Chapter 8

            I had been sitting in the cell for about 3 hours, reviewing all my actions since I had logged into the game.  I had survived and even prospered, I had found rare quests and gained a personal follower in Noa.  The fact of the matter was easy to see, I had done pretty well and was succeeding at the game, but somehow it all felt distant, my real goal was to defeat Bai Ong and I was not close to even finding out where his hideout was.  This troubled me and I found it hard to concentrate on my thoughts.  I decided to let them go and just let my mind wander as I drifted off, soon visions of Pirates, Privateers and spaceports filled my head, with scenes of fighting and struggle.  After a long and hard struggle the Pirates were vanquished and the Privateers had won.

            I suddenly awoke with a realization, in order to defeat the Pirates, I needed to have the government supporting me.  I would need to join forces with them, I would have to become a privateer.  I would need a letter from the provincial Government of Mars and a ship.  My thoughts raced as I thought of a crew, should I hire people or just use cyborgs.  A thousand details raced through my head, but I had an inner feeling of satisfaction, I had a plan and a substantial goal to achieve.

            The cave wall suddenly opened and 3 Martians walked into the cell.  The first one to enter was unarmed and he looked at me, the other two spread out around him, the weapons they carried were not pointing at me but I had no doubt that I could be targeted in seconds.  The first Martian finally spoke his English clear but with an accent.  “I want to thank you for bringing back to us Cliathano she would not have survived without your assistance.  I cannot answer too many of your questions, but as we walk we may speak.  First, my name is Ulm’doa and I am the parent of Cliathano.  I have many questions for you as well I hope you may answer.”

    I had answered some of Ulm’doas questions as we walked but was aware that he was shunting aside all of my questions.  We finally reached a dead end and here he turned to face me, looking at me he spoke, “Duke, you have been honorable in your actions and have done me a great service.  My reward is the gift of a Me’kima.  He suddenly made a circle with his hand and circled my eye and spoke some words in Martian.  My vision dimmed for a moment and then brightened, all of a sudden I was aware I was seeing more than just the tunnel, the air was filled with an unearthly light and right in front of me hovering in the air was what looked like a small serpent with wings, my God, it was a baby spirit dragon.

            It looked at me and I looked at it and suddenly as our eyes met we merged together.  I could feel to a degree what if felt and I knew we could communicate.  It could also feel what I felt and was pleased with the awe and amazement I was feeling as I gazed at it.  Slowly it floated over to me and wrapped its body around my shoulders and then closed its eyes and went to sleep.  Ulm’doa looked at me and smiled, then said, “It is good he has accepted you, he will be a companion and help to you until the end of your days, and then he will be waiting for you to guide you into the realms of Ak’nia.  Now before you go, I ask of you this, find where the pirates are meeting with those of the Dark Sands and then come to us and let us know.  Show us your friendship and our ways will be your ways.  Go now, my friend and thank you again.

            I walked out of the dead end into a tunnel that was near the airlock that led into the old city.  I had a lot to think about and learn, it was apparent the not only had I been giving a companion but my vision had been opened into some kind of a parallel dimension that ran alongside ours.  It was a little disconcerting at first, but soon my vision adapted and it was like seeing extra things that no one else could see.  As I made my way up to the top level I happened to glance in the reflection of a window.  Stopping I stared at myself, something was different, in a lot of ways I looked the same, but my skin had the faintest hue of blue and my ears had almost unnoticeable points to them.  My eyes had the slightest slant downwards and they had somehow changed from being a brown to the darkest of black, in fact, I almost lost myself staring at my own eyes.   What the hell had happened to me.  I looked like I was starting to turn into a Martian elf.

            I suddenly heard some noise, it sounded like someone was trying to be silent but was making too much noise.  My combat computer activated and I began to triangulate on three sources of sound, one coming from behind me, one from the front and one from the side.  Activating my stealth mode, I began to hug the wall of the tunnel and slowly walked back.  That is when my dragon awoke.  He looked at me and then tilted his head to one side, then he said, “We hunt.”  I nodded and told him, yes, all of our communications were done on a telepathic level, we were not communicating out loud.  He put his head back down and watched where we were going, I suddenly stopped, I could see an outline of a man approach but his physical presence was still far down the tunnel.  I suppose I was seeing his energy, maybe his soul, I had no idea.  All I know was that there were two black bat-like shadows that were constantly flitting around his form and I knew that they were bad.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

            After a couple of minutes, his physical form appeared and the spirit flowed into the flesh and then was one.  It still had the two bat-like shadow creatures flying all around his head.  He did not seem to be aware of them as he tried to quietly walk up the tunnel.  I let him go past me and then grabbed him, I knew by the fact he was holding a charged blaster he was not an innocent.  He struggled for a moment but I pinched a nerve in his lower neck and I knew he would be unconscious for at least an hour.  Standing I slowly made my way back up the tunnel to the nearest noise and observed another armed man working his way down the tunnel towards me.  He also had a couple of shadow bats circling him.  I waited for him to proceed farther down the tunnel and then subdued him, once he was unconscious I divested him of his blaster and then made my way towards the third person.  This one had stopped moving and was speaking into a communicator, I also stopped and began to listen.

            “The other two guys have not shown up yet, but I am gonna guess that all the levels are clear.  There has been no sign of this guy, if he were here we would have flushed him out.   Ya, we will wait near the entrance and if he does show we will blast him.  No, some of the old mining tunnels have pits that go down hundreds of meters, no one will find his body.  Listen what is the score with this noob, why the rush to cold space this playa?  No shit, Ong Bai himself ordered it, the noob musta pissed him off something big.  Ya if he does not show up we will go to the spaceport and meet up there.  Right, see ya laters.”

            I had only heard one-half of the conversation but it was clear that they were talking about me.  They must be searching all of Mars for me, clearly, my safety was in moving around and not becoming a stationary target.  The first thing to do was to deal with this wannabe gangster then get my letter of the Marquis from the government and finally some training and a class pick.  I crept up behind the pirate and quickly rendered him unconscious then grabbing him I took him to the surface, going back I grabbed the other two and brought them up.  Stripping all of them, I put their clothes in a nearby recycler and then loaded them into a cab, and directed it to the nearest police station.  Calling the station, I asked to speak to Captain Mergol the bugger who had tried to play tough guy with me.  I left him a message letting him know he had a package.  I then threw my communicator into the recycler and began to walk away humming that old classic, Killing me softly.  I could not help it I love the classics.  

    I made my way through town, the dome letting in the warmth of the sun.  Soon I came to the first of the Martian canals, they were man made when none were actually found on Mars, apparently, the tourists loved them and would often take a ride on one of the canal boats, the Edgar Rice or the John Carter and then dock to eat at the Dejah Thoris a lovely restaurant that was the only recipient of the three star Michelin restaurant award on Mars.  I confess the only way I knew about any of this was Noa had expressed an interest in doing the tourist thing at some point.  I made my way through the center courts past the buskers and coffee tables where the wealthy and bored would sit on display for hours pretending to enjoy the day but really just casting mean spirited looks at the other wealthy people doing the same.  Do I sound sarcastic, yep I do?  I came from the opposite end and had no patience with people who had never done anything with themselves but show off their wealth.

    Once I was past the Peacocks and the Faberge eggs or men and women if you don’t follow my slang I saw the guild hall at the end of the lane.  Unfortunately, I also became aware that I now had two people following me, a ginger haired girl and a neon blond chap.  The streets had a fair number of people on them mainly tourists and gawkers along with the usual hustlers and scammers.  This was a spaceport city and like them all, it attracted a certain class of people.  I did not think that the two behind me would attempt anything but going down that lane with two and three story buildings on each side was asking for an ambush.  Turning I walked into the nearest trendy little shop and began to browse, once I was sure that no one was looking I stealthed and then stood near the doorway and waited.  Soon both of my followers entered and began to spread out looking for me.  I slipped out before the door had closed and continued my way towards the guild hall.  It was an imposing structure and was glad to finally step inside.

    I had been here before on my first gaming avatar, but some changes were apparent.  I strolled over to where there were privacy booths and stepped into one.  It was time to choose a class, join or start a guild and receive some needed training.  The next few hours passed very quickly, I soon realized that I had no interest in joining a guild.  The perks they offered were not worth anything to me.  Plus, the fact that they all wanted 10% of all monies I acquired was Bullshit.  For that, I would be able to put a guild patch on my spacesuit.  Fuck that.  One of the things that I did find out was that NPCs could now join guilds and count towards the first 10 members needed to start a guild.  

    That had possibilities for me it would be easy to have ten cyborgs sign the guild charter and then we were off and running.  I paid the fee and had the electric version of the charter sent to me.  Once I received the 10 signatures I could send it back and the guild would be formalized.  I had to think for a long time before selecting the name of the guild and finally decided to use the name Glory Road.  What can I say I love Heinlein, once the name was elected I left the privacy booth and went down the mag-lift to the basement, here I grabbed a chair on the Hyperloop, something that never became popular on Earth but connected all the cities and major building on Mars.  Soon I was disembarking at the Training Halls, here I would finally choose my class.  About damn time.