“Darn.” I sighed. If the AI was right, then in a day or two, it would be too late for us to catch up with the commander. Indeed, it was unlikely anyone, even Beth, could interfere in time.
Still, the connection felt a bit clearer and almost too amazing to believe. It sounded as though these games, despite their difference in release dates, were using player actions in one world to drive events in another. Mother, or whatever programming handled this, was cheating by reducing the need to constantly move things forward on its own. It was probable no human programmers were making new content, but one set of players was bouncing around the other.
That sounded neat. Maybe it was a vague idea of how the whole system went together.
“Jeeves? Has anyone else ever noticed the connection between games?” I asked.
“I believe, among the old souls, you are the first to vocalize their awareness of it.” The AI didn’t shrug or dismiss my question. Jeeves turned in its seat and looked right at me. Both voices carefully said, “Plus your own affiliations make this less of a guarded secret.”
“Neat.” I kept myself from freaking out about the possible repercussions of what the AI implied. It made sense that people investing so much in a single alter ego would be unlikely to let it go. Continue Online was vast. Why would anyone give that up?
“What are you two talking about?” Treasure’s golden eyebrows lowered in a very [Mechanoid] glare.
I tried not to smile in amusement. “The nature of existence.” I raised one hand in a shrug. There would be no easy way to explain, and we shouldn’t have been talking about it in-game anyway.
“Indeed.” Jeeves sounded depressingly dry and stared at me.
Technically this whole line of conversation was my fault. There was just no good way of getting answers fast enough. Maybe we could have communicated through a party system. I was terrible at making that work though.
“I’ll let you handle explaining it, Jeeves. I’m not sure what the rules are for a lot of this.” I went back to my seat while thinking about forum posts. People had tried to explain the concept of a video game world to NPCs, and it often went poorly. Their game avatars ordinarily suffered. The program controlling Advance Online heavily discouraged such reality-breaking conversation.
Beth and I had once discussed the same topic, and she’d suggested there were punishments for speaking excessively about the nature of reality. She hadn’t experienced any firsthand; it was more like tribal knowledge. Speaking about the world outside an ARC needed to be done carefully and vaguely.
I had mentioned the real world quite a few times when talking to the Voices. Mostly it involved introducing a new idea: casinos, cupcakes, bicycles, or Xin. They were a separate existence from normal nonplayer characters.
There was a rumor someone had tried to replicate the nuke in-game only to have their entire town blow up. They lost a ton of [Respect], gained a bounty on their heads, and spent the next four months being hunted. If that person didn’t up and quit to play Advance, then maybe I truly was the first to make these connections.
The two [Mechanoid]s were talking as our ship pulled into a giant space station. My brain quickly lost track of its musings and stared in awe. This place made both Wayfarer ships look dinky.
“Neat.” My hand pressed against the window. Cold metals pushed back and the display rippled. Part of me hadn’t realized my entire view of space was a projected image. I pulled away a bit and went back to feeling dwarfed by a floating space station.
It sat there rotating in space, tube-shaped and long. Ships were parked all along the outer hull, and inside shimmered a thick shielding that housed a real atmosphere. Plants grew in droves. Browns, greens, and blues littered the entire place in what had to be a natural forest. [Offbeat Point] was not an out-of-the-way place; it was almost a state unto itself.
“We’re just grabbing fuel and going, right?” My voice held more than a hint of wonder. Our vessel had taken a path toward the outside cylinder’s edge. My head twisted around, trying to get a view of the rapidly vanishing country inside.
“No. We need to pick up something else as well.”
“That sounds like a bad idea.” I looked at the countdown timer again. Our fuel had less than a minute. Treasure had timed this stop well.
“We need a Jump Gate key to even be allowed into Earth’s sector. Those with Commander Queenshand would have already gained one.” The gold-and-silver [Mechanoid] pointed at her screen.
A brief display came up, showing what looked like a small household mortice key. Bronze, rounded on one end, it might fit into a music box just as easily as an old door. It seemed weird that such an object would power advanced space technology to such a historic place.
“I don’t have a key,” I said.
“We had no time to complete the requirements.” Jeeves sighed. “Like many things, it has been rushed. We had hoped to proceed down a different route in order to assist you.”
“What are you two talking about now?” She closed all the windows and glared again.
“The nature of reality?” I tried that answer again.
This time, Treasure looked downright angry with me. It was the maddest she had ever been in my presence, topping even Dusk’s chewing on her belongings.
My hands went up, and I glanced at Jeeves. It looked mildly upset and slightly worried. Guilt rushed through me abruptly. My big mouth and attempts to work the system were causing issues for the AI and its [Mechanoid] crush. Maybe it was conflicted. Hal Pal outside the game had basically told me to use the [NPC Conspiracy] ability if I just wanted to break things.
I didn’t like that idea. The ability had limited uses and there were probably a million good reasons to hang on to them.
“I don’t know how to answer the question right, Treasure. I am sorry,” I said.
“You’re hiding something.”
“Not really. I’m trying not to get us in trouble with any Seraphic.” Or those above them. I hoped by throwing out the dangerous race’s name, Treasure might realize that higher powers were at work. Much higher, though technically they were intensely advanced AIs that could make humans look simple.
My mind briefly started trying to compare theoretical lifeforms against each other. Weren’t humans just fancy machines with growing parts? Weren’t our brains just a result of lots of stimulus over a long enough time period? That reasoning was silly to even start debating this late in the game.
Jeeves felt real. Treasure felt real. Xin, from my hasty bits of contact with her, felt real. Going around and around about my former fiancée’s reincarnation hurt, but at the same time, it felt human to constantly wonder.
“We’re going to a bar here,” Jeeves said.
“A bar?” That sounded dangerous to me. I tried to avoid pubs. One letter that the Voices tasked me with delivering had involved following a player into a beer-nightmare-oriented dungeon.
“Affirmative.” The AI nodded and disengaged from its harness.
Treasure followed suit, and a rear hatch I hadn’t noticed slid open.
A realization hit me hard enough to cause a metallic face palm moment. Ringing filled my ears. “This is another one of my letters, isn’t it?”
“Yes. That is what I’ve been told,” Jeeves said.
“Are there more?” I followed the two [Mechanoid]s out of our enlarged vessel. The ship had easily tripled in size and now resembled a tank compared to the old tiny fighter.
“This is the last one, I believe,” Jeeves said, the nanny voice overpowering its butler one and sounding a bit stern.
Dusk leapt down from only the Voices knew where and followed Jeeves and me out to the tarmac. The ground felt rubbery under my feet. It struck me as odd that I only now realized [Mechanoid]s didn’t have boots.
Dozens of ships pulled in. Some clearly belonged to players. Others were owned by NPCs like Aqua and Ruby. They had disembarked before us by leaping straight out of their now open cockpits. Both [Mechanoid]s sat next to a long
pillar object while pressing floating menu options.
I raised an eyebrow at them as Treasure, Jeeves, and I passed. Ruby shook her head slowly, then pointed at her ship. The gesture probably indicated they were staying to watch our vessels. Aqua just smiled.
I shrugged, then continued the conversation with Jeeves. “You don’t know if any other letters matter?”
“No, but this isn’t my plan.” The AI was swiftly following Treasure.
She apparently had a destination in mind despite not knowing about the Continue Online side of things. Had she discussed it with Jeeves, or had the Voices preprogrammed something in? Maybe it went one level higher.
“Who’s is it?” I asked.
“If you reason through, Unit Hermes, I believe you can figure it out.”
My AI friend’s answer didn’t help. I suspected it was the Voices but had no clear method of confirming without repercussions. The real goal here was bringing Xin back by using the [Mistborn]. Our other mission of saving the [Wayfarer Seven]’s crew had failed, but the [Wayfarer Eight] went home successfully, in theory.
“What are you two talking about?” Treasure asked, her tone laced with a fresh bout of annoyance. She turned and crossed her arms while glaring at us.
I pointed at Jeeves. It may be suffering separation from all the other Hal Pal units and growing toward destinations unknown, but my attempts to answer would be disastrous. They managed to exchange absolutely no words on the subject before Treasure sighed and kept going.
I glanced once more at the two behind us. It was good that Ruby and Aqua were staying with our weirdly merged vessel. Someone had to protect our oddly designed craft. The ship seemed almost like some child had decided that our three ships needed to merge into a giant spaceship toy. I wondered where the other colors might be—we only needed a green leg and yellow arm to form the set.
The idea made me laugh a little as I hustled to catch up with Treasure and Jeeves. We walked through the giant space station, and moving floor panels helped us travel quicker. An entire landscape zipped by quickly.
Being around all these trees and well-kept lawns made me feel kind of giddy. It had been so long since I played a game with lush landscapes. Weeks, or a month, it was hard to tell. Once again, subjective time was messing me up.
Our destination sat somewhere between a rich, highly cleaned area and what had to be space slums. Just looking over there made me twitch in annoyance. This wasn’t a poor area like back on Earth; it was downright broken. Nothing looked to be made right. Large metal flats sat almost on stilts to serve as roofs.
Players wandered through both areas with ease. We saw all sorts of races represented, and many that were NPC-only. A large elephant-looking creature walked around on two legs, its long nose adorned with piercings. Some double-headed jellyfish moved along in clumping movements. Treasure scanned numerous different objects as we walked around, cataloguing notes but not truly enjoying the process. No other [Mechanoid]s were here.
The bar’s name was [Isn’t That Something?]. Apparently it was player-owned and primarily run by hired staff. An absolutely giant human by the name of SuperE sat at the door. The man eyed us and stared longest at the [Messenger’s Pet] before moving on.
“There he is.” Jeeves pointed toward a rather rotund-looking man. This was a player, that much was easy to tell.
“Okay. Is there anything to this?” I asked. Maybe one day the game would give me an [Identification] skill so player names would be obvious. The ability to pull down more than a health bar seemed restricted to certain classes.
“We simply try to get the key from him.”
“Are you sure he has it?” I raised an eyebrow. The guy didn’t look as though he had much of anything besides excessive amounts of liquor. It was a state that rang a bell from my past health issues. After Xin’s passing and before counseling.
“Yes. This player is named Eggman. The original key was gained by him through a quest, and his teammates stole it one night. We’re lucky he is a decryptor and made a backup. Eggman has since quit his guild but still hangs around this bar.” Jeeves listed off a bunch of information that could only have come from outside the game or some special connection with the program. Maybe the Hal Pal consortium was feeding information in.
“So this former guild was the group aboard the WTS a Spaceship?”
“Affirmative, Unit Hermes.” Jeeves nodded. “Some of them. It is a local group that only operates out of the immediate area.”
“Are there a lot of more of them? Others that might be against us or with us?” I asked in hopes that there was an angle to play there. Either it would be good, bad, or keep us right where we were.
“No, all other guild members are onboard the WTS a Spaceship. There is hope that his falling out with the other players allows for favorable negotiations. This solution offers the highest chance of success.”
“Suggestions on how to convince him?”
Jeeves didn’t have an answer. Treasure was more intent on scanning any object in our surroundings, inanimate or not. Multiple players were hit by the device around her wrist. Once they noticed the metal woman, they often blinked a few times, then smiled. Apparently looks transcended race around here.
“If you want something from Eggman, your best bet is to clear his bar tab.” The large white man had moved from the doorway to right behind us.
I didn’t like that he was bigger than me, or sneakier, especially after the extra bulk I had purchased. Iron being a size up made sense; humans did not.
Despite my distaste, the man’s idea might be valuable. I considered what was available to trade but found that my time on either Wayfarer hadn’t left me with much. Unless contribution was considered valid currency in the universe. The signs with drink prices above the bar counter indicated otherwise.
“I don’t have money,” I tried to whisper to Jeeves but didn’t use the [Mechanoid] method of digital communication. It was difficult for me to trigger it right.
“There’s another option,” SuperE suggested.
“Okay?” I responded.
SuperE led us to a side exit to the bar. The large doorway pointed directly toward the poor part of town. Metal roofs were haphazardly placed all over. “That’s the slum. I toss the rowdy ones out there and see who gets the most distance. If you can beat my score, I’ll pay off some of his tab. If you can’t, you give me that little critter as compensation.”
Dusk hissed at the big man from his shoulder perch. I raised a metal hand and rubbed the [Messenger’s Pet] soothingly.
“Yeah. He’ll make a good mascot. I’ve been looking for something unique for the bar.” The white-skinned man nodded, then folded beefy arms across his chest.
“Who am I throwing?” I asked, trying to get a feel for my chances.
“Don’t care.”
“So any random person, out there?” My words were aimed at making sure our wager would be clear, but it felt like a bad idea.
Jeeves kept its face passive, and Treasure was busy elsewhere.
“You throw someone out there. One chance. His bar tab versus your lizard.” SuperE pointed.
Watching his giant finger direct my attention from one object to the next in time with the reiteration annoyed me.
All sorts of people were in the room. Different races, players, and NPCs of all types. There was no concise way to gauge who could be thrown the farthest. Plus, all the NPCs were out—they might die from that kind of distance. Assuming I found a way to put my all into it.
“What do you think, Dusk?” I had no idea what would happen. The bet was ridiculous to even consider. “No, I can’t part with him.”
Dusk made a weirdly combined bird-cat noise. It sounded happy but came out garbled.
“Then I’ll throw you.” SuperE grabbed me.
I barely had time to blink. His hands were extremely powerful and I felt as though my shoulder was being crushed. Hurriedly I activated [Power Armor]. The man grunted a little as my skin toughened
up by a layer of armor defining itself all over my surface. It didn’t stop SuperE from dragging me closer to the door in preparation for tossing though.
My feet tried to find purchase, and [Anchor] activated next. The bar floor met a high enough metal concentration that my feet were drawn down, but there wasn’t enough purchase. SuperE roared and charged for the doorway. I managed to get an arm loose and grabbed onto metal framing before he reached throwing speed. The bar counter was my savior. Being on a space station certainly helped for material composition.
Resisting made SuperE start banging on my arm. Pain flared as his meaty hands managed to deal damage even through the [Power Armor]. His [Brawn] character stat must have been through the roof. We stood there awkwardly deadlocked as he tried to drag me to the door for tossing. My fingers left dents in the countertop.
I had a few things yet available. I could swing at him with my sword if my hand had been free. The arm with the wrist laser was currently being crushed. I activated one of my other abilities, one that Iron had given me.
[Material Conversion] activated with a blast of noise like a microwave ding. Whirring started as I felt as if something was being sucked up through my hand. The counter lost mass and started giving way. At the same time, my body felt heavier. The energy bar on my screen started dropping, not only from abilities being used but because the maximum size was going down.
I stared at a message in confusion.
[Material Conversion]
Details: This ability converts compatible metals to body mass. Due to the increased energy requirements for maintaining a larger body, your [Core] will be unable to spare as much. Increased body size will provide temporary boosts to [Brawn] and [Toughness].
Soon I was nearly double my original mass. The metal muscles I had been so proud of seemed to swell to bursting. I felt like every bad workout video gone wrong. My chest felt as though it had comically sized boobs that were clearly solid. Each arm became like a tree trunk.
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