Alyssa did her best to try and operate her phone while riding in a land-based rocket. Jordan finally eased back to something approaching legal speed as they came up on the outskirts of Laguna Beach. He recalled the quaint winding road through town wasn’t really all that conducive to low flying jet fighters, and the last thing they needed right now was an encounter with one of California’s finest. The black racer powered along, effortlessly chewing mile after mile as Alyssa worked.
“He said they’ll be there in one hour!”
“Okay, good. Put on your seat belt.”
Alyssa opened her mouth and tried to put on an overdramatic shocked expression. Then she decided against whatever she was about to say and angrily fastened her shoulder belt.
“What?”
“You wait until after you drive like a complete nutcase for a hundred miles and then tell me to buckle up?!”
“Six miles.”
“Whatever!”
“Are we having a spat?”
Alyssa shot daggers for just a moment, then couldn’t help herself. She giggled. Jordan reached across and started tickling her, which drew uncontrollable laughter as she tried to squirm away.
“Okay, fine,” Jordan grinned as he glanced in the rear view mirror and changed lanes again. “No more sugar for you for a while.”
Chapter Twelve
“When he said mounts, I thought he was talking about the game!” Amy said, clutching her jacket tighter as she clambered over what seemed like an endless number of sand dunes. The sound of the tides swishing up against the beach was strangely comforting. The night sky and the tiny lights out on the water combined to make the area look unusually peaceful. Even the breeze was warm, as if the recent sunset had left it behind to remind the beachgoers summer wasn’t that far off.
Robb was staring intently at his phone as he staggered and chugged his way across the dry sand towards the water. Dave and Marc kept up, looking at their own devices to see if they would hear something from Jordan or Alyssa. Finally the cartoon sound effect indicated a text had come through to Robb’s phone.
“Okay, we’ve got a rendezvous in Oceanside in an hour!”
“How are we supposed to get all the way down there?! That’s miles away!”
Finally Robb reached the wet sand close to the water. He furiously typed and tapped his phone, opening apps, configuring options, closing apps and reading the results. Finally after a good 90 seconds of work, he stopped and watched the screen.
“Holy zoomies–”
“What?” Dave asked.
“What are we doing out here on the beach if we’re supposed to be in Oceanside!?” Amy snapped. “And what the hell is in Oceanside?!”
The sound of a quiet motor on the water stopped all conversation. All four No-Name members watched carefully. A dark shape was moving out just beyond the waves. It was gradually getting larger, as if an object or vehicle of some kind were approaching.
“What in blazes is that?” Dave exclaimed.
“That is our ticket out of here,” Robb said. A few moments later, a small powered launch slid over the waves and came to rest on the beach. “Everyone pile in.”
“We’re going to take a raft all the way to Oceanside?!” Amy exclaimed.
“Not exactly,” Robb said. “Just trust me. Get in.”
Once the boat was turned around and the engine re-engaged, its crew braced themselves with the handholds around the edges of the hull. The launch climbed over the gentle waves until it was far enough off shore. The surging ocean subsided and the ride became much less choppy.
“Robb, what is going on!?”
The NNG cameraman performed a quick operation on his phone. “The running lights will come on in about ten seconds.”
“Running lights for what? We’re in the middle of the–”
Bright lights snapped on further out to sea. Dave could just see the sweeping outline of a majestic ship’s hull.
“Lady and gentlemen, I give you our esteemed leader’s idea of a Kings and Conquests mount. This is a tri-deck dreamcruiser. A hundred and forty-nine feet. Thirty-four feet at the beam. Accommodations for up to 12 people and supplies to last us a month. Jordan named her ‘Victory.’"
Amy, Dave and Marc stood in the launch and stared. Before them was a ship roughly half the size of a World War II destroyer. Its black windows made its flawless, almost organic white hull look even more impressive.
“Where in the ever-loving blank did Jordan get a yacht!?” Amy asked in a voice brimming with sarcasm. Robb held up his phone and pointed the camera lens at the vessel. The others all gathered around. A targeting icon floated around the ship, indicating the KNC augmented reality app had registered it as not only a game treasure, but an interactive location.
“Fairly Unusual printed it,” Robb said, as if it were a perfectly reasonable statement. “I’ll explain on the way. We’ve only got an hour to get to the rendezvous.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Okay shut up, SHUT UP A MINUTE!”
The now thrice-weekly Game Dudes videocast was becoming an event. Due to the rapid rise in game popularity, including Kings and Conquests in particular, Videowall was now replete with shows small and large eager to discuss a continuously updated list of topics. High on that list were various takes on the technology that seemed to emerge from the KNC project at regular intervals.
Donny Blake, known as the “Alpha Dude” on the Fantasy Network’s “Game Dudes” show was one of the key personalities driving both subscriber and revenue growth. His co-hosts Chris “Jack of Clubs” Montrose and Tim “The Spawnmower” Sanborn were just as opinionated and just as entertaining. At this particular moment in the show, Donny was on yet another of his trademark tirades.
“All I’m saying is if what this guy is saying is true, then this company has taken a technology we all considered an afterthought and turned it into a money machine that has to be seen to be believed!”
“Okay, I’ll admit the video was impressive,” Tim said. “The Fabster admitted the video was impressive. The problem we’re all having is what does this have to do with the game? Why is so much emphasis being put on things that are happening outside of the Kings and Conquests game world?”
“Maybe it’s because what’s happening in the real world is just as interesting as the game world,” Chris replied. “Take that gateway that popped up at the office building. People are claiming there’s more to it than just a place to gather treasure. There’s a separate message board on Orbit’s now. Even the official KNC forums launched a new separate board for the augmented reality add-on, and 90% of the posts are about some new thing that’s been found. Someone started a map and now it’s got about sixty locations posted and counting!”
“Okay, the video has him taking apart this treasure chest and examining the pieces under a microscope to see how it was built. He discovers a pattern in the components and decides to disassemble the entire thing. That turned out to be rather easy given it’s not built out of parts but uniform components,” Tim said. “Then the audience gets involved.” B-roll of the video, posted by a KNC enthusiast named ElephantSurfer only a day earlier, played over the narration.
“This was a truly magical moment for the Internet,” Chris added.
“This guy is really a materials scientist? Not just some random shlub on Videowall?” Donny asked.
“Well, if he’s some random shlub, he has a future in materials science, that’s for sure,” Tim replied. “After ElephantSurfer sent him one of the component pieces, he took ultra-high-resolution shots of it using a scanning electron microscope. They’re made of carbon composite and carbon reinforced materials arranged in a three-dimensional honeycomb lattice.”
“The reason he was so impressed and initially didn’t believe what he was being told is the lattice is very small, so what is being manufactured ends up extremely dense, but also very economical from a raw materials standpoint,” Chris continued. “There’s a lot of ‘empty space’ in the con
structed component, even though the engineering in the structure makes it immensely strong and lightweight.”
“What’s that writing there?” Donny asked.
“That,” Tim said as he paused the panoramic high magnification image, “is the patent number. Apparently Fairly Unusual not only patented the process, but also snagged the rights to the formulation in the goop they supply as raw materials. What they end up with is a bottle of ‘stuff’ that can be printed transparent, as a colored surface, as a textured surface or just about anything in between. They use a LASER to essentially brand every component. Making knockoffs of these things is virtually impossible, not to mention prohibitively expensive.”
“And then if you have the premium materials setup, you can print precious metals, glass, steel, brass, aluminum, silicon, petroleum-based plastics and even ceramics,” Chris said. “And it doesn’t take a materials scientist to see where this goes next.”
“Circuits, machinery and solar panels.” Donny concluded.
“Bingo,” Tim said. “And that brings us to today’s discovery. A level seventeen player turns in a quest at the office building location. She didn’t plan on it, but she was out there to visit and see what all the excitement was about. She activates her augmented reality app and sees that one of her other quests is eligible for turn in with the level 45 questmaster standing next to the building entrance. Her quest reward is a book of level 20 machinery recipes, and one of them is eligible to be manufactured in a Kings and Conquests treasure station!”
“What was the recipe?” Chris asked. “This is the first I’m hearing about this.”
“Get this, it’s a pet.”
“You can print a pet?”
“Apparently, this thing is a drone,” Tim continued. “Solar-powered batteries with an outer frame shaped and painted like a colorful bird. It can fly. It can respond to commands from the augmented reality app. It can level up on its own, and the higher the level the more abilities it has. It has a built-in version of the KNC app. It has a built in digital camera capable of recording and streaming live high-resolution video. It can be sent on quests.”
“Bullshit,” Chris replied. “This all sounds like someone’s imagination got a little out of control.”
“We know there is nothing stopping a 3D printer with these capabilities from printing circuitry,” Donny said. “At least theoretically with the right raw materials, literally anything can be manufactured a layer at a time, even objects that can’t be built any other way. If they have that much, they can do what this says, and if they can manufacture efficient-enough photovoltaic panels to go with it, there’s nothing stopping a treasure station from building a drone.”
“KNC players can build autonomous aircraft at their desks,” Tim added.
“Bullshit! If this is true these guys have created the biggest industrial advance in decades! With the right technology and programming, some 12-year-old kid could field his own air force!”
“That’s just the beginning,” Donny said. “The materials science they’ve incorporated into this makes the technology not only revolutionary, but durable. A circuit board printed as a single unit and made out of carbon composites in a microscopic honeycomb lattice would be incredibly resilient. Not only to impact and pressure but temperature as well. Imagine what they could engineer for a cooling system if traditional manufacturing processes were no longer an impediment!”
“And they’re using it to make plastic bunnies,” Chris muttered.
“Plastic bunnies that can survive a fifteen-story drop,” Tim replied.
“You mean plastic flying bunnies that don’t fall in the first place,” Donny said.
“I want one. I don’t care what it takes, I’m going to get a treasure station and build one of those drones no matter how long it takes to loot one of those books,” Chris said.
“And that, my friend, is why Kings and Conquests will forever be the top massively multiplayer fantasy game,” Donny replied. “See you all tomorrow.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Aren’t you worried someone will steal your new car?” Dave asked.
“I would be if it weren’t programmed to outrun would-be car thieves,” Jordan said as he climbed over the edge and stood on to the aft deck of the Victory. “We can leave it on the beach for now. So, what do you all think of all our new toys?” He set the case of laptop computers down on the deck.
The NNG membership was all present and accounted for, but unusually quiet.
Amy didn’t look like she was buying what Jordan was selling. “We need to talk. Right now.” She had that particular tone in her voice that told the others there was no avoiding her or what she wanted to talk about. She led everyone from the aft deck into the first of five large living areas on the vessel’s main level. Leather upholstered couches and chairs surrounded a glass coffee table. The starboard and port walls were each equipped with 60" televisions connected to the ship’s central satellite communications system. The next area forward was the galley.
“We have got to get a Sabrestation in here,” Robb said as he landed heavily on one of the cushions and reclined contentedly.
“There already is one,” Marc said, holding up a controller. By now everyone had found a seat around the circular transparent table.
“Alright, what in the name of all that is green and growing on this spinning Earth is going on?!” Amy barked.
“I just wanted to keep all this a surprise,” Jordan said, smiling.
“For how long? For how long did you know you had a $22 million luxury cruiser? For how long were you going to keep from us you had been given all this money and whatever the hell else you have?”
“Brace Coogan gave this stuff to us on behalf of Fairly Unusual, not just me. We need to protect ourselves.”
“I’m a little more worried about the fact you held out on us,” Amy said.
“I have to agree, Jordan,” Robb added. “If we’re not all on the same page, then all the protecting in the world isn’t going to prevent us from being in danger, even if it’s just the danger of not knowing what’s going on from one day to the next.”
“Is there anything else you’re keeping from us?” Amy’s hands were on her hips and she had an expression on her face that told Jordan her patience had run out.
“You know everything at this point,” Jordan replied, his own expression betraying considerable impatience. “You saw what Finale warned us about. An hour ago not only did yet another guy pull a gun on us, but he pumped five rounds into the side of the Condor Five. You know why? Because he wants my authenticator. You know why? Because he wants the billion dollars I have stored in my KNC keep at Shon Cloud with twelve of Alyssa’s elite guards surrounding it!”
Alyssa shot a surprised glance at Jordan as if to say “why involve me in this?”
“How is going on a luxury cruise going to help us solve that problem?” Amy snapped.
“Because if you’re three thousand miles out to sea, it’s going to make it a little tough to track you down and point guns at you,” Jordan said. “Also, the further you are from me, the less likely you’ll get caught in the crossfire.”
“What else are you keeping from us?”
“Nothing.”
Amy didn’t look convinced.
“What’s the plan here, exactly?” Marc asked. “We sail to Fiji or something?”
“We’re going to Texas. You guys are going to the Caribbean,” Jordan said.
“Why? What’s in the Caribbean?”
Jordan stood and began pacing. “Garrett Wyland had a plan. He had it long before real development got underway on this game. He executed that plan both in the game and out not just to provide the greatest entertainment experience, but to change the game industry for the better.”
“I have to admit, I got that impression too. Something happened in the early months of developing this game that either really pissed that guy off, or changed how he felt about video games in general,” Robb said. “All yo
u have to do is watch the guy’s videos between the end of Knights of the Realm and the point where he started talking about documenting his games. He became a completely different person.”
Amy took a seat next to Dave. She looked exhausted, but still had enough energy to listen carefully to what Jordan was saying. “I’m not following you. Wyland wasn’t the only guy involved in this.”
“Think about it. If all he wanted to do was make a lot of money, he could have left out the micro-manufacturing and the hidden quest to own his company. He could have left out the features that allow us to write our own quests or build our own dungeons. He could have left out the ability for us to build our own shops and sell in-game stuff for real money.”
“So what was his goal then? Why go the extra mile to include all that if he had already satisfied his obligations to the shareholders?” Robb asked.
“Because I think his goal wasn’t just to make money,” Jordan replied. “It was to bring us, the gamers of the world face to face with ourselves. Think about the industry as it stood just prior to the release of KNC. Most indie games tanking. A full 75% of the reviews on sites like Orbit’s and Fantasy Network negative. Companies going under to the tune of hundreds a year, no matter how much they spend on marketing and no matter how much they spend on development. Videowall filled with people raging and bellowing because they didn’t get their way. Everyone constantly bitching about this thing or that thing. We have ultra-realistic graphics with stereo sound and 100-way multiplayer. We have 15 pings on gigabit connections. We have 1080p high definition displays. We have entire worlds to explore and everyone is bored out of their minds! Remember the first video game crash? It was nothing compared to how things are now! Nobody wants to even talk about anything new, because they get ass-kicked right off the Internet in minutes. And every ‘fuck you’ is searchable for eternity.”
Stunlocked: A LitRPG Thriller (Kings and Conquests Book 2) Page 8
