I’d like to say I woke up well-rested. The truth is that I’d been restless the whole night. Something, maybe nightmares, kept intruding. A sense of something important being absent. I kept waking up feeling something between fear and grief but unable to remember the source of the feelings. Whatever it was, it was damned annoying. The medic who’d replaced Theresa sometime in the night was quick to assure me that these kinds of near-dreams were actually a good sign. Something about ‘memories resurfacing’ and ‘subconscious processing.’ It sounded like bullshit but it tided me over until the shakes stopped.
I’d expected that Rhodes would be the first friendly face I saw but imagine my surprise when Merlin strutted into the clinic just after dawn. I realized I’d barely even glanced at him and took a moment to really take it in. Without his curious assortment of colorful armor, I’d never have picked him out from a half-dozen under-muscled frat boys from any college campus. Sandy brown hair, a lopsided smile and a softness around his green eyes that all added up to looking far too young.
“Wakey wakey, newbie!” Merlin crowed, sweeping into the space.
“God save me from morning people. How can you even be a morning person? There’s no sun!”
“Aww, you don’t like mornings? And yeah, I’ve heard some Crossers talk about the sun before. Like a big lamp you can’t turn off, right?”
I goggled. How do you explain a sun to somebody who’s never walked under one?
“Anyways,” He said after a moment of uncomfortable silence. “You’ll learn to spot day and night cycles in the Logorinth by the lights. Most of the ‘rinth is full lights in the day, and emergency/hazard lights at night. Respites try to follow this pattern unless you’re in a Night District.”
“Huh. And you keep track of time by…”
[System Time: 06:04:13.46 / 26:02:01.46 AEON: 143,174.26]
Merlin grinned as I paused and stared at the air.
“Yeah, like that. One of the few things humans figured out early. The system clock. Not a lot of different permutations for the symbols and if you watch it close, it’s possible to chart the time within a week or so after a cypher shift.”
I’d read about the cypher shifts last night. Something about the Logorinth’s different zones each having their own unique cyphers that was used to encrypt system messages and how they had a habit of periodically changing their cyphers with no warning. Having peeked ‘behind the curtain’ I could only imagine it had something to do with those beings responsible for the zones. Once again I thanked whatever created this place that the System decoded the menus for me.
“When was the last cypher shift for this Respite?”
Merlin paused to ponder. “About a hundred and sixty years ago? This is considered a pretty stable region.”
“Nice, so maybe the Infobrokers can help me figure some stuff out.”
Respites were usually only founded in rare orange locations where the cypher shifts and “rumbles” that reconfigured the zone’s menus and layout happened incredibly rarely, usually at least one to two centuries apart.
“Look at the newbie, planning ahead!”
I glared at him but he didn’t even have the good graces to act contrite. Children. I’m dealing with children. I thought before continuing. “So when’s Rhodes going to get here?”
“Oh, about that.” He replied, his smile dropping. “The thing is that Cap isn’t so good at the whole… shopping… thing.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Fortunately,” Merlin continued quickly. “You’ve got Merlin, shopping extrordinaire!”
“Ha. He’s good at spending money that’s for sure!” A voice cut in from behind him.
Gorgon stood at the door in a plain but pretty linen dress, her dusky skin and charcoal black hair popping off the simple, sky-blue fabric. She winked at me as she wrapped an arm around Merlin’s neck and mussed his hair.
“Hey kiddo. Rhodes asked us to fill in today. Merlin for the discounts, and me for the places boys don’t go.”
I smiled and shot a thumbs up. I’d been worried when it sounded like Merlin and I would be alone for most the day but having her there would make things a lot less awkward.
Gorgon paused and then stared at the ceiling. “Oh before we go… Merlin, wait for us outside. We need to have a quick girl chat before we set off.”
“Do I have to?” Merlin groused.
“Not at all champ. Every young guy should know more about the female body.”
Merlin, having put two and two together, gave a nervous laugh and zipped out the door. Boys are always the same. I thought with amusement. Gorgon waited a few seconds before turning to me.
“So, are you menstrating right now?”
“Umm, no? Why?” I paused and thought back to the last few days. “Oh god. Are there things out there that can sense that?”
She nodded grimly. “Yeah, and some Crossers get here on a period and it’s not pretty. Good news, you’re fine. Now that we’re back in a Respite there’s something you should do.”
“Oh?” I said, intrigued.
Gorgon walked me through a series of menus, explaining with hastily sketched symbols and weird “top-right,” “third from the bottom,” hints before I arrived at the goal.
[Biological Modifications]
Filter: Metabolic Cycles
Filter: Reproductive Health
Filter: Gynecological
Menstrual Cycle: Enabled
[Warning: Disabling this setting will not stop in-progress menstruation]
[Warning: Enabling this setting will not immediately return conceptive capability]
“Good, now focus on the third-to-last line and think ‘OFF’ until the symbol changes. That should disable it.”
I did and watched as it switched to Disabled before laughing delightedly. “…Why didn’t you guys lead with that feature? Here I was thinking the Logorinth was a hellscape and now I’m thinking maybe change is good.”
“’The Logorinth may murder you, but it respects women’s rights!’” Gorgon narrated before laughing herself. “Yeah, my mom tried to explain to me once living in a world where you can’t toggle that stuff and I really don’t know how you guys survived it.”
I smiled grimly. It was so odd having a whole body of general knowledge but no real memories attached to any of it. I knew that periods sucked. I felt such relief at the idea of turning mine off. I could not remember ever having one.
“Hey, hey.” Gorgon interrupted.
“What? Oh, sorry.”
“No problem, kiddo. What you’re experiencing is the same as every other Crosser. Memory gaps, disorientation, and struggling to make it all make sense. It’s okay.”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Yeah,” I said, unconvinced.
We stepped outside and for the first time, I saw a Respite.
The buildings around us loomed large, ranging from three stories all the way up to skyscrapers in the distance looming high enough to make me crane to see them. The ‘sky’ was a dark void that spanned at least thirty stories above us, with massive lights in yellows and reds shining down and illuminating most of the ground with moderate light broken up by areas of mild shadow. Everywhere, people walked about taking on their daily tasks in this bizarre twilit city and vehicles flew overhead from level to level without touching the ground.
“This is a lot bigger than I expected.” I said in a daze.
“This? This isn’t even a big Respite.” Merlin scoffed.
I nodded and remembered some of the notes I’d taken the day before. He was right, Samantha’s Folly or Samfo was a twentieth of the size of some of the largest. This seemed as big as any major city on Earth to me, so I could only imagine how large the biggest would be.
We walked to a shopping plaza ten blocks away from the clinic. I’d asked about the flying vehicles on the way but Gorgon snorted and, with a pointed look at Merlin, told me that only the people with more money than sense wasted chits flying. Merlin wisely said nothing. The plaza itself turned out to be a skyscraper made of purple metal with thirty stories that seemed to take up half a block by itself. As we stepped into the ground floor it occurred to me that the whole thing was a massive indoor mall.
“We’re going to walk this whole thing?” I asked in disbelief.
“No kiddo, we’re going to floors ten through fifteen. The first five floors are mostly for resident shopping and next five are aimed at makers.”
“And the ones above fifteen?”
“The floors above that require more money than you or I have. Merlin could only shop it as high as floor twenty-five or so before he made mommy and daddy mad.”
Merlin frowned at her. “Cut it out. You know I don’t like that.”
“Sorry,” She replied looking not at all sorry.
Proceeding through a glass elevator deposited us on floor ten, a wide pavilion of sellers ranging from unfortunate souls with blankets spread across the ground to stands and tents dominating open areas and even an outer ring of traditional stores with glass fronts lining the walls. The whole thing looked like chaos to me.
“How does anyone find anything here?” I wondered aloud.
“Oh, you know. You know a guy who knows a guy…” Merlin started.
“You bring a shopaholic like Merlin and say ‘fetch me an autofiltering canteen.’” Gorgon added.
“That’s hurtful.”
“So you don’t know?” She asked.
“No, I think Nan’s had some good ones when we stopped through last time. It’s still hurtful.” He replied.
Gorgon snickered but nodded and walked us over to a garish, massive green tent manned by a surly, hairy man.
“Nan! Just the fine merchant I was looking for!” She said cheerfully.
The man grunted noncommittally.
“Good to hear! Mind if we explore your fine wares?”
Another grunt with a hairy eyeball from the hairy retailer.
“Is he… okay?” I whispered to Merlin.
“I’ve never figured that out. He never really… says much. Buuut the prices are good!” Merlin whispered back.
“Okay.”
Gorgon produced a small slip of paper boldly titled ‘Bachelorette List’ in a hideous pink handwriting. I glanced between it and her.
“What? We don’t spend a lot of time practicing our cursive, okay?”
We wandered through the massive tent’s two or three aisles of goods with Gorgon flitting from item to item. Despite the dour man outside, the store was clean and well-stocked if a bit bizarre. Mixed in among utility belts and lockboxes and a half dozen assorted gizmos were lipsticks and handheld electronic games and even a variety of close-range weapons. It suddenly occurred to me what was missing.
“Gorgon, where are all the guns?”
Gorgon paused and looked back at me before breaking out laughing. “Oh kiddo, I forget sometimes how new you are to the ‘rinth. Guns don’t really work well here. Most of the critters have basic micro-momentum shields.”
I stared back blankly. I did not go to school long enough for this.
“Oh, that’s right. 4A. MM Shields create temporary fluctuations strong enough to deflect small, fast-moving projectiles.” Gorgon continued before seeing my confusion had not abated. ”They lock onto high-velocity, low-mass objects, calculate if the object would hit you and then use some quantum mumbo-jumbo to shift a few particles just enough to make it miss.”
“Sci-fi shields. Got it. And it doesn’t work against this stuff?” I said, gesturing to a few random swords and a large cudgel. She shook her head.
“The energy requirement grows exponentially with mass and even if you could handle that, the mass and the velocity wouldn't be easy to for an MM shield to identify. It could be a small child running fast.”
I nodded slowly. I’d never really considered how weird it was that guns never showed up in the animes where people went to other worlds but hearing there was a reason here made me feel somehow a little better.
“So if you see someone with a gun? Run.”
“Run?” I asked.
“Because the only reason to have one is either they’re packing enough energy to overcome an MM shield… or the gun is for things that usually don’t have a shield. People.”
I blanched. So much for ‘guns don’t kill people, people kill people.’ Apparently here? Guns killed people.
* * *
It took another fifteen minutes of wandering those aisles and the next two before finally settling on a handful of goods Gorgon insisted would cover my daily needs in a new place. I learned tons about good drinking water (clean it first), storing food (no roaches!), and locking the door (always). I felt like I was preparing to go to college, complete with telling Nan to charge my account. We visited floor thirteen and I sat at a small bench while Gorgon and Merlin went to get us food.
“Crosser Tee. You weren’t at the clinic like you were supposed to be.” An unfamiliar voice said behind me.
I turned only to discover my first Orientation Agent, Heinrich Archer, tapping his foot behind me.
“Excuse me?”
“You weren’t at the clinic. I spent valuable time tracking you down.”
I stared for a moment. “Why? You aren’t my orientation agent anymore.”
“That was a clerical error which I took the steps to correct last night.” Heinrich tapped a small box at his waist and a window popped up in front of me.
[CORE PROTOCOL: AFFIRMATIVE REQUEST TO CHANGE ORIENTATION AGENT]
[Y/n]
You have 5 seconds to decline.
I thought No at the box and the window snapped away. Archer glared back at me.
“How did you… You’re making a mistake, Crosser. My job is to help you, and if you won’t take advice I’m afraid I can’t recommend your placement in this Respite.”
“I don’t need your recommendation, Archer. You’re not even my agent. How the hell did you find me here anyways?” I could hear my voice rising with every word.
Gorgon and Merlin turned the corner of a food stall laughing before one of them spotted me and they rushed in my direction.
“Is there a problem?” Merlin asked, sliding between me and Archer.
“This doesn’t concern you Scrapper. I’m here on official business.” The official snapped.
“I think it does, Agent Archer. The Crosser told you they don’t want you as an agent, why are you hassling them? And it’s Scrapper Merlin. Merlin Bennett.” I could see Merlin’s shoulders tense as he spoke.
Archer, who’d been staring through my companion, looked him in the face at the final word and took a small step back.
“Scion Bennett. I apologize. I didn’t realize that the Bennetts were taking an interest in this Crosser. My information must have been mistaken.”
“Must have been.” He replied in a monotone. “Anything else?”
“I’ll take my leave. Thank you.” Archer replied, cutting a final glance at me before disappearing back into the crowds.
“What the hell was that?” I asked after he was gone.
Gorgon smiled and Merlin grimaced and nodded for her to speak.
“Archer officially works for Orientation but rumor is that he’s been a scouter for a few of the noble houses.” She explained as she plopped down beside me. “It looks like he’s been told to keep an eye on you.”
“I’d guess the Adlers. They’re not known for subtlety. What I don’t get is why.” Merlin added, crashing onto my other side and passing me a taco.
I thought furiously. I remembered something about Samfo having a ruling council of noble house but hadn’t paid a lot of attention. I thought Adler had been one of the thirty-ish names but I was drawing a blank on the rest.
“And he sure backed off fast when you said your name…” I hinted. “People do that a lot?”
Gorgon giggled. “That’s because our wizard here lives a bit of a double life. He’s the Anchor for House Bennett.”
I gasped. “You’re a noble?! I thought you were just some rich kid. You’re one of the rulers here?”
He shook his head. “No, that’s my father, Merchant-Lord Bennett. I’m first in line but it doesn’t really mean much unless he says it does and father’s expectations are…” Merlin scowled. “High. It could go to one of my cousins easily. If he didn’t need to keep one of us here to hold his seat, I doubt he’d even cut me this much slack.”
“Ohh, that’s why you’re an Anchor. You keep your house’s claim here or something?”
“Yeah. My family caravans from Respite to Respite trading goods. A handful of us live here full-time as Anchors so that no other Noble Houses can claim we abandoned the Respite.”
“So why are you diving and risking your life if you’ve already got it made?”
Merlin shot me a withering look. “Because I’m not a pet? Because I’m worth more than my last name? Because I’m damn good at it?”
Gorgon reached across and poked him. “Lay off, Wiz. The kiddo just got here and she’s just asking questions.”
“Sorry,” He said with a sigh. “It’s just a question I get a lot from people who think they know better.”
“He’s right, he’s damn good.” A familiar voice cut in. Rhodes leaned against a stall not too far with his arms crossed.
“Does everyone sneak around this damn place?” I groused. Everybody else laughed.
“Sorry to cut into your first free day but I spoke with Konik this morning, and got permission to take you on a dive. A real one. Konik thinks it will be good to help jog your memory, try out your class, and test if you’re built for Scrapping.” Rhodes said.
“I-I don’t know if I’m ready for that.” I replied, feeling my skin crawl a little.
“I get it, newbie but I really think you’ve got what it takes and Konik and I agree getting you out of Samfo for a few days could be a good idea. Especially since I saw Archer sniffing around the elevator.”
I frowned and nodded. “Sounds like I need to get some diving supplies then?”