Chapter 1 - Perfectly Smooth - The Unforgettables: A ZeroYear litRPG
"Silas Cade and Liora Gorgath, counter two..." A weak, broken voice called the unusual couple to a small cubicle that Silas had to squeeze into. Inside the room, with its rusty walls, only a terminal, whose display was no longer readable, ejected two cards with difficulty.
Silas spoke, trying to hide his fear. "Incredible... We may never hear our names again in public. From now on, we'll be Archon and Stardust against the world!"
Liora "Stardust" snatched the cards from the terminal, glanced at the codes, and replied, "Arch, I just put the money into our new account. It'll only be enough to bring back two more people at most. I've already paid for our transport from Citta Paradiso to Rocatrista Chispa. Strange names!"
Arch checked his communicator and said, "Well, let's check it. Our contact there will be a guy named Gran Cordero Ramirez. If he finds out we came from Metropolis, it'll be a problem."
"Yeah, I'll handle him alone. If anyone gives you trouble because you're an ebex, just say you're my bodyguard. There are no passenger transports to the North of Rocatrista. It's the end of the world out there. Only cargo transport after that. While I'm settling things with our magic man, you need to find a way for us to get on a cargo aerolito."
“I’ll pretend I’m strong and social. Where could that go wrong? Look, if we take a cargo aerolito, we’ll turn into popsicles. Better to buy survival kits here in Paradiso.”
Star seemed to gaze at the horizon for a moment. A faint green light emanated from her eyes. “Good point. I just bought them from the station store. We could only afford kits with shelter and food. And that’s all our money gone.”
The two left Paradiso in a hurry. Upon reaching the store, they noticed the four kits lying by the door. They didn’t even bother to speak to the salespeople. Star showed her credentials when an attendant approached. Without exchanging a word, they were inside the aerolito in a matter of minutes. A collection of floating stones arranged like a passenger train, they entered without hesitation and found their seats in an empty carriage. There were hardly any people in Paradiso, and even fewer seemed interested in going to Rocatrista.
"Star, do you have any news about our classmates?" He asked as they laid out their things all over the carriage.
"Since our accounts were banned from the open network, it's hard to be sure. Nothing new. On the private list, the rumors are that they're going to kill everyone in Seneca 1335, but no one has decided anything yet. It could take forever now that it's become classified information."
"Everyone in Seneca died long ago. We're going to try to save two out of billions, and we haven't even been able to save ourselves..."
"You understand what I mean, Arch. They're going to prevent them from ever being revived. I don't know how they're going to do it. We don't have much time. If you want to back out, stay here in Paradiso. I'll leave you with half of what's left. You had already decided, hadn't you? The plan was yours, after all."
"It's a terrible plan. Are you sure you want to go through with this, Star? I will. The other options are even worse. I wouldn't be able to sleep if I went back now."
"Well, yes, saving people and giving a response to this absurdity. Fair enough. But what I'm really interested in is knowing what the hell happened in Seneca that caused such a reaction."
Alone in the aerolito and without more words, the two wasted no time. They set up what they needed to continue with their combat training in the vast corridors of an empty carriage, a workout that had once seemed so useless when they were just engineering students.
No conductors or guards came to check what the passengers were doing, only some very crude AI that they had easily befriended. Everything there was programmatic. Amidst the eternal night, at hypersonic speed, the two figures sparred, casting silhouettes in the yellowish light of a single illuminated carriage—hours, days, and finally, Rocatrista.
"We're here, or almost. It's impossible to be discreet since it's just us on this aerolito, but we can be quick. I've already passed the complete file on the two humans to Ramirez a couple of days ago since the network connection returned. We're going to revive the two brothers. Their names are Peter and Frank Somerson, both from the 18th-century London. The information we have is very detailed, so we can already get the nominal tickets for the four of us. I'm going to run to the meeting point."
And even before the aerolito came to a complete stop, Star jumped out and walked quickly, as if she always knew where she was going. Arch noticed that she had company. It was a figure roughly the same size as Arch, wearing a cloak that obscured any clear view. The figure started chasing Star, being more than twice her height and almost twice as fast. It will reach her in a few minutes.
Through the communicator, Arch said, "Careful, Star. We have company. There's a big guy behind you."
"I saw him. I can only run a little further. Watch out, there's another one coming your way, Arch."
The communication was interrupted, and Arch realized that a figure very similar to the other one was growing in front of him. It said, "Welcome!"
Arch replied, "Oh, hello there, friend. I need to buy some tickets to..." Arch was interrupted by something that sounded like laughter and grunts. "What the hell is this?" Four arms armed with knives lunged toward Arch. It was impossible to dodge or block all the attacks. If it weren't for the high-tech armor cloth that Arch had managed to bring with him from Metropolis, he wouldn't be alive to tell the tale. The attacks were powerful, and Arch knew he was in trouble. Even with his intensive training and the help of the martial arts he had downloaded before the trip, he knew his chances were slim; he needed to think fast.
"I'll take this, buddy!" Arch managed to stay calm enough. He realized his opponent was surprised by the ineffectiveness of his blows and began to attack frantically in a panic. Unbalanced slashes gave Arch an opening to disarm him, which he managed to do twice while parrying with their cloth. Now, there were only two more left.
Arch remembered combat stances from his training and performed a kata with the knives he had just stolen, which happened to be his size. Taking a half step back to get away from the direct hits, Arch shows his adversary that he knows what he is doing as he shouts in a menacing stance:
"I don't want to waste time here! How's it going to be?" This threat worked. The figure raised both upper hands, holding the knives as if to ask for a pause. It took a few steps away without turning around and then broke into a run. Arch whispered through his communicator, "What was that... Star, I'm on my way. Where are you?"
"Did you take care of yours? I also have a plan to solve my problem here. Don't come. Get our transport ready. I found out from the station's database that the aerolito we came in on is going to split in two. The passenger one goes back, and the cargo one goes forward. We'll take the cargo one."
"Incredible, Star. Some people might be calling the guards. That could be a problem. There is no one here checking the cargo. I'm going to do the following: I'll grab our stuff from the aerolito and hide in the cargo section."
With that, Arch immediately went back to his carriage. He gathered his belongings and looked for a control terminal. He found it by the external door and observed that the composition would indeed be separated within minutes. Arch used this time to obtain an access credential, which was simple given the aerolito's meager security system.
When Arch left the passenger carriage, he discovered, to his astonishment, that some doors to the cargo carriage were broken open, and several huge figures with four arms, wearing clothes very similar to those of his previous adversary, were carrying boxes of goods.
Arch grumbled internally but remained silent, observing the action. To his surprise, absolutely no guards appeared. After the system programmatically began to separate the carriages, the supposed thieves left the scene. Arch seized the opportunity to enter the cargo carriages and hide in one that he could open and, more importantly, close the doors with his credentials. He imagined that the guards were on their way, but minutes passed, and no one else showed up.
Meanwhile, Star ran toward Ramirez. She was relatively fast but slower than her pursuer. However, she had access to the city's information system. Without wasting time, she split her personality in two and instructed her copy to find a safe place on the map. After a few seconds, the copy informs her of the directions, and her pursuer stops following her. Mentally, Star was happy and proud of her copy. She had a brief internal monologue.
"Wow! What a marvel. How fantastic I am," she said proudly to her copy. "We solved all of that in just a few seconds."
"So..." said the copy inside her head. "Better not waste too much time celebrating because I brought you to an area controlled by, let´s say, a group. Luckily, these guys here seem to be different from the ones who were after us."
Desperate, Star ran faster than ever, trying to escape the potential control area of a mafia and reach Ramirez. She no longer said the most beautiful things to herself in the process. But luck was on her side this time, and she didn't encounter any more problems along the way. After a few minutes, she arrived at the meeting point with Ramirez: an old bar in the central part of the city with a sticky floor that held onto your shoes like an old friend.
Inside, she found her magic man, hungover and slumped on a velvet bench, along with a couple of humans, also in bad shape, and dumped beside him. Ramirez, with one eye closed, noticed Star's approach. As if nothing was happening, he immediately stood up, adjusting his clothes and saying, "Oh, I thought you were coming yesterday. When you didn't show up, I figured you guys would be a couple of days late. I went ahead and did the job. These two are the ones from Seneca 1335, but they made a lot of trouble!"
"My God, Ramirez. Are these Peter and Frank Somerson? They don't look anything like the description I sent you. They should be 18th-century war veterans from England, not a young human couple. They should have a lot in common to be able to have some peace in this world."
"So, Star, this is what we have for today. I got to know them better last night. This one is Petra Somerson, and the other is Frank Summers. It seems they came from a place called America, but they didn't know each other. I am not sure if they lived close by. They both were young in the 90s, and they even spoke the same language and knew the same songs."
"You brought them back, and the first thing you did was take them to a bar? You didn't explain anything? Are they the only humans here?"
"Of course they are. They were gone for thousands of years, or who knows how long, without going to a bar. They got excited and ended up arguing. I was already asleep when it happened. It all went down too quickly."
Star put her hands on her head. "Are they really from Seneca 1335? I mean, what the hell, man? Can you try to revive the two I asked for? I'll take care of all four and pretend nothing went wrong."
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"I'd love to, Star, but I need more preparation to regain my strength. But it's not just that. When I tried to revive the first one, there was some kind of mysterious interference. I've never seen anything like it. It's like someone was watching what I was doing. I can try to bring back two more in a week, but the ones you asked for might not be available anymore. I don't know. I see you've already paid me for two. Since it didn't go entirely right, I'll do the next two for half the price. What do you think?"
Star was worried about Ramirez's excuses, unsure how much truth was in his words. She decided, "Let's leave today. Does your half-price offer apply to these two?"
"No. Payment in advance, and the client bears any potential errors. No one has insurance in this city, as you should know from the contract. If you change your mind, you know where to find me. Take care, Star!"
"Take care, too, Ramirez." Star looked into the magic man's eyes for a moment, trying to guess if there were real problems. She thought to herself, "Ramirez earned his life doing this for a long time, and the information was precise enough for him to do it before. There must have been a problem. They may have already done something to the people we had detailed information on, but not everyone yet. What's going on that makes the people from Metropolis act so quickly? It's better to get out of here. At least we saved these two."
And so, Star ran back to the aerolito, carrying the two still completely unconscious humans with some difficulty. She spoke through the communicator to Arch. "So, I'm coming, slowly. They're both out cold, and I can't move fast to the carriage. I should arrive in 18 minutes, with great difficulty. When does the aerolito leave?"
"Hello, Star. I was about to talk to you, but I'm still trying to find a safe place. I just got into a cargo carriage that wasn't broken into. I got the access credentials and will send them to you via encrypted communicator. The aerolito leaves in about an hour, more or less, if it gets on time. Our four-armed colleagues robbed it."
"We have time. Don't leave. It must be full of guards. I'll figure out how to get in with these two. They're not likely to wake up now. I don't know what to do. Maybe I'll call you when I get close."
"There are no guards and no operators..." Arch confirmed, checking again through the tiny window of his cargo aerolito. "I'm not sure what's going on in this city, but it seems this aerolito is going to leave on time. Everything is programmatic. If you want, I can go to you and help bring the two inside. The doors of half of the carriages are completely broken, and no one seems to care."
"Okay, I'll send you my location. Be careful, and try not to be seen. Bring your big blanket to wrap the two of them up here. We'll take them as if they were cargo. From what I can see from here, we're in a region controlled by crime. In Metropolis, they mentioned problems, but nothing like this. We're not going to assume too much right now. Let's be cautious. The process of bringing people back to life didn't go so well either..."
"I'm on my way. We'll take care of the details later. I'll have to disconnect to try not to be seen. Very carefully. I can't do as many things at once as you can."
"Thanks for the compliment. My copies are really exceptional. Don't worry. We have two people from Seneca, but not exactly the ones we wanted. I'll explain later. I'll send you the visual of my location on your communicator, and we'll get out of here."
Arch left the aerolito in plain sight, wearing a cloak that made him look like the other big guys. He is using the blanket from the survival kit as a mantle, and no one has stopped him to ask him anything. Only a few sideways glances, but everything was fine.
Arch found Star in an empty alley, and they immediately took care of the humans, placing them on Arch's shoulders under the cloak. Within a short time, the four of them were back on the cargo aerolito without drawing any attention. They remained silent until departure, taking care of the unconscious humans and exchanging messages on the communicator to explain what had happened to each other. And so, without delay, they set off northwards in a cargo carriage towards an unknown destination.
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Name: Silas "Archon" Cade Species: Ebex XP: 4 / 1 Powers Super-Resistance (ebex) Magnitude 1 Super-Technique Magnitude 1 Unknowledge (ebex) Magnitude 1 Natural Combined Armor (ebex) - Know it all (party) - Skills Traditional Dancing (Dex) +2 Mathematics (Int) +4 Computer Engineering (Tech) +4 Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) Essence: Reality +4 Days: 9116 Equipment Superior safety clothes (AC 3) 2x Crude mafia knives (d6), melee, hit: Dex Other 3 credits on Paradiso account Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Liora “Stardust” Gorgath Species: Oioioi XP: 3 / 1 Powers Super-Life Magnitude 1 Shardify (oioioi) Magnitude 1 Superior Technology Network (oioioi) - Structural (oioioi) - Know it all (party) - Skills Video gaming (Dex) +4 Informatics (Wis) +3 Traveling (Cha) +4 Kung fu (Res) +4 (fixed - know it all) Essence: Reality +4 Days: 8561 Equipment Still empty hands :-) Other Secure private network nano-connector Mk1: enables connection with Mag1 safety 2 credits on Paradiso account Survival kit (fuel cube, shelter cube)
Name: Petra Somerson Species: Human XP: 2 / 2 Powers ??? ??? Skills ??? ??? ??? Essence: Reality +4 Days: 5230 Equipment Empty hands :-) Other Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)
Name: Frank Summers Species: Human XP: 2 / 2 Powers ??? ??? Skills ??? ??? ??? Essence: Reality +4 Days: 4950 Equipment Empty hands :-) Other Survival kit (food cube, shelter cube)