Web of Worlds

by Michael Atamanov

  Eagle Eye skill increased to level seventy-one.

  Seemingly Imran was not wrong and inside there really was an antigravity thruster: something of a huge silvery metallic droplet with bundles of power cables and flat surfaces to attach to the wings or fuselage of a flying machine. I told my friends that at once. Imran gave a good-natured smile:

  “Gnat, I don’t know how to use Prospector or Listener stuff, I cannot see through objects. One side of the box slides away here.” My Dagestani friend pointed at one wall of the cube and even moved the plastic panel aside, revealing the contents of the big box.

  Again I had looked at a person with inflamed tonsils, and gone looking for any way to get them out but the mouth. Oh well, I didn’t get myself bent out of shape over it. It may have been an unusual method, but I had accomplished my goal and seen inside the container. That was what mattered.

  “Can we refuse to deliver this to our enemies?” Eduard Boyko and I both walked up and looked at the powerful machinery in its anti-shock casing.

  “Unfortunately that will not be possible.” I had done a lot of talking with my business partner Uline Tar, so I had an idea of how harsh the penalties were for a freight forwarder that refused to complete a contract once signed. You could forget about a positive reputation after that. No one would ever trust such an unreliable person again. And that was exactly what I tried to get through to my friends.

  “What if we just take them as spoils of war? Our factions are currently fighting, so it seems reasonable. Then we can take them to the H3 Faction!” Imran seemingly didn’t understand that the great space races had no interest in the little squabbles of aboriginals on a distant planet, and no one would give us the right to simply requisition a shipment that didn’t belong to us.

  “I’ve got a better idea!” Eduard took a step forward. Seeing his agitated and reddened face, I immediately realized I would be hearing something radical and shocking. “We need to blow these things to hell before we load them! No shipment, no problem! And any questions from the buyers or suppliers, we just go stone-faced and say we have no idea why they went up!”

  It was of course an idiotic idea. Especially here on the Miyelonian station where Truth Seekers quickly saw through any lie and got to the bottom of any murky situation. On top of that, if we were found out, the Dark Faction would still be entitled to get what they paid for, they’d just have to wait a bit longer. Still it wouldn’t be right to just do nothing here. Our faction just wouldn’t understand. We needed to find a different approach...

  I took a heavy sigh as if about to jump into a vortex. This might have been the stupidest thing I’d ever done, but I took three Magnetic Bombs from my inventory and handed them to Eduard and Imran:

  “I warn you: if someone finds out, we’ll all get screwed so bad we’ll never pay it back even if we sell our kidneys and last pair of underwear. So not a word about this even to members of our faction! Look, these panels on the thrusters screw out. Inside, as far as I can tell, there is an empty space. I’m gonna set a timer on all three bombs for one ummi after the thrusters are activated, so the explosions will happen at the same time and after they’re fully tested and installed. Okay, all set. Your mission is to hide the bombs inside the thrusters and make it all look like before.”

  “Uhh, um...” Imran tried to object, pointing at the frigate. I understood what he wanted to ask and got out ahead:

  “Our loaders Basha and Vasha are out in the real world. Supercargo Avan Toi will be going with me to the station. So no one is going to be handling this cargo for at least an hour. You’ve got enough time to rig the bombs and close the panels back up. If any team members try to come up to the containers, chase them off and say its an order from the captain. Everything clear?”

  Authority increased to 54!

  The amateur bombers nodded simultaneously. Eduard carefully set the bombs in his inventory and whispered with a predatory grin:

  “Just let the Dark Faction try and use their new antigrav to attack our troops!”

  I responded, trying to scare them:

  “You both better hope this really is for the Dark Faction and not, let’s say, Geckho scientists on some secret base. Our suzerains will be very upset if some freight antigrav of theirs crashes over the ocean while full of valuable equipment! They definitely won’t forgive that. I have to imagine they’d stop at nothing to find the culprit. And they will find them sooner or later. I’m reminded that Dark Faction players were executed in the real world for less, just to protect the faction from the suzerains’ rage...”

  They immediately straightened up and started exchanging glances of uncertainty. Seemingly both Imran and Eduard were already slightly regretting bringing this up. But still neither of them was going to back down. Both just assured me that they acknowledged the responsibility and danger and so would be dead quiet.

  Great! I went to catch up with Tini and Avan Toi, who had already made it quite far. But I held back my happy smile until I’d left the hangar. In the eyes of Imran and Eduard, their commander Gerd Gnat now looked even cooler. Beyond that, there was now a secret they would both keep even from the directors of the Human-3 Faction and everyone in it. It was seemingly a small thing, but I managed to separate the concepts of loyalty to faction and loyalty to captain, and get them leaning toward the latter. Why? Well, my actions weren’t always met with approval in the faction, and I didn’t want to tell the directors everything. After all, now what information and interpretation would make it under the Dome it depended directly on Dmitry, Imran and Eduard and their personal interpretation of events.

  As for the bombs, there was no real danger. I didn’t actually put a timer on them like I told my friends. Instead I set two identical fairly complex activation codes. If they were intended for the Geckho or one of the factions of my world, the bombs would remain hidden forever, and no one would ever guess they were there. But if the Dark Faction got them, all three thrusters would be destroyed together with whatever they ended up attached to. How? Very easy! Just broadcast a weak radio signal with the activation code a few days after coming back to Earth from Human-3 territory, one that would fade in two or three nodes. It could cover our enemy’s territory, but touch nowhere else on our huge planet.

  * * *

  There were only three of us left on our way to go meet Leng Keetsie-Myau. One was an underaged kitten, and calling the sullen shipper a combat character would sound like a joke. It was strange to my eye but advertising our harmlessness and looking like boring targets allowed us to walk past innumerable Miyelonian soldiers to the central elevators of the space station without issue. I mean, two or three big cats did try to challenge me to a ritual duel with the standard phrase: “Ah-sahntee maye-uu-u rezsh shashash-u?” But responding in a language the Miyelonians didn’t know and kindly telling them to go pleasure themselves, accompanied by a polite smile and slight mind control was all it took for them to lose interest.

  It should be noted that the Jarg Analyst’s concern over “big-tail warmongers” was not misplaced. There were lots of Miyelonian soldiers on the station. Lots and lots. Pilots and Gunners, Gladiators and Medics, Shocktroops and Space Commandos, Snipers and Sappers. Many of them were very worked up if not to say aggressive due to drinking alcohol or various kinds of stimulants both licit and less so. Here and there I saw squabbles and fights between individuals from different squadrons, and often the outcome was lethal. In one place we even witnessed the robbing of a souvenir shop. Fluffy soldiers, both tomcats and ladies, came out of a small store barely able to move with overloaded inventories and draped in shiny jewelry like Christmas trees.

  Based on the dismembered spider-like body at the door, the owner of this shop was a Meleyephatian trader, who had been foolhardy enough to open his establishment while the big-tail warmongers were visiting Kasti-Utsh III. When my ward Tini started dashing toward the unattended shop, I sharply pulled him back and said with strain in my voice that we may have been pirates in status, but we were
not looters.

  Scanning skill increased to level forty!

  Machine Control skill increased to level sixty-nine!

  Mysticism skill increased to level twenty-six!

  That was me using my skills to turn on the store’s alarms, which were inactive for some reason. But although turning on the siren did surprise the fluffy-tailed marauders, it did nothing to scare them off and they all got right back to their criminal activities. What was more, the guardians of order appeared almost at once. But they didn’t even try to stop the chaos, just turned off the alarm and hurried away.

  Before that episode, I was still holding onto the illusion that I could visit the ancient artifact trader I heard about from the fence on the Medu-Ro IV pirate station. But now I fully appreciated that I wouldn’t be finding anyone there for the next few days. Most traders at the space station were not exactly happy to see so many soldiers and, to avoid excesses, decided to temporarily close their little shops. But as I said before, the hot-headed warriors didn’t touch me or my companions for a long time. Still, all good things must come to an end. It happened when we had already reached our destination sector, 8-13. I already thought we had made it...

  “Ah-sahntee maye-uu-u rezsh shashash-u!” hardly able to stand after so much booze and drugs, a level-92 Miyelonian Machinegunner slurred out, standing in our way.

  He was wearing heavy composite armor and holding a high-speed gun in his hands. The barrel was swaying from side to side in his shaky hands. In the Miyelonian’s eyes, I could read a complete lack not only of fear but all ability to think clearly.

  Danger Sense skill increased to level fifty-one!

  There was a very big difference between this and the previous attempted challenges. First of all, the Machinegunner was way too high to understand what we were saying back. His only wish now was to fight and he was going to do it no matter what, even if I rejected his challenge. Second, there were ten other Miyelonian soldiers behind the Machinegunner, and they were prepared to run at me if I tried to ignore their drinking buddy. I turned around. The hallway we’d just walked down was already blocked by a dense wall of armed Miyelonians who weren’t hiding their aggressive intentions.

  “Gerd Gnat, you cannot run from us!” came the voice of one of the disheveled cats, and its voice was joyful, self-satisfied and utterly sober. “We recognize you and have been following you since the elevators! The Pride of the Bushy Shadow has placed a good price on your head! What’s more, anyone who defeats the only Listener in the game is guaranteed a Fame boost and your appendages are rare trophies that any soldier would be proud to wear!”

  It suddenly became crystal clear that they would never let me leave and the challenge from the drunken Machinegunner was just a formal pretext. These attackers were trying to use that to lend a veneer of legality to what they were doing even though this was little more than an attempt at armed robbery and murder. So now accepting the challenge was in my best interest. It was my only hope to keep this from growing out of control and having my whole group set upon by thirty bloodthirsty Miyelonians. There were rules to a duel. I activated the scanning pictogram and saw what kind of Miyelonian soldiers were around me, who was the most dangerous and who was their commander.

  “So then, landing brigade one hundred forty-six...” I said, reinforcing my voice with a bit of magic so they would all grasp what I was driving at. “For some reason I don’t see any trophies on you from the big war with the Meleyephatians. Not one enemy killed for the whole squadron. Your helmets are only adorned with losers like you and murdered civilians. So what’s is it, snot-noses? They didn’t let you fight in a real battle? Did they say you’re too weak and not let you go on the front lines?”

  I heard teeth scraping all around. It was so clear that even the Supercargo heard. Though he didn’t understand Miyelonian he knew perfectly well that something unusual was happening. Tini was just terrified with his ears pressed back against his head. He quietly asked why I was provoking them. Lots of them heard his question, so I answered as loud as I could:

  “So your kinsmen will remember that they are proud soldiers and not a band of robbers! So that Commander Leng Keetsie-Myau won’t have to cover her eyes in shame for her subordinates when we talk. So the Geckho behind me will continue to see the Miyelonians as powerful and loyal allies, not some gang of drugged up lunatics!”

  Psionic skill increased to level seventy-seven!

  Mental Fortitude skill increased to level fifty-eight!

  Mysticism skill increased to level twenty-seven!

  Even without the system messages I could sense my words hitting their mark. The markers on the mini-map around me started all changing from red, meaning aggressive, to yellow for neutral. I even saw a couple of green ones. The Miyelonians stared at the ground and pressed their tails between their legs but most importantly they dispersed, letting me pass. Then the squadron commander pushed his subordinates aside and stepped out in front. This lean orange tomcat was small even for a Miyelonian:

  Gerd Mauu-La Mya-Ssa. Miyelonian. Pride of the Silver Tail. Level-96 Medic.

  “Harsh words. And they made my Authority fall by three points. But I agree Gerd Gnat, I deserved that. I shouldn’t have let my soldiers get so out of control. But speaking of honor and pride, I am simply obliged to challenge you to a duel because you insulted not only my subordinates and me personally, you insulted everyone in landing brigade one hundred forty-six! Ah-sahntee maye-uu-u rezsh shashash-u!”

  “If you say so, bushy-tail. I’m glad to hear that Miyelonians haven’t forgotten the concept of honor. I am also a man of honor, so I must warn you that you have no chance in a one-on-one duel. I could handle a Medic with my bare hands. So I propose a three-on-three. Choose any two soldiers from your squadron, I’ll take the little one and the fatty from mine,” I said pointing at Tini and Avan Toi, who was just listening to this conversation in an incomprehensible language.

  “But he’s a child!” my opponent started to object, but rethought and accepted my conditions. And immediately assured me that if I won none of his soldiers would get in my way.

  So, had I gone crazy? Not at all. I just wanted to solve this problem once and for all, not get drawn into an endless string of duels. And that was sure to happen otherwise, because the fluffy soldiers would have thought it their duty to line up to fight me right after their orange commander for the honor of their squadron. Among the Miyelonians, there were some very high level and dangerous ones, although many of them weren’t all that sober.

  While the orange Medic chose partners, I looked aside at my friends:

  “I don’t expect you to fight like real soldiers. Just don’t let me get killed in the first moments of the duel. I can handle it from there. I can see they have a gladiator. Then Tini, you cover my back. Mostly likely he’ll try to make a fast jump and stick his blades between my shoulders. Avan Toi, use your laser pistol and don’t spare battery. Just stop that Medic from concentrating and healing his partners. And then, on my command, be prepared to lay down on enemies after I immobilize them. So, the third is a Bodyguard. How obvious! We’ll leave him for dessert, he has too many hitpoints. That’s all, we’re expected in the arena. Good luck!”

  Chapter Six. Moments from Kungdom

  I PLAYED a little trick, placing markers on all three enemies and sending them out to my companions. On the one hand, there was a Priest and two Bards among the Miyelonians surrounding the arena, and the especially intense communication between them and the enemy fighters spoke to our rivals being stacked with bonuses. In fact they were doing nothing to hide that. Also the orange Medic and his two level 100+ partners, before entering the circle, started swallowing multicolored pills by the handful.

  “Those are Agility and Strength boosters. They raise statistics by a few points for a short time,” Tini answered. “They’re generally forbidden in official tournaments, but in war they’re used constantly along with boosters for Constitution, movement speed, regeneration and even i
mmunity to pain and fear.”

  “But combat boosters cause addiction very quickly,” the surly Supercargo said, phlegmatically and unhurriedly setting the servos of his armor into combat mode, putting on his helmet and activating his energy shield.

  Combat boosters? So they were afraid of us, given they were treating this battle so seriously. Meanwhile, the three Miyelonians finally stopped taking their drugs and agreeing on tactics, entered the large circle made up of soldiers of their subdivision and stopped. Then they simultaneously melted into predatory grins, demonstrating sharp sets of fangs. Tini and Avan Toi answered in kind. But the Listener Energy Armor helmet had very dark tint on the outside, so they couldn’t see my face, and I just held up a middle finger.

  “Begin!” Gerd Mauu-La Mya-Ssa gave the wave.

  And at that second I jumped forward with a flip, dodging the anticipated double back-stab from the Miyelonian Gladiator. Exactly right! That was the fruits of training with Fox the Morphian. We had worked on this exact scenario. Imran too, I remembered, had caught an opponent acting too predictable on Medu-Ro IV. Tini then deftly caught the Gladiator as he missed, seriously wounding the highly dangerous enemy. However, my kitten was now also caught, instantly killed by a few accurate blows from the Bodyguard and Medic. In the very first second of battle, all three enemies made a fast dash at my back, trying to take down Gnat in one fell swoop! That was unexpected. I had to admit, I had not considered that tactic, so Tini was doing the wrong thing and we lost him at the very beginning of battle.

  Also... what the hell?! The orange Medic was immune to my mental attacks! And he could dodge my Paralyzer shots with ease, flipping gracefully as the toxic balls flew right past him! Did he have the Danger Sense skill? It seemed very likely. Well then, how do you like this? I tried to distance myself and not think about the nimble Miyelonian as an enemy. This was just a game, like shooting bottles at the carnival. After all, none of us was truly hated our targets or wished them ill. I tried to predict his movements and emptied a whole Paralyzer clip.