“Treasure! Jeeves!” I shouted. They didn’t respond. Our connection was full of static. Whatever space nonsense we were flying through felt like hail and ruined my senses. Only Dusk’s bouts of chirping noise kept me together long enough to get to a hatch, and let myself inside Auntie Backstab’s giant ship.
Inside looked nothing like the [Wayfarer’s Hope]. Our ship was rather streamlined, with a few seats and displays for all the [Mechanoid]s to operate at. This vessel was like a cage where the wall had been pounded back repeatedly in spots. Layers of dents existed inside and a few actual chunks of a wall were missing.
I didn’t have time to sneak. Crawling across the ship’s hull had taken at least a minute. We were still moving forward rapidly. Inertia kept me balanced, but this ship had no gravity. If Auntie Backstab noticed me then this mission would turn sour. I felt unsure about breaking into this broken Captain’s personal vessel. She clearly had anger issues and damned impressive willpower. Maybe she would have been perfectly fine if it weren’t for Commander Queenshand’s stance on the [Mistborn].
Thinking like that made this a million times worse. My hand went up toward one of the less damaged looking panels. Both eyes closed and I took a breath. [Material Conversion] went into action. A microwave ding and whir of noise accompanied the increase in mass. Fifteen seconds later and I was near the halfway point and managed to suck up an entire panel of wires.
“Ham? Is that Ham?” Auntie Backstab’s giant body, which sat roughly twenty feet away, gradually started to turn.
“No,” I whispered. Dusk turned and chirped. I wished that Auntie Backstab had been human, stopping her vessel from following us would have been simply by venting us into space. Instead, she was comprised of two races that didn’t care about oxygen that much.
Not everything in her ship was made of metals. There appeared to be a sort of rubbery plastic mixed in with the walls. It might have been the only thing which prevented her constant abuse of the ship’s inside from leaving lasting damage. My efforts neared the three-quarters mark of maximum mass before a lightning bolt disrupted everything. The enlarged body briefly stuttered as extra mass around me could no longer be supported.
It fell to the ground in clumps of metal clay. Warm heat spread through my feet and made me regret drinking too much water before getting into the ARC.
“Ham?” she said again. The chair didn’t seem capable of turning all the way, gears ground and a clicking sound came forth.
“Has she slowed down?” I asked the others on my intercom, hoping that absorbing half the wiring back here had helped.
“Negative, Unit Hermes, and we will be through the cloud in minutes. Whatever you seek to do must be accomplished posthaste,” Jeeves answered.
Dusk chirped. I couldn’t wait for my energy to recover fully. How long had it been since we started? One minute? Two? How much longer did we have in this freakish storm with the [Stabinator] tearing us apart?
I became desperate and ran for Auntie Backstab’s control panel. She looked out of it that maybe it was possible to remove her method of controlling this ship.
“Ham!” Seeing me move into her line of sight caused the giant to start shaking with eager rage. “Make you metal man soup!”
I ducked toward the ground and put both hands on a large panel’s base. It looked important, and just seconds ago the half [Behemoth] had been pressing buttons while staring through a screen. [Material Conversion] dinged again and the panel started melting as metals were sucked out of the side. I tried to grip my hands tighter as she wiggled to get out of a large harness.
“You killed my ship!” Her foot kicked me in the gut and I lost part of my grip. The console she had been using started to fold like wet cardboard. I gave it a few swift kicks while trying to clutch my wounded side. Even a weakened Captain Backstab hurt like hell.
She got out of her harness, and I managed to absorb enough mass from the hull to spawn two Dusk shaped minions. I saw the real Dusk leap in as well, all three started tearing at the large creature.
“Hermes?” Treasure said over our communications.
“Here.” I didn’t have the breath for more than one word. Being a [Mechanoid] didn’t override my normal mental instincts. When in outer space, I still took a breath frequently, when kicked I still gasped with pain.
“The enemy vessel shows all navigation controls are offline, you need to return quickly before we exit the cloud,” she said.
I rolled away from a stomping foot. Lightning rippled by and my energy bar fell apart. The two metal Dusks turned into puddles and glommed onto Captain Backstab, slowing the giant down slightly. Her swings no longer had the strength to break them apart.
Dusk was busy clawing and stabbing. The boss’ health bar had been overwhelming on the [Knuckle Dragger], but now it actually took damage.
I didn’t have time to hang around and try to finish her off.
“Metal people will not escape!” She started stomping at the broken control panel. The ship lurched forward and the vessel’s engines started rotating us wildly. Both myself and the boss were bouncing around the cabin.
Spikes hung loosely off of chains. I had no idea how this ship managed to spin while still retaining any sort of ability to chase the [Wayfarer’s Hope], and I needed to get outside. It was too late, she grabbed my shoulder and dragged me slowly inward to that grossly deformed maw. My free arm clawed at the ship’s side, trying to find purchase and keep using [Material Conversion]. The ability had saved me before, even now it was brokenly useful.
I threw out another metal Dusk as my energy rapidly recovered. The lightning bolts kept disrupting my [Core] but recovery was oddly fast. The small being of metal started biting. The boss’ eyes glazed over as she tried to pull me in. My fingers were absorbing enough mass that the outside of the ship could be seen. Auntie Backstab was near death and kept trying to eat my arm as we tumbled around.
“Ham.” She wasn’t looking directly at me. The monstrous amalgamation operated on vague instinct to pursue food.
My fingers kept trying to grab a wall but slipped. The vessel’s constant bouncing motion made it like trying to use chopsticks to pick up water. My [Messenger’s Pet] managed to jab Auntie Backstab in the face repeatedly which delayed the monster. Another metal version of Dusk spawned from my [Mechanical Minion] ability. A fresh bolt of lightning disrupted my energy bar and the accumulated metal bits fell onto Auntie Backstab. As the metal re-solidified it seemed to trap large portions of the half [Behemoth]‘s body.
Finally, she froze.
“Hermes! You must return!” All around us, things still spun. I managed to get back to the rear hatch and Dusk chirped behind me. I reached one arm out and tried to grab on as everything whirled. It was too much, too sickening.
“I won’t be able to make it!” I shouted, hoping the game would automatically relay my voice to the other [Mechanoid]s.
“Hold on. I’ve got something for this,” Eggman said through the comm. I could hear him banging around in the [Wayfarer’s Hope]. “Ready for some nonsense?”
“What?” I put one hand in front of my face to block frozen pellets hailing on me. My world fell in upon itself. Vision distorted and my head felt pulled in two different directions. One eye saw the view from [Stabinator]‘s outer hull, the other showed a confused face of Jeeves. I closed both eyes as my gut wrenched and noise about me shifted.
The large man laughed. “Ahhh, I’ve always wanted to save someone. Hehehe.”
Somehow Eggman and I had swapped locations. I panicked and tried to figure out why another player, one I had barely known, risked his life for mine. “Will you be okay?” I asked across our comm channels.
“Probably! I’ve got a few toys to try out! I’ll see you below, or not! Hehehe.” Eggman sounded a bit upset but managed to put out a good laugh.
“Jeeves?” I huffed rapidly. That had felt weird, similar to being summoned to the [Red Imp] body months ago. The process only lacked a kaleidoscope of colors
swirling around me.
“No time, we must complete this pattern before ejecting,” Jeeves said. Its fingers were poking at a screen invisible to me. That had to be a player interface that the AI was digging through.
“Eject?” My brain couldn’t wrap itself around the idea immediately. Auntie Backstab’s spinning vessel must have done more damage than expected.
“Like we did for the Leviathan,” Jeeves said. Our vessel jerked again. The gravity was low, but I could feel its pull as we dropped another ten feet. Engines sputtered on either side trying to hold us aloft.
“Our ship won’t make it. We’ll be taking a damaged engine core and attempting to life raft. Even now we’re barely fighting off the downward pull.” Treasure pointed to a large spike in the hull. It was heavy enough to be tearing away at one side of the ship. No portion of our vessel had come out unscathed.
“It’s a simple pattern, and we don’t have time for more.” Treasure was rushing by. Her hands glowed with a golden light and the walls of our craft were being remade into their new shape.
I pressed against a wall as Jeeves ran over to help out Treasure. They were busy trying to construct a blue engine like before.
“Okay.” I nodded hastily and looked at the blue raft. This resembled our earlier one almost to a tee. Round, like an upside down cone with a ring for holding onto. “Will this be enough?”
“Landing will be tough, there’s just enough gravity to cause serious damage,” Treasure said. A frown seemed etched on her face and the tired voice was winning the [Mechanoid] duet.
“What if I lose mass? Will that slow us down?” I was talking fast, offering to toss half a dozen Dusk clones out the window. One hand reached up to rub the original’s head. He sat there chirping excessively at me and none of it made sense.
“Mass does not impact acceleration, only force,” Jeeves said. “By using the engine we will attempt to cancel out some of the acceleration as we descend.”
“What about a wingsuit, glider, flat board? Can we do anything quick enough?” I tried to figure out how much the three of us would weigh all together. Seven hundred pounds? That sounded right. That human from the bar had been ready to lift and toss me through the doorway, so it couldn’t be too insane. Not in a fresh game like this, where humans were average, not exceptional in any skill.
“Like a panel? If it were thin enough, it might catch, but it would be fragile, we would tip unless providing it balance. Maybe we could wire the engines?” Jeeves said. Even now we were getting ready to break through the final descent. I looked out one of the large tears in our ship and saw a landscape of obsidian looking rocks below. Burned sand maybe? Were we flying over what had once been a volcanic layer?
“Make the suit, and modify me, Pattern Smith’s can do that, right? I gain mass, we balance, attach an engine to the bottom to break our descent. If nothing else I can act like a cushion?” I felt desperate trying to figure out a way through. Our ship was ruined, completely. The wing was tearing off as we debated. Soon we would go into a complete spin and the remaining vessel abilities wouldn’t be able to keep us afloat.
“Everything has a breaking point, Unit Hermes,” Jeeves said gradually. Its eyes stared directly at me as if trying to make me feel how ridiculous the statement was. I blinked and shook my head. The idea of using a jet at the last minute to try and cancel our fall was just as mad, but this way we would have both.
“Perhaps. We might be able to synchronize with the increased durability of your larger form. If nothing else, it will be harder to break.” She nodded. “If you are willing to sacrifice yourself.”
“Neat. Let’s do it.” I had been walking into a lot of pain since playing this game. Still, suffering all this was worth it to recover Xin. My mind had completely adapted to the idea of virtual damage not being anywhere near the kind of lingering agony that real life came with.
I tried to remember the durability of metals that fell. Only Galileo’s experiment with a marble and bowling ball came to mind. Two different sized objects of the same material, falling from the same height would reach the bottom at the same time.
Treasure shuffled around the ship. Parts of our floor looked to be shimmering and forming thicker lines. Jeeves nodded and grabbed at pieces around the room. We didn’t have much to work with, and every time we adjusted the vehicle we started slipping.
Finally, she motioned to the floor. “Quickly, Hermes! Absorb what you can from the ceiling and lay here. Stretch out to touch these points.” Fingers jabbed at small glowing points. “Unit Jeeves, we need that engine, put it here! There are vents on the bottom that should spread out our force.”
We were going to try and form a human hang-glider using some jerry-rigged hunk of metal. Low enough gravity might make this insane trip possible. I couldn’t imagine doing this on an original version of Earth.
I grabbed at the ceiling and activated the [Material Conversion] ability once more. We were lucky to be outside the lightning bolt forming zone. The air hung heavy with energy. My bar went away as mass increased. Once at maximum, I sighed and tried not to think about how improbable this whole situation was.
“This is about the extent of what we can manage. I had wished to repair the entire vessel, but there’s simply not enough time, and with only two Pattern Smith cores we could never modify an entire ship in time,” she said, her voices sounded extremely tired now.
While she spoke our vessel started losing altitude. We tilted to one side abruptly as the wing tore away. Jeeves stepped in behind me and quickly set in the small blue cone he had been working on. At some point, the two [Mechanoid]s had built a holster for where my legs would go. It clinked into place at the back of end our glider. Treasure laid down and locked her arms into a handhold. Jeeves twisted the blue cone into place and grabbed his own slots. For a moment, I felt stunned that these two had invented such an item after only a minute of conversation.
“Dropping, keep us steady, Hermes,” she said. The panel fell out of the [Wayfarer’s Hope] like a cutout simply falling out of a large piece of paper. Only instead of paper, it was a plane, and instead of a cutout, we were on a swiftly constructed panel of metal.
The main ship lifted away and our panel fired off blasts of energy as the remaining engine fought to keep us steady. I kept my hands and legs in place and tilted as forces drove me around. This was far worse than flying as the [Red Imp]. Jeeves weighed slightly more than Treasure so I had to twist to the left.
All of us fell downward toward the center. Our spaceship was in pieces. The [Stabinator] fell nearby. Auntie Backstab’s large body stood there dully in the middle, former Dusk critters turned her into a metal gilded statue. The [Stabinator] automatically fired off weakened engines, the ones still functioning after my [Material Conversion] tore through portions of it.
“Hang on!” I shouted.
I tried to prepare myself like a cushion against the ground. We were all made of metal, and maybe if I took the impact first they would survive. My mass was easily four times the old size. Stretched out arms held the flattened hunk of metal. Risking my life to keep Jeeves safe might just kill me this time. We had no parachutes, only a long slab that I was holding down the edges of while engines fired off below trying to keep us stable.
“This is insane!” Jeeves shouted. Its actual words were lost as gravity pulled us down. Only the [Mechanoid] method of communication could be understood.
“Live a little!” I tried to joke, but my heart wasn’t in it.
We were on course to collide with a platform that looked like polished stone, or a flattened river meandering through the mountains. Our current course set us toward hillsides that surrounded the path.
I took a breath, trying to regulate my heartbeat. The sound encompassed everything. Another breath passed my lips, then one more. This wasn’t the sound of me breathing in a game, I could actually hear myself outside the ARC trying to suck in lungfuls of air and not die of fright.
Falling. We were falling. I
wasn’t piggybacking on my niece’s ARC with a Second Player helm. This was me. How had she handled the drop? By watching the sky. My head turned to look over my shoulder to look out at space. Trying to find a measure of peace in what might be the biggest failure of my life. Jeeves and Treasure were holding hands awkwardly over my back. They spoke words that I couldn’t hear.
Air. We were badly gliding through an atmosphere. The [Wayfarer’s Hope] and [Stabinator] both veered off further into the electricity generating clouds. Whistling grew louder. I turned my head around and saw Jeeves and Treasure both staring at me. For a moment, they looked so tiny and helpless. I wondered briefly, what would it have been like to be a father? Would it be like this? Worried that you were meant to be the strong one, while feeling utterly helpless against the challenges ahead?
“Final push!” Treasure shouted. Pressure crushed against my gut. Our descent slowed notably but not enough. We veered slightly onto one of the sharp mountain ridges. Both Treasure and Jeeves had somehow collapsed over my back. My arms felt bent backward. Metal grinding overwhelmed my hearing and a fresh dose of pain drove my eyesight blurry. I gasped. We slid, then rolled, then tumbled downward. Finally, the gray space of near death took over my screen
Hit Rock Bottom
Total Health Remaining: 1.0%
It felt blissfully quick. I took a few seconds to glance around at the empty landscape of near [Mechanoid] afterlife. I felt proud and sad at the same time. Sad that my own whims brought things to this point, and proud that not once had I turned away. This was my trial of Orpheus, my ascent to bring her back. Like Xin said during our short time together, I had to keep moving forward toward the goal. To look back and worry about the madness of this course would invite failure.
Fading in were two other [Mechanoid]s, Ruby, and Aqua. They spared no time for conversational chatter. I saw the red one nod slowly, and our androgynous blue companion wore a serene expression. I tried to wave but they were already vanishing, and in their wake a new message displayed.
Key units respect reward:
Continue Online (Part 3, Realities) Page 42
