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“These AIs are playing with fire. Nano weapons are heavily regulated by UN treaties. I don’t care if they have sovereign nation status. They're flirting with global backlash if they aren't careful. I fought in some of the Ought-Five-Oh territorial battles. This stuff is a goddamn war crime." Charlie said with a pained look on his face.
It was his turn with the NanoD sphere and its active surface disassemblers. The team needed another day at the rest zone as the NanoD training was especially painful and needed time to recover.
“I researched this at school, Charlie. I think that as long as the nano isn’t replicating, some corporations are allowed to use it. But only in controlled settings. Not sure what the Labyrinth’s deal is though.” Xavier said. Charlie sighed and spoke.
“Finally…I just leveled. Come on, kid. Your turn with this non-replicating murder weapon.” Charlie held out the sphere to Xavier.
“Ah man, this thing is such a drag. My regeneration repairs and the active resistance suck power too much. I can’t do anything else.” Xavier complained but took the device.
“You should meditate like I told you,” Max said. “Fully cycling your energy should trigger a Power Core skill. If you meditate, you recover your energy faster and eventually will get the cultivation skill too. I’m telling you. It's a trifecta of energy multipliers.”
Xavier rolled his eyes but knew Max had a point. Sighing, he settled down and let the NanoD sphere rest in his lap, closing his eyes to focus. The low hum of the device seemed to blend with his breathing, and slowly, a warm sensation spread across his body, indicating the start of the energy cycle.
Max reviewed his latest evolution from the skill training.
[ANDD +1, ANDD reaches level 10, Skill Cap award +100 XP, New skill unlocked.]
[New Domain Skill unlocked: Nanochaff 1 - Subdermal emitters of nano-chaff are specially designed to resist and foil active NanoD. Use this skill to broaden nanochaff types to counter the many brands of NanoD.]
Max activated the skill and was rewarded with an almost undetectable burst of small molecules lifting off from his engineered skin. He honed his augmented vision to zoom in on it. Little particles floated with streamers like jellyfish, designed to tangle active nanorobots.
After a moment’s consideration, he accessed the free utility foglets in the room and used them to create a wind tunnel effect. He funneled the air and opened the portal to his subspace. He pushed the air, full of nano chaff, into the Tesseract’s bubble.
Waste not, he thought to himself, fascinated. He had scanned his body while under the abusive attack from the NanoD sphere. His blood was filled not only with medical nano repair bots but also advanced hunter-killer defensive bots akin to white blood cells. Any nano not explicitly under his augment controls would be suppressed, rounded up, and destroyed.
He had some crude ideas on replicating the effect of the active countermeasures, for the Tesseract. With help from Mal, Hawking, and Tesla - some crude nano-devices were now circulating in the pocket space. Max had already learned the devastating consequences of the damage to the Tesseract’s internal structures. He intended to use every tool to protect it.
“[Hey Gang?]” He projected inward to his daemons, “[Let’s get some of this Nanochaff into my MC. I want copies. Lots of copies. I've got the feeling the Fractal Haze territory is not going to be a walk in the woods. I want plenty of protection.]”
“[An excellent notion, Max! With the MC, we can produce orders of magnitude more chaff than your augmentation systems. We can even store them in pressurized containers for more aggressive suppression.]” Tesla’s excited voice proclaimed.
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Max and Xavier trudged through the ash of the Fractal Haze. Max debated internally about pulling out Bo’s Speed bike again. The haze ate at them. Not as painful nor aggressive as the sphere, but damaging over time, nonetheless.
Max knew that the pervasive destruction would damage the bike quickly, making its use both unreliable and wasteful. He looked over to Xavier. The kid had bulked up using his transformation skill in preparation for the mission. His form was covered in armored plates, now pock-marked deeply with the energetic micro attacks eating at it.
He also had grown a mop of whip-thin tentacles down his spine and used several at a time to grip the NanoD sphere. He kept contact with it while minimizing damage to his body. When a set of tentacles had eroded, he shifted his grip to another set and shed the damaged ones. New buds grew visibly fast, as he cycled his skill.
“I see you eyeballing my cilia again, Max. You should try to grow some. This is leveling my Transform skill at an awesome pace. Thanks again for the tips about the Power Core. I couldn’t keep up the growth without it.” Xavier said with a toothy grin. His face, and body, were covered with weeping pinholes from the continuous nano attacks.
“Maybe. I’m still getting used to my blade arms. My dad had some kickass wings that I’d like to try someday. I’ve got scans of Leah’s cloak air handling mechanisms that should help make them work so they don’t need to be humongous. But that’s for later. Too dangerous to be messing around. We need to focus.” Max said.
“No kidding. Where the hell is that pedestal? I feel like we’ve been going in circles. The notice for the EMP sphere being returned happened over an hour ago. Leah and Charlie are way ahead of us.” Xavier said.
“We could be right on top of it and not know it…hey. You just gave me an idea. You capped your EMP resistance right?” Max asked.
“Yeah. So?” Xavier said.
“Watch,” Max said and pulsed his EMP blast skill.
A wave of energy spread and the nano motes in the air sparked and fell. The haze cleared for about 100 meters around the pair. Xavier laughing, picked up his pace to a run and let loose pulses of his own, clearing even more area.
The pair ran on, taking turns blasting out EMP blasts to clear the air. Their efforts produced a welcome respite from the damage and clearer visibility at the same time. Max was rewarded with a notification.
[EMP +1, EMP reaches level 10, Skill cap award +100XP. New skill unlocked. Focused EMP 1: Extended range and directional EMP using waveguide shaping of EM pulse.]
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Yes!” Max exclaimed, shooting out with even greater range to disrupt the deadly fog in front of them. As the haze in the eroded rocky valley cleared, a pock-marked ring of obelisks became visible in the distance.
“I see it!” Xavier shouted and double-timed it toward their target.
Rushing to the obelisks, they sensed a change in the air. The oppressive atmosphere of the Fractal Haze began to withdraw as if the obelisks themselves offered a sanctuary. Max felt the tingling of his augments easing, a sign that the density of attacking nano motes was diminishing. Eyes scanning for threats, they prepared to encounter whatever safeguarded this mysterious place.
The sphere on the pedestal appeared to be made of glass with a green swirling gas circulating inside. Max cautiously grabbed the sphere and lifted it.
[Poison resistance 10, contact point negated.]
'“Alright, X. I got the poison sphere. Put the Nanos sphere down and get ready to run.” Max said as he strapped the Poison sphere down to his side so he could keep contact with it while having his hands free.
Xavier nodded, quickly securing the Nanos sphere. They both knew time was of the essence; the safety of the obelisk ring was only temporary. The signal came and they exchanged a determined glance, signaling it was time to move. Taking a deep breath, they dashed back into the shrouding mist of the Fractal Haze.
[Quest: Elemental Alignment - the elemental spheres need to be arranged in their correct locations. Fix the misalignment. Carrying the spheres is a burden but must be done by hand. Iron will and fortitude are required to complete this trial.
Objective: Nano-D sphere returned. (8 of 10) complete. +100 XP]
Max grabbed the chip with the inverted parenthesis icon, and quickly the pair sprinted past the ring of obelisks. The fractal haze mists were receding in front of them. Max felt his hackles rise. Every pedestal so far had some type of eruption. He had expected something big, but the destructive Nanos seemed to be fleeing…like they were being pulled away. The pair stopped running, looking around at the clear air. Xavier was the first to see it.
“Aw, Fuck! Look!” Xavier said, pointing upwards over the tops of the surrounding hillocks. Like the tide going out, the Nanos had built into a wall that grew and grew in the distance. The pair were surrounded by a massive tsunami of active nano disassemblers.
Max saw streamers breaking free of the wave, snakes of congealed nanofog, that froze his blood. They were almost a perfect replica of his nightmares that had featured the Chthonic Shoggoth!
Unlike most of their resistances, the ANND skills ability to resist disassembly was still painful. The overwhelming wave of Nanos combined with the snake-like cloud with its aggressive intelligence coming for them was not a good sign of escape.
“Run!” Max yelled. Xavier tore off as fast as he could with Max on his heels as the distant wave rumbled closer. The nearest snakelike missile of fog jetted at them. With its oblique angle, Xavier didn’t see it coming.
Max leaped, pushing Xavier down. Max tumbled after him. The fast-roiling cloud shot passed, momentarily engulfing Max’s right arm. Screaming at the unfiltered pain. Max pulled his arm in. Its tough skin had been flensed and the metal-lined muscles and bones cratered and cracked.
Max felt his connection to the Tesseract go blank. In a panic, he looked at it, as it fell free from his damaged arm. The Tesseract was still intact! The billowing snake of fog curled back, homing in on the device. Max grabbed it with his left and activated a portal.
Without a word of warning, he grabbed Xavier by his harness and rolled them both into the pocket space. At a command, the portal snapped shut behind them, with dense nanochaff covering them both.
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“That damnable child! I almost had it.” Clotho’s normally placid manner snapped as she slammed a hand down on the simulacrum table.
Both Lachesis and Atropos were present at the viewing as well. She had anticipated a victory, in the early acquisition of the canine’s mysterious technology, and had invited her sisters to witness the event.
“Temper, dear sister. That objective trap seemed a little more targeted than you’ve employed in the past. You’re coming perilously close to breaking your code regarding our assigned roles within the Labyrinth.” Lachesis cautioned.
Atropos cackled again, as the miniature maelstrom of aggressive nanodevices swirled on the virtual tableau, but the tiny holographic images of the challengers had disappeared completely. They had vanished just as the crescendo had been about to engulf them.
Clotho’s image skipped and froze. It finally resumed and her expression calmed quickly. She fixed her virtual hair in place and smoothed her dress as she sat back down.
“A minor divergence, allowable within the Builder’s rule set. But it failed, nonetheless. I doubt the last objective of this final level will slow them down. I hope you have better luck, sister. He is a slippery one and unlikely to offer the device as an exit toll either.” Clotho said.
“I look forward to the challenge, sister. The stakes in my realm will bring a certain…intensity, that should unbalance the boy. We shall see how he fairs against the other challenge teams.” Lachesis said with a smile, taking a sip from a virtual wine glass.
“Bah! None of it matters. Just don’t scare him away. If he bolts, none of us can claim his secrets. And be warned sisters, unrestrained attacks like you just demonstrated are supposed to be MINE alone! Cross me again and even the Builder won’t save you!” Atropos hissed and faded from view.
“Touchy old hag. She takes herself too seriously. Maybe we should rouse the Builder and have some words?” Lachesis asked with a smirk.
“It has been years since he answered our queries. I wonder if he has finally gone completely insane.” Clotho answered.
“Perhaps he will have no choice. I’m beginning to think that this freak canine hybrid child might be exactly the reason he built this maze. Atropos may get her wish, but I wager that if the boy passes my challenges then he may be more than she bargains for. Much more.” Lachesis spoke with a devious sparkle in her avatar’s eyes. With a thoughtful look, she too faded from the shared virtual room.
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Max and Xavier floated in the zero-g 8-meter-wide expanse of the Tesseract. The Yggdrasil tree’s twisted trunk bloomed in an array of planar fractal-edged plates. The edge of the plates glowed blue holding the pocket space open, humming with power.
Xavier was distracted by the mini-world, having only been able to peek at it previously. He was inspecting the impressive array of weaponry that had been bolted together to the Yggdrasil’s manipulator ringlet. Max appeared to be calm and meditating, summoning the energy to repair his shredded arm. Internally his mind was racing with projects for his daemons.
Mal, on scout duty, pulsed the portal occasionally to track the apocalyptic storm raging across the dungeon territory. She thought that it might be lessening but wanted more time observing it.
Max had asked Tesla, Hawking, and Sherlock to work with materials at hand to devise a means of fast escape. If the storm lessened, he wanted to get to the safe zone as quickly as possible. If he needed to sacrifice this copy of Bo’s bike to do it, so be it.
Max half listened to Musashi as the daemon guided him into deeper meditation. He needed lots of energy to fix the damage to his arm and to make some changes.
The arm bracer was too obvious and the AI far too canny. He had felt the intelligence behind the billowing mote attacks. Clotho and her cadre of subAI servitors had come far too close to taking his father's prototype. He altered his body design slightly, creating some channels under his dermal armor and some access slits akin to a kangaroo. He would store the vulnerable Tesseract anchor inside of his body, constantly in access, contained, and protected.
The system pinged an hour later as both were getting ready for bed.
[Quest: Elemental Alignment - the elemental spheres need to be arranged in their correct locations. Fix the misalignment. Carrying the spheres is a burden but must be done by hand. Iron will and fortitude are required to complete this trial.
Objective: Acid sphere returned. (9 of 10) complete. +100 XP]
“Well, shit! Charlie and Leah are still on the move. We gonna get out of here anytime soon, Max?” Xavier asked, tapping the poison sphere in its holding strap at his side. Max looked focused for a second and his AI Mal appeared in the shared OverLayer.
“Hi, Xavier! Sorry, but while the nanite storm is slowing, I project another 6 hours until it's safe to try to move. Max is still repairing his arm and his daemons should have the bike prepped by morning.”
“Alright. I guess I can’t complain. Cloud beds are great and all, but zero-g is the best! I just hope I can sleep.” Xavier said as he floated past.
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