RTU- Robotic Transfer Universe

by Randy Thao

  Seth was right. Dee did stick out like a sore thumb in the mist of the crowd of people entering the portals, but he didn't recall seeing these three at the Teleportation Station. As he re-observed the three players standing before him, he realized that they too had some kind of story as well. Seth had a scar down the side of his neck, Bee an amputated hand, and Tori without any hair on her head.

  Having compassion for them, Dee declared, "Wants some help in taking down that hog?"

  "You bet!" cheered Seth and his friends.

  Dee, Bu and Mara helped to take down the Huge Hog for them, and in return, they gave them a little more information.

  "Thanks again to you and your friends," acknowledged Seth. "This will help us in advancing in the game."

  Seth took a deep breath and recalled everything they knew about RTU. Apparently, they are all in the same boat. The three of them entered into the portal together. They are actual friends who had received the privilege to be the firsts to experience RTU. The school that they attended had a lotto in which their instructors could choose the students they saw needing it. It was no secret that everyone knew what the Nano-bots can do. Therefore, many of the RTU players were those who had a disability. Seth also knew about the logout issue. They still had no idea as to how to get out, but suggested that the RTU Elites knew more about the game than them. They were known as Elites because of the high level number of members they had. There was a fee to join their guild and that fee went to heal the disabilities of other upper members. Seth also explained that they were working on some way to get out.

  Dee, Bu and Mara waved at Seth, Bee and Tori as they continued their path to BluaNu. Fifteen minutes in and the massive walls of BluaNu started to appear over the trees ahead of them. It looked even more magnificent up close than from the boulder cliff. They were approaching one of the many gates that lead inside. Silver armored men stood on each side of the gates. They were players alright as Bu set focus and could see that they were level eighteens. Beneath their names was the name of their guild, RTU Elites.

  As they were about to enter, they were stopped by the two men.

  "Halt, in order to enter, you are required to pay two hundred met-coins each," demanded the armored guard on the right. He held out his halberd blocking the way.

  "Don't make me..." Bu started, but Dee held him back.

  "May we ask why it is necessary to pay to enter into a city free for all players?" questioned Dee.

  The one to the left spoke, "Lord Gen Sung's orders is to collect a two hundred met-coin entrance fee into city."

  "Well, what if we don't!" shouted Mara.

  The eyes of the two armored men glanced at each other as they stood standing tall.

  The one on the right spoke again saying, "Hey, we are just doing our job okay? If Gen finds out, we will be kicked out of the guild. Are you all part of another guild? You seemed to be fully restored."

  "No we're not," replied Bu. "Now get out of our way!"

  Other players all around heard the commotion and made their way to the entrance. The two armored guards could feel the tension rising in the air. People mumbling behind them and whispered about who they were.

  "Hey! You all know what's going to happen if you don't mind your own business!" yelled one of the armored men.

  "Cowards!" someone said from the crowd.

  "What makes you any better than us. Let us in!" demanded another.

  "Yeah!" the crowd roared in agreement now growing in size.

  This was getting out of hand now thought Dee, and all they wanted was to enter the city. It appeared that many were turned away, and as a result, there existed another group of people who rebelled against the RTU Elites. The powerless and the poor were always among the people even on earth. The crowd had grown to a size of over fifty people. The guards shouted insults to quiet down the crowd, but they got all the louder. Suddenly, the gates creaked open. An older gentleman came out. He wore a brown robe with a gold belt. He had a full on light grey armor underneath, and it glowed with gold designs.

  "What is the meaning of this?" demanded the man from behind the gate.

  "G, Gen!" stuttered the armored guards at the gates, and they fell to one knee. "There's nothing to be bothered. We can handle this. Please return to your business within the city."

  "Doesn't seem like you fools have any clue what's going on," replied Gen.

  The crowd continued to shout and curse at them not showing any signs of yielding.

  Gen, now annoyed, pulled out his hand from under his robe waving it towards the middle section and announced, "Tonic shift!"

  From behind Dee, Bu and Mara, the ground began to shake, and it split open. All those who were within that area fell in and perished leaving behind everything they had. When players are involved in player vs. player combat, those who perish also lose whatever they had on them. Therefore, no one wishes to perish even though they can return as many times as they want in a game.

  The ground closed up again. The crowd instantly went silent.

  "Whoever so touches any of the items will also perish with them," threatened Gen. "Go and collect the items and bring them into the city. Let this serve as a warning."

  After this, Gen went back behind the gates. The armored guards collected the items left behind. Slowly, the crowd began to disperse. For a second there, they had hope that something would come about and give them access to the city. Their faces hung low with despair. It was bad enough that they were all stuck in RTU, but to be treated like this made the time here worse.

  What makes major cities like this so valuable is that it had all the necessities in one centralized place. The items, armor and weapon shops, transportation to other places, quests, guild creation, raids and finding groups and so much more could be found there. Better items all together were sold within cities. It didn't help that RTU decided to allow the area around BluaNu to be an open ground for PVP until players entered into the city. Within the city, it would be considered a safe zone from then on.

  "RTU Elites are a bunch of thugs," Bu spat. "I'd like to give that Gen guy a piece of my mind."

  "I know exactly where they are coming from," defended Dee, "but never would I have done something like this. I mean, the goal is to find out why we are stuck here by working together. It appears that they are also racing to get to max level, but even the RTU Elites have not figured that out either and that is why they have decided to be top on the food chain instead," explained Dee.

  "But this is wrong though. We all have the same rights as they do to be here. So now no one can come in or out of this city unless permitted? That's insane!" exclaimed Mara.

  Dee stared at the great wall of BluaNu. The smooth grey brick walls went down left and right as far as the eye could see. He said to himself, "RTU Elites, what is it that you know? Or hiding?"

  "You fellas are the ones that started this ruckus I presume?"

  An elderly man with two prosthetic legs sat at a nearby tree. He had a long white beard with some leather armor. Next to him was a cloth satchel. A whizzing sound came from the gears of his prosthetic legs, and he got up in a slight jerking motion.

  Dusting himself off, he introduced himself, "Hello, I'm Timothy Smith. You can call me Tim."

  Chapter 20 - The RTU Elites

  He was maybe in his fifties, but his upper body revealed a different story. A fairly built man he was at his age with leather armor fitted to the shape of his physical features. Dee and Mara had seen those ZVAL Model 55445-1 prosthetic legs before in the hospital. They weren't the best, but cheaper than the more expensive 55430-2, which can actually be custom to look and feel like real skin.

  Tim smiled and looked around as people were leaving. "You best make your way out of this place. Don't want to end up being ganked around here. Looks like you all carry a fair amount of stuff," warned Tim.

  "Might there be a town or village nearby?" asked Dee feeling cautious as he turned to look at Bu and Mara.

  "Yes, there is. Follo
w me. Don't worry I don't go around ganking people for their items," confessed Tim. "People around here have done all the same quests, so there is no difference in gear unless you can acquire the quests within the city. When people perish, they lose their items, but they don't lose their met-coins as you know if you have perished before. There's been a group going around taking down anyone just for the fun of it. Like a gang. They distinguish themselves by wearing a yellow band on their arm. Even in this world, people can still be idiots."

  "What do you make of everything that's going on?" asked Mara.

  Tim turned his head slightly to notion her that he had heard it well. Then he replied, "I came for the same reasons as everyone else." Tim lifted his legs up a little higher showing them off. "I lost them on an Antarctica trip to frost bite. I discovered early that getting these back was not as easy as I thought. To each person the price is different. These will cost me 10,000 met coins."

  "10,000!" shouted Bu. "That can't be done. You will never be able to get that paid."

  "Oh yes it can be. If, you are part of the RTU Elites," replied Tim. "Most of us here are stuck trying to get that accomplished. There must be a reason why Derma is charging a fee."

  "Tim, who's Derma?" Dee asked.

  Tim laughed saying, "No one has ever seen him. The only thing we know is that he came here already established with a following. This made questing and gathering very easy to accomplish. So, he made his way here first claiming it. Look at it now."

  "If anyone, it would be Derma who can tell us how to get out of here," guessed Mara.

  "Whoever said that he wanted to leave?" suggested Tim.

  They followed Tim south of BluaNu. It was starting to get darker out. The other players had receded to their places of shelter and some followed behind going to town. The town was called South Bend. It had most of the necessities there, but to a minimum with low to mid quality items. That was all they needed for now. The torches lit up the town as NPCs and players walked about the open street. Tim led them into the town tavern.

  "How's it going Phil?" greeted Tim to another player. "Shoua, did you complete the quest yesterday? Let me know if you need help."

  Tim was well-known in South Bend. In the little time that they were all stuck in the game, friendships and alliances formed quickly to ensure survival and protection. They all sat down at a rectangle shape table. A chandelier hung from the middle of the ceiling giving light to the whole place. Players of all sorts of ethnicity and languages were there. A built in auto translate interface, when enabled, translated any language from one player to another. To Dee, it looked like a live dubbing and the artificial voice the system chose fit quite well.

  "There was a few of us who made it here pretty quick. You can get here at level eight at the least. Even then, Derma somehow beat everyone here first," recalled Tim. "His followers also climbed in level and in armor and weapons. In the matter of two days, he had established all this."

  "Who's that other guy that cast the spell on the crowd? Who does he think he is, taking down all them people like that?" Bu snapped balling his fist.

  Tim stroked his beard that went down to his chest. He replied, "Oh yes, Gen. He is second in command to Derma. Very powerful mage type as you saw earlier and not to be messed with. Besides that, about leaving this place, no one knows. If anything, the answer lies within those walls."

  "Well, there's one thing we know that we must do. The final boss," Dee added.

  Tim paused from stroking his beard. In a whisper he asked, "Do you know what you're getting yourself into?"

  Dee had a slight idea, but from what Keeper had revealed to him, that's the main goal for now. How he was going to do it, he had no idea. The final boss can't be taken down by just your ordinary three to five-man group. No, it takes a raid to get the job done with Honor gear. Compared to what they currently had equipped, it was only comparable to even what the guards at the gates had. What they had would be classified as just Enhanced Armor.

  "No, but there's something there that we must get to," declared Dee.

  "What are you talking about? Met-coins? Tier armor? Exalted weapons?" questioned Tim.

  "I don't really know what I am looking for," replied Dee. "All I know is that it may be our only chance to get back home."

  "You got that right," added Bu.

  Tim had no clue what Dee was talking about, but he respected Dee's ambition. "I like you kid. Reminds me of myself when I was your age. You're in pretty good shape yourself. Used to play a sport of some sort?"

  Dee nodded, "Football."

  "Uh huh....," Tim started stroking his beard again as he stared at the cracks in the wooden table. "There is one person that may be of help to you. She used to be part of the group, the RTU Elites, before it actually became a guild. Not long after they took over the city, she was released. Her title and all she had was stripped and returned to the guild. She may know something of use. I tried talking to her, but the problem is.....Well, you can go meet her yourself. I suggest that you spend the night here and find her tomorrow. There's a cave south of here. There you will find the ex RTU Elite member."

  "Thanks Tim, we owe you one," exclaimed Dee. That night, they had dinner with him and checked in at the nearby INN.

  The next day they set out early to the cave located south of South Bend. Tim had also warned them that the monsters there are pretty tough, but if they stick together, it wouldn't be a problem. They started on their way south in hopes of finding this ex-RTU Elite member. It took about an hour's walk before they finally reached a place Bu and Mara liked least.

  "Tim didn't tell us that the cave was located in a swamp!" shouted Bu.

  "Huuuuh!! I'm not going in there. There's bugs and slimy things," added Mara rubbing her arms and swatting at a black bug.

  "Calm down guys, we need to find this person. She may be our only hope. I don't like it either, but let's keep together," encouraged Dee making his way in. He set focus, and it read "Mallow Marsh".

  Mallow Marsh proved to be a challenge navigating through. Every direction they turned looked the same. The rotting green, wet, muddy, over grown moss and dead trees met them at all paths. Every monster they encountered required them to step foot into the swamp as there were barely any solid ground. Muk Monsters hid underneath the dead vegetation of the swamp. They looked like a walking sea weed giants. While Dee and Bu were taking care of these monsters, Mara stayed on damp solid mud paths. She almost got taken away by the Vine Snakes. To the human eye, they look like regular vines, but in a matter of seconds, they had Mara wrapped and ready to retreat up into the tree. They were more annoying than a threat. Cutting them down only took one hit or two at their levels. Also, roaming in the marsh were Giant KaYuns. These creatures were the size of a full grown human adult and possessed a black sword stinger extending an extra two foot from its brick red tail. It glided on two short wings that glowed red while floating in mid-air.

  After an hour within Mallow Marsh, they came upon a rather large pond. Across the pond, they recognized a cave dug into the earth. It was too dark to see inside from where they were. The only way there was to walk around the pond as the depth was unknown.

  "Is it me or is it just too quiet since we got to the pond?" asked Mara.

  Bu kicked a fat bullfrog out of the way as they passed along the west side of the pond. "I can't wait to get out of this stinking place," snapped Bu.

  They approached the cave with caution not knowing if something was going to pop out at them. Dee called out, "Hello, is anyone there!?"

  The echo of his voice could be heard fading deep into the cave. Bu turned around to see if there was anything strange that they may have missed.

  "Did you see it?" exclaimed Mara. "I , I saw the glow of a white suit like ours."

  "I guess we're heading in then. Let's go," laughed Dee knowing Mara and Bu dreaded places like these.

  Their only source of light was from their suits. Other than that, they used the cave walls as guides. The walls
were damp, wet and in some spots they had no idea what they had just touched. The wall of the cave soon led them to a curve now going to their right.

  "How much longer?" whispered Mara. "I can barely see the entrance anymore."

  "Shhhh," replied Dee. An orange glow came just a little further down, and the source was hidden behind another turn in the wall going left.

  As they got closer, shadows stretched back from rocks and cave mounds. Above, there came down long skinny stalactites they hadn't seen before. Rounding now to the left they came upon a fire pit. Stacked around it was stones and fresh pieces of wood were still burning. On the walls were drawings and writings that didn't make any sense to them at all. It lead their focus into a dark corner, so dark that even the light could not reach it.

  Again, Dee called out, "Hello?" He walked towards the dark corner and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could almost make out a figure. "Hello?"

  "Whoosh!" It came lunging at Dee out from under a pile of blankets.

  "Guys! I can use a little help here!" shouted Dee.

  He put his hands up to protect him from any kind of blow that would come. The white suit verified that this was in fact another player. They shouted in horror trying to get her off of Dee. Bu then dropped his shield and bear hugged her from behind and pulled her off.

  She struggled and struggled until she could move no more. Her black hair fell over her face. Breathing hard, her breath blew through her hair revealing the reflection in her eyes.

  "Down now. Calm down, there you go," soothed Bu while keeping a good grip around her. "What's your name?"

  She didn't reply, but remained silent. Dee again tried to speak with her, but he knew that holding her against her will was not the right thing to do.

  "Bu, slowly let her go," insisted Dee. Bu released his grip, and she pushed out of his arms running to the other side of the bon fire.

  "We're not here to hurt you. Someone sent us here. He said that you may be able to help us. My name's Mara. That's Dee and the big guy that let you go, that's Bu," relented Mara. Still, she only returned jolting stares.