by Alex Knight
“We should learn what we can about this Odditor guy. When does he stream? We could tune into one of those. Might help us learn what we'll be dealing with once we arrive.”
Zelda shuddered at the mention of the stream.
“We could also not do that,” she said. “There’s a fair bit of information online. I’d rather read that.
“I don’t know,” Titus said, a smile pulling at his lips. “The obstacle course monster stream sounded kind of interesting.”
Finally! Kaiden tried not to smile too much. Someone agrees with me.
“You have fun with that,” Zelda said. “I’ll stick to Bernstein’s database and Novapedia.”
“Thorne?” Kaiden asked, turning to her. “What d’ya say? You in?”
She looked to Zelda, hesitated, then back to Kaiden. Finally, she shrugged, then smiled.
“I mean, it counts as research, right?”
Chapter Nineteen
Almost there. Come on, you got this! Kaiden watched from a too-close perspective as the camera followed the frantic player. Her breath was ragged, her stamina near expended from the ordeal, but she was close.
Kaiden could feel his own adrenaline pumping even though he wasn’t actually the one running the labyrinth. The whole thing was being streamed from flying camera drones following HeleneSixer, the low-level player who’d somehow found her way into Odditor’s Menagerie of Madness.
She’d stolen the flag – Kaiden could see it, strapped to her back and flapping in the wind – but now she needed to place it on the podium that was somewhere nearby. Normally that wouldn’t have been so difficult. But then there was the ever-shifting labyrinth to consider. Oh, and the horde of grachnids she’d stolen the flag from.
Walls that looked to be some gruesome combination of machinery and organic material, complete with vein-like vines, rose around her. They whirred and whispered as they moved, sometimes rising higher, other times lowering to the ground enough to reveal a new path. They were player-made structures, which meant they worked differently than what the devs had put into the game. For one, they could move and change shape every so often.
Helene’s breath came fast as she ran, then reared back, sliding on her heels to stop from tumbling into a seemingly bottomless pit that opened in front of her.
Don’t stop, jump! Kaiden almost shouted aloud. But Helene couldn’t hear him. She realized what she had to do, however, and launched herself across the pit. But she’d lost too much speed. She wasn’t going to clear it.
Kaiden’s view tilted sharply as Helene looked down to the pit below her – the pit she was falling into. Then she used an ability. Kaiden couldn’t see what class she was but it must have been some sort of non-warden equivalent to an enhanced warden. A dexterity-based class. There was an explosion in the air beneath her and then she was tumbling forward. She flipped end over end, but the blast from the ability had launched her forward enough. She came down on the far side of the pit, dirt and sand flying as she rolled to a stop.
Safe.
“Hey... she’s pretty good,” a voice rang out, echoing through the labyrinth. Odditor’s voice, Kaiden knew. He’d been commentating on the whole ordeal and switching the stream to whichever drone had the best view.
“You’ve, uh. Well, you’ve seen it for yourselves, folks. We have quite the competitor here,” Odditor said. He had a strange manner of speaking. The flow of his sentences was broken, jumbled. He paused after certain words, or stammered a syllable or two, as if he was thinking about what to say next on the fly. And yet, he still sounded intelligent. Like he had so many thoughts flying around in his head that he had trouble picking which to say aloud.
“Take that, you big roach!” Helene shouted as she shook a fist at the grachnid that had been pursuing her. The massive insect-like alien was stuck at the edge of the bottomless pit, hissing and screeching, but unable to make the jump. She flipped it the bird.
“Well now. That was, that was just... uncalled for.” Odditor said, disappointment in his voice.
Focus on the labyrinth! You’re almost there! Kaiden wanted to shout at Helene. The walls and ground were still moving around her, but Odditor had switched the camera to the aerial view and Kaiden could see she wasn’t far from the finish line. All she had to do was get to the exit of the maze and make it over one final jump.
“She’s close. Look, look! She’s close,” Odditor said, excitement building in his voice. At the same time, it somehow didn’t feel like he was excited for her, but for something else. “Oh, she might just have it…” His voice rang with an almost sing-song quality as he said the last line. Like someone dangling a toy in front of their cat, encouraging them to go for it, but ready to snatch it away at the last moment.
Helene was moving again, the brilliant red flag billowing in the wind as she sprinted around another corner, then slid under a closing archway. She came back up to her feet and then the exit was right in front of her. Twenty more paces to it.
She’s gonna make it!
Something stirred in the ground in front of her, but Helene didn’t see it. She was raising the flag, holding it high and sprinting toward the exit.
“We might have a winner today, everyone. Let’s give it up for HeleneSixer, huh? She did so well!”
A burst of dust exploded from the ground and a grachnid hissed as it rose from its hidden burrow. Insectile legs closed around Helene. She had just enough time to scream before the grachnid squeezed her tight, locking her in a cage of limbs, and slid back beneath the earth like a trapdoor spider retreating into its hole.
A single puff of dust shot into the air as the door to the grachnid’s burrow slipped shut. All that was left above ground was the lone red flag, lying in the dirt. Silence descended across the labyrinth. Even Odditor was quiet for a moment. Then, finally, he gave a little chuckle.
“Well, uh. There it is.” The camera cut back to him, watching from his command center above the labyrinth. His character was older, with slicked-back gray hair, a thick-rimmed pair of glasses, and a salt-and-pepper colored beard of stubble. He looked solemn as he spoke, but the corner of his lip was turned up ever so slightly, hinting at a smile. He shook his head.
“Helene, Helene. Oh, but you got so close! You almost had it!” The veneer of disappointment boiled away to be replaced by a knowing smirk. “But my menagerie is not so easily beaten, no, no.” He clapped his hands next, holding them up in the air. “Everyone, a hand for today’s competitors. They, uh, well. They tried.”
“Kai! You’re off target!” Zelda shouted through comms. “Kai!”
Kaiden pulled himself from the stream and back to the battle in front of him.
Oh, crap. She’s right.
He’d been trying to multitask, watching Odditor’s stream and battling the stolen light cruiser they were supposed to be crippling.
“Aim for the engines, Kai,” Zelda said, frustration clear in her voice. Deserved frustration, if he was being honest with himself.
“Sorry, sorry. I’ve got it now.”
He adjusted his crosshair and returned his barrage of fire to the enemy ship’s engines. The shields were already down, so each shot dealt hull damage to the enemy vessel. After a few seconds of concentrated fire one of the engine cones exploded and spun off into space. A moment later a shot must have hit a fuel line as what remained of the engines went up in a burning explosion of rocket fuel.
Quest Complete: Cripple the stolen cruiser
Reward: 7,000 EXP, 1,500 credits
Level 37 achieved!
Max health and stamina increased
+3 stat points
Ability unlocked: Matter Shift
“Sloppy shooting, guys. But we did it, I guess,” Zelda said through comms.
“Sorry,” Kaiden said again. “Just zoned out a bit there. You can only take down so many enemy ships before it starts to get mind-numbing.”
“Gotta stay focused,” Zelda said. She was being diplomatic, he knew. Likely she was more aggravated than she was let
ting on. He knew how important it was that they keep leveling. But there were limits to how long one could focus. And besides, Odditor’s stream had been a rush.
I see why people like it.
“That was a close one,” Titus said, opening a private comm channel with Kaiden. A moment later he added Thorne to it too. “You guys saw that, right? She almost made it!”
“That burrowing grachnid at the end was kind of a dirty trick,” Thorne said. She paused. “But it was pretty cool, too.”
Kaiden was only half listening, though. He’d pulled up his character sheet and assigned his new stat points to dexterity.
Character
Name:
Kaiden
Race:
Human
Level:
37
Class:
Enhanced Warden
Attributes
Strength:
52 (+2)
Intelligence:
46
Endurance:
52
Perception:
46
Dexterity:
132 (+2)
Unassigned:
0
Abilities
Kickback
Shield Bash
Hammer Toss
Lightspeed
Improved Enhanced Senses
Riposte
Flash Bang
Improved Blur
Onslaught
Enfeebling Strike
Slayer (passive)
Hamstring
Matter Shift
Perks
Turen Tinkering
Stat points assigned, his full attention could now be turned to the new ability he’d unlocked.
Ooh buddy, this looks fun.
Ability: Matter Shift
You glow with infused charge for one second, then teleport from your current location to another within 20 feet.
Cast time: 1 second.
Cost: 40 charge.
Cooldown: 2 minutes.
“Check this out, guys,” Kaiden said to everyone as he screencapped the ability and sent it to them. “Forty charge is a lot to use, but this is basically a free flank. Need me behind an enemy healer? No problem. As long as I have forty charge and one second of time, it’s done.”
“That could be very tactical when used correctly,” Zelda said, no doubt reading through the ability. “But we have to make sure you don’t overcommit and get cut off.”
“Eh, I’ll be fine. Combine this with Lightspeed or Kickback and no one’s going to be able to keep up with me.”
“I learned that one the hard way,” Thorne chimed in.
Oh, true that. Kaiden thought back to when he’d squared off with her in the hangar of the Anakoni.
“It’s all good,” Thorne said with a laugh. “Considering how things have shaken out, it’s a darn good thing you kicked my ass then.”
Kaiden couldn’t hold back a triumphant smile. He was glad he was in his turret and not face to face with her. He didn’t want to gloat, but he had outplayed her that day.
The Veritas II shook as the pilot kicked the engines back up to full speed. The ship they’d crippled disappeared behind them. In theory, the security force that had assigned the quest to them was supposed to come and board it, then retake the vessel. Whether or not the game actually played that out, Kaiden wasn’t sure. The ship was just as likely to despawn once they were out of range. He’d have liked to hang around to find out, but while they were grinding as much as possible, they were still doing their best to stay on course toward NC451. Had to be close by now, actually.
He was distracted as several screenshots popped up in his vision: everyone else's abilities.
“Check that,” Titus said through comms. “Nothing flashy, but it’s a solid upgrade.”
Ability: Improved Volt Field (passive, replaces Volt Field)
Send a current across your armor, causing 50% of base damage as electrical damage to all melee attackers.
Cost: 40% of total shield capacity. This ability is passive when activated and is toggled on and off.
Nice! The unimproved Volt Field had dealt thirty percent base damage at the cost of thirty percent of shield capacity. The improved version dealt twenty percent more damage for only ten percent more of shield capacity.
Zelda’s new ability was next. Thankfully they all had pretty much the same amount of experience so leveling happened at around the same time. Thorne was on a completely different track, though. Judging from the lack of a screenshot, Kaiden figured she hadn’t unlocked anything in their grinding so far. She had to be due soon, though.
He turned his attention to Zelda’s screenshot.
Ability: Improved Atmospheric Charge (replaces Atmospheric Charge)
Allows you access to an alternate source of charge, drawing energy from your surroundings at a rate of 7 charge every 1 second in combat.
“I’ve been a bit starved on charge lately,” she said. “Shield Linking with Titus has helped, but as we’ve faced stronger opponents I’ve needed to really unload attack after attack on them. Especially considering I’m the only respectable DPS in this group,” she said, a taunting note to her voice.
“Hey now,” Thorne fired back. “I have a very big hammer that has something to say about that.”
“Pshh. That hammer isn’t gonna help you if you can’t get close enough to hit me.”
“Alright, alright,” Titus said. “We’re preparing to storm Warden HQ, you know. There’ll be plenty of enemies for both of you.”
“We’ll see who takes more down,” Thorne said and from the confidence in her voice Kaiden could envision the smirk on her face.
“Captains,” Acton’s voice cut in. “If you’re quite done, we’ve arrived.”
Chapter Twenty
“This is privately owned space. Access is restricted without special permission. Depart the area or you will be fired upon,” a robotic voice said as Kaiden arrived at the cockpit. His turret was the forwardmost on the ship so he had a shorter walk than everyone else.
Looking out of the windshield, Kaiden could see the moon NC451 below them. From their current altitude it looked to be covered entirely in ocean, a deep, green-blue sea that covered all visible parts of the planetoid.
“This is privately owned space. Access is restricted without special permission. Depart the area or you will be fired upon.” The message played again.
“Their orbital turrets just came online, Captain,” Acton said. “We might not want to push our luck here.”
We’re not getting turned away again. Not after that mess on Kyraxis.
“Put me on,” Kaiden said. A moment later a message appeared in his vision, confirming he was broadcasting down to the surface. “This is Kaiden, captain of the…” He paused. “SS Andronicus. We have information for Odditor. Information he’ll want to hear.”
Silence followed his words, broken only by the thumping of footsteps as Zelda and Thorne arrived behind him. Titus came last at a half jog.
“That might have done something... they’re scanning us,” Acton reported, then winced. “It’s an advanced scan, though. Our transponder might not hold up to that.”
“Why’d we get it, then?” Titus complained. “I thought it was supposed to keep us hidden?”
“From scans, yes. But advanced scanners have a chance of identifying it as a fake. Most players and factions don’t bother to stock advanced scanners, though,” Zelda said. “They’re too expensive.”
“We only have a few in the entire Warden Corps,” Thorne added.
“This guy’s got his own moon, advanced scanners, a zoo’s worth of monsters…” Titus shook his head. “He’s living large.”
And not taking any chances. Kaiden cursed as the robotic message played again.
“This is privately owned space. Access is restricted without special permission. Depart the area or you will be fired upon. This your final warning.”
“Turrets just locked on to us,” Acton
said. “Now would be a good time to brace yourselves.”
Darn it. Why can’t anything just work out?
“Get us ready to move,” Kaiden said to the pilot.
“We’ll pull back to a safe distance,” Acton said with a nod.
“No.” Kaiden leaned on the back of the pilot’s seat and peered down toward NC451. “If they shoot, head for the surface. We need to get down there any way we can.”
“Can we survive those turrets?” Zelda asked, concern in her voice.
“No.” Acton left little room for uncertainty with his response. “A few hits and what’s left of us won’t be able to do anything but burn up in NC451’s atmosphere.”
“I’m not taking no for an answer,” Kaiden said. “Not again. We have to—”
“SS Andronicus, huh?” a voice said through comms. It was deep and rough, with a somehow strained echo, as if unused to speaking. “Our scanners beg to differ.”
Shit.
“Who is this?” Kaiden asked, peering down at the moon as if he could see the speaker down there.
“I speak for Odditor,” the voice said. “And right now he’d like to know why you’ve shown up with a fake transponder. Are you trying to hide something from us? Bah. No matter. Our scans will answer that in a moment.”
Well, this is off to a great start. What option do I have now but the truth?
“The transponder is to protect us from unwanted attention. We’ve had... some trouble getting here. I can understand why it seems suspicious to hide our identities, but we didn’t mean anything dishonest by it. We’re here to talk.”
“SS Veritas II?” the voice said, then paused. A long moment later, it spoke again. “Odditor tells me that’s a good name around here. You’re cleared to land.”
Wait. What?
Kaiden had been prepared to protest, to haggle their way down to the surface, but he hadn’t expected this.
