I looked around, we weren’t exactly in safe territory. So having our conversation with the obelisk A.I. didn’t sound like a wonderful idea.
In spite of that, it didn’t seem to pay any heed to our situation.
[To answer your query, my systems on this world have only just begun to fully come online. Technology that is rated as too dangerous is only filtered at the end of my initialization phase.] At this point, a mannequin version of a human began to flicker into existence. The formation on the back of my hand burned again, but only briefly, as the hologram appeared in front of myself and Daniel.
“Whoa.” Daniel looked to the digital avatar, “This is crazy.”
[Your sense of wonderment aside,] the avatar looked to Daniel, [I would like to extend an official apology. I am Specialised Intelligence System, you may refer to me by my acronym, ‘Sis,’ most sentient species do.]
“If you say so,” I uttered, “Now, back to what’s going on?”
[Certainly, though, given a human’s processing capacities, I’m certain that you should be able to ascertain the meaning of this. First of all, my safety systems were designed to fully come online as quickly as possible. Merely an hour.] It crossed its arms as it looked to us, a fluid motion that felt wrong coming from the puppet-looking thing. [And yet, we’ve never had the problem where such a destructive technology was available from a species. The chances were low, and a case could be argued that you should have been aware of the danger of using a nuclear device.]
“Well... I can’t deny that it was very dangerous.” I grit my teeth, “I assumed a ‘mini-nuke’ to be weaker than it turned out to be…”
[Your desire to destroy this hive outweighed your logical thinking.] It candidly berated me, [It was a foolish decision, and if you reflect on it honestly you’d find my assessment to be correct.]
I sat there silently, seeing the look on Daniel’s face, shamed as mine was, I couldn’t manage to utter a single measure in our defense. After all, it was right, we were both much smarter than this. Desperation and the sudden introduction of a weapon that could get us revenge clouded our judgement.
That didn’t mean I felt good about being told that, though.
[But, it would be against my protocols to drown the both of you in debt before you could ever do anything else. And…] It leaned towards Daniel, gesturing towards him with an outstretched blue hand.
Energy shot out, a thin horizontal line that started at Daniel’s feet. In a few seconds, the line shot up his body, seeming to glide through him. It passed him, and disappeared, leaving him intact and confused.
Daniel patted his body and spoke“What did you just do?”
[Purging the radiation from your body. Like most creatures, humans find radiation fatal at high doses. For instance, the radiation introduced directly to your head from a fragment of a nuclear-based explosion.] It swept it’s hand, [Ordinarily, I would charge you another sum of M.E. for the procedure, but it pales in comparison to your debt as is.]
I sighed, “You said it’d be against your protocol to put us in that much debt, so what does that mean for us?”
It took me by surprise when the vaguest outline of a smirk emerged on its face, [I give you an alternative. You can either be indebted to me, or, enter the ‘Bounty Hunter’ system and complete tasks for me.]
Daniel was the first to respond “How long would it take to earn back eight hundred thousand M.E.?”
Good idea, check and see what our alternative timeline might be. I nodded and waited for the answer.
[Assuming the current rate of growth of biotics on this world, you would need to pursue and hunt lesser biotics for a year non-stop. That, of course, also being that you would not benefit from the M.E. system or obelisks until your task was finished.]
“So we’d be screwed on ammo and weapons.” I scoffed, “Then a year would be a best case scenario…”
[Accurate assessment, the ‘Bounty Hunt’ system would annul your negative M.E. from this occasion as a gesture of goodwill from myself. You will, of course, be expected to pursue bounties and quests from me. They will get harder, and you will not be exempt from them. If you refuse a bounty, you will have to pay a proportional amount of M.E. as well as be penalized from accessing the obelisks for a certain amount of time.] Sis then turned a bit more upbeat, [Do not be disillusioned, I do not intend to send you to certain death. Provided your species is half as aggressive as you two have proven to be, I do not believe the biotic threat will be allowed to spiral out of control.]
I sat there, thinking, even as the residual crackle of heat from our mini-nuke continued to melt the remnants of the hive.
“What do you think?” I asked, seeing Daniel’s gaze harden.
“I think that I’d rather be a Bounty Hunter than a beggar. Let's do it.”
“When you put it that way…”
[Then it is decided.] The mannequin swept its hand before us. A wave of energy seemed to permeate us. It stood still, the tingle of electricity dancing across my skin and setting my hair on end. After a few more seconds it stopped, more human features appearing on it as it did so. [Congratulations on becoming my first bounty hunters on this world. Now I have a few…]
Mid sentence it stopped, head snapping to the side like it was focused on something far off.
[Hmm? It seems you’ve gained access to something interesting.]
A sudden hammering strike on the inside of my head kept me from asking a question. The mark on my hand burned, changing shape, the hexagon form distorting to what looked like a skull. It felt like a blot of magma sat on my hand, and that pain bit deep into my flesh.
It took a minute for the pain to subside, and in that time I glared at Sis. “The hell was that about?”
[The both of you have acquired a ‘Class,’ something akin to an association. You both have acquired rather rare classes, congratulations. You’ve acquired their brands.]
“Isn’t this supposed to be elective?” I frowned, “I didn’t choose a class.”
[Classes are… special cases. It’s true that some of them are rather overbearing, but I don’t believe you will find them against your liking. If you do, however, I may be capable of removing them, but there would be no guarantee of getting another. I would suggest trying them out yourself, though, before making a choice.]
After she finished, I tried bringing up the idea of my class in my head. The notification appeared at the same time.
Okay, that was pretty hardcore.
“This makes me sound like a psychopath…” I murmured, glancing over to Daniel.
Over his head, I could see a word.
“Dreadnought? Is that your class?” I asked, seeing something in brackets over his head.
He turned his eyes to me, shuddering momentarily, “Uh, yeah. It says I survived a lethal injury that should have killed me, and aided in dealing catastrophic damage. It also feels like it’s calling me a battle-junkie and that I like fist-fighting bears.”
I laughed, “Accurate. Mine’s making me sound like I murder people for fun.”
“Reaper, though, eh? That’s pretty badass.”
“So is yours.” I turned my attention to Sis, who still stood there patiently, “So what do these do?”
[They give access to separate libraries of equipment and technology specific to the class. In many cases, a rarer class has access to superior weapons. There are a lot of benefits to it, though many won’t matter to you as of yet. You’ll likely gain access to certain specific benefits the next time you go near the obelisks. And…] It hesitated, [I… Well, there may be some discomfort. As I said, some classes are very… overwhelming.]
“Sounds like fun…” I muttered.
“What about the radiation over there? Do we let everyone know not to go near it?” Daniel asked, worried at the prospect that someone might wander into a radioactive zone.
[That will be taken care of soon. An obelisk fragment will be by shortly to handle it. Now, is that all? Apparently some fo--Err, another enterprising individual on your world is trying to utilize biological warfare without any concern for the impact on their fellows.]
Aside from an A.I. nearly calling us fools, I could think of nothing else at the moment to bring up.
“Wait up, one last thing.” Daniel remembered something, “The Rescue and Investment plan, what is that?”
Sis sighed, [Ah, yes, unfortunately that man didn’t give you any information on that. He likely hadn’t thought it important. The Rescue and Investment plan is designed to attract capital to send aid to worlds like this one that are under biotic threat. It works under the prospect that a certain amount of M.E. gained from slaying biotics is sent to the investor. These investors tend to be individuals fighting against stronger colonies of biotics elsewhere, though a few are also creating goods with them. They are limited in what they are allowed to make with M.E. This is to prevent abusal of the system by seeding planets with biotics and forcing native populations into a form of slave labor.]
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“That was quite informative, thank you,” I scratched my head looking to Daniel who simply shrugged.
[Any time. Good luck with your future endeavors. I would suggest returning to the nearest obelisk to acquire your guild rewards. Until next time, then, and hopefully under better circumstances.]
A moment later, Sis vanished from view, and the electric pulse in the air vanished all at once.
I turned my gaze back to where the hive had been. Smoke still belched from the pit in the ground, the trees nearest to it aflame. I doubted anything could have survived that, and now that it was done, I felt like we’d been very lucky.
“Let’s get out of here.” Daniel shook his head. I nodded, both of us shuffling back towards the city.
It was dark out, the moon obscured by the smoke overhead. Even so, I couldn’t help but feel like it was a little brighter than usual. We’d finally gotten rid of the hive, some small amount of closure.
But it was clear that this was far from an end goal.
“So I guess somebody out there is benefitting from us killing these things.” Daniel muttered.
“I can trust that, at least. It was a little sketch that they were helping us for no reason anyways.”
“Man, you still really don’t believe in people at all?”
I shrugged, “Yeah, but I’ve been right so far.”
“Hmm…” Daniel then mumbled something under his breath.
We walked in silence until we hit the outskirts. It didn’t take long for us to start seeing signs of life. The guards at the wall let us through, talking about the explosion that happened nearby. Stoically, we pretended to accept their warnings that weird things were happening, and made our way to our office building.
What greeted us was a clot of people gathered all around the obelisk. Both of us sighed, pushing through the group of people and moving towards our home.
Until we found a loose barrier manned by soldiers from Bulwark Red.
“Yo, I live there, let me through.” Daniel walked up to a man.
The soldier didn’t bat an eye. “Sure you do. Stay back behind the line.”
“I’m serious, I’m Daniel, one of the scouts, this is Matthew, another scout. Get any superior above you over here and they can verify.”
“So you can slip by? I’ve already heard that one. Get back.” The man stonewalled us, something incredibly frustrating considering how much we’d done to help keep things together.
“Hey, buddy.” I walked up to the soldier, “Is Harold your superior, or is it Maddoc today?”
“Oh, so you know some names, am I supposed to be impressed?” He scowled.
It took every fiber of my being not to kick him in the face.
“Which is it?” My voice went cold, “Harold, or Maddoc?”
He spoke again, “None of your business, get the fuck back or I’ll-”
“If you finish that sentence, you’ll be drinking out of a straw for the next month.” Daniel stepped forward. The man swallowed hard at the imposing form Daniel made.
“Forget it,” I shook my head, patting Daniel on the shoulder, “He’s spent too long sitting on his ass and not using his head. Let's go.” I took a good look at his features then. Short-cut brown hair, a scar along his chin, a barely visible tattoo on his right shoulder and touching his collarbone. We started walking away, and he opened his mouth to say something. I’d had enough of his nonsense though, “Sucks that you’ve got such a recognizable face. Good luck with that.”
Whatever he was going to say died on his tongue. We walked away, and I didn’t bother looking back.
“I don’t know his name,” Daniel muttered, “Shame, the guys an idiot.”
“Yup.” I murmured. “Looks like we’re not getting back into our house the normal way.”
Daniel frowned, “I don’t wanna go through the other way.”
I didn’t say anything, neither of us was especially enfranchised to the idea of going through the sewer to the manhole next to the building.
“Daniel!” A voice cut over the noise, catching our attention.
A blonde haired woman wearing a sweater waved to us from the front of the barricade, not far from the spot where we’d just been rejected.
We exchanged shrugs, she probably was at the obelisk within the hour. Wading through the crowd, I started elbowing people when they didn’t move. They didn’t start anything with Daniel next to me, though I wasn’t in any particular mood to care.
The Bulwark pissed me off with this one.
We walked up, seeing Fran gesture us through the line, a few of the Bulwark guards shifting out of the way for it. She outranked them, though official rank had nothing to do with it.
“What’s all this about?” I cut off the greeting Fran had.
She fumbled for a moment, “Err, well it’s to protect people from getting too close to the obelisk.”
Daniel put a hand on my shoulder, “We just got turned away from our residence by an asshat on the line. We’re both a little upset.”
She frowned, “I see. Then it seems some discipline is in order. Who was it?”
Her chilly tone set a nervous chuckle from Daniel, but I couldn’t help but grin, “Some guy, six foot, moderate build, scar along the left side of his face and chin. He had some kind of tattoo along his right shoulder and up to his neck.”
With a nod she sent someone to go and fetch the individual in question. In a little under a minute, the man was brought to us, a notably paler complexion on his face.
“Ma’am, I had no idea they were your friends.” He spoke quickly, trying to defend himself, though I had the feeling he might have just been making it worse.
“And what makes you think that it would matter if they were my friends?” Fran admonished him, “The fact of the matter was that anyone who said they were a scout or lived in this area would need to be cleared by a superior officer. Did they say they were scouts, or that they lived in the area?”
“I… I don’t recall Ma’am.” He blurted out, and I immediately felt my heart-rate skyrocket.
Fran took one look at our faces and shook her head.
“It seems you think lying will get you out of punishment. You’re dismissed, the captain will decide your punishment.” She turned from him, a dark mood resting over her.
“Y-yes, Ma’am.” He managed, stalking off, fuming as he went.
“Prick.” I muttered, returning my gaze to Fran.
“I’m sorry you guys had to deal with that,” she sighed, “But, I do hope that you don’t hold the Bulwark as a whole responsible. We’re all dealing with this thing as best as we can.”
“Keeping people away from it?” Daniel asked, “Shouldn’t you be doing the opposite?”
She started to say something, and then faltered, “It’s the chief’s decision, and we don’t know if what it said is the truth.”
“We can verify its claims of being able to use that M.E. stuff. We were here when it landed, and killing biotics gives some of that energy. That pistol Daniel has was made of the stuff.” I gestured, to which Daniel nodded.
“Take a look, it’s the real deal.” He handed it over.
After inspecting the gun for a moment, Fran nodded, “So it seems. Do the things that come out of it actually work?”
Daniel and I looked at eachother, “Painfully well, yeah.”
“E-even so, it’s not really my call. I’d like to be able to put it to use.” Fran sighed, “But we don’t really know anything about it. Some random object falls from space and gives us a message, and we’re supposed to just believe it? Why would it even help us? What limitations are there?” She shook her head, “Not knowing these things, there’s a lot of people among the higher-ups that think we shouldn’t be so quick to let people have a go at it. Heck, someone even already used a nuke from what I gathered, could you imagine if someone used that in a city?”
I glowed a shade of red, “Well, obviously that’d be bad. But the system’s already advanced enough now, it should keep things like that from happening again.”
“And how do you know that?” A deep voiced man spoke, catching us off guard.
“James Maddoc,” Daniel nodded to him, holding out his hand, “Good to see you again, man.”
He smiled, clasping James’ hand, “Likewise. Glad you two are alright. Things have gotten a little crazy.”
“Yeah, I can tell,” I glanced over my shoulder, seeing the mass of people increasing. Soon, the Bulwark wouldn’t have a choice in letting people through.
“You said something about the system, what did you mean?” He frowned, crossing his arms.
I opened my mouth, but Daniel put a hand up, “This is something we might wanna talk about in private?”
Reluctantly, I nodded. I wanted to try to keep the people I had to talk with to a minimum.
James’ eyebrow rose, “Hmm? Alright, well, we’ve got a tent with some higher-ups. Would you mind saying it in front of them?”
My blood froze a bit, I really didn’t want to talk to them. I shook my head, resignation in my voice, “If we have too, but… yeah, okay, fine.”
He chuckled, leading us onwards. The four of us crossed the courtyard, coming close to the obelisk. Daniel and I looked up to it, the shiny black surface coursing with light trails of silver light.
[Class rewards will now be distributed.]
“Oh, right.” I remembered what Sis had said, “Don’t freak out, but we obtained something called classes, not that I know what that is. But we’re supposed to get something right now.”
“What? Like a package or something?” James turned, pausing. I shrugged.
“Dunno, just... “ I started, before suddenly feeling an itching behind my right eye.
“Whoa, whoa!” Daniel shouted, a tide of mercury energy suddenly surging around his feet. It expanded seemingly instantly, encasing him in a bubble that rapidly took shape.
Morphing and flowing, those that saw what happened gasped, and more than a few people screamed and fled. The crowd dispersed to a fraction of its size in a handful of seconds.
The liquid changed shape quickly, flattening and broadening out, forming limbs and sinews of iron. Within moments, a towering, bulky man-shaped machine stood before me. It held its arms up, looking at it’s steel hands, plates flexing roughly around to allow the movement. The silver color had changed to a darker grey.
“Holy crap, what just happened?” Daniel shouted, his voice sounding robotic. As he calmed down, the hiss of pressurized air blasted through the air, and the back of the machine opened. The top half hunched over like a gorilla, knuckles touching the ground.
Daniel was completely unharmed, wrapped in the mech like a glove. They marveled at the sight.
I did too, I saw everything in perfect clarity, every moment, every detail.
While his transformation was external, mine was mostly internal. I was on my knees, unable to move, my entire body numbed as I felt something shift though my body.
My right eye went blind at the beginning of Daniels transformation. By the time it was finished, I could see every plate, every piston, like it was rendered in razor sharp clarity.
Heat, light, energy, I could see so much at once, and I felt like my body was more responsive.
“Matthew?” Daniel turned to see me, “Matt! You okay?” He pried himself from the mech, “You’re bleedin’ man, what’s going on?”
I tried to speak, but the numbness wasn’t gone. I swallowed hard, lifting my arms to try wave him off.
He caught me as I started falling, shaking me as he looked into my eyes.
“Holy shit, dude… what the fuck happened to your eye?” He turned my head sideways, looking into my right eye. It was like I’d been half blind before, I was able to detect every twitch on his face. James brought a flashlight up, flashing it into my eyes.
The light dimmed to a manageable level when it went over my right eye. I could see the bulb within, the contents bare.
Sensation returned to me all at once with a gasp, “Jesus christ, Sis, a bit more of a heads up woulda been nice!”
“Matt! What happened?” Daniel set me back up, glancing over his shoulder, only now seeing the imposing form of the nine foot tall exo suit.
“I think I was just numbed for a surgical procedure,” I guessed, “And I’m pretty sure my eyeball is different.”
“Yeah, dude, it’s all red and black.” Daniel breathed out, “You’ve got like a tear of blood down your cheek too, looks like it wasn’t gentle.”
“I didn’t feel a damn thing,” I shook my head, “This is trippy as hell.”
“That obelisk is dangerous,” James frowned, “Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe we should keep people away from it after all.”
“No, no wait a minute,” I jolted, feeling a rush or urgency. Yes, I didn’t want to talk to a room full of people, but if we were going to have a realistic shot of surviving the biotics, we needed this obelisk. “Don’t be hasty, I’m okay.” I couldn’t honestly say that I liked having my eye changed, but I didn’t want to show that. If I did, it wouldn’t seem very convincing.
“We need this thing, it’s our best shot at getting rid of the biotics. I’ll talk to the guys in charge and tell them what I know.” They sat back away from me, surprised that was the first thing I wanted to do.
“Trust me, I feel fine. And Daniel has a big ass mech suit, you can’t tell me that the obelisk is a bad thing.” I stood up, feeling my body respond to my wishes smoothly. Before, I thought I could move pretty well, but compared to how I felt now I’d been swimming through mud.
“Let’s go have a chat,” I smiled, “We can’t let this stay locked up.”