The endless patter of rain and the occasional croak were the only sounds heard as silence fell over the construction site. Twelve, I counted twice, twelve Physma-Frogs sat motionless in the water like savage sticky-tongued sentries.
There was a red aura hovering over each Physma. The Minor Surveillance Sphere’s passive slot ability was proving to be essential. I also could still see the two purple auras of the mission targets in different places in the distance as well. If there was a Physma coming for Kat, they weren’t near our tiny tower.
An hour passed by, while Tako continued to stare where Jason’s body had disappeared as I sat in front of Kat. The boy’s blank stare persisted, with no obvious changes since his sudden outburst. His hard hat and goggles blocked most of the rain that poured over him. At this point I had stopped noticing the endless shower beating down on me.
“Hey, Kat, can you hear me?” I whispered, “I was the woman from the apartment, blink twice if you can understand. ” He looked at me, or rather through me, and did not respond in words nor blinks. The real guy was trapped in there and now he had a creature waiting to rip his head off before he had a chance to escape this nightmare. I turned to look at Judith, who was sniffling with tears and as she gazed in the distance at the various Physmas.
“I’m so sorry,” Judith said, her third cycle of apologies, “I didn’t know he was aquaphobic. I feel like it’s my fault.”
Tako sighed but remained silent. I half expected him to explode on Judith eventually, as the last moments of his friend’s life were spent in a frivolous argument. Knowing he wasn’t really dead made me feel less sad about the situation. He’d be resuscitated and given another chance to do this bullshit again.
“I was too paranoid about all this shit, this place is getting under my skin,” She said.
I examined the paraplegic, arms hugging her limp knees as the rain poured over her. Perhaps there’s more to not having your legs to free you from the bullshit you end up in that would have made me paranoid too.
“So, Judith,” I said, moving closer to her. “I’ve been thinking about these Physmas, I know you have too.”
“Yeah, but it seems too simple,” she said softly. “Perspective went easier on us than I gave it credit for.”
“If by easier you meant sudden death when you move,” I said, glancing at the creatures through the rain fall. “Sure.”
“My other hypothesis is that there aren’t a lot of clients with aquaphobia. Seems like if you aren’t aquaphobic they may not attack you.”
I nodded considering her words. I wasn’t afraid of water but I couldn''t say I loved water either. Papa taught me the art of floating at a very young age. Do I go swimming? Never. It’s a very neutral relationship.
“Here’s the dilemma,” Judith continued, “we have to keep building or else we’ll drown, but our friend here said he’s afraid of water. There’s probably a frog out there with his name on it that will come to eat him eventually.”
“What happens if we kill the Physma before it can kill him?” Tako finally said. “I’m tired of sitting around waiting.”
“I think that should bypass it all together.” I said. “How do you kill it though?” I glanced at Judith and gave her a knowing look. She shook her head.
“Frogs can live 4 to 7 hours without oxygen. My remedy is practically useless against them.”
“Wait, what are your remedies?” Tako said, looking at the girl partially responsible for his friend’s death. As Judith explained her remedy for hiccups, I brought mine to focus with the remedies prompt. The green box loomed in front of me.
“That seems really powerful,” Tako said, as Judith finished.
“Mine isn’t good at all.” I said. “It’s a utility remedy called Cure for Xenophobia.”
“What does it do?” Judith asked.
“I don’t know. I haven’t used it.”
“You mean to tell me this entire time you’ve been sitting on a remedy and you haven’t even touched it. But you’re going around telling people to use their abilities to save themselves. What the hell, Madison.” Judith said, with a little scoff at the end. I nodded. When she put it that way, it did sound dumb to not have even tried it.
“Well, fire it up.” Tako said. “Let’s see what happens.”
[ Cure for Xenophobia ]
I activated the remedy with a mental push of the button.
(Cure of X: 5:00 minutes)
A five minute timer appeared in front of me and began counting down. In the same moment my mind exploded with ideas, terrifying ideas that would have never occurred to me due to the danger that was associated with them. How much did fear of the unknown limit the human mind? Shit.
“Well?” Judith said impatiently.
“It’s helping me think,” I said, my eyes scanning around the construction site. “I think we can figure out which Physma is Kat’s, but first,” I leapt from the tiny tower, half considering that I might be headless before I reached my destination. My heavy body made a splash in the water, now just above my knees.
“Madison! What the hell are you doing?” Judith yelled. I ignored her for now.
The rain rippled against the surface of the flooded site and I had to drag my feet to feel for the…there. The spheres were still there, the ones dropped by Jason. I reached into the water as if I was bobbing for damn apples and lifted the three into my inventory.
(A Minor Strength Sphere has been added to your inventory.)
(A Minor Surveillance Sphere has been added to your inventory.)
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(A Minor Construction Sphere has been added to your inventory.)
I figured he’d have those, but the construction sphere was new. I pulled the yellow sphere from my inventory and examined it, as rain splashed against the glass.
“You alright over there Madison?” Tako asked, his voice loud over the rain.
“Just wanted to get Jason’s spheres,” I said, climbing the steps of the small tower, “we’re going to need them. There’s three of them so we can split them evenly. There’s strength, construction, and surveillance.”
“I’m not touching them,” Tako said. “Jason’s life is connected to those spheres. I would tell you to leave them but I know you have to survive. I couldn’t take them though. It doesn’t feel right.”
“Let me know if you change your mind, Judith, which do you want?”
“The only one that makes sense to me right now is surveillance, I can’t really do much but look around otherwise.”
“I never had the construction sphere,” I said, as I handed Judith the pink swirling orb of surveillance. I equipped the additional strength sphere first.
There was an immediate surge of power, like a shot of caffeine was released in my muscles. Holy shit. My body tingled with strength as I clenched my fist. The words glowed a little brighter in the interface with a little plus one next to it
An overlay appeared that showed structural integrity of buildings as well as building supplies, which were slowly becoming submerged. How are we supposed to continue building if we lose all of the bricks underwater? I glanced at the little excavator and noticed it had the word inoperable hovering over it. I pulled the rope from the inventory.
“Tako, can you tie a rope by any chance?” I asked. “Make it into a loop?”
“I can,” He said, grabbing it from me. “But…why?”
“I have an idea, give it to me when you’re done.” He gave me a grunt of approval as I took a closer look at the interface
[ Beginner Class + Morbidly Obese ]
[ Team : 1 of 3]
[ Remedies : 1 ]
[ Inventory : 4]
[m. str. sphere + 1] [m.surv. sphere] [m. const. sphere] [empty]
[ Memories : 0 ]
[ Missions : 1 ]
[ Connect with the Idle Clients - 8 / 10 ]
[ Time until Phase One completion: 38:14 ]
(Cure of Xenophobia: 3:02 minutes)
The cure of xenophobia made me even more brazen with my sudden growth of strength. The timer was a little over three minutes and I wasn’t sure if there was gonna be a cooldown or something.
“Okay, I’m gonna do something crazy now,” I said. I hefted a loose brick from the tiny tower’s floor.
“What the hell are you doing?” Judith said. “Are you about to—”
I hurled that son of a bitch with every bit of strength I had in the direction of the closest Physma. The brick flew through the air with incredible force and speed. Watching it fly, I couldn’t believe I was the one who threw it. I also couldn''t tell if I missed.
(Minor Precision Sphere progress: 10%)
“This is insane Madison,” Judith said. “Really, really insane.”
“No, I get it,” Tako said. “Madison, here’s that rope you wanted.” He lifted a brick from the tower floor. “We aren’t going to get anywhere but underwater just sitting around.” He hurled the brick and it noticeably wasn’t as impressive as the one that I had thrown.
“Now you’re both trying to get us killed. Well, fortunately, you aren’t hitting anything with that throw, Tako,” Judith said.
“Ok Judith,” I said, “you seem to see a bit better than we can. Would you mind helping us?”
“So I can make it easier for us all to get killed?” She said, “no thanks.”
“Come on Judith, I think this could work,” I said, almost pleadingly.
“I said no,” She said, “seriously, I’m scared.”
“Do it for Jason,” Tako said firmly, “You’re using his sphere after all.”
She hesitated, then said, “fine. You’re right Tako. I didn’t consider that.”
“Thanks,” He said quietly, glancing at me through the rain. I know Tako, she’s not exactly what I expected either.
“Madison, I don’t know if you can try throwing a bit softer…and a little more to the left.” I nodded at the accuracy. Made me wonder how good two surveillance spheres were. “Tako, you weren’t close at all unfortunately. I don’t think you can do it with only one strength sphere.”
“Darn it,” He said. “Okay, I’ll get ready if it retaliates.” He started looking around as I picked up another brick and flung it, a little more to the left.
(Minor Precision Sphere progress: 20%)
“Too far left,” Judith muttered. I grabbed another and slung it, then another and another, flinging them at the creature nonstop.
“Bullseye,” Judith finally said. The moment she said it, the precision sphere jumped up massively from 50% to:
(Minor Precision Sphere progress: Complete!)
(A Minor Precision Sphere has been added to your inventory.)
I equipped the sphere into the final empty slot. “Hmm, just got a minor precision sphere,” I said, lifting up another brick.
“Haven’t seen that one yet,” Tako said, as he replenished the pile of bricks next to me. “Does it do anything good?”
I gripped the brick in my hand and peered off in the distance trying to recreate how I threw the last brick that finally struck the thing. There was a blue arched line that appeared, reminding me of this mobile golf game I was addicted to for a month.
“It helps me aim,” I lined up the target.
“When you hit it the last time, its vocal sack glowed a little bit. Just a hypothesis, but see if you can aim it slightly lower than you did before.”
“Must be a weak area,” Tako said. I tried to adjust the blue line but it was like I had the worst golf club possible. It didn’t bend nor give me any more information. I flung it as hard as I could, imagining the change in trajectory more than anything.
“Nice, another hit, you missed the sac but—oh, shit.”
There was a loud croak in the distance that began a cacophony of them. I looked to see the Physma flying through the air in our direction. Not just the one I hit. All fucking twelve of them. Tako ran in front of me, seeming to prepare for the incoming creatures.
“Now we’re dead!” Judith screamed, as the timer for the Cure of Xenophobia hit zero, and was replaced by a new blue ten-minute cooldown timer.