The Crossing- Into the Void

by Harper North

  Silence hangs over the table. Coco and I look at each other before I turn my gaze to Morrow. Another possibility lurks, and that’s the AI itself feeding information to the ICC. Of course, there’s no way to back that up without The Hermit’s help. It’s as if our friend has given up.

  “So, take a break and freshen up. You have four hours,” Renton says, an apology on his face. “Then you’ll need to take a ship to a satellite station above Planet Golgoro. Panda should help you with that. And good luck. We’re all going to need it.”

  Morrow and I manage to sneak in a short nap, on cots next to one another in the barracks, before Coco wakes us. Barely refreshed, we walk back to the Immersion Boxes.

  Once inside, we find Panda waiting for us. The four of us board his ship, and now that we’re all Level 40, we find that his navigation screen shows us new areas. Panda does a search for Planet Golgoro, and his computer confirms that the planet orbits a black hole. His ship plots a course around the dead star and chooses a satellite station around the planet to land—the safest location it can find. Not a soothing thought.

  “Well, it looks as if the game detects our player levels,” Coco says.

  “It’s a good thing we leveled Atlas up,” I say.

  Panda’s ship takes off and we seat ourselves, waiting to arrive at what the computer calls the Golgoro System. “My computer won’t tell me anything about this planet,” he says. “And I’m the Scout with 50 Awareness points. I don’t like that.”

  “That’s my stat too,” I say.

  “Maybe it’s a place people haven’t visited yet,” Coco suggests. “So, there isn’t information in the system yet.”

  “Or it’s death,” Atlas says.

  “It’s also possible the ancient shields around this planet are blocking information from leaving,” I say. “We’re uncovering more of 2.0’s backstory with every new planet we visit.” If we didn’t have the ICC to worry about, I’d enjoy uncovering new tidbits about this universe.

  Stars turn to blurred lines outside the windows as the ship engages space-bending technology. Eventually, the ship slows and we sail toward a large, metal space station hovering above a strange black planet with glowing greens. The color combination sets my inner alarm bells on fire. I’ve seen this before, above the Rock Worm infested dwarf planet.

  Atlas takes my hand, but he’s nervous. I follow his gaze behind the planet toward a massive, raging beam of light carving through the black hole in various directions. The beams provide the only major source of light as the black hole eats whatever matter falls into it. If one of those lights touched Planet Golgoro, it would be destroyed.

  Explosions of light also burst to life inside the planet’s atmosphere. Lightning beams snake out from each burst. On the planet’s surface, green flashes battle red flashes and smoke curls fingers around continents and black cities. An occasional green light winks from within the thick smoke cover.

  “I don’t like this,” Coco says as we drift toward the space station. “It’s almost as if Planet Golgoro could be—”

  “The Golgans’ home planet?” Atlas asks. “That’s swell.”

  I swallow, struggling to maintain my composure. “And it looks as if they and the ICC are having a war.”

  CHAPTER 18

  We dock at the space station as my log announces its name, but I’m not paying attention. Knowing the space station’s name isn’t going to matter when we start, what might be, an impossible mission.

  Panda’s ship enters through a force field in the space station and, once we land in an empty docking bay full of metal crates, the doors lift and we exit.

  “Well,” I say. “It looks like we get to pilot personal ships again.” I eye a row of familiar yellow crafts. Above our heads, a glass dome shows the stars. But we can’t see the war happening far below.

  “I’m looking forward to piloting those little guys down to the Golgans and the ICC,” Atlas says. “That’s sarcasm, by the way.”

  “Merans have no idea what sarcasm is,” I say, throwing him a straight expression and hoping my eyes don’t give me away.

  “You sure?” The corner of his mouth lifts in a crooked grin.

  Panda gulps. “We should be able to get down to the surface. That’s if this Nan chick is right about Golgoros’ programming details.”

  “We are dealing with strange programming,” Coco reminds us.

  I feel bad for bringing Panda into this, but at least I’ve told him the truth. Atlas and I even introduced The Hermit to him and Coco and it's gone well. I’ve done that much. There’s no telling what will happen once we get down to Golgoro. Or what the Golgans look like. Atlas suspects they’ll look like insects since that is how Earth people always envision aliens. Well, most of the time. Atlas told me that Mera was a pleasant surprise, when discovered. Just thinking of his compliment briefly brings color my cheeks.

  “Hermit,” I say in a low voice. “Can you try to meditate on what’s going on down there?”

  “I will attempt,” he tells me. “The programming here feels very strange.”

  “Thanks,” I say. Despite this version of The Binding blocking his access, he’s done his best. His presence became a familiar part of the original Binding for me, so much so, I’m thankful I can hang onto my old friend.

  “I’ll fly ahead, just as I have many times before,” Panda says, approaching a craft. “At least these ships will all be Level 40 and won’t get shot out of the sky as soon as they enter this planet’s atmosphere. I hope.”

  He doesn’t sound hopeful, but we board our yellow Transporters. The screen inside tells me it’s copying my stats to its computer system. I also place my 5th Tier Sniper Scope in the compartment to give my guns extra lock-on capabilities. This is the final fight. I’m willing to risk losing my Scope.

  “Why can’t we just fly down in Panda’s ship?” Atlas asks over the radio.

  “Did you see the log?” I ask. “This planet has defenses that blast any large craft from the sky. Transporters will be small enough to slip in undetected.”

  “Wow. This Binding 2.0 knows how to up the tension,” Atlas says. “Make us fight a death cult race with something smaller than a clown car.”

  “A clown car?” I ask. “What’s a clown?”

  “You are very lucky, being from Mera,” Atlas says.

  We take off as the dome ceiling opens. Panda goes first and, once again, I see Golgoro down below, black and lit with green. The black hole continues to belch out beams of deadly light. It’s no wonder the Golgans worship death gods. Their star is death itself. Black holes only shoot out light and usable energy if they’re eating material. Have the Golgans sacrificed enemy ships, bases, or even whole planets to this thing to stay alive? I fear the answer is “yes,” and that makes their decision to rip apart the universe make sense. When death has kept you alive, what else do you do?

  Panda jets toward the scary planet.

  I follow, right beside Atlas. Coco keeps up. We all move at roughly the same speed now, thanks to being on the same level.

  “I’m approaching the verification perimeter,” Panda says. “It’s letting me into the atmosphere.”

  The ship’s log tells me the same.

  You are entering a dangerous region. Unknown alien barrier detected. 100,000-J required to breach barrier.

  You have enough power to enter the atmosphere of this planet!

  “That part’s over,” I say. “I wonder what would have happened, if I didn’t have enough power?”

  “Probably total destruction,” Coco says.

  The green lights get larger below. They’re cities. Many of the lightning bursts happen over them. The bursts are most concentrated above an area toward the planet’s north.

  “Raven,” The Hermit says.

  “Have you found something?” It would be the first time in weeks.

  My personal log delivers another message.

  [System] You are entering a development area of The Binding2.0. Coding discrepa
ncies may affect gameplay.

  “Everyone,” The Hermit says, speaking to all of us. “There is a vast amount of data moving in and out of this planet and its maps. I have attempted to meditate on this data, but I keep encountering what Atlas calls ‘dead ends.’ Encryption here is like none I have ever detected.”

  “That’s great,” Atlas says.

  “Watch out!” Panda shouts.

  Just as the first flames of atmospheric entry dance around the outside of my Transporter, a massive object in the shape of a green and black insect drifts in front of us. A Golgan ship. They’re not going to just let us in. Panda’s yellow Transporter tries to dodge the monstrosity but blazes into the craft’s side instead. I stare at the small explosion, my heart in my throat, my jaw falling open.

  And then my log tells me that he has fallen in battle.

  “Great,” Atlas says.

  “He’ll respawn back on the satellite station,” I say, reminding myself more than Atlas. “We saved.” Death was eventual. We all knew this before climbing into the Transporters. Drawing in a deep breath, I refocus and turn to my Scope.

  I struggle to lock onto a vulnerable part of the ship. The Transporter’s crosshairs do lock onto a small row of green lights on the city-sized craft, however, a row that now blocks all view of the planet below. I fire, and a missile sails toward the lights. A missile explodes, but how much damage has it done to the ship? I don’t know. The thing has no health bar. It just looks like a floating, monstrous bug, dotted by a ton of holes.

  No sooner had I finished my observation when smaller ships, all looking like black and green winged creatures with pinchers, swarm out of the holes.

  “It’s a giant nest!” Atlas shouts. “I’m really getting tired of worms and bugs!”

  I open fire, my target locking on each ship with precision. But the Golgan fighters open fire, dropping my Transporter’s Shield at a rapid pace.

  Coco_Dream has fallen in battle!

  “We’re down to just us!” Atlas shouts. “I’ll get in close and distract them. Raven, you pick them off. It’ll be just like an arena battle.”

  My target locks onto Golgan Fighter, Level 35 and I fire a missile, but five more of ships close in and pummel me with green beams. An explosion rocks the world and everything fades to black.

  You have fallen in battle!

  I respawn back in the orbiting station, as I predicted. Coco and Panda stand there. We stare at each other for what feels like a minute before speaking.

  Panda paces. “I tried to get close to the ship, but there was no way I could get within a mile of it. I hope our tank can get a closer look before we try again.”

  “At least our ships respawn,” I say, pointing to the row of Transporters. “But I lost my 5th Tier Sniper Scope.” I still have several 4th Tiers and, thankfully, placed nothing in my hotbar for our first attempt to infiltrate Golgoro.

  Atlas lasts a while out there, having the best Shields and damage intake abilities. Eventually he appears next to the Save Station, catching his breath.

  “Well,” he says. “We’re not going to fly past that huge ship anytime soon.”

  I cross armored arms over my chest. “So, what do we do now? How far did you get?”

  Atlas catches my gaze. “I was able to fly under the ship a bit, but there were so many Golgan Fighters coming out that I couldn’t get through. If we attack like this again, before coming up with another plan, then we’re just going to lose everything trying.” He pulls his gaze from mine and considers the stars above. “Let me think. Let us all think.”

  I’ve been around Atlas enough to know when he’s not joking. Those moments stand out like punctuation points.

  The two of us walk away from the others. “How many ships came out of that thing?” I ask when we’re alone.

  “Enough to fill a stadium, if ships were the size of people,” Atlas says. “The Golgans like to swarm. Guess my insect theory is correct.”

  “And you didn’t spot any asteroids we can use for cover?”

  “The Golgans must have fed them all to the black hole,” he says. “And if they catch us, they might do the same to us. I bet this game version has fantastically great plans for players who fall into black holes.”

  “Makes sense,” I say.

  Atlas puts his hand on his chin as we walk the landing platform’s perimeter. We stroll past the Transporters. “On Earth, there’s a bunch of tropes when it comes to old sci fi movies,” he says at last. “Renton has a whole collection of movies that the ICC doesn’t allow regular citizens to see. But I think the developers borrowed many ideas from them, like the insect trope. I’m wondering if the flying-through-a-deadly-craft-and-blowing-it-up-from-the-inside trope holds true here.”

  “Sounds crazy,” I say, eyeing Atlas.

  But he’s serious. “It happened in a few popular movies on Earth. That craft had holes. If we get into one of them, the Golgan Fighters can’t swarm us.”

  “I see where this is going,” I say. “We’d just have to worry about the fighters trying to come out of the hole. We could shoot them one at a time. With my shooting skills, I should go in first.”

  “I agree,” Atlas says. “There will also be fighters coming in from behind us. Since we won’t be able to shoot them, I’ll go in last since I can take the most damage. We fly through that huge ship and then, if there’s a power core in the center, we shoot it and blow the mothership up from the inside.”

  “How sure are you of this?” I ask. “This is a stretch, assuming that the developers and this AI borrowed from old movies.”

  “Atlas,” I shout as my target locks onto something that looks like an electrified column. “Are you sure this trope is a thing?”

  Our plan to enter the ship through a Fighter hole has, so far, worked. My palms sweat as I steer the ship through a cramped tunnel and toward a large opening that, I’m assuming, is at the center of the Golgan ship. I blow up a Golgan Fighter that drops from a hole in the ceiling and then my target locks back onto the column ahead. It knows that column is important to shoot. It must be the mod that my 4th Tier Scope is adding to my Transporter.

  “I told you,” Atlas says. “But before you shoot, we need an exit strategy.”

  “Why?”

  “Just trust me.”

  My mind paints a picture of an explosion. What else would shooting a power core do? I emerge into a huge, round chamber filled with Golgan ships that immediately open fire on us, blocking easy access to the green lightning ringed column. My cluster fires back, sending several of the ships into the power core. Several explode and the core shakes. The other Golgan fighters move away from it and toward the black walls. They sense danger. These NPC’s must be as alive as all others in this universe.

  I almost feel bad about shooting them.

  “Don’t focus on the fighters!” I yell at the others. “Shoot the core, and let’s go!”

  My target locks onto the core again and I fire a missile. Coco_Dream and Panda do the same, and an explosion follows. The entire chamber shakes and the plume of fire expands, engulfing many unlucky Golgan Fighters. They vaporize in the destruction.

  “Go!” Panda shouts. “Exit! Any exit!”

  “What do you think I’m doing?” Atlas shouts.

  Panda finds another hole in the chamber’s side. With my Shield quickly dropping under the heavy fire, I follow and leave the fray. Coco_Dream and Atlas fly in behind me, according to my in-game map.

  The explosion’s roar doesn’t fade. A fiery glow lights the jagged tunnel all around us as the inferno follows. The white-hot blaze is going to consume the entire ship.

  “Faster!” Coco shouts.

  Another Golgan Fighter drops in front of me, separating me from Panda. I plow forward. We can’t afford to slow down. If I do, Atlas and Coco will crash into me. And if we all die, this ship might respawn. Binding 2.0 knows how to be cruel.

  My ship strikes the Golgan Fighter, jolting it. I bite in a creative curse and scrape th
e small ship along its underbelly, barely missing a couple of green power coils. My Shield drops to almost nothing. I’ll take severe damage, if I hit anything else.

  “Move!” Atlas shouts at the Golgan Fighter.

  The tunnel curves and I fire at two more Fighters that are trying to stop us. The Golgans aren’t trying to escape. Maybe, by dying, they believe the beam will keep going. They’re more worried about dragging us into death with them.

  “Disgusting creatures,” I shout, opening fire. The ships are so far ahead, I’m able to destroy both and fly through the floating debris unharmed. My Shield is regenerating.

  “I see the exit!” Panda shouts.

  He’s right. Since Golgoro has the same color scheme as these ships, I don’t see it at first. But the walls around me vanish as I burst out into open space. Atlas’ and Coco’s Transporters appears beside me. We’re speeding as fast as possible, descending toward the planet with only a few Golgan Fighters flying aimlessly around us.

  Boom!

  An explosion shudders and roars around me as the Golgan ship bursts into a massive fireball.

  The whole universe lights up and the ground far below reflects part of the infernal glow. Angry flowers of yellow and orange and green cover the glass of my ship’s window, mirroring back to me for several seconds the complete death filling everything within sight. My Transporter shakes when the shock wave hits. I can barely hold onto the controls. My teeth mash together as I bounce in my seat.

  Then, almost as fast as it hit, the reflected explosion and the shock wave fade.

  “We made it!” Coco shouts.

  “Hooray for movies!” Atlas yells.

  “Okay. You need to watch all the movies,” I tell him. “We’ll watch them together.”

  “Ooohhh,” Coco says in a teasing, musical tone.

  “In a room, I hope,” Panda deadpans.