Conflicting emotions stirred in my stomach, and I was frozen in the spot as I looked at the hundreds of people who would soon become fuel. The process reminded me a little of the jump spheres inside our starship’s arcane chamber when Matthias had become a glowing blue light and his magical energy transferred to the runic batteries. There was a serious difference between the machina’s display and what I was seeing now. The ritual these Ecomese people were engaged in ended in death.
It was horrifying.
I realized now what the enforcer had meant about the teenager being ‘ripe.’ The young man was probably at the stage where he could be harvested in this ritual. My insides churned together as I thought about what could have forced this level of depravity. Why did the prime minister sanction this? Surely she knew about it, but why did they need to harvest energy like this?
“I think we’ve been found out.” Natali nodded at a technician on the other side of the catwalk. The man pointed in our direction, and a trio of guards filtered onto the metal bridge.
“Shit,” I said. “Let’s get out of here.”
I grabbed the doctor’s hand and sprinted out of the chamber. With Natali calling out directions, we maneuvered around men and women wearing hazmat suits. I lifted the doctor into my arms, and my armor made her weigh next to nothing. The corridor was obstructed by a cart filled with electrical devices, and I leaped over it. My heart slammed into my chest as the memory of those dying Ecomese flickered in front of my eyes.
We exited through the narrow door, and it was still a good ten minutes of sprinting through the city before we came to the escalator and then the elevator. The whole time, I was expecting a group of enforcers to intercept us, but they seemed more concerned with attending to the apparent threat posed by the troublesome Ecomese teenagers and the Dax. The commotion the soldiers provided in their search for the culprits also meant our heightened emotional states were ignored by the natives.
At least my lie had bought us some time.
My chest was heaving as I punched the elevator, and the doors curled open. When I let Natali down, her face was bone-white, and her pupils danced from one corner of the compartment to the other.
“Nick . . . I don’t believe what we saw. Tell me that my eyes were lying. Please.”
“I saw it, too, Natali.” My quivering hand entered the code for the level where the Stalwart’s crew were staying. Many questions echoed in my mind, and I couldn’t keep all of them to myself.
“Why are the Ecomese using their own people to fuel the Ark?” I asked. “Wouldn’t the storms be more than sufficient?” I was having trouble keeping my voice steady. I’d never seen anything like that before. It was worse than any battlefield.
“Not if they have incredible power requirements. The Ecomese humans are practically living batteries. Plus, the storms are incredibly difficult to extract power from. Even so, how long can they survive murdering their own people? Something must have happened recently to cause them to resort to such terrible measures.” The doctor’s words came out in a jumble, and her pupils darted about like she was on the verge of a breakdown.
I didn’t feel too good either. I had only wanted to impress the doctor by sneaking into the power plant, and now the images of those Ecomese people awaiting their deaths was seared into my mind.
We wouldn’t be able to keep the secret for long while in the presence of empaths either. Not until the shock wore off at least, and I doubted that would be any time soon.
Natali’s shoulders dropped, and her face crumpled in pain.
I wished I could have consoled the doctor by telling her we would find a way to help these people, but it sounded like they were already desperate and out of answers. The Caledonian Kingdom wasn’t exactly poor, but they weren’t likely to assist a planet so far from the kingdom’s reach. Ecoma had little to offer without Grendel portals, and they didn’t seem to possess any natural resources or manufacturing capabilities.
We deactivated our helmets when the elevator stopped at our level. Then we exited and sprinted toward the chamber leading to our assigned lodgings. I kept looking over my shoulder, wondering when we’d be reprimanded for trespassing inside the power plant. The doctor and I had discovered a terrible secret, and I was sure the prime minister would find some way of punishing us.
“We need to speak with the captain,” I said. “He’ll know what to do next.”
“Excellent idea,” Natali said as we entered the chamber connected to the corridor where the crew was staying. “But I will--”
Her voice was cut off by the overwhelming noise inside the room. It was like the height of a summer festival inside, and I wasn’t ready for the roar of celebration. Ecomese people and the Stalwart’s crew mingled together, yelling and laughing. They all stood with drinks in their hands while they watched a giant holo projected into the center of the room.
“I shall go find the captain!” Dr. Lenkov yelled in my ear. “It’s probably best you don’t come with me. I’ll return here if you are needed.”
“Are you sure?” I yelled back over the crowd. “Wouldn’t it be better if we both went?”
“I would like to avoid telling the captain that you snuck into the power plant with me. After your history on the ship, it’s probably for the best.”
“I can’t let you do that, Natali. It was my idea to go through the side entrance. I lied to the sentry. I’m the one to blame.”
“That is part of the reason you should not be there!” she yelled in my ear as the crowd roared again. She said something else, but all I heard was: “--you must stay here. I will return as soon as I can.”
I sighed. “Okay. But I’ll be keeping a lookout for any of the enforcers. If they come here, I’m going straight to the captain’s quarters.”
“A good plan! You are a smart man, Nicholas Lyons, if a little foolish.” Natali moved her lips away from my ear, touched my face, and caused my entire body to tingle. Then she turned and left through the corridor leading to the crew’s assigned quarters.
I searched among the crowd for my friends and spotted them in the far right corner of the room.
“Hey, Nick!” Nathan waved his arm, and all three squires moved through the crowd to get to me.
“How did your little date with Dr. Lenkov go?” Richard asked me as he wiggled his eyebrows. His eyes were half-closed, and I guessed that the beer in his right hand was probably his twelfth.
My stomach turned and spun as I tried to find the words to answer my friend. I couldn’t keep this secret from them. I’d just seen a woman die while almost another thousand people prepared to give their lives as fuel.
“You guys won’t believe what I saw,” I blurted out. I probably should have waited until Natali came back, but these were my friends and I needed to speak to someone about the horror I’d witnessed. “The Ecomese are killing their own for energy.”
My words were lost among noise as the entire crowd cheered. None of my friends had heard me, and they all turned their heads to face the holo in room’s center.
My mouth dropped open, and my lungs clenched when I saw holos of Moses and Flanagan fighting two Grendel Elite holos. The pair of lizardmen wore armor unlike anything I’d seen and wielded serrated spears. The knights were equipped in mechanical suits, but I could see their faces in the windowed helmets.
I shook my head, unable to believe my eyes. This couldn’t be happening. Why were the knights fighting Grendels? Why were the lizard-men on Ecoma? The captain had said there weren’t any portals on this planet.
“What’s going on?” I asked my friends, my voice hoarse. “Why are the knights fighting Grendels? And why are you all watching?”
The squires laughed at me, and their beer sloshed out of their mugs. “It’s only a simulation, Nick,” Nathan said. “No need to be all worked up about it.”
“Moses and Flanagan are over there.” Neville nodded toward a nook in the wall where the two knights were strapped into pod chairs, wearing what looked like old-
fashioned armets on their heads. Neon lights blared from the metal helmets, and microchips glistened on their temples.
I exhaled in relief and then glanced back at the chamber’s entrance. I expected to see a dozen enforcers charging into the room. Instead, the doorway was empty. But for how long? Surely they’d come after the doctor and me, eventually. Hopefully it wouldn’t be before Natali had a chance to explain everything to the captain.
Captain Cross would smooth things over with the prime minister, and then he would want answers. I’d disobeyed orders on Tachion, and now I’d entered a forbidden area on Ecoma. My desire for the doctor had made me do something stupid, and I really regretted it now.
But I couldn’t spend my time watching a simulated game while everyone was drunk around me. I spotted a dark corner and figured I’d wait there until Natali came back from the captain. Keeping an eye on the doorway would be easy from that position, and I could sneak away if any enforcers came looking for me.
I turned back to the squires to continue telling them about the power plant. But I was stopped short when I caught a glimpse of Olav walking toward me.
The crowd parted before the massive berserker, and he screamed as he approached. “You’re next, squires!”
Leith followed behind the bear of a man, and both knights held the largest mugs of ale I’d ever seen. After our conversation last night, I’d thought I wouldn’t have to worry about the two knights anymore.
I should have known otherwise.
“You’ll be joining us in one of those matches,” Leith said, and the other squires beside me grinned with joy.
“I don’t have time,” I said.
“Come on, Nick, it’ll be a blast,” Richard said.
“I’m not playing this game,” I said. “Not when there are people dying.”
“Gods, Nick! It’s only a game.” Nathan seemed infuriated by my apparent lack of understanding, but he was the one who didn’t understand.
I shook my head in frustration and went to leave, but before I could make a move, the two knights each took one of my arms. I struggled against their grips, but they were too strong for me. I could have activated my Runetech and wrestled the unarmored men from me, but I didn’t want to anger them. They smelled like they had been swimming in a pool of ale, and I knew neither of them possessed rational faculties at the moment. In fact, every person in the chamber seemed far too drunk to hear me out.
“The Ecomese are killing themselves!” I yelled, too desperate to care who heard me. But those who could see me laughed at the knights and me as if they were wrestling with me for fun.
“Shut it, Squire,” Olav spat. “You’re gonna sit your ass in one of those chairs, shove the helmet over your head, and play this game.”
“It’s time for some fun,” Leith said as they dragged me into one of the chairs bolted to the walls. They shoved me into the seat and then clamped my arms to the sides so I couldn’t move.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I screamed at them as I tried to pull away.
“It’s alright, Nick,” Nathan said as he sat beside me. His words were slurred, and he seemed almost as drunk as every other person in the room. “No need to be so angry about it.”
Olav and Leith strapped themselves into the chairs on my right while Richard and Neville took the seats to my left. The empath who’d been assigned to the squires approached us.
“Alin, can you explain the game to Nick?” Richard asked the woman. “I think he’s a little nervous.”
I was too angry to speak, and the others were too intoxicated to listen to me. The empath probably detected my rage because she placed a calming hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly.
“It’s a virtual game we Ecomese play,” she explained. “It allows for friendly competition among the Three Arks on our planet. It also provides relief from our empathic abilities. Inside the World of Yamyra, we cannot know what our companions are feeling.”
“Is it dangerous?” Neville asked her.
“Are you afraid we’ll kick your asses again like we did in our ship’s battle room?” Leith grinned. “I don’t blame you. It was quite the ass-kicking.”
Alin shot the knights a poisonous glare and then smiled at the squires. “You will not die. But you can still feel pain. And lots of it.”
“But no broken bones when we’re done, right?” Olav asked Alin. “No signs of bruising?”
“Can’t have the captain finding out,” Leith said with a nod. “Smart thinking, Olav, my friend.”
The berserker grinned proudly. “I’m a smart guy, ask anyone.”
“The simulation is completely mental. There will be no physical signs shown on a player’s body, no matter how terrible the trauma inside the virtual arena,” Alin confirmed. “It is otherwise a most immersive experience. It is the pride of Ecoma’s cyber alchemists.”
“Excellent,” Leith said as he shot me a deadly grin. “I’m looking forward to this!”
Chapter 6
After a few minutes strapped inside the chair, I realized I wouldn’t be going anywhere until I finished this virtual contest.
“Ready for an ass-kicking, traitor?” Olav snarled from beside me.
I clenched my hands into fists and tried to ignore the berserker.
“The virtual world is an arena where two teams compete against each other,” Alin explained. The squires and knights had watched the previous match, so I figured the empath was explaining the rules for my benefit. “You four will compete on the Blue Team,” she said to us. “The two knights will be on the Red Team.”
The empath reached over me and pulled the helmet down. She stopped before it was completely over my head and then whispered in my ear. “I can feel your anxiousness. There is no need to worry. Yes, you will feel pain, but you cannot die. It is only a game.”
The woman obviously interpreted my emotions incorrectly since I wasn’t worried about this game at all. The exploding Ecomese I’d seen inside the rune circles occupied my mind, and I wondered how many would die in the time it took me to get this over with.
I forced those thoughts away and concentrated on the game. I was still in shock, so at least this simulation might take my mind off the horror for a bit. If this game could make a man feel pain, then I was going to give Olav and Leith their fair share. For now, I’d forget what happened inside the power plant and concentrate on killing these two knights.
Even if it was merely a game.
“The cyber alchemists have configured a number of playable kingdoms and classes,” Alin explained as she pulled the helmet over my face and I couldn’t see anymore.
I’d never really played any of the Caledonian Kingdom’s virtual games since I never had the spare cash as a kid. Even at the Academy, I was in my dorm room studying or in the battle chambers. I’d always envied the rich nobles who didn’t need to study or fight well in order to pass classes or complete missions successfully.
Now, I was about to participate in a pastime Core World children enjoyed. Outlander youths and others too poor to afford the luxuries of the aristocracy looked upon the virtual games with envy, and I grinned in anticipation.
My vision flickered for a moment, and the helmet’s visor displayed an introduction screen.
Welcome to the World of Yamyra.
Please prepare for infusion.
I felt my palms grow slick, and my heartbeat kicked up a notch.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe this would actually be fun.
I soon forgot the power plant, and my mind was filled with anticipation of what I was about to experience.
Suddenly, something jabbed my temples, and pained seared through my head. I guessed it was a neural link required to interface the virtual world the helmet created.
A menu displayed in front of my eyes, and I entered my full name with a mental command.
Squire Nicholas Lyons - Blue Team
An interface in green neon text appeared.
1. Race
2. Class<
br />
3. Scenario
“If we’re playing this silly game, then we knights get to choose our race first,” Olav’s voice entered through my helmet.
A line of text appeared on my visor.
Red Team has selected Race: Human (Caledonian Kingdom)
“You squires can play dress-up,” Olav said. “But we’ll stay human.”
“What do we choose?” Neville asked me and the twins.
I concentrated on the Race option, and a proliferation of races dropped down. One immediately caught my eye.
“I say we select Grendels,” I said.
“Yes,” Leith said. “Do that. It’ll make me feel less bad for killing you all.”
“You weren’t going to feel bad about killing them,” Olav said.
“You speak truly, friend. I thought it wouldn’t hurt to be nice since they’re gonna be in a world of pain when we’re done.”
“Sounds delightful,” the berserker said, and I could tell he was grinning beneath his helmet. “I kind of want to tape this to Lyons’ head now so he can’t ever take it off.”
“So you guys don’t mind choosing Grendel?” I ignored the knights and asked my friends. No one objected, so I confirmed the selection.
The options for Class opened on my visor.
Grunt
Warrior (Limited to 1)
Elite (Limited to 1)
I’d fought against all three Gendel types, so I knew which one I wanted to pick, but I figured I’d let the others choose first.
“Richard and I will be Grunts,” Nathan said.
“I’ll take the Warrior spot,” Neville said. “You can be an Elite, Nick.”
I selected and confirmed the Elite class and tried to keep my excitement to a minimum. In a few minutes, I would control a Grendel avatar.
“Red Team has fewer numbers, so they will select the scenario,” Alin said. I could hear a slight tremor in her voice, and I realized it was eagerness. She sounded like an excited child, and I shared her enthusiasm.
Scenario: Capture the Flag
Sub-condition: Prot-fields disabled
I was a little surprised Olav and Leith chose Capture the Flag. It would mean we would have the advantage with our numbers. They were probably trying to show off. It didn’t seem like a disadvantage at all since the knights would also be without prot-fields to protect them against projectiles and laser fire.
Space Knight Book 2 Page 9
