by Eddie Patin
Pretty quickly, he figured.
Quick bounty. In and out.
"I agree," Jason said. "We should do it. And if things go wrong, you can just burn it up with your blaster like you did to that huge bone serpent thing, and we can find another troll and try again."
"Zappo," Riley said.
"Easy bounty?" Jason asked.
"I reckon so," Riley replied.
"And you two are okay with it?" Jason asked Morgana and Gliath. "My idea is to get in and out and back to R&R."
"I am with Ranaja," Gliath rumbled.
Of course he was.
"A troll?" Morgana said, still holding Jason's hand. "If you think we can take it. I'm not really familiar with trolls, but I'm with you."
"Okay," Jason said, looking up at Skinner again. "We'll do the exclusive job. Do you have a focus key for us?"
"Yes, I do," Skinner said. With a snap of his powerful black fingers, a small chunk of something organic appeared hovering over one of his big hands. "Being as this is an exclusive, and you are bound to complete it, I will give you this key free of charge, Jason Leaper."
"Thanks," Jason said, extending his hand. Morgana released him.
Skinner plucked the focus key out of the air and handed it to Jason. With his night vision eye, Jason saw that it was a curved, stout claw as long as his forefinger. He held it up and looked it over. The claw looked old and weathered like it had been attached to a skeleton rotting in the open for a long time.
"Is that a claw?" Riley asked.
"Yes," Skinner replied. "A claw from the specific type of trolls you seek. The focus key will take you to a world where they roam free in the wild. There is also this device..."
Suddenly there was a large handheld case in Skinner's other hand. Jason hadn't seen it appear from thin air like the focus key did; it was as if it was always there. He shook his head as Skinner handed it to Riley, who immediately stepped forward to take it.
The large crate was similar to a metal, watertight dry-box—like a heavy-duty case for taking sensitive equipment into rugged areas—but it was clearly not waterproof. There were small, open windows revealing the empty interior. It was about the size of a large portable file cabinet. In fact, it was just about the right size for holding the head of an eight-foot-tall monster. There was a large cylinder like a coffee thermos attached to one side. Metal-encased tubing ran from the cylinder into the sidewall of the case, and there was a heavy-duty, low-profile, orange lever-switch and an indicator light (currently off) attached to the tubing.
"For the head?" Jason asked.
"Yes," Skinner replied with his heavy, grinding voice. "When you put the head inside, lock it down and activate the switch near the canister."
"Okay." Jason looked over the case for a moment then looked up at Skinner again. "Anything else you want to tell us about the job? Anything we should know?"
"You now know all you need to know," he replied.
"Alright. We'll be back soon." He looked back at his team. "Then some more R&R, right?"
"Right," Riley said with a smirk.
Jason turned to go then had a thought. He recalled his ideas using rifting as a weapon, and his mind drifted back to the fire salamander job. Riley had said that it was a lava world.
"Oh, Skinner?" Jason said, turning back to the huge ebony man.
"You cannot survive on that world, Jason," Zayden Skinner said, seeming plucking part of his idea out of his head. The powerful telepath wasn't seeing the entire picture, however.
"Actually, I'm counting on that," he said. "It's a lava world, right? Like ... the surface of the whole planet is burning lava?"
"Yes. Like an ocean."
"If we were able to survive there, and took the job, where would the focus key deposit us? Above molten lava?"
Zayden Skinner smiled darkly. "I admire your creativity, Jason Leaper. You are a dangerous man."
Jason waited then he realized that he actually hadn't asked. He looked at the others. Riley's face was confused then his brown eyes popped open as he suddenly understood what Jason was getting at.
"So, Skinner, can I get a focus key from you to that world?"
"You may purchase one."
"Okay. How much?"
"Six ounces of gold."
"Wow, okay. Well ... and it'll open a rift right above lava?"
"Yes," Skinner rumbled.
"Okay, I'll take it," Jason replied, reaching into the belt pouch where he had several ounces of gold for their trip to the Market. He fished out six tabs and paid the big man.
Skinner produced another focus key above one hand. He handed it to Jason. It was a glob of molten metal as big as a large Cheetos puff.
"Um ... metal? Solid metal? Do you have one with a hole in it?"
Skinner waved his right hand dismissively and Jason felt the weight of the chunk of metal disappear from his hand. An instant later, it was replaced with another solidified glob that had a naturally-created abscess going through its center.
"Satisfied?" Skinner asked.
"Yeah," Jason replied with a grin. "Yes. This'll work. Thanks. We'll see you soon."
With that, the four of them left the Bounty Boards and headed to the rendezvous point. For just a moment, Jason thought that he saw the strange blonde man again when some stunning deep-blue eyes caught his gaze from a crowd, but when he looked more closely, he saw that it was a human woman with dark hair and black metal armor walking with a team of mercs similarly dressed. Jason shook his head and moved on.
Then they rifted home.
"Don't break the surface, now..." Riley warned.
They were standing around in the garage. Jason was leaning against the stainless steel table, turning the troll's claw over and over in his fingers.
"You think it's okay if we go tomorrow?" Jason asked. It was late evening. The sun was already down. Every time they went to the Market, it made time feel weird to Jason. Today felt like a long day. He'd been up since ten with Morgana, but he was fairly tired. He reached over to the bottle of Laughing Lab sitting on the table next to him and took a swig.
"Sure," Riley replied, "but we should still take a look. When you open the rift, scan it, and see what you can learn. We need to know what kind of shet we'll be up against."
"Okay," Jason said. "But let's not go in yet."
"That's what I'm sayin! Just scan it, Jason."
Gliath was in his warrior form leaning against the big sink. Morgana was sitting on the steps leading up into the living room. Jason normally sat there, but he let her take his seat this time.
"Alright, alright," Jason replied with a laugh. "Keep your pants on."
Riley gave him a strange look, then smirked and shrugged.
Looking deep into the claw focus key, Jason felt his way for the universe connected within. He felt himself creating a line like golden light across the quantum foam of the ninth dimension, then he oriented himself to place his origin portal in the middle of the concrete where he always did. After a few seconds, there was a loud fluttering in the air—like a big flag whipping in the wind—then a brilliant orange fireball burst to life before him with a snap. The fireball quickly spun clockwise with increasing speed, then started to unfurl like clay being squished down on a rapidly-whirling pottery wheel. The rift spread out into a man-sized disc of orange fire, roaring like a jet engine and casting sputtering sparks all over the garage. The center of the wildly-spinning disc cleared and smoothed until Jason could see through a round window into a dim swampland with a flooded ground full of tree roots and something like huge cypress knees and greyish moss. Everything was thick with red and rust-brown muck. There were huge trees that were shaped like gargantuan mushrooms, though made of wood and bark with cap-like canopies seemingly a hundred feet in the air. Each monstrous tree had a huge, tumor-like root structure swelling around its bases above the ground. The ground wasn't all water. It was walkable, but thick with piles of red strands and crimson goo.
The world was foggy. Afte
r the gargoyle job, Jason hated fog.
"Big, weird swamp!" he shouted above the roar of the spitting portal.
"Scan it!" Riley said.
Jason lifted his OCS, then a bright light in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He looked at his phone on the table—sitting next to his beer—and saw that it was ringing. He couldn't hear it over the noise of the portal, but it was bright and vibrating itself across the metal surface. Ben's number and contact picture was on the screen.
Jason had been waiting for a call from Ben.
He released the rift. It collapsed quickly then disappeared with a pop.
Riley looked surprised, then annoyed.
"Sorry, hang on," Jason said, reaching for his phone.
"Really...?" Riley said with a glare.
Jeez, Jason thought. What's up his butt today?
He answered the phone. Everyone watched him.
"Hey, Ben!" he exclaimed, letting his OCS drop back to his side. He looked at the troll claw in his hand. In that moment, Jason hoped that Ben had lost interest. He hoped that his old friend had decided to not get involved with the infinity charger. Jason would be relieved. He should have listened to Riley in the first place and never mixed shit up.
"Jason!" Ben exclaimed in his ear. "How's it going?"
"Um—pretty good. I'm actually kind of in the middle of something, dude. Can I call you back in a little while?"
"Dude! Where'd you get that crystal you gave me?" Ben asked excitedly. Jason's heart sank. "That thing is amazing! I've had some tests run on it, and—"
"Tests?!" Jason asked. "What do you mean tests?"
Oh God! He wasn't supposed to let anyone know! What if the knowledge of infinity crystals leaked out to his world? What if the government—?!
"Don't worry about it!" Ben said. "I have an old friend who works at the college, and she helped me look into it. Where did you get these, man? I've been looking into getting the chassis and other parts manufactured. You can keep getting more of these, I take it? We can make a fortune with these things! It's like ... a new technology! It's free energy!"
"Yeah, free energy," Jason said. "I told you that before." He looked up and saw Riley watching his conversation with annoyance. Jason felt his neck and cheeks grow hot. "Hey, man, I'll have to call you back, okay? Right now I'm—"
"Can I come over? We need to talk about this. I've been running some numbers and making plans, and ... well, this is really new, dude. Really exciting. We can—"
"Not now," Jason said. "I'll have to get back to you, okay?"
"When?" Ben asked. "We need to make plans. I've got a manufacturer lined up so that we can—"
"How about tomorrow?" Jason asked, then he whacked himself in the forehead. "No, wait. I'm going to be somewhere tomorrow. Can I call you when I get back? I'm going on a ... on a thing tomorrow, but I should be back maybe in the afternoon...?"
"Okay, Jason," Ben said. Jason could hear the smile in his old friend's voice. "Let's get together tomorrow afternoon. See ya. Man—we're gonna be rich! See ya..."
"Yeah, see ya."
Jason ended the call and put his phone down with a groan.
He felt cold again. There was dread inside him; something going on that shouldn't. He never should have—
"What's wrong?" Morgana asked. Jason felt her hand touch his leg. He looked down at her lovely face and clear, green eyes.
He smiled. He felt a little better.
"That infinity charger thing, huh?" Riley asked, crossing his arms. Jason felt like Riley was shaking his head from his body language, but the cyborg held his gaze evenly.
"Yeah..."
"You know, it's not too late to pull the power on that," Riley said. "Um ... pull the plug, as Jason 113 used to say. Is that something you say?"
"Yeah. Pull the plug." Jason felt stupid. He'd acted rashly and spilled the greatest secret on Earth, and nothing but bad could come of it. "Let's get back to the scan."
Taking a long swig of his beer, Jason placed his phone face down onto the table, faced the empty concrete area of the garage, then opened the rift again with the troll claw focus key.
When the portal opened once more—loud and sputtering and fiery—Jason was left looking into the same vista. It reminded him a little of Dagobah from Star Wars; that swamp planet where Yoda trained Luke in The Empire Strikes Back.
"Looks like we're gonna get wet," Jason shouted above the roar of the rift.
Then, he pulled up his OCS and scanned the portal. He designated the world 'Troll Swamp' and assigned it universe number 1243. Looking at the environmentals, Jason could tell that the atmosphere was within 97% of Earth. It was breathable.
"That's always a good thing," he muttered to himself.
Universe 1243 looked pretty similar to Earth of u934, though it was within 87% compatibility with the laws of physics on Jason's world. That meant that he wouldn't be able to get there without the focus key. The OCS would block him from going there from home through the ninth.
Something really strange and interesting about u1243 was the day/night cycle. The time dilation compared to u934 was weird. Under the comparison, u1243's day/night cycle was listed simply as 'N/A'.
Did that mean that there was no day and night?
Jason spoke up and related everything to the others, shouting above the roar of the portal.
"You can close the rift!" Riley called back. "You've scanned it. You have the data!"
That made sense. Jason released his hold on the rift, and they were thrust into blessed silence after the roaring portal collapsed with a pop.
"That's better," Morgana said.
"Well, it looked like daytime to me," Riley said. "So maybe it's always daytime there, or maybe it's one of those weird universes where it stays the same time."
"That doesn't make any sense," Jason said. "We would still pass through time. How could a whole world not?"
Riley shrugged. "Planeswalking is fruking weird sometimes, man. And we won't necessarily pass through time."
"Huh."
Jason went on to read the copious amounts of data regarding the fauna. He looked over the listed animals and saw many whose Genus he recognized, but the species was unknown. There were plenty of things with low compatibility scores and loads of critters with no near-comparisons at all. Many had nothing but Lore scores, just like when they'd scanned u936. Morgana's world was like reading the index of a DnD Monster Manual.
Some fauna entries caught Jason's eye and he read them aloud:
"Unknown. Lore," he said. "Ogre, 85% match. Ettin, 87% match."
Some sort of ettin/ogre hybrid? He thought.
"Ogres, huh?" Riley said. "We can handle that."
"Oh, here's the troll," Jason said. "Or, at least, one of them: Unknown. Lore: Troll, 97% match."
"Ninety-seven percent, huh?" Riley said. "That's very much a troll as according to the lore of your universe, Jason."
And what did that even mean? Jason wondered. The OCS was supposedly attuned to u934 for its Lore scores, but Jason's universe—his Earth—had lots of different kinds of trolls. He still had a lot to learn about this stuff.
The word Titan caught Jason's eye.
"What...?" he muttered to himself, reading over the line. "Check this one out: Unknown. Lore: Primordial Giant, 67% match. Titan, 83% match. Titan?! There are freaking titans there?!"
"What's a titan?" Morgana asked.
"It's like ... it's like a mix between a giant and a god. On my world, mythology has the titans being the masters of the world before another ancient pantheon of gods came by and defeated them. I mean—I don't know too much about Greek mythology, but titans are a hell of a lot more powerful than giants."
Riley smirked. "Let's hope we don't run into one of those, huh?"
Jason scanned the list. "There are also giant bugs of all sorts, giant wolves; it's like a world of giants! Oh, and there are also harpies." He looked up at Riley. "Wasn't there a bounty recently looking for harpy feathers?"
There was more, but Jason eventually relegated himself to the idea that it was just a big, nasty swamp world full of giants and giant things.
They had to find one troll. That was it. In and out.
The Reality Rifters planned on heading there first thing in the morning after breakfast. They talked about guns and gear. Riley advised them to stick to big slug guns that would create large wound channels. That meant no Gauss rifles and no rail gun. The cyborg decided to bring his Marlin 1895sbl .45-70 lever gun and his blaster, which would be helpful in dispatching trolls with fire if necessary. Gliath would be taking his Remington Versa Max 12 gauge with a variety of buckshot and magnum slugs. The leopardwere would also carry a .45acp Glock 21, but Jason couldn't remember the Krulax ever needing it to date. Jason contemplated taking his father's .416 Rigby Magnum Mauser—just like when they hunted minotaurs—but Riley suggested that he stick to his AK-47. Those 7.62x39mm rounds could still pack quite a wallop, even against big things, as long as they were fleshy big things. Jason didn't think his that AK would do much good against a titan, but ... well ... if they ran across one of those, it was time to rift home. Jason opted to carry the lightning gun on his side out in the open, much like how Riley carried his blaster. He figured that it'd be a lot of fun to test and probably more effective against giants than his 9mm. Of course, he decided to bring his Glock 26 anyway—as a backup weapon—tucked under his left arm in a new Galco light suede shoulder holster worn under his Merc armor. Morgana would take her Primus Arms AR-15 and her Glock 19. The 5.56mm rounds were small, but it was the gun that Jason had trained her with, and she still had Dawnbringer.
Riley was looking forward to using his flying disc.
Jason was more than a little worried about going up against giant-types. He shuddered to think of what would happen if a pair of stupid, evil ogres got a hold of him. The idea of them pulling off his arms and legs was downright terrifying and the more Jason thought of it, he was chilled to his core.
"Don't worry about it," Riley said when Jason voiced his concern. "I've fought giants before. Sure, they're big and strong and could kill us pretty easily hand-to-hand, but we have fruking guns."
