With a baseball hat pulled down to cover most of her face, she tried to see the danger before it could see it.
"I could always run. Now that I know what they would do, I could run circles around them," she talked herself up, trying to brave herself enough and push the fears away.
Unintentionally, she realized how observant she had become, paying attention to all the cars and people she could see.
"I can't believe it. I'm noticing so many details everywhere... Maybe these missions here are to teach me something?"
After walking a few minutes among the tall building and mostly office workers who hurried exited them on their way back home from work, she decided that it might be a good idea to have a cup of coffee. But then she realized she had no cash and remembered how swiftly the men in black came for her when she paid with her phone. So, she crossed the street and decided to go back, checking the phone to see if the security in the building might have sent her a message or called her.
She stopped to admire the tall building, looking up to see if the top floor had any lights on.
Yokocho Park, Number 2343… she read aloud the golden sign above the main entrance. “Isn’t that the direction where I was supposed to go to… in that mission I never accepted?”
[Yes, it is.]
“Oh, cool, so I finally got here, just didn't get any credit for it,” she said, partially disappointed she could not get anything out of it..
“Now, while we are here, let’s see finally about those Options. I’m so fed up with you Dinging me to insanity. I swear if I hear one more ding, I’ll bash my brains out against the first concrete wall I ran into."
[Message Alert Options:
Verbal
Sound
Text]
“What is verbal?”
[I can just give you a message like, ‘New Message Available’ or anything you like.]
“That’s too much. How about the text option?”
For an instant, she could not tell anything was happening, and then she became aware of the green letters that were displayed in the upper corner part of her vision.
It said,
[New Message Alert]
“Cool, I think I like that. That is so much better than the ringing!! I’ll take that any day of the week,” she said with enthusiasm, moving her hand in front of her eyes, noting the presence of green letters was not being affected. “So, it’s all inside my head! That is… so cool… and scary!”
As she continued to watch the text, she saw a familiar-looking dark van pull up in front of the building, followed by a police car.
An officer came out and straightened his uniform as he approached the building. Two men dressed in black came behind him. She watched as they entered the building and approached the security guard looking over the screens.
They seemed to talk for a minute, and they flashed out a phone, asking him obviously some questions. But he kept on shaking his head.
“It seems like… he is saying nothing to them. A good guy,” she concluded, especially after he shrugged his shoulders.
It took them a good minute till they exited, and then they went down the street, in the direction she came walking from.
How? How could they know where I am?
Only one answer came to her head. My phone! They must be locating me by me phone!
Taking a deep breath, full of regret, she took her phone out and dropped it on the floor, then bashed it a few times with her boot. Then she thought better of it and ran toward the nearby bus station, stepped inside the bus, dropped her phone behind the last seat that was unoccupied, and ran out of it before the door closed and before anyone could ask her any questions. She watched as the bus left and decided that it would be better to move to the building.
But then she stopped dead in her tracks as she noticed two men in black who stayed behind, standing just a few meters away from the main door and looking into the faces of people who were passing by.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Sooner or later, they will notice me watching them. I need to get out of here.”
So, she changed her direction, moving to a small side street away from the building, looking for the entrance to the garage.
“Yeah, I could just wait there by the entrance and see when Howey comes in with the van.”
The funny part was, she could not find it.
“I remember we drove quite a bit once we went down to a garage. So, the entrance might be in some other building. But which one? We made quite a few turns.”
“Shit, so… which one?” she said looking around. “Probably would get it wrong. And now, without my phone, they won’t be able to call me. But I need to get out of here. Once they find the phone on the bus, they’ll come back here. I think… I’ll walk around. Maybe for a mile, stay far and away from the building, watching it from far away, and wait for these guys to be gone for good. Then I can go into the building, go to the 24th floor, and wait there till I see someone going to the 27th Floor. Then I would know it must be Howey back. Well, 50 percent chance. Maybe I can then go to the pantry door and bag against it. Maybe he would hear me then.”
All this plan formed swiftly inside her head as she walked toward the dark alley where small two, three-story homes started.
As she walked, a disturbing thought started to bug her.
Didn’t Howey know they would track me by my phone? He should have. Should have told me. And… he said he was just going for a few minutes. It’s been… like hours.
A new text prompt interrupted her troubling thoughts.
[New Message - New Mission Available]
“Another mission?”
[Yes]
“What is it?”
[Mission: Help Lady Kashi and escort her safely home
Mission Level: 0
Time Allotment: 15 minutes]
“Okay, so... does this mean I succeeded in my last mission? Is that it? I’m safe now?”
[Your last mission is still ongoing.]
‘So that means, I can… do a mission within a mission?”
[Yes, of course. At your Class of 1, the sum of Mission Levels cannot exceed 1.
So you could do as many Levels of 0 that you are offered but only 1 of Mission Level 1 and since you are already undergoing Mission with the Level 1, you…]
“Yeah, I know how to add, thank you!”
[Mission: Help Lady Kashi and escort her safely home
Mission Level: 0
Time Allotment: 15 minutes]
“And where do I find this Lady Kashi?”
The map popped in front of her eyes, with a big red circle blinking in the map a few streets away.
“That’s not far away. Maybe a few minutes of a brisk walk. I guess that is how Howey found me. That does not make sense….” Tala thought, only then remembering that she had a bracelet around her ankle, hidden by her pants. “Why would he give me a tracking device if he could find me with a map like that? Doesn’t make sense. I need to ask him about that.”
A few moments later, another thought occupied her mind. “Does that… does that mean that Lady Kashi is… also an agent?”
[That information is not available]
“Okay, well, it’s Class 0, so it should not be a difficult one, I guess. So, let’s say I accept it.”
On the transparent map that was constantly in the corner of her eye, she saw the red dot slowly moving down a small street, but she was closing in on her rather fast.
“Hey, another thing that I thought of,” she muttered to herself, “Is there an Option where I can communicate with you Telepathically, without having to talk?”
[That option is only available once you reach Class 3]
“That sucks. So, now, I just have to talk to you.”
[Yes. That is a good deduction.]
“So, then… this here is… an alien tech? That guy that gave it to me… he was an alien?”
[Alien to your world, yes]
“Okay. At least I know that now for sure. But… how come you are talking to me in English? Not even Japanese?”
[Why would I not be in English? Do you think a capacity to speak and form languages is unique only to you?]
“Okay… that was very not polite. But I guess I deserve it. But… that means, you’ve been here a long time.
[My database goes back only twenty thousand years.]
“Only that much? Crazy. I guess we’ll have a lot to talk about.”
[I cannot reveal information you have no clearance for. Do you understand?]
“You do not want to reveal the information or you cannot?”
[It’s the same thing. I just can’t do it.]
“Okay. I guess it’s the same thing since you’re some kind of AI. An alien AI that lives inside of me. Freaky.”
[If you want to know more, you will want to raise your class and rank.]
“And how do I do that?”
[How do you think you do that? Please, if you ask me stupid questions and are not able to come to a sensible conclusion, the system will grade your intelligence at a limited level, and then you will never be able to reach your full potential.]
“Oh, thank you. I will try not to ask any more stupid questions, okay?!? I mean, I got these green letters and a crazy beeping noise in my head! But please, accept my apology for asking you a ‘stupid’ question.”
[It was only a suggestion. I will not offer you any more suggestions.]
“Shit. You’ve got an attitude. I got myself an AI that now lives in my head, and it's is older than the human race, and it comes with an attitude. And a very annoying one at that! Crap! What a freaky day!”
She followed the map to a small side street with only sparse street lamps that could not chase all the darkness away. It was almost completely empty except for a single slouching silhouette moving slowly down the far side of the street. Tala stared at it for a moment, noting a red, pulsing border suddenly appeared around the silhouette.
“I guess that must be Lady Kashi. And here I come to help,” she said and scurried to reach her, determined to finish this mission right.