An old man in a suit walked down the hallway of the bunker, aides scurrying out of his path. His normally perfectly styled hair was in disarray, the dark circles under his eyes evidence of his lack of sleep. But a glint of excitement could be seen in those same eyes, giving his aging body frantic energy.
He arrived at the end of the hallway into a large room, computer monitors decorating the walls. The four suited men following him established a small perimeter — in even this place, the most secure location in the country, they took their job of protection seriously.
"Report!" The old man barked as a woman in a pant-suit ran over.
"The information is verified, Mr. President. Numbers can be stolen from others by killing."
"And the executions?" The old man asked impatiently.
"A portion of the Numbers went to the executioner. But an even smaller amount went to me, presumably for ordering the executions." The woman raised a hand, displaying the Number five on her palm.
"Excellent!" The old man exclaimed. "What are the coordinates for Bakala?"
"Sir…are you sure?" The woman asked.
"The coordinates. Now," the man stated, voice firm. The woman reluctantly answered. The old man walked over to a very special computer workstation, typing in the coordinates as they were spoken. His fingers didn't hesitate.
After pressing enter, there was a minute of tense silence, until a nearby technician spoke up. "Hit confirmed. It's…gone."
The old man stared at his hand in anticipation as the Number on his palm reformed, but frowned in disappointment when it was revealed to be barely above one hundred. He immediately started to tap the arrow above his strength Number, feeling the energy coursing through his aging body.
"We need a bigger city. Give me the coordinates for…Tilan this time."
"...Sir…" the woman responded, but at his stare, hesitantly listed the new coordinates.
In the silence of the bunker, the clicks of the keyboard were all-encompassing. Suddenly, those clicks were cut off by the sound of a gunshot. The old man dropped to the ground, a new hole in the back of his head.
A hail of gunfire resounded through the bunker, as the young man tasked with guarding the president was gunned down by his fellows.
- President Amali Akadj, Inclusion +0 days, 14:23 hours
I hold the compass over the map on the ground, my friends each sitting on a different side. Sam is crouched next to me, curiously looking over my shoulder. At first, we were simply trying to figure out the quickest route to Clayton that would avoid major obstacles, but currently we're taking a break to answer Sam's questions.
"...so any maps will be divided into four directions, north, south, east, and west. North is always towards the north pole of the planet and south is always towards the south pole. When looking at maps, the top of the map is almost always north."
"Interesting. Among the Alatir, we rely on a coordinate system based on distance and direction from a colony. It makes communications of locations and directions between colonies difficult, but that rarely is a problem." It scuttles closer to the map, Pallas scooting back to make room. He's keeping an eye on our surroundings more than he is looking at the map. "How do you determine which part of the map is the top?"
I sigh. I forgot Sam's translation skill doesn't apply to written text. Styx helps me out, pointing to a corner of the map.
"This is called a compass rose, and most maps will have it. This symbol here," she points to the 'N' at the top of the rose, "indicates which direction is north. Then it will always be followed by east, south, and west in a clockwise direction."
"I see," Sam says.
"And this compass," I hold up the compass we found in the home near our treehouse, "allows us to configure ourselves with the map." I hold the compass flat in front of me, talking as the needle spins. "When the compass is held flat, the red side of the needle always points north." Sam stares at the map and compass with intensity as the needle spins. After a final wobble and twist, the needle slows. I rotate the map in front of us until it lines up with the compass. "And voila! We can use this to figure out which way to go!"
We spend the next few minutes staring at the map, gauging distances with our fingers. Finally, we come to a consensus.
"So it looks like straight that way is our best bet." Styx points to the northwest before looking back to the map. "We'll hit this river, but I don't think it'll be too deep to cross. If it is, it'll only be a few miles north to this small road, where there should be a bridge. All told, probably two full days until we reach the outskirts of Clayton, give or take a few hours."
I nod and smile, folding up the map. Melete has long since gotten distracted and is currently staring at her fingers while humming a tune, while Pallas is still keeping watch. Sam stares at the map as I tuck it and the compass into a compartment of my new backpack.
Hiking the backpack on my shoulders, I get Melete’s and Pallas' attention. "...took long enough," Melete mutters under her breath, but I ignore her. We arrange ourselves into our normal traveling formation and set out.
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The hours pass quietly, Sam walking near me at the head of our group, and soon we stop for lunch. I check the compass periodically and make minute adjustments to our heading to ensure we are traveling in the correct direction. Our cross-country route should be quicker than trying to follow the road to Clayton, but not if we get lost along the way.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
I munch on my granola bar as Melete and Pallas play a game with a deck of cards we found, Styx keeping watch. Sam is once again by my side, and I take advantage by asking a question that has been bothering me for a while.
“Why is it so peaceful?” I ask.
“How so?” Sam responds.
I clarify my question further. “Earlier, you talked about how the first few weeks after the inclusion are the most violent, with all the monsters wanting to take advantage of everyone’s Numbers resetting. And Fort Carscott was getting attacked, but not overwhelmingly so — only a few monsters a day. From the way you were talking, I was thinking humanity would be in danger of extinction. But honestly, so far this just seems like an inconvenience. A bad one, but really the only danger was during the first days when we had no Numbers and were all confused. The only monster we’ve seen since the fort was that one dog monster.”
“Ah, I understand,” Sam replies. “You are referring to the safety-growth paradox.” I look at it curiously, and it continues. “Like I said, these first few weeks of the inclusion are the times of the most instability, but they also present the greatest opportunity. On established worlds, different areas will be formed into safe or unsafe zones, depending on your species. For example, the Alatir colonies create a safe zone for Alatir, defending our areas and preventing other creatures from invading. Even some of the strongest creatures on the world would struggle against the full might of an Alatir colony on our own turf. However, this has a downside: the lack of opportunities for growth.
“While Alatir are mostly safe near our colonies, the majority of other creatures will avoid the colonies, preventing most opportunities to gain Numbers through combat. For those who value safety, they are forced to increase their Numbers in the old method, slowly and with constant training. Leaving the colonies can present great opportunities for growth, but also present great risk. Without the safety a colony provides, a random encounter with a strong opponent almost guarantees death.”
“Ah, so basically it’s just risk versus reward. Makes sense.” I pause in thought. “But what about those creatures that aren’t ‘cooperative’?”
“That varies. Some have other methods to create their own forms of ‘safe zones.’ Some have abilities that allow them to avoid encounters they cannot handle, some reproduce fast enough to make up for the inevitable deaths of their species, and some will cooperate only to the extent that it allows them to repulse stronger mutual enemies. But that is not the point. For a short period of time after an inclusion, this pattern is gone. Safe zones have yet to be fully established and dangerous areas are not as dangerous as they eventually will be. Every creature has had its Numbers reset to the base, and while some creatures have natural abilities and base Numbers that give them significant advantages, there is no chance of randomly encountering a creature thousands of times stronger than you. For these weeks, almost every creature will choose the ‘growth’ side of the safety-growth paradox, for the risk is significantly reduced.”
“That makes sense,” I say. “But it doesn’t explain why we haven’t been seeing monsters. Wouldn’t that mean they should be popping out of the woodwork?”
“But you forget where we are,” Sam says. “We are in a stretch of forest far from any major population sources. There is still a form of danger and safe zones in these early periods: the danger zones are where populations are the highest while safe zones are where the population is the lowest. For the creatures will congregate to where the resources are located. And the only resource in the universe that matters...is Numbers.”
“...so you’re saying the reason there are no monsters here...is because there are no humans here? And major population centers will have a lot more monsters?” I grimace at the picture Sam paints.
“Correct. Of course, creatures are not automatically transported to major population centers at the beginning of the inclusion. While there do tend to be more creatures arriving in locations with a greater native population, the majority of the creatures in big cities will have wandered there in an attempt to gain easy Numbers. Meanwhile, the creatures which started in those cities will be much stronger than the creatures which started in areas without any easily available source of Numbers.”
I shake my head as I finish my food. I hope it isn’t as bad as Sam describes. Clayton isn’t a major city by any means, but it also isn’t a hick town in the middle of nowhere like Aliston or Carscott. I hope our families are safe.
We relax for a few minutes more until Pallas and Melete finish their game, Melete squealing with joy as she wins. Pallas throws his cards down in disgust, frustratedly muttering under his breath.
“Bad hands?” I ask.
“I don’t know how she keeps winning,” Pallas says. “I’m playing the hands optimally, the game doesn’t require that much skill. The winner should be basically random. Probability says I should win at least one of the games.”
“You sure you’re playing correctly?” I ask as I help to pack his bag. He just glares at me in response. “Fine, fine. Well, you may just be unlucky then. Better to use up all your bad luck in cards and save the good for when it’s serious.” Pallas begrudgingly nods as we hoist our bags on our shoulders. “Of course, she could just be cheating…”
Pallas’ eyes widen, and then he turns and squints at Melete. She is obliviously picking up her own bag. I just smile as we start moving once again.
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It’s early afternoon and we come to the edge of a small clearing when I hold up my hand in the symbol for ‘stop.’ The continual forced vigilance of the hike has been stressful, but I’m pleased to see my companions immediately and silently follow my direction. I lift my hand and point ahead of us, whispering. “What’s that?”
The clearing dips down in front of us giving us an unobstructed view. In roughly the center of the clearing, the mouth of a cave opens straight down into the earth, the entrance in shadow. The opening is about five feet across and is curiously round — I don’t have much experience with caves, but I don’t think they’re usually that symmetrical.
Sam, by my side, turns its eye to the hole. I feel a weird pulse of alarm pass through me, strangely familiar but at the same time unquestionably foreign. It takes me a second to realize it’s Sam’s ability to communicate through its illusions, but for the first time used without words. I assume it is the equivalent of a yell of surprise.
“Hive nest,” it says. “It appears they have not sensed our presence yet. We should go around.”
“Hold on,” I say. “What is this ‘hive,’ exactly?”
Sam looks to the left and right before answering. “Cooperative creatures, the hive are relatively weak and not sapient, except for the queen. You could easily defeat a single member of the hive, but the issue is that they never come alone. Where there is one, there will always be more, and without widespread area attacks they are extremely difficult to defeat.” It pauses momentarily. “Now let us leave before they notice us.”
My mind flashed back to Sam’s earlier explanation of monsters. If it’s right, then we’re soon going to be fighting much more than just easily tricked dog monsters. For weeks, we’ve been playing it safe in order to survive — but that may not truly be the safest option. A little danger now may save us later.
“Widespread area attacks, huh?” I glance at Melete before turning to the rest of my companions. “How do you feel about a little danger?”
S: 102
D:100
W: 322
I: 102
C: 72
0
Skills: Adjust:Self