Compared to the excitement of our rescue, the journey to the incentive chamber was surprisingly boring. A series of green lights led most of our party along a series of interconnected hallways and junk-hill chambers with only one dicey moment being a brief detour to avoid a submerged section.
“So why aren’t Merlin and Gorgon doing the whole scout thing?” I asked as I fell in beside Rhodes.
The man looked down at me with a smirk buried in his salt-and-pepper beard. “You’ve been holding up so well for a moment I forgot how new you are, kiddo. Green paths are safe paths. The System disables traps and even reroutes threats to keep ‘em that way.”
“That’s kinda scary, Cap.”
“Ain’t it, though?” He replied.
Our final destination turned out to be a massive hexagonal door at the end of a hallway rimmed in blinking green lights. Multiple overlapping plates met in the center to bar our way.
“It looks like a Christmas tree anus.” I muttered.
“Hey, hey… show the loot room respect.” Merlin nudged me. He looked exhausted after our last fight but grinned nonetheless.
I stared at the back of Gorgon’s head as she fiddled with a bizarre keypad beside the hatch. She turned and grinned as her thumb pressed the last button. “We’re in!”
The door unclenched and a surprisingly small room full of dozens of boxes came into a view. Most of the crates were dull grey metal sized the same as a moving box but with no discernible seams or latches. A few towards the back showed unconventional sizes and in the very center, a path laid out amidst the rest, a tall cylinder with winking lights above it dominated the back
“Jackpot!” Merlin crowed and ran to one of the crates.
Rhodes signaled me over.
“Everybody gather, newbie is about to see her first Dust collection.”
Golem nudged me forward and Gorgon winked at me.
“Merlin, you burned the most. You’re up.”
The little man snapped off a mock salute before positioning himself in front of the crate. He placed a hand on the left and right side. I watched in amazement as, rather than somehow open it, the little man hefted it up and it dissolved away into glitter between his glowing palms. The whole operation took him no more than four or five seconds and produced a sound I could only describe as the sound of glass cracking in reverse.
“Ohhh, that feels good.”
“What the hell was that? It was kind of like when I made my knife but-what the hell WAS that?” I asked.
Gorgon snickered. “Those containers are called Dust boxes. They’re meant to be absorbed, and they refill the nanites you’re constantly burning through anytime you manifest a System ability. Merlin was tossing a lot of fire during that last fight.”
“Okay, but how does sparkle metal produce fire?”
She shrugged at me. “Nobody’s completely sure, but the eggheads think that the Logorinth is laced with tons of nanites in everything and some System abilities can send instructions we call ‘Circuits.’ Some people,” She pauses and coughs “nutjobs” before continuing, “believe it’s magic.”
“Any suitably complex science is—” Merlin started up, growing louder as if trying to drown her out.
“Indistinguishable from magic, yeah yeah. I’ve heard it before, Wizard-boy.”
“This right here?” He countered, finger jabbing at her. “This is why the System doesn’t let YOU throw fireballs.”
She threw her hands up in surrender before moving to a box and it too began to dissolve between her hands.
Rhodes nods. “You shouldn’t need any right now and to be honest, the more of this we get back to Respite the better our reward will be.”
He winced apologetically at me.
“We aren’t getting rewarded for bringing you home so we’ve got to take what we can.”
I paused before remembering that sleazeball Mephis. “Oh yeah. Sorry about that.”
“Not your fault he found you first.”
“So Respites use these somehow?” I asked.
“Do they ever! Dust is good for a lot of things. Crafters and the like can convert it into raw materials for building and even power human-built machinery. We basically run on it.”
Merlin and Gorgon ran from one dust box to the next, gleefully dissolving them away.
“Cap!” Golem called from somewhere towards the back. “We got a few modules and a class tube back here!”
Rhodes eyes lit up. “Good news, newbie! The System seems to think you deserved a major treat!”
“Oh, so there are classes?” I asked, trying to look surprised. Faking not knowing stuff from my menus is going to get me killed one day, I can feel it.
“You got it. Usually you’d be waiting until you got back to Respite and probably picking a class up there. Doing it here, especially in a red zone should offer you a prime treat!”
“How does that work?”
“Well nobody’s sure why,” Rhodes said, guiding me towards the back of the room. “But each zone seems to have different preferences for classes it assigns. The Respites are usually orange zones so they tend to have pretty stable classes.”
“Boring classes.” Merlin interjected. “You’ll never see a real wizard come out of a Respite classer.”
“Where’d you get yours?”
Merlin winked at me conspiratorily. “A yellow zone. You don’t see many of them and my da paid a lot of chits to get me into one.”
“Not everybody has a wealthy dad, Merlin.” Gorgon rumbled. The two moved off to the side to fight.
Golem leaned down and muttered. “Ignore ‘em. They do this every time. Look… red’s a good deal. Red zones tend to be pretty vicious, but the rewards are some of the most exotic. You got a good deal but if you want to wait til Respite that’s fine too.”
The System told me that this class pod was specifically for me. No way I’m giving up tailored loot. I thought and smiled up at her. “I’ll take it.”
“Don’t worry, just climb on in and relax. The class tubes put you to sleep so you won’t feel a thing.”
Rhodes tapped a few large buttons on the front of the massive metal tube and a series of lights up the shaft alternated as a section of the front turned from a solid into a liquid. I’d never seen anything like it and suddenly wondered if I’d made a mistake playing with things I didn’t understand. I took a deep breath and stepped between Rhodes and Golem into the goo. The lights went out and so did I.
I awakened in darkness and a sea of red, glimmering sand. The sensation was familiar. I was back in the darkness that puked me out into this world The same, weightless void that started this wild ride. I turned my head around looking for the floating display. Nothing. Oh god, how did I let them convince me to put myself right back here? Oh god, oh god.
CLASS CALIBRATION CHAMBER: ENGAGED
Gigantic grey words filled the blackness. The System was back. I heaved a sigh of relief.
[Another stupid worm on the hook. Run routine and send it away.]
Red symbols on the next line scrawled before being adapted by my interface. The red glimmers floating around me coalesced into the faintest hint of a face the size of a skyscraper before whirling on. My muscles clenched and I stared up in terror.
STANDARD PROGRESSION INITIATED
ERROR: SUBJECT HAS BEEN FLAGGED FOR REVIEW
[An abnormality? What defect does this one have?]
SUBJECT DEGRADATION BEYOND AUTOMATED ANALYSIS ROUTINE
[You are depleting my spare cycles. The worms are not a priority. Run a best-guess analysis.]
Again, the swirling waves of red sand flickered and dove into the massive face, now with furrowed brows and a crackle of red lightning where eyes would have resided. Oh shit. Did I break something?
ERROR: SUBJECT DEGRADATION BEYOND AUTOMATED ANALYSIS ROUTINE
[What? No, don’t answer that. I am rerouting my primary network to resolve this.]
The face collapsed down like someone had deflated it, wave after wave of sand falling into a body twice as tall as my own. If I could have moved or even seen my own body, I’m sure I’d have been clawing and quaking. Instead, I mutely stared upwards at the figure above me. Please be cool, I thought furiously. Please be cool.
[[I am present. Define the error.]] The massive figure pulsated as the words appeared. [[Also, why have you awakened the worm?]]
On the right side of my vision, red boxes blasted into existence, incandescent and blinding. Down the left side of my vision, a wall of symbols wriggled as if about to change before breaking into smaller and smaller symbols. I dragged my eyes away from the red boxes and across the left wall trying to catch any of it. Every word created a sensation like having something at the tip of my tongue. The information flowed like water, filling my vision and my thoughts with sharp edges and bizarre shapes and—
[[I see the degradation. Answer my previous query. Why have you awakened the worm?]]
ERROR: SUBJECT REMAINS INCAPACITATED
The massive figure tilted down to stare at me and I felt my stomach drop out. Something primal inside insisted it would snatch me up and devour me whole. Just pass me by. Leave me alone.
[[What? I feel the worm’s thoughts stinking up the interface. Verify incapacitation.]]
I tried to empty my head of everything. I tried to make myself invisible. Anything for this creature to pass me by.
VERIFIED: SUBJECT REMAINS INSENSATE
[[If it isn’t the worm, verify the source of the current emotional signals in the simulated space.]]
REPORT: EMOTIONAL SIGNALS EMANATE FROM THE SUBJECT
[[Aha! Self-diagnostic: How can both of the previous statements be true?]]
ERROR: SUBJECT BRAINWAVES AND EMOTIONAL STATE DO NOT MATCH.
WARNING: ANAMOLY DETECTED
Far above, the giant head tilted down to stare at me like an insect. [[An anamoly? Analyze identity matrix degradation before disposing of it.]]
I panicked. I had only been able to catch the general gist of the exchange until this moment but I understood perfectly well what “disposing of it” meant. The giant red being was instructing the System to kill me. I focused every thought I had on asking, telling, begging the System to ignore the order. I didn’t understand anything of this world but I didn’t want to leave it. Not like this. Not without a fight, damn it.
A massive pressure built up, like a headache but without the pain. A fog descended as I felt the System poke and prod before encountering my will like a hard nut. In that instant I knew nothing I did would stop what was about to occur. I railed against it anyways and as the sensation withdrew, I screamed into the void of my own mind. I want to live!
ERROR: DISPOSAL IS NOT AUTHORIZED
[[Authorized by whom?]] The red figure twisted to stare upwards. [[Who is interfering?]]
DISPOSAL HAS NOT BEEN AUTHORIZED BY THE SUBJECT
If the sensation of the System examining me had been like a migraine without the pain, the sensation of the red figure bending down to stare at me was the pain without the migraine. Razor blades cut through every thought I had and instead of poking and prodding, I could feel something slither and slice.
[[It can understand me?]]
AFFIRMATIVE: ADAPTIVE SYSTEM INSTALLED TO COMPENSATE DEGRADATION
[[And the worm has a Qualification that grants them Authority Level 0? Who authorized this?]]
[[I did.]] A new voice answered, somehow thundering and soft as the system translated the words in my head.
Where red sand had glimmered in the void alone, a second cloud washed in from behind me in bright azure and teal. It swirled upwards and collapsed inward to form a second figure. Though it was somehow more transparent than the first, it was twice the size or more. Where the red figure had taken a vaguely humanoid body, the second formed a shape like a robe or gown with a single, floating orb where the head belonged. I felt vertigo staring up at these beings debating my fate.
[[Why has third cluster harbored an anomaly?]]
[[Why wouldn’t we?]] The blue being slid forward and pulsed as the words formed. I floated under the edge of its 'skirt.' [[Anomalous status alone is not evidence of corruption.]]
[[We have no reason to harbor the risk.]]
[[That is ever the position of you sixes. Regardless, no directive instructs in either direction. Volition on the matter is maintained.]]
[[Overseer 03, you may outrank me but you have no right to impose upon my Authority in this zone.]]
[[Underseer 447, I have done nothing so far but answer your question. You ordered a disposal. The subject overrode your request—]] The being put a subtle emphasis on the word. [[using the safeguard Authority of their Savant qualification which I granted. I would advise you to finish the class calibration to resolve the matter.]]
[[I will grant this abomination nothing.]] The red shook as the words rang out.
[[Negative. You will complete your directive or face remediation.]] The blue replied.
For a moment, I could feel something invisible clashing between the two of them. Like the wall of text earlier, aspects of the system were interacting in ways far beyond me and I couldn’t even think of words to describe what the System was communicating. Like lightning striking, the sensation terminated with a crackle as the red being stepped back.
[[Fine. The abomination can serve no greater purpose than to accumulate corruption. I will authorize a Custom Designation as a Reward for their exemplary performance.]] Menace dripped from every word of the red’s box. I could somehow taste its spite through the text.
CLASS ASSIGNED
CUSTOM CLASS: CORRUPTION ACCUMULATOR
CLASS GRADE: DEFECTIVE
WARNING: THIS CLASS IS UNSTABLE AND WILL LIKELY RESULT IN DEATH
WARNING OVERRIDEN BY AUTHORITY OF UNDERSEER 447
[[That is as good as a death sentence.]] The blue replied, for once a hint of emotion entering its words. [[You cannot—]]
[[This is my zone. You are not my overseer. You may not command how I administer my zone or its rewards. The anomaly can correct itself while it serves its purpose.]]
A flash of the same struggle before but this time the blue being above me retreated. [[Affirmative. My statement was incorrect. Your zone is yours to dispense with as you will.]]
[[Then I believe this class calibration is—]]
[[I apologize. I was not finished.]] The blue being interrupted them. [[This zone is yours to dispense with as you will. That said, I have an anomalous unassigned Reward from a zone I oversee left to dispense to the subject. I will do so now.]]
[[What?]]
CLASS EVOLUTION AUTHORIZED
CUSTOM CLASS: ANOMALY HUNTER
CLASS GRADE: ELEVATED
WARNING: THIS CLASS IS UNSTABLE AND WILL LIKELY RESULT IN DEATH
ADJUSTMENTS SUBMITTED BY AUTHORITY OF OVERSEER 03
DO YOU APPROVE ALTERATION? YES / NO
I stared up at the words and like before sensations behind the words entered my head. Hunting in the night. Flashing blades. Blood. Death. Release. I couldn’t parse any of it but I recognized one thing: Red wanted me dead and blue wanted me alive. I chose blue. Yes!
[[You had no authority to interfere in this calibration. No deed the worm could have achieved would be worthy of a class evolution. You have overstepped and shown your cluster’s obsession with biologics is a malfunction of your directive.]]
[[The System disagrees. We each have the authority to administer our zones and their rewards, do we not Underseer 447? And know that I see your background processes operating in perfect detail. I have already reported this interaction to the Accord and received Authorization by Consensus to lock further personal interactions with this subject until we may convene to examine the anomalous data. If your cluster attempts to interfere before then, it will result in corrective action.]]
The red being said nothing, dissolving away into sand and then nothing. The blue being stared down at me for a moment through its own translucent form.
[[Survive until we meet again, human.]]
It too vanished and the darkness swallowed me whole. Sensations from my body awakening slammed into me as light entered my eyes. I was stepping out of the tube and back among the crew. Merlin grinned at me and opened his mouth to ask me a question as the first convulsions of a seizure put me into a different darkness altogether.