by Dante Doom
Sang frowned at him. "Can you blame me for trying?" she asked.
"I suppose not," the Emperor said. He reached his hand forward and Sang felt an intense pain surge through her entire body. The words You Are Taking Nonlethal Damage appeared over her head as she watched her health bar drop down rapidly. The pain was so bad that she felt as if she were going to pass out.
"Do you see what I can do with a simple wave of my hand?" the Emperor asked as he waved his hand again, causing the pain to cease. "You would do best to behave here. Now, go to your prison cell or face more agony."
Sang felt a deep anger well up inside of her. The feeling of being helpless was agonizing, and perhaps far worse than the pain that she had been feeling a few seconds before. She wanted to fight back, to hurl insults and rage against him, but at the same time, he really did have the power to kill her. The first attempt at rebellion had been a simple test to see if she could get away with something, but it was clear that he would keep a tight fist around her.
"Fine, fine," she said. "Where is it?"
The Emperor pointed at a door behind her. "It's through there."
"No one's going to escort me?" Sang asked.
"You're smart enough," the Emperor said. "You'll figure it out. And if you try anything again, I'll simply torture you until you're ready to cooperate. Understand?"
"Got it," Sang said as she turned around and walked through a steel door that slid open just as she got close to it. Finding the prison cell wasn't too hard, as most of the signs on the ship were in English for some reason. Perhaps the Emperor was readying the ship for more humans to work alongside of him.
As Sang reached the prison cells, she noticed that they weren't particularly secure in any way. There were no guards around. There was just a large cell where she would be required to sit. As soon as she walked into the cell, which didn't even have a bed, a yellow field of energy appeared at the entrance, trapping her.
Sang quickly used her hacking tools to analyze the security of such a force field. It wasn't too well programmed, from what she could tell, and bypassing it would be easy. Still, what was the point of bypassing the program? The Emperor would be on top of her the moment she escaped. No, she would have to wait and bide her time until it was the right moment.
She slid down to the ground and began to ponder the plan. First, she would have to locate Van and free him from his pod. She wasn't sure if the virus would affect a digital pod, but she didn't want to risk it. Instead, she would have to break him out of his digital pod and then activate the item that was resting in her inventory. She would have to wait, of course. The hacking team that she'd brought aboard to work on the project was hopefully close to being finished. For right now, Sang knew that she had a little bit of time to wait. And so she waited, and prepared her mind for the fight ahead.
The Emperor was smart, but as she had noticed in his conversations with Van, he was also prone to a lot of intellectual stimulation. Something within that creature craved conversation, and this desire had been strong enough for Van to convince the thing to change its entire operating procedure, just so it could have a partner in crime. The rest of the Draco were all infinitely different from the Emperor. Perhaps if Sang were able to convince these Draco to turn on the Emperor, it would buy her enough time to free Van and kill them all with the virus. Yet, could they be convinced otherwise? They were a strange collective, after all, and their loyalty to the Emperor was fierce. What could Sang possibly say to these Draco that would rile them up against the Emperor?
As she sat and pondered the problem, the doors to the prison area slid open as a Draco entered carrying a bucket and a mop. It began to clean the floors, staring blankly at the ground as it worked.
"Why are you cleaning the inside of a fake room?" Sang asked the creature.
"We all must clean," the Draco replied as it continued to work on the floor. "It is our task as given to us by the Leader."
"That's weird," Sang muttered under her breath. She watched in fascination as it continued to work. Maybe this was her ticket out of here. "So, you're cleaning because the Leader told you to," Sang said. "Why do you have to listen to him?'
"Everyone serves a function," he replied. "The Leader's function is to serve as a voice to our race. He provides order."
"Does he clean?" Sang asked.
"Negative," the Draco said as he continued mopping the floor. "He states that all of his energy must go to leading us."
"Sounds pretty convenient, if you ask me," Sang said.
"Those words are irrelevant. I am simply fulfilling my function, as is he," the Draco answered. It never ceased its work.
Sang wrinkled her face. She recalled the long, spirited conversation that Van had had with the Emperor when she'd been in stasis in the throne room. She remembered the Leader's derision for the rest of his people and how they were so easily manipulated. How did he manipulate them? Maybe she could pull some strings on this creature and trick it into helping her find Van. After he found him and was sure that he was safe, then she could activate the virus and this would all be over.
"His function is to tell everyone what to do, right?" Sang asked.
"Correct," the Draco agreed.
"Does he tell himself what to do?"
The Draco paused from his cleaning and looked up at her. "No. That would be independence. No Draco can tell themselves what to do, for that is in our sacred laws. All for the good of all, one is the enemy of all."
"So, who tells him what to do then?" Sang asked again. She could see the creature was now beginning to puzzle over her question.
"I cannot answer that," the Draco whispered. He paused entirely from his cleaning and pensively leaned against his mop. "I fear that I do not know the answer."
"It sounds like he's independent then, right?" Sang asked. "He tells everyone what to do, but no one instructs him, so… I would be tempted to believe that he is singular, not collective."
"You speak heresy of our Leader," the Draco hissed. "Our Leader is not an independent, for he serves the needs of the all. As we all do."
"But you can't answer my question," Sang pressed. "You don't know who the Leader is directed by. My belief is that he is directed by himself."
"I shall answer your question in a moment," the Draco murmured. Sang could see that a small panic was beginning to come across him. Even though he was a lizard creature with a physiology very different from that of a human, the doubt was easy to see on his face. The creature lifted his hands up and chittered out in a strange, almost melodic language. A few moments later, another Draco entered. This one was wearing military gear and held a rifle in its arms.
"You have summoned this one?" the armed Draco asked.
"The prisoner has asked a question that I cannot answer," the janitor replied.
The armed Draco looked at her and shook its head. "It is not wise to provoke the ire of your captors, human woman. You will do good to keep your mouth shut."
"It's a real question," the janitor continued. "She asks who directs the Leader if he directs all of us."
"What an asinine question," came the reply as the armed Draco waved his hands dismissively. "That is simple: the Leader is directed by all of us, just as we are all directed by him."
"Do you have to clean, too?" Sang asked with a grin.
The Draco looked at her sharply. "Of course, we all must clean."
"All except for the Leader, right?" Sang replied.
There was a silence in the air as the armed Draco looked at the janitor. They exchanged glances and Sang could see that they were both puzzling over her questions.
"And so you are suggesting that the Leader is independent? That is a heretical charge," the armed one said after a few minutes of silence.
"Can you so easily refute my charges?" Sang asked.
"I cannot, but I cannot answer a great many questions, either," the armed one said.
"I know of one who can answer this question," Sang said. "The human. Van."
/> "You manipulate us as a means for escape," the janitor hissed, but the armed one raised his hand to stop the hissing.
"Speak your case as to why Van would know the answer," he said.
"It's simple," Sang replied, hoping these creatures weren't very good at picking up on deception. "Van is the ally to the Emperor, is he not? He was brought aboard this ship and given a lot of power. But Van is an independent thinker. Why would your Leader work with an independent?"
"So that the glory of our race can be furthered through expansion," the janitor replied. "Everyone knows that."
"I don't know…" the one with the gun said as it slowly slung its rifle over its shoulder. "It is a major security concern to have a human aboard our ship, especially when he has been given such power by the Leader."
"Van knows the Emperor well enough to tell us the truth," Sang said. "If we go find Van, he can tell us who is directing the Emperor. I know he'll back me up in telling the truth, that your Leader is nothing more than a filthy independent thinker."
"Bold words," the armed one said as it walked over to Sang and deactivated her cell. "But perhaps you are correct. Not everyone is in agreement with his decision to let you humans aboard this ship. But the Leader tells the Elders that they are wrong. No one can sway him. I have not thought of such a heresy before, but now… now it makes sense. I will take you to Van and we will see what he has to say."
"I must protest!" the janitor said. "The Leader instructed all of us to keep the humans restricted to their holding areas."
The armed one waved his hand dismissively. "It is for the good of all that I take her away for a while. You must recognize that and aid us, as well."
Sang could see confusion come across the janitor's face. It didn't seem to know what to say back. Free choice was probably a new thing for the Draco, and it probably had no idea what to do with two conflicting pieces of data from its own race.
"I must ponder this," the janitor said. "I will not stop you."
Sang grinned as the armed one motioned for her to get moving. Once she found Van, everything would be over for these evil monsters. They wouldn't stand a chance.
18
Van floated before the crashing tides of water, watching as the islands began to rise above the ocean. With a simple motion of his hand, the islands began to curve into a shape that he found most fitting. His eyes darted over to the gigantic statues that were standing tall above the land he was creating. Those statues resembled the figures of Sang and the Emperor. They were there to remind Van of what his true mission was. Sang would free him someday, and he would be required to act quickly. No matter how many hundreds of years passed in his mind, he knew that he could not forget what the mission was. So, for thousands of years, he had looked at the statues each day in order to practice what he would do as soon as he was free.
The island continued shifting and writhing as it began to grow trees. This would be the area where players of the new game would be able to create their own ships and sail across the seas. Van had decided that his fantasy world would be one of piracy and trade. Despite how much he despised being locked away and forced to build a universe all by his lonesome, he was growing to enjoy the process of creation more and more with each passing day. The loneliness had faded a long time ago, and instead been replaced by obsession. He would carve the world in an image fitting for all players, from the most casual to the most hardcore – there would be something for everyone in the game.
As Van moved his fingers to populate the land with NPCs, his eyes felt a sting and he was suddenly laying on his back inside of a pod. Standing above him was a Draco and Sang.
"Van!" Sang said as she grabbed him by the arm and began to pull him out from his pod.
"Wah?" Van muttered, trying to speak. He felt extremely woozy, and all of his plans for action melted away as he felt his brain turning into mush.
"Let's do this thing!" Sang said as she helped him up. She reached into her bag then and pulled out the silver sphere meant to destroy all of the Draco. "You can log out, right?"
"We must question him!" the Draco standing next to her said.
"Right, we will," Sang said.
Van glanced at his UI display and saw that the log-out function was disabled. "I… I can't log out," Van said.
"Well, I really hope this doesn't affect your pod then," Sang whispered, "because we don't have a lot of options."
"Trickery!" the Draco hissed as it reached for the gun hanging at its side. "You fooled me with lies!"
"Not lies!" Sang said as she grabbed the Draco's arms before it could pull its weapon free. The word Grapple hovered above the both of them and Van watched as the two wrestled with one another. The wrestle meter was quickly moving in the Draco's favor.
Van didn't have any weapons on him, as they had all been confiscated by the guards as soon as he'd been brought aboard the ship. Without the ability to log out, he'd be susceptible to the virus that Sang was carrying. His mind began to reacclimate to reality and he could feel the thousands of years of vivid memories washing away as if they were nothing more than dreams.
"A little help!" Sang shouted as she fell to the ground, still refusing to let go of the gun. The Draco was holding onto the weapon with one hand and was punching her in the face with the other. Van could see her health dropping down from 1,700 to 1,400 quickly. That wasn't good at all.
Van noticed that while his character's ability to log out of the game was hindered, his abilities list was still activated. That meant he had access to some high level powers which might help them escape the ship. An idea flashed to his mind, and it was the perfect plan. He activated his Fierce Rage power and watched as his already boosted stats went up even higher. His strength score said MAX and he grinned as he felt his muscles grow even larger.
Van reached down and effortlessly ripped the Draco off of Sang, throwing the creature hard into the wall. The steel wall gave off a clonk sound as the alien flattened against it. Lethal Damage hovered above the Draco as it slid to the ground.
"Aw man!" Sang said as she held the rifle in her hand. "It says I’m not proficient with this weapon and can't use it."
"Yeah, well, we're not gonna be here long, Sang," Van said as he walked over to the Draco and picked up a short knife that was hanging from the creature's belt. "Can you set the virus to go off after a certain amount of time?"
"Yeah," Sang said, "of course."
"Good. Set it for seven minutes and follow me – we're going back to Oirthear."
"The game world? Why?" Sang asked.
"No time to explain!" Van said as he pointed at a large light that was resting above the door leading out of the room. The light was beginning to flash rapidly and Van could hear shouts. "We gotta go!"
"Alright, as long as you know what you're doing!" Sang said as she followed after Van as he ran out of the room.
"I think I do!" Van replied as he made his way through the empty hallways of the ship. Despite the alert going on around them and the sounds of an alarm screaming as loud as it could, there were no forces to oppose the two escapees.
"Alright, it's set," Sang said. "When should I activate it?"
"Right now!" Van replied as he rushed up to the door leading to the bridge. He had no idea how to escape from the ship using those platforms, so his plan was far less elegant. He was gonna smash a window and jump back to the planet. Hopefully, the programmers hadn't put in realistic re-entry physics.
"Okay, seven minutes until it all goes to hell," Sang said. "And you think you can log out in such a short amount of time?"
"Yeah," Van said as he tried to push the steel door open. Normally, they would just slide open when someone got close, but this door didn't want to move. He took a deep breath and activated his Doorkicker ability. Power surged through his legs as he reared back and kicked with one foot, causing the steel door to shatter upon impact. Shards of metal splintered everywhere and Van was forced to close his eyes for a second to protect his vision from the shra
pnel.
"Nice work," Sang said as she rushed past him and onto the bridge of the ship. Thirty Draco were all lined up in a row, their rifles trained on the both of them as Van and Sang came to a halt.
"Ah, crap," Van said. He tensed up, waiting for the laser fire… but they didn't shoot.
"Are you two serious?" the Emperor asked as he strolled out from behind the line of soldiers. He was shaking his head, and Van could see there was a look of mild amusement on his face. "You really thought you could escape this place? Whatever was your plan? There's nothing in this room for you to use to escape."
"Screw you!" Van shouted back.
"That's really all you have to say?" the Emperor laughed.
"Van, the clock is ticking," Sang hissed. "We gotta get you out of here."
"You stand there laughing," Van replied, "but you have no idea what's aboard this vessel, do you?"
The Emperor shrugged. "I have no idea, no. But I don't care, because your precious planet is going to be destroyed now. You couldn't leave well enough alone, could you? I was earnest in my offer, and I even gave you the benefit of the doubt, but you still decided to cling hopelessly to your race. How pathetic."
"You think I'm pathetic? Because I'm not the one who's about to flee from this ship in a panic," Van replied.
"Ha," the Emperor snorted as he walked up to them with a sneer.
"We've engineered a virus to backfire on your pods. The lethal biofeedback system you developed? Turns out there's a way to make your fancy Draco pods employ it. And it's about to go off in less than five minutes."
"Oh really?" the Emperor asked. "You expect me to believe that?"
Van grinned. "In five minutes, that virus will pulse out a wave and anyone that it touches will experience a severe electrical pulse that will kill every nerve in their brain instantly. You'll be cooked from the inside in less than a second."
