by Ben Ormstad
For a second, Frida stopped. “You chose to come back here?”
“Sure.”
Arching her perfectly formed eyebrows, she said: “But why? You could have gone anywhere.”
“That I could, but, you know, we’ve promised Ayamii to deliver the Re-Assembler parts to his community, and I’m not one to go back on my promises,” I said, pulling my eyes away from her mesmerizing gaze – just in case she could read me too well.
“You came back just to help Ayamii? That’s amazing.”
“Well, that and I figured I’d have to protect Hiko from your deep-seated stranger-danger-rage,” I said and laughed.
“Pfft,” she snorted, elbowed me in the ribs. “I knew you came back because of me, though.”
“Yeah, in your dreams,” I retorted and laughed it off.
Her tone changed drastically when she said: “Anyway, thank you for saving me. Again. Five more minutes and those disgusting mutants would have torn me limb from limb.”
I stopped laughing and matched her vibe. “My pleasure. Glad to help. But why didn’t you just blast their asses off?”
“I tried, but an unlucky strike from fate caused the weapon to jam, and the last mutants surprise-attacked me after I killed the others.” She clutched a bleeding wound on her stomach. Blood poured from it and ran along the inside of her leg. “It all happened so fast. Suddenly I just… I got lost, in a way.”
I nodded. “Tell me about it.”
We exited the lab and entered the main biotech lab entrance again, where we expected to see Hiko guarding Ayamii by the crater of plants and statues.
Hiko, however, was gone.
33
Ayamii still lay sprawled out with his purple head resting on a piece of concrete. “He… Hiko d-disappeared. One second he stood guard right there,” he said, pointed at footprints in the debris. “The next moment, he was g-gone.”
“When did it happen?” I said while helping Frida to sit down.
Where Ayamii’s eyebrows should have been, but wasn’t since he lacked hair, the skin above his eyes curled downward. “D-don’t know. Maybe a half hour.”
I bit the insides of my cheeks. Half an hour. There was a real possibility he’d decided to start over after the system re-spawned him to a friendly location. Being an even bigger noob than me, and having just met us, he didn’t have much incentive to return. “There goes the MedKit and whatever else he could’ve shared with us. Shit.”
“You don’t think he’ll come back?” Frida said.
“Would you – in his shoes?”
Looking down at her fidgeting hands, she whispered: “Probably not.”
“I thi-think,” Ayamii said, scowling at Frida, “you scared him a-away.”
Frida twitched visibly, like an electric bolt hit her. “What?”
“This is your f-f-fault.”
My jaw fell open. Not because I disagreed with the purple humanoid – he had a point – but because he actually confronted her about it.
“Shut up,” she said. “I had nothing to do with this. I wasn’t even here when it happened.”
“No… no, you weren’t. But you threatened him. You wanted him to leave us alone.” Ayamii’s ever-changing expressions flickered between anger, sadness and fear. “Just like me, when you first m-met me.”
Frida gasped. “Ayamii! How can you say something like that?”
“Don’t you think I’m smart enough to s-see how people r-react to me?” he said, then pointed a shaking finger at me. “Dex is the reason I’m here. He was s-skeptical also, but he looked past my appearance and offered to help.” Tears welled up in his bulging, circular eyes. “You couldn’t even hide your dis-disgust. You are not a very o-open-minded person.”
Gaping at Ayamii, Frida’s lips shook. A slight redness flushed her cheeks. “But I said we’d help you get the parts to your community even if you didn’t make it. I agreed to do it before Dex did.”
“Ye-yes,” Ayamii said, a hint of a smile visited in the stream of changing expressions. “After we crawled through the v-ventilation system and fought off the guards together, I know you sta-started seeing me for who I am. But it does not change the fact you’re a distrustful person.”
“I’m delaying my own mission to do this for you, you ungrateful little shithead! Who are you to judge me? You’re not even rea–”
“That’s enough,” I interrupted, stopping her from potentially screwing up our chance of finishing the quest. “Ayamii has a point, though. You should probably work on opening up a little and not intimidate people, like you did with Hiko.”
Frida reacted as if I’d just kicked her in the stomach. Her face turned fully red and she crossed her arms in a tight knot.
“That being said,” I continued and locked eyes with Ayamii, “calling someone out like that – especially someone putting their life on the line to help you – isn’t the smartest choice you can make.”
“I was just… just being honest.” He looked to Frida. “I’m sorry. I appreciate your help m-more than you know.”
“Hmph,” she snorted, eyebrows pursed, the edges of her lips turning upwards when a sting of different emotions hit her.
“Anywaay,” I said, “we do actually have some good news. We found the last Genetic Re-Assembler part. So that’s done.”
Ayamii’s alternating expressions brightened. “Y-you did?”
“Yup. So now we only need to figure out how to get you two damaged goods all the way back to your community.”
“I’m fine,” Frida said defiantly, stood up and took a few unsteady steps. “See, I can walk unassisted.”
Suppressing a grin, I said: “If you say so.”
“I say so.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
I chuckled and asked Ayamii: “Will you be able to hold on to my shoulders if I carry you on my back?”
“I thi-think so,” he said and climbed up on my back. I used each hand to hold his legs around my waist, while he wrapped his arms around my throat. He was surprisingly lightweight. “Is this o-okay?”
“Yeah,” I said, ignoring the somewhat nauseating sense of his slick skin against my neck. Luckily I didn’t have an aversion against vanilla, ‘cause the entire world seemed to reek of it now. “So, which way to the mishaps’ community?”
“Y-you want the shortest or safest route?”
“Considering I’m the only one in fighting condition here at the moment, I’m leaning towards the safest,” I said and quickly checked the poison status:
Character States
– Poisoned : 00:29:03 until dead
I almost laughed out loud at the ridiculously short amount of time. I was going to die. Soon. No way in hell we’d make it anywhere important in less than thirty minutes. A tiny speck of regret appeared for not seizing the opportunity to start fresh when I had the chance. I sighed. “On the other hand, I have, like, twenty-something minutes left before I’m dead from poisoning. So, you know, how short is the shortest route?”
“I-I’m sorry, Dex, but it would still take a f-few hours to get there.”
“Oh, just kill me already and be done with it,” I said, partly joking – yet, partly serious. After having the damned curse hanging over me since the first five minutes of playing, I was just sick and fucking tired of it. The only uncertainty nagging me was not knowing where I’d respawn.
Frida limped over to me, placed a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t say that. If we can find a few MP vials, I’ll be able to push it back again and buy you more time.”
“Thanks, but I’d still be poisoned.”
“The community d-doctor can help cure you once and for all, if we make it,” Ayamii said. “B-by the way, I might know a third possible route… if you’re willing to take the chance.”
“Time’s running out, buddy. Tell me.”
“We will find a biotech lab somewhere in there.” Ayamii lifted his lanky hand and pointed to the middle door of the three standing side by side at t
he long wall.
I nodded. “You’re right. That’s where I rescued Hiko, in the cellar, where you couldn’t enter because of the smoke from the fire.” As I spoke, I realized what he was about to suggest. “You’re thinking of the big hole where the scientists dispose of failed mutations, right?”
“Ye-yes. It’s a long way down, but with a little luck we might get down alive.”
“How long?”
“D-don’t know. Anywhere from five to twenty-five meters.”
“Shit,” I muttered. “A ‘little’ luck won’t cut it. Trust me. We’ll need bucket loads of it. Neither you nor Frida have enough health to survive a fall like that. And if you die, I’ll probably get lost and die from poisoning soon after, anyway.”
“No-one will die from loss of health or poisoning,” Hiko’s voice suddenly said behind us. We abruptly turned around to face him. Still dressed in the yellow decontamination suit. Gas mask in one hand and the Daemonorg Light Handgun in the other.
“Hiko? You actually came back?”
“Yes, Mr. Walsh.”
I laughed. “Why the hell would you do something crazy like that?”
“I am not leaving without my gear. Now, follow me.”
34
Hiko’s yellow decontamination suit lit up the path in front of us, while Frida and I followed. She limped ahead while I carried Ayamii, since he couldn’t walk at all.
We’d followed Hiko for close to ten minutes, back out through the biotech lab’s main connection point entrance, past the ventilation shaft where Ayamii and Frida entered together, and further back toward the elevator we used to get to the second floor. A painfully long, intricate system of white-painted corridors lit by fluorescent lights. Occasionally we passed dead bodies of guards we’d taken out the first time we walked here.
I found it interesting that the daemonorg administration – or whatever the prison-lab’s rulers were called – didn’t send more guards to stop us. Maybe they had other, bigger problems elsewhere, or were busy laying traps. Or perhaps they didn’t even know we were here anymore, since Frida had destroyed every surveillance camera around.
I was only marginally interested, however, since every step I took felt like moving in a never-ending, slow motion nightmare. The walls seemed to close in on themselves, slowly strangling me. A puny seventeen minutes remained before the poison would end my life and potentially respawn me all the way back to the prison cell – back to where it all started. Intellectually, I knew it was just a few hours ago, but my sense of time was so warped it could have been a week ago.
“Your storage better be good,” I said to Hiko’s yellow-clothed back.
“It is, Mr. Walsh.” He took a left, for the first time diverging from the path back to the elevator. “This way.”
Frida moaned beside me. “My back is killing me. How long before we’re there?”
“Soon.”
Behind my head, Ayamii spoke in a hushed voice: “Frida, p-please don’t freeze me out. I’m sorry for what I said. R-really.”
In my side view, I saw emotions twitch in her face. Combing her fingers through the long, white hair, she turned just enough to eye him from the side. “I know you are. And I’m sorry too, you know, for reacting the way I did when we first met. It’s just…” Her voice trailed off.
“D-don’t worry about it. None of us are perfect. I want us to continue to be friends, if that’s okay?”
I kept walking and watched straight ahead, but noticed she bit her lower lip, nodding. “Yes, let’s forget all about it and continue being friends.”
Ayamii let go of me with one hand and stretched it out to her.
She took it and shook it.
“Aww, look at you two squaring up like real grownups,” I teased.
“Shut up, Dex,” Frida said and hit my shoulder with a pointy knuckle.
Ayamii chuckled.
Hiko didn’t even turn to look at us, obviously very serious about finding the storage. Or just not interested.
“C-can I ask you a question?” Ayamii said.
Frida smiled. “Indeed.”
“You mentioned you’re delaying your own mission to he-help me.”
“It’s not only you,” she said. “In fact, originally it was Dex who made me agree to help him find the secret stash which then branched out to include helping you, since you could help us find it. And the rest is history, as they say.”
I blew air out of my mouth. “Pfff! I didn’t ‘make’ you do shit. You’re here on your own accord, girl.”
“You were very persistent.”
I frowned. “What? It took barely twenty seconds to get you onboard,” I said, then moved closer and elbowed her lightly in the shoulder, smirking. “Not my fault you think I’m just sooo gorgeously persuasive.”
“I said persistent.” She pushed me away, but couldn’t hide the shadow of a smile in her eyes.
“Sure, sure,” I said and winked.
“B-but,” Ayamii continued, “what kind of mission is it?”
“It’s not a big deal,” she said, shrugging.
“Tell us,” I interjected. “I’ve been curious about that too.”
Looking pained, as if not allowed to share the information, Frida eventually said: “As Dex already knows, I’m training to become an Extraterrestrial Inter-relational Agent – an EIA – for the local Warrior-Medic guild in the village where I started my journey. The job of an EIA is to interact and communicate with alien races.”
“Cool,” Ayamii said behind my head. “You’re sent on a m-mission by the w-warrior-medics?”
“Exactly. They began by putting me through various beginner tasks to see if I would be a good match for their guild. Which, I must admit, I was.” Her lips formed a satisfied smile. “After I completed the initial tests, they sent me out on a ‘real’ mission to find an item that would aid the godmadrigans greatly in the conflict with daemonorg.”
Feeling life drain away from me as the poison timer leaped toward 0, I said: “Stop beating around the bush. What kind of item?”
If my comment annoyed her, she didn’t show it. “I’m on the lookout for the augmentation device DirectTranslate. A so-called ‘speech-to-mind’-translator. It’s implanted in the part of your brain enabling you to understand language – the Wernicke’s speech area on the left side of the temporal lobe. Once functioning properly, it automatically translates foreign languages directly into your mind.”
“Holy shit,” I said. “Hiko, are you hearing this?”
Without turning or showing any kind of interest, he replied: “Yes.”
“So this means we’ll be able to understand what the daemonorg-assholes are saying?”
She continued: “Indeed. In practice, while talking to someone, you will experience it as if they’re speaking your native tongue.”
“Fuckin’ incredible,” I almost shouted, bubbling of enthusiasm. “It’s been bugging me like crazy I can’t understand their barbarian grunting.”
“B-but this isn’t anything special,” Ayamii said, and added casually: “There’s an engineer in my community who creates suh-such devices.”
Frida stopped, leaned against the white wall for support. Eyed him skeptically. “Really?”
“Ye-yes, of course. We do not call them by the name you mentioned, but they’re operated into your brain and… and translates languages a-automatically. If you’re interested, there is a good chance I can sway the engineer to sell them to you for a good price?”
“Hellz yeah,” I said. “This is awesome, you don’t even have to search to find the device. We’ll simply buy them when we get there.”
Frida didn’t seem convinced, which, by now, wasn’t much of a shock.
“Don’t worry ‘bout her, Ayamii. Thank you a great big bunch. We’ll definitely buy them from your engineer rather than hang around these claustrophobic corridors longer than absolutely necessary.”
“We have arrived,” Hiko said about ten meters ahead of us. He gestured to the r
ight, around the next corner.
“Great, dude! Then we’ll finally–” My sentence cut off when it felt like something exploded inside me, as if every vein in my body ruptured from a built-up pressure. Dizziness kicked me from within and I lost balance. Toppled over on the floor and barely dampened the fall by shielding my face with my arms and hands. Ayamii shrieked as he got thrown off me and smashed against the hard surface. I heard Frida yell something ineligible in the background.
This is it, I thought. A mere minute too late. Oh my god, what bullshit is this? Where did the last minutes go?
My face lay against the floor, and I sensed Hiko’s footsteps vibrate through it and into my cheeks. His and Frida’s voices spoke quickly, before an elevating sensation tickled my stomach as they grabbed my arms, lifted and dragged me across the corridor, toward whatever was hiding around the corner.
Everywhere I looked, a red-green, wavy film was superimposed on top of my vision, creating a nauseating effect. Struggling not to puke all over myself, I noticed a timer had appeared in the lower middle part of my vision:
09:13
UNTIL DEAD
I’ll be damned, I thought. So I’m not actually dead yet. The body just shuts down when ten minutes remain, while I get to be awake and aware for the ending credits.
I had no love for the sadistic game designers.
“You’re both doing a great job,” I said and laughed hoarsely. “I got nine minutes left, but can’t move – not even my pinky!”
“Do not talk,” Hiko huffed exhausted from carrying me. “Stay awake.”
I don’t know how they managed to carry me the ten meters and around the corner, especially since Frida barely could drag her own damaged body around, but they did it. After placing me on the floor, Hiko told Frida to watch me, before he ran up to a bunch of lockers along the wall.
“Don’t worry about me,” I pressed out, “go watch Ayamii instead. His mission is priority number one.”
“Hush,” she whispered. “Ayamii is fine. Try to relax.”
