The suit training room Pod took her to was the largest one on the station with a length of 65m, and a width and height of 35m. What looked like goals of some kind had been centrally built into the walls on opposite ends of the long dimension (one in each wall).
“I don’t know what the standard training room is supposed to look like, but I’m pretty sure it’s not like this. What’s this room really used for? And why are we here?” Barbzilla was suspicious of Pod’s motivations. She didn’t know what his agenda was, but she believed he had one.
“You are correct in that this is not the standard suit training room. It is, however, a suit training room of sorts. It’s where advanced suit training takes place. More specifically, space cross-hockey training. On more populous stations, you’d never be able to use this room without joining an SXHL team. But, since you’re the only one here, you have free reign of the place. So, we might as well take advantage of it. Why lock yourself up into a little cube when you can play around in here? And, who knows, if you get good enough and perchance come across an opening in a professional SXHL team in your travels, and the fancy strikes you, you’d be in a favorable position to earn that spot.”
“And, what would be the point of that?” Barbzilla didn’t pay much attention to sports in real life.
“The point would be to earn credits. The top SXHL players are making millions of credits per year.”
Barbzilla saw dollar signs in her eyes. “Would SXHL help make me an idol?”
“I suppose it could. But getting on a professional team is extremely competitive and requires suit-skill competency way above anything you are interested in. I only mentioned it because you asked and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to broaden your mind as to ways you can earn credits within Powermongerer. Unfortunately, while you’d likely never make it into one of these arenas in a more populous sector, there aren’t enough people here to make earning credits via SXH a viable option. Where there are lots of players, it’s possible to make decent money in SXH even during training. I’m sorry if I got your hopes up for no reason.”
“Not so fast, buddy. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.”
“Would you like to register, Buddy, as one of my aliases?”
“No, and stop asking that. I’ll let you know when I want to add aliases to your programming. You know, after thinking about it a little more, this is a good space. I can see myself getting comfortable with it.”
“If that’s the case, I should be able to teach you the fundamentals of space cross-hockey. And, if you find yourself enjoying it, I could probably get some drones together to help you get familiar with the group dynamics involved. Come to think of it, proximity artificer has good compatibility with space cross-hockey. As you said, though, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. For now, we need to get you comfortable with manipulating a suit and zero-g environments.”
“Glitch! Not me!”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“I know, but you were thinking it. Don’t try to hide it from me. I can see right through your tricks and double talk.”
“Anyways, suspended within the wall alcoves surrounding the arena are all the different types of space suits.” Lit alcoves suddenly appeared circling the arena at ground level. There were easily a hundred different types. Barbzilla did a quick visual scan of them.
Pod continued, “However, since you are a total noob, you’re only real options are the beginner models, the B variants. Anything else would be too much for you to handle, and you’d likely end up in the infirmary in no time.”
He was talking, but she wasn’t listening, having already walked off in the direction of one particular suit that immediately caught her eye. It was sleek, smooth, and sensual, and would match the Trepidation’s style perfectly. It was encased in a sealed transparent cabinet. Unlike the normal suits which are either bulky or look like suits of medieval armor, the mx1000 was like a full-body latex suit with bondage mask - skin tight.
Pod rolled up behind her. “That there is a prototype mx1000 Fully Automenable Massive Max Force Draga suit. It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? Not only does it have multitudinous built-in functions, but limited-potential save-AIs can be loaded into it giving a range-buffer type bonus from the main unit. It’s the pinnacle of current space elf suit technology.”
“Can I try it on, please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. All it’ll do is make every other suit seem lame in comparison. You’ll never be content with what you’ll ultimately get to begin with. But, keep the image in your mind and use it as motivation for something to strive for. Who knows, in a couple years or hundred levels, you may just achieve the dream.”
“And Mr. Buzzkill lives up to his name once again. Come on, Pod, have a heart. If I get to try it on, it’ll better help me visualize that dream in those moments I know I’ll be tempted to give up. I’ll be able to remember the feel of what it was like to experience one of the most advanced space armors in the universe. And, it’ll help me hold on and push forward another day. Besides, when was the last time you saw a space elf other than me? It’s not like we’re common or anything. I’m the only one here. There’s no one to see you let met do this. There’s no way we’ll get reported to the Space Elf Consortium or whatever the policing body governing this station is called. I just want to try it on for a few minutes and practice in the training room for a bit. I promise I’ll take it off and never tell anybody you let me. And, you know, if you think this proximity artificer is such a good fit for me, let me get an understanding of the pinnacle of my limitations. Let me get a feel for what I can hope to achieve.”
Pod was silent for a minute. “OK. I guess I don’t see what harm can become of it. Just to let you know, I’ll be retaining ownership, which means I’ll have total control over its powered-on features. Basically, I’ll be able to disable all functions should you choose to renege on our agreement.”
“Jebuz, it’s like you don’t trust me or something. But, sure, whatever. As I said, I just want to get in and see how it feels.”
An asexual female-sounding voice spoke out of the cabinet, “Access authorized. Protective measures disengaged.” The glass casing slid up with a hiss and a bit of white vapor.
The suit felt much lighter than she expected while removing it from its placement. Its weight was approximately 3kg. Comparing that with the beginner suits at 25kg was hardly a comparison. She felt it was silly that the beginner equipment was so much heavier than the advanced equipment. It made no sense to her, considering new players were strength-deficient while upper-level players were strength-abundant. What she failed to consider was that in a zero-g environment, the weight made little difference, and space suits were meant to be worn in space, not around the dinner table.
Oh, yeah, she was definitely feeling spoiled in the mx1000. The suit fit like a very sexy glove, and with her ‘shopped’ measurements, she felt she exuded a presence akin to the pinnacle of physical femininity. She was just sad there weren’t any mirrors or reflective surfaces about to admire herself in.
During the course of stretching her muscles and familiarizing herself with the suit’s feel, the station shook violently. So violently, in fact, that she fell over, an achievement considering all the balance-assist functions it maintained, even in stand-by mode.
Alert! Alert! Major hull breach detected. Decompression imminent. Safeguards down. Equip life-suits and report to shelter-pods.
Alert! Alert! Major hull breach detected. Decompression imminent. Safeguards down. Equip life-suits and report to shelter-pods.
“What’s going on Pod? Is this a scheduled event?” Barbzilla exclaimed as she got to her hands and knees and tried to right herself.
Alert! Alert! Major hull breach detected. Decompression imminent. Safeguards down. Equip life-suits and report to shelter-pods.
“I don’t know. I’ve received zero notifications and can’t find anything in my databanks. You should follow the instructions and get to the life-suits and shelter-pods immediately.”
As Barbzilla crawled along the trembling and cracking floor towards the emergency life-suits popping out of the floor, the artificial gravity failed and she ended up floating and flailing around in mid-air like a fish out-of-water. “Oh no, not again,” she cried as the zero-g environment impressed upon her. “Aaagh! Help me Pod!”
“Hold on. I’m equipped with a zero-g propulsion unit and can be with you in 20 seconds.”
Alert! Alert! Major hull breach detected. Decompression imminent. Safeguards down. Equip life-suits and report to shelter-pods.
“Hold on to what? Hurry!” She could feel the vertigo creeping up around the periphery of her vision.
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As Pod was making his way to Barbzilla, the room they were in was halved due to a giant rock tearing through it, missing her by but a dozen meters. Caught in the rogue asteroid’s residual gravity wave, she was suddenly thrust into and exposed to the vastness of outer space. In her spinning, she caught glimpses of the distance between her and Pod and what was left of the station increasing dramatically. To make matters worse, with the mx1000 in stand-by mode, she had been using the stations internal atmosphere as life support. With no station, she couldn’t breath in fresh oxygen. And, if that wasn’t enough, she started hyperventilating on vacuum.
Ding! Ding!
Status Effect!
You have been affected by (condition):Exposure
Effects:
* Suffocation
* Genetic damage
* Freezing
* Petrification
Time to Permanent Damage (PD):60 secondsTime to Total Body Failure (TBF):117 seconds
Status will remain until death, fortification, or cause is removed.
[br][/br]
Status Effect!
You have been affected by (condition):Space SicknessALL STATS reduced by:50%
Effects:
* Vertigo
* Involuntary muscle constriction
* Increased heart rate (critical)
* Increased blood pressure (critical)
Time to Total Body Failure (TBF):117 seconds
Status will remain until death, suppression, or cause is removed.
She couldn’t tell whether the ice-like sensations she was feeling were a product of suffocation or the moisture in her skin crystallizing from the extreme cold of space. It felt as if her eyes were going to pop out of their sockets. If not for the hyperventilation, she’d have tried to squeeze her eyelids shut, but she was too panicked to give up her sight. Besides, they felt as if they’d swollen so much her eyelids weren’t long enough to cover them.
Just when she thought her life was about over, again, she heard the sweetest words, “mx1000 activated. Boot up successful. Initializing operationality. Stabilizing life signs.”
Ding!
Status Effect, Suspended:Space SicknessStatus Effect, Suspended:Exposure
She didn’t know what the suit did, or how it did it, but she was thankful. However, as she watched the station explode before her now normalizing eyes, she wasn’t so sure anymore. A long, painful death seemed to be in order, and she had no idea how to prevent it, even if she had a clue how to use her suit to get her to safety - wherever that was.
Ding!
A quest has failed!
{PUBLIC} Due to the inactions of XxJohnnyTheManxX, the space elves have lost their beginner footprint in space. Space Elf has been removed from the list of available starting adventurer options. The space elf consortium has placed a million-credit bounty upon XxJohnnyTheManxX’s head. Anyone caught fraternizing with XxJohnnyTheManxX will be treated as hostile by the space elves. Any race caught freely engaging in transactions with XxJohnnyTheManxX will be treated as hostile by the space elves. XxJohnnyTheManxX must be brought to Space Elf Headquarters, alive, to collect the reward.
{PRIVATE} Official space elf-specific equipment is no longer available outside official space-elf territories.
With her vitals stabilized, she was able to think properly, to some extent. Fuckin’, Johnny! So it was you that did this to me! You better hope I don’t find you first, or I’ll be bringing you in on a pole up your ass!
Ding!
Extinction-level Event!
{PUBLIC} If all player-space elves die within one in-game month of each other before a new starter station can be constructed, the space elf civilization will collapse.
{PRIVATE} Do not die!
Effects of collapse:
{PUBLIC} All NPC space elves will disappear. Blueprints of all commercially available space elf technology will enter the public domain of those involved in their downfall.
{PRIVATE} All player-space elf characters will be reset and forced to start over as one of the main races.
“Great! Just great! Even I’m smart enough to know space elves have just become target number one; not just XxJohnnyTheManxX, although I’m sure his bounty sweetens the pot. Still, couldn’t they have at least told us the location of Space Elf Headquarters? How else am I going to get space elf-specific equipment?” There was more than equipment on her mind. She had a sinking feeling that this extinction talk was going to be detrimental to her becoming an idol.
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