by Jeff Sproul
"My only recommendation would be to restore damaged functionalities of the base and increase defensive capabilities."
"Right, right. So, how do I repair things?"
"There are standard repair tools in a compartment on the second floor. If you have the repair tool, all you need is the required materials to be in your inventory or a local inventory such as a backpack. Then, you'd be able to repair each individual system."
"Is there any sort of NPC or drone that I could have do that for me?"
"Yes. If they have a proper 'repair' trait."
"My troopers don't have that, do they?"
"No they do not."
"And the aerial drone can't repair, can it?"
"No it cannot."
"Of course," Riley sighed. "So I'm just waiting for that first shipment of resources so I can see if I can do anything." Riley looked down at the rifle that he'd set on his lap. He held it up and looked it over. He didn't see any sort of ammo meter. He had to pull the magazine out and check it directly. It was actually quite easy to see that it was made of several-inch rounds, all crammed into the mag. He counted them out, seeing that there were nine left. If he had to guesstimate, he'd say that the magazine could hold about twenty-seven or thirty. The blocky weapon was dark gray and black, with some silvery lining on different areas. He held it up and aimed it around the room, then reached over and set it on the floor. With so few rounds, it wasn't going to do him a lot of good.
He could see his energy in the corner of his vision. He was currently losing some of his maximum capacity due to having two stored powers. Chrono's, and another. His energy was very slowly regenerating from earlier when he'd depleted it pretty hard from the time-stops. He would gradually get some of it back, but energy would slowly become harder to replenish the longer a gaming session went, until he could rest or eat.
It just so happened that Riley had some nutrient bars in his inventory. He opened his inventory with a quick gesture and selected one. A cheap but effective energy recovery item, it tasted like oatmeal and took about ten minutes to fully recover any lost energy, but it was a lot faster than waiting for it to recover naturally.
He started eating the bar, which looked like any sort of breakfast bar that you'd be able to find in a store. Mostly, it looked like it was made of oats.
He sat there thinking to himself. By the time he finished the bar, he started to check on the progress of his troopers.
He spotted Troopers Four and Five over in the north-east storage building. Then, he looked over to the north-west storage building and glanced around the structure. There was only a ground floor to these buildings, so it wasn't hard to spot two yellow blips.
But they weren't there.
His brow furrowed as he scanned the streets, looking over to the south-west building, in case they'd ended up at the excavator already. But there was nothing there.
"System, can you detect my troopers?"
"Yes."
"Can you detect Troopers Two and Three?"
"I don't detect any troopers by those designations."
"Can you detect Trooper One?"
"Yes."
"And Four and Five?"
"Yes."
"And Two and Three?"
"No such troopers can be detected."
Riley's face scrunched as he leaned up in the chair and looked all around the compound. He could still see the yellow square for his rover, but now there were only three yellow dots beyond himself.
"System, are there any cameras in the north-west building?"
"Negative."
"I assume I can't build any?"
"You can build them with the proper schematic, which you do not currently have loaded. You also do not have the appropriate resources currently, but might gain them with the first excavation shipment."
"Are you able to talk to my troops for me?"
"I can speak to them in the rooms they are currently in, but I do not have permission to control them, and they have no permission to follow my directives."
"Can you relay my voice to the rooms they're in?"
"Yes, I can do that."
"Ugh, why didn't you explain that earlier?"
"You didn't expressly make such a desire to do that action known to me."
"Put me in communication with the north-east building."
"Patching you through."
"How do I know when they can hear me?" asked Riley.
"They can hear you right now."
"Do you need something, commander?" Trooper Four asked.
"Uh, yeah…um, be careful in there. It looks like we somehow lost Troopers Two and Three."
"We are being as careful as we are able, commander," said Trooper Four.
"Alright, well, how about this…System, keep me in communication with them at all times. And Troopers Four and Five, after you check that building, head to the north-west one and see if there's any traces of Two and Three in there."
"Will do, commander," said Trooper Four. "So far, we haven't found anything of note. This structure is like the printer facility we were in earlier. Loose crates, wires, tubes, empty cabinets and shelves. No items that we can see."
"Alright, go ahead and check on the north-west building then. I want to know what happened to the others."
"On our way."
Riley sat back in the chair again. He ran his teeth along his lower lip in a bit of a nervous habit. "Something's inside. Something, or someone," he murmured. "Were they part of the hostiles from earlier? System, you said all the threats from that battalion of fifty are gone, right?"
"That is correct."
"Are you actively scanning for new threats across the base?"
"Yes."
"And you'd show me something, if you detected a new threat, right?"
"Correct."
"And you're not detecting anything at all in the north-west building? The one Two and Three were in?"
"I am detecting nothing in the north-west building."
Riley scratched at the side of his head and then crossed his arms, staring at the rendering of the base. He then glanced up to the various cameras. "System, direct all cameras down toward the base."
The cameras all shifted so that they had a better view of the base itself. The streets, the building walls, the outer wall and the roofs. All the cameras were located on the command building so they had a proper vantage point.
Riley slowly swiveled in his chair, checking each of the cameras while also glancing back to the rendered map, keeping an eye on his troopers’ progress. They had just exited the north-east building. He checked the cameras and saw them heading across the street to the north-west one. He leaned forward again and clasped his hands together as he fidgeted. "Can they still hear me outside?"
"We can still hear you, commander," Trooper Four said. There was a slight bit of air noise now that he was receiving their audio from outside.
"Alright, great," Riley replied. "If you see anything out of the ordinary at all in there, call it out immediately."
"Will do."
Riley rubbed his hands together, his eyes constantly flitting between the overhead cameras and the 3D rendering. He watched as they passed through the doors of the building.
"We can see pretty clearly in here. The lights are on," said Trooper Four.
"See if you can locate their weapons and power cells. Are you two dual-wield capable?" he asked, unsure if they had the ability to hold two weapons at once, or not. They were only pistols, after all.
"We can store them in our inventory, but we can't utilize two pistols at once," said Trooper Four.
"Alright, no problem. Just retrieve them if you see them and be extra cautious."
"We cannot be any more cautious than we are already set to, commander."
Riley grumbled. He wondered if the NPCs and AIs in the game had been programmed with a little bit of sass. He was starting to think that maybe Carla had a hand in programming them. Not that he had any idea what Carla actually did outside of Sigil Onli
ne. It had never really come up.
The two troopers continued to move through the building. He kept a close eye on their dots, as he couldn't actually see them himself. All he had was the 3D representation and the audio.
"Anything?" he asked again after about fifteen seconds. The suspense was killing him.
"Nothing. We're checking the floor for weapons, though," said Trooper Four.
"I've got some sort of shiny orb-like bauble over here,” said Trooper Five.
"Shiny bauble?" Riley asked. "What do you mean? Describe it."
"It's about twenty-five feet away. It's just sitting there on the floor. About the size of a baseball. It's a little translucent, glowing slightly."
Riley's brow furrowed. "Does it look like a bomb?"
"I wouldn't know," said Trooper Five. "I also don't see the firearms anywhere."
"Hmm, if the firearms are gone, then…" He immediately stopped talking, remembering that his every word was being relayed to the two troopers. Crap. Was it a player's doing, or an NPC? Knowing which one would help him determine the intelligence level of what he was dealing with.
"What should we do?" asked Trooper Five. "We're both standing by."
"Uh…ugh, I feel like it's a trap. Just…stand there for a minute, make sure there's some space between you two." He quirked his lips from side to side. "Actually, Trooper Five, keep an eye on it, Trooper Four, I need you to continue searching the area, but keep a good thirty foot distance from that object. Don't go anywhere near it."
"Alright, commander," said Trooper Four.
Riley watched as the one yellow dot remained where it was, while the other continued to move around the structure.
He wondered if he should be down there himself. But if this was some kind of trap, if there was something in the facility hunting him in some way, then he needed every bit of information he could get before trying to deal with it. He needed more time to regenerate his energy from all those time-stops. He couldn't go barging in just yet. The troopers were somewhat expendable, now that he'd actually gained control of the facility without too much trouble. But what threats were still left that the facility couldn't detect?
"System, are other players able to open doors in this facility? Ones that aren't part of the alliance?"
"All doors are sealed when power is active. Only permission-holders are able to access doors to structures."
"Are you able to detect any door breaches?"
"I have detected no damaged doors since your command began."
"Are there holes in the roofs of the buildings? Any access points where something could get into that structure?"
"Negative. I'm not detecting any breaches. Structure integrity on the roof is damaged, but intact."
"Are you able to detect if someone hacks a door?"
"Only low-level door hacks can be detected. It would depend on the level of the equipment and the intrusion."
His eyes followed the yellow dot as it continued to move around the structure. The other yellow dot, representing Trooper Five, was still stationary.
"Let's see…either something has been in there this entire time. Or something had a high level hacking ability…or…teleportation? Hmm. Damn. It could be anything. And it must have a high level of stealth if it was never detected. Hmm. System, how long does a threat need to be present for you to realize it's there?"
"It would depend on the threat's passive or active cloaking ability. Some threats can be detected after different intervals of time, and if their own level of cloaking fluctuates, such as if it moves or attacks or uses a powerful ability."
Riley looked over to Trooper One, who was still facing the door, but his weapon was lowered.
"Trooper One, standby, but be alert. Assume that an enemy might appear in the room, other than through that door."
"Yes, sir," he replied. He shifted and started gradually walking around but keeping a more active eye on the entire room now.
"I haven't found the weapons, but I've checked the entire area," said Trooper Four.
Riley looked back to the rendered screen and saw Trooper Four's dot.
But there was just the one.
"Where's Five?" Riley yelled. "Trooper Four, can you see Five?"
"Sorry sir, I don't see him over there anymore."
Riley's eyes were wide. "Go back to where he was, and keep talking to me. Tell me everything you see!"
"I see crates, boxes, wires…tubes," said Trooper Four.
Riley's eyes didn't even blink as he watched Four's indicator move around the building.
"More crates…I'm coming up on where I left Five. I don't see him there. There's no weapon either."
"What about the glowing ball thing he saw?" Riley asked.
"It's not there anymore. I don't see it where it had been previously. I'm not seeing anything different around."
Riley's hands went up to the sides of his head as he stared at the rendered map. "The hell is going on?" he murmured.
"Wait, I've got it here. It's in a different spot," said Trooper Four.
"What? The glowing ball?"
"Yes, commander. It's between me and the door. I could go around it. It's about twenty or so feet from the door and about thirty or so feet from me. But I could go around it and try and get out."
"System, are there any other doors on that facility?"
"Negative. There is only the one access point. More can be built, provided that the resources are available."
"Four, I want you to back up another ten feet, keep an eye on your surroundings, but also keep an eye on that orb. Have your weapon ready and fire on anything that moves in there."
"Yes, commander."
Riley shook his head. He looked over to Trooper One again. Should he send him down there? Should he go himself and check it out? He noticed his own energy indicator in the corner of his vision. He was only at 1582 energy. Even if he released one of the powers, he wouldn't get that portion of energy back right away. But it would free it up.
"The report for the first excavation load is ready," said the system. "It can be viewed from the facility reports tab, under your facility functions."
Riley glanced over, noticing the newly lit button that was hovering in front of him, but off to the side of the rendered map. "Alright, wonderful. We have some resources. Where are they stored right now?"
"The excavator will store roughly five shipments before they are transported via tube to one of the storage facilities."
"Which facility is currently set to the primary?"
"The north-west storage structure."
"Change it to the north-east," said Riley as he reached over to tap the report button.
"How's it going in there, Trooper Four?"
"So far so good, commander. Nothing strange yet. I've moved away from the orb. Keeping an eye on it. No unusual activity otherwise."
"Alright, keep at it until I think of what to do."
Riley had no idea what he was going to do. He quickly opened the report screen to find out what sorts of resources he'd gained from the first shipment. He needed to know what he had to work with.
-
Excavator Shipment Report:
Epzyte Crystals: 3
Pugstine Ore: 6
Crithil Dust: 1
Iron Ore: 9
Copper Ore: 3
Poryte Crystals: 1
General Biomass: 32
Coal: 12
Waste Rock: 15
-
He scanned over all the words. He wasn't sure what some of the materials were used for, crafting wise, but he could probably figure it out relatively quickly.
"System, can you contact Chrono yet?"
There was a few seconds of silence before the system responded with, "Negative."
Riley had too many things going through his head. Should he try and build something? Should he head over to the other building?
"Commander," came Trooper Four's voice.
Riley glanced over to the yellow
blip. He waited a couple seconds. "Yes?" he asked.
There was no response.
"Trooper Four?" Riley asked with a furrowed brow, watching the indicator light. "System, is there anything wrong with our comms?"
"Negative. Communications are functioning properly."
Riley's eyes didn't leave the yellow blip that represented Trooper Four. He was still staring at it when it disappeared.
Chapter 5: Less Rational Plan
"Trooper Four?" Riley yelled, as if somehow that would bring the light back. But there was no response. No sound of wind. No static, no hiss. Just silence. Riley shook his head, gritting his teeth. "System, can you detect Troopers Four or Five?"
"There are no NPCs matching those indicators."
"System, how many friendly contacts, can you detect on the base?"
"Three."
Riley's brows lifted. "Can you list them?"
"Yourself. NPC designated Trooper One. The Invisirover vehicle."
Riley sighed. "Right, the vehicle." For a moment, he'd had an iota of hope that the third contact was one of his other troopers. Because now he was down to just Trooper One.
"System, keep camera views on the north-west building. If anything so much as shimmers through the air or…hell, I don't know, anything! I want you to warn me."
"I will do so," said the system.
Riley's mind was frantic. He was under attack again. He wasn't sure how, or by who or what, but there was something in that building. But how was he going to deal with it? It was likely to still be there, but all he had was Trooper One and he'd already seen how useless four other troopers had been.
He quickly pulled the report up again for the resources that had just been acquired in the first excavation. He kept the window up, then pulled up the printer function. He went through the list to see what he could make, if anything.
As he made mental notes of what his options were, he then had another idea. Which was a little crazier than the one he had earlier.
"System, is this base capable of self-destructing at my command?"
"Yes."
"Where are the explosives?"
"They are positioned within each individual structure."
"And the wall?"
"The wall is likely to take minimal damage from a base-wide self-destruct."
"And what if I were to self-destruct just one building? Would it harm the others?"
