The First Technomancer

by G Aliaksei C

  It was the definition of a frontal assault. The antimatter blasts ripping apart at the shield blinded the Nova long enough for me to close range. I was slower than any bullet, so the changing expression on the Slime’s face had time to register as the blade struck, shattering its way through the shield. Before I was able to stab the bastard he teleported to the side, staggering as the suit spat out sparks. I stopped my charge with a lengthy slide, stretching the time it took for the Slime to catch up and make his attack. My oversized sword knocked the attempt aside, sending my opponent back. My feet finally slid to a stop.

  I let go of the weapon. The Flight Sword jabbed forward like a powered spear, narrowly missing the panicked Slime and digging into the ground next to his head. Thrusters reversed and the sword launched back out of the ground and into my hand.

  Another whim, and the blade came apart. The plasma cannon within glowed, breathing bolt after bolt of light at the stunned Slime, harmlessly splashing against his recharging shield.

  My helmet let out a chime. A glance at the display told me that the Temporal Countermeasure had just gone off, blocking an attempt to decelerate me in time. Another trick I was ready for.

  I had come far more prepared for this fight than the experienced, well-equipped Nova. I knew what I was fighting, while the Nova guessed. My weapons were built to counter their defenses; my armor could take immeasurable pounding from their most popular, most powerful weapons.

  I continued to bash and stab away at the Slime as he tried to teleport, freeze me in a stasis field, detonate the soil under me or amplify the gravity where I stood. When he ran through his suit’s full list of tricks I managed to launch the bastard into the air, where he finally flew out of my teleportation-blocking range and ported to the side.

  Hearing the boots crushing rock behind me I shifted, smoothly striking the Slime’s head. He staggered back, hissing. His slowed movements seemed silly, unprofessional in my golden-tinted vision, as if he was unsure of how to deal with the situation. A pistol was up, and a beam splashed against my chestplate. The energy of the attack washed over the valley before me. Some came back to strike the Slime, who’s unarmored face began to burn. My own cybernetic eyes turned reflective, protecting themselves from the rainbow of light created by my Energy Durasteel armor.

  After days of combating Hacksaw, creatures of greater Class than these troops, armed with Slipstreams and blades that cut armor like paper, this Nova was… underwhelming.

  Then, slowly, the translucent-green Slime head began to turn dark.

  commented my suit.

  I groaned, frowning at the Slime. “Did you really have to be a dick about this?”

  His charge was impossibly fast, leaving me only one option - to burn all thrusters forward, firing engines at full power in a rapid retreat. The Slime ran into a wall of Flight Armor, and bounced back, confused.

  A cold chill cut through me. My whole body, steady and still, felt like it was shaking with excitement.

  It’s nearly impossible to fight properly when all common sense is ripped out of your mind. The Slime only managed to use his sword twice before it broke against my Flight Sword. His arm shifted, reforming, hardening into a new sword instead. My every move was countered perfectly, deflected as if I were fighting a machine, not a living being. He could see all around him right now, I knew, watching as he dodged one attack after another.

  For the first time, I engaged my own teleporter, dropping the jamming field. My stripped, minimalistic teleportation system lacked the elegance of a proper unit. Every teleport brought about a shockwave as I displaced air, appearing in its place. To reduce the power requirements of every teleport I removed the functions that nullified that effect, using it now to stun my opponent.

  For five seconds we played a teleportation game, burning up power as we attempted to flank each other. I finally managed to land a hit, breaking my sword against the Slime’s back. The impact did little damage to his nanite-consumed body, but destroyed his shield generator.

  That did not give me as much of an advantage as I expected, every shot from my chaingun missing the Slime as I jumped back, attempting to kite him.

  My suit’s mobility was one of the few things giving me an advantage over the Slime’s new, vast power. The Nova was swinging its arms wildly and senselessly, but with enough speed and force that as single impact would likely disable me.

  The chain of explosions caused by the Chini on my shoulder only brought the Slime closer to me, forcing me to dodge and weave away from its swings.

  The success of the fight was signaled by my own voice in my head. Fort brought good news.

  “Mr. Frost, the Catapult is recharged. RAM-Ds are recharged. We await the completion of your duel.”

  That distracted me, just enough for the Nova to close. Terrible teeth, something a Slime should never have, flashed before my face, biting the chaingun barrels off from over my shoulder. I took the opportunity to skink my fist into its chest and fire the Firebolter. The rear half of the Slime blew out in a fireball, which did little to slow him. Nanites tore into my armor and flesh, and the thruster fuel reserve ruptured. Antimatter reacted with matter, what little remained of my delta-V going off all at once in a vast explosion.

  4 : Uncontested

  Day 93

  A smart man once told me a tale about lies. Humanity, he said was built around lying. First we invented the spoken and written languages, to lie to each other better. That was not enough, so we invented math, to prove our lies. The pinnacle of lies became statistics, religion and government, all systems designed to lie to one-another. First religion and later governments took it upon themselves to monopolize lies - only they could spread mistruths freely, while others had to pay tax to do so. Companies innovated to escape that tax, mastering the art with the invention of AI, a lie so complicated no one understood how it lied.

  So I wasn’t ashamed about lying to anyone beyond the walls of my home. The duel, a social demand for the Nova designed to satisfy honor, instead satisfied my need for Vazanklav’s survival.

  Just like after my last death I found myself dressed and standing in an empty white room.

  Unlike my last death, I wasn’t on the floor in physical pain. My pain instead consisted of the realization that I just blew up several million credits of equipment and many days worth of work. A questionable improvement.

  In a rush I headed towards the door and scaled the foam-concrete stairs. Recognizing the hall of the Inner Fortress I rushed forward out of armored doors and into the sunlight. The Monument, dominating the scene, was the most welcome sight I could hope for.

  Success! We didn’t get wiped out!

  I raised my hands and shook them at the tiny white sun above.

  Inna appeared in a rush of motion, sliding to a stop before me. As usual her sudden appearance had me nervously grasping for the grip of a nonexistent pistol.

  “Inna! What happened to you?”

  Half her suit was missing Energy Durasteel lamination, the layers of exposed high-quality Ballistic Durasteel beneath withered and deformed. The scorched helmet disappeared, revealing tired, lightly glowing, coal-black eyes. The General was still in her combat body, and that told me the party was not over yet. “After you died I decided to see how long I could take a Siege beam. Listen Drake, we don’t have much time. What we do have is a problem.”

  “What happened? Are the Nova still out there?”

  “Negative. The Nova were wiped after you died. That was, frankly, an amazing fight. Been awhile since I had that much fun.”

  “Yes! We won! We can finally take a break!”

  Inna laughed. In her battle body that effort produced a strange, even threatening sound. “First, we’re never getting a break. Not here, in a Class 9 Hotzone on the Hades Ring. I haven’t even told you about New Year’s yet…”

  “About what?”

  “I’ll tell you later. There’s a second point, though. This s
ituation is not exhausted.”

  “Why not? What’s the issue?”

  “There is an armored column approaching the south gate. They are transmitting authentication codes you had Rarus carry and are requesting immediate entry into the fortress.” She frowned as her Menu appeared before her. “Hold one. The Union are crossing the ridge. In pursuit?”

  Lovely.

  Option one, this is a plot to get a forward force to infiltrate the walls. Option two, these are really my second team from Rarus, and they are trying to beat the Union to the base.

  Either way, the Union is now a potential enemy.

  I decided to trust the codes. “Let the tanks in, bring all defenses to full power, and broadcast a warning to the Union to remain outside the Bomb Bunker perimeter.”

  “Done. And now, run.” With that, Inna disappeared.

  As if summoned, Gray and my Flight Sword fell from the sky, setting up to my flank. They were all that remained of my combat kit. The two had retreated when my antimatter thrusters detonated, avoiding what had to be a blast of biblical proportions. I patted Gray, who smiled at me.

  I started home, but realized I had little functional equipment left there. My suit, weapons and equipment had been on me when I died, annihilated by the matter-antimatter explosion. Fabricators remained, but they were useless in such a short term.

  Instead, I ran to the Cafe. Half of it was missing, destroyed by a Nova siege beam. I pushed a chunk of the debris out of the way, revealing the hatch that lead into the underground sections of Vili’s bunker.

  The Cafe’s armory was extensive, and heavily augmented by my recent advancements. Lights snapped on, illuminating rows of weapons, armor and gear. I grabbed the latest model of the Black rifle, a pair of Heavy Firebolters and a high-Class deflector belt. The kit was incredibly light in comparison to the usual mass of weapons and armor that I carried, and it gave me a strange feeling - some combination of comfort, lightness and insecurity.

  My tank was waiting for me outside, the low-Class machine having been excluded from the fighting with the Nova, useless in combat against the higher-Class invaders. The glorified taxi hummed, accelerating towards the south gate.

  I to the south wall just in time to dodge a row of eight tank-like war machines on treads and two support vehicles erupting through the gateway forcefield. Inna flashed into existence right before the first tank, forcing the column to break and evade, stopping all around her in a rush of maneuvers, nearly running me over.

  “Identify!” barked the General. Her battle-worn suit made her look demonic, if not outright terrifying.

  A man hopped out of one of the two non-tanks and began waving at us. “Friendly! Ice Ring Megiddo School of Warfare, Fourth Armored Wing, Four-Seven-Third Medium Armored Battalion in service of Vazanklav! We need to talk to General Kenet!”

  “That’s me.”

  “A representative of Enmity Reach has commandeered the Union army and plans to siege this fortress!”

  Enmity Reach. The weapons monopoly on all seven Rings. One of the five megacorporations in this world. There are puny governments, and then there’s those who supply those governments.

  Lovely! Just lovely.

  “Fort, rearm the bomb,” I whispered. The antimatter charges under the Firebolter factory re-activated, ready to detonate in a snap. A much larger bomb, the antimatter synthesizer itself, came alive.

  “Bomb armed.”

  The trooper stopped in front of the General, saluting. “Sorry for the unceremonious arrival, sir, we were barely able to get ahead of them in time. Once the Enmity official got word that Nova have failed, and that this location was uncontested, he used his authority to order this.”

  “First, I need all of your ID cards…”

  Leaving all the work to Inna I scaled the wall. The sight was… quite impressive, really. Uniform rows of tanks, several hundred of them, backed by mobile artillery, missile and troop transports, all spread out before the fortress at respectable range. They did not bother hiding behind the mountain ridge, confidently parking within the range of my RAM-Ds, but in such numbers that it was clear they could easily reach the walls before getting wiped out. More and more war machines crossed the ridge to reinforce the vanguard. There were many, many times more of them here than Nova had brought, and this equipment was clearly designed and built to ignore the hellish weather of the Waste Ring.

  Finally the stream of war machines flowing into the valley stopped. They sat just at the limit of my two kilometer border, pointing every barrel and turret at my home. The treacherous weather was calming down, making the field clearer and easier to navigate than ever.

  A single hovertruck left the line, approaching the walls through the sparse forest of Bomb Bunker.

  Fort called me through my Menu. “The Union are calling a meeting of leaders.”

  “Invite them in.”

  Pause. “They are warning us that if the Enmity official is harmed, they will have no choice but to attack.”

  “Of course.”

  Unheard words were spoken over the radio and the transport drove through the incomplete outer wall of Vazanklav, through the refugee camp, and past our gates.

  My eyes, glowing gold with anticipation, caught a glimpse of something within the transport. I blinked, and something golden within the transport blinked back.

  A sense of calm and comfort filled my mind. Everything was going to be alright, I knew.

  “General,” I called to Inna. “Let them through to me. There’s a Corporate inside.”

  The transport drove up to me, gracefully slowing to a stop, the hum of its engine fading. I climbed up the port ladder and opened the door, looking at the driver within.

  “See that bunker over there?” I pointed at my ruined home. “Let me hop in the back and take us there.”

  The driver, a confused-looking Cockroach, turned to peer at the back of the truck, then nodded at me. I moved to the back, climbing into the open hatch. It was cozy inside, and I realized it was some sort of command vehicle, complete with terminals and bunks. Human, Slime and Cockroach soldiers stared at me as I closed the door and sat on an empty jumpseat, looking around.

  A well-armed Human, a bold man that looked too old for this utopian world, arched an eyebrow at me from the other side of the compartment. He was exceptionally well dressed, in my opinion, in a perfectly fit business suit, complete with a tie and sunglasses.

  And he was, without any doubt, a Corporate. I could sense my fellow soldier’s Fall Coefficient, far weaker than mine but present nevertheless.

  The large black horns on his head were a dead giveaway as well.

  I slapped the bulkhead and yelled, “Get us moving!”

  The machine rumbled into motion, heading for my bunker. The wizard-looking guy moved to sit across from me, glaring from under bushy eyebrows.

  “You are the Technomancer?”

  “Drake Frost, nice to meet you.” Neither of us offered a hand. I glanced at him, and two pairs of eyes flashed gold as nanites acknowledged one-another.

  “Gregurmar Vaughntross, Enmity Reach, Senior Special Affairs Specialist. Where are we going?”

  “Somewhere with a table, Greg.”

  The Specialist seemed sunk deep in thought until the transport deposited us at my bunker. The two of us mirrored each other’s gesture, him waving back his team, me signaling Inna to stay back. Both party’s escorts seemed confused, watching the two of us walk inside alone.

  Greg looked around the ruins as I lead him into the undamaged underground living space. “Nice place.”

  “Thanks. Needs a bit more grass. Mind if I ask what your rank is?”

  He didn’t even ask what rank I was talking about. “Analyst on a heavy cruiser. We are on a five-year vacation right now. The Enmity people hire Corporate without interview, and it’s an interesting time-spending for a relaxing half-decade.”

  “Tea? Coffee?”

  “Coffee, please.”

  I made two mugs of
the reactant and sat down across the dining table. “So, ‘Rat to ‘Rat?” Corporate to Corporate.

  “Of course.” Fuck Enmity, this is a conversation between Corporate. “Who are you?”

  “Drake Frost, Senior Engineering Specialist, unassigned.”

  “Sir,” he raised a clenched fist, saluting.

  “No ranks.”

  The Analyst glanced out the window at the black obelisk in the center of the fortress. I was starting to feel as if the looming Monument was becoming the only constant in my life.

  “Same name?”

  “Same person.”

  Those fancy eyebrows began to climb again. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

  “And I was, until about a year back. I woke up standing by that black toothpick on the hill up there. No idea where I am, what I’m doing there, but feeling alive and very out of place.”

  “Hah! And your first reaction was to build a fortress where your stood?”

  “Nah, I wandered the Waste Ring a bit first. Luckily for me, a very kind Inson and Cockroach showed me the ropes.”

  “Ah, your recruiting agents. They are slippery. We tried to detain them several times. Waste Ring surveillance is damn spotty.”

  “To the point, what are the weapons producers of the world wanting out of me?”

  “Well,” he began, “you did crash the economy.”

  “I…” I frowned, slowly setting down the cup. “I did what?”

  “What did you think was going to happen when you showed the world a type of weapon more effective than any that existed before?”

  “I crashed the economy? Which economy?”

  “Inner Rings are entering a recession. As word of Black ammunition spreads, other weapons lose their prestige. The Inner Ringers, especially Hades Ringers pride themselves on having the best gear on the Rings. You showed them that everything they have is second-best. Already we are seeing a fall in sales. Everyone is saving up, trying to get their hands on these Black, shield-piercing, armor-piercing nukes you sell instead of bullets.”

  I blinked, the complexities of this world coming together in my mind like a maze of gears. I tried to imagine the fine-tuned machine of the Inner Ring economy, and what my inventions could possibly do to it.