Chapter 29 - Theories

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Restoration Complete. Now discharging.

Awakening.

There was a loud clanking sound. A vibrating platform lowered me out of the restoration tube, unceremoniously depositing me beside it like an unwanted fetus.

I was alive. Again. Of course I was. Resurrected at the Restoration Point. The cycle continues. The endless cycle of misery.

I looked down at my body. My hands, my arms, my legs. I was once again clothed in my full outfit, including two tactical boots worn over my two attached feet. At least there was that bit of good news.

The panel nearby chirped.

Your last restoration was {0} cycles ago.

Automatic Restoration Fee notification. 2,000 Crypt will be deducted.

Warning! You now have a negative balance. Your account is overdrawn by 1,629 Crypt.

Warning! Compound interest will accrue on all unpaid debts each cycle until cleared.

Forget what I said about the good news.

Negative 1,629 Crypt!?

I quickly checked my menu and confirmed the dreaded truth. This was a worst-case scenario. This was rock bottom. And the Voynich Manuscript page was gone. I had removed it from the storage tube after my last backup… and gave it to the Serpents.

I didn’t even have the energy to curse. I wanted to crawl under a rock and die. But death was impossible. There was no escape.

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Many Volunteers were using the Restoration Point, going about their cyclic routines. I ignored them all, walking in a trancelike state out the front of this monumental structure—the beating heart of The Commons, recycling the souls of fallen warriors and sending them right back to the front lines.

Standing under the endless dark sky, I was listless. I had nowhere to go. Nothing I cared about doing.

But—what is that? No… WHO is that?

My increased Perception alerted me to a black figure across the street, staring straight at me. I focused, zooming in my vision. The figure appeared cybernetic, and it was moving purposefully in my direction.

What now?!?

Standing before me was a black robot or cyborg. It wasn’t wearing clothes but had black metal over almost its entire body. However, there were two very exposed human eyeballs, and a pink human tongue and throat, within the black metal skull. Also, a translucent panel pulsing with lights revealed a beating organ—what looked like a human heart—in the middle of its chest cavity.

I had no clue what was happening. My instinct to fight or flee hijacked, I merely froze in place, gawking at this monstrosity.

The cybernetic figure reached out its arms. It was holding something familiar. It was a small, ornately carved wooden chest containing 100 Crystals! The payment from der Schlächter for the manuscript page.

“Call me Ishmael,” the cyborg said in a heavily processed voice. “This is the payment my master promised. He wants you to know that he is a man of his word.”

I snapped.

▶ Your master? Der Schlächter!? He is a freak! All of you are!

“The offer stands. 1,000 Crystals in exchange for completing a simple job. We will also pay off your debt.”

I glared at the abomination in front of me. Ishmael. I had heard something about this person… or thing… the second in command of the Serpents. Der Schlächter’s right hand man. As I looked over his body, completely replaced with metal, a horrible thought occurred. How much of his body had his master eaten?

I shuddered.

▶ I don’t want anything to do with you!

“I don’t see how you have much of a choice in the matter. And you had better hurry. Each cycle that passes, your debt will grow. The consequences of that can be… catastrophic. Despite what you think now, my master offers a path of true enlightenment. A path of transcendence. He is a great man.”

I glared with undisguised loathing but restrained myself from speaking my thoughts.

▶ A simple retrieval job that I am uniquely suited for. Forgive my skepticism. What is it?

The monstrous skeletal face smiled, pulsing lights racing across conduits on its frame like exposed nerves.

“Your friend Camel is in possession of a map. We want you to bring it to us.”

Well that was unexpected.

▶ CAMEL? What’s he got to do with this? And what do you mean, a map? The only thing Camel cares about is cigarettes, booze, and pleasure bots.

“My master and Camel go back a long time. They were both Volunteers in the early cycles, and they endeavored to explore the furthest boundaries of this metaverse. Back then, Camel went by a different name: Lamech, or Lemekh. This was long before my awakening. Camel found a map and went in search of the destination. But he was never the same after that. A changed man.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was so surprised that I temporarily forgot my all-consuming hatred.

▶ That’s… I don’t know what… this is all… huh.

“We believe Camel still has possession of the map. He obviously isn’t using it. You are his friend. We want you to go, find the map, and bring it to us. Simple.”

I immediately thought of the two storage cubes in Camel’s residence. Could there be a map in there? But I hadn’t even seen Camel in forever. I had no clue where he was. And… were they asking me to betray him? Betray my one and only friend? If Camel kept this map hidden, he must have had his reasons.

▶ A map to what?

“A sunken temple, lost beneath the waves.”

Ishmael gave a polite bow, incongruous with his fearsome appearance. He held out the chest for me to take. Not knowing what else to do, I accepted it, looking down at the hypnotically gleaming pile of Crystals shining up at me.

When I looked up, Ishmael was gone.