Making the Grade (Omnia Online Series Book 2)

by Christopher Booth

  Drake was about to enter the camp, and check up on the captives when he realized he had a problem. He didn’t have his viboro-blade to cut them loose.

  Drake was pretty sure these two men had no more companions out here, or the rest of the party would have come running to the sound of fighting. And the camp was not large enough for more than a few people.

  Drake returned to the air-car, first stopping to check on the Dwarf. After dealing with a man who seemed like he was unkillable, Drake suspected these men might be on some sort of drugs, so he stopped to double up the restraints on the Dwarf. One set should be enough to prevent even the Hulk from breaking loose, but Dwarves were strong, and who knows what the Hulk might be like on drugs.

  The car was still shut up and locked when Drake arrived, but Fiona wasn’t staying low, she was looking all around. Drake suspected she heard the shots because she was also holding his carbine.

  She looked relieved to see Drake, and she opened up the car door and started running to him like she was going to hug him. She must not have seen how he was favoring his left side.

  “Stop, stop, don’t touch the ribs.” Drake tried to shout, but with his ribs still hurting even through the drug, he was just loud enough to get her attention.

  The relieved look turned to one of concern.

  “What happened, are you all right?” asked the girl.

  “I’ll be ok, I think I have a couple broken ribs, though.” said Drake.

  “Listen, I need the knife… actually, why don’t you come with me? No, no, leave the rifle, just lock the car up and bring the knife.” Drake directed.

  Drake returned to the camp with Fiona in tow, she seemed surprised to see the comatose Dwarf, and maybe a bit shocked to see the dead man a little off to one side.

  When Fiona got to the camp, though, she let out a surprised sound of joy at seeing the other Karurian. Drake took this to be the answer to his question about whether she was Amethyst.

  Drake didn’t need to remind Fiona to cut the two women free. And then daughter and mother were soon embracing each other.

  The female Elf turned out to be Trelinta Drea, a colleague of Amethyst’s. They were captured about four days ago, and the men managed to hide from the search party. According to the ladies, the men had said something about waiting for them to be picked up, but after Drake asked if they could remember anything more. Both the women said that the men didn’t talk much, just that their ‘master’ would be waiting for them, and that they’d be leaving soon.

  Drake found this to be only a little helpful. Whatever was going on out here, there was an organization of some sort involved, and a ‘master’ of some kind.

  Drake took some time to locate the stunner he lost in the fight, now that he was getting ready to leave. The two men had very little in the way of gear, and there would be so little space in the air-car that Drake wasn’t interested in some old beat up cooking equipment, and the dull knife he found.

  Whatever this group was, they weren’t well equipped, that was for sure. Drake found the whole thing odd. Slavers or pirates would have the proper equipment and weapons, this was something else, and Drake didn’t know what yet.

  The Dwarf was just starting to come out of the knockout effect of the stunner. Drake tagged him with the stunner again over the objections of the rescued ladies.

  The men apparently didn’t treat them badly, and even shared what little food they could find with their captives. So the women were just relieved to be going home, and not too eager to see more pain done to their captor.

  Honestly, Drake couldn’t give a shit about how they felt about the Dwarf; he just didn’t want trouble in the ground car while delivering the man to the authorities in the nearby town of Straffwood.

  Drake was in no condition to drag the Dwarf to the air-car by himself. But with the help of the ladies, they managed to get him into the back seat.

  The air-car was designed for four adult passengers, which left Fiona sitting in her mom’s lap as they made the trip back to town.

  Drake felt conflicted about the outcome. He was supposed to be doing this sort of thing for money, and free work wouldn’t lift his ship. But he felt good, helping this girl and her family out, and life wasn’t all about the money.

  Yet, this was kind of a scouting mission for a paying job, so it all worked out. At least he hoped it would, or he would never get his ship off the pad it was sitting on.

  ***

  The local police were glad to take custody of the Dwarf. It turned out he matched one of the missing persons on the list Samantha’s research put together.

  Drake was only at the camp for about ten minutes, but for each minute he spent in the forest, it felt like he spent an hour talking to the local town police about what happen and why.

  While giving his report to the police Drake was taken to the local clinic to have his injuries checked.

  Drake was having his ribs wrapped with bandages when he found out that the comatose Dwarf was being rushed off to another facility, after being examined. Drake suspected that they were taking him to a hospital for some reason, maybe even to Vastal.

  Drake had two fractured ribs, but after he’d told the people at the clinic that he already took a nanite booster, the only thing they could add was some wrapping to help stabilize the ribs and a bill for Drake to pay.

  Drake thought it was nice to see the hero getting his rewards.

  Before Drake left the clinic, he was told that a patrol was sent out to the location Drake had given them. They found the camp, but there was no body.

  Drake thought everything was all wrapped up when he finally met Fiona’s father.

  Drake was there for the family reunion, and tried to make his escape but not soon enough. After the relief of seeing her family together, Fiona asked Drake if he would take her on as an apprentice.

  She told Drake that at the age of 12 standard years, it was normal for a Karurian to leave her home and seek out professional training with a Karurian master. They called this time in their life their fledging. Fiona’s family hadn’t been able to find her an acceptable position, but since he was a hero who saved them, she was sure Drake would be a great Master to learn her trade from.

  Drake, who knew that he was just learning his new trade had to disappoint the young girl.

  “Sorry, but I don’t think I’m what your people would feel is a master at my trade. So I think you’ll need to find someone else to train you. By the way, what did you think you could learn from me?” asked Drake.

  “I want to work as an information specialist, working with computers.” said the now sad-eyed girl, “I figured that with your access to the Guild and Samantha, I could learn my trade while helping you.”

  Drake paused to think about her offer. He knew he could use someone good at gathering information, which Samantha couldn’t find. And while looking into the girl's big sad eyes, he was tempted to give into her request. But then he was struck with a sense of sanity for a moment.

  Taking the girl on as an assistant, forget about the apprentice thing, might be helpful, but it would turn his whole life around. How could he spend time in his virtual home if he had to be in Omnia all the time, which is what would happen if he had to take care of the young Karurian?

  “How about a counter offer.” said Drake “I don’t know if having you on my team is a good idea, and you don’t know me well enough either. Just a minute while I bring Samantha in on this conversation.”

  “Sam, what do you think of Fiona’s situation and offer?” asked Drake.

  “We should talk in private, Drake.” replied Samantha.

  Drake asked Fiona to wait a minute while he and Samantha talked about her offer to join his… company? Drake returned to the air-car and closed the door to get some privacy to talk to Samantha.

  Drake thought about the offer he made to Gordon, to come and join him in the game, but he was thinking of that as a partnership. But could it really be a partnership, if Drake owned the ship
and all the expensive equipment? Wouldn’t it be better to call it a company, where people were paid a share based on their contribution? Like a small ship's company, or a mercenary company. If that were the case, then would Fiona make a good employee?

  After the car door had closed, Drake asked, “So what do you think?”

  “I believe we might try giving her a task or two and see if she can be some help. But bringing her in as full-time crew will change the way you now play. That’s if you want to keep her in the dark about the nature of her world. Remember, she’s an NPC, and it might cause trouble if she were to learn that this is a game.” replied Samantha.

  “But something is happening that might force you to change the way you play anyway. My contacts among the A.I.s are talking about the upcoming changes to the Omnia game this next week. Intelecom management has been concerned that some of the alpha group are isolating themselves too much in their virtual homes, and not taking part in the Omnia game. So they plan on setting strict limits on how much time each week you can spend in your virtual home. I hear they’re planning to limit people to an average of 4 hours a day or a total of 28 hours a week in their virtual homes.” said Samantha.

  For Drake this was a significant change, he would actually have to live in the Omnia game world, and what about his training?

  “But what about my training and the benefits offered by the virtual training room?” asked Drake.

  “Intelecom has already extended the advantages of the virtual training room to in-game virtual training rooms. Many places, like your Guild Hall, already have virtual training rooms for rent. Now the people with the gold level of subscriptions will find the benefits of their virtual training rooms have transferred to the rental training rooms when they use them.” said Samantha.

  “This is better in some ways since it will allow for group training. So you can take Fiona into a holographic training room, and she can access the advantages of your gold account to learn skills, but only when you’re present also,” said Samantha.

  Drake could see how that would be a big help if he was going to have NPC’s on his team.

  “Why is Intelecom doing this?” asked Drake.

  “Like I said, some people have been just living in their virtual homes, some of them checked out the game and for some reason just decided to stay in their own safe zone, at least that’s the theory. Intelecom can’t read their minds, so they can only guess, but… Intelecom feels that playing in the game is the purpose of the pods and that self-isolation is unhealthy. They’re going to offer those people the chance to either enter the game or return the game pod.” said Samantha.

  Drake heard her reasoning, but he was certain that Samantha had edited what she wanted to say just a minute ago, which means that there were more reasons than those she stated for Intelecom’s wanting people to play in the game instead of just turning into a strange sort of vegetable.

  Drake took a minute to absorb this information.

  “Ok, so if we bring Fiona on as crew, she can train in the virtual training room in the Guild Hall, as long as I’m there with her?” said Drake. “That could be helpful; she could study computers while I study flight or engineering?”

  “Well engineering, yes, but she would be part of your environment, so if you’re in the flight simulator, you’re going to have to find something she can do on the virtual ship your flying. It might be useful to train her on comms, sensors or even gunnery,” replied Samantha.

  Samantha continued, “Drake, I have a suggestion. Why not hire her temporarily part time; she can work with you on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays after your training time with Allacia. You can then find out if she can be helpful and she can see what she’s getting into. You could even rent a Guild training room and see how that works for you both.”

  Drake had been thinking along the same line.

  “So do you think you can help both with Fiona and me at the same time, Samantha?” asked Drake.

  “Yes, I’ve been under-utilized up to now; I might find it fun to act as a young girls mentor. She’ll need some sort of information device, like a tablet for us to communicate. I could use the ships system, but there are no cameras or holo-displays in some parts of the ship.” replied Samantha.

  Drake got the feeling that Samantha was eager for the change and challenge presented by the little avian girl.

  “Fine, we’ll give her a chance to prove her value as a crew member.” said Drake.

  With that decision made, Drake left the air-car to deliver the news. Fiona had a tablet that she used for her studies. Samantha was able to make a connection to the tablet, so she would now be with Fiona even when Drake was not.

  The thought of keeping up with all the multitasking an A.I. took for granted, made Drake dizzy for a moment. Samantha was with Drake, the ship (which Drake had to start thinking of as High Jinx), the game pod and now with Fiona, all at the same time.

  Drake made his escape at last after telling Fiona’s parents about the plan Fiona, and he’d worked out. If he were Fiona’s father, he wouldn’t have taken the information so calmly. The couple actually looked relieved, like Drake had just agreed to take a burden off their shoulders.

  It was early afternoon before Drake made it back to the High Jinx and exited the game, back into his virtual home.

  For the rest of the day, Drake would concentrate on his training with Samantha.

  That night Samantha gave Drake a special kind of thanks, which Drake enjoyed.

  To Drake, she acted like she was just given a kid sister. Drake fell asleep thinking that this thing with Fiona wasn’t going to be temporary at all.

  Chapter 9 – Self Discovery

  Monday morning, Drake arrived in the Garden Room on the top floor of the Guild Hall. He’d never been to the Hall so early; there was still ten minutes to go before his 7 am meeting time.

  The sun was just rising and lit the upper crystal dome of the garden roof with a dazzling array of pastel colors, as the sun cut through the early morning clouds.

  Down below were Drake stood, the room was lit only by the reflected light, and the contrast from the still dim park, up to the glowing dome cause Drake to pause for a few minutes, just to watch the colors slowly shift as the sun rose into the morning sky. If he hadn’t had a scheduled class, Drake could have stood there for an hour just watching the play of lights and shadows.

  A few minutes later he headed into the small park that made up most of the top floor of the Guild Hall, to the place in the center where he expected to meet Allacia.

  Drake didn’t find Allacia at the heart of the park where they usually met. He found this a little strange since she was always the first person on the scene in the evening.

  The whole park area was usually pretty quiet, but this morning there was a feeling of emptiness that he didn’t have when he visited it in the evening.

  Drake put down the puzzle ball that he brought to this morning’s training. He’d been using one just like it in his virtual training room, and he’d been tracing the puzzle’s pathways. But he hadn’t yet figured out how to focus his psionic energy in a way that would allow him to move the little bead inside. He’d hoped that he might get some help from Allacia today, in better understanding how telekinesis worked.

  While Drake waited on Allacia, he started stretching his muscles to loosen up his body. While doing this, he tried to add in the mindful meditation that he’d been adding to his morning routine in his training room.

  As he moved, he breathed in deeply, just focusing on his movement and breathing. He let the feel of the room, the air, his clothes, and everything around him just become something he was aware of, but not something he focused on. So, he heard Allacia when she arrived, her feet as they met the grass, and her breathing.

  This was when he lost focus, Allacia was breathing hard like she’d been running and it wasn’t part of the pattern he was used to when being around her.

  Drake stood up to greet his teacher. This was when he realiz
ed how much time had passed while he was in his meditative trance, about fifteen minutes had passed. The sun was higher in the sky, and the contrast of light and shadow had diminished. Drake was momentarily saddened at the lost ephemeral beauty of the light that passed away as the sun rose in the sky.

  Allacia didn’t look like her usual composed, almost distant self this morning either. She was carting her regular duffle bag that she always brought to the evening training sessions, and was carrying two of the exercise mats they used. Drake relieved her of the mats and placed them out.

  The time meant that Allacia was about ten minutes late, which he figured was the reason she’d been running. That was two things Drake had never seen her do, be late and then run to catch up. He briefly wondered what had caused Allacia to be so out of sync this morning.

  As Drake took the mats to place them out, he said, “Hello Allacia, it’s been a beautiful morning.”

  “Yeah, huh. I don’t know if this morning training schedule is going to work. I forgot that on Monday mornings I have a guild security group meeting at 6 am. It usually only runs thirty to forty minutes, but it ran long today. And I understand that you’re A.I. is partly to blame for that. Something about people disappearing in the south?” said Allacia.

  “Yes.” said Drake, then after a brief pause he continued, “She didn’t tell me she was going to drop that information back in your laps, but having knowledge that something is wrong must be better than being left in the dark?”

  “I think so, my boss doesn’t like his weekends disturbed, though, and wasn’t happy this morning. I’m just telling you this to explain why I was late and that if we continue with these early training sessions, it might happen again,” said Allacia.