Aces High (Reality Benders Book #6) LitRPG Series

by Michael Atamanov

  Minn-O La-Fin’s frightened scream rang out in my ears. She had forgotten my order to keep silent. Yes, my wife’s Danger Sense was much more advanced and powerful than my own, and I suspected the Princess had an even stronger and more painful sense of foreboding than I did. All at once, the five other sickle-shaped vehicles stopped swerving around and turned in our direction. The nearest interceptor kicked into overdrive, accelerating and continuing unerringly right at us.

  At that critical moment I acted intuitively, without the slightest thought as to why I was doing exactly what I was doing. In a stroke of uncanny intuition, I put myself in the place of the pilot of that crescent-shaped starship, even saw the droplet-like transparent cabin, glowing instrument panel and my... what even were those things? Pseudopodia, tentacles, feelers? Don’t get distracted! I ordered myself to cut speed at once. I didn’t know if it helped or not. Probably not, because the crescent-shaped ship was still coming just as fast and one second later would pierce the “bubble” surrounding the laboratory. Throwing my arms toward the interceptor racing our way, I shouted out while simultaneously doubling the message mentally:

  “Brake, you moron!!!”

  Psionic skill increased to level one hundred thirteen!

  The next second was packed full of events. First of all, the alien interceptor did in fact initiate an emergency braking procedure, but inertia kept it going through the distortion field, going so far in fact that its nose nearly made contact with the side of my frigate. Less than one yard remained (Tamara the Paladin’s forcefield might have facilitated that, slowing the foreign body just a little bit more). Second, I could sense that my feelings were not mistaken, and I really did have the pilot’s mind under my control. Third, Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh had finally stopped messing around with the jump settings and transported the laboratory away from the first planet. By all appearances, we were now on the very edge of the star system, based on the way the neutron star on the monitor suddenly looked smaller in diameter by twenty or so times. And along with that laboratory, we took both starships as well!

  Chapter Six. Playing Tag

  HOLY MACKEREL... We accidentally snatched up the alien starship and took it with us! And what’s more, our opponents were unlikely to think we did so unintentionally. due to their interceptor’s risky maneuvering. In fact, they probably thought we had executed a carefully planned hostile kidnapping of their pilot and vehicle and would surely try to get their compatriot back and eliminate the dastardly trespassers at the same time. But would they be able to find us?

  Now the interceptor pilot was mentally stunned and temporarily no danger. But their starship was still active and could broadcast its coordinates to the other ships of the flotilla, and thus our new position risked being revealed. We have to capture that interceptor as quickly as possible and disable its computers!

  “Gerd Minn-O, Svetlana Vereshchagina, Destroying Angel, Gerd Ayni and Taik Rekh to the exit!” I commanded over the loudspeaker. “I appoint Gerd Minn-O La-Fin to lead the group. Your mission is to capture that alien starship ASAP, and without damaging it if possible. Disable all its systems, take the pilot captive and deliver them to this frigate. And I remind you, no radio communication! Minn-O will transmit all commands mentally.”

  I watched on the cameras as the five players gathered at an airlock door and donned their spacesuits, discussing something. Ugh, too slow... I could feel the precious seconds ticking away in my skin. The obvious way to speed things up was for me to act with Machine Control, and not bother trying to take control of the ship, but just knock out all the on-board computers.

  Scan now! I activated the icon and studied the response on my mini-map with intrigue.

  Vahe. Level-134 Sentry.

  Gukko. Level-134 Parasite.

  Strange. I only sensed one pilot on the interceptor, but this was showing two different creatures for some reason. And what was this “parasite” thing? Okay, I could figure that out later. Now I was more interested in the systems I could disable or take control of on the alien starship. And there were very, very many:

  Positioning system... First Vahe-Protocol... Composite Integrity Monitor... Pilot Vital Sign Monitoring System... Formation Fighting Program... Compatibility Monitor... Instant Communication Apparatus... External Control Protocol... Narrow Neutron Scanner... Gravity Spoofer... Aiming System Gyroscope...

  A further fifty systems at least were listed, most of them having a function I didn’t understand in the least. I mean, what the hell even were all this unknown spacefaring race’s intricate electronics? But there was also good news: most of what I detected could be turned off mentally and, in a number of cases, the chance of success was 100% or near it. I immediately started switching them off.

  Mysticism skill increased to level fifty-six!

  Machine Control skill increased to level one hundred eight!

  Telekinesis skill increased to level nine!

  I deactivated eight or nine systems at random, and my Magic Points were almost gone — it was just eating through too much mana. And keeping the mind of the pilot under control also required spending Magic Points. I had to stop for a second and quickly slurp down a cocktail to restore my mana and energy.

  While my strength came back, I saw my crew on the monitors showing the feed from the external cameras. The four small women were holding onto the huge Geckho Taik Rekh, who had a jetpack on his exoskeleton armor suit. The fivesome flew up to the Dero interceptor and grabbed onto it. And with the players for scale, I got an idea of the linear dimensions of the actually quite small ship — just twenty feet long and thirty-two wide. And seemingly, their magnetic soles were working because Ayni and Destroying Angel gracefully ran across the hull of the tiny starship, studying it and attaching some kind of wires. Svetlana Vereshchagina peered deep into the cabin and applied some skill from her Assassin arsenal, further stunning the pilot. But from there, my team ran into problems — they were not able to get the starship open. A plasma cutter had already appeared in the Gunner’s hands.

  “Wait a second, Taik Rekh, don’t rush ahead and ruin the fragile vehicle,” I stopped the Geckho, who was ready to start butchering the starship’s hull just to get to the pilot as quickly as possible. “I’ll try to open the pilot cabin’s hood for you.”

  Ugh, what happened next just had to be seen. I ordered one of the Small Relict Guard Drones to fly up to the interceptor and hover a few yards away. I brought up the camera feed on my Listener Suit. Interesting. Very interesting indeed.

  The pilot of the craft was a medium-sized creature resembling an ammonite fossil. It had a three-foot-diameter spiral shell, all covered in metallic protuberances and outgrowths with multicolored little bulbs blinking on them. Beneath the shell I could see a jelly-like torso with twenty tentacles sticking out in different directions. I didn’t see any obvious eyes on the creature, although it clearly did have eyes because the starship’s instruments were lit up, which implied they were meant to be looked at.

  Sib-O-O-Lu. Vahe-Gukko Composite. Squadron 8347. Level-134 Sentry-Parasite.

  Ugh, if only I had a couple more Magic Points, I’d try to have a chat with this strange creature to figure out what part of it was the Vahe, and what was the Gukko. However, I had to be careful with my mana, otherwise the pilot might break out of my mental control and cause a catastrophe.

  Okay, so where was the mechanism or lever that would open the armored hood? For some reason, I saw nothing of the sort on my mini-map. I turned the camera, even moved the drone to get a better look, but I didn’t discover anything of the sort. Furthermore, I was forming the impression, that the pilot cabin couldn’t open at all. I was starting to think the pilot might have been placed inside this thing during assembly and, ever since then, Sib-O-O-Lu had been trapped at their “workstation.”

  Danger Sense skill increased to level ninety-four!

  Damn! There could be no doubt. We’d been located again. I couldn’t say exactly which, but one of the still active systems on t
he interceptor must have transmitted our coordinates to the other starships in the flotilla.

  “Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh, the alien ships will be here any second! Prepare to move out again!” I mentally told the Relict Technician and, at the same time, because my Magic Points were somewhat replenished, I turned off another few systems on the interceptor: “External Control Protocol” and “Composite Integrity Monitor.”

  Machine Control skill increased to level one hundred nine!

  You have reached level one hundred two!

  You have received three skill points!

  At first, I didn’t understand why the game algorithms had rewarded my Gnat with a level-up and was in fact surprised at their unexpected generosity. But then I saw the reason: the pilot was dead! My reckless actions had just caused the death of a level-134 creature! Or two level-134 creatures in fact if one looked at the “composite” as an inseparable union of two different races.

  And meanwhile, the situation outside the distortion field had changed — the ancient laboratory had again changed coordinates, this time going into a dust cloud. Fortunately, both starships and my boarding team were transported as well.

  AFTER FINALLY SHUTTING off the last of the Dero interceptor’s active systems and thus precluding any way the enemies had to track us, I ordered the Technician yet again to change the laboratory’s coordinates to make sure we were well and truly hidden in the massive star system. The boarding team brought the Dero interceptor over to Tamara the Paladin and fixed it down tight on an external suspension. Both of my Engineers were crawling around the alien ship examining something and had already actually managed to unscrew some modules and components for closer inspection.

  Meanwhile, the number of Composite starships in the system was growing at a simply exponential rate — hundreds had already arrived, and new ones were coming in practically every minute. They were searching for us extensively, using all possible scanning methods, EMPs, gravity explosions and a lot of other stuff we didn’t comprehend. The small and large ships were flying from planet to planet, planting probes and sensors throughout the whole star system. We also detected a laser web millions of miles wide, which would detect any interruption in its beams if an object outside the visible light spectrum passed through it. But Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh assured me that there was no cause for alarm because such “primitive methods” would never be able to detect our laboratory. We had completely ceased communicating by radio and had turned off all active scanning systems on the station and frigate. All that remained were passive observation methods.

  Also on the Relict’s advice, I sent every crew member not currently on shift into the real — the less players we had in one place, the harder it would be to detect our location by scanning for brain activity (and Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh also told me that was a possibility. At the very least, the Relicts and Precursors had such technology).

  Before exiting the game, the Tailaxian Valeri-Urla came up to me and confessed that she was extremely anxious — in the real world she would have to undergo a second operation to remove the surveillance implants from her real body. And although our experienced Miyelonian Medic Gerd Mauu-La had successfully accomplished that once, she was still very nervous:

  “Gnat, wish me luck! I hope the operation will be a success and we’ll see each other again. In any case, thank you for all that you’ve done for me!” the girl with big huge “anime” eyes suddenly made up her mind, walked up close and kissed me right on the lips, then said barely audibly: “Consider that a down payment. We can discuss the remainder when we meet in the real world on Kasti-Utsh III, and I no longer have all these vile prison-implanted gadgets in me. And another thing, I won’t be taking Little Sister with me into the real world this time. If it comes to it, Gnat, take good care of my Shadow Panther!”

  Minn-O La-Fin, Basha and Vasha Tushihh, Taik Rekh, Tini and many others followed Valeri in exiting the game. The Relict was also preparing to exit into the real, although he was also noticeably anxious about doing so. But his virt pod was intact. For some reason, Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh had no doubt of that:

  “The refuge is entirely automated and well hidden. It should still exist no matter how much time has passed. I hope I’ll find answers there to all my burning questions and learn where I might find other members of my race.”

  Remaining on the ship was just a skeleton crew of five players and the captain. The search for our ship was still underway, but our adversaries were now operating tens of millions of miles away from us. In fact, for some reason they were right next to the neutron star, so I wasn’t particularly worried. And yes, it was hard to explain with words, but my intuition was telling me that this time we managed to hide for real, and I was accustomed to trusting my intuition. Furthermore, my Jarg Analyst, who had been responding to every question by saying “insufficient information to draw conclusions,” had suddenly come out and said, “the ancient base and everyone on the ship will not be detected.” Okay then. Amazing if so!

  I ordered the Navigator to scan for and record all discussion from the alien ships, then went to rest. I wanted to take Little Sister into my captain’s berth with me, but the Shadow Panther refused to come. The beast was missing her master badly and spent nearly all her time sitting in Valeri’s bunk, nuzzling her snout into her pillow.

  How tired I was after this endless day, which had begun way back with the search for the ancient laboratory in the H9045/WE star system! It was so long ago it felt like a past life! As if in a fog, barely moving my legs in exhaustion, I headed to my cabin and collapsed on my bed dead to the world. Through the drowsiness, I asked Minn-O not to touch me even though my wife was in quite the frisky mood. She was sitting on the bed and tenderly stroking my neck, seemingly hoping for a long and passionate night of love.

  “Okay... let’s at least do one time. It doesn’t have to be for long!” I changed my mind in the end and, without opening an eye, extended my hands to embrace my wife and pulled her decisively toward me. “Woah!”

  I jerked back my hand in fear. A human woman’s body could never grow such thick fur! Instantly awoken, I belatedly remembered that my wayedda Minn-O La-Fin had exited the game that bends reality, planning to spend some time in her palace and get the latest tidings from the magocratic world.

  “Ayni, what... what are you doing here?” I quickly came to my senses and even remembered that I had also given the pretty Miyelonian Translator access to my captain’s chambers, and the right to enter at any time.

  The orange Miyelonian, embarrassed and even slightly scared by my initial reaction, scooted away and gave a somewhat tortured smile, showing her sharp teeth:

  “I was not expecting you to react like that, captain. Sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I have returned to the game to relay some important news: Kung Keetsie-Myau has come to the Kasti-Utsh III station and wishes to see you at once, Leng Gnat! And my advice to you: don’t keep the almighty ruler of my race waiting. Doing so could be fraught with serious consequences.”

  “Uhh...” I looked at the time and couldn’t even believe my eyes at first. Six hours had passed since I first collapsed into bed. Apparently I did get a decent amount of sleep. “But Ayni, Urgeh Pu and I haven’t even calculated a null transport back yet, and I cannot do such intricate computations on my own! Furthermore, the Relict laboratory is not yet ready for a long-distance jump to a different galaxy. The reactor hasn’t fully powered up. We don’t have the power. It’ll be another six or so ummi...”

  “You aren’t getting it, Leng Gnat,” the unusually stern Miyelonian interrupted my muddled justifications. “Kung Keetsie-Myau does not wish to see you in the game, but the real world!”

  The real world? Unexpected. That said, I was done with quarantine and could in fact legally visit the Miyelonian space station outside the game that bends reality. However, before I went into the real, I still decided I should clear up one important aspect that I had somehow neglected earlier:

  “Ayni, our Medic told me that you disappear
ed right off the operating table, even though you were seriously wounded in the battle with the Meleyephatian fleet. Gerd Mauu-La even said you could not possibly survive...”

  “That’s right, captain,” the pretty orange kitty agreed easily. “I died right after entering the game. But then, I respawned after the required wait time in a healthy body with no wounds or damages.”

  “Wait,” I couldn’t even believe what I was hearing. “Do you mean to say that you set your respawn point right on this starship??? But that’s a huge risk to your life! We are god knows where, very far from the known Universe! It is nowhere near certain that we will actually be able to get back from here!”

  “Yes, that is true. But I have faith in your good fortune, Leng Gnat and wish to always remain part of your team. And so before the beginning of the surgery, I made the decision to change my respawn point onto the frigate fully aware of the possible consequences. If this ship is fated to return to our galaxy after finding such a valuable prize, everything will be fine, and I will be counted a hero. But if not...” the orange Miyelonian gave another very human-like laugh, “Gnat, I’ve been with you a long time and believe I know your character quite well. You will not abandon the Relict station — it is not like you to retreat or turn your back on such a unique discovery. Whether you can take control over the laboratory or not, it is better for me to be with my captain and share his fate. Is it really so bad to spend the remainder of your life with a person you love? Also, who in this cruel world wants me other than you and my friends? And all my friends are here!”

  Chapter Seven. An Important Conversation

  THE VIRT POD lid slid silently aside, I got up off the soft cushion and took a look around. Someone had clearly been in my box. Instead of the monotonous white walls, there was now “living wallpaper” depicting the underwater world of an alien planet filled with saturated-purple seaweed, pure white stalagmite corals and innumerable snakelike creatures slithering between it all. The floor then was an imitation sandy bottom. With every step there even appeared little puffs of sand, and small bright creatures sometimes darted off in fear. Up above, the blue star of that world shone down from the ceiling as if through a layer of water. I wondered what planet this was imitating. Maybe the Miyelonian homeworld? Unfortunately, other than the name of the star system, Urmi, I knew nothing about the place where the Miyelonian race originated.