by Sean Kennedy
From the center of the new group, he saw a woman in wizard's robes. She raised her hand, and a distortion in space-time, rippling like heat waves burst from her palm, washing over the dead bodies and they faded away like shadows in the dawn. The lake’s seeping dark stain vanished, and the blood-soaked cobblestones became immaculate once again, as though the battle had never happened.
The gentle singing of the forest birds returned, joined by lute music as it floated from somewhere unseen.
Jacob recognized the bearded Hangman, looking much better than when Jacob dropped him off with his teammate, walk up and salute the sorceress in the center of her guard. Jacob couldn’t hear what they said, but saw the Hangmen point over toward him.
The sorceress approached with her guard, and Majka stepped in front to greet her. Majka bowed as the entourage drew close and the sorceress returned the bow, “I am Zentra, Sorceress of the Galafynn Guard,” she said.
“I am Majka of the Dragon Cobra Ninja Clan.”
“We owe you a great debt. Your team brought incredible resources to this battle,” she looked to Jacob, who looked down, not certain what to say.
“We are very fortunate to have some capable members,” she said.
“We are still accessing the casualties, but thanks to you, this invasion was stopped. I'll see that your ammunition is replaced for whatever you have used, but I’m not sure we will have the caliber you need.
“I just need metal.” Jacob said, surprised at the sound of his voice. “I’ll need about fifty pounds of ferrous metal, and my armor can make rounds from it. I will need to replace my missiles though,” he said.
Zentra smiled, “Indeed; we’ll be able to provide that, and the metal we can reclaim from the Plague’s weaponry if that will suffice?”
Jacob nodded, “Sure, but I don't see any...” he started, but saw Majka gently shaking her head. “Yes, that would be great, thanks,” he said, and Majka winked.
“Your team will receive a bonus, and you can rest assured that others greater than I will know of this. You have friends in Galafynn,” she said and extended her hand to Majka and they shook. The sorceress bowed before turning away, and Majka drew close to Jacob.
“Sorry,” Jacob said, “I don’t know if...”
“It’s fine,” Majka said with a sparkle in her eyes. “You have done very well, and it is I who am sorry. Had I known the plague would have attacked in such numbers we would never have brought you here.”
Jacob turned and saw the bearded Hangman approach with two other 0perators, their eyes hidden behind masking black shields. Majka glanced at them, and back to Jacob before smiling and stepping away.
Jacob walked towards them, Teeva followed, but only close enough to be in earshot. The 0perator he saved reached up and removed his shields, showing piercing blue eyes, fierce and focused. He stood studying Jacobs features.
“How much?” He asked after a moment, and Jacob blinked trying to think of what he meant.
“How much...what?”
“How much do we owe you?”
“Oh,” Jacob nodded, “they're going to get me some metal to replace my ammo, and I think we are getting a bonus, so it's okay, I should be good.”
The other two 0perators stiffened and their faces shifted as they looked at each other.
Blue eyes said nothing for a moment, and Jacob started to feel uneasy until he the bearded man threw back his head and laughed with the booming voice of a Viking. He laughed so loud that it echoed through the market tents and shopkeepers peered into the light to see its source.
The Hangman offered his hand. “Owen Stone,” he said, “Rock Rat on the net.”
“Jacob Faith,” he said and reached out to feel the man's vice-like grip.
“What's your call sign?” Owen asked as he reached into a pouch on his chest harness.
“Hummingbird,” Jacob said as Owen unhooked a small black box with an antenna on it from his web gear and slapped it into Jacob's hand.
“You changed the course of my day Hummingbird. If you ever come into the Warscape, you give me a toggle, and maybe I can change yours,” he said, and Jacob nodded.
Owen flashed a smile and returned to the rest of his squad. The remaining Hangmen looking at Jacob gave nods so subtle Jacob wasn’t sure he’d seen them, but he nodded back just the same before turning to Teeva.
A sliding square porthole opened in space in time beside the fountain, and through it, Jacob saw the Dojo beyond.
Teeva leaned close. “We’ll talk in the later,” he whispered and pushed Jacob through the gate.
Chapter 9
The travel portal closed behind Jacob, and he saw Teeva wink out of virtual reality first, then Majka, as Kage and Joni disappeared at the same time, leaving him alone looking down at his gray body lying in the hammock. He understood then why the Afterlife Servers had such appeal; why not stay in the light forever?
We are only alive as much as we are willing to turn to dust.
The disconnect prompt flashed, and Jacob selected it. He fell back into his body, opening his eyes as the ground rush reaction in his body caused the hammock to sway. He lifted his head, looking around to see the others moving stiffly off the canvas cushions. He heard some rustling as Butai stuck his face around from his cubby hidden behind a fabric wall hanging.
“What happened bro?” Teeva asked.
“I took down a bunch in a huge rush, and took an arrow to the mind an' got punted out,” Butai said with a grim smile and turned to Jacob. “Your first time fighting an’ you didn’t die, that's gotta be some kind of record.”
“We all would have died if it wasn't for Jacob,” Joni said.
“Huh?” Butai looked back to Majka.
“When I saw that 0perator get grabbed... I don’t know what happened, I just... couldn’t allow it...”
He looked to Teeva, who was holding his breath after taking a pull from his vaporizer, sitting beside him on the canvas pillow in apneic meditation. Majka followed Butai to into the galley, and they heard the sound of running water as Kage settled onto the cushion beside Jacob. Joni began her post-op stretching ritual by rotating her feet in slow circles, transitioning to leg stretches in yogic movements.
“So, those things were... people?” Jacob asked.
“No, they were the Plague,” Kage said, “maybe they were human once, but they’ve crossed over, spawned onto the Otherside servers.”
“Bro, you remember what we said about afterlife servers? Teeva said, exhaling white smoke at the overhead like a howl.
Jacob nodded, “But you said the Otherside was a way people could manipulate their consciousness recordings, when we went across on the servers, we didn’t look like monsters.”
“Remember how different I looked in VR Jacob?” Kage asked, “How you see yourself has the most to do with an avatar's appearance.”
All things begin and end in the mind.
“Exactly!” Kage said. “The Plague uses all kind of drugs to get themselves amped for respawn, when they cross over, they become demons by choice.”
Jacob blinked, “But,” he looked at Teevas’ loose smile, “Teeva doesn’t, and he uses that stuff.” He nodded at the vaporizer in his hands.
Teeva laughed and slapped Jacob on the shoulder, “Oh no bro, they can't get there with herb. They use a whack of synthetics to boost hard! Harsh brain-damaging stuff! I'm not goin’ rogue bro, you're stuck with me.”
Butai crushed noodle packs before dumping them into ceramic bowls as the electric kettle started to wheeze steam.
“The Plague only appeared a few years ago, and they were thought to be nothing more than an extreme afterlife cult,” Majka said as the kettle’s wheezing grew to a whistle, “but their numbers grew faster than anyone expected.”
Joni bent over into a flat bow, grabbing her calves and pulling herself into a folding stretch, “I’ve heard the Otherside tech is better by a long shot than any other Afterlife software.”
“You’ve never tried i
t?” Jacob asked.
“HA!” Joni laughed, “I heard corpse crystal is a great high too, but ain’t gonna try it! No one knows how they did it, and they’ve been very tight about their research. In less than three years, the Otherside servers came out of nowhere to become one of the biggest Afterlife providers in the world. Probably the biggest now.”
“Probably stolen mil-corp stuff,” Teeva added.
Majka poured the hot water over waiting noodles, filling each bowl with surgical care before setting the kettle back on the deck. Butai carried a tray of tea into the cushion circle, a fabric bag of herbs floating in each cup.
“Can’t they just ban the Plague from coming on their servers?” Jacob asked.
“Hard to do with evolving codes, you can try and target certain kinds of users based on a signature of what they’re carrying,” Joni said, “but signature filters get too many false positives from new users and flash crowds. Worlds that prevent popularity quickly get isolated, stagnate, and eventually fall off. Fundamentally, the failsafes built into Immersion to keep servers and users connected, work against anything designed to fragment it.”
“But the Warscape is isolated,” Jacob said.
“In a way, but you can still get there,” Joni said. “Combat in the Warscape is too severe for the Plague to take hold, but all that will change if online rights become law.”
“That’s key bro,” Teeva said. “Once that digital rights pass, the whole virtual world is gonna get rocked.”
Jacob took a sip of tea, it was woody and warm.
“Plague fighting used to be fun before it became so serious,” Butai said, scowling, “they just keep getting bigger, and it doesn’t matter how many you kill, they just keep coming.”
“Not today,” Joni said as she stretched up, reaching for the overhead. “They weren't expecting Jacob! You must have killed hundreds of them!”
“Good!” Butai said, “But Galafynn's not permadeath, they’ll be back, and if the Plague keeps growing, pretty soon everything in VR is either gonna be Otherside or Warscape.”
“No way bro, not while the Dragon Cobra Ninja Clan’s around!” Teeva said as Majka brought over the tray of steeped noodles.
“I must tell you, Jacob, you have more than earned your portion of the pay,” Majka said, her pupils twitching as she reviewed data on her internal Minds-I display. “It seems that Zentra has made good on her word and provided a bonus. Rightfully, that bonus should be yours.”
“Oh no,” Jacob said, “if it weren't for you guys, I wouldn’t know anything.” He looked at Teeva, “if the Dead Droid Posse would have found me that night, who knows what would have happened.”
“I know,” Butai said.
“Yeah,” Jacob said, “The least I can do is give you guys the bonus, besides you said I was just along for the ride.”
“That was before you killed eight-hundred-sixty-four Plague,” Majka said, and Butai choked on his noodles, quickly setting down the bowl as he cleared his throat.
“Eight hundred and...” he looked at Jacob.
“How do you know it's that many?” Jacob asked, uneasy at hearing his death toll.
“The servers keep kill totals, and the DCNC Hummingbird is at the top of the battle board by a large margin,” Majka said.
“Yeah Bro!” Teeva said and held out his fist, and Jacob bumped it with his own.
“I wouldn’t celebrate too hard,” Butai said. “Everyone, including the Plague sees the battle board.”
“And when they look,” Majka said, “they will see only the name Hummingbird, of the Dragon Cobra Ninja Clan,” she raised her cup to Jacob, “and we are honored to have you share our breakfast.”
“Breakfast?!” Jacob said and thought about the time. His helmet visor dropped to show 5:30 am on his HUD display, “Oh no! I gotta go!”
Jacob struggled off of the canvas cushion. “I’m sorry guys. My Uncle said that I got to be home by six. Thanks for bringing me to Galafynn,” he said and quickly moved toward the bulkhead doorway.
“Wait up bro,” Teeva caught up as Jacob climbed through the hatch and together they emerged on the Dojo’s deck. Moving over to the boarding ledge Teeva kicked the thick ropes over the side for Jacob to slide down. Jacob took the rope in his hand, but before he could descend, Teeva suddenly hugged him so hard that he lost his breath.
Teeva released, but held Jacobs shoulders saying, “You did incredible bro, but be careful okay? Like, don’t go messing around online, that’s no lie that the Plague is gonna be flamed.”
“Don’t worry,” Jacob laughed, “I wouldn’t know where to go anyway.”
“We’ll kick you in on the cut from tonight, and Joni’ll make sure to get that tunnel router up quick,” Teeva said.
Jacob nodded, and in the early morning glow he slid down the rope, extending his power-boks into a bounce as he dropped the last few feet to begin his racing strides towards the farmhouse.
Chapter 10
The power-boks propelled Jacob across the dried silt. The lakebed let him set a steady pace. His HUD displayed he would arrive by 5:55 am, but only if he could maintain speed, and it would be rougher terrain outside the lakebed. He pushed harder, the muscle burn felt good, and his effort conjured memories of a red Martian plain.
He knew being late was purposeful destruction of the mission, and any person who cannot meet timings is useless. This was his first timing; a timing that showed his commitment to getting to space.
The sky’s ultraviolet was ignited by the sun, sending a golden glow over the city’s silhouette skyline, illuminating the quarantine zone. By the time he made the boat launch, he’d shed two minutes off his projected arrival time. He made the ascent up the ramp in two strides, throwing himself into the warmth of the sun’s first rays.
The time in Galafynn was intense, and yet he still felt fresh. His body responded well as he pounded toward the blue roadside tank. Maybe it’s like sleep, he thought, perhaps the Hummingbird was his dream body.
How simple it had been to flex his muscles and send missiles slamming into targets, to wash his enemies in mag-cannon fire, carving deep wound channels into the horde.
Jacob felt his shoulders flex as he ran, a reflex to eject turbine fans from his armor to kick him into flight. His reflexes had become naturalized to his virtual body, and when he looked back into his helmet's HUD display, he realized he had shaved a full ten minutes off his projected arrival time.
Flight; just the thought of it made everything worthwhile. There had to be a way to get the thorium, and if there was, Jacob made a silent promise he would find it. The cargo spire tops caught the dawn's early light, and Jacob adjusted his pace to a cruising trot.
As he rounded the dirt road’s last corner, he saw his two uncles waiting beside the cul-de-sac spire. Mac had one hand in his coveralls and held a coffee mug with the other, while the square frame of Vincent Slate had one hand on his hip, the other angled to look at his antique wristwatch; a practiced pose from the Space Corps.
Jacob leaned back letting the power-boks absorbs his inertia as he slowed. As he brought himself to stop, he collapsed the braces, the sides folding around his legs and the treads collapsed into boots.
The momentum of his arrival carried dust forwards, drifting past him to reach his uncle's feet like a wave crashing on the shore. Mac smiled, but Slate’s expression didn’t change.
“What time did I tell you to be ready for flight training Mr. Faith?” Slate asked, his tone hard and his eyes harder.
“Six, Uncle Vincent,” Jacob said between heavy breaths, the envirosuit climate control adjusting to kept his temperature stable.
Jacob saw Slate’s muscles twitch when he said the words, 'Uncle Vincent.'
“From now on, you will be fifteen minutes early to everything, so when you are told six, consider that to be a five-forty-five timing,” Slate said.
“Oh,” Jacob said, “The timing wasn’t six?”
Mac took a noisy slurp from his coffee mug befo
re looking back to Slate.
“The timing was six,” Slate growled.
“Oh good! I'm glad I wasn’t late, but I’ll make sure I’m fifteen minutes early from now on.” Jacob said between breaths.
Mac chuckled, covering it with a cough as he took another slurp. Slate shot him a look.
“Sneaks up on you, this coffee,” Mac said, raising the mug.
Slate turned and marched toward the shop.
Jacob saw Mac wink before Slate began yelling, “Let’s see if you know what 'be ready' means.”
Jacob looked to Mac who nodded for him to lead the way.
Slate left the steel door open as he entered, and the barn's cool darkness enveloped Jacob as he pushed past the racked storage. He could see he wasn't the only one who had been busy last night.
“Let me know if you need any coffee lad, I want to hear about your night later,” Mac whispered, and Jacob nodded, hardly able to contain his excitement to train.
All but one of the work benches had been pulled closer to the storage racks, creating a large open space, where the Rainwalker’s wings sheltered the remaining work table.
The black Kaizen body with the salvaged head sat, its single blue eye ring softly pulsing, showing its systems working. His uncle stopped beside the droid bench, and Jacob almost ran into him as he craned his neck staring at the craft. He stumbled back at the last moment, as Slate’s mouth twitched into a lipless grin.
“This is a Space Corps Mark 7 Gunship. It takes a two-person crew but can be flown with a single pilot. One of the most practical spacecraft ever built, and its design was added to your...” he paused, “the design was part of the Space Corps Basic Training.”
Jacob nodded as Slate went on, “This is, to date, the smallest craft ever built with jump capabilities. For this reason, it’s highly coveted, and in the modern world, highly illegal, and for more reasons than just fuel. But do you know what getting the thorium we need will mean, boy?”
Jacob stared at his uncle, “It means I can go to space?”
“It means you will have to do combat with variables. You, and your Kaizen navigator if it ever wakes up.”
