So… fun fact: Aliens are real and, if you decide to work for them, anal probing will be the least of your worries. I suppose I should back up just a bit though.
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I paced in my hotel room. Five steps, turn, five more steps, turn, repeat. I had been at it for the half hour since I had checked in, and, despite the first hints of dawn not being far away, I didn’t plan on stopping.
The wet track that I had made in the carpet reminded me that I couldn't go home. The memory of how the drop from the three-story roof had called to me was… disturbing. I was clearly not okay. I never should have been on the roof during a thunderstorm, especially not for several hours in the middle of the night. The fact that I had gone up there hoping that I would get struck by lightning certainly didn't make it any better. I had to get out of that house and away from all the memories it held.
But, I knew myself well enough to know that if I didn't make a major change, it wouldn't take long to slide back into old habits. After tonight, it was clear that would be as good as a death sentence. Like I had when I was looking down from the edge of the roof, I remembered Mom and Dad's faces from the funeral. I couldn't do that to them. Not so soon after Bri, Damian, and the boys, and honestly, not ever, at least if I could help it.
Even though it might be stupid, I couldn't totally let go of Bri, either. We had been side by side for our entire lives. Even if the link or bond or whatever it was in my head that used to tell me where she was and how she was feeling was now cold and unresponsive, I wasn’t ready to put the reminders of her and her family out of my life completely. So, I had to find a survivable way to thread the needle. Maybe…
With an inkling of an idea, I engaged the advanced google-fu that I had developed over the years of IT work that I'd done since high school. It took until just before lunch, but I finally found something that fit what I was looking for: a job listing.
Wanted: Experienced VR Gamer
Applicant MUST be available to start immediately and be willing to travel out of the country to our advanced testing facility to participate in our upcoming Survival RPG project. All travel, food, lodging, equipment, and other needs will be provided for by the company. Duration of position will depend heavily upon performance, but is expected to last three (3) years at a minimum, with a significant possibility of the position becoming permanent.
The successful applicant is expected to have the following skills & experience:
* Significant experience with hyper-realistic VR PvP combat, preferably in fantasy/sword-and-sorcery settings.
* Quick thinking and ability to easily adapt to new situations and challenges.
* A willingness to deal with challenges with ruthless efficiency, especially those of a sentient/sapient nature.
* Advanced survival skills, including those required for desert, jungle, mountain, forest, and underground environs.
* Interpersonal skills to assist in the formation of key alliances, as well as to detect deceit and potential betrayal.
The listing went on for a bit longer, including citing the name of the development company working on the game. They had released several cutting edge sword-and-sorcery VR games over the last several years, all of which had become quite popular, and all of which I had played quite a bit.
Bri had always been super into VR games, especially anything that had RPG elements or PvP. She went nuts for that stuff and always, always dragged me into it with her. Even when we weren’t playing, we would spend hours theory crafting new character builds, discussing the best ways to exploit game mechanics, and debating on how to scrape every last bit of potential out of whatever game she was obsessed with at the time.
In the six months since her death, I had been playing way too much; it was basically the only thing I had done whilst wallowing in my misery.
I wondered what kind of game they were developing that would require testers to have that skill set… some kind of PvP heavy survival game that would require travel to various climes? I could almost hear Bri raging about how unfair it was that I might get to test this game without her.
It sounded interesting. It sounded like something that I could really sink my time into, something that would allow me to get some distance from my current headspace, but without feeling like I was abandoning the memory of my twin entirely.
I looked again at the final line of the listing, that must have been an edit added today:
Job closing today, all interested applicants should apply in person.
With a smile, I reached for my keys.
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I sat in the lobby of one of those places where companies can rent temporary office space. From the looks of things, it certainly seemed to be on the fancier side of such spaces, with marble floors, real wood desks, those chairs that looked really nice but were extremely uncomfortable, and even secretarial services. While the chairs were certainly a pain in the butt, it was the secretary that was being a bigger problem.
“No, I already told you I don’t have an appointment. I am here to apply for the testing position that they advertised. The listing said that the job was closing today and that all interested applicants should apply in person.”
The secretary looked me up and down from over the top of her glasses and sighed. “Fine. I can let them know that you are here, but is that really what you want to wear for an interview? They have had quite a few people apply and they have all left in a dejected daze.”
Oh. I hadn’t thought about that. No wonder she hadn’t even wanted to let me into the building. I was still wearing the clothes I’d had on while out in the storm last night and I’m sure the rest of me was just as much of a mess. I’d had time to dry out, but I doubted I looked neat and presentable. It was already late into the afternoon. There was no way I would have time to even go back to my hotel room on the other side of the city and make it back in time, let alone my house that was a ways past city limits.
My thoughts must have been showing on my face, because the secretary sighed again. “Okay, listen. I will wait five minutes before I tell them that an applicant is here. There is a bathroom just down the hall and to the left. Why don’t you go see what you can do, huh?”
“Thank you.”
I hurried to the bathroom that was just as fancy as the rest of the place and looked in the mirror. Being up all night, spending hours on the roof in a thunderstorm, and wearing the same clothes for a day and a half had all taken a toll. I was a mess. I spent a semi-frantic five minutes fixing my hair, wiping my face, and half brushing half beating my clothes into some semblance of presentableness. It wasn’t great, but it was better than it had been.
I got back to the lobby as the secretary was hanging up her phone. Upon spotting me, she looked me up and down again, gave a slight nod, and stood. “Mr. Koor said to bring you straight back. He was about to give up and leave, but said he would try one more interview.”
She led me quickly down the hall and to one of the office doors. After knocking and sticking her head into the office briefly, she held the door open and gestured for me to go in. As I passed her, I heard a whispered “Good luck,” but when I turned to say thank you she was already gone.
I looked at the only person in the fancy office space and was a bit taken aback. There was a sense of intimidation in the room that was thick enough to choke on, and it was no wonder why; the man behind the desk was a giant. He was at least seven feet tall and probably closer to seven and a half. Even more intimidating was that even with his extremely tall frame he looked broad-shouldered and very muscular. He had to be pushing three hundred pounds, maybe more, and looked like he was ready to bench press small cars for fun. Others would likely find the way he stood and moved to shake my hand adding to the intimidation, but I found the disciplined and efficient sharpness of his movement oddly comforting because it reminded me of my dad.
I mentally shook off any lingering feelings of intimidation and took his hand with a smile. “Mr. Koor, I presume. Nice to meet you.”
He seemed very slightly impressed, though whether it was at my handshake, the fact that I knew his name, the way I was able to act normally in his extremely intimidating presence, or something else entirely, I had no clue. I was fairly certain it wasn’t my appearance though.
“Aken Koor, at your service. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Dorin. I was just reviewing the resume that you left with the lovely Miss Claire at the front desk. Also, I hope you will not take offense, but I accessed your gaming account from our system.”
I didn’t let the wince show on my face, but I felt it. My recent six month gaming binge wasn’t likely to appear very professional. If the job was for anything other than testing a new game, I would have written my chances off immediately. “No problem. I hope that what you found was acceptable and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.”
“To be frank, I find both to be rather insufficient. Your resume does show a solid history in the information technology field for one as young as yourself, but, as I am sure you will agree, this does not demonstrate much in the way of skills that are particularly applicable to this type of position. Your account statistics are only marginally more useful. Prior to six months ago, your account was rarely active and your achievements were sparse at best. Since then, your account has been far more active, and your performance has been better, but certainly nothing sufficient to warrant such a coveted position. The one privilege your account activity does provide you is the opportunity to make your case rather than me terminating the interview here. So, tell me, Dorin, why do you feel that you are a good fit for the position when everything I have in front of me tells me otherwise?”
Well, this wasn't off to a great start. “While I agree that on the surface my IT background may not appear to have many transferable skills, at the heart of being good at IT is being a good problem-solver, absorbing new information quickly, and adapting to changing circumstances, which are all things mentioned in the listing.”
The more I talked, the more I felt a pressure in my head. I felt strongly that lying or even stretching the truth would not be a good idea. Determined to take my best shot at the position, I plunged ahead. Luckily, I didn’t need to lie or stretch any truths. “In addition, my father has trained me in survival and self-defense since I was in kindergarten. I couldn’t even begin to guess how many hours I’ve spent hiking and camping with no supplies, in the woods, the desert, the mountains, and just about anywhere else my Dad could think of.”
Aken shook his head slightly and went back to work on his computer. “I have heard enough. This interview is concluded. You may leave.”
The feeling of rejection and dismissal was so strong that it almost felt like a physical wave crashing into me. The pressure in my head had now built into something quite painful and the urge to leave Aken’s office in shame was almost overpowering. I hadn’t even been worth his serious consideration. I was a total failure. My parents should be ashamed to have such a loser of a son and Bri would be disgusted if she were still here.
At that last thought there was a sharp stab of pain in my head from the dead connection to my sister and then the pressure seemed to lessen a bit. What was with those thoughts? That wasn’t me. I pushed away the urge to leave and the growing sense of shame. I would not fail my sister. I had one more thing I wanted to say, one last chance to make my case. “Wait.”
Aken looked up from his screen and seemed genuinely surprised that I was still there, but I spoke quickly before he could say anything. “The most important thing that my dad taught me was a certain mindset. He taught me that violence is rarely the right answer to a problem, but when it is the right answer, it is the only answer. He also taught me that as soon as you make that realization, you need to act quickly, efficiently and decisively, with no half measures. When it comes to dealing with your challenges of a sentient and sapient nature, I won’t freeze or hesitate, I won’t play fair, and I will exploit your combat system in every way possible to make sure that I come out on top.”
Aken smiled, but the look in his eyes turned it into something feral and terrifying. “Welcome to the team, Dorin.”
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I woke up in a small room that looked a little bit like a Hollywood portrayal of the inside of a submarine or a cargo ship, all bare metal, beams, and rivets. I felt my panic levels start to rise as the foreignness of my surroundings began to register. I had no memory of getting on board any ships, and I certainly hadn't done so willingly.
As soon as I had that thought, I knew what was going to happen, but knowing didn't change a thing. The adrenaline dump hit fast and hard. Sweat, racing heart, the works. Worse than all that, the little voice in my head turned into a gibbering idiot that started telling me all the ways I was going to be tortured and killed.
My dad's training kicked in almost automatically. I waged war with the gibbering idiot and my body simultaneously. I took a deep slow breath and let it out just as slowly. In for four, out for four, repeat. And repeat… and repeat.
From the start of the first breath, I began mentally shouting over the gibbering idiot. Since I didn't have a specific need at the moment, other than to get control, I shouted the first half of the litany against fear. “I will not fear, fear is the mind killer…”
My dad always recited the full thing. He really loved “Dune” and the litany meant something more to him, though I wasn't sure what. Just as he had adapted the training he had received to make it work better for him, I had done the same. The litany itself meant little to me, but it was useful as a reminder of him and more specifically of the countless hours that he spent with me over the years.
Mentally shouting might not seem much like meditation, but between the breathing and the shifting of my focus from current fears to prior preparations, it helped me shove the fear to the back of my mind.
Once the voice of fear was muzzled… ish, I continued my breathing exercise as I tried to remember where things had gone wrong. I wanted to see if I could drag up any information about whoever put me here, but it seemed pretty clear to me that something was messing with my head, or at least had messed with my head.
I didn't feel like I had been drugged. My thinking in general seemed mostly lucid. The adrenaline was still messing with my head, but I knew what that felt like. It was only when I tried to remember what happened that my head started feeling fuzzy. It wasn’t like the memories were missing, but like some part of my mind was shying away from them. Maybe if I… I winced and ground my teeth together to keep from crying out as a sharp, agonizing pain erupted through my skull from my broken connection to Bri.
Well, that was fun. It had ached ever since Bri's death, but this was new. And very not welcome. It only seemed to happen when I tried to focus on… I felt another stab of agony. Well, I’d be leaving those memories alone for a bit, but where was the boundary for what caused me pain?
I remembered going to the interview. At one point I was positive that I wasn’t going to get the job, but then there was that strange pressure and overwhelming shame. I had forgotten that there actually had been a much less severe pain from my connection to Bri…
As soon as my thoughts touched on that memory, I felt another stab of pain. It wasn’t as big as the last one, but not really wanting to suffer another mental pickaxe strike, I moved on to after the interview. I'd gotten the job and Aken had told me that we were leaving on the company craft in a couple of hours.
I paused at that. That had been his word, though he had said “my craft.” I had assumed that he had meant some kind of private jet or something, but could he have meant a ship? Could that be where I was? It seemed at least a little more plausible than a random kidnapping, but why couldn’t I remember boarding? Hmmm…
I remembered talking to my parents for a bit while I waited and then squaring away all my financial crap. After that, I had gotten into Aken's car and headed out. I hadn't been in the car long when…
The explosion of pure agony was as sudden and violent as the first time. Unlike the first time, I wasn’t able to keep myself from crying out. My self-control had been stretched beyond its limits.
My cry echoed hollowly in the mostly empty metal room. I lay on the bed for a while waiting for the pain to subside before I decided I was ready to get things moving toward whatever came next. Besides, it was pretty unlikely that my outcry had gone unnoticed.
I sat up and took a better look around the room, trying my best to ignore a rapidly worsening migraine. The room had the bed that I was on, as well as what appeared to be two doors, a small window, and some kind of storage space. There was no loose furniture anywhere in the room. As I looked down at the bed for the first time, I realized there wasn’t actually anything underneath me. I was looking straight down at the floor.
I let out a yelp that was definitely extremely manly and was on my feet before the echo died. “What in the world…” I reached out my hand to where I had been laying down and felt a perfectly solid… Nothing? No matter what angle I looked from, my eyes could see nothing there. Thinking back, I had felt perfectly supported when I had been laying down, not like I was laying on something soft, but like I was almost weightless on something so perfectly contoured to my body that I could feel no point of pressure or discomfort. Yet now, as I pressed my hand on the invisible bed, it felt as solid as a stone.
Feeling out the dimensions of the bed I found a small piece of metal floating in the air at one of the corners. I looked to the other corner and saw another of the metal pieces. Curious, I reached out and touched the one closest to me with the intentions of seeing if the floating metal thing was as stable as the floating nothing was, but the instant my fingers made contact with the metal, both pieces of metal flashed across the width of the non-bed and all but disappeared into the wall with a barely audible click. Unfortunately for me, my hand that had been holding a portion of my weight as I bent over to investigate the floating metal suddenly lost its support and I fell flat on my face.
“Okay…” What kind of tech was that? I was generally a pretty techy person, but I had never heard of anything like this. As my mind struggled to wrap itself around whatever made the non-bed work, a stray thought made its way to the fore. “Heaven forbid you roll over and brush that piece of metal in your sleep though… can’t imagine suddenly getting dumped on the floor being conducive to a restful sleep…”
Then, my brain stopped. All the thought trains simultaneously derailed and all the little thought people on those trains died painfully as each train subsequently exploded. The next round of trains plunged headlong into the wreckage, sending yet more innocent thought people to the great brain in the sky.
As I tried to come to terms with the bed, I had wandered over to look out the porthole. It hadn’t been letting in any light really, so I hadn’t really planned on seeing much, but I thought maybe a view of the ocean under the stars or something would be a nice relaxing view for me while I brought my scattered thoughts and heartbeat back under some semblance of control. Instead? The mental equivalent of a blue screen of death. Full brain crash. Error 404, brain not found.
I stared out the window and waited while my brain tried to come back online, but no matter how long I stared or tried to process what I was seeing, the view seemed just as impossible. I had gotten the stars part right, but there was no ocean. Or clouds. Or land. Or trees. Or anything else that I had been expecting to see. Just stars. And more stars. And, oh look, a comet. And after the comet? More stars.
At about this point, the voice of the gibbering idiot came back and started laughing that unhinged crazy person cackle that makes everybody cringe and back up at least three steps, and no amount of mental shouting was drowning it out. I started to feel that same laugh bubble up in my own throat, but that involuntary sensation managed to break through my daze. I ruthlessly choked down the laughter.
Some unknown instinct told me that I wouldn’t be alone for much longer, and I refused to show weakness or hysteria. It didn’t matter how much it had to be faked, I would not just hand over extra leverage to Aken or whoever it was who had dragged me on to this… in for four, out for four, in for four, out for four... On to this spaceship.
Having regained some small measure of control, I moved quickly to the first door, which slid silently into the wall at my approach, and found a small bathroom complete with what I was guessing was the equivalent of a shower. Not wasting any time, I moved to the other door. This one opened the same way the first one had, but revealed a corridor behind it that extended both to the left and the right. I pondered very briefly what I should do and then quickly stuck my head out into the corridor. The left was clear, and the right… I jerked my head back, but it was too late.
“Good morning, Dorin. Are you ready to meet with the Koor.” Ignoring my shock and apparently taking my withdrawal from the hall as an invitation, a small drone about six inches tall and a foot wide, but hovering almost five feet off the ground without any visual means of propulsion, floated into my room and addressed me in a voice that was both far too cheery and far too human for my liking.
“I… um… what?” Wow. Ten out of ten for eloquence there, Dorin, well done you.
“The Koor wishes to extend his sincerest apologies for sedating you prior to boarding, but he believed that any other method of getting you onto the ship would have wasted too much time and our timeline can withstand no further delays. Now that you have slept off your sedation, the Koor wishes to speak with you as soon as possible so that he can begin preparing you.”
There were so many things bothering me, but the voice coming out of the drone was creating an Uncanny Valley effect that was too much to ignore. “Who am I talking to? Are you piloting this drone from somewhere on the ship?”
“Well, that is very rude. I am a fully functioning autonomous assistant. No one is piloting me. You don’t see me assuming that you are someone’s flesh puppet do you? No, sir, you do not.”
I could feel my mental control slipping again, my breath wanting to come faster and faster. “Sorry. I just have never seen anything like you. I didn’t really think something like you was possible.”
The drone made a slight buzzing hum for a moment, giving the distinct impression of considering my words, or maybe just their sincerity. “Yes, you do come from an odd dark planet, don’t you? Not primitive enough to think me some kind of black magic or divinity and not advanced enough to realize just how primitive you are. Your planet is rather pathetic, thinking that you have everything all figured out. Well, you, at least, are in for a real shock. Regardless, the Koor has chosen you for reasons only he knows and it is past time I brought you to him. He will be angry enough as it is, and rightly so; you took far too long to come out of sedation.”
The drone's tone had been rather accusatory at the end and I really wanted to remind him that I never asked or agreed to any sedation and that I did not feel particularly bad about inconveniencing my kidnappers. “Why do you keep calling him that? When he introduced himself I assumed Koor to be his last name.”
The drone turned and left the room, not bothering to wait to see if I would follow. Again it made that buzzing hum, but this time it sounded vaguely disapproving. “Aken Koor is a Koor of the Empire. All other ties are irrelevant in the face of this fact.”
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Well, that cleared that right up. I tried to ask a couple of other questions, but each time I opened my mouth to speak, the drone shushed me like some kind of belligerent power-crazed librarian. Wanting answers and not knowing what else to do, I followed as the drone led me through a series of bare metal corridors.
At first, I found myself somewhat overwhelmed and I walked behind the annoying machine almost in a daze, but after a minute or two I could almost hear my father’s voice cussing me out and telling me to pay attention. As I did, a couple things started to stand out to me.
The first was that the ship seemed very quiet. I would have thought that a ship like this would have required a rather large crew to operate, but as we moved through the halls, I didn’t see a single living being and we only passed one other robot. Given how much of a hurry my guide appeared to be in, I didn’t think this was the back way to Aken’s office.
The second thing that stood out was that the ship was seriously behind on maintenance. Most everything seemed worn out or run down. The markings on the doors and hallways were faded, the metal even appeared scuffed and worn in what were likely high traffic areas at one time. I assumed this was fairly normal until we passed through a door into a part of the ship where everything was maintained flawlessly.
After what must have been ten minutes at a brisk walk, the hovering bot stopped in front of a door that was considerably wider than the average for the doors I’d seen on my way through the ship.
“As you have no military affiliation, you will bow to the Koor when you enter his office. You will treat the Koor with deference and respect at all times and you will use language that is fitting for addressing a representative of the Empire. You will not speak unless asked a question that requires you to do so. If you must speak to the Koor, you will address him as either ‘the Koor’ or ‘my Koor.’ Do not waste the Koor’s time. Be concise in your responses. Also, be honest. He will know if you lie.”
And with that, I found myself alone in an office with Aken for the second time. He was just as huge and intimidating as the last time, however, this time, I was not able to throw off the intimidation as easily and his intimidating presence immediately sent pain pulsing through my broken link. I looked him in the eyes and held my back straight. I even managed to keep my face blank. I could do this. I might have to ignore almost everything that annoying drone said, but realistically, I was going to do that anyway. Instead, I would stay right here. Just like this. I nodded my head ever so slightly. “Aken.”
“Dorin. I would like to extend my most sincere apologies for the unfortunate steps we had to take to expedite your boarding. Even leaving when we did, we will have to drive the ship’s engines harder than is wise in order to arrive before the window for the admission of new contenders closes.”
“So I really am going to participate in some kind of game? Does this mean there was at least some truth to the job listing?”
Aken actually winced at my comment. “Ah. Yes. I’m afraid I must apologize for that bit of misdirection as well. While nothing in the listing was technically a lie, it was, in its entirety, most certainly deceitful. I detest lying and dishonesty and it displeased me greatly to post that listing. Unfortunately, my situation is much like yours, which I will explain to you momentarily, in that it affords me precious little leeway.”
“The most deceitful things in that listing were the implications that you would be participating in an alpha test for a VR game and the statement that you would be sent to a testing facility. The game is more of a contest and a form of dispute resolution between The Koor, of which, I am, of course, one. Unfortunately, I can assure you that there is no VR involved and the contest and its risks, are in fact, quite real. The contest takes place on an island on an old training planet, where they did, in fact, do some aptitude testing long ago.”
As Aken spoke, it became harder and harder to hear him over the sound of my heart pounding in my ears. “When the listing said that there was a high likelihood of the position becoming permanent…”
“Sadly, there is a rather high mortality rate among any contenders that do more that sit in the capital and focus on a craft… Unless that craft is fishing. The more violent and psychopathic contenders tend to kill those strange souls just for the sport of it. While focusing on any other craft does provide a measure of safety, and will not make you a total failure of a contender so long as you can excel in said craft, you also will not find yourself to be considered a successful contender.”
Okay, maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. I’m sure I could find a craft that I could excel at for the next few years. I could stay safe in the city, but… “You are looking for a successful contender, aren’t you?”
Aken smiled. “Exactly so, although it would be more fair to describe my position as needing a successful contender.” The emphasis that he placed on the word need left little doubt about how seriously he meant the word.
“In truth, you and I both very much need you to be a successful contender. And not just us, but all the souls in my charge, including those that live on your home world, all very much need you to be a successful contender for the continuation of their current prosperity and wellbeing, your parents likely being those who require it of you the most.”
The storm of emotions I was being subjected to was starting to make the oppressing sense of intimidation still filling the office easier to ignore and I could feel something very close to a growl rising up in my throat. “What are you getting at, Aken?”
”Would it were that we had the time and the evidence sufficient for me to both explain and convince you of the looming misery that threatens to swallow us both, however, I have the feeling that no matter how I try to convince you that I take my responsibilities as a Koor very seriously, or that I am not the source of the misfortune on the cusp of drowning your world, you would not believe me.”
For a brief moment, Aken looked like he was being forced to swallow something extremely bitter. “No, sadly, I will have to resort to the most ham-fisted and boorish of methods in an effort to guide us both to a more desirable future. To that end, let me remind you of two things that will hopefully provide you with a motivation sufficient to our needs. The first is that I do, in fact, know where your parents live and that my technology is sufficient to monitor their location from the modest comforts remaining on this ship and from this very office. Should I wish it, it would be a small matter to set a large chunk of rock on a collision course with their lovely Georgia home. The resulting damage would ensure their deaths as well as the destruction of the majority of your hometown. Secondly, I will remind you that if you do survive your time as a contender in our little contest, your only hope of securing passage back to your home lies with me. As your planet lies within my jurisdiction, none may travel there without my express permission.”
Aken paused, watching me closely as what he said sank in. “While I cannot convince you otherwise, I assure you that I genuinely wish no ill will upon you, your family, or your world. My very purpose as a Koor is to protect you all from threats originating both from within and without my jurisdiction. I find myself in a position where my hands off approach for worlds that have yet to achieve interplanetary travel may well become my downfall. Once I have lost the last of my territory, the misery and privation which I have sacrificed so much to prevent shall fall upon those worlds like an all-devouring plague. Tarek Koor stands to wrest this last territory from me, and he takes a far harsher approach to governance.”
I stood in silence, not knowing what to think or what to believe. First he kidnaps me and tells me that he is putting my life on the line for his game, then he threatens my parents, and he follows that up by telling me that he’s the good guy in all of this? To further muddy the waters, while he seemed sincere throughout our conversation, the aura of intimidation and danger never waivered.
It wasn't easy maintaining my blank stoic expression, but I managed. No matter how much of what Aken had told me was true, it seemed like playing along was my only viable option for now. There was no way I could overpower that giant and even if I could, it would be impossible for me to take over the ship. If he just wanted me dead, it seemed unreasonable for Aken to go to all the trouble he had already gone to, let alone more…
Aken stood. “Come, time is short and we need to get you outfitted with a fundamental piece of… equipment that you need to be a contender. Once that is done, I will instruct you in that which you will need to know to optimize your prospects for success. Follow.”
Something about the way he said equipment made me more than a little nervous, but he was already moving, and I wasn't sure what else to do but follow him. We moved from Aken's office, down one of the corridors, and into a room that looked like a combination between a network admin's office and a mad scientist's lair.
Almost everything in this room looked as if it were on its last leg. "Uhhh, what exactly are we doing here?"
Aken glanced at me and waved one hand as if to brush my question away before answering. "We are getting you fitted with your nano machines and your AI controller. Now, go stand on that spot right there."
He turned back to the room and, more specifically, toward a desk that was positively overflowing with screens, cables, little metallic bits, and who knows what else. Behind Mount Junkheap sat a mostly humanish-looking man, as long as you didn't count his extra set of arms.
"Engineer, did I not tell you to have the controller ready when we arrived."
The engineer jumped and jostled the desk as Aken’s voice thundered into the room, causing a small avalanche of junk to crash to the floor. The blood drained from his face and he winced at the crash, "Y-y-yes, Koor, and we would have, but we have run into an i-i-i-issue. We discovered a crack in the controller's stasis pod. I-I-I-It's dead, sir," the tech reported, holding up a container that looked like it could hold a mini loaf of bread, except for the fact that it was more rectangular than square and was already full of something… goopy.
I had just finished moving into the spot indicated by Aken when I processed those last few words. Stasis pod? DEAD?! Just what the he… before I could finish my thought or begin questioning or objecting to whatever it was they thought they were going to be fitting me with, there was a momentary flash of green in the room, and bands of metal shot from four slots on the floor and clamped onto my wrists and ankles.
I barely had time to be surprised by this before I was even more surprised by being lifted off the floor and rotated so I was looking at the disturbingly well-polished deck plating. I hung there suspended from the ground, rather comfortably as I now seemed to be on the same strange nothing that I had woken on less than an hour ago.
It was at this point that I finally lost the battle with my rising panic levels. I began shouting and swearing wildly at both Aken and the engineer, demanding to be put down, to know what was going on, and to know what exactly Aken had meant by fit me with an AI controller that he had also failed to mention was apparently alive!
They both ignored me… completely.
"Well, prepare another one. We do not have time to waste, especially if the integration is difficult. We have never attempted integration on an earthling before."
"INTEGRATION?! NO WAY! NOPE! NU-UH, NOT HAPPENING!" My voice now an octave higher than before, I added thrashing to my yelling. I succeeded in budging approximately equal to the amount of attention I seemed to have gotten.
"We would have, but, as I'm sure my lord Koor remembers, the only other controller that we have was part of the ship's original war complement."
"WAR COMPLEMENT?! WHAT THE HE…" A maintenance bot's eyes flashed green and it shoved what looked, and tasted, suspiciously like a rag used to clean the deck plating into my mouth hard enough to make me gag. I wasn't sure if I should have felt proud that all my yelling had at least gotten someone's attention or disgusted that the only one who had bothered with me was a maintenance bot…
I did solve one mystery, however. It was no wonder the plating was so shiny, since, based on the taste of this cleaner, the only reason the individual plates hadn't fled from its presence, following any grime that might have once been on them, was because they were bolted down. Given enough time though, I felt sure even they would find a way to escape. This stuff was awful. Admittedly, me throwing up in my mouth a little did not make things any better, though I did feel that it proved my point about the vileness of the cleaner, as it didn't make it much worse either.
I lost track of the conversation between Aken and the apparently nameless engineer for a minute as I fought with the rag and seriously considered if it would not have been objectively better to have attempted the swan dive from my roof just so that I never had to experience that horrible cleaner. Aken telling the engineer to prep the controller anyway got my attention, though.
"We will just have to hope that the update from syncing with the war games controller will be sufficient to avoid any complications, both with the integration and otherwise."
I tried to cuss out Aken for ignoring me from around the rag, but that introduced additional, and previously unsullied, parts of my tongue to the joys of the cleaner from the 9th circle of hell, so, after throwing up in my mouth again, I settled for giving him my very best death glare… okay, okay, I settled for giving his boots my very best death glare since that was the highest part of him that I could see from my current position.
Surprisingly, this had zero effect on both Aken and his boots, though, after noting how suspiciously shiny his boots were, I did cut my glare off prematurely. What if they used this same cleaner on his boots? Could cleaner that was clearly demonic in nature find a way to jump from his boots to my eyeballs?! Best not to risk it.
It was the last thought in that particular train that made me realize just how hysterical I was getting. I tried to get my mind back under control. Unfortunately I didn't make it very far before I felt a blade pierce the back of my neck at the base of my skull.
I responded the same way any reasonable and rational person, especially one who had not already been thrown off the hysteria cliff, would have responded. I flipped out.
In retrospect, it was probably a really good thing that I was being held completely motionless or I likely would have killed myself by thrashing against the blade cutting right next to my freaking brain stem.
While I was still mid freak out, useless and ineffectual as it was, I felt something cold and rectangular placed against the cut on the back of my neck. As soon as I realized what that box must be, I felt it…
Something dense, cold, and slimy schlurped out of the tube, coming free with a juicy pop, and started burrowing into the cut. The pain was bad, but the pressure was worse, at least at first.
Whatever this slimy controller was, it forced its way into my skull and around the top part of my spine, forcing the other tissues aside. I thought my skull might explode from the extra mass it was being forced to hold.
I could still feel hundreds, maybe thousands of small slippery tendrils sliding around on my neck and back, but I was distracted from what they were doing by the burning sensation of a series of large gauge needles stabbing into me. One in each arm and leg, one deep into my lower back, and two in my upper back. I watched as the seven syringes were dropped to the floor and then collected by a maintenance bot. Those needles were the biggest I had ever seen.
Immediately a painful stinging itch started at every injection site and began spreading out into the rest of my body. What on earth had they injected into me that required syringes that big, and not just one, but seven?
Aken's boots came back into full view as he stepped close. A flicker of my hysterical thoughts from before flashed through my head, and I had to fight the urge to shut my eyes as tight as possible. He reached out and gently put a hand on my bare shoulder. Even though I had been feeling the slimy tentacles across my back, it was only then that I realized my shirt was gone. When had they cut my shirt away?
"You should prepare yourself, Doran. What comes next… will not be pleasant. The controller will map your entire body. You will not die, though you will no doubt wish you were dead before the task is complete."
For the first time I heard what seemed like genuine compassion and understanding in his voice. It seemed clear that he had been through this same process.
I had no more time for contemplation, however, as the controller started the next stage of its integration. I felt the tendrils retract into the main body of the controller. Then, I felt them start to spread out into MY body.
As they first started to spread, I realized I had been wrong. What I had thought were maybe thousands of tendrils must have been clusters of strands that were finer than hair, probably finer than spider silk, and there were more of them than I could even begin to wrap my head around. Also, I felt every. Single. One.
A sensation like molten lava followed each one as every nerve ignited in the wake of each tendril.
It must have been mapping the nerves in stages because muscles contracted next. They contracted so hard that I could feel the muscles and tendons literally ripping themselves apart, and not in the "sweet, I'm gonna be so ripped now" kind of way, but in the "oh holy crap, that's definitely going to require surgery" kinda way. The little tendrils hadn't even made it past my shoulders and I was already convinced that Aken was wrong. If it continued like this, there was no way I was going to survive integration.
As the controller pushed slowly through my body, I could also feel it doing things in my head as pressure behind my eyes and in my ears started to build. The one behind my eye seemed particularly aggressive until it seemed to "pop" into the back of my eyeball. Suddenly a display appeared, overlaying my vision.
I noticed several bars and numbers, a couple of things that looked like sound waves, as well as some other things I didn't pay enough attention to to begin to guess their purpose. What commanded my attention was the large stream of symbols that dominated the middle of my field of vision. They looked like text of some kind, but I certainly couldn't read it.
At that point, I could tell that the controller could somehow sense my confusion. I'm not sure exactly how, but I knew that it knew that I couldn't read the text. The next second, the controller suddenly started reviewing my memories.
I wasn't sure how this process worked either, but it was almost like watching a super speed reader tear through a book at top speed, except inside my head. It seemed mostly focused on memories involving language and reading until it came across a memory of me using my connection to Ambrielle to find out where she was while I was reading a book in the library. It made a sudden, and very jarring, detour to investigate several of those memories and to probe that part of me where the connection was still broken and aching.
Just as violently as it had detoured, it returned to blasting through memories of reading, writing, and other communication until it seemed to hit some kind of critical threshold. The rummaging through memories stopped and the text blurred before being replaced with English.
Unfortunately, by this point, the pain and damage to my body was really starting to take a toll, and focusing enough to read the words was extremely difficult.
WELCOME RECRUIT!
Congratulations on being selected for participation in the Cyrene Empire's Advanced Officer Training and Enhancement Program. Your service, as well as the service of your fellow officers and soldiers, is vital to maintaining the safety and stability of the Empire, especially during these turbulent times.
Please standby during the integration process…
Racial compatibility module detected. Setting initial integration settings…
Initializing key integrations while connecting with the nearest War AI Cluster for updated integration procedures and protocols…
Protocol and Procedure update completed.
New Racial Compatibility Database update completed.
ERROR: RACIAL COMPATIBILITY MODULE NO LONGER DETECTED. SCANNING FOR SUFFICIENTLY SIMILAR COMPATIBILITY MODULE.
Module with estimated 70% compatibility detected. Proceeding with integration.
ERROR: EXCESSIVE HEART RATE DETECTED
Visual integration complete.
ERROR: LANGUAGE MISMATCH DETECTED. INITIALIZING LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION MEMORY SCAN.
ALERT: PSIONIC POTENTIAL DETECTED.
ALERT: VIP RECRUIT STATUS ASSIGNED. CAUSE: PSIONIC DOMAIN MASTERY POTENTIAL DETECTED.
Language and communication scan completed. Updating all communication protocols.
Interface language update completed.
The pain was so distracting that I could only give a half-hearted attempt at following the messages until I came to the first error message. I had a brief moment of confusion as to why they were an eye-searing green, before the… my AI sensed my confusion and switched them all to an angry red. Then I found the error messages that really broke through the pain.
ERROR: SIGNIFICANT MUSCLE LACERATIONS DETECTED. CAUSE: INTEGRATION
ERROR: SIGNIFICANT INTERNAL BLEEDING DETECTED. CAUSE: INTEGRATION
ERROR: MODULE COMPATIBILITY INSUFFICIENT. NO SUFFICIENTLY COMPATIBLE RACIAL INTEGRATION MODULE DETECTED.
CRITICAL ERROR: RECRUIT DEATH IMMINENT.
CRITICAL ERROR: RECRUIT DEATH IMMINENT.
The engineer was in a full panic and he worked furiously at his station. "My lord Koor, there are no compatible modules. The integration is killing him."
Aken's voice was as cold and lifeless as the grave. "Engineer, if he dies, so do you."
CRITICAL ERROR: RECRUIT DEATH IMMINENT. REQUESTING FULL AUTHORIZATION TO INITIATE RESCUE PROTOCOLS.
"The controller wants to initiate rescue protocols," the engineer stated, clearly confused by the message. Before Aken had a chance to reply, the next message popped up.
ERROR: LOCAL AUTHORITY REQUEST RESPONSE TIME EXCEEDED EMERGENCY PARAMETERS. ESCALATING REQUEST TO REGIONAL AUTHORITY.
ERROR: UNABLE TO ESTABLISH LINK WITH REGIONAL AUTHORITY. ESCALATING REQUEST TO RECRUIT TRAINING COMMAND AI.
"The controller has reached out to the War Games AI for permission to initiate rescue protocols," the engineer reported.
"It has done what," Aken's fury exploded out of him in a wave of more than just sound. I felt the pressure on both my body and my mind, my broken connection to Ambrielle unleashing another horrific spike of agony in response, and I nearly blacked out from the added strain.
The engineer didn't have it any better. His screen sprayed sparks and died while he fell to the ground, buried in cables and junk forced off the desk by whatever power Aken emitted.
Even while it was still trying to establish a link with a higher authority, I could feel my AI go on another detour in my mind as it focused its resources back on my connection to Bri in response to the pain from it.
ALERT: Partial aetheric class core detected.
ERROR: CLASS CORE STRUCTURE SEVERELY DAMAGED
ERROR: PSYCHIC BOND ABILITY LENS IRREPARABLY DAMAGED
ERROR: AKASHIC CORNERSTONE NOT DETECTED
ALERT: Amending rescue protocol request to include core damage.
Aken continued shouting at the engineer, but I was unable to follow what he was saying as I struggled to remain conscious. It was a struggle I knew I was losing.
My AI waited for no one, however, as it plowed ahead with the integration and its simultaneous attempts to save me from the damage it was inflicting.
CONNECTION WITH COMMAND AI ESTABLISHED.
ALERT: RECRUIT STATUS ELEVATED FROM VIP RECRUIT TO MISSION CRITICAL ASSET BY COMMAND AI.
ALERT: DUE TO HOST STATUS, LOCAL AI CONTROLLER PRIVILEGES ELEVATED TO ADMINISTRATOR.
ALERT: FULL ACCESS GRANTED TO ALL AVAILABLE RESOURCES FOR EMERGENCY RESCUE PROTOCOL.
ALERT: REVERTING RECENT UPDATE. RACIAL INTEGRATION DATABASE REVERTING TO PREVIOUS VERSION.
Racial integration profile detected. 100% compatibility. Proceeding with integration. Profile: Soldier Prime
ALERT: DUE TO MISSION CRITICAL STATUS OF HOST AND SOLDIER PRIME DESIGNATION, PERMANENT TIER 2 ADMIN PERMISSIONS HAVE BEEN GRANTED TO THIS CONTROLLER UNIT.
CRITICAL ERROR: HOST DEATH IMMINENT. CURRENT ESTIMATED CHANCE OF SURVIVAL: 0.01%
ALERT: DOUBLE DOSE OF FULL WARTIME RECOVERY AND ENHANCEMENT SUPPLEMENT REQUESTED.
ALERT: CLASS CORE REPAIR SUPPLEMENT REQUESTED.
ERROR: NORMAL R.A.E.S. AND CLASS CORE REPAIR SUPPLY DEPLETED. DUE TO HOST STATUS, ACCESSING EMERGENCY SUPPLY.
I wondered for a moment if 0.01% was the lowest probability that the AI would display, because that seemed overly optimistic.
That train of thought didn’t even make it out of the station before a maintenance bot popped out of a vent with two sets of a whole lot of syringes and one small yellow crystal that glowed slightly in its own little vial. The bot that had been wielding the scalpel moments ago snatched both sets, and, after yanking off all the caps in what must have been one quick motion based on the way the caps hit the floor, slammed the kits into my back, one after the other. It grabbed the crystal too, but I had no idea what it did with that.
The itching around my previous injection sites that had faded into the background, now roared to life and consumed my entire body. I even felt the itching in my bones. I felt the contents of the injection as they spread through my body, the odd sensation of icy fire distinct even above the pain.
When the chemical compounds in the recovery kits reached my head, I could feel my perception of reality go wobbly right away, and when it hit my dead connection to Ambrielle, I was completely out of it. I think that I was still conscious in the technical sense, but I was completely detached from everything that was happening.
I could hear Aken sounding equal parts enraged and confused, but I couldn't focus on what exactly he was saying, and quite frankly, I really didn't care.
Grateful for the haze my mind floated in, I didn't even try to fight it, but I could vaguely feel the integration proceeding as the tendrils continued to push through every inch of my body.
I could tell that my body was slowly healing and my situation gradually getting less desperate. A little bubble of relief found its way through the haze when an alert scrolled across my vision stating that my chance of survival was up above ninety percent, but even that didn't clear the haze for long.
Eventually, a couple more messages made their way across my vision.
ALERT: INTEGRATION COMPLETE.
ALERT: DUE TO SIGNIFICANT COMPLICATIONS ENCOUNTERED DURING INTEGRATION, A FORCED REST AND RECOVERY PERIOD HAS BEEN INITIATED.
With those last words,I felt one more needle and the haze pulled me into unconsciousness.