by H D Forth
Then it was my time to leave the apartment. Shrugging on my ratty, little too old, jacket and kicking into my shoes. I stepped outside, the sound of the door locking behind me as the rudimentary AI registered my leaving.
I took a deep breath of the fresh air, that was one advantage of living on a 10th Level. Due to the higher altitude, the air was always fresh. I looked up, examining the sky. Blue, cloudless with a hint of cement-gray. I decided to take the stairs down today, sometime you gotta appreciate what you got, like an apartment at the 5th floor.
An 18 year old, without higher education moving out from an orphanage, with his 16 year old best friend, really isn’t someone to get a nice Low Level apartment. I quickly walked down the stairs that lead to all the other 200 identical apartments.
A car rushed quietly by as I reached the ‘ground’. Sometimes if I thought about it for too long, the sheer size of the Towers floored me. But I had to get to work, so no flooring myself today.
I heard something, closing in on me from behind. It’s almost as soundless as the car. It probably would’ve been even more so, if not for the panting, heavily pedaling kid riding the bike.
“Mike.” I call over my shoulder, carefully looking across the road. “I believe I warned you before- Oh shit!” I interrupt myself, as I see what I feared would one day happen. Mike and his friends liked to race their bikes down a long alley way, across the road and into an opposing alleyway. If I was younger, and a little dumber, I would probably do it too. You could get some serious speed going.
Only one problem, this time a car was actually crossing the road.
I turn around to see Mike, going full throttle, standing in his pedals really throwing his weight behind every push. He was just exiting the alley on my right. He and the car are on a collision course. I jump, leaping for the Mike and the bike. Somehow I manage to just barely catch Mike’s shirt, pulling him off the bike. The car passes, and the still moving bike rams full force into the car’s side. The car was fine, didn’t even seem like the rider noticed.
Mike and I crash into the ground, skinning my elbow and knee. My breath is forced out of my lungs, as his weight drops down on me.
Above Average Heroic Deed:
Stop an accident.
Rewards: 75 Tessian Points and 35 Credits received.
I slap Mike on the back of his head. The beast brain wasn’t even wearing a helmet. “Damn it Mike.” I say, wincing as I pull my jeans out of my knee. “What did I tell you about wearing helmets? For that matter, what did I tell you about doing this shit? I repeatedly told you guys it was stupid.”
I hurriedly checked Mike over. At 14 it was unlikely that anything too bad had happened, at least anything that he couldn't immediately bounce back from. I couldn’t be certain, but I believe that there’s more magic going on in a teenager’s body, than any one hero.
I let out a sigh of relief, when I realized he was fine. His hair was a little dirtier, his clothes a little worse for wear, but it wasn’t out of the ordinary for kids on the High Levels. Especially not his group.
“Thanks Vanys, you’re a hero.” Mike said. “I wouldn’t know what I would’ve done without you.” It was clear that he was really shook up about the experience. “I mean, I didn’t even think it was possible to move that fast! You were like one of the Supers!”
I let out an involuntary snort. If only he knew, I thought. If I had a proper power though, and not some poorly made ‘get-pocket-change-quick’ scheme.
Mike’s friends were finally approaching, looking worried. Wisely none of them were riding their bikes. “You guys, take care of Mike, okay? I gotta get to work.” I told them. I walked away, forcing myself not to limp until I was out of sight.
Now, let’s see if my reward is enough to buy me some band-aids. I thought, checking the road, before crossing it. The pharmacy was on the way to work anyway.
Chapter Two
After a quick stop at the pharmacy for some band-aids, I made it safely to work.
Wincing, as I ascended the stairs to the front entrance, I saw Erik standing at the top of the stairs. He had big heavy bags under his eyes and was holding a coffee mug in his hands. Erik rarely drank coffee.
“You okay?” I ask, as I close the distance between us.
“Huh?” He said, startled. He blinked slowly a few times before focusing on me. “Van? Oh yeah, no… Just another long day. That’s all.”
“Double shift again?” I ask. Technically I was close to getting late, but stopping to talk with my boss, woudl probably be fine.
“Yea.” He rubbed at his eye with the palm of one hand. “You know what it’s like. Its just me and the boys, so sometimes you gotta pull a little extra weight. Otherwise, we’ll never get the time to go look for Galenor.”
Somehow he managed to plaster on a winning smile, and slapped me on the back. “Ready to get to work? Those reports aren’t going to write themselves. Well, not anymore they aren’t. I remember back before the MagAI, when we had machines and robots to handle such workloads.” He paused for a moment, his tired eyes taking on faraway look.
I could literally see him gearing up for another story. He really was tired.
“Man those were some different times. Back when it first happened… Gods, there was some outrage about that, but honestly with all that the MagAI has added to society… I’m not sure I would trade having to do a boring job for the technological and magical benefits. I know you never tasted the old printed foods-”
“Yes, I know Erik.” I said, with a placating smile to make sure he knew I meant nothing by it. “Back then food tasted worse and technology promoted laziness. Speaking of laziness, I think I should get to work.”
“Always eager,” Erik replied with a laugh. I smiled as I pushed open the door and left Erik to drink his coffee. Erik was nice and very friendly. It was obvious that he had been training himself for having kids, by telling lots of stories. The problem was if you allowed him to tell a story, he would somehow flow smoothly into the next and soon you’re listening to his latest theory about The Wild Surge.
Nodded and greeted some of the more awake coworkers, as I walked towards my desk. The computer booted when I neared it. Sitting down I saw that I already had a few recordings to go through. With a sigh, I pulled on the headphones. This was the worst part of my job, the worst part of the MagAI revolt.
With the creation of true AI, the first truly successful mixing of magic and technology, created intelligent and generally powerful, living AIs, and they desired to live.
With that came a whole host of issues. Most important was their reaction to finding the dumber AIs ‘enslaved’, mindlessly working on a set task. Most days I could understand where they came from, but that didn’t mean I always had to like it. But they didn’t have to drop so much of the infrastructure, while they were tearing down the old ways of life.
“Hello, I am HJT-626,” a robot voice said, through my headphones. “Am I speaking to housing and monitoring AI HAMAI-7897?”
“Hello HJT-626.” Another equally monotone and robotic voice replied. “You are speaking to the AI HAMAI-7897.”
“Very good.” There was an awfully long pause, before the first voice continued. “I was wondering if you’re allowed to give me some data about your renters, in regards to a product they recently bought.”
“I may.” Another pause. “What is the product you require information about?”
“Your renters recently bought a new faucet, for their sink.” Pause. “What do they think about it?”
“They think a lot about it. They think that it delivers more water than their previous faucet, this is not true, it is just thinner and thus delivers the water with a slightly larger amount of force.” Pause. “They also think that it is nice, they like how cold the water can get.” Pause. “They have not thought anymore thoughts out loud for me to observe. I can ask them to rate it, if you are interested in the data.”
I checked the package I was sent. 4 stars out of 5, not ba
d.
“Please do.” Pause. “Have you made any observations about your renters?”
“I have.” Pause. “They seem to have trouble with the fine control of the faucet. They often don’t initially let out enough water, only to then overcompensate and let out too much.”
I was already getting tired of the ceaselessly, consistent, monotone voice, the two AIs had. Luckily, the call was just about over. Before the MagAI revolt, there had been an intense infrastructure and connectivity. The company would just almost instantly have most of the data the two AIs talked about. Now he had to play go between, or the company would have to allow the MagAI Cavalry—odd name I know, but they aren’t human so what do I know—access to all their information, and who would let a potential competitor gain access to that much information.
Five minutes of filling out and filing the report to the database and I was ready for the next one. I got a big glass of water, before opening the next file. “Hello, I am HJT-1610. Am I speaking with-”
***
Like usual I went for an early lunch. I stopped by my colleague’s desks to ask if they wanted anything. At this point it was less that I wanted to, and more that my ‘superpower’ had trained such a response into me. I read through the small notepad as I walked towards the local coffee joint.
“Erik wants more coffee, no surprise there.” I mumbled to myself, before moving onto the next name on the list.
“Ahh! Vanys!” Riley called from behind the register. “I see you brought the notepad with you again, out for another large order?”
“You got it Riley.” I said with working out another smile. Riley worked almost everyday at the shop, only ever taking weekends off, so we saw each other nearly everyday. “Let’s see here. One big coffee for Erik. Max wants 2 donuts and medium coffee. Ruth wants a hot cocoa. Edgar wants a dog, but his current place won’t allow it, so he will take a few cookies. Rikki wants a… one of these.” I turned the notepad around to show it to Riley. Rikki was a true coffee fanatic, and I don’t mean that she drink 16 liters a day, but that she’s always trying to make it more palatable. Mostly she just wants a lot of sugar pumped into it.
“And what do you want?” Riley asked, with a smile. “A bag to carry it all in please.” She raised an eyebrow. “I guess I’ll take a muffin too.” If I didn’t order it she would just try to sneak it in with the rest of the items.
“Did you see Galenor yesterday?” She asked, looking over at me, from where she was working her coffee machine.
I sighed. “I don’t really care what he did now.” She knew how I felt about ‘heroes’, “Did he stop another Incursion?”
“I still don’t understand how you can feel like that about it.” Riley said with a frown. “He’s one of the real ones. He’s experienced the real villains and fought during the the Wild Surge.”
I nearly rolled my eyes out of my head. “Do you really want to go over this again?” I asked. Whenever one hero or another had made it to the news, yet again, she would always try to have one of these discussions. “I don’t think the guy that was robbed by the Tenners yesterday, or the woman who had intruders come into her home caring about another big win for some big shot hero.” I unintentionally let coldness into my voice. I really didn't want to talk about this.
Riley frowned and looked genuinely angry at me. I almost shrugged, I didn’t care what she thought, I knew that my childhood ideas of heroes were long gone, they didn’t produce real heroes any longer.
***
“Here you go!” I said, dumping the bag on the dinner table, in the break room.
Friendly Deed:
Get food for your coworkers.
Rewards: 20 Tessian Points and 100 credits received.
Heroic Deed:
Give away food for free.
Rewards: 30 Tessian Points and 15 credits received.
I wasnt sure about how sentient my power was, but it seemed to recognize when I spent my own money on something. I would never fully reimburse me the expenses, but being out 45 credits and being nice was a lot better feeling than being out nothing, but becoming a delivery boy.
Chapter Three
“Thank you milady.” He whispered again. He’d made a habit out of thanking her, for every waking moment that he needn’t struggle.
Today though, he was finally confident that he could hold it, even while stressed. Mostly thanks to the Lady Magra and her powers. She hummed softly on his arm.
You are welcome, my son.
The ideas and thoughts simply appeared in his mind. He had fought long and hard, to get an artifact as powerful as the Lady Magra. Now that he had, she had granted him the control necessary to be human again.
Leric turned down Tenth street, the night was dark and bleak. The meagre light of the fake stars shining overhead.
On tenth street, almost all of the streetlights ahad been broken or otherwise ruined. Most likely by the aptly named Tenners gang. Nothing more than lowly criminals, spending most of their time causing idle vandalism and ruining a few people’s days. Just another gang at another Level in one of the outer Towers.
The time of heroes was so long past that criminals and villains had forgotten what it was like. They’d never had to fear the sight of a hero passing by, whether by flight or just walking down the street. Lady Magra had told him that was about to change.
It fits the cycle. Heroes and villains emerge. The fight. For a while everything is stable. Then they get older, more powerful and more ruthless. It reaches the breaking point. They stop, fade and disappear leaving behind only the most dedicated, only for the cycle to start again.
Leric shrugged at Lady Magra’s words. They may be true. She rarely lied. Though it hardly mattered to him what had happened in the past.
He looked around himself. Had he gone too far? Well he found someone that could tell him. A group of boys ranging from teenager to early twenties, they were all throwing stones at a rare working street light.
That was the problem. Didn't they have anything better to do? Something that could benefit their gang. Once he’d taken over he would make sure such idle hands were handled better.
“You!” He called out. His deep basso voice, evocative of a previous era in his life.
The kids’ heads all snapped to him. He could see them look him over, estimate how dangerous he was. He knew what they would find. They wouldn't know how to spot the really dangerous types, the ones who flowed from one step into another, more than they walked. Luckily for all of them, he wasn't like that.
They stepped out, gathering in a semi circle in his direction. One of them even pulled out a rusty pipe of some sort. He let out a low chuckle as he saw them preparing to meet him.
With every confident step that took closer towards them, they all visibly tensed further. No it wasn’t a trick of the light. No it’s no empty brag or taunt. He really was this big.
“Why don't you put down that little toy, and show me to your base instead?” He asked, confidence obvious in his voice.
The one that had been holding the pipe dropped it on the ground, taking half a step back as he stared up at Leric. He was older than the rest. He was obviously trying to grow a beard, though it was hardly more than sparse stubble at that point. He might’ve been a hair above 6 feet tall if Leric were to guess, though height had always been a problem for him, since everything seemed so small.
“Okay,” The oldest one called, his voice shaking as he spoke. “That way.” He managed to get out, before turning and running in the direction he’d pointed.
“Odd fellow ain’t he.” Leric said, to the remainders of his group. They had all been staring after him, but turned at the sound of Leric’s voice. Soon enough he was following behind a group of nervously running boys.
Leric came upon a large warehouse like building. One of the boys held the gate open for him and he confidently stepped into the fenced off courtyard.
“So this is your base?” He asked. Looking around. It looked to be some sort o
f disused storage house. Judging from all the springs, fake feathers and other paraphernalia it would have furniture of some kind.
Beds.
“Yes, milady.” Leric agreed, immediately.
“What was that?” One of the boys asked. He as clearly afraid, even his voice was shaking as he spoke.
“You need not fear.” Leric said, striding towards the main door. “It does not concern you.”
He gripped the door handle in one of his over sized fists. He gently opened the door, disappointed, but not surprised to find it unlocked. He let out a sigh as he stepped inside.
The door let into a small hallway that was just barely taller than him. Crouching slightly out of habit, Leric started pacing down the hallway to the right.
After a few minutes of blindly walking around, he found what he was looking for. It was about what he had expected from someone who wouldn't even keep their door locked. It was the main storage room in the building. It had been cleared of almost all of its old items. This had cleared a large space in the middle, which allowed the leaders of the Tenners gang to hold their little court, settle their disputes while they ruled over their lessers.
