by Han Yang
Quest 4: Kill a Webo’narock.
Reward: 250 points. ∞ rewards.
Quest 5: Explore the world.
Reward: 10 points for 1 mile explored.
Quest 6: Find a teammate you can trust.
Reward: 5 points per day. ∞ rewards.
Quest 7: Learn a Western Skill.
Reward: 5 points per valid skill obtained.
A thousand little quests continued, each becoming worth less as the list went down. At least the most fruitful endeavors reached the pinnacle.
I reached into one of the bags I had set aside, opening a big jug of water. I filled my belly, corked the lid, and decided to snack on a block of cheese. Jenny ignored me for the most part, extending her hand for a chunk but not saying anything.
When I finished, the next big test came. I pissed off the side of the wagon, relieving my bladder. When I finished, Jenny had a big revolver in her lap. When I stole a glance over my shoulder, she was studying a local map. A bona fide parchment, rolled out between her hands.
When I finished tightening my strings, I sat next to her.
“Theo, as long as I live, I’ll never kill you. Even if you have a million ants eating your flesh and you plead for mercy, I solemnly swear you’ve nothing to fear from me or mine,” she said with conviction.
She lifted an arm waving me in to snuggle with her. With the sun gone, the gritty terrain and whipping wind cooled a man quickly. I saw no malice or deceit in her eyes. She even plugged her wine and swapped to water.
When I accepted, she hugged me in thanks. “Now, let me tell you all about Snagglewood and what we can do to help our odds.”
Those happened to be the exact words I wanted to hear.
Snagglewood Day 3
Lornsto to Laro Road
“Will you hurry up?” Jenny asked impatiently.
“It’s not that easy, and Jenny, you broke your damn ankle. Not like you can shout at me to speed up the process while you just sit there.”
“I can and I will. I really gotta go, more than the horses need their water.”
I grunted out a sigh. A long stick draped across my shoulders with two pails of water on each end. The river water sloshed back and forth while I took my sweet time. The horses needed a rest anyways.
After three days of hard riding, we were beaten down by the constant sun, the jarring wind, and the lack of quality sleep.
Worst of all, I had run out of water for the horses last night, and this morning I had to give up some of our water. If this kept up, I’d be drinking brown muck just like the animals.
Eventually, we found a wide river with a brownish hue and a rapid current. A few tracks in the muddy bank left me beyond worried.
Instead of getting closer to the current, I chucked a pail on a rope into the river while Jenny sat on over watch.
I only brought back about a quarter pail each time. By doing that enough times, I could quench the horses’ thirst. The damn things were gluttons, and I provided two pails each with a large helping of oats.
This final trip would be me storing water for tomorrow. By the map indications, we might reach Laro in the middle of the night, but I didn’t want to risk passing up on the refill.
I reached the rear wagon, feeling exhausted. Not only did I pant, but I also winced when I checked my score.
Points: 4590
Ranking: 105th out of 121,160
Every day that went by a few things happened. I gained a few points from exploring, surviving, learning, and such. Every day, the other people were doing stuff that mattered more than simply traveling and therefore I had dropped in the ranks quickly. Each time I checked it, someone else had passed my score.
I was starting to get a feel for how competitive these Reincarnation Trials really were. I’d need to find a way to become an earner here soon.
Or maybe, just maybe, I could wait for enough people to simply swap to pleasure mode. While the name had other connotations, it became clear over a dozen people quit on the first few days alone to relax instead of compete.
I wiped the sweat off my brow, catching a nasty scent off my armpits. I’d probably wash the grime off when I got the chance. I started to shoulder the buckets again when I heard Jenny hollering.
“Bring Binky please…”
Ah, that meant she needed to poop. After a thorough assessment, we determined Jenny actually had broken her ankle. She said it was because she had arrived in a plump body meant for breeding, not war. This left the warrior woman more than a smidge resentful at Darcy.
When I asked about her arrival, she talked about being given a nice wagon, a decent sidearm, and two quality horses.
I had a fit body, two weapons, and a dead horse. Poor Darla. I had to wonder if anyone got the full deal, or if it was a balanced thing. Did Dave, from The Meadow, end up with abs, a bar, a barn full of stallions, a hundred workers, and well, whatever?
Instead of dwelling on my lack of going from fourth to first, I set about my chores.
“Not finished yet,” I hollered back.
I hustled to get the last of the pails stowed with their lids firmly in place. The stick I chucked back into the bed of the wagon, running to get Binky. I didn’t run out of a need to please Jenny, but mostly because I felt so alone when we didn’t have each other’s back.
Our relationship blossomed into a friendship of sorts. She told me of old times, taught me how to tie rope knots, and helped how she could.
I waited on her because the swelling in her ankle ballooned and even hopping became too much. I knew she was in tremendous pain, and we needed to get to a doctor sooner than later. I just hoped if the roles ever reversed, she’d do the same for me.
Binky neighed when I untied him, wanting to run to the river.
The stallion always had a tendency to break free of his lead. By the second day, I didn’t care to try to get him back when he dashed off the road. He grew hungry, or he missed his horse friends, and he would come back when I set a four to six-hour camp during the day.
I glanced up, seeing the sun fading off its zenith. The river washed a cool breeze over our caravan, and we’d tucker down for a short nap now that the horses had been taken care of. Of course, after my patient’s needs were attended to.
“Oh, thank heavens, I’d be miserable without you,” Jenny admitted.
I frowned when I laid eyes on her. “You’re losing coloring.”
“I drink nothing but wine to help kill the pain.”
“Hey, please. Do it for me, Jenny, no more wine,” I said, and she vomited over the edge of the wagon. “Alright, that’s it, let's get you to Laro.”
“I gotta shit. You fed me three blocks of cheese,” Jenny complained with a groan. “I bet I have more coloring now that I ejected the wine.”
She had a point on both counts. She’d been drinking so much, I did make her eat, and she’d turned pale before vomiting. I shook my head at her sorry state. I tried not to judge her too harshly.
The wine took the edge off her stupor and helped her outlook. The only reprieve she got was sleep, and the wine helped with that too. I yanked a rag out of my vest pocket, cleaning her mouth as if she were a child.
“I think I love you,” Jenny muttered.
“We both know that’s not true. You just want me to set up a proper poop spot for you, and you think those kind words just might convince me.”
She grinned. “Did it work?”
“Give me five,” I said.
She mumbled and grumbled, but I tied down Binky, running for the rocks away from the river.
When I reached the pile of stone in the distance, I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Jenny drinking water. She was as tough as nails, putting on a show of pity mostly because she really couldn’t walk without crutches, and we didn’t have a pair made yet.
We’d get her some medicine and crutches when we reached Laro. For the moment, I started stacking rocks so she could shit in a semblance of comfort. I kinda figured this is what real life
on Earth would be like, doing mundane things we took for granted on a spaceship - like pooping in a toilet.
This was likely why so many folks said ‘hell no’ to competing to live on a planet with an inferior standard of living and monsters. At the very least, those who left could make room for the next generations of babies. Darcy would tell me that growing up, she had hated the lack of children on board her ships.
That is what I focused on while I created an elevated seating spot with a hole section. I had a spare board in the back wagon that would seal the deal. I trotted to the back wagon and realized I had to climb into the bed to fetch the last spot.
The sound of Binky getting free didn’t surprise me. His heavy hooves sounded louder than normal. And… they came from the river, not -
“Shit, that’s not Binky,” I muttered.
Crack!
A gunshot rang loud. I reached for my six shooter and scampered out of the wagon.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
All of the rounds came from the front of the wagon. I didn’t hear a shrill cry for help. Just four gunshots, all from a repeater if I had to guess.
I hopped out of the wagon bed, seeing Binky bolting towards the river. I wanted to shout at him to stop but held back my cry.
Knowing I was facing a life-or-death situation, I yanked out my revolver, bracing for a fight.
With my weapon extended, I trotted for the lead wagon, giving each opening between the caravan a decent berth. This put me in the open, but also gave me time to react.
I didn’t need to take precautions because Brutus thundered from the front wagon, not caring that he gave me an opening.
The big stallion charged from the back side of Jenny’s wagon. Norma leveled a small-barreled weapon at me and I put two and two together.
Norma readied the repeating rifle, trying to attain a bead on my chest. The massive stallion made her attempts almost impossible.
Using her disadvantage to my advantage, I planted my feet and rapidly unleashed three quick rounds.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The revolver barked, snapping up then coming down after I’d squeeze again. The first two rounds dove into Brutus’ flanks. The third pinged off his saddle and sliced into Norma’s neck.
The horse tumbled as my rounds struck something vital. The fall sent Norma flying about two feet off his back. A tether pulled taut, but she never ejected out of his saddle.
To be honest, I was fairly certain my deflection shot was superficial. When the thousand-pound horse rolled over her twice, she died from all sorts of broken bones.
In an instant, the sudden attack faltered, and I stood there, ready to keep fighting. I spun, seeking additional targets but not finding any.
Well, not finding any at first. Binky found something at the water’s edge.
A webo’narock breached the water, showering the shoreline. The horse bolted, outpacing the large monster who shook its massive head in frustration.
“You gotta be kidding me,” I grumbled.
The beast looked almost twice the size of the one I had killed in Lornsto. Her belly rippled with movement, and it dawned on me that we’d just stirred a pregnant momma.
“Jenny!” I shouted.
Nothing. Blood pooled under the front of the wagon, and her silence said more than enough. Norma had killed her, and she’d never live it down.
I couldn’t weep over her loss. I needed to focus.
Norma’s repeater rested by Brutus, and I ran for the weapon. The moment my hand clutched the buttstock, a hoof came out of nowhere.
One second, I grabbed a rifle, the next, I flew towards the wagons with a shattered arm.
I figured I’d die upon impact. Maybe it was blind luck or maybe Darcy wanted to see what happened next. Whatever the reason, I smacked into the stacked supplies of bedding in the wagon.
The cushion helped, but my busted arm and new cracks from my ribs caused me to grunt from the impact.
The beast charged the lead wagon, spooking the horses. They bolted, sending Jenny tumbling off the front.
I barely managed to sit upright on the roof of the wagon when I saw Jenny. A hole in the back of her head confirmed she wouldn’t be getting up. Her body rolled towards the river, giving up a free meal to the webo’narock.
The wagon I perched on jolted forward, and my arm flared in pain. Our caravan stuck to the road, racing towards a bridge I had intended to cross at dusk.
I neared the beast as it sniffed Jenny’s body. I didn’t aim for an instant kill shot because this light rifle wouldn’t put the big bastard down.
I sighted the damn thing’s massive belly. When I knew I couldn’t get a better shot, I stuck the butt of the weapon against my chest while squeezing the end of the base between my knees.
Aiming the best I could, I aggressively pulled the trigger.
Bang, I’d drive the action forward and down before snapping it back up. Bang. Action down, lever up. Bang.
The repeater snapped off at least a dozen rounds in quick succession. A few of the small caliber rounds punctured the soft hide of the beast during my drive by. I grinned proudly, knowing it was tough to shoot.
That grin faded when I burned my knee on the barrel.
A rancorous roar belted out of the webo’narock.
My vision blurred from all the pain, but I saw the momma beast hesitate. She didn’t charge my position like I expected. I don’t think she understood the concept of a gun.
The roar turned into a snarl, and the hate fixated on the dead body only a few feet from her. The beast pounced onto Jenny’s corpse, tearing an arm off.
I watched in horror as the arm quickly went down her throat in a smooth motion.
In a few heartbeats, I had lost my companion, killed a woman, broke an arm, doomed a horse, probably shattered ribs, and had a runaway caravan with no driver at the helm.
Snagglewood was full of surprises, and I wasn’t sure I liked that. I glanced down at my ruined arm. The lead horses stuck to the road. If they kept running in fright, I’d reach Laro and have a whole lot of explaining to do.
When the adrenaline wore off, the excruciating pain took over, and I howled in agony. Eventually, the sun set, but still I fought the torment - a battle I started to lose. Right when I saw fires atop wooden walls, my vision started to dim.
I could give in. I’d reached Laro. The blackness consumed me, and I passed out.
Starship Hope
4 days inside Earth’s atmosphere.
The damnedest thing happened. I never woke up. A prompt hit me to take my allocated one-hour vacation to the real world and I declined. A few seconds after I declined, a prompt hit my vision, telling me three more days had passed in the Trials. When I went to skip it again, a forced message interrupted me.
Alert:
Citizen Theodore Karo is not alive, nor is he dead. His body is in a coma. Due to the low density of people being awake, and the superb status of the ships, the council is granting any Citizens stuck in limbo the opportunity to stay awake without penalty.
If you find yourself receiving this offer, please check the labor boards for tasks that will pay Moon Coins.
Warning: If your body awakes, dies, or leaves its status issue, you only have one hour to return to pod or face a point penalty. Thank you for understanding.
I was facing a penalty no matter what. I couldn’t earn points as a damn vegetable. I swiped the screen away with a thought and hit accept to return to the real world.
The cryopod hissed, unsealing the unit. I shook off the awakening fog and stepped into the claustrophobic tiny room. Something about the wide-open expanse of the frontier left me craving open space.
I glanced around the other pods; five faces rested peacefully, all of them going about their daily routine while either having fun or grinding out points inside the Trials.
I checked the linker on my wrist, seeing a few notes. The linker was our connection to the fleet through digital means
. I tapped the device and it reacted to my wishes. In this case I populated my messages.
The first came from mom. I skim read her congratulating me on entering my first Reincarnation Trial. The nicety stopped when she mentioned she expected me to finish in the top hundred or she would be disappointed in me.
Moms. Gotta love them.
Father sent a few encouraging messages. There was one in all caps ‘CONSULT WHEN ABLE. Pay strict attention to the information provided’. I knew about consolations inside the realms, you just had to reach a certain point and find the time.
I mentally tucked away his note and continued reading. He said he wouldn’t be competing. Instead, he was working on a river boat outside the infestation zone. Apparently, he was allowed to tell me because Darcy didn’t censor it.
I had mixed emotions, but overwhelmingly leaned towards happiness for my father and his decision. He was a gardener at heart, and the first wave of colonists might very well all end up dying.
Taiyo sent a short message. She mentioned that she was doing okay and thought she might end up within the top twenty thousand. She didn’t say specifics, but if she did, Darcy had altered the words.
I fired back a quick congratulations and told her I stayed in twice as long as I needed to but was on a well-deserved break. I figured this would get through, and when she read it, it would be received positively.
While I had been in the Trials six days, only two had passed on the ship. I checked my Moon Coins, always finding an irony in the name. When I asked about the philosophy of money, Darcy told me she used a silly name because treating currency too seriously led to more harm than good.
At the moment, I had enough for a shower, a hearty breakfast, and an observation bench. My stomach growled, telling me to hurry up, so I tossed a towel over my shoulder.
To my surprise, the cost of a shower went to almost zero. Then it dawned on me. Darcy was probably able to pull water out of the atmosphere and the stuff we drank no longer had to be recycled with a high energy burn for cleaning.
