Continue Online (Part 3, Realities) (42 page)

The double laser sword came out next. I stabbed at anything that looked frail while running. Our thudding path across the hangar's upper level was shaky at best. There were support struts and bound wires holding up our causeway, I cut them all to slow the giant down.

One
[Mechanical Minion]
didn't seem to grab the giant mess of armor's attention. The
[Ooozed!]
effect had just worn off. I wasn't running fast enough. Further minions would help, but we needed distance. I scrambled across the wing of a spaceship that sat docked inside and within leaping distance. It tilted to one side. The struts holding it up were a partial casualty of my initial burst with the Gatling laser gun.

My footing slipped and my heavy metal body scraped against the wing in a tumble. One hand gripped at an edge of the wreckage in order to break my fall. I landed at the bottom with far less grace than desired.
[Blink]
would have been neat to have here.

[Mechanoid]
bodies felt diminished pain from ARC feedback but one leg ceased to function fully. Numbness intertwined with a deep ache. A message popped up displaying the
[Hobbled]
condition but I waved it away.

I had distance. Out came the big gun once more. Metal rippled into the Gatling laser and my energy was burned on firing wildly at walkways where Auntie Backstab lumbered. She had stalled slightly due to our narrowed passageways. Despite the insanity of our chase, she seemed to care for the ship's structural integrity. I did not.

The full burst drained my energy. Her health bar had hardly moved. Once again I affirmed in my mind that this was a fight to run away from. Maybe during my next contribution grab, like the
[Leviathan]
kill, I could purchase a nuke and deal some real damage.

Auntie Backstab let out a roar and fell from the second story. She crashed into the remains of a fighter spaceship and flailed about. Chunks of machinery went everywhere, doing damage to her own people. The ship wing she had been carrying around lodged straight into a wall.

Dusk was currently chewing some larger human's shoulder. The two of them spun around wildly and more blasts went off. Jeeves was in a quiet corner of the room. The AI had a large red hued barrel in front of it and seemed to be connecting wires. They were both holding their own. The boss monster clearly cared about my presence over anyone else's.

"How much longer?" I asked Jeeves with a hint of desperation.

"Too long, User Legate," Jeeves said. It sounded worried enough that the normally stoic butler was affected. "I am trying. It is difficult to function due to damage. I estimate three additional minutes before completion."

"Yeah. Okay. I'll keep this one busy." I glared at the mess where Auntie Backstab wallowed. Jeeves was hurt, and clearly not a fighter in reality or the virtual world.

"Dusk is performing exceptionally well," Jeeves muttered.

I kept moving my
[Hobbled]
body toward the tunnels. Dusk wasn't killing the other men running around. Just bringing them low and letting them run off. He leapt around charging soldier after soldier. There were still large blasts of energy going around. A side glance at my combat map showed our forces dwindling. The
[Wayfarer Eight]
was under fire from the
[Knuckle Dragger]
's remaining guns.

"He does that," I said trying to make it another few feet.

Time for more minions. I popped out four additional ones and set them on the struggling Auntie Backstab. Pieces of her armor were cracked due to the fall. They were each given weak points to target.

My body reworked itself as the mass of four little terrors extracted itself. I kept on moving my
[Hobbled]
self toward the tunnels, hoping for the safety of distance. There was a maze of corridors which all interconnected back there like an ant maze. It had to be enough.

"Arrggh!" Auntie Backstab shook herself free. A shower of ship parts burst away from her landing spot. One hand grabbed a hunk of metal and shoved the offending object straight into her face like a handful of potato chips. She had broken free but focused upon eating and getting a weapon. One fist shoveled metal, showing her
[Levithan]
genetics in action.

I had five little
[Mechanical Minion]
s chomping at the boss' bits. My own stride was reduced by a considerable amount due to the size reduction. I activated one more minion and then used it to help tear off a vent cover. At four feet tall I should be able to crawl in.

"Unit Hermes, Unit Jeeves. We will be unable to break through the enemy lines and retrieve you. The Wayfarer Eight will stay behind, we are jumping in four minutes. An exit is recommended." Treasure's voice cut over our communications and painted a terrible picture.

"Jeeves!" I tried to use our group chat. "Tell me we're making progress!"

Auntie Backstab was busy yanking off a portion of the wall. I didn't have time or desire to sit around waiting for an encounter with her latest weapon. Dusk had used the crawl space. It seemed like a good method of escape.

"The Wayfarer Eight is close. Our bomb is ready. Escape is something I greatly desire," Jeeves said as I tried to make it deep enough into this hiding spot.

"Okay!"

"Metal man soup!" the boss yelled. She hadn't lost sight of me, her footsteps were even faster now that the armor had shattered in spots. My crawl space took a beating as her latest weapon clubbed into one side. "Argh! Little gnats!"

A wall outside crashed. The counter for my
[Mechanical Minion]
s went down. Whatever the drooling wall of anger did, it killed part of my metal Dusk army.

"I'll wear you pelvis as helmet!" Auntie Backstab swung at something. I heard a loud crash and risked looking out the nearest vent.

Down the hallway, I could see the boss, Auntie Backstab, on the ground and flailing at my minion army. They clawed and bit but did little damage. Her armor was too tough for us to get through. My crazy tactics earned us another few minutes.

"Jeeves," I whispered.

"User Legate? Are you okay?" It sounded concerned. I should be the one concerned. Jeeves might cease to exist should it die here. My digital existence meant nothing.

"I don't think we can get back to the Wayfarer Seven." More crashing and screams came from around me. The walls kept crunching in huge chunks while shuffling through my only vents out.

"Agreed," Jeeves said.

"Can our ship fly?" Another whack destroyed my current path. I scrambled backward and chose another route.

"Not far against the armaments we face."

"Doesn't matter. We can't stay here. Make for the exit, blow the bomb. I'll cover you."

"It is risky."

"I'm not staying on this ship. Not with you and Dusk. That's even worse." I thought about trying to find a place to hide, but it seemed impossible.

"If you believe that is for the best," Jeeves said. The sound of buttons being pressed came through our connection. The AI must already be inside the
[Wayfarer's Hope]
, or what was left of our battered vessel.

"I'll meet you at the exit." I was still
[Hobbled]
but managed to get out of my ventilation shaft hiding spot.

Auntie Backstab was a few corridors away. I shuffled with my damaged leg and tried to get to our ship. Behind me, the sounds of a rapidly approaching boss monster thudded. Her alternating cries of anger and annoyance grew louder.

The
[Wayfarer's Hope]
sat across the room. Its engines were humming with dim signs of life. Our initial entry had been covered by a force field. We should be able to fly out easily enough. The exit sat there like a welcoming light at the end of the tunnel. I looked around to find a clear path.

Two people hovered over Jeeves' explosive. I used my miniaturized hand laser to pester them with blasts. Only a moment's worth of guilt flashed by after gunning two humans down. They were just digital representations of pseudo people. My brief hesitation to save the bomb cost me my lead on Auntie Backstab.

I turned to see her lumbering form shuffling down the hallway. A miniature army of metal Dusk's chewed and harassed her, there was no time.

"Go!" I waved at Jeeves. Dusk wasn't even inside the vessel. He sat on top spitting globs of green oozing hatred at the enemies. A few stray laser blasts hit him, but he shook them off.

"User Legate?" Jeeves sounded worried.

"Go!" I said as the footsteps grew closer than ever.

"Backstab," a voice lumbering behind me shouted.

Pain flared between my legs as my body was lifted into the air.

"Successful!"

The force sent me spinning toward the exit. Nasty amounts of pain poured through my ARC's feedback. I cried out as an image of Auntie Backstab's body being chewed on by barely effective
[Mechanoid Minion]
s grew further and further away.

Jeeves used what little power our ship had available to pilot the
[Wayfarer's Hope]
out the same hole I flew through. We floated in space, Jeeves trying to fine tune the ship close enough for me to grab on to. Dusk squawked soundlessly from the vehicle's hood. His tail dug into the hull as an anchor. I reached out and used my own
[Anchor]
ability, grunting at the pain lifting my arm caused.

The bomb we left behind chose that moment to blow up. Concussive force rippled through us, spinning our ship wildly around. My character had increased in basic stats a lot since the last time we blew up something from the inside. Not to mention I wasn't hugging the bomb.

In the distance a shimmer of energy betrayed where the
[Wayfarer Seven]
had warped out. Off to one side, the
[Wayfarer Eight]
was using what fire power they had left to pound additional damage into the
[Knuckle Dragger]
's gaping wound. The remaining enemy fighter planes didn't care about our
[Mechanoid]
craft.

Our situation wasn't perfect, but we had a chance to turn this around. I was content to hang on with one hand and the
[Anchor]
ability. My head twisted slightly to view the fireworks display.

Session Fifty Six – Decompression

Dusk and I crawled into the ship's main cabin. There was a wall of nonsense in front of me. Part of it was battle result updates. They were mixed but useful. I scanned around for any immediate threats but didn't find any.

"Jeeves?" I said in between wheezing. "What's going on?"

Streaks of light were gathering together. The little map on my display showed our enemies grouping up into one mass. Auntie Backstab's ship was gutted, but the engines flared with life. Small pods flew out in order to escape.

"Based on my observations, the surviving men for Commander Queenshand are gathering. Now that the Wayfarer Seven is gone they will likely jump out to join her ship," said both the butler and nanny tones in Jeeves' voice.

"Will they attack the Seven?" I asked. Part of me worried that our situation had shifted targets. Our
[Wayfarer Seven]
should be able to clear the few survivors.
[Knuckle Dragger]
itself couldn't go anywhere.

"Unlikely. Our Wayfarer Seven would destroy them without hesitation. They will likely route to an alternate location in order to meet with Commander Queenshand," Jeeves said.

Our ship's engines stuttered adjusting our direction toward the
[Wayfarer Eight]
. A considerable portion of the battlefield was a giant mess. Neither side escaped this unscathed. It seemed like a lot of destruction for the chance to bring one person back.

Who exactly did Commander Queenshand want to recover that warranted the destruction of her own army? Could an NPC have the desire to bring back another personality within the machine? I felt a bit dirty.

I had sided with one AI army against another one in wholesale murder. To top it off I had enjoyed the thrill of fighting in space. Being chased by an enormous drooling monster clad in armor had been exciting. Part of me was objective enough to remember this was a game.

But what if I did recover Xin, and we were in this reality together? Would she be gunned down piloting a ship through space? Would an army of players murder her over mining nodes in the depths of unexplored areas? Would she be uncertain about the resurrection process like Jeeves was?