8

I woke up on hard ground under a blue sky. Lines of clouds took different colors from the rising sun, yellows and oranges bright and dramatic. The dwarf’s words hung in my mind like a fog. I hadn’t really expected to dream in game. Sleep really only ever seemed to happen in single-player games, and then it was just...poof, it’s morning now.

The realism in the game was unsettling. I was hungry, which seemed to correspond to a shortened Stamina bar. Was the dream something out of my subconscious, or had the game server created it? My muscles were even stiff when started moving. Maybe the Android players didn’t have that. I did notice that clothes weren’t seeming to get dirty, although it did seem like they could deteriorate from damage.

Reck and Dara were both awake, and both looking better. Both had full Health bars and looked ready to go. Dara tossed me another ration bar, which threw my Stamina bar back to normal and removed the hunger.

We hiked through the morning, ducking behind bushes for another AirJeep patrol. When we came into view of Outcrop I paused for a minute to take in my first settlement on an alien planet.

First of all, the name made sense. It looked more like a town that a city, but what it was perched at the end of a stone outcropping from the mountain range. A wall encircled the entire thing, although landing pads jutted out from the wall along the far edges. Towers rose, castle-like along the walls, but topped with altogether different turrets than any castle I’d ever seen. The trail joined a road passing through the only gate. Not somewhere I’d want to try to attack.

Dara pulled two beige ponchos out of her pack and handed one to Reck. They both pulled them over their heads. The material looked plastic and hung to their knees.

“You’ll be fine dressed as you are, but let me carry that rifle through for you.” She took it and vanished it up under her poncho.

It still took an hour to reach the gate.

“Things are pretty peaceful here. As long as you don’t start any trouble you shouldn’t run into much. We used to have our own police, but the Federals replaced all that. They don’t look like they’re on high alert, so we should be able to just walk though. Still, try to avoid eye contact if you can.”

The open gate was wide enough for four lanes of traffic, although none flowed through it that I could see. A pair of soldiers stood to either side. Two AirJeeps sat on one side, opposite what I guessed was some kind of armored personnel carrier with a rear assault ramp lowered.

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I tried to stride casually, as Reck and Dara did, but it felt false. I still had the pistol on my hip. I wanted to flex my claws to reassure myself they were really there, but that really did not seem wise.

Now, in most games, guards at city gates are ridiculously powerful. These did not look any different than the soldiers I’d fought meeting my new friends. I actually found myself holding my breath as we walked through. The code for this game had to be boggling.

Within the walls, foot and ground vehicle traffic were commonplace. Pod-like cars and enclosed motorcycles zipped along amid people on hovering disks or walking. Colors were all over the place. Except for buildings. Most of those looked relatively plain. Most weren’t all that tall, from what I could see from here, definitely increasing the “town” versus “city” feel.

“So,” Reck said, “watch yourself on the streets. You probably won’t run into trouble, but make sure you don’t start any. Federal patrols are pretty commonplace, and they’re not likely to stop and ask questions.”

“Got it.”

Dara looked around, carefully, and handed me back my rifle. I expected to feel eyes on me with it slung on my shoulder. “Now, the first place you should probably head is down that street towards that dome. About four blocks down look for a greenish door with black trim down one of the side streets. I forget which side. After that, there’s a large market about six blocks north. Meet me there at noon in three days. I’m doing to do some asking around, and see if I can find out anything about this Silleste you’re looking for. I’ll let you know then if I was able to find anything out.”

“Thanks,” I said, meaning it. “I appreciate it. You guys take care.”

“Nah, laying low never makes enough difference,” Reck replied with a grin. If I hadn’t had a mission, helping these guys out would have been a good one.

Dara looked over her shoulder a couple of times as they walked off; whether she was checking for me or anyone else following I couldn’t have guessed. A block away a hover-truck passed between them and me, and when it was gone they were as well.

I was pretty sure the red door place was the trainer I was supposed to find. In any other game, I wouldn’t have worried about toting around a rifle looted from a dead soldier. But his troop-mates occupied the town. Sure, maybe the game wouldn’t include the soldiers noticing and asking me where I got it. The consequences of being wrong, however, I was not too keen on. I weighed the risks of a soldier asking me versus a merchant asking me. I chose selling it as the lesser risk. I looked around, working out in my head where everything should be, and set off.

The diversity of the town was nice. It still looked to be about half human, but I saw furry Fenurians, hulking Mordians, and all the other listed races. An elf in a pristine, skintight, white jumpsuit toting a boxy toolkit jogged along, and I wondered if that was the first player character I was seeing. Nobody else I saw ran, and that struck me as a sure sign, just as it was in pretty much every other game. I watched him go, not sure where to even begin speculating what the crafting system might be like.

At each intersection vehicles and people and...other things I didn’t have a name for crossed through without incident. Still, I crossed carefully. Exceptions happen. But it seemed an orderly place where people knew which side of the road to be on. People mostly ignored or avoided each other.

About two blocks from the market I encountered the first exception.