Universe Online - Enter the Game: Complete Edition

by Ryan 'Viken' Henning

  It can take entire guilds (or Companies in Universe Online) to complete Rank B quests, much less A's and S through SSS ranks.

  Universe Online isn't any different in that regard. To players, Quests are simple things, rather from trivial tasks of gathering a specific object or filling a job’s quota. To NPC's, quests are jobs. They receive and complete dozens of them themselves, and it’s used as a system to involve the NPC's in the going-ons of the game universe.

  It’s a long, long way from simply seeing a character standing in front of a door or behind a counter in a shop, doing nothing but talking in rote responses to anyone who comes by.

  Especially here in Universe Online. They are far more active than most would think. They think, they feel. They need to eat and sleep, rest, train, and learn just like anyone else.

  To me, they are people. I never really make a distinction anymore.

  Others still scoff at it, except when facing down a ruler or armed guards. Hahaha.

  Back on task, I check my position near Archon Station, and plot out where I want to go. I see my short mast and the solar array from where I'm at in space. The reflective metal plates of the construct shine brightly in the darkness, even when compared to the stars wheeling around the heavens.

  I need to check a few things and gather up whatever I can before starting on this quest.

  So I set course and pilot the Mining Tug to the station. Along the way I experiment with the controls of the Tug and even spin myself out at high speed in order to get used to the feel of the loss of control and the struggle to bring it back to a smooth trajectory.

  I learn that the gravity generators also act as inertial dampeners in most cases. The power load tends to spike quite badly however, and I still end up feeling up to 5G's worth of force on my body when they can no longer keep up. But that's mainly because I've set their generation to 30% of Earth-normal gravity. At 100%, I'd probably only experience about 3G's at max.

  Or at least until I get to velocities greater than ten thousand miles per second.

  Then the generators cannot keep up and the inertial load gets bigger and bigger inside the hull.

  Better not do that then, if I can help it.

  I think the downsides have more to do with the fact that the Tug is over 500 years old and hasn't been properly maintained other than its original specs. I'm able to pull up basic information about the Tug, but without ship-related Aptitudes, either in constructing or piloting, the information I receive is limited.

  There also aren't any real weapons installed. There's a laser emitter built in as part of the mining tool, but that will only work at really short distances and its output is really low when compared to real laser weapons.

  Besides testing out the Tug and piloting it to get hands-on experience at the controls, I have the ship computer using the scanners to see if I can get a better picture of just what is going on with Drune. I have almost no information regarding the planet itself. My race history stated that Drune was a lush, fertile world, roughly as big as Old Earth, but with only about 1/3rd of the gravity.

  Other than that, nothing.

  Thankfully the scanners work over this distance, and I get basic information rather quickly. At least, what I assumed was basic information. Geological surveying was not in my list of skills.

  Okay, I'll summarize. Drune's planetary core lacks the heavy metals that Earth's has. It has a functional geomagnetic field, but it's weaker than Old Earth's. The atmosphere was also originally less dense, although terraforming over decades had remedied that. The planet is also tectonically stable, with very little volcanic activity. Weathering and other natural processes had turned most of the continents into vast, fertile plains, with only a few small mountain ranges.

  Decent sized ice-capped poles.

  The original life found on the planet was simple multi-celled plant life and small animals. Or rather, xeno-animals. The introduction of Earth-native species didn't upset the established ecosystems all that much.

  The planet also lacks any real tilt/wobble in its axis, so its two seasons, winter and summer are both long and relatively mild. Vast wetlands and jungles wrap around the equator, and there isn't any real deserts to speak of, although there is steppes and tundras near the poles, but both are far milder than on old Earth.

  Altogether, the original information I'm able to pull up about the planet lists it as a verdant wonderland with a vast quantity of space for agriculture and expansive planned cities.

  Estimated population was hovering around 5 billion people.

  That was reality more than 500 years ago.

  The planet now is a whole lot different.

  For one thing, most of the atmosphere is gone. The bombardment from orbit cracked the rather thin planetary crust and caused massive damage. The atmosphere was one of the first things to go without the sustaining technology that kept it dense. The surface has been slagged into a radioactive waste.

  The picture that comes up makes me bite my lower lip. It’s like a dream of a nuclear nightmare caused by World War 3 that never happened on Old Earth. Even the oceans are dead, stagnant and putrid green in color easily seen from orbit.

  It’s like Mars had met Fallout, right after the nukes had gone off, and had a twisted and hateful offspring.

  It is literally that bad.

  Shit. I cannot even imagine what it’s like to live there now. Even underground, in shelters built to survive for hundreds or thousands of years.

  It’s the worst case scenario of any sentient being able to come into space.

  Damnit. And the Drex did it. Did it all, without any sign of remorse.

  No wonder almost every sentient race in space curses the name Drex.

  I shake the information from my head though and continue my way back to the station in a more pragmatic approach. There isn't any time to dally about.

  Getting close to my home/hold, I realize there's a problem. The Tug is too big to fit into the rather small hole punched in the hull. The storage hold doesn't have any real external access; and checking what I can see, there isn't a docking bay or airlock within three hundred feet. Damn.

  Glancing around the cockpit, my gaze settles on the mining controls, which are off to one side with its own chair. Hmm.

  Should I cut into it? I purse my lips, tempted to do so.

  In the end I decide not to. Instead, I settle the tug along the middle length of the welded strut I'd built for the solar power array. It’s just barely wide enough to fit, according to the computer.

  As in inches. Not feet.

  Going to be a very, very tight fit. Also I need to be careful not to hit the array. I'd rather ram into the hull than damage my only source of power right now.

  Wait, why am I even thinking of that!

  A glowing light-bulb had just appeared over my head.

  The Mining Tug has four robotic arms, one on each side. That can rotate around the hull and have a full range of motion, befitting the name 'tug'. They're used to haul things, move equipment and the like.

  I end up slapping my forehead in a face-palm. Or try to, at least. The helmet is sort of in the way. The Tug's storage is also capable of bottom loading/offloading, too. There's no need to set it down. Just grab the strut, lock into place, open the hold and toss shit into it.

  A much better alternative.

  Yeah, I go with Option 3. And it’s a lot easier to achieve than either of the other two would have been. It would have taken hours to cut into the hull to get into the hold with the Tug's mining system; and I probably would have smashed my solar power array into bits if I had tried to actually land it there.

  But getting close, killing my speed and momentum, then using the arms to grab the strut and finally pulling the ship into place 'over' the hole is a hell of alot easier and far less time consuming.

  I check my internal battery supply as I lock the grip into place after shutting off the engines.

  I'd had just over 50% battery power, and its down to 47% n
ow after my flying out in space. Not bad, but I definitely need to charge it some more. I'll let it do that while I'm loading supplies in.

  I unbuckle myself from the seat and open both the storage hold and the refueling hatch from the cockpit before making my way down into the living deck. From there, I cycle through the airlock, which is automated now with power back on. From there, I'm back out in space; and have to grab hold of the Tug's hull to angle myself down enough to toss my ass back through the hole in the station's hull.

  Ah, home sweet home. I really am going to have to figure out a way to get the Tug inside though. I get high radiation readings every time I go out into space in nothing but my suit. That makes me more than a little itchy. I'd rather not turn into a mutated horror or a piece of jerky.

  Okay, first off, power. I check Bub, and am happy to note that it’s hovering around 32% charged. The rate of usage is really dropped when I turn off the systems in the escape capsule, so it has been storing battery power the entire time I was gone. Adding a new power cable is easy; but I have to go back out into space in order to connect it to the Tug's import adapter.

  With that done, and my skinny ass back inside as quickly as possible, I pull up the list of required materials for the repairs that was sent to me. And promptly flinch. I flinch so hard at the list that I bounce back a bit in the zero-g.

  Damnit! Fucking damnit.

  High end materials, electronic parts, filters, repair materials for the storage tanks. Whole atmosphere processing units to be rebuilt from scratch. Piping, wiring, mechanical parts, metal supports... Just what the hell have these guys been doing for 500 years to make the system basically require a full rebuild!

  Site Prime sent me schematics of the shelter and everything related to their life support system. It’s massive. The sort of thing you'd need in a really big ship... or a space station, to think about it.

  Hm. It probably was originally intended to be used in such a manner. Perhaps even for Archon Station itself or another one that was in the process of being built. But still!

  That's way too much! I don't have access to even part of the materials or resources required to do that!

  I'm about to have a fit, seriously! A fucking stroke or some shit.

  Hmmmm.... Hmmmmm.... I take deep breaths and try to collect myself all over again. It definitely tests my mental fortitude. I have to rethink this whole thing. There's no way I can gather enough materials and build enough parts on top of all the repair work in less than seven days. It'll have to be simple. Just to buy time.

  Time, huh.

  Something I seem to be short on ever since I started Universe Online. Either rushing to do one thing or another to survive or building what is required to advance myself.

  Damnit. And the game has only been out a handful of days. Not even that, in truth!

  I stop though and decide to eat another meal while I think about it all.

  Another watery slurry ration. What I wouldn't give for a burger right now. Heh.

  Or a cigarette. Even though I don't smoke.

  Smoke, huh. Atmosphere. Air. Water. For some reason something is telling me that's a way to go. But I cannot track down the thought right now. I'm simply too agitated.

  Wait... Agitated. Water. Air. Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon. Other gases required to breath. Air isn't 100% oxygen. At that level it’s too high, toxic to life. And damnably flammable. It requires nitrogen, oxygen, and a small mixture of other gases. Usually things provided in small quantities.

  But the hardest part of scrubbing atmosphere is the removal of carbon dioxide from it. That, and breaking it down to replenish the oxygen content of the air. … Wait.

  Oh fuck, I'm a freaking idiot!

  The answer is staring me right in the face. I check my inventory and pull out the large package of seeds I'd received in the starting kit. Plant life naturally consumes carbon dioxide and produces oxygen!

  It’s the entire reason I grabbed the Hydroponics Aptitude! Cause it’s possible to create a high degree of self-sustainability from it. Not just atmosphere renewal and filtering, but water filtration too. Tanks of algae and other larger plants that'll suck up unwanted impurities and the like.

  It’s simple to remove oxygen gas from water. All you have to do is agitate it. You use alternating tanks of water, similar to how baker's yeast is produced. Let it grow, it turns the carbon dioxide in the oxygen then remove the plant life and the oxygen.

  You get algae and other materials as a byproduct and oxygen as a primary. Food, air and water, all in one.

  I know that isn't exactly correct, given that I have no real experience with it, but it is still a good idea. The idea of Generation Ships is based off it, after all...

  And I didn't think of it before. Damn. It was part of my own plans.

  Sadly, I cannot identify the seeds I have. There are too many, and I don't have the right skills to do so. But anything is better than nothing.

  I leave the rest and replace the packet into my inventory before jumping back out to the tug. Gotta make a call.

  It requires powering back on the small craft, but whatever.

  Back in the seat, I dial the radio to the proper frequency and make my call.

  “Site Prime, Archon Station, please respond.”

  I get a reply almost immediately.

  “Archon Station, Site Prime. What can I do for you, Allec? You aren't in orbit already, are you?”

  It’s the same man on the other side of the line. Good. It would be a hassle to deal with others right now.

  “Negative, Site Prime. I was going through... No, nevermind. What I need to know is how much water and tanks you guys have available down there. Also, how do you produce your food supplies? And do you have any unused space?”

  “Ah, wait a moment, Archon Station. Why all the questions? I'm getting some people to bring me the data.”

  “I don't have access to most of the materials or resources required to fix your life support, Site Prime. But I may have a solution that'll at least buy time if we jump on it right now. I'll also need to see either a biologist or a botanist when I get down there.”

  “Oh, I see. Uh. At the moment we have access to a couple thousand gallons of fresh water, and another four thousand of wastewater that hasn't gone through the filtration system yet. As for tanks... Not many spare ones. Only half a dozen 1000 gallon tanks. The rest had been cut up for repairs of the ones in use.”

  “As for space, the answer is yes. The shelter was built to support 50k individuals, but the original survivors were far less than that maximum. As for food, we basically grow everything in underground greenhouses. But we lost most of the native plant species when the planet was bombed. All we had stored was almost strictly food stock. We also have a small breeding facility for our livestock. That's where most of the wastewater comes from.”

  Oooh, the information was good! Very good.

  “That's good, Site Prime. Here's what I need you guys to do. Take the unused tanks and put them somewhere with a lot of space, then fill them with a roughly 50/50 mix of clean water and wastewater and make sure they're heated to ambient temperatures.

  “They will also need internal lighting, as close to solar-normal as possible. I hope you guys have a decent power supply system down there.”

  “Wait a moment, I'm taking notes! Ah... Wait... You aren't suggesting what I think you are, are you Allec?”

  “Haha. Perhaps. I have a large packet of a variety of seeds up here with me, Site Prime. I plan on starting up a large-scale hydroponics operation. Starting with algae. There should be some of that, except I have no way of checking myself. That's what those tanks are for.

  “The other plant life can grow in open tanks, but they'll take longer to grow and mature to productive levels. Get together any farmers, biologists and botanists to work out the system. I'm going to bring as much as I can for repairs to the life support system to help keep it going for a while yet.

  “Hmm... Also, grab together a group of
people you believe will work well in space. I can bring three people up here to Archon Station with me at the moment, or up to seven or eight if you have good working space suits down there. We'll mainly be building, salvaging, mining and repairing; so people with the proper skills would be a plus.”

  “Ah! Allec, too fast! Hold on. Our equipment down here is basically cobbled together, so I cannot input that much all at once. Okay, there. I put the orders into the system. And seven or eight people, really?”

  “Yep. I have a functional escape pod with cramped room for four, plus one if there's someone who doesn't mind living in a stripped down cockpit. An extra space here in my Mining Tug, and another partially dismantled tug we could fix up to get life support going with room for another two.