We took it quite a bit slower for our last leg of the trip to Grilith, but at least this time we weren't being pursued. The desert floor transitioned from silky sand to rocky plains and back again several times, with uneven hills and dunes that really limited both our speed and visibility.
I rode parallel to Shock to make she was managing all right with her battered body. No wipe-outs or unexpected stops, so I assumed she was okay. What surprised me the most was that Shock's bike seemed functionally undamaged. Sure, it had some pretty glaring scuff marks, chips, and scratches from the crash, but she seemed to be able to ride it without any technical difficulties.
I couldn't remember if the shopkeeper from Dukes mentioned anything about fees for cosmetic damage, but I figured it was probably discerning to put that thought aside for now.
All in all, it was a rather uneventful final stretch, but I didn't mind that so much, and something told me Shock didn't either.
I slowed down just a bit and looked up high in the air in front of me. Grilith Tower was wild up close. Not only did it look much taller when viewing it from its base, but you could really get a good look at its shiny, iridescent exterior, covered all over in colourful abstract art. I could also see a whole bunch more of those curvy paths circling around the tower like a series of roller-coasters; it was a bit overwhelming, but I found myself riled up with anticipation nonetheless. Kind of like when you're in line for an amusement park, I'd imagine. The base of the tower was also lined with tons of giant pieces of scrap metal, not unlike the outskirts of Zynima, but without all the makeshift shelters scattered around.
As we approached the base of the tower, we slowly decelerated and stopped on a somewhat flat strip of rocky terrain where a whole slew of vehicles of wildly varying sizes were already parked, maybe 10 or 20 feet from the tower. It was so relieving to finally make it to Grilith after that incident earlier.
Aligning my bike parallel to a massive buggy on my left, I hit the parking brake and turned the key to the off position. The rumble of my bike quickly died out. Shock lined herself up on my right and did the same a few moments after I parked.
I spun around on my seat and set foot on the ground. Now that I wasn't rushing around in a panic, it occurred to me how floaty I felt after standing up after a long ride like that. The vibration of the bike felt like a natural part of life that'd suddenly gone missing, and it took me a few steps to regain my bearings.
“You know,” Shock spoke up, “I think I figured that all out,” she said while flicking her hand back in the direction we came.
“Those riders?” I replied. What was I saying? Of course it was those riders.
“Lure people in with cheap prices for unlicensed rides, have his buddies come and wipe us out so we pay the exorbitant repair fees?” Shock's eyes were rendered in a very displeased shape.
“That... almost makes too much sense.” I narrowed my eyes.
“Fuckers.”
“And, uh, hey. Are you holding up okay?”
Shock rolled her eyes. “Yes. I'd tell you if I wasn't.”
“Okay, okay.” I shook my head. “Let's just get in here.”
Checking back one last time to make sure we weren't being trailed, we trudged over the gravelly plateau, soon passing through the pathetically plain and ordinary entrance-way compared to the rest of the exterior.
The inside was just as spectacular and bright as the outside. It looked as if we'd just walked into a remarkably huge, hollow, crystal cave, seeing as almost everything in here matched the shiny silver and violet paint on the outside of the tower. It looked even taller on the inside. I'd estimate about 20 storeys tall? Yeah, that sounded right. And there were just as many, if not more, curvy pathways, ramps, half-pipes, loops, and rails surrounding a huge hexagonal indentation in the middle of the floor. I was starting to feel a bit out of my league already.
Our footsteps echoed sharply as we took our first steps on the smooth crystalline floor. However... what struck me as a bit odd was the lack of any other sound. You'd think a radical looking place like this where the number one skill bot lived would be filled with activity, but no, it was nearly silent. I could hear a little bit of distant chatter from a couple corners of the first few floors, and some indiscernible sounds emanating from somewhere near the very top floor, but that was it.
I wondered if Lavil was even here. Sure hoped so.
Right away, I spotted a covered staircase to our right that looked like it spiralled all the way up to the top floors of the tower. I also noticed seconds later that someone had carved the words “pisser path” into the wall near the base of the stairs. I completely failed at stifling a chuckle.
“Hey, wait,” I started as I noticed Shock already limping up the staircase. “You don't want to check the rest of this floor out first?”
“I didn't come here to have fun. I came here to get in touch with someone. That's it. I don't want to mess around.”
“How do you even know Lavil is up there?”
“Do you see anything down here, Aural?”
Damn, what a grump. “Well... I'm at least going to take a quick look around first. I won't be long.”
“Okay then,” Shock sighed. “Meet you up there.”
I side-eyed her really hard while she walked up the first flight of stairs. Not like I was going to take forever. But, to be fair... I could understand why she might be a little high-strung right now.
Aside from the huge hexagon shape in the ground, the first floor was very reminiscent of a typical skate-park, just... without the skaters. Without anyone, it seemed. It was starting to unnerve me a bit. This wasn't private property we'd walked in on, was it? No... couldn't be. But then again, Lavil was pretty famous, this could totally be his own place...
I interrupted my indecisive thoughts, and instead skirted around the edges of the park area to look for anything of interest. Ah! There was a pair of bots underneath the bottom of the staircase, both humanoid: one was made with sleek, navy green parts definitely designed for quick movement, while the other was a much taller, dark grey robot with a fairly clunky-looking design, covered in orange markings and lines, sporting a huge orange smile on its face. The green bot was wearing red shorts and a white t-shirt with a gear image on the front, while the other wore nothing.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
They didn't look too scary, so I walked over and gave them a gentle wave as I approached, drawing their attention.
“Hey, is it okay if I bother you two for a moment?”
“Yeah, what's up?” the bot with the gear shirt answered in a gravelly but ladylike voice.
“Is it normally this empty here?”
“No, it's usually packed, but the big race was today! So everyone was out skating and running around. But... I heard something rough happened up top where everyone finished, though...” she explained, pointing to the top of the tower.
“I'd been waiting for that race for oh-so-long,” the other bot added, speaking with a very vibrant tone.
Big race? Interesting. “Something bad happened up there..?” I asked, hoping for a better explanation about the “something rough.”
“Pretty sure. I heard Lavil shouting some obscenities pretty loud up there! I don't know what happened though,” Ms. Green Bot explained.
Lavil is here, then. We had something going for us.
“All right. Thanks,” I concluded, repeating my wave gesture from before.
“Good luck!” the smiling bot then turned to his friend and left me to my own business.
With all the recent events going on lately, I couldn't help but fear the worst.
It would be prudent of me to catch up with Shock before she ascended all the way to the top, but there was one more area that caught my eye – a small, open room branching off from the main park area, maybe a few dozen feet away, significantly darker than the rest of the tower. Curiosity getting the better of me, I started towards it to take a peek before meeting back up with my pal.
Slowly peering inside, it was illuminated only by a lone computer terminal, standing up at about eye level. A really old-school terminal, at that. The room was otherwise empty, only big enough to fit a few people at most.
Well, assuming Grilith is a public area, I don't suppose it would hurt if I took a quick look at it, I figured, positioning myself in front of the big monitor. There was a big button on the left side of the screen reading “view logs,” but that seemed to be it. Seeing no other way to interact with the terminal, I gently touched the button with my finger.
Huh. A bunch of odd dialogue popped up on the screen, separated by different colours and symbols to denote different speakers. Whatever it was made zero sense to me. Part of a story, maybe? Or a chat log?
Oh well. Time to go chase Shock. I ran back to the bottom of the stairwell at a brisk pace and started hopping up two stairs at a time. Due to her leg, Shock wasn't that far up yet. “Hey,” I shouted, grabbing her attention. Once I hopped up a few more steps and caught up to her, I quickly went over what I heard from the robots down below.
“Something bad happened? But you don't know what?” she turned to me and asked, suddenly looking more fearful than upset. She stopped walking for a moment and let out a really deep, exasperated sigh. “If the last week of my life has been any indicator of what it is...” she began, ending her sentence with a bit of a sarcastic inflection.
I had a slight feeling I knew what she was suspecting. I nodded and kept walking up the stairs at her pace. She soon followed.
Looking to our left where the railing at our side and the roof over the staircase opened up into a long window, we were about four storeys above the ground floor. Up this high, some platforms near the edge of the tower held a couple of small rooms that looked like they might've been homes of some sort? Or... maybe shops? I couldn't tell from this distance, but there was definitely more activity in here than what could be seen from the ground floor.
The closer we got to the top, the more anxious I started feeling. Lavil was the #1 robot on the skill chart – meeting someone like that in person is pretty intimidating. And what if he was in a bad mood? If something terrible had actually happened up there like that other robot said, he probably wouldn't be in the mood to talk to a couple of strangers.
I quickly reminded myself of the importance of our mission. Trivo was in danger, and she needed Lavil's help. I really needed to stop second-guessing myself. Lights, camera, action, lights, camera, action, I chanted in my head.
I took another peek past the stairway railing. If I ever had a fear of heights, it'd already been cured by that break-in at my home; that being said, we were still dauntingly high up.
“Ah, for shit's sake... fuck!” an unidentified voice echoed from somewhere. Shock and I both looked at each other for a moment.
“Did that come from the top?” Shock asked.
I shrugged. “Only one way to find out, I suppose.”
The remainder of our trek was apprehensive and silent, save for the cling-clang of our footsteps. I couldn't help but glance out past the railing every minute or so, watching the ground floor get farther and farther away. We were surely higher up than the drop from my tower to the desert floor at this point.
As we got closer to the top, more clamouring and activity could be heard, and I could vaguely make out some words and phrases.
“Him again-”
“What are we going to-”
“Viniko-”
“Who would-”
“-Did three win?”
Not much of it made sense. I hastened my pace just a bit, encouraging Shock to do the same. As we neared the top of the tower, the stairs became shorter and shorter until the window above the railing to my left was blocked off by the ceiling.
Seconds later, the ceiling above us opened up, and the sky was now shining down on the walkway. We'd reached the summit of Grilith.
The moment we set foot on the roof, my senses were totally overwhelmed. There was a lot to take in. Several robots, all of different builds and heights, were grouped up over on the opposite end of the roof, chatting quite loudly among themselves. Above them, a gigantic floating, grey cross with a blue outline of a half-opened eye on the front ominously hovered around, looking down at us. The rest of the roof was flat, except for a couple of rectangular rooms jutting out in seemingly random spots.
I was speechless. I'd never seen anything like that huge cross thing before. All I could think to do was stare.
“No- HEY! Everybody chill out for a sec! Who is that? Who are they?” Someone from the group screeched. “You two,” a short, light blue humanoid robot skated out from the crowd, pointing at us, “what are you doin'? What you doin' here?” he gruffly belted out.
“Yo, hold on,” I started, putting my hands in front of me. “We're just looking for Lavil-”
“We're peaceful, we're peaceful,” Shock interrupted me.
“Ya? Which one? Which Lavil?” The blue bot continued, speaking incredibly fast, still skating closer to us.
“Shit, uh...” I turned to Shock. “Which one? Lavil... II? That was the one on the skill chart, right? Was it II?”
“S-sure,” she answered, nodding. “We're looking for Lavil II.”
“Yeah, okay, speak up then, what do you want?”
Was... was this Lavil II? “Uh, it's long, do you want the long or the sho-”
“Go! Talk, dude!” Lavil barked.
“Okay! We were called to a place in Zynima City by a robot named Trivo, and, well, long story short, she got kidnapped, and we-”
Lavil held out a hand made of several floating segments to my face. “For ffffffffuck's sake! Damnit! Damnit!” he screamed, attracting the attention of some of the robots behind him in the crowd. “Not again...!”
“Do you know Trivo? Can you help us, Lavil?” Shock asked with a powerful sense of urgency.
“Yeah, I fuckin' know her.” He turned to the crowd. “You all listen to Lavil III and CITE while I'm gone! CITE, watch the corpse, don't let ANYONE fuck around up here! And you, III, same thing!”
“Don't need to tell me! Damn, kid!” A voice almost identical to Lavil II's bleated from the crowd.
“Y-y-y-y-yes!” A synthesized, chirpy voice replied from... somewhere. The huge cross floating above the group quickly disassembled into countless smaller cubes and flew off to somewhere out of eyesight.
What... what did I just witness? Wait... did he say corpse?! I looked at Shock. She was staring at Lavil, eyes wide, mouth open. Yeah, me too, pal.
Lavil ignored her aghast expression. “You two, come with me. Now! We don't have time to fuck around.” Lavil skated away to one of the rectangular rooms, beckoning us with a hand gesture as he moved.
Shock shrugged and put her arms up in the air, looking as confused as ever.
I leaned close to Shock and lowered my voice. “I really don't know what's going on here either, but we better go with Lavil for now, right? Trivo said so.”
Seeing the sudden doubt on Shock's face as I said the name Trivo, for a brief moment, I wondered if this whole thing was a setup of some sort. As far as I was concerned, we'd come too far to not see this through.
We headed over to the room Lavil called us to.