Ice stared at the small, white, poker chip-like token in his palm. "Raven..... how exactly does this ..... Advancement token, work?" he asked hesitantly.
Raven answered immediately," Touch it to a drone and it will upgrade it to an intermediate or higher drone of its type."
Ice thought about this for a few seconds before asking the next obvious question," So... I should give this to which drone?"
The AI didn't answer. So he shrugged and pocketed the chip to use later.
He opened up the store and saw a new page labeled Industrial System. Opening it, he looked through the short list of things he could buy starting with Basic Industrial Drones for 50 points and only getting more expensive until it hit Tier 2 Industrial System for 10,000 points.
He looked up at his balance surprised to see he had points, although he vaguely remembered a notification saying he got some. He had 20 points which meant he could buy something called a Drone Control Augment Model A.
Ice pulled up the tooltip.
[Drone Control Augment Model A]
An interface allowing AI control of 5 basic + 1 intermediate drones per 2 System levels. Current system level 1/?????
"Raven, how many drones can you control?"
The AI was terse, "Four basic drones of any type."
He considered this for a few minutes fingering the token in his pocket. "So you can't control an Intermediate drone?"
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"No," the AI answered. She sounded uncomfortable.
He grinned," How about we upgrade that!" and excitedly hit the button.
[AI upgrade started. 20 minutes to finish upgrade. Please find a safe location until System reboot.]
"Uhm.... Raven? RAVEN!" Ice realized he was alone for the next 20 twenty minutes. Panicking he checked on the drones outside. None of them were moving and the lights on them were dark.
He looked up and down the beach and towards the nearby hills. Nothing could be seen besides the blue sand and some yellowed bushes. As he turned to go back inside, Ice saw something moving out of the corner of his eye. As Ice looked over, all he could see was five black dots moving towards him across the sand. He quickly went inside and tried to close the airlock but it was jammed open.
Making a decision, he ran out of the ship and headed towards the hills hoping to find people or someplace better than the destroyed ship to hide.
As he crested the hills, he looked back briefly towards the dots and saw they were much closer. Looking ahead of him, he saw trees with bright purple trunks and pink leaves. The sight almost made him stop; it was even more alien then the beach; but after a short stutter to his steps, he ran into the forest. Ice looked around and found a long stout looking stick and grabbed it. He ran to a tree and tried to climb it.
Tried being the key word here. He was a gamer and alien world or not, he was not in shape. The short run had him winded and while he could reach the lowest branches if he jumped, he couldn't pull himself up. He heard a branch snap behind him. It sounded close but he didn't dare turn around. He took off running through the woods, the stick he had picked up banging into the trees as he passed.
He huffed and puffed as he ran, sweat stinging his eyes making things blur. He screamed as he tripped over a root flying into the base of a tree. He felt something in his arm snap as he held it in front of him to protect his head. He teared up from the pain but the shock of it reminded him he needed to be quiet. He could see what looked like a small cave among the large trees roots and he crawled into it. He wiped the sweat out of his eyes with his good arm. Possibly a few tears as well.
Ice huddled in the tree holding his arm and trying to be as quiet as he could.
Suddenly, he heard another sound; almost a crackling noise. It seemed to be coming from above him in the tree.
Ice held his breath, listening intently to find out if he was discovered.
Then a sudden ding startled a small yelp out of him.