by Dan Thomas
“Come on, come on,” Max muttered as he lifted a crushed fern to reveal another Iguanodon footprint underneath. He sighed and sat back onto the ground. “What a waste of a day.” Max kicked at a bush. The whole reason he hadn’t made an excuse to get out of mining was to find whatever secret entrance ShadowHog had alluded to.
Max began to calm down, taking a deep breath. He frowned. There was a familiar smell on the breeze. It was musky, and smelled like...
“Shit,” Max got to his feet. He’d shoveled enough dino poop to know that smell anywhere.
He shot to his feet, heading upwind as he followed his nose, the smell was faint, but it was definitely there. He spent the next few minutes picking over the same stretch of the jungle he had already searched, but this time looking for the source of the smell.
Aware of the amount of time he had already been out, Max was about to give up when he put his foot down in something squishy.
“Ugh,” Max looked down at the dino poop scattered across the ground. He crouched down, wrinkling his nose at the musty smell. The poop could only have come from a large dino by the size, and a predator by the lack of vegetation in it, but there was still no trail that Max could see, and no tracks, even though it looked as though the scat had been kicked around.
Now that Max looked closely at the ground, he noticed that there was something off. It wasn’t just a lack of tracks, but it looked as though the ground had been swept over, or smoothed off, and the trodden down or broken plants had either been cut back to make it less obvious or dug out with the holes filled in.
Max had to give the Ravagers credit. If he hadn’t known that something had to be here, and if he hadn’t caught a scent he was so familiar with, he would’ve never found the track.
Max turned back in toward the jungle. Now that he knew this was a trail, he could clearly see the signs of an animal’s movement that had been tampered with. He began following it deeper into the jungle, being careful not to walk directly on the trail to damage it in case he lost it and had to backtrack.
After around ten minutes of tracking, Max began to doubt whether it would lead to a hidden entrance. It had to be far enough out that they could get in and out without any attacking force seeing them exit. But digging out a tunnel took time and resources so Max doubted the entrance would be too far outside the walls of the base.
The trail petered out near a stand of denser trees. The ground looked natural again and there were no more disturbed or cut down plants. Max walked back a few yards, picking up the trail and following it to the same point, where he lost it again.
Max spun around, looking at the area around him. Could he have been wrong? Were the Ravagers really able to operate some sort of teleporter on Primeva?
His eyes rested on a sharp rise in the ground, a thick mat of vines covering the mound. Max frowned. It looked a little out of place, and kind of familiar.
He approached the vines and reached out to move them aside. It looked an awful lot like Chopsticks’ hidden den, but much larger, Max thought as he parted the vines and peered into the dark recess behind.
Max took a glance over his shoulder to check that he wasn’t about to be trapped by a predator, or person, and slipped inside.
As the vines draped down behind him, Max was plunged into darkness.
He reached into his bag for a torch and his flint and steel, showering sparks onto the cloth until it ignited.
He held the flaming stick up, the walls and ceiling of the tunnel lit. It wasn’t a huge space, but a Majungatholus-sized dino could fit through at a squeeze.
Careful where he stepped, and aware that there may be traps in place, Max walked farther into the tunnel, his torch pushing the darkness back as he went.
After just a few feet, Max recoiled as the floor fell away beneath his foot. He scrambled backward, slipping over as he expected the whole tunnel to cave in.
Upon realizing that he was still alive and not trapped beneath a ton of rocks, he got back to his feet. Everything seemed normal, there wasn’t a chasm that had suddenly appeared through the rock.
Max gingerly took a few steps forward, the ground solid. He then put his foot down and a section of the floor in front of him moved down with his weight. As he quickly stepped off it, the same area of floor bobbed back up again, as if floating.
“What the hell?”
Max crouched, holding his torch low in front of him. There was a small gap in between the piece of floor that moved, and the rest of the tunnel. Now that he was studying it, Max also noticed how the texture of the moving rock was different. It was almost porous in appearance, compared to the smooth rock the tunnel had been dug out of.
“Skim stone?” Max whispered. His crew very rarely visited Aerium, the sky world of floating islands, but those few feet of rock bore a strong resemblance to the gravity-defying stone that made up those floating islands, although it didn’t seem to have anywhere near the buoyancy it would normally have on its native world.
Max stood back up, peering into the darkness of the rest of the tunnel on the other side of the floating rock. He’d have to find a way across the Aerium rock without plummeting to his death before he could see where the tunnel led, but he didn’t have time for that today. Jupiter and Saturn were going to be slow carrying all that rock, but he’d been gone a while. ShadowHog would be back at base any minute if he wasn’t already back.
Max left the Skim Stone alone, pushing the vines aside as he exited the tunnel and extinguished his torch. He glanced around the stand of trees, looking for a landmark that he could use to find his way back. His eyes fell on a tree with a sharp bend in one of its large branches atop a rise. That would do.
He then jogged his way back toward the tree line. With a quick search, he found the large tree he’d left the auger at. Hefting it over his shoulder, he hurried back through the sparse jungle to the path, which was empty, and headed back in the direction of the base.
Even with the jungle teeming with life around him, Max didn’t run into any danger, or any player walking down the path looking for him, and before long, he slowed to a walk as he came out of the trees, the hill fort in sight.
Max shifted the auger on his shoulder and headed toward the gate, thinking of what excuses he could use if someone asked why he had taken so long to get back.
No one called to him as he reached the first gate, trekking up the hill to the second gate. Maybe no one had even noticed that he had been gone. Or perhaps ShadowHog had even covered for him, making up a valid reason as to where he’d gone.
The smile on his face soon faded as he unlocked and pushed the main gate open. He dropped the auger by the wall at the sound of raised voices coming from the forge.
“Bullet,” Max hissed as he ran over.
Rounding the corner of the building, he could see Saturn and Jupiter standing by the open storehouse door, half unloaded.
To the side of them, ShadowHog stood meekly while Bullet57 jabbed his finger at him. “What’s your game, Hog? You’ve been here longer than I have, and I barely knew you existed, and all of a sudden you want to play with the big boys? What’s your deal?”
“I-I—” ShadowHog stammered as he stepped back from his aggressor.
“What’s going on?” Max asked as he glanced around. These two were already beginning to draw a crowd. A few of the noobs had stopped what they were doing to watch, and he could see Mamba watching idly from on top of the wall.
Bullet spun around to face him. “Ah, the partner in crime. Where’ve you been this whole time then, huh? Out on a secret errand for Rednex?” Bullet advanced, his shoulders squared.
Max stood his ground but held his palms up. He just wanted to diffuse the situation. “Look, man, we’re not looking for trouble. And I wasn’t even on a secret mission or anything, I just left some tools behind by accident.”
“Sure. I’ve been steadily working my way up this group and it was going fine until you two noobs got lucky with the Baryonyx, and suddenly you two are
hot stuff!” Bullet shoved Max. There was a fair amount of strength in the gesture, but Max easily withstood it.
“Maybe it’s just because we’re not dicks!” ShadowHog grabbed Bullet and threw him to the side.
He staggered but kept his footing, before turning back with a snarl on his face. “You—”
Bullet stopped as ShadowHog whipped a knife off of his belt. “If you touch me or Murf again, I’ll kill you!”
Max stepped next to ShadowHog. “You could do with an hour’s time-out. And maybe you’d think twice after that XP loss.”
Bullet glared at the two of them. “I know you two are up to something. Everything was running smoothly, and after you show up, things get weird. The leak in the storehouse so ShadowHog didn’t have to work, the fishing nets getting broken after we went there and fixed them?”
For a second Max thought he was going to charge them, but Bullet57 just spat onto the ground and stormed off back toward the farm, not making eye contact with any of the five or six spectators.
Max glanced back up at the wall to see that Mamba had left.
“Holy shit,” ShadowHog said, his face flushed as he looked at Max.
Max smiled at him. “Good job, man, thanks for sticking up for me.”
ShadowHog glanced over his shoulder at the retreating Bullet. “I don’t think I’ve ever done anything like that before. Do you think I’m going to get into trouble for that?”
Max placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Relax, Shadow, the guy needed to be taught a lesson. This is just a game, remember, but I’d say the guy’s got something going on in real life.”
“Sure, but that doesn’t mean he can just be like that.”
“Exactly. Anyways, I say we get the rest of this stone unloaded, then we go and do some shooting practice.”
ShadowHog nodded eagerly. “Sounds good to me.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
A clandestine visit to Primeva. Alone. Max smirked as he appeared inside the Ravagers’ base. All he had to do was get past any players who were online without raising any suspicions. Which he’d been able to do so far.
Ducking out of the low doorway of the forge where he had logged off earlier, Max took a look around. He’d suspected there wouldn’t be as many players on at this time of night and those that were might not know him too well, since they would likely be in a different time zone. Or he might have gotten this horribly wrong and nighttime was the right time for all the core members of the Ravager crew to meet up. Especially in view of the events of the last week.
Events that could not be blamed on Murf alone. Although he’d done a good job at sabotaging various activities around the base, the main event, the attack, had nothing to do with Max and his crew.
Max sure would like to know why the Viper Crew assaulted the base. Were they a rival Crew who were trying to take over the Ravagers’ territory and gain their sponsor by proving themselves stronger, or were they a smaller Crew intent on revenge? If it were the latter, they might just need some tips from the Coprolite Crew. There was no point going into all-out war with the Ravagers, you had to be sneaky.
Speaking of sneaky, Max had his own sneaking around to do.
The main open area of the base appeared empty. As he stood and let his eyes become accustomed to the dark, which was only punctured by a handful of flaming torches dotted around the inside walls of the base, he listened for any signs of people. No one seemed to be nearby. At the edge of his hearing, Max thought he could hear a quiet conversation, but nothing else.
Slipping out of the doorway, Max strode toward the gate. From his so-far brief experience with espionage, he knew he needed above all else to exude confidence in everything he did.
“Hey there.” The voice called out from near the main gate, which stood wide open, but Max couldn’t see who it belonged to.
“Hey. How’s it going?” Max asked as he stared into the shadows.
“Good.” A figure stepped out of the dark and stood in front of one of the torches set into the base’s stone wall. Max still could not make out the guy’s features as the flickering light made him into a silhouette.
“I was working on the wall earlier today and I just wanted to come back and check on it.” Max grinned. “I should have it finished in two or three days. I plan to make it stronger and even talk to Striker about maybe making a double wall. That way if the first wall has been breached by any attackers...”
“Sounds good.” The figure shook his head and strolled off toward the command tower, the bone plates on his armor reflecting the firelight. He started humming quietly as he walked away before he stopped. “Goddamn tune,” Max heard him grumble.
Max didn’t recognize the voice, but whoever it was had a decent kit on them. Max could only assume that it was one of their core members who managed the quieter night shift.
Fighting the urge to run, or at least power walk, Max forced himself to keep a measured pace as he walked along the walled-in road down the hill. He was itching to get himself into that tunnel and figure out how to get inside the command tower, or wherever it led.
He slipped out of the second gate once at the bottom of the hill, closing it behind him. The light from the torches inside the walls did nothing to illuminate the plains, and the nearby jungle was completely invisible to Max.
Aware that he was very much a sitting duck even this close to the base, Max moved with light steps, staying quiet and keeping his ears alert. He chanced a glance back up at the wall. He could see what might have been the shadow of someone standing on the wall over the main gate, but it was difficult to see. Regardless, Max felt safer traveling in the night. Clouds obscured any light from the moon, and a southern breeze carried the smell of rain. Max didn’t have a long time before he’d have to worry about the weather.
He made his way back up the hill toward the western wall. If anyone was watching him, he wanted to keep up his ruse, and also check that no one had begun any repairs without him.
When he reached the wall, he walked along the section around the tower, examining the damage. Damage he’d made worse. A small laugh rippled up inside him. He’d explained to Mamba that he’d have to take out more of the damaged stone before he could replace it with new stone and fill in the holes that had been shot through the wall. That if he’d just patched up the hole then it would always remain a weak point in their defenses and leave them vulnerable to attackers penetrating the wall.
If only they knew.
“You’re playing a dangerous game, Max,” a voice came from Max’s right.
He jumped, reaching for the axe on his belt. “Jag?”
Like a shadow made corporeal, Jaguwar stepped closer toward Max, his long coat a darker shade of night than the starless sky, his grin a flash of white. “In the flesh.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Max hissed as he glanced up at the dim light atop the wall.
“I thought I’d stop by to see how you were doing.” Jag kept a low tone.
“Stop by?” Max dropped his axe back into his belt. “You haven’t come back to Primeva for anything this whole time, and now you just wanted to stop by? Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”
Jag leaned against the wall. “Nothing’s wrong. Yet. But there is a reason I came…” His air of humor dropped. “You’re running out of time.”
Max felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. “What do you mean?”
Jag’s eyes glinted in a ray of moonlight that broke through the cloud. “The Terra Trials are fast approaching. You’ve seen the news, it’s the big event. Tensions are high, Max. And the Ravagers are already on edge. You’ve done a good job of staying anonymous so far, but they know something’s up. It won’t be long before you’re found out.”
“What are you saying?” Max asked. “We’ve gotten this far, and we’re close to being ready, but we’re not quite there. The others have been working hard stockpiling weapons and dinos, but they need more time. Maybe another couple of weeks. I can hold out
until then. And so what if they find out I’m a mole? They can’t do anything about it except kick me out. Even if they do that, I’ve made friends with a player inside, his name’s ShadowHog, and I think I could ask him to carry on what I’m doing. What else are they going to do?” Max stopped, remembering the conversation with Pez. “Wait, they do know who Murf is supposed to be, don’t they?”
Jag kicked off of the wall and leaned in toward Max. “Max, I’m going to tell you something, and it has to stay between you and me.”
Max gulped. “Okay.”
Jag’s voice was barely a whisper. “You’ve seen the rumors about accounts—and people—disappearing? Players joining a new Crew, and suddenly their banks are drained?”
Max nodded. “Yeah. But it’s just rumors, perpetrated by players like Chopsticks and his tinfoil hat friends. It’s barely even made it onto the news.”
“It’s all true.”
Max looked at Jag’s tense expression. “You’re sure?”
Jag nodded and stepped back. “Deadly.”
“That’s bad,” Max rubbed his forehead. “That’s really bad. But what does that mean for me? Wait, you’re not saying—?”
Jag nodded. “I think the Ravagers are playing dirty, but not in the way you thought they were. There’s an exploit that’s been discovered, the first one of this magnitude in a long time, perhaps the first depending on how deep it goes.”
“How? How does it work?” Max stared at Jag. “Wait, how do you know all this?”
Jag waved his hand. “I can’t explain right now, but I know of someone who’s an associate of the Ravagers, and apparently they’re getting ready to drop players, streamline their Crew in preparation for the tournament.”
“What do I do?” Max could feel his heart rate increasing.
“You’re going to have to move your plans forward. All I know is that for that hack to work, they need access to their Crew Nexus, and it only works on accounts that have been in their Crew at some point. If you can take their base and destroy their Crew Nexus, it will stop them from using it until they build a new one and start their Crew again. It’ll be in their vault.”
