A Jump into the Unknown (Reality Benders Book #5) LitRPG Series

by Michael Atamanov

  “Yes, I recognize that fire-pocked stone. But a significant part of it has broken off, somewhere around a quarter of a cubic mile. But there was no asteroid collision. This was something entirely different: a nuclear blast!”

  The scanner’s radioactivity filter had in fact picked up clear traces of heavy transuranium elements on the flame-swept shard, the kind that theoretically should not have been there. Superheavy atoms only come into being through nuclear fusion, have a short half-life and quickly disintegrate, so they are never found in nature. But there were transuranium elements here, and the only explanation I could see was that someone had cloven the valuable asteroid with a nuclear explosion to quickly reach the platinum in its core. And that same someone must have changed the shape of the huge stone and its flight trajectory, perhaps intentionally so the intruders that discovered and pilfered their automatic mining setup before would lose track of it among the millions of identical ones nearby. And they very nearly got away with it – if we’d have come a month later, we would never have been able to find this thing.

  “I don’t see signs of any mining tech,” I admitted, myself very surprised. “I am unable to find the automatic rigs or any other large metal objects by scanning or visual survey. But we left a ton of equipment behind last time! There was an automatic ore enrichment plant, drilling equipment, heavy loaders and lots of other valuable items Captain Uraz Tukhsh was not able to fit in his little Shiamiru shuttle.”

  “Maybe the illegal miners finished up and took their equipment with them?” Uline Tar suggested, also staring wide-eyed at the familiar asteroid.

  We already knew that no Free Captains had approached the administration of Earth’s spaceport for a license to harvest platinum on asteroids in our Solar System., so Uline was perfectly justified in calling the owners of the automatic equipment illegal miners.

  “But if they were planning on packing up shop, why blast the huge asteroid to smithereens with a nuclear explosion? And before that why waste a bunch of power drilling down and setting charges? No, I think this was something totally different. They wanted to ramp up their business and get to the richer veins so they could harvest as much platinum as they could as quickly as possible.”

  My business partner winced her furry face, making an expression of severe doubt:

  “After their equipment was stolen? That’s somehow hard to believe...”

  “Yeah, they don’t give a damn about the theft! Even at the pace they were mining before, they could recoup what they lost on the mining equipment in a couple days. And working even faster, they could afford to lose that much just about every day no problem. Uline, there are hundreds if not thousands of tons of platinum here and extracting all the treasure would take more than one tong. All those riches must still be inside the asteroid, so the illegal miners won’t have gone anywhere. They must just be hiding...”

  My business partner’s eyes glimmered when I mentioned the quantity of precious metal contained inside the space rock. Uline Tar switched on her palmtop, quickly made a couple quick calculations and groaned in satisfaction.

  “Seven hundred million crystals at least. I certainly wouldn’t abandon something like that. In fact, if I had a way, I’d have bought up around fifty automatic mining rigs and kept them under guard until they’d scraped everything of value from the bowels of this asteroid.”

  “So what are we going to do, Captain?” Dmitry Zheltov cut into my conversation with Uline, himself bored in the pilot’s seat, not yet having heard clear instructions about where to go.

  I brought up a three-dimensional diagram of the asteroid on the monitor and remarked:

  “Here is where we landed the Shiamiru last time. But there was no valuable ore nearby, so Uline and I took a flying board to approximately here, which is where we found the mining setup. We could land there again, but I think there are more promising locations to try,” I said, placing another marker on the recently formed cleavage of the heavenly body. “I suggest we land the frigate somewhere around here. We can run a scan and see ores that were previously out of reach. That will help clear up how much precious metal this thing contains. And if the illegal miners are still at it, they’ll have hidden their equipment somewhere nearby.”

  The Tolili-Ukh X frigate slowly lurched into motion, tapering into a spiral as it neared the asteroid. Nine miles. Eight. Seven...

  Successful Perception check!

  I noticed some movement on the surface of the heavenly body, immediately pointed the camera at it and zoomed in the image as far as possible. Well, well! A rectangular roof colored to match the surrounding landscape slid aside, revealing a long shaft below. Something unrecognizable with many legs crawled out onto the surface of the asteroid. It seemed to be alive. Only when the strange creature crawled all the way out and deployed itself, pointing its six barrels upwards, was I finally able to identify the threat:

  TT-67A Immolator. Automatic high-speed plasma turret.

  Danger Sense skill increased to level sixty-four!

  Strange that my threat-warning skill hadn’t piped up before but, in any case, we had to act right away! I cried out in a voice not my own:

  “Dmitry, full speed ahead! Combat alert!!! Dodge the incoming fire!!!”

  The experienced Starship Pilot reacted instantly and jerked the helm toward himself. At the same time, San-Doon started a dodging maneuver and increased power to the frontal shield. The frigate called back with an unhappy grinding of its fuselage, reacting to the crude treatment of its space-age technology. The siren wailed; the emergency light flickered alarmingly on the instrument panel – something just broke.

  However, for the most part, the fan of bright red lines sailed past our ship. Just a few landed on our energy shield, bringing it down eleven percent. But it wasn’t the only automatic turret. I could see more many-legged dangerous robots being hauled out onto the surface in another few spots from hatches opening to the surface. And they immediately started strafing the offending ship. We took another few hits but, fortunately, a few seconds later, the frigate was closer to the asteroid and out of range of the turrets.

  “Plasma cannons practically point blank... It’s a miracle we survived!” Ayukh wiped the perspiration from his brow. I never knew it before, but Geckho sweat when anxious, just like people.

  “For anyone still wondering if the illegal platinum miners are still on the asteroid, there’s your answer!” Uline Tar barked nervously and turned to me: “As you see, Leng Gnat, the location is occupied and the smugglers are well prepared to defend themselves. What should we do? Fly away?”

  Fly away? I was surprised to hear my business partner make such a foolish suggestion. Now, with proof positive that the illegal platinum miners were still active on the asteroid, flying away would have been a downright bizarre move on our part. Yes, we’d have to fight the platinum mine’s automatic defenses, but that just meant the end reward would be all the more worth our while!

  “Dmitry, land the starship on the first marker I placed. And you, Uline, better see how much we can sell those five automatic TT-67A Immolators for.”

  Chapter Three. Big Brazen

  “SO THEN, CREW, listen up!” I called out to everyone in the frigate’s common room. “Be on heightened alert. No one is to leave the game. Uline Tar, Eduard Boyko, Dmitry Zheltov, Gerd Ayni Uri-Miayuu and Tini will be coming outside with me. Ayukh and San-Doon are to stay on the bridge. Everyone else follow the orders of Supercargo Avan Toi. He’ll tell you what help is needed to clear out the cargo hold and make room for trophies as fast as possible.”

  The sullen Supercargo gave an important nod and took most of the crew with him down to the lower deck. The only crew member I explicitly did not include was the spiny Jarg – trying to get him to help with loading and unloading made about as much sense as trying to get milk from a bull. I then turned to the five players coming out with me:

  “Let’s check our space suits, then fill our air tanks to the brim. We’ll leave through the f
ront airlock so we don’t get in the others’ way. We have two levitators, so one is gonna need to take three riders. Uline Tar will pilot that one, Dmitry Zheltov the other. As soon as we leave the ship, make sure to clip on your tethers. Outside the artificial gravitation zone around the frigate, there are virtually no attractive forces, so try not to fly off the asteroid. The last thing we need is to go around scooping up crew floating helplessly through space.”

  “Captain, will magnetic soles work here?” Eduard asked, alarmed and still not having worked on the surface of a small body in space.

  I reassured the Space Commando that this asteroid was composed mostly of iron-bearing ores, so the magnetic soles of a space suit would work here just fine, automatically sensing every time a foot started down and switching on. At the very least, we had no problems with them last time.

  “Let’s split up into two groups and fly along the cleavage of the asteroid. Maintain extreme caution – keep radio communication to a minimum and stay behind cover. Try not to stick out or attract the attention from the security systems. Our goal is to find a good platform for a gravity crane, maybe even a few on different sides of the cleavage. Avan Toi and the other crew members are unloading our crane from the hold right now, so let’s step to.”

  Based on my distance estimates, the gravitation crane would easily be close enough to grab the six-barreled plasma turrets one after the other and bring them closer while leaving the hazardous security systems outside our direct line of sight. And from there, it would all be simple: when the Immolators got within range, I was planning to deactivate them with Machine Control. After that, we’d just have to fold up the robots nice and compact, then load them into the cargo hold. Then after all the illegal miners’ security systems were disarmed, we could start packing up the mining equipment. I suspected they were now mining from inside the asteroid, and that we would find a tunnel entrance somewhere in the middle of the circle formed by the five plasma turrets.

  Yes, certain complications could arise if the robot guards went back inside burrows. If they did that, we’d have to somehow bait them out before capturing them with the crane, but that didn’t seem all too difficult, so I wasn’t especially worried.

  “What’s on your mind, Jarg?”

  The spiny Analyst had been trying to draw my attention for a minute already, blowing himself up to a dangerous practically balloon-like state, then deflating himself again. After I gave him permission to speak, the Jarg put the Universal Translator around his neck and told me what had him so worried:

  “Big brazen smuggler. Very strange. So confident in alien territory. Must understand. Knowledge. Who enemy. Maybe. Dangerous. More trouble than worth.”

  Uhh... It wasn’t hard to understand what the Analyst was driving at. He was suggesting I weigh all the risks before acting. What could I say? He was right. We really did have no idea who we were dealing with or who owned this whole mining complex. There could be no doubt they were rich. Compensating losses with such ease and reinforcing security was something only a player with a fortune in the millions could afford. Furthermore, they probably had established connections with traders and the administration of nearby space stations and planets, given they were mining large quantities of platinum and other precious metals without drawing unwanted attention. So it was a distinct possibility this “big brazen smuggler” was some very influential and powerful figure. I asked the crew members what they thought about the illegal miner’s identity.

  “I mean, what difference does it make?” Dmitry Zheltov asked in surprise. “No matter who it is, they’re breaking the law by mining precious metal without the proper license or paying taxes to the owners of the star system. So we’re doing a good deed, punishing a flagrant idiot. What’s more, they will have no way of finding out who we are, much less finding us!”

  “Not quite, human. It could make a difference, a big one in fact!” my ward Tini unexpectedly jumped in. “It’s one thing if it’s some unknown Free Captain to mine platinum at their own peril. But it’s another thing entirely if the Pride of the Bushy Shadow, or the Agile Paw or some other violent group is behind the illegal enterprise. For my part, I wasn’t a member of the Bushy Shadow for very long, but I can say for sure that the pride has secret operations to mine precious metal in lots of star systems. And tussling with them will land you in hot water! But it could be even worse if a flagrant criminal organization like the Hive of Tintara is behind this mine.” When the Miyelonian adolescent mentioned that organization, his ears laid back. “Their invisible web weaves through almost half the galaxy. Such serious players really do not appreciate being messed with. They especially dislike when someone tries to take their things. They dislike it so much that they hire headhunters. And not just in the game, in the real world too!”

  “Calm down Tini. The Hive of Tintara has nothing to do with this,” the Trader interrupted the Miyelonian teen’s groaning, seemingly having heard about the organization and its gloomy reputation before. “Every facility that belongs to the Hive of Tintara is marked with an easily identifiable warning symbol,” the furry Geckho lady said, drawing a series of whimsically intersecting strokes in the air with her paw.

  “That is the Trillian symbol for ‘Execution,’“ said Gerd Ayni.

  “And there was nothing of the sort on the automatic equipment we took from here last time with Captain Uraz Tukhsh!”

  After Uline said that, Tini and Ayni noticeably brightened up. They were clearly afraid to tangle with the Hive of Tintara. My mind started to wander though. I was hearing about the Hive of Tintara for the first time, but it was seemingly a very famous mafia gang, and even pirate prides were afraid to cross them. That made me think of the Trillian merchant Ussh Veesh in a different light. He was free to visit the pirate station Medu-Ro IV and I had bought him some magical jewelry there. In fact, if memory served, that very symbol for “Execution” was engraved on the space crocodile’s breastplate.

  But I was well acquainted with the Prides of the Agile Paw and Bushy Shadow. And it was highly unlikely the mine belonged to the Agile Paw. That gang was headed by the casino owner on Medu-Ro IV and had only gotten into the precious metal business a month ago. And they didn’t even know about the Solar System back then. But I wouldn’t say no to giving the Pride of the Bushy Shadow another pinch on the cheek. Maybe make it even more painful this time so the pirates would learn not to mess with me!

  So I voiced my decision:

  “Plans stay the same. As long as we don’t see the symbol of the Hive of Tintara... And if we do, the plans still don’t get called off! Have you checked your space suits? Great! Then let’s put them on and get out there!”

  Authority increased to 64!

  We ran into a little problem at the airlock: Uline Tar and Eduard Boyko were first into the decompression chamber and, in their hulking armored space suits, the two of them took up almost the whole thing. Only the Starship Pilot was able to somehow fit with them. The others had to wait for round two. And who could have predicted that such a purely technical issue would have such a profound influence on the course of events?

  A frightened scream from Uline Tar rang out instantly in my headphones, after which the icons of all three characters went dim in the group interface. Did they die?! What happened out there??? To make matters worse, “Anya” then shouted fearfully:

  “Captain, enemies just outside the ship!!! Avan Toi’s group has been massacred. The only survivors were me and Denni Marko!!! We lost the gravity crane and heavy loader!”

  WHAT A STICKY SITUATION! Mere moments after we landed, we’d already lost two thirds of our crew... I ran as fast as I could to the bridge of the ship so I could take a look around with the external cameras. In the meantime, I activated my Scanning skill and even whistled when it gave a result – the huge multiple-legged mechanical robots were no more than ten feet from our unmoving frigate traipsing around and examining the dead bodies of my crew! The Immolators weren’t hiding in their burrows as I thought
. Quite the opposite. They had run to where our ship landed and greeted the players exiting the frigate with fire from their plasma turrets.

  I flew onto the bridge, throwing open the doors noisily. A sense of despair and dismay reigned. San-Doon had turned on the inactive monitors but it was too late. Ayukh meanwhile could only stand pointlessly in the middle of the room looking lost.

  “Leng Gnat, the enemies appeared so fast that we weren’t even able to warn anyone,” the gray Navigator justified himself, lowering his head in shame just like a person. “We noticed the movement on the monitor too late. And as bad luck would have it, I cut power to most of the equipment here on the bridge to give the Kirsan repair bots a chance to fix the analyzer structures damaged by the plasma fire. So when we were attacked, the motion detectors and most of the external cameras were off... It’s all my fault, captain!”

  Alright, what the heck... I just waved a hand because I also felt like this was my fault. Was it really so hard to guess that the mobile guard robots would want to come check on their target after it got out of range?! And I mean, the distance here was miniscule – less than a mile!

  And meanwhile the five robots had finished examining the dead bodies, even finishing one of them off with a point-blank shot. Then they all went in different directions turned and froze, pointing their plasma cannons at the frigate. I started tensing up in fear, figuring the starship was about to be destroyed, then I would die. But no shots were fired.

  “Why are they not attacking?” San-Doon asked about a minute later, his eyes also fixated on the image from the external cameras and watching the fearsome titans glinting in the rays of the bright sun. All five of the Immolators were still there and holding the Tolili-Ukh X in the sights of their thirty barrels.