Another man, one who looked to be considerably younger, said, "Yeah, no kidding. Most guys can just trade in a ticket or use their bonus to buy one of their partners."
The soldiers continued to gossip for a while, mostly about random bullshit that came to mind. The minutes passed quickly. Scott made an appearance at the proper time, but there was no joy in his expression. The hardest feat he accomplished in his life to date was now behind him.
As the enforcer squad escorted Scott to his paperwork, the girl left behind stood alone in the room. One arm stretched across her slightly trembling body, Seventy-Two gazed longingly at the door that signified the edge of her world. Hot tears poured slowly down her face even as her eyes closed.
"Scott..." she whispered gently, just as her body began to fade from sight. Her warm feminine curvature converted into a shimmering field of vaguely humanoid shaped energy, and then disappeared altogether.
On the wall, a small red spherical crystal glowed fiercely for a time. Once the lightshow ended, emptiness briefly reigned. Soon, two new occupants appeared. The dying of the light gave birth to an omnipresent darkness, and the heartbroken sobs of a girl destined to be forever alone.
The rest of Scott's tour of duty ended without incident. He signed paperwork, and was granted leave to remain in his room until the next morning. Exhausted after parting with his best friend and lover of two years, he went back to his room and collapsed onto his bunk.
Scott continued to lie in his bunk unmoving for quite some time. He needed to wait until tomorrow before he could increase his level, otherwise he would spoil his attempt to upgrade his stats. The pain in his body was mild compared to the sadness of having separated from Seventy-Two.
It was a necessary thing, however. A soldier's salary would never have allotted him the funds necessary to purchase her contract. The ADF severely frowned on taking outside jobs, as well. The life of a soldier was highly regulated. The younger soldiers were watched with especially keen eyes.
In truth, their emotional entanglement was star-crossed from the beginning. She was a military grade avatar, the sort of girl who was utilized as the core component in a faster-than-light starship or national defense. Even with military service discounts, and the proven compatibility discount, purchasing her contract would amount to half a million gold credits. He could build a frontier town with that much money.
The five gold credits granted to Scott as a bonus amounted to more money than he'd earned throughout his entire tour of duty. It was not even a drop in the bucket, if compared to the amount that he would need.
"It's for the best," mumbled Scott. All he could do was tell himself that it was true. While he could have stayed in the military and spent many more years with Seventy-Two, it would have only made it harder when they parted in the future. At least by becoming a hunter now there was a chance to earn the money necessary to grant her a real home.
He justified their separation on the basis that it would grant a better chance to reunite one day. In the quiet of his room, he told himself that he would save the money. He would set her free from the eternal government service that bound her. While he spent less time with her than some, they formed a strong bond during their time together. Plus, she was hot and he missed her already. Mounting her financial rescue would be difficult, but she was worth it.
Discomfort grew within him by the moment. He hated how things ended, but there was nothing to be done. His DNA would not even unlock his former post anymore. After the dawn came, he would not even be able to enter the wall. Despite his lodgings for the night, he was a civilian.
Scott lifted his hand then commanded a message screen to appear before him. The receiver of the message had a single name, Jack. He stared at the man's name briefly. What did he tell him? The closest thing that the former soldier had to a father, Jack had been part of his life for nearly two years now.
He dismissed the message screen, and then sighed. "No. If I message him right now..."
Jack was a great guy, a mighty mountain of a man, but he had his own problems. Scott muttered, "If I tell him it's done, she's going to expect me to come visit..."
Not in a place to deal with that certain someone at the moment, Scott shook his head then rolled over. He was not ready to face her, yet.
It would be a long sad night for Scott. His sleep was intermittent. In truth, he slept little at all. The bond was still fully active between the lovers. Only time, or a new love interest for the beautiful avatar would sever it completely. He felt her sadness, heard her choked whispers and despairing sobs. No amount of pressing his pillow over his ears would keep her from his mind. It was both the blessing and the curse of those with high psychic affinity.
The reasons behind the laughter, the tears, and the sonic dissonance of memories created throughout the days of a person's life were things to hold onto passionately. There were times, however, when such things needed to be allowed to rest.
At the moment, Scott desired a break from his passionate memories. Sleep refused to claim him throughout the night. Two hours before dawn, he still rested in his bed, a pillow wrapped around his head to block his ears.
"Dammit," mumbled Scott. The problems of separation were made worse by his high psionic affinity. He could hear Seventy-Two crying, whispering to herself that it was for the best. Their bond was strong. Several days would pass before it began to fade, even slightly. Great distance would speed the process along, or perhaps he could focus his attention elsewhere. Scott chose the latter option.
"Something else," he said. "What else can I be doing, right now?"
After a moment of thought, he blinked then sighed. "Sponsorship. I need to work on that, a bit."
Scott rubbed his chin, briefly. What was the name of that file again?
Realization hit him quickly. Scott called up a light screen that held a text form of the oral lecture that his sponsor recently sent. Hunters required sponsorship in order to maintain their licensing requirements.
America focused on reducing the amount of stress that a Crystallim would receive. Only licensed merchants could buy, sell, or trade them with the general public. A hunter could only trade with their sponsor, or with a fellow hunter. Crystallim trading was a highly regulated process.
One of the most important reasons for stringent regulations was that the Crystallim, as living beings, were granted limited fundamental rights. Their existence was clearly inhuman in nature, but they interacted well with humanity. They would have been granted full human rights, but their unique nature made that problematic.
The truth of the matter was that Crystallim needed to form a bond with a human being to stay coherent. Bonds rarely formed between human and Crystallim, however.
Only proof of compatibility, the spark, would show that the bond could form. If sparks don't fly, a human and a Crystallim would not be able to form a bond at all. Many different methods were tried to quickly facilitate making the sparks fly, but none were as efficient as the trade method currently used.
Scott read through the lecture, something written and spoken by a professor Annalise Ophun of the Ophun Institute. Several points were made that caused him to nod his head. At no time did he become bored, or attempt to dismiss the message.
“She uses an informal approach in her lectures. Interesting.” Scott could appreciate the informal approach. It kept things simple and engaging. Many of the lectures that he had been forced to sit through during his post-adult education were given by bored academics. How it was possible to make the biology and psychology of crystalline beings, who manifest into the world as overly friendly and exceedingly horny monster women, seem boring and clinical was something he might never understand.
Scott continued to read for a while, and became further intrigued by her style. "Her knowledge of how the Crystallim psyche works is incredible," said Scott. He thought about his words briefly then said, "Wonder how she became so insightful?"
Comprehension of the Crystallim mind-set was one of the key t
ools in any hunter's bag of tricks. The primary duty of a hunter was to capture Nightmares so that they would be granted an opportunity for coherence, and the possibility for a more fulfilling life. In the wilds, many of them acted like little more than animals. They might even become prey for the other wildlife on the planet, the so called monsters.
Once the lecture ended, Scott shut down the information window and stood up. He needed to clear out of his room before dawn. His barracks room belonged to the ADF, and they did not play around with their movement schedules. A new recruit would not take over residence for at least a week. But his ass would be in a sling if he was not packed up, and out the door, before first light.
Packing his belongings was a burdensome chore, but he had to do it. Scott took a deep breath then slowly released it. Prepared for the wait now, he commanded the room to send all of his personal items to a storage locker that he recently purchased for the move.
His MISS would not hold everything that he owned. Over the course of the last few years, Scott steadily procured numerous crucial items. He was fully stocked on every basic healing item, and he even purchased an MHU. The Mobile Housing Units were useful when spending time in the wilderness as they could be deployed and repacked at need.
Of course, he would need to purchase an MHU expansion slot for his MISS to be able to actually carry it into the field, but that was an issue for later. Overnight field trips were not going to happen for a while, yet. He had ample time to purchase an expansion.
Two full minutes passed as his belongings were inventoried by the system. Another agonizing thirty seconds passed while they were digitally shipped to his storage locker. He sighed loudly at the tedious nature of it all.
Once the burdensome task was complete, Scott smiled softly while he looked around at the empty room. It was home for the last two years. It was time to move on, but there were many wonderful memories in this place.
Scott walked over to the far wall then lightly traced a tiny crack. He would swear that it had always been there, if asked. The truth, however, was far more ridiculous. "I still can't believe Seventy-Two got that drunk."
Memories arose, rather they would not be denied. He managed to convince his commander to grant a weekend pass for Seventy-Two. Normally, passes would only be allowed for visitation within the wall. In this instance, however, he was allowed to take her manifestation out into the city.
A memory of Seventy-Two braying like a gorgeous drunken fool before she climbed up onto a table came to the forefront of his mind. Eina, one of Scott's dearest, and bitchiest, friends tried to get the dancing lush to come down from her tabletop adventure.
Eventually, they made their way back to his barracks room. Eina insisted on staying the night, despite her supposed disinterest in sexy happenings. The adorable drunk, Seventy-Two, decided that she wanted to wrassle, as she called it.
Seventy-Two's words echoed inside of Scott's head for a moment. "You tink yur stronk! I'm the strongk!"
The silly girl put up her hands and made dainty little fists. Her arms wobbled nearly as much as the rest of her did. "I got 'chu girl! Less wrassles!"
Eina, being the overly aggressive girl that she was, happily obliged her friend. They play fought in the room for a few minutes, and ended up in a dynamic and sexy sixty-nine position.
Scott tried to join, but Eina would not have it. She did her best to keep him at bay by any means necessary. All the while she said things like, "My heart's not ready!" and "Don't you point that thing at me, you fatty!"
In the end, the silly girl put a small crack in his wall while trying to fend off his roving hands. Scott lived in fear of a room inspection for many months afterward.
"She was so happy to see the outside world," said Scott. Seventy-Two spent most of her coherent life shut up in a small room. The thought of it infuriated him.
He took a slow, deep, breath then released it forcefully. "Damn, this sucks!"
He curled his right hand into a fist and stood there shaking. Scott regained his composure after a tense moment. "I'll just have to focus on saving the money."
Memories were beautiful things, but they could also hurt. He needed to stop reminiscing and get back to the task at hand, his new job.
Scott's first stop would be the American branch of the Global Trade Network. The government owed him a starter Crystallim, and his trade ticket guaranteed that he would be able to acquire a fairly decent partner.
Every Crystallim had a rank based on how easily they would develop skills and attributes. They operated on a growth pattern similar to the EXP system that humans used. However, unlike humans they were able to directly train their stats based on the things that they did in their lives. The higher the overall rank of a Crystallim, the faster its stats might grow with serious training.
Crystallim were shown to have a level range. It was merely a means of categorizing their potential power when compared to another Crystallim of the same breed. A level one Scarlet Dragon would have much higher stats than an Aida. The rank had a great deal to do with this fact, though breed was of even greater importance.
He left the room for the last time. His new life called, and it was time to answer.
Scott walked out of the barracks building then stopped to slowly breathe in the fresh, clean, air. Currently, he stood at the foot of the inner wall. A wide tract of land spread out before him that went on for a few miles, or about five kilometers if someone had a hard-on for the metric system. In America, both measurements were used. That decision was made as a nod to efficiency, and to the ancient empire of Earth from which the name for the city was derived.
The hunter walked down a short stone path then stepped onto the main walkway that led into town. He looked off to his right as he walked and saw a tightly packed line of vehicles that busily entered and exited the city via ground routes.
He looked overhead and noticed personally owned flying vehicles slowly floating along. Entering the city through a flying vehicle took longer than walking or driving a land vehicle. However, it was more comfortable for the travelers. Leg room was rarely a problem, and it was not as exhausting.
There were specific entrance and exist paths for all forms of traffic, including pedestrians. Scott owned no vehicle, at present. As a hunter he would need at least a small tank in the near future, but at the moment the miraculous power of bipedal locomotion would have to be enough for him.
He set out at a leisurely trot toward the city. Twenty minutes later he came to a halt at the pedestrian entrance and waved to the guard on duty. The air shimmered slightly as he walked forward. The city-barrier was a useful tool of civilization. It kept out various contaminants, including non-authorized individuals.
Once he was through the barrier, the city seemed to spring up all around him. Here on the outskirts, the buildings were short with few floors. The height of the buildings steadily increased in overall size as a people reached the central areas of the mega-city districts. The location that he needed to travel to was the main shopping district. It was on the other side of the city, near the Northern Gate.
Scott did not feel a burning desire to walk all the way to the GTN Center. He moved quickly toward a long line of pedestrians in the distance. He took up a position in line, and waited patiently as people moved forward at a reasonable pace.
The lines for transit points were long by default due to the sheer number of people living in the city. However, those lines always moved at a steady pace if the equipment worked properly.
It was not long before Scott reached the center of a long line. More people happily filled in behind him even as those in front were sent on their way. Slightly bored, he decided to do a little people watching while he waited. The average American citizen was nothing if not entertaining to watch.
One sight caught his attention immediately, though he wished that it didn't. Up ahead a guy wearing sunglasses too large for his face strolled down the sidewalk. Unfortunately, the oversized sunglasses were the only thing that h
e chose to wear that day. Public nudity was not illegal, but more than a few people grumbled about it when someone actually took that fact too literally.
At least he was not hairy and fat. Human obesity was a thing of the past, even for chronic over-eaters. Most people were perfectly toned and sculpted due to genetic tinkering over the last few hundred years.
The front of the line could not come soon enough for Scott after bearing witness to that sight. There was only so much loosely dangling penis that he could stand to witness in a single day, at least there were limits when it was not his penis that he was witnessing.
Scott reached the end of his harrowing journey. He walked toward the transit pad, passing through a green screen of energy in the process. The screen remained green, a sign that he was not a criminal. Felons and other individuals of ill-repute were not allowed to use public transit points, or transportation, in the city. They had to walk everywhere.
He stepped onto the platform and then walked through the transit point, a site-to-site dimensional junction that allowed people to instantly step from one point to another. In this instance, the transit point allowed him to step from the outskirts of the city to the number twelve transit point in the center of town.
The hunter left the transfer area, and immediately headed toward the next transit point that he needed to take. The line was even longer here, but it did not matter. He would cut at least twenty miles from his travel route by taking the two transit points.
After he managed to get through the line and reached his next destination, he leisurely strolled down the sidewalk. It became a bit too crowded for him after a few minutes, however. The urban sprawl that he called home housed millions of people. Apparently, most of them decided to go to the shopping district today!
It would take a bit of maneuvering, but he was confident that he would reach his destination. It was only a matter of time and skillful positioning, now.
Scott slipped through the crowd with the careful precision of someone who spent their entire life living in a massively overcrowded city. Despite the sheer number of people in the area, he managed to navigate the streets without bumping into more than four people. It was not a personal best, but it was close.
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