13
Arguments and Stats
The light mood lasted only minutes. The war party spread out once they entered the Security sector, repeating the plan from the previous explorations. Before the last group left down their own corridor one of the first groups came running back like demons were chasing them.
“Retreat, everyone retreat! Commander Jasla, people are here, they have weapons, better than our own. We have to retreat, they are coming.” The leader of the squad managed to report between gasps for air.
Jasla was suddenly serious and barked orders to the remainder of the party, “Squad four and five guard the entrances, AJ you sound the retreat alarm, Luke prepare for a fight.”
AJ had taken the role of signal and radio man for the war party during their clearing of the other sectors. Each squad had PDAs that could connect to Jasla's and AJ’s for orders and reports but in the case of an emergency when the entire party needed information all at once they had worked out a system of alarms and sirens to deliver orders in a hurry. The retreat alarm was a bell like sound resembling old fire alarm. The message was to return to the location where they deployed from, the current intersection. In extreme cases they had different alarms for evacuating and even scattering if things went really sideways.
As they waited for the other squads to return the party spread out and prepared their spears ready for anything.
Jasla called out over the alarm, “What types of weapons did they have, describe the enemy, how many are there?”
She needn’t have bothered though as the enemy in question rounded the corner and charged. The group looked suspiciously like the Thaslo tribe before their body modifications. They had the same strange and random deformities, extra limbs, and uneven gaits. This group was indeed far better equipped though. It didn't seem like they had looted from the Weapons sector but that hardly mattered when they had free reign over the entire Security sector's armory.
The gear was reminiscent of riot gear from before the war, helmets, pads, vests, shields, batons, and even some things that looked like firearms and grenades. Luke could only hope they didn't know how to use them as he took a position along with the others to receive the charge. It took an awkwardly long time before the limping stumbling mutants reached them but the war party held until the last moment then thrust their spears at faces and chests.
The mutants were ready and took the blows against shields and armor, fully stopping the attack, or ducking around the weapons with surprising agility. Then the battle was upon them. Luke lost track of the battle as a whole and entered his own world. A baton clipped his shoulder but his toughened body and M reinforcement handled the blow with ease. A different mutant tried to block Luke's return thrust but the shield split like soggy tissue paper under the M spear.
The lack of resistance stunned both Luke and the shield bearer, but the original baton wielding mutant attacked Luke's wrist trying to break his hold and strip him of the spear. The blow struck home and Luke dropped the spear but another of the Thaslo party had already run the shield bearer through so the spear and shield clattered to the ground.
Luke didn't have time to retrieve his weapon and was grappling before he realized what had happened. It turned out that grappling with a three armed opponent was a poor idea even if the fist that kept jabbing him in the ribs wasn't able to cause much damage through his reinforcements, he still wasn't able to counter effectively. Fortunately Jasla showed up and pulled Luke's opponent off him and Luke realized the battle was done.
Skill advanced: Spear combat
Spear combat: Level 4
Well that didn’t seem like an earned level, but Luke wasn't going to question his fortune. A quick glance around revealed the Thaslos had a few bumps and bruises but the timely return of the other squads had secured the fight for their side. The Thaslos were outnumbered even with the reinforcements but the mutants had been soundly defeated. Most of them had been slain but there were a half dozen prisoners including the one that had been wrestling with Luke.
One of the prisoners spat at the spearmen surrounding him, “Leave outsiders. Or the Tribe will drive you out and you will feed our people.”
The language was the same as the one the Thaslos spoke. Jasla pushed through the surrounding spearmen and bent down to gaze into the speakers eyes. The position was awkward for both of them as the man was on his knees but those knees seemed to bend in opposite directions, the height difference made the scene almost comical.
“How do you speak our language? Who are you?” Jasla asked calmly
The man scoffed, “Your language? This is our language, and outsiders shouldn't taint it with their foul tongues.”
Jasla shook her head and turned back to the war party, “We don’t have time for an interrogation right now, lock the prisoners in one of the cells we passed earlier. Strip the dead of their gear and prepare quickly, we must treat this sector as hostile territory.”
They snapped to the tasks and Luke found himself without anything to do.
Jasla handed him back his spear, “Come we should talk while the rest prepare.”
They walked out of earshot before Jasla continued, “This is really bad.”
Luke shrugged, “We handled ourselves pretty well, no one was seriously hurt and now we have some better gear.”
“No, it's bad because… well who do they remind you of?”
Luke looked over to where the prisoners were being led back to where they had found some cells earlier.
“I … I don't know, they seem just like the other tribespeople I've seen around since I got here, they don’t really remind me of anyone.”
Jasla laughed at that, “That's exactly it, they are the same as us. How does that happen?” She didn’t wait before answering herself, “They ARE us, or at least they started as part of us. The only way that another tribe of people who look and speak the same way as we do could be living so close is if we started as the same people.”
Luke nodded slowly, “Ok I can see how some people may have been separated and another tribe popped up but why is that bad? Your numbers could double or even more.”
Jasla sighed, “Maybe if things had been different. We don’t look like them anymore and we killed several of them. No this is already a war and once each side realizes it’s a war with our own people it won't get any less violent. This is going to be very bad very soon.”
“Why are you telling me this? I’m not really one of you.”
The comment made Jasla wince but she answered before Luke could read into it, “I don’t know how big this tribe is, but this is certainly going to be something the Thaslos need to face together. I don't want my people to die fighting themselves. We should gather the best fighters and the best gear and weapons and strike to cripple them before the war starts.”
This was all moving way too fast for Luke. How was Jasla so sure of all this? How did she know it would turn to violence and why was that so bad? They had been out numbered three to two in this fight and only got bruises. Sure this was an elite group but they had thoroughly crushed the attackers.
“I don’t think its as bad as you say, you should really try talking with them"
Jasla was shaking her head before he even finished, “No there is no talking to them, we are invaders and this is their home. We have to strike quickly and decisively before they can prepare.”
Luke paused and then decided it was as good a time as any, “I don't think I can help you. This isn't my fight, I'm not one of you and I have my own goals. I can go around the Security sector through the tram tunnels and visit Surface Operations with AJ, then we can leave.”
Jasla’s face ran through several emotions in rapid succession. First she seemed startled that he didn't want to help them, then confused, then angry.
“You are just going to leave us to fight and die then? What were the past weeks to you? You just use us to get what you want and then when we need your help you leave?”
Luke was stunned, “Wha…?”
Jasla punched him and ignored his grunt of pain, turning to AJ and demanding, “You too? You’re going to abandon us too?”
AJ shrugged, “I really am an outsider here, I enjoyed our time together and don't want to taint it with a bad parting, but… I'm tied to Luke. I go with him.”
Luke saw tears in Jasla's eyes as she yelled at AJ, “Then leave, both of you. You're not Thaslo after all. Leave outsiders!”
Jasla pulled the spear Luke had given her the day they met and he tensed, but she smashed it against the wall breaking it and tossed it to Luke's feet before storming off.
“What the hell just happened?” Luke asked no one
AJ answered anyway, “You just talked your way out of a good thing…”
Luke was even more confused now, “What?”
AJ shook his head and walked away, “Never mind, come on let’s get around to the other side of this sector before everything goes to shit.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Luke followed while still trying to figure out what had happened. The original plan had been to check out the last couple sectors they needed and then regroup, plan, and rest in Paradise before leaving for Kevin's city, South Venga. Most of their gear was left in their rooms but AJ advised not returning there. Luke did have his M spear, PDA, and some gathered notes, including those that Nomed had requested.
The travel was quiet and Luke was left to his thoughts for a time as they hurried to pass the Security sector before people started scrambling around.
Finally Luke asked AJ again, “Seriously, I don't understand what happened, why did Jasla get so mad?”
AJ stopped and looked at him before answering, “This is stupid, I’m not going to tell you. I won't tell you because you’re obsessing over it and not thinking about the task at hand, but it will be far worse if you knew what was going on and obsessed over that instead. We are alone, in hostile territory, have no supplies, and are definitely being watched by at least one dangerous immortal with unknown goals. Get your shit together and put your mind on the task of surviving and growing more prepared and stronger before we both get killed.”
Luke couldn't say anything to that. AJ was right, he had to think about how to survive, they only had a spear to defend against any and every thing that the world could throw at them and the world was far more dangerous than this tiny base hidden away from the monsters of the world.
Luke nodded at AJ, “You’re right, this is dangerous and we’re only walking into more danger… we made it past the Security sector, lets pause here and make a plan before we go further.”
AJ nodded and they both took a seat in the quiet tram tunnel.
AJ tapped his chin and asked, “Alright, so what do we have, and how are your skills and stats?
“I have my spear and PDA, you have the notes Nomed wanted. My skills and stats… wait how did you know about those?”
AJ waved the question away, “We have a link, I saw everything about your implant, now I have to keep the signal blocker active though so I cant see anything.”
“So you knew about the stats and stuff before? And you didn't say anything?”
“Say what? It’s all listed right there, pretty self explanatory, you can see it all.”
“I didn’t know how to use this thing. I still don’t.”
“Oh… yeah that would make sense. Well say ‘Status' to check your stat page"
“I figured that out, what else is there?”
AJ shrugged, “How did you spend your points? What are your stats?”
Luke furrowed his brow, “How do I spend points, I have 42?”
AJ stood up, “Holy crap quick tell me your stats!”
Luke did so and AJ sat back down in silent shock.
Luke got tired of waiting and asked, “So? What’s that mean? What do the stats do?”
AJ made a sound like he was blowing out a breath, “Well… ok then lets start at the top. All the stats are is a quantification of what your body is able to do. The numbers will change as your body changes. The implants allow the reverse to be true, if you change the numbers, your body will change to match them. You gain free points by doing and experiencing things, the amount you gain will decrease with time but you’ve had a busy few weeks and gained an impressive number of points early on.
The more interesting thing is the other half of that. Your body changes and the numbers reflect that, so when you modified your body in the Genetics sector, you massively boosted your stats, and you still haven’t spent any free points. You’re basically already beyond anything a human could do, but when you add your free points and they kick in you’ll be a monster. That doesn’t even address the M energy that the implant doesn’t properly quantify.
The implant was made before M energy became a thing. Whoever made it didn't connect it to M energy but set up a frame work so it COULD be done later.”
AJ stood up and started pacing as he explained, “Ok I will break down the stats. Strength is how strong and fast your muscles are, its pretty self explanatory, get stronger and faster with more Strength. Constitution is how fast you recover, from exhaustion and injury both, and again remember that’s just your body It doesn’t count your M energy mods or skills like bone reinforcement and tissue regeneration. Endurance is how much of a beating you can take and how much stressful activity your body can handle before you get tired, It might help to think of Endurance like pools you drain and Constitution like a stream that constantly refills the pools.
Dexterity is how coordinated you are and how responsive and quick your reflexes are, its hard to describe but you can think of Dexterity like how quickly you process information and react, your body is still limited by how strong it is and can’t move faster than your muscles are able to. Intelligence is just memory in your current implant, but it is tagged to be partially responsible for magic when it gets added to the implant in an update. Wisdom is tied to a predictive modeling simulator that feeds your subconscious with information on what is likely to happen when you take certain actions, like Intelligence it will be partially responsible for magic when that is added… you following?”
Luke just nodded
AJ narrowed his eyes for a moment then moved on, “Alright then, well you have a unique opportunity right now. 42 is a lot of points to start spending free points with but that’s only half of the craziness. You boosted your body before you added any points so your current points are already decent… For some perspective, when we linked before you modified your body, you were pretty average. Your wisdom stat didn't change when we modified your body, which makes sense… but… the wisdom stat was your highest stat when we linked. Your stats are something like two to three times as much as they should be.
If you focus on one stat maybe two, you have a chance to boost something and become what amounts to a superhero after only a few weeks.”
“Really?” Luke asked skeptically, “Is it that big of a change with forty points?”
AJ face palmed in exasperation, “Look, I wasn’t there for the fight but I saw the aftermath of when you fought the weird flesh monster. Your body was destroyed. So many broken bones. You had the bone mend skill but that was a new skill and not that strong, your Constitution stat would have done most of the healing for you. You healed injuries that would have permanently crippled most people. Not to mention surviving those injuries in the first place. All with Constitution at 31! Imagine what ANY of your stats could do if you dumped another 42 points into it.”
Luke’s eyes widened, “That… that could be big…”
“Of course it will be!, you need to spend those points so your body can adjust as soon as possible..”
Luke was getting excited, “How long will it take to adjust? Tell me how the stats affect me again…”
They spent a solid hour theory crafting what would be best for Luke to spend his stats on. Wisdom was ruled out first since it didn’t have any advantage in the immediate future or a head start in points like his other stats, Intelligence was also ruled out for more immediate concerns. Dexterity didn’t have much of a head start at 15 points but the M energy modification that allowed him to perceive the world more quickly had a great synergy with the stat and the effect was incredible. Constitution, Endurance, and Strength were all important and had shown their value in recent times especially.
In the end Luke decided to lean into his strengths for the time being. In the fights he had been in his ability to take a hit was seriously impressive and his reaction when being boosted mentally was important as well, because of that, Luke decided to add 30 points to Endurance making him far tougher, 10 points to Dexterity, feeding into his boosting synergy, and the remaining 2 into Strength because 25 looked better than 23.
AJ didn't like splitting the points so much but was still happy with an endurance stat of 55.
“Good, now you’ll be a fine meat shield for me minion” the small robot said while giving a thumbs-up, “Now can we go? I’m ready to get out of this looney farm and see the world.”
Luke nodded and the pair carried on into the Surface Operations sector. Surface Operations had only a handful of different types of rooms according to the maps. The majority of the space in the sector was taken by a motor pool. The motor pool was divided into sections for different types of vehicles, there were jets, helicopters, manned rockets, tanks, trucks, personnel carriers, ATVs, cars, bikes, sleds, snowmobiles, and even boats though they had no way of launching a boat. The rest of the space was taken by an armory, briefing rooms, storage, a small barracks, and some offices.
AJ and Luke took their time going through the sector and collected anything they might need on their trip since they had lost all their loot. Most of the armory was gone, presumably with the people of the base when they evacuated, but Luke managed to find a pack and filled it with some general necessities for road life, and a small handgun fed entirely by M energy. He hadn't had much cause to consider until now but not needing sleep or food meant he needed far fewer things when packing.
AJ didn’t say what he wanted to take but he had also gathered a pack and they made their way to the motor pool. Based on the video they had watched they were in Greenland somewhere and they needed to travel to Alaska. The exact locations of their starting and end points were a mystery and any changes that may have occurred in the world weren't known but it seemed likely they would need to pick something that could handle rough terrain and long distances.
“Oh crap will we be able to use any of this stuff? What about fuel?” Luke suddenly asked
“Uhm… good question”
The fear was quickly dismissed tough when they examined the vehicles. Almost everything there was wholly reliant on M energy to power itself and had options to pull from batteries or draw from the ambient energy.
Luke paused again as they shopped for jets, “Do you know how to fly any of these?”
AJ laughed derisively, “Of course peasant, I have thousands of hours experience.”
Luke looked at AJ in disbelief , “Really? I thought you were trapped in Residential?”
Pointing out the robot's imprisonment used to be something Luke avoided since it seemed to cause AJ to fall into a frustrated depression, but the closer they got to leaving the more unflappable AJ became.
“Of course, where else would I find so much time to master every style of aircraft available on the flight simulators?”
“Ahh I’m not sure how accurate those are…” Luke tried
“Nonsense minion, they are designed for accuracy, and I will be right there the whole time to talk you through it"
“Me?”
“Who else? You cant expect me to reach the pedals and controls?” AJ waved his arms and legs about.
AJ had increased reach since his upgrades but nothing like what he would need to pilot one of these.
AJ continued in a cheery tone, “Besides if you crash, I can bail out and fly away myself”
“Great”
They settled on a helicopter that looked relatively simple and AJ was convinced Luke could fly. Luke was justifiably skeptical but they had a long way to go and flying was the only reasonable way to make any decent time. He hoped if something did happen his bone reinforcement and 55 points in endurance would keep him alive.
They ran into another problem once they had picked their new transport. How did they get out? The existence of planes and helicopters suggested there was a way to the surface but they also had jet skis so who could say. A search through the motor pool area uncovered an automated loader and lift system that would bring whatever vehicle you punched in a code for to the surface.
They had to make another trip to find the code and then back to punch the code in. When they pressed the confirmation button the loader shot off to ferry the helicopter to the lift for them. As they waited a sound of trickling water started. It took a minute for Luke to find the source.
“Up there” he pointed out to AJ
At the top of the lift a series of orange glowing heaters spread out faintly illuminating the lift door that was previously hidden in darkness of the ceiling. A growing stream of water poured through the seam and was collected by a gutter system made for the purpose. The effect was impressive as more and more water rushed through the door and drained away, not a drop falling to the floor.
The loader returned after a while and deposited the helicopter onto the lift. The screen they used to request the helicopter read ‘Defrosting, please wait'
“Well… how much ice do you think is up there?” Luke asked after they had watched the stream turn into a flood of water
“Um… less than before?”
Somehow the gutters still didn’t lose any water in spite of the torrent. A chime took their attention away from the draining lift and they noticed a smaller, person sized lift nearby with a green light and an indicator reading ‘ready'
“Well, want to wait up top?” Luke asked
AJ was hesitated a moment and nodded silently
The door opened above them to a dark sky with stars visible. There was no storm this time and the wind seemed calm as well. The lift was nearly as silent as they were as if understanding the gravity of the moment.
When they reached the top the lift dropped them off onto the ice and retracted back into the hangar leaving them in the quiet icy field alone. The heaters melting the larger lift door had mates on the surface and they were visible but neither AJ nor Luke could tear their eyes from the real view. The sky was lit in all directions by glinting stars and rivers of color. The Northern Lights shone in the sky and reflected and scattered by the ice below. Colors glinted and shone from every direction as if they floated in a realm of lights
It was like a dream made real. Even the world seemed to hold its breath at the beauty of the night.
“Incredible" Luke breathed
AJ nodded, “Hundreds of years I waited. This is worth it.”