castle. I followed behind, and there it was, Muada sleeping. Next to it was a gold treasure chest. Its vibrant glow was enough to drag anyone into the jaws of that monster. Who knew what was in it, but it caught her eyes. I tried to stop her from picking at the chest, but it was already too late."

  Dee pondered at the thought. In game currency is very valuable when you want to advance and get ahead of the other players. Most games in the gaming world would charge players actual world currency in exchange for in game currency. In the past, this is where gaming companies made most of their revenue, but people have found ways to just create programs to automatically mine or grind mobs for in game currency when not "physically" playing. Gaming has changed since then. In-game currency is no longer as valuable as it used to be, but it still has its use.

  Currently, the gaming world has again jumped into the world of personal health. There was a big push 20 years ago to try to make exercising more fun and adventurous by simulating fun mini games and vast sceneries while players performed physical activities to overcome them. The idea proved to be innovating by bringing the fictional worlds to the player's finger tips. VR, virtual reality, was able to create such realistic things, which required walking around with a head gear of some sort. These attempts and many others didn't give players a natural feel as they were still looking at a screen or attached to some kind of device by a cord or wireless. Then Adrenaline came along and took it to a whole new level, fully immersed.

  Though players can obtain good weapons and armor, they still needed to perform physically well to use it and could potentially be beaten by a player who was lower in level and gear.

  "If it's new gear or weapons she wants, it wouldn't be necessary as we can get them from mobs and bosses. At this time, we need her just as much as she needs us. Let's keep an eye on her for now. Most of the currency gained from RTU comes from the energy that is collected nightly at midnight. That's how RTU pays for itself," explained Dee.

  Bu nodded and lifted up his glass. "We heading back west again?" asked Bu.

  "Yes," yawned Dee. "Let's go as far as we can. I want to cover as much ground as possible. We have only ran into a couple of players. I assume that most of them are further than us. A major city or something bigger than this, that's where they will be."

  Dee and Bu both agreed and called it a night. They settled in their rooms as the whole village prepared for the transition. Torches lit up as the children settled down. Dee closed his eyes. The darkness reminded him of his encounter with Keeper. Within that glitch in the system, everything defaulted back and so did his legs. It scared the hell out of him. His eyes shot open staring at the ceiling. The warning repeated in his head, "Be careful of your puppet master". Who is the puppet master? This thought stuck with him until his weary eyes closed shut, and he dozed off.

  The next morning, Dee lifted his hand searching for the egg shaped controller. He didn't find it,
so he got up and pushed his left leg off the bed and did the same for the right. Sitting up, he realized what he was doing. He had been doing it for so long that it became routine. He shook his head and got up. Looking out the window a figure could be seen in the distance. It was Mara and her striking silver stripe. With her wand she was battling Pa-Zongs out in the apple orchard by herself. Not too deep either, just in case she needed to flee. It didn't bother him as they were all now at a higher level since they started. He observed her every move, so smooth. Though he and Bu did most of the fighting, Dee was seeing Mara fight for the first time. The swing of her wand, dodging and smiting proved effective. She healed in the middle of battle with bursts of green light every so often. When the area was cleared, she ran to the ground scavenging for met-coins just as she had since they met her.

  "20, 21, 22 and 23," Mara counted as the met-coins flickered away into her inventory. "There has to be a better way."

  Mara, busy from collecting, didn't hear Dee's footsteps as he approached behind her.

  "Better way for what?" questioned Dee.

  Mara bout jumped out of her cloak when she heard Dee's voice and by instinct swung her wand and nailed Dee in the temple.

  "Yowch!" Dee croaked falling to the ground with a lump the size of a golf ball.

  Mara quickly dropped her wand and ran to Dee lying flat on ground. She put her hand under his head and lifted it up casting her healing spell as fast as she could.

  "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" panicked Mara now with sweat running down the sides of her temples. The green glow called fourth the Nano-bots, which then repaired the damaged tissue of Dee's temple. The spell had gone on for about a minute or two before Dee started to show some signs of movement.

  "Mmh," groaned Dee. "What was that for?"

  "I'm sorry. You just caught me off guard. I didn't mean to. I mean you can't just sneak up on people like that," explained Mara.

  Dee gave out a laugh as he gazed upon her face. Tears had flooded her eyes barely hanging on. Before they could come rolling down beneath her mask, he lifted his hand and wiped them away as to say that "I'm ok". Everything was going to be ok. The touch of Dee's rough hand felt warm on her face and so she pulled it in. Dee had not notice how beautiful her dark brown eyes were. Deep within they hid something kept away. With the emotions flowing through her body, she leaned in closing her eyes. She hoping that her lips would meet his halfway. Through her face mask her lips slightly open. Maybe she could feel again. Maybe it could go back to the way it used to be when she felt love for the first time.

  Chapter 15 - Montgomery's Plan

  The wind was still. Everything had paused for that moment in time. The leaves, the birds and even the PaZongs who would jump out unexpectedly ceased. Mara held her breath for what seemed like an eternity.

  "Are you ok?" asked Dee rubbing his temple. "Are you sick? You seem a little pink?"

  Mara's eyebrows sunk and from behind her face mask so did her lips. "You Jerk!" Mara blurted out swatting Dee's hand away from her face and shoving him further on to the ground. She got up and turned her back to him.

  "What was that for? I came out to check up on you. Thought I'd come and give you a hand, not that you needed any, " returned Dee.

  "I don't," shot back Mara fixing her cloak. She looked around to see where she had dropped her wand.

  "It's over there," pointed Dee.

  She looked over where it was lying on the ground. "I know. Now can you leave me alone?!"

  "You've been acting weird since we met you," Dee jabbed. "How can we trust that you aren't here to free load off our kills?"

  Filled with disappointment, Mara shouted, "Me? You should ask yourself that question! You wouldn't have any kills if it weren't for me keeping you alive!"

  "We would have been fine with or without you. Your greed almost caused us to wipe out during our fight with Muada. Don't think that I don't know," exposed Dee feeling confident that he now had her in a bind.

  "So that's what this is about huh? How did you get your legs back!?" Mara questioned. "How is it that at the beginning of the game you already have your legs back? Did you cheat? Did you and Bu kill other players? What huh?!"

  "My legs? What does that have to do with anything?!" Dee shouted back more confused than before.

  At that moment, Mara's anger disappeared from her eyes. She stood still, and Dee couldn't figure out what was going on in her head. She raised her hand to her mouth, gripped her mask and pulled it off. Then Dee finally understood. His jaw loosened and his heart sunk deep. He assumed about others and only thought of himself this whole time. How selfish of him to think that no one else could ever feel the way he did. He felt disgusted with himself as he peered at the face of Mara. His vision now blurred by his emotions, and he looked away feeling ashamed.

  Tears ran down her expressionless face. A flow that had been there many times before. From her upper lip to the bottom of her chin, a stretch of dark pink, redden scars and deformed third degree burns revealed itself. She wanted Dee to see that everyone had a story to be there just as much as he did. This is the reason why they all came to engage in RTU.

  "I didn't.....Mara," Dee choked, not able to find the right words.

  Mara turned around and walked into the orchard not looking back. All Dee could do was watch as her cloak flung behind her until he could see the silver stripe lady no more.

  "Mara, I'm sorry," whispered Dee.

  He lost track of how long he was there staring into the orchard hoping that Mara would return. He suddenly started backing up slowly. Turning around, Dee rushed his way to the church where it all started. Bu had just stepped outside when Dee blasted past him running faster than he had ever seen him go.

  "Whoa whoa buddy! Where you going?" called Bu as he chased after him.

  They weren't that far from the church, so Bu didn't bother trying to catch up with him. As Dee approached the altar where the Bible remained as it had before, the vanishing room had reappeared once again. Dee's eyes widen as he raced to the opening in the wall.

  "Pastor Matt Vincent!" called Dee. The room was rather small. Books lined the walls and an old desk lay towards the back. Behind the desk stood a large rolling oak chair with its back facing him. An old handmade cuckoo clock hung from above the desk. It was in the shape of a green bird house and with a small red door. Below it, swung a pendulum ticking and tocking, breaking the silence in the room.

  "Pastor Matt Vincent?" Dee called again, but no answer. He heard footsteps coming behind him. He turned expecting to see Bu, but the wall had closed up mysteriously. He could hear Bu calling for him.

  Tick, tock, tick, tock....tiiiick....toooock.........tiiiiiiiick..........toooooooccckk. Time somehow slowed to a stop and Bu's voice faded into the background. Dee held onto the wall as if the room itself was being morphed and the floor unstable or was it the Nano-bots? He fell to one knee. A figure stood up out from the large oak chair, which he was unable to make out.

  "Pastor...Matt...Vincent," Dee manage to say with one eye opened. The vibration got so severe that he finally shut them both. "STOP PLEASE!"

  Suddenly everything was still.

  When Dee finally regained himself, he was no longer in the back room filled with books. He had returned to the gap, the glitch within the game. There standing before him was Pastor Matt Vincent with his hands behind him and slightly hunched. He had a smile on his face.

  "We meet again," spoke Pastor Matt Vincent, but it was not his voice.

  Dee quickly got up squinting his eyes trying to figure out who was really standing before him. The voice sounded familiar, and it only took him a moment before he realized who it was. Yes, they have met before.

  "Keeper," whispered Dee.

  Pastor Matt Vincent nodded his head and like sand, his outer figure started to slowly dissolve sliding off and into the universe where it came from. The figure beneath straightened up and white hair unrolled down the side of her arm. She lightly padded off the remaining sand o
f Nano-bots and crossed her arms.

  "You seek a path that you are yet not sure of," Keeper said. Her blue eyes steady on Dee.

  "What do you mean? Also, why did you repair my legs? Bu's arm? Why are we here?" questioned Dee. His one question led to another, an endless battle with no answers.

  Keeper looked up to her left and a miniature display of RTU appeared. The four moons orbiting with Adrenaline Corp. at the center.

  Keeper twirled her fingers around rotating the objects above in circles. She then paused at Pongblong. Suddenly, a yellow transparent line drew from it to Adrenaline Corp. Before the line could reach Adrenaline Corp., a red "X" appeared saying "Unauthorized Access".

  "There is the only one way out of here. Poneblong has a direct link back to the base. All the other moons, when defeated, will give you access to transport from one moon to the other. The only way to enter through this access," Keeper pointed to the red "X", "is if someone were to come through it first," she explained.

  "How is that possible? We have not met or heard from any of the Adrenaline admins since we entered the game. It's like they left us here to die. You seem to know a lot about them, yet you are just as stuck here as we are." Dee lifted his head and continued to ask, "Who are you?"

  Keeper's expression shifted upon the question. She seemed to be gathering her thoughts and spoke, "I started out as a snippet of code, no form, no mind, no life. Mr. Montgomery brought me into this world and nurtured me himself. I considered him my father, and he told me he loved me. We had many conversations of his plan for RTU. He said I could build it anyway I wanted to, but to get an idea of what the world looked like, he let me out."

  Now Dee knew exactly what Keeper was talking about. She was an AI, artificial intelligence. AIs were only science fiction up until forty years ago when the National Defense tried to develop the first AI that would obey in their favor. Every nation focused their resources and computing power to create their very own. They would ultimately outperform any human or living creature on earth. Some nations focused more on the physical body, or shell, while others a limitless brain capable of computing complex mathematical equations and beyond. The AI then was able to predict all outcomes of every kind of situation up to and infinite amount of times and in the mist of all that, also discovering problems and solution to solve any obstacle in an infinite amount of ways.