by Dan Thomas
“Hey!” Oswald called as they walked back up the ramp.
“Discards?” Max asked, knowing full well that he’d be looking through the equivalent of a trash can.
Indigo left the bunker, with Oswald and Max following close behind. When they reached the top, she unlocked the door and held it open, watching each of them closely as they entered the bright sunlight of Primeva once more. The two men stood side by side as Indigo locked the door securely. After tugging the handle a couple of times, she inclined her head and led them to a corner of the yard where a large metal container stood, its doors shut, but not locked.
“Here. Rummage through, I can’t say you’ll find anything of use.” Indigo pulled the container door open, revealing the discards.
“Holy crap,” Chopsticks said loudly in Max’s ear. “This is like finding dragon treasure.”
“Anything?” Max repeated as he eyed the small mountain of stuff dubiously.
“Yep.” Indigo cast over her shoulder. “It’s worthless junk to me.”
As Indigo backed away, Oswald sprinted after her. “Hey, why don’t we leave Murf to look through the stuff while we get a drink to seal our deal?”
Indigo stopped in her tracks and looked Oswald up and down, then she looked over her shoulder toward Max. “Sure.”
“That’s it, go, go!” Chopsticks called out.
“Will you keep it down.” Max mentally pushed the button to mute the game, even though Indigo and Oswald were going inside.
“Sorry. But there’s gotta be some cool stuff in here.” Chopsticks tempered the volume of his voice but couldn’t conceal his excitement. “I wish I was there with you, man.”
“Okay, stop talking, start searching,” Sam ordered.
Max slid in through the open door and stood, hands on hips, staring at the large heap of discarded items. “Most of it’s all broken,” he confirmed. “There is stuff from all the worlds. I’m going to have to take a look to see what works, what’s repairable, and what might actually be useful in this world.”
He took a couple of steps forward until his feet were at the edge of the tide of gadgets and items from other Terra Verse game worlds.
“Some of this is from worlds I haven’t even visited.” Sam sighed heavily. “How much stuff can you carry? ‘Cuz Indigo said you could take as much as you want, right?”
“She did, but I don’t have a bag, and I don’t want to take advantage of her generosity.” Max kind of hoped he might one day find something he could trade with Indigo down in her vault.
“I don’t think she cares about this stuff,” Sam said. “This is way below her pay grade. I’d love to check out her bunker.”
Chopsticks sniggered and then yelped. “Ouch.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Sam told him sharply. “Okay, Max, let’s sort through this stuff.”
Not knowing when Indigo might grow tired of him rummaging through the container, Max set to work organizing the stuff into ‘beyond repair,’ ‘unusable on Primeva,’ and ‘worth a closer look.’ Although a couple of chance finds resorted in a fourth pile, this was the stuff that was of limited value to him but would make him a few coins if he traded them at the stalls in the Hub. Although this made him wary since he wasn’t sure if trading the stuff right under Indigo’s nose would ruin their fledgling relationship.
“What’s that?” Sam asked.
“I can’t see what that is,” Max reminded her.
“Over there, to your right and about two feet away. Stretch out your arm. A little to the left. No, too far. There.”
Max lowered his hand into the pile of discards, still not exactly aware of what he was trying to grab hold of. “This?” He picked up a plain flat box and held it up.
“No, just to the right of that. It was a couple of diodes sticking out of it,” Sam told him.
“Diodes.” He leaned forward and reached out to pick up what looked like a piece of junk. In fact, if Sam hadn’t clapped her hands together in excitement, he would have chucked it in the junk pile. “What is it?”
“What is it?” Sam repeated, breathless with excitement. “That, my friend, is your ticket out of there. It will get you across the plains. If we can fix it.”
Max frowned as he held up the piece of flat plastic. Junk. The diodes looked as if they needed sticking back in place. But they were the least of the problems. The power chip looked corroded, and the connecting wires were a mess. “This won’t work here. I mean, it might, but we won’t be able to get it fixed.” He lowered his arm. “What even is it?”
“It’s a Concealer Unit. It’s used for smuggling restricted items between worlds or avoiding customs.” Sam paused. “But you’re right, this won’t work here, not in that state. You need Jaguwar.”
“You want me to contact Jag?” Max asked. He opened the admin menu, which disconnected him from the game enough that he could lift his visor so he could see her face. “Sam, are you sure? I thought you and Jag had a do not contact clause in your breakup.”
She shrugged. “I’m not going to be the one making contact. And anyway, we need him to get this fixed, or you’re never going to make it out of the Hub. Those Unenlagia will eat you alive, several times over. And we don’t have the luxury of time.”
“Okay. Chopsticks, drop Jag a message and see if you can get him on Jabber.” Max dropped the visor back down and quit out of the admin menu. “But for now, let’s see what else we can find.”
Not convinced the Concealer was the most useful item they’d find in Indigo’s rubbish pile, Max slipped it into his pocket and then went back to his sorting. After a few minutes, he’d found a laser gun, which would probably work with a few modifications. A thick canvas sail, from some kind of boat with metal rivets all around the outsides presumably for rope to pass through, which would work as a tarpaulin, giving him a makeshift shelter on the trip back to camp and a wand, pretty useless in a world with no magic, but hey, who didn’t want to be a wizard, so he stuck it in his to-go pile, hoping Chopsticks didn’t see it and mock him for it.
With the help of his friends, Max soon had a small selection of items he could sell, however, nothing really jumped out as being useful to him. He spread out the sail he had found on the floor and bundled some of the items he thought to be more valuable—the wand, a twisted piece of wood that Max had no idea how to use or even tell if it worked, the broken laser gun and a damaged glider from Aerium. He then added a rusted harpoon with a thick chain that must be from Junket, the ocean world, which would be used to spear the dangers of the deep blue. He also found a large glass disc that appeared to be a barometer and compass in one.
“I think this is broken.” Max gave the compass a shake, looking like the smaller compass needle didn’t point north, and the larger barometer needle pointed to electrical storm. He glanced at the sunlight through the open door. “I thought it looked cool, but I’ll just leave it.”
“It might not be broken,” Chopsticks said. “It’s a Weatherglass from Junket. It’s used to detect storms. It’s not going to be accurate here because the pressure and weather systems are different, but it might be useful to someone.”
“When did you know about anything that isn’t to do with dinosaurs?” Max asked.
“I’m full of surprises,” Chopsticks replied.
Max raised an eyebrow. “All right, well, I’ll take it along with me.”
Max grabbed a few handfuls of any scrap that looked vaguely mechanical or electrical and added it to the pile on the sail.
With his finds laying on the sail, he grabbed the corners, pulling it up into a makeshift knapsack, and tied it tight with some loose rope he found lying on the floor. It had quite a lot of weight to it considering how few items he’d really found of any value, but it was manageable.
“Right, I think that should do it.” Max stepped out of the container and back into the yard.
“I think so, and you’ve organized Indigo’s trash pile for her as well,” Sam said.
; “Well, I guess that’s my good deed for the day done in return.” Max turned and closed the heavy doors of the container, casting one last look into the pile of junk, hoping he hadn’t missed anything that might have been useful.
With a clang, the container closed, Max picked up his makeshift bag, slung it over his shoulder, and headed for the open door back into the bar.
As he walked back down the dark corridor, Max wondered what could be behind the other closed doors. He managed to keep his curiosity in check until he placed his hand on the door that would open behind the bar.
He grimaced as he tried to force himself to push it open, but he just couldn’t leave.
He quickly turned and tiptoed back down the corridor, stopping at the first closed door.
“Max...what are you up to?” Sam asked, a warning in her tone.
“Just exploring.” Max clasped the door handle and pulled. Locked. Probably for the best.
He hurried back to the bar door and opened it, stepping into the brighter light.
With a quick glance around the room, he could see Indigo and Oswald sitting at a table, drinking and talking. He could sense a bit of tension in the air, but they seemed to be friendly enough with one another. Max just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something unspoken going on.
In fact, he felt he’d be stupid not to assume that.
Oswald caught his eye as Max walked over. “Murf! There you are, was starting to think you’d managed to lock yourself in or kill yourself with something you’d found.”
Indigo looked over her shoulder at him. “Well, we hadn’t heard any explosions, so I figured you’d be all right.”
Max nodded. “Yeah, pretty good, got myself a nice bag of stuff.” Max held up the canvas.
Indigo raised an eyebrow at the sail knapsack. “Anything useful in there?”
Max nodded. “Yeah, a few things, but I don’t think any of them are working at the moment, so I think I’m going to try to find someone who can fix them.”
“You’re supposed to be new to the game, remember,” Sam said. “Act like Chopsticks would if he had found that stuff.”
“Hey!” Chopsticks feigned offense.
“Uh, also, I found a freaking laser.” Max grinned at Indigo as if he’d won the lottery.
“Hmm, good for you.” Indigo gave a half-smile and turned back to her drink.
“All right then, Murf, I guess you’ll be going off-world then,” Oswald said.
Max nodded. “I guess so, I don’t think I’m going to find a local laser gun repair shop around here.”
“Yeah,” Oswald agreed. “If you want to learn to repair tech stuff yourself, you’ll need to go to the tech world—Gyromeda. I don’t know if you understand how things work here. Some players spend days reading the online walkthroughs before they play, while others come in here blind, but you can only learn world-specific skills in the relevant world. Also, just be careful when using items here from off-world, they’re not usually as effective, if they work at all.”
“Or...” Indigo half turned again to look at Max. “Some things can behave in completely random, sometimes deadly, ways.”
“Right, I’ll be careful then.” This last piece of information from Indigo was interesting. Max knew things didn’t work in all the worlds, but he didn’t know they could act haphazardly, though he didn’t have much experience with off-world items. He and his Crew were somewhat purists. Maybe he should hit some of the forums himself and check out some chatrooms, as he and his Crew didn’t cross worlds very often.
“Sweet.” Oswald held his coconut cup up in salute. “I’m rooting for you, Murf, I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Cheers, man.” Max gave him a wave and then headed out of the tavern.
Outside, Max breathed a sigh of relief. With a quick look over his shoulder to check he hadn’t been followed, he walked down the street away from the bar. Oswald and Indigo seemed nice enough, but he hadn’t been wholly comfortable around them.
“Well, damn, if grabbing that bag o’ loot isn’t going to help you out, I don’t know what is,” Chopsticks said.
“Bag of loot?” Max shifted the sailcloth over his shoulder. “It’s literal trash, none of it works at the moment, and most of it’s only going to be sold as salvage or spare parts. Also, I feel like I should be on a watch list now.”
“True, but it’s more than you had twenty minutes ago...which was nothing, by the way,” Chopsticks reminded him. “And I’m sure you will be, that definitely wasn’t suspicious in the slightest.”
“Right, now we just need—” Sam’s voice cut off as there was a beep in Max’s ear.
“So, am I late to the party?” a familiar voice said.
Chapter Nine
“Jaguwar! Long time no see!” Max called out after switching to the open channel on Jabber, the program the Crew used to talk over the internet, which was a common software people used to talk while playing in the Terra Verse.
“Well, still no see, but yeah, it’s been a while,” Jag said. Max could listen to the easy tones of their distant friend all day.
“How have you been, buddy?” Max asked as he walked down the street, looking for a signpost or map of the Hub.
“Not too bad, Holic, not too bad at all. Uneventful, I guess. Had a run-in with a few marauders back at base the other week, but it’s been smooth sailing since.” Jaguwar could handle himself in a fight here on Primeva, but his talents on the Gyromeda world were even sharper. He was always more of a techy.
“Since you incinerated them, that is?” Max said.
“Heh, yeah, I’ve never known a problem that could not be fixed by adding more lasers.” Jaguwar chuckled softly. “Anyways, what can an old hand do for you on this fine day?”
“I’m looking to do some repairs on a couple of tech items that I’ve found,” Max informed his old friend, coming to a stop as he found a map labeled Cerribue-Prime.
The Hubs were placed at the same coordinates in each world and all carried the same name with the addition of a second word to identify which game world it was on. Hubs on Primeva were called Primes, while those on Gyromeda were called Techs. If you stepped into a portal on Cerribue-Prime, you could choose to exit in any of the other Cerribue Hubs.
However, while each world Hub might carry the same name, they were often vastly different in layout and culture.
Max stared at it for a couple of seconds to get his bearings. Great, he was only a little off-center which should make his destination easier to locate. He was looking for the courtyard that housed the portals between worlds.
“Tech items, huh?” Jaguwar asked in an interested, not interested kind of a way. “On Primeva?”
“Yeah…you are still based in Gyromeda, aren’t you?” If Jag wasn’t, that would definitely slow down Max’s progress.
“Sure, there must be some really fancy stuff, though, if you guys can’t deal with it.”
“Well, not exactly. You remember that second account you helped me set up? Well, I’m playing as him for now.” Max headed down the main road, taking a left at the crossroads toward the inter-world portals.
There was a pause. “Right?” Jaguwar asked. “What happened?”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’ve still got my main account, I’m just playing with this one for...a project we’ve got going on.” Max dodged around a group of players sprinting down the street, geared up to the teeth. He didn’t want to accidentally get tangled up in a skirmish that might leave him dead. Not again. He doubted Indigo would let him back in for a second rummage through her discards if he lost his haul. “You remember the Ravagers?”
“How can I forget?” Jag had mild disdain in his voice.
“Well, we’ve got a plan…” As Max trekked his way through the Hub, he explained to Jaguwar how the Ravagers had ambushed them again, and the Crew’s scheme to infiltrate the rival Crew, scope out their defenses, and take them apart from the inside as well as the outside.
“I’m sorry to h
ear that those guys are still giving you gyp, but those are some underhand tactics you’ve got going on there,” Jaguwar said.
Max was now walking underneath grand carved-stone archways that led down a parade toward the courtyard that held the portals. He had to walk to one side to avoid the worst of the traffic going in and out of the Hub, people carrying large packs of resources, others leading animals, some from this world, some not. There were guards posted regularly along the walkway, standing alert, a few holding raptors on chains that watched the comings and goings of the stream of people with sharp eyes.
“I dunno,” Max said. “They must be doing something dirty to always have the upper hand on us.”
“Hm, it is strange that they knew where you were.” Jaguwar sighed. “I’m still not sold on the idea, but I’d never leave you stranded. Which Hub are you at, Holic?”
“Cerribue, I’m just getting to the portals now.” Max squeezed through the throng of people. There was a barrier set up at the end of the walkway, the guards occasionally searching bags, but they paid Max no heed, and he managed to slip past and into the wide courtyard.
Large stone and mortar walls hemmed the area in, adorned with colorful banners, many with slogans and logos on. There were rows of portal arches, the ones on the left much smaller, personal arches, those on the right were much larger trade portals. The air was filled with chatter and animal noises, interspersed with whirs and hums as portals activated and deactivated.
“Cerribue? I’m not too far from there,” Jaguwar’s voice sounded like it was straining for a moment. “Once you get to Cerribue-Tech, pick up a couple of small component kits, will you? I’ve got tools that I need to fix up as well.”
“No worries, see you in ten or so?” Max moved farther into the courtyard, quickly finding a portal that was not in use. He stepped up onto the pedestal, the ring of quartz and stone standing inert for now. The glass-like dial panel stood to the side of him. Max touched it, the panel came to life, and an interface appeared on it. He scrolled through the available worlds, selecting Gyromeda, and then confirmed his choice.
