Autopilot didn’t exist in the same way. My character locked down where they were and couldn’t interact with the digital world. I could have been killed by monsters doing this but floating into space wouldn’t happen.
Out in the real world things were harried.
“ARC!” I slurred around food being shoved into my face. I needed to understand a bit more before logging right back in. Research would help. Similar to how I watched videos for survival techniques in Continue Online. It helped me adapt to new situations in a game that enjoyed a measure of realism.
“Awaiting input.” The ARC responded.
“I need information on gravity in space, atmosphere, and sound. Just highlights.” Something to read while serving my real life needs.
A box displayed nearby. It followed me from the bathroom to the kitchen. I read quickly trying to understand how everything lined up.
Having harnesses in a spaceship seemed weird. Newton’s first law of motion basically meant that nothing slowed us down if the engines stayed on, except a very reduced form of gravity. I could have probably saved a ton of fuel just knowing that fact. The note went down on a list of things to do better.
Dusk’s ability to make noise in space didn’t seem to jive with everything else. According to the internet sound required molecules to vibrate, and no air meant no molecules. So how then, did Dusk make noise? Hal Pal I could buy, we probably spoke in some secret [Mechanoid] code. Cyber code and digital bits equated to language. Fine.
At least the fact that space didn’t freeze exactly seemed bound by scientific fact. Insulation was a big factor, but I didn’t worry about it since I wasn’t actually in space. I only played a robot roaming around in space.
Either way, after these last few days of work, sleep, and life, I still felt confused about Advance Online’s realism. It seemed shoddy for a game about space to not be founded in some sort of science. Still, the more notes I read, the more vaguely possible everything seemed.
It required assuming another one thousand years of scientific development, except the space eel [Leviathan]. Voices, I hoped nothing like that existed in real life. I couldn’t imagine flying to Mars and running into one of those rolling around.
“Alright.” I lay down in my ARC and felt much better. Some people out there might be able to ignore real life needs in favor of grinding out stats, but I couldn’t only do so much. “ARC, log me in.”
The Atrium spun into being. Continue Online sat barred. I ignored it and dove through to Advance and the space rock with far more enthusiasm than I would have expected a week ago. Adventure, that made this game worth playing.
Continue Online didn’t have monsters this big. Or did it? My niece, Beth, had vaguely mentioned something in the ocean once. And there was a guild dedicated to reaching the moon. Various memories briefly triggered, too fast to grasp completely.
Advance loaded up my character. The swirl of lights and nausea inducing rush as ARC simulated feedback assaulted the senses. Despite the heady rush and pain feedback from combat, this game was still worth it.
“User Legate. Are you ready?”
“Jeeves, neat. You’re working fast.” My [Anchor] ability had kept me situated during the hour of game time I had been absent. Hal, on the other hand, managed to reshape half the ship. I could see where our small propulsion jets were switched around. The hull coloring had a much different patterning now. Chains hung out the side that were only a few feet long.
“I am attempting to increase my contribution, in addition, this venture seems to be providing rapid gains to my capabilities.”
“See? Difficult situations provide higher rewards. I knew the internet was right.” I walked over to the chains, my feet felt intensely heavy with each step. One hand reached out to grab the length of chain, no, not chain, it looked more like twine but in metal form. “How long before this is ready to go?”
“Two hours and I should have enough to be mobile. After that, it is a matter of collecting enough of the right minerals to increase our payload.”
“Alright. I’ll get to it.” I looked down at the [Messenger’s Pet]. During my absence, Dusk had gotten into a fight with something small. It looked like a black bug that was kitten sized.
A shudder passed through me.
“How much is that worth?” I pointed to the small icky creature but refused to touch it.
“Minor amounts. Leaching trace metals from its body will increase the payload by…” Hal Pal started spouting numbers and my brain almost shut off. After more than two decimal points, it didn’t matter. At least in accounting we could round things off.
I filed it away as ‘lots of these are needed to be worth a damn’. The Hal Pal AI interrupted my thought by sending something through space at me. A small black object approached without curving or arching from gravity.
“A container. It will increase efficiency.” It said. I nodded. Unless there were a million of the little guys under a rocky flap of [Leviathan]'s shell somewhere this bucket wouldn’t be enough.
“Alright. Let’s find something bigger, Dusk.” The [Messenger’s Pet] ignored me in favor of shaking the dead bug wildly until pieces floated about. “Come on. Let’s murder some disgusting space bugs.”
Dusk finally looked up at me and actually looked excited which made my head shake tiredly.
[Anchor] worked but my footing missed frequently. I spent too much time awkwardly climbing and being unable to keep either weapon program ready. Dusk leapt around like a monkey, or lemur, and made me feel like an old man limping along again.
Ridges took too long to get over. Dusk wrangled small creatures and upon shaking them to death they were deposited in our bucket. I had to shove my hand into the pile of bodies and mash them into place so they wouldn't float out.
“Space gophers,” I muttered while shoving another one into my bucket. “I’ve been reduced to collecting space gophers.”
They had a bug-like exoskeleton for armor. Dusk crunched away while small drops of acid dribbled from his mouth. Thankfully, in space, no one could hear them squeal. The [Messenger’s Pet] somehow filled my ears with slobberish chewing. That almost constant noise was the only thing filling up our silence aside from [Anchor]'s constant hum.
“Why are there only a few at a time?” I muttered angrily. “This is a game, right? Shouldn’t there be a bunch? This is hardly a raid challenge.”
Dusk chewed on yet another small victim as we traveled. I searched for any portion of this creature’s landscape that seemed different. There should be something here that might provide a hint as to weaknesses or places to shove an explosive.
Voices. Was I really considering this? I shook my head. The ride started, I was in all the way.
The stream of endless giant space mites continued. These ridges reminded me of a picture from high school. The human skin close up had ridges as well. It served to help measure the immensity of this beast. Miles long, miles and miles. [Anchor] felt a little bit easier to use the closer to the tail I got.
“Dusk, do the same rules apply, if you cease here, are you back in Continue?” I tried to at least clear up one question while making progress. Dusk shook his head.
“Or are you just dead?” I asked the [Messenger’s Pet] after another lap of messed up fetch.
Dusk shook his head again then bounded off before I could think of something else to ask him. He wouldn’t be dead and that was the important part.
“Where do you end up?”
Dusk shrugged at me. All our time together taught me that shrugs meant one of three possible things. My question didn’t matter, was poorly phrased, or he didn’t know.
“You end up somewhere safe right?” I couldn’t let it alone. Besides, there wasn’t a lot to do yet aside from stumble around like a paranoid baby might walk.
Dusk nodded then shrugged. His shoulders felt off without the wings sitting there. So yes, and he didn’t really care. Goodness. At least getting an answer this time was easier than my journey through the giant labyrinth and all its monsters.
I gave up trying to sort out that problem. His well-being had been verified, as much as any digital stream of code that broke the borders between games could be. Part of me desperately hoped he might develop some sort of mind-speech one day but no luck so far. Even with using [Wild Bill], or letters to the Voices.
“Dusk. We need more than a few of these guys. Is there a nest or something?” I stared at Dusk and tried to read his expression. Pop-up windows were sorely missed.
He dropped the latest minor conquest and dove over another ridge. I sighed and trudged after him, bucket half full of gross leftovers that threatened to escape every time I stopped abruptly. Low gravity couldn’t stop the laws of inertia, and my hand only did so much to keep the leftovers corralled.
“How far?” I asked. A month ago that would have come across as whiny. Now my only goal was to be ready for combat before we stumbled across a batch of them.
No sooner had the thought crossed my brain then my foot spilled and I lost [Anchor]. No, my foot hadn’t slipped, [Leviathan] had shifted a bit. The ripple was barely visible as I moved through space.
“Ah!” I shouted briefly but quickly figured out something.
I concentrated and triggered the two handed laser sword. The blue bar for my energy dropped ten percent. Rays of solid energy drove out almost four feet in length. A quick spin and jab sent both beams into the [Leviathan]'s thick skin. They barely made a dent, but my trajectory shifted from floating in space to curving downward from drag.
The blade slipped before I could reuse [Anchor]. I floated by running parallel to the current ridge.
I looked to be safe enough, just moving slowly. Beneath me was something new.
And gross and squiggly. Oh Voices, it was an entire nest of those creatures and I was floating right into it. Dozens, no maybe even a hundred of those gross little bugs.
A portion of the giant bugs had twisted their tiny heads up in my direction. Their slit shaped eyes narrowed in mass. Small whiskers and nasty bodies that rolled littered all of them. I tried to retch but [Mechanoid]s apparently didn’t barf.
“Gross, gross, gross.” I hated bugs. That annoyance followed me from Continue Online. The only thing worse would have been spiders.
I moved the sword to my other hand and let a few laser blasts off with the light weapon. There was no time to ready a bigger attack picked up from my second [Core]. Small blasts collided with the bugs and only served to send them hopping around.
How were they able to hop when I was stuck floating? Dirty little jerks. Filthy. At least six were on me nipping away with tiny little mouths.
"Get off!" I violently shook and almost stabbed myself with the sword. A few bugs sizzled from contact.
I tried to shift my weapon into a dagger form and completely forgot this wasn't [Morrigu's Gift]. Reaching out for [Morrigu's Echo] and it's [Recall] ability failed me. Old habits were still in place and I panicked.
Dusk spit a few tiny acid balls. I managed to grab a bug with my hand and threw it into space. A brief thought about missed resources passed by before more painful little bites distracted me.
The small gathering and I crashed into a ridge and one of the creatures wiggled against my side. It was disgusting. I imagined that it was similar to tentacles attacking from some sea squid monster.
I laid down an elbow out of reflex but once again the lack of gravity made my swing nearly ineffective. Thrashing around with my laser sword almost vaulted me back into space from the [Leviathan]'s energy resistance. Both knees curled up to get a better angle on my legs. My feet hit the ground and [Anchor] took effect.
Now I had leverage. [Lame Space Morrigu's Failure] swung around. More little bugs sizzled soundlessly and bits crisped. Dusk had been more effective at conserving resources. I slashed another one while my health steadily dipped.
Missing Marbles
Total Health Lost: 8%
I stared at the message briefly through narrowed eyes. The damage window with its quirky messages had resurfaced. This too felt suspiciously familiar. Another bug took a bite out of my calf and I hacked at it and others swarming nearby.
There was no time to stare up. Up was a lost concept anyway on a floating space monster that twisted around according to whim. I felt the ground beneath me rumble and wiggle while bugs kept up their relentless biting.
“Stop! Die! So gross!” I kept chattering while fighting them off. In the end, a small pile of dead bugs lay around with half a dozen scattering across the [Leviathan]'s back.
Minor Munching Inflicted
Total Damage Lost 21%
This, so far, was the worst event to follow the rush of flying a spaceship ever. I did it anyway because we needed these little guys for parts or something. I didn’t get a loot window, but Hal Pal and its specialized [Core] might be able to.
We marched back to the ship. I did anyway. Dusk stayed behind chasing after those trying to escape his terrible wrath upon all critters small and annoying. More power to him, maybe this game would award us a [Bug Destroyer] ability. [Pest Punisher], [Louse Lancer], any number of clever titles revolving around the destruction of all things buggy.
Elizabeth Legate: Grant, what are you doing?
The message got right in my face during the return trip. I blinked and almost lost control over my bucket of bug bits. A few stray ones floated about from my actions.
Grant Legate: I’m destroying space lice on a giant monster, that I plan to blow up, by planting explosives in its butthole.
Take that Liz! This wasn’t my niece talking. It was my sister breaking the silence by contacting me directly in the game. I felt semi-satisfied that she came down to my level. The victory didn’t amount to much in the grand scheme, but it was a win.
Elizabeth Legate: …So I got a call from Doctor Litt. He thinks you’re making progress. He says you had ‘a girlfriend’ in the game, and we both know you didn’t tell him it was Xin.
My eyes didn’t roll, but they came close. I took a deep breath instead. Physically the [Mechanoid] unit didn’t respond, but my real body felt stressed. The feelings of physical me always lingered in the background even while playing highly immersive games like this one.
Dusk shot by me. He hadn’t figured out how to fly, but the little guy certainly took advantage of low gravity and his long tail to shoot around the landscape. I felt jealous. Maybe we could buy a grappling hook upgrade for the [Combat Program] system with my next batch of contribution.
After I worked off the soon to be exploded spaceship. I managed to almost make it back to Hal Pal before my sister sent another message.
Elizabeth Legate: We need to talk about this.
I couldn’t figure out any way to respond that wouldn’t blow up in my face. Being aggressive and shouting went against my very nature even after pretending to be both William Carver and the [Red Imp]. For the safety of my sanity I had to be calm, go with the flow, and try to improve.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Grant Legate: Okay.
What else could I say to her? Liz would probably react poorly to everything said from here out. Family issues always seemed so dramatic. Couldn’t we hang out and talk nicely about nothing weird? The weather maybe. Or space. I wanted to talk about space with someone.
“User Legate!” Hal Pal shouted while I stared at the transformed remains of our ship.
No longer was our freshly bought vehicle in one piece. There were two much smaller items in its place. One looked slightly darker, a rusty red and seemed to be a long column. Its surface looked dull and muddy. I could see where it might separate into two chunks or bend a little.
The other half was blue and still lodged into [Leviathan]’s thick hide. Hal Pal anchored to it with a long cord much like Dusk used his tail to get around.
“Is that our explosives?” I pointed at the red one. They were elongated barrels, maybe half the diameter and twice the length.
“Affirmative.” It responded. Hal Pal’s hands were both elbow deep in a pile of metals. The AI lifted an arm out which looked almost like clumpy sand.
I watched for a little while as Hal Pal moved the clump of sand over to our explosive bundle. The AI seemed unaffected by shuffling volatile substances back and forth. Maybe Advance Online forgave him a bit. I knew real life bomb making involved an insane amount of preparation.
“And this?” I pointed to the blue pillar Hal was tethered to. Looking at it longer revealed more of the shape. It looked almost like a spinning top, with the pointy end facing down.
“Something to hold on to, along with what remains of our ship's functions.” The AI sounded distracted. Its head tilted to one side while studying the separated portions.
“How did you do all this?” I walked over to the bolted portion and let go of the [Anchor] ability. My energy bar started to recover one bar at a time.
“Desperation and a kind system interface.” Hal Pal looked up from its project to spare me a quick glance. Moments later it was elbow deep in the blue pile of items again. “The programming within Advance Online allowed me to compact the remaining parts and mold from there.”
“So that’s our communications and everything?”
“A beacon. Once the explosives are set, we can push off with this and hope to escape the creature's notice. I predict the explosion will be extremely distracting.” Hal Pal’s faint smile came to the forefront while the female nanny voice raised in amusement.
“Here’s more bugs.” I smiled back and managed not to laugh at the strange combination. The bucket was handed over carefully. An hour of gathering familiarized me with inertia's tricks.
“Excellent, I will distil whatever metals are available and add the correct items to our current mixtures.” Hal Pal was kind enough not to use fancy words or talk about mixtures.
“If you say so.” I responded. Chemistry confused me, but Hal Pal clearly had an idea of what to do. It reminded me of Awesome Jr., he had been pretty good at mixing stuff in Continue. I understood the theory behind ‘mix this with that’ and such, but actual compositions and formula diagrams confused me.
One of its arms went into the bucket and bug carcasses started melting. I swallowed back bile while looking away. Dusk looked to be sniffing at the explosive red barrels. I hissed in his direction which made the [Messenger’s Pet] turn with a puzzled look.
Hal pulled out another pile of goop, slightly orange this time mixed with flecks of dark black. The newest pile got thrown on the ground and its arm went back into the bucket.
“This will work?” I asked while my forehead wrinkled.
“According to the system text, yes.”
“Neat.” I said. “I’m not sure where to place it, though. Dusk got distracted chasing those things.” My head shook at the [Messenger’s Pet] while trying to shoo him away from the explosives.
Hal Pal, or Jeeves for its character, pulled out another pile of red. It joined the two explosive containers to one side. Rusty red took on a slightly brighter hue. I activated [Anchor] and took a step towards my nosy companion. Dusk saw me coming and slunk off to one side, his neck extended and still sniffing.
“There’s no air to sniff that, you goofball.” I said at him.
“My scans revealed little in the way of openings.” Hal Pal looked up as if something occurred to it. The action felt almost natural from the AI. “Aside from the front portion, where there was a rather obvious hole. Perhaps we can…”
“It would take us hours to get up there.” I cut off the AI’s rambling.
“Ah. Indeed, we do not have enough time. Strange how little time we have. It seems to be the one comity we should have most of.” Hal Pal’s head tilted back down to the pile of bugs. Its actions repeated while a handful of red powder came out
I chewed my lip. There was very little time for us to handle too much in the way of musing. “The Wayfarer consortium, they’d leave us behind?”
“To the Mechanoid race, we are merely physical shells to a digital consciousness. Why worry about the portion that can easily be replaced?”
“Except you’re not sure if you will recover okay.” I said with a frown. When I released from floating in space there was very little issue in returning to the [Wayfarer Seven]. My body and mind were sitting in a bed inside a house back in reality.
“I am not. I have never, died, before.”
"I'll do what I can, Hal, even if it gets me killed." I tried to reassure my worried friend. A life meant little to me here in-game. Out there I would hesitate, but in here I was almost a fearless warrior.
A box popped up again which made me frown. The AI nodded and started working with the metals again. Gold threads on its body lit up with ability activation. Hal and I were having a nice bonding moment talking and facing a giant monster, but my sister kept butting in. The keyboard floated into being and I started rapidly typing.
Elizabeth Legate: Don’t ignore me, I still have admin access and can see you’re playing right now. Tell your friend that you’re busy answering your sister about an important family matter.
Voices. I was an adult! My sister didn't care and clearly had been spying on my ARC feed. Once again I regretted not taking care of this long ago. Still, prior to Continue Online, I wasn't really doing better. It was only after receiving the game that the greatest strides started happening.
Grant Legate: Can’t. I need to blow up a giant space monster.
Elizabeth Legate: Do I need to block that game too so that you’ll give this the attention it deserves?
Grant Legate Really? You’re turning into mom.
Elizabeth Legate: I may block it because you said that.
I growled. She probably would do it to spite me. We had fought over the internet once as children and she tattled to mom in order to get me kicked off. The plan backfired, though, lots of our younger years were like that.
“User Legate?” Jeeves looked confused at my frantic actions. My hands were waving in anger at the text message screen from Liz.
“Sorry. I didn’t hear what you said.” I shook my head and tried not to be upset. Liz only acted this way because she worried. Worried about me, that I might relapse or be going crazy.
Xin, all of it came back to her. Hal pal had somehow got me the Ultimate Edition of Continue Online, after a deal with Mother. Moving out, trying to kill myself twice, the new job. All of it really started with her death.
“We should plant these explosives and prepare to disembark. If we’re lucky we will get far enough away that the Wayfarer will send someone to bring us back.” Hal Pal rewound its tether on the blue top like anchor. I relied on the minor energy usage of my ability to keep from being knocked into space by the [Leviathan]'s small undulations.
“Fine. Give me a moment. I need to talk to my sister. She’s threatening to remove my access to this game too.” I waved at my chat messages to Liz. Hal shouldn't be able to see it, but the AI would understand.
“That is ill-timed.”
“Family issues are never well timed, are they?” I said trying not to sound snarky. My sister made me feel like a teenager again, and not in any sort of positive way. Hours of bickering, tattling to mom, getting in trouble, all sorts of sibling nonsense.
Sometimes I envied children who weren’t twins. Liz and I didn’t always get along, even after being in the womb together. Sometimes it seemed like being so close actually made things worse.
Grant Legate: How about this weekend? I’ll come over again, we can talk in person. I’ll explain everything I’ve been dealing with. All of it.
Elizabeth Legate: …Promise?
Grant Legate: I will. You’ll have to promise not to interrupt until I’m done. It…it will sound crazy, but I swear on Nanna’s grave that I’m not making it up.
Elizabeth Legate: Okay. Six then? We can have dinner.
Grant Legate: Umm…sure. Hey, I just thought of something. Do you mind if I bring my friend? They’re very much part of this.
There was a long pause. Years of being close to my sister gave me a fairly good idea of what she was thinking. Liz was probably upset that someone else knew more about my situation than her. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned it.
Still, Hal Pal might be able to lend some credibility to my situation. It knew things from a perspective that I could only glimpse here in Advance Online. The life of being a robotic AI, working with others of your kind, being inside the machine.
Did Xin’s reconstruction see the world this way? Could she log into a game like Hal Pal did and feel vaguely alive once more? I smiled briefly and hoped that one day we might be able to share a view like this one. Asteroids all around, a giant planet close by. Even the [Leviathan], she would probably find fighting this creature to be hilariously funny.
Elizabeth Legate: Fine. Bring your friend. We can all talk about this Sunday. Six?
Grant Legate: I’ll be there.
I made a mark with the ARC’s reminder system for a few hours ahead of time. We had a few days before this dinner date with my family, but I couldn’t get distracted again. Not like the missed meeting with Doctor Litt.
“Here, User Legate. I believe this will be strong enough to get the payload off.” Hal Pal had another metal cabling in its hands. One end connected to the blue top, the other to a conjoined set of red barrels. They looked weird being merged at center.
“I’ll carry it. Will you be okay until then?”
“Dusk seems willing to guard our escape craft, if you’re comfortable taking the bomb to this point, here.” Hal pal pressed something in the air and a new screen displayed on my interface. A map swallowed up the lower right of my vision. One small marker hung outlined showing where to go.
“Okay. But I’ll admit, I’m surprised you have game skills to make a bomb." I shook my head and took the cable from him. There were two hand holds on the barrels that would serve to carry it quickly while the thick wiring seemed to be a final tether.
“It would be counterproductive if we both chose the same abilities, User Legate. A division of labor is highly productive.”
“Mechanoids work better together, right?” I remembered from the race text.
“Yes," Hal nodded "in this case it means dividing the labor based on our skills.”
“And my skill is dragging the bomb off, huh?” I tried to smile. Once this thing went off it would likely send a ripple of pain feedback through the ARC. I could take it, though, months of abuse as the [Red Imp] had adjusted my pain tolerance by leaps and bounds.
Hal Pal walked over to the red container and pointed at two buttons on either case. I nodded, they clearly needed to be depressed in order to set this mixture off. Almost a year of working together out in the real world helped us require less communication in some cases.
"Got it." I said.
“That is reassuring. To answer your question, you are the one who learned to anchor themselves to a ship’s hull and fight monsters. I could not even pass level twelve of the combat simulator.” Hal Pal said. I could see a dull imitation of bitterness pass across its face. Just a flicker around the eyes and one cheek pulling back slightly.
“Alright. Dusk, you keep Hal Pal alive, I’ll drag off the bomb.” I tried not to feel conflicted. Carrying explosives around in such an immersive game felt strange. Continue Online had explosives but [Blink] let me bypass pretty much all obstacles. Voices, I missed that ability. Getting around on the [Leviathan] would be so much easier.
“Good luck, User Legate.”
“Thanks, Jeeves, stay safe.” I nodded and grabbed the chain. A small message box popped into being.
Item acquired
Explosive Core (Beginner, Well Made, Enhanced (3))
Control of Detonation will be provided to the primary holder of this ownership cord. Should the player lose contact the detonation ability will be removed.
“Neat. I shall call you the suppository explosive.” I happily commented then got moving. Hal clutched its remaining tether. I could see it staring in my direction as the bomb and I shuffled away.
Dusk chirped with a tone that slowly faded into the background. He sounded upset, like a dog whimpering about being left behind. Dusk did his whimpering in a weirdly combined cat bird mixture.
[Anchor] drained energy even faster. Gripping two objects made dealing with things super hard. The bombs' inertia caused me to slip more than once. I pushed off one ridge and we went sailing across to the next ripple of [Levithan] flesh.
Ticks watched from down in the folds. Killing them without Dusk was harder. Luckily I hadn’t run across any nests in the last hour. That reduced the challenge a lot. I could only imagine that there were more things in existence the further towards the head we went.
My life reduced down to climb, hop, [Anchor], hop again, rest for energy, and repeat. I wanted to huff and be tired but [Mechanoid]s didn’t feel strain the same way. Working in zero gravity bored me more than anything else.
Finally, over one of the ridges, I could see a deep pit-like area. I tried not to wonder about the darker red coloring to it or give thought to why so many space mites were hopping about. Even grosser was some sort of giant white thing that might be a space tapeworm.
Voices. So gross.
Yet, if this would get Hal safely away, I would do my darnedest not to retch uncontrollably and plant this bomb extra deep. Hal Pal had found Xin for me, and that deserved to be repaid, especially if the AI felt distressed because of a situation I got us into.
I had told Dusk there was no air to smell anything, but that seemed wrong in hindsight. This creature's butt smelled like a rat crawled under my pillow and died three weeks ago. Then someone came by and vomited on top of that. Give or take a few more rotten fruits with space maggots floating around.
After this, after getting Hal and Dusk to safety, I would need to stand in a hot shower just to feel clean again. Maybe two, and a scrub. What would Doctor Litt think about this?
“So, do you feel it’s normal to crawl up someone’s rear end with the intent to cause harm?” I tried to mimic his tone then shook my head.
Me, two explosive barrels, and the giant space monster anus were going to go on an adventure. We only had six hours left to start our escape then flag down the [Wayfarer Seven]. Three hours in the real world. Space didn’t believe in a sunrise and sunset, but four in the morning would come and go by the time this was over.