《Valent》


 The Beginning of a long journey starts with blacking out unconscious.

    In medias res. It means to start in the middle, but is it truly the middle if it¡¯s a start of something?


    God, I feel old. Hell, even the idea of God and hell feel old.


    ¡°God¡± is justa verbal anachronism now, ¡°Hell¡± too for that matter. A verbal tic from a bygone age of unenlightened minds, mystic mumbo-jumbo, and monkeys trying to make sense of things not understood. Science has ¡°proved¡± that it/he/she doesn¡¯t exist. But I don¡¯t know if I believe that... most people call me an old kook. I feel old, at least I resemble that part. This moment in time feels like an argument on whether God/god exists, or maybe it''s just whether hell exists.


    Wait¡­ I was in the middle of something. Fuck... Static. Shrieking. White. Red. Black. Burning Flesh. Screaming? It¡¯s amazing what the mind can overcome when it¡¯s pushed past its limit to interpret signals. Screaming? ...Shit. That¡¯s me. I¡¯m screaming. I sound like a little bitch right now. I certainly don¡¯t sound like a hardened veteran of the ¡°Last War¡±. I certainly don¡¯t sound like one of the first recipients of the engraph limb replacement systems¡­ the ones that you couldn¡¯t use anesthetization for. They used pain to map the nerves. They connected better that way... So they said. I didn¡¯t more than grunt then. But, screaming? That¡¯s new for me. I¡¯m not saying that I am the world''s toughest guy. I just learned how to shut my mouth on it. How to bury it deep. Once you learn that pain is just signals, informing your body, that something has gone wrong, It gets easier to tune it out. Like an incessantly screaming child. A child. That¡¯s right I''m doing this for a child, but here I am screaming like one. Ugh. Mewling even. A scream, ¡°Fuck!¡± It drags out to its own eternity. The mind does funny things when it¡¯s overloaded with signals.


    What feels like minutes pass. A ringing in my head driving out all thought. Panicked voices screaming all around.


    ¡°Fuck! Install the inhibitor now! The uptake is too fast. Screw decay sickness. This guy is showing twice the normal resonance?! What the fuck is happening? Was he exposed to a Wildling?¡± The angry male voice tiraded.


    ¡°Unless the forms are inaccurate, he shouldn¡¯t have. We have seen increased resonance with recipients of the engraph series before. This much is abnormal, but we should be fine. It was theorized that the engraph series of limb replacements were a precursor to the VALENT implant. Those also tapped into the code.¡± The insistent female tried to insistently reassure.


    His angry voice continued unabated. ¡°This is twice! Twice! Even taking into account an engraph, that''s only ever been around 1.25 total measured resonance. You can¡¯t even begin to explain this deviation, except by wildling exposure. This asshole! He lied. I say we install the inhibitor now. Leave him a train wreck. If we don¡¯t stop him he could destroy this entire wing!¡±


    She countered more insistent, ¡°Look around, this isn¡¯t even as bad as a wildling outbreak. There has been no damage to the containment unit yet. Sure, there are spikes and fluctuations, but for some reason, the power spikes are self-contained. As long as the VALENT implant holds stable, it will be fine. Hell! If it burns out, he is the only one in danger.¡± She muttered resigned under her breath, ¡°As a vegetable. That¡¯s all that will be left. God, please N, keep it together.


    ¡°This is on you. This was your recommendation. I still don¡¯t know how you got it past the board. Most qualified veterans were already signed up. I even lost out on this docket slot! Where the hell you find this dinosaur? I swear you will lose your license if this goes sideways. Hell, I think I should still put you on notice for review. This whole mess stinks! We are at least removing the engraph unit until he stabilizes¡± Angry male number 1, continues his grouching. I can¡¯t hear them anymore.


    The Blizzard inside my brain once more taking me away. ¡°Dinosaur¡± he called me. What happens when you don¡¯t kill the dinosaurs on Earth? Well, apparently, things go a little funny. Apparently, the killing off of our earth¡¯s dinosaurs resulted in our earth remaining in a lower valent longer. It allowed us to develop technology in an entirely different way. We harnessed a system of exchange based on electricity. Considering what we have access to now. Electricity as a power source seems like such a comical system. Although our ability to do more with less really gave us a leg up. It made us flexible, creative, and in a weird way powerful.


    I know what your thinking...what an exposition dump, this guy is just running on about a voodoo nonsense, but honestly, this is the foundation of how it all ¡°starts¡±. Plus this moment of reflection is the only thing buying me space and time from the screaming that my body is doing. Trust me, I majored in philosophy, for what good that did me in the ¡°Last War¡±


    Variable. Aether. Linking. Extraneous. Neuronic. Trigger. In case you were wondering. VALENT. You know that ¡°garbage¡± genetic material that they taught you about. Well, it¡¯s actually way more important than you know. In an Aether rich environment, it behaves like iron filaments. They all line up and form a neat system that allows what the nerds call ¡°magic¡±. I¡¯ll tell you what it is. It¡¯s called Dimensional. Instance. Resonant. Extant. Controlled. Tear. also known as DIRECT. The 90¡¯s were hell. Why was there such an emphasis on acronyms? The ¡°magic¡± happens when you use your VALENT to create ¡°Directions¡±. There are machines that can create Directions, but they are massive. To utilize an ambient Aether source requires collectors, and since our earth, known as Exarch X07 Province, is still in a very low Valence state, the collectors are quite large. As time goes on and the Aether becomes denser, much of that technology will shrink. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Yeah, valence. Like, The valence shells that contribute to an atom. More electrons fill up more shells...so on so forth. Well more things are affected by those states. Pretty much everything of substance has ¡°shells¡± that can be filled up. Our earth didn¡¯t pass its first state until quite recently, it was actually the spark that started the ¡°Last War¡±. Sudden storms and what appeared to be unnatural phenomena were just the result of a transition to a higher energy state.


    The world has taken on a funny blurry filter. Last I checked everything didn¡¯t look so fuzzy, or vivid. This seems like one of those awful Aether Camera filters. ...Shit. I look down to be greeted with my very own, brand shiny new, VALENT Device. Mine apparently came in black. I don¡¯t remember a model that comes in black, especially in the first tier. Those are usually brightly colored.


    ¡°Good afternoon. Helloo? Can you hear me? An impatient nasally voice implores for my attention.


    My head swivels in the direction of this obnoxious/nauseating experience. ¡°Owwww, woah. ...Can we keep it down? I haven¡¯t felt like this since armistice day. Woohugh¡± I finish under my breath ¡°God, that was a lot of drinking.¡±


    I don¡¯t think I had ever heard such an indignant tsk before. ¡°Tsk. Whatever. I am your Aetheric device counselor. I have 200 more people to meet today. At least that¡¯s a group class. Not even sure why you are in one of the suites.¡± She acerbically and nasally intoned.


    ¡°Wait? What? The suites? How the hell did I end up here? This should have been a normal VALENT device initialization. I can¡¯t afford this. Get me out of here!¡± I start hollering as I panic.¡±


    ¡°Whoa, there soldier. This has already be compensated for. I am guessing what you are experiencing right now is Pure Aether distortion.¡± She nonplussed, if not indignantly, continued. ¡°You jumped the first three states. Your body is currently trying to handle the large flows of Aether it is trying to process.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Feeling a little repetitive. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of more than a single tier jump, and those are usually from early graduates. I¡¯m¡­ Well, I¡¯m old! We were worried if I would even register for one shell, let alone have the capacity for more than three!¡± I shook my head in shock as it came out a little forcefully in my voice. I instantly regretted it. A green and blue sludge blossomed spectacularly out of my face...Well my mouth really, but if you have never seen it coming at you, you wouldn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°What the fuck! They said you were stable! I am filing for bio-pay right now. I will not put up with this garbage.¡± After a couple of quick motions on her Databoard, a few mechanisms popped out of the wall and immediately started cleaning up. She moved off to the side a couple of meters and stepped in a Fresher unit. The Tube slid down and immediately filled with the foam solution. A moment passed and it cleared, and the tube raised. ¡°That smell. I will never get used to that smell. Can. You. Please. Place the waste mask over your mouth before we begin talking again?¡±


    I reached to the side of the bed and pulled the wastes mask over my face. An amazing device that revolutionized hangovers, Aether induced or otherwise. ¡°Sorry.¡± I barely managed to get out. ¡°Please, continue¡±


    ¡°Ugh, at least you have manners.¡± Disgust still curling up her lips a little. ¡°The device in your chest was a special acquisition as a, supposedly, distinguished member of military service. Which would¡¯ve been given to you anyway, upon reaching the appropriate tier. Although, I would like to draw your attention to the ankle inhibitor shackle attached to your ankle. That will be in place until a few matters are resolved.¡±


    Slowly pulling the blanket back I do see a sleek silver device. ¡°Uh, what?¡±


    ¡°There seems to be a belief that you falsified documents prior to the installation of your VALENT device.¡± She continues to nasally drone on but makes more motions on the databoard. ¡°You will receive one week of Aether acclimatization and recovery treatment, then you will be sent to the office of DIRECT for further training. Finally, they will send you on to the Skeleton Crew assignment facility to determine your Coffin and deployment status.¡±


    Confusion coming across loud and clear. ¡°I was under the impression I would have a month to train and acclimatize. What happened?


    ¡°Ex. Ten. U. Ating. Circumstances. Apparently, as part of the compensation program, you have been scheduled to, for the requisition of your military grade unit, You have been put on an accelerated program. To cover that further, these gentlemen will assist you.¡± Punctated on ¡®these¡¯, the door opened and two men stepped inside. A snide look on her face¡­clearly loving her flair for the dramatic.


    ¡°Ugh, huuurk¡± was all that came out as I once again spewed a mix of Aether and bile into the waste unit.


    The two men were not amused.


    The men proceeded to question me, grill me, give me the Spanish Inquisition, and generally drag me over the coals. The short of the long. They knew that I had falsified my documents regarding wildling exposure and that I should thank my lucky stars, that my engraph unit helped to buffer the extreme uptake in Aether, otherwise I would have been a vegetable. I knew it was a risk going in, but I had no idea it would¡¯ve gone this south. I guess that¡¯s what I get for taking the word of a black market retailer.

 Update and question.

    So I am a stay at home dad taking care of two little ones. As much as I enjoy the company of my children. They are rambunctious, a little wild, and  they love to get into things. This makes my writing environment a little chaotic to say the least. This makes it hard to finish my chapters, as I prefer getting a whole chunk(sans cliff hangers out at one time). I don''t know how regular my schedule will be, but I am working at making this a full time job so expect that there should be more then one a week as I get going. Also much of the first part is introducing the world and getting things set up for the story to unfold. I am trying to avoid just having it an exposition dump, but that means it is spread out a little more. I hope you enjoy my work. Please comment, Rate, and do all that funstuff. If nothing else please reccomend it to others if you think they would enjoy it. I plan on getting a Patreon going sooner than later, but I wanted to have some of the early stuff done before that. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    I would like to note that my writing might be a bit slower than other authors as I tend to write more towards a finished product on my first go. It means I take more time with my copy, and will often read it through myself a couple times.


    I am also interested in finding a cover artist. I regret that I wouldn''t really have anything to offer at the moment, but things are tough for a starving artist. Maybe you can understand.


    Thanks so much for the consideration of checking me out. I look forward to hearing from you.

 Or maybe twice. I swear its not habit forming.

    Oh yeah. In media res. I would like to reassure you. The world wasn¡¯t destroyed. Hell, even the Last War was a triviality if you¡¯re only considering the impact on EX07. No Aliens invading. Our world didn¡¯t become a dungeon. Heroes weren¡¯t summoned from another world...well not really summoned, or heroes, but I guess some are from another world. What we experienced was the beginning of a dimensional bleed.


    And now, a brief history. See as worlds raise in Valence levels, they tend to attract a ¡±covalent bonding¡± with other similarly tiered worlds. Now due to our vast history in electrical utilization, we found a way to minimize the bleed. We developed Aether traps...Aether containment devices. Normally dimensional spaces would collapse and produce a new ¡°Element¡±. Well, the stupid capitalistic monkeys we are, refused to be merged. Instead, we decided to see how we could profit off this new world. That¡¯s how the Coffin and Jack system was developed. We figured out that we could ¡°mine¡± these zones of resources, in relative safety. We use Coffins to enter them. We call them that, because the first ones were little better than coffins, and you risked your life just stepping into one. The name stuck, but since then...well, they¡¯re safer, and with the anchor, a.k.a deadweight system, people stopped having accidents. Mostly. Then came the Jacks. Dimensional bleeds happen in both directions. Their world wasn¡¯t doing so well, but they had Aether technology that surpassed ours. These Jack¡¯s started manifesting on our side causing havoc. It was bad. They were mining us for resources, as much as we were mining their world. They needed people. Fresh genetics really. We were genetically viable. They picked up the nickname as they all looked alike. Through genetic manipulation, they ended up very uniform. We lost two major cities in those days. We lost Los Angeles and Japan lost Tokyo. Russia lost some areas, but we were rallying a defensive by that point. Our weapon? The Inhibitors. By using an array of inhibitors we were able to rebound the flows between worlds. Essentially making a really thick skin between our two bubbles.


    Of course, we weren¡¯t willing to give up the economic value that their world provided so the dimensional bleed was funneled into ¡°special economic zones¡± or SpEc Zones 1-17. The Sahara housed one of the largest, as large swaths of Africa had been converted, both Russia and the U.S.A ceded areas to gain zones, China, Australia, Northern Canada, Antarctica, a zone in each of the 5 oceans, or just about anywhere that you had low population and a government willing to relocate people to reap the financial benefits. Tokyo ended up with the best deal. They used their early development of the Coffin system to forge better relationships with the governments on the other side. Thus, the era of the Jack and Coffin system began.


    They provided access to their wild Aether zones for harvesting by our Coffins and they, using their Jacks, provided immigration for those who wanted to live in the lap of luxury as genetic donors/celebrities. Around the Dimensional Bridged zones, Megacities popped up. Coalition owned cities. They became a new world power with Japan leading the charge for independent, free, coalition cities.


    The Whitening, as some flippant news jockey called it, came next. With the introduction of the VALENT system, people noticed that their abilities with certain schools of Directions were largely based on genetics. The ¡°White¡± Races were found to have very flexible options available regarding Directions, but often failed in more specialized fields, and vice versa. We ended up with a rush to Whiten the populace, providing as much flexibility as was possible. It was the same conclusion that the Otherworld had come to, but less extreme. Hence Jacks. They all roughly look the same. What they found out too late was, too much genetic balancing quickly killed off some of the more specialized schools of Directions. The Schools of Directions break down into Alteration, Biomancy, Destruction, Psionics, Peragomancy, and Technomancy. Technomancy was apparently new, according to the Jacks. It seemed to be tied to our development and reliance on Electrical systems. There were other, more specialized schools, but they usually still fell under one of the main schools or were hybrids.


    That should bring you up to speed.


    Today¡­ Today was the first day of the rest of my life. I think that¡¯s how that goes. After only two days in the recovery bed. I was shipped out to stand here. In front of the office for the School of Directions. Next to Suit 1 and Suit 2. Still shackled. Today was aptitude testing. I would figure out where I needed to be. Or...had to be.


    This... was what I had to do. I don¡¯t know who or what he¡¯ll be, but I will find him. He¡¯s my son. ¡°Whuooa!¡± I find myself suddenly knocked out of my reverie.


    ¡°Move.¡± Suit 1 shoves me forward


    ¡°Okay! I was already intending to.¡± I mutter under my breath. ¡°You think I want to have this shackle on aaaand a goon squad?¡±


    ¡°He said, Move!¡± Suit 2 shoves me forward just to spite me.


    ¡°I get it!¡± I bark. ¡°persona non grata coming through.¡± Said at an obnoxiously loud volume. I head up the steps to the office. Great green silver marble steps. A luxury item from the Otherworld. I stand by the side of the door. Smugly waiting. ¡°Please kind sir, won¡¯t you open the door for me? I seem to be tied up at the moment.¡± Just as I think my jab could be no better, I find my head is uncomfortably greeting the wall. ¡°Ouch, Fuck! What the hell! I literally can¡¯t open the door. Could you please have a sense of humor? I¡¯m already assigned to the skeleton crew. I can¡¯t have it any worse. Do you have to make it uncomfortable too?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like wise guys. I can tell you think your funny.¡± Indicating Suit 2, ¡°My brother over there missed out on his slot because of you, and it sounds like you lied to get there. He may not get a shot at the Vanguards because he ends up having to wait for another slot. That¡¯s up to two years. Once your past 21 getting a slot gets harder and harder. No one wants to sponsor a risk.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The copper taste in my mouth tastes just a little worse choking down that bit of information. My head lowers a little more, shame burns a little hotter. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. For what it¡¯s worth. I¡¯m not doing this for fame or fortune.¡± Looking to Suit 2, ¡°I hope you get your shot.¡±


    It apparently meant something. The pushing and shoving stopped.


    They have me stop in front of a counter and proceed to remove the cuffs, and my lovely ankle shackle accessory. The room gets very dark. ¡°Who turned the li¡­¡±


    Someone¡¯s shaking me. Voices start to sound like shouting. ¡°Hey! can you hear me? Mr. Wolfe, can you hear me? Please don¡¯t die. It¡¯s my first day. I would really like to not have someone die on my first day.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯ll be fine, it appears to be another bout of Aether shock.¡± Suit 1 attempted to reassure her. Maybe we could get the testing apparatus in here so that we could do the testing as soon as he is up? It might speed up the process.¡±


    ¡°Huh? Oh, the testing device. Yeah, it¡¯s about the size of a briefcase. If one of you wants to help me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine ma¡¯am. I would be glad to help. My associate Mr. Thomas will remain with Mr. Wolfe.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡±


    I feel a body move closer to mine. ¡°Nikolai.¡± A moment''s pause. ¡°Nikolai. I know you woke up. I understand that you feel like a freight train just hit you, but we both know you can manage.¡±


    ¡°I disagree. It doesn¡¯t feel like I got hit by one, it feels like one¡¯s on me. Or, is that just you big guy...hmmm? Mr.Thomas? I mean, do you have a last name as your first name, or is it just a two first name ordeal.¡±


    A great heaving sigh, ¡°Why does it always have to be the wise guys. Why can¡¯t I get normal crazies? Why¡¯s it always the wise guys.¡±


    ¡°Is it your saint-like patience? My head disagrees, by the way.¡± A sudden wince overtakes me as my body remembers the stiffness. ¡°Shit. Sorry. Gallows humor, friend. Seeing people, ¡®appear¡¯ to be vaporized for months messes with you.¡±


    ¡°You were there?¡± The incredulous tone hard to miss, with its sledge hammer like delivery.


    ¡°Fortunately? Unfortunately? But, Yeah. I was. Not many of us left. Most of the remaining veterans decided to either find a nice cliff to visit in a one-way fashion or jump at the Coffins. Most already acting dead before they stepped in. Look at me nattering on. Talking about ghost stories. You don¡¯t want to hear this shit.¡± I finally looked up and was a little taken aback to see a stony, sad face listening intently. ¡°You don¡¯t want to hear old shit from a dinosaur like me.¡± I pantomimed ¡®tiny arms¡¯ trying to trivialize my history.


    ¡°No. Please, continue.¡±


    Looking at his face again, I relented. ¡°I barely made it back. Lost an arm to a freak ¡®electrical discharge¡¯. I was one of the test recipients of the engraph series of limb replacements. Better than new they said. I thought I was getting a golden ticket. A new lease on life. I got to go back to my family, with full function. A burgeoning little clusterfuck of a family, a wife that adored me and a son who didn¡¯t really know me. I didn¡¯t know it at the time, but I ended up in a recovery facility for almost 2 years. I wake up freshly shaven and a bit stiff, but with a working arm.¡± Looking back at him I take a moment to gauge his response. He continued to hang on my every word. ¡°I had gotten the implant. Everything seemed to be working. Kinda. So they had me stay for observations. Something went wrong with the implants. This was before they understood the Aether resonance response. They thought Aether was free energy. It wasn¡¯t. I was one of the backlash cases.¡±


    ¡°Explains you being a headcase. I heard most of the backlash cases were vegetables now.¡±


    ¡°Most are.¡± I grit my teeth a little, thinking about friends... the family I lost to those trials. ¡°Most better than me¡± I push on, feeling compelled to finish my story. ¡°The backlash affected around 85%. It only happened during sleep, but even then not every time. They found that people who were suffering from ¡®Night Terrors¡¯ or having PTSD episodes were the most susceptible to a violent backlash. During my PTSD episode when my backlash happened, I had managed to dislocate my engraph arm unit during my unconscious flashback state. I was reliving the moment I lost my arm and my removal of it. I got hit with one of their beams. It was only later we learned it didn¡¯t disintegrate you, it just translated you. Heh, all they got was an arm. A burnt arm. It¡¯s the only thing that saved me from frying out.¡±


    Tears well up at the corner of my eyes. Fuck. God, I hate memories. I do my best to just wipe at my eyes inconspicuously. I feel a big arm, rest momentarily on my shoulder. I ¡®soldier¡¯ on. ¡°To be saved by something you hate¡­ it tears at you. Especially when you see better men reduced to the state of being a vegetable. Because of the disconnection saving my life, they figured out that they needed to sleep mode the units, until the user was awake, and could wake up the unit themselves. I guess I did something right. A broken clock is right-- twice a day.¡± I wince a little at the memory. Just feeling the weary ache in my bones. ¡°So I make my way out of the facility to see my family and my son who looks like he must be at least four by now. He bolted away from me, scared. My wife beside herself with grief. It went downhill from there. Years went by, one day feeling worse than the next. I was a wreck. I couldn¡¯t cope. My son blamed me for the hard life my wife lived. He told his friends he had no father. At 11 he forged my wife and I¡¯s signature and volunteered to the Aether Research Institute. We tried to find him, we filed police reports, and no one would listen. We found him. We found them all. The ARI wasn¡¯t being upfront about what they were doing or where they got kids from. We weren¡¯t the only ones to ¡®lose¡¯ kids.¡± I stop the anger clear in my eyes. The hatred grinding my teeth. ¡°We were too late. We thought we rescued him. We brought him home. He didn¡¯t have the look of hate in his eyes when he saw me.¡± I stopped a moment as the memories blinded me. ¡°I saw him one last time. He said, ¡°Dad! What¡¯s happening?!? Help me!¡± mere moments later we learned what happens to a human when exposed to a raw seed of Aether. They called them wildlings. They became... the children of the wild Aether¡± I pause lost in my hurt. Tears coming unbidden. ¡°I fucked up! I thought I had it bad. I wasn¡¯t there for him. I fucked up. My baby boy.¡± I grab the Aether unit that''s under my shirt. ¡°I didn¡¯t do this because I wanted to. I¡¯m sorry. I just have to save him. I have to try something. If it means selling myself to the Skeleton Crew just to get there. I gotta try.¡± The madness of sorrow causing my words to tumble out of my mouth in a rush. ¡°I can¡¯t let him down again.¡± Shoulders slumped, head in hands, grieving sobs heaving across my chest. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I screwed up your chances.¡± My awareness starts to broaden as I start to process what I just blurted out. I realize a little late that Suit 1 and the counter girl are back standing in the doorway. Looking a little shell-shocked.

 This time I didnt pass out. Progress!

    ¡°I thought you said he was going to just stay with him, not torture him for information.¡± The scene clearly being misunderstood by the counter girl.


    ¡°Ma¡¯am, I assure you that my brother didn¡¯t harm Mr. Wolfe in any way.¡±


    In a feat I would like to describe as heroic, I manage to steady myself and my nerves. As the kids say, I was ¡®getting my shit together¡¯ ¡°He didn¡¯t torture me. I had some skeletons to de-closet. Ghosts to air out. Stains to resolve¡­¡± No one got the joke. I, with sadness at ¡®kids these days¡¯, moved forward. ¡°I believe you wanted something from me...Ms.?¡± I try to nonchalantly manage as I wipe across my eyes.


    ¡°Ms. Knight. You can call me Erin.¡±


    ¡°Erin? Well. Erin. I think we need to do some kind of test? You appear to have the apparatus? I think?¡± genuinely confused by the suitcase like contraption and odd looking peripherals. These looked seriously nonstandard.


    ¡°Ah, yes. I just need a few things from you. We can set up on the table.¡± Directing Suit 1 to place some peripherals on the table next to me. ¡°First we need a palm scan from your engraph unit. That should speed things up considerably. If your information is to be believed. You would''ve had to have that thing installed in one of the first batches.¡± She rattles off without considering the gravity of what she just said. In typical nerded out tech specialist fashion. ¡°Here you go.¡± She abruptly grabs my wrist and plugs a round palm-sized device into my hand, that clicks and sockets into place. ¡°Your firmware is at least 2 years out of date. Let''s just update that to better categorize the feeds.¡± Clicking away madly on what looks like an archaic mechanical keyboard. ¡°I realize this might cause some discomfort.¡± My arm locks up into its default position suddenly and without warning. Her fingers sound like rain on a tin roof as she continues to hammer out codes and inputs. My arm then abruptly splits open and I find myself screaming again.


    ¡°Ooooowgahholyfuckinghellshitballsmotherofallthatisthecatastropheofmen¡¯slives¡±


    ¡°Oops. Sorry. I didn¡¯t realize your arm lacks the safety nerve disconnect on maintenance mode. Whooa. That means this is super old. Like ancient. Where''d you even get this? Did you get this at an aftermarket? Holy crap that''s.¡± Her mouth suddenly shuts. She stops. Slowly turns her head towards me like a horror movie. ¡°I...I, um,¡± She brings her hands together in a pleading pose and snaps her head down so fast she hits my open ¡®in maintenance¡¯ mode arm. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry. I¡¯msosorry. I¡¯msosorry. Oh, god, he is going to kill me¡± she mumbles her fears at the end.


    ¡°OHMYFUCKINGGODIWISHTHISWOULDREALLYSTOPHAPPENINGFORTHE UHHHH.¡±


    ¡°Eek! I¡¯m sorry. Again. Let me fix that. She hits a few keystrokes and suddenly the pain subsides. ¡°I didn¡¯t know I was working on original military hardware. Please don¡¯t kill me. I have to do hundreds of these a day, and I never thought I would ever even see one, let alone work on one, I should have been sooooo much more careful. Pleeeease, forgive me. Pretty please. I don¡¯t want to die.¡±


    Having my head not splitting open from the pain. I notice the shit eating grin on both of my Suits faces. ¡°Ha, Ha, You think it¡¯s soooo funny.¡± I turn to her and try to manage a soft expression, and an even speaking voice. ¡°Erin, it¡¯s mostly okay. I am one of literally dozens with a device like this, and most of them don¡¯t even step outside their homes.¡±


    ¡°Oh god, I thought you were a specials unit. Your numbers are so high, albeit a little weird.¡± She breathes a sigh of relief. ¡°Soooooo you are just some old man? Whew.¡±


    ¡°I find myself suddenly more annoyed,¡± I add with a stoney dad glare.


    ¡°Eek. I¡¯msorry.¡± She strikes her keys a few more times and then turns her screen towards me. ¡°See you have two specializations, but they are polar. Which is SUPER weird. Especially this one as it has two forks. Then your general scores are really high. This isn¡¯t the best array I have seen, but other than a few young prodigies I haven¡¯t seen an array this great. Oh crap. You¡¯re on an accelerated plan. There isn¡¯t going to be enough time for all of your courses. I will have to file for an extension right away. Do you have and adverse reactions to time dilations? Have you experienced 2 times, 4 times, or even 8 times?¡± She rambled on giving me no time to respond.


    ¡°Whoa. Hold on there, uh Erin. May I answer one of those? I haven¡¯t had any adverse reactions, but I have only experienced 2x, but it was in early tests. Not sure if that affects outcomes and baselines though.¡±


    ¡°You should be fine.¡± Although she sounded distracted as she plucked away on the keys.¡±I think we might even be able to get clearance for 8 times.¡± A few more strokes of her keys. She fist pumps in celebration. ¡°Yes! I have you cleared to attempt 8 times and we have at least a one-week extension. Up to two if you suck.¡± Finally taking a moment to look up at me, but the realization that she has been prattling on again without thinking strikes her, and she proceeds to blush. ¡°Sorry. Doing it again.¡± She straightens up again clearly marshalling her spine. ¡°Good news. We don¡¯t need to do the other tests. Those are long and boring anyway. I really hate the questionnaire. Those results are always so iffy. Not even sure why we do them.¡± She shakes her head a little, an obvious gesture she uses to try and keep her on track. ¡°Your specialized fields are Destruction, Alteration, and Peragomancy. Peragomancy, that''s a pretty rare one. That¡¯s probably some Celtic heritage and what not. White isn¡¯t just white you know. We still haven¡¯t figured out how much they knew about Aether. The Stonehenge once restored showed up as a ley line focus. It pulled in ambient Aether and fed it into the Leyline, dramatically increasing the available Aether to people in the region. Like...Hmm. How did they know?¡± She kind of drifted in thought, probably brimming with theories and conjectures. Her head shook again, clearly clearing the reverie. ¡°Did you know the ¡®Russian¡¯ white tends to have increased benefits in alteration and general resistances? Like up to 2.5 times the efficiency. Anyway. Peragomancy is one of the special ones. It has to with the dimensions, portals, and transit. There is usually some specialization in there, but your branch is in this area.¡± pointing vaguely at her screen.¡± It covers a lot of Peragomancy and spreads into Alteration. You might even be a bender.¡± She, yet again, realized she was nattering on. I found this whole thing amusing, if I didn¡¯t I think I would have just been spacing out and staring. She was definitely cute. She reminds me of my wife. Departed wife. The Wildling incidents were nothing if not messy...bloody even. I visibly shudder. ¡°Wolfe¡­¡± she muttered to herself. ¡°Wolfe¡­ hmmm. Where have I heard that.¡± She starts tapping on her chin. She pauses. Starts tapping on her keyboard. She picks up speed. A flurry of typing overtaking her, seeming to possess her. She stops abruptly. Pauses. I always thought it was a trope for animated shows, but honest truth, her skin blanched. Visibly paled. ¡°You are Nikolai Wolfe. The story about the kid... You¡¯re the survivor ...of one of the most publicized wildling events. You¡¯re a bender because you...you were there.¡± Her lip visibly trembles. Her hands curl up into soft fists as she tries to marshal herself. Tears start streaming down her face. ¡°You spent months. Tracking him down. Your wife died at the event horizon. You¡­¡± She faltered again. ¡°You are going after him. Aren¡¯t you? Why else would you get a VALENT now? That was...six months ago...¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    A lump forms in my throat. If only she wasn¡¯t so socially inept. She was a walking plot expos¨¦. Kids never seem to know when it¡¯s too much to say. I¡¯m feeling choked up, on the lump in my throat. Keeping together never seemed this hard before. Just an innocent girl that can¡¯t keep from rambling, just spewing it all out there. ¡°Uh, Erin.¡± I manage after clearing my throat. I attempt to change directions. ¡°I need to get to my courses.¡± Pulling myself up as new aches assert themselves in new places. Apparently, I crumpled due to Aether shock as it hit my system. ¡°Could you help me with that?¡±


    Something sparked in her eyes. Concern hit me like a ton of bricks. A little manic gleam took root in her eyes. She madly started banging out keystrokes. A fury¡­ a storm whipped behind those eyes. ¡°Aaaaaand. Done. Your courses start tomorrow. A general day at 8 times compression and testing will start today.¡± I have installed myself as your personal tutor, and we will¡­¡± she hesitated with a flair the dramatic, ¡°have you ready!¡± She made a grasping fist gesture. Chuunibyou...


    ¡°Wait?!? What?¡± God, that¡¯s getting old. I knew that my best-laid plans weren¡¯t going to hold up with so many variables in play, but I was getting really tired of the surprises. It¡¯s almost like someone was playing my song. I know they say that a story is only interesting if there is coincidence but man, it sure feels like someone is writing a book about this.


    ¡°I happen to be one of the state-sponsored tutors for special cases.¡± She is now standing with immaculate posture and making a grand gesture with her hand on her chest like a cheesy early 21st-century anime villain. ¡°I have personally assigned myself to this auspicious occasion.¡± She flings back an imaginary cape.


    My mouth hangs agape...for just a moment, I assure you. I find myself breathing out in disbelief, ¡°Where did my cute little counter girl go?¡±


    ¡°I stake my name as one of the Knight household on your success.¡±


    ¡°Uh, should I have heard about the Knight household?¡±


    ¡°Uh...no? It um¡­ It has to start... somewhere. I assure you that my surname will be on everyone¡¯s lips after this!¡± She falters a little in starting but builds to a rousing statement.


    A sigh escapes my lips. This seems to deflate her a little bit. Apparently, she is a little too drunk on the Anime of early 21st-century. ¡°I will be in your care, I guess.¡± She falters at my lack of enthusiasm. ¡°I assume that you are proctoring my general assessments and testing?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we will begin within the hour. I will need you to head down to the Rig room to get fitted for the test Coffins. They will need to de dock your engraph there. Lemme place a nerve disconnect safety into your engraph with software coding. It should trigger anytime it is removed or switched to maintenance mode. I apologize in advance, but it will get a little uncomfortable... again... as it adjusts to the buffer.¡± She sheepishly informs me a little on the late side.


    ¡°Uh, okay?¡± I mutter a little nervous. Hoping it doesn¡¯t feel as bad as my arm feeling split open. I cross my fingers.


    She begins to rapidly type away. I feel my engraph go numb up to the wrist, then the elbow, and finally to the socket. Just as it reaches the device socket. I feel ice creep up my spine. I feel the equivalent of an ice cream headache and a sinus burn from eating wasabi or horseradish. Then it stops. Feeling returns to my engraph. ¡°There we go. That will provide a buffer so that if there are any major disruptions in the engraph unit it will cut off the signals. You might experience some initial numbness when you reconnect or initialize your engraph after a disconnect, as it wakes up. This old school shit is super sturdy, but they totally ignored all of the Q-O-L.¡± She looks a little sheepish. ¡°Quality of Life. Sorry. I tend to think in tech most of the time. Having conversations is not my specialty.¡±


    The Mr. Thomas¡¯ 1 and 2 chuckle. Stifling further laughter. ¡°No way. Ma¡¯am, we didn¡¯t notice anything.¡±


    ¡°You guys are the worst!¡± She sticks her tongue out while pulling her right eyelid down. Seriously. Entirely... too much early 21st-century Anime. I swear if she ever says ¡®Notice me, senpai¡¯ I will never let her live it down.


    ¡°Forgive me for being new here, but where do I need to go to get fitted for a test Rig?¡± I try to steer things back on topic.


    ¡°You go to the 4th floor for fitting, just follow the signs, and we should be able to use the general shafts to do your first dive. They can go up to 8x, but we will have to check your stability.¡±


    Mr. Thomas 1 motions for me to follow. ¡°We will get you there.¡± He chuckles to himself as he clearly found something amusing. ¡°You know, in case you keep passing out. How many times is this? Four?¡± He chuckles again. ¡°Come on damsel, we¡¯ll carry you if you need us to.¡±


    This calls for revenge.

 Brothers Thomas.

    I casually step closer. With the practiced grace of a vaulter, I spring up onto his chest, mimicking the position of a princess carry. I wrap my engraph around behind his head putting it into its locked state, forcing him to carry me. With a malicious smirk and mimicking a cloyingly sweet female voice, ¡°I thought you would never ask. My Hero!¡± The Thomas¡¯ are stunned. Erin busts out in laughter clearly amused by the sight gag.


    ¡°Oh, hell nah!¡± Mr. Thomas 1 exclaims. His knees buckling a little under the unexpected weight. Struggling to try and get free.


    ¡°Oh, he got you so good!¡± Mr. Thomas 2 exclaims, doubling over with laughter choking out his comment between laughs.


    Grunting with effort trying to continue loosing me from his neck. ¡°Okay, we had our fun. I take it back! Let me out of this vise grip! I didn¡¯t know there was such a difference between military engraphs and civilian models. ¡° I relent and unlock the joint of the engraph. Lowering myself down abruptly, but with grace.


    ¡°Really there isn¡¯t that much of a difference really. It¡¯s just these old ones. They scale at about 1.5 times average human strength, pre-overclocking. The real trick is the joint locking. The old models had a joint lock mode as they had concerns about the mental fatigue from controlling them day in and day out. It allows me to lock the arm into preset positions or use a manual locking function. I always loved T-rex mode.¡± I gestured to my arm as it snapped into a position reminiscent of the T-rex ¡®tiny arms¡¯.¡± I proceed to strut around. Quickly realizing no one is laughing. Rubbing my head sheepishly. ¡°It was always worth a laugh at parties¡­¡± I trailed off.


    A stifled snicker caught my attention as Erin desperately tried to contain her reaction. ¡°You. Are. So. Old!¡± Clearly... she is very amused.


    ¡°Oh look, my humor seems to have suddenly left me.¡± I grab her around the neck and imitate the 21st-century anime classic ¡®the noogie¡¯, by pulling her in and gently grinding my knuckles down on top of her head. She goes almost immediately limp. Panicking a little, worried that I took the joke/sight gag too far. I look. I pause. I am clearly off my mark. She has a look of blissful contentment as if one of her life¡¯s goals have been achieved. Crap... I immediately straighten up and, brush myself down as I prepare to quickly leave the room.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ¡°You¡¯ll need the key to the Rig room...senpai.¡± She whispers the last part.


    I fear I have found one of the cult-like fans of 21st-century anime. ¡°Uh, thanks.¡± Clearly looking uncomfortable by the leering gaze she is giving me. ¡°Thomas¡¯ on my five and seven¡± I realize a moment too late I lapsed into the old military mindset. ¡°Uh, eh hehe. Sorry gentleman. If you would lead the way?¡±


    After a slightly amused throat clear, ¡°Yes, sir!¡± clearly intended to mock my slip up. It¡¯s a full course of ham. The Thomas¡¯ lead the way.


    They head out into the hall and lead me up to the elevator. Clearly amused at my slip. ¡°Sorry gentleman. I slipped there. You remind me of the younger men I served with. Really good guys.¡± I pause remembering the numbers. Twenty-one suicides, five vegetables, three in state care, three made the transition back...the rest, unaccounted for. They could be jacks and we would never know it. Their genetics spread over the populace in a mandatory diversification. ...Harvested like cows, for some twisted genetic opera. We marched along in a ¡®not completely awkward¡¯ silence.


    Mr. Thomas 1 stopped somewhat abruptly, pointing to the doors we were looking for. ...I was looking for. ¡°Well, Mr. Wolfe. This is your stop.¡± He turned slowly. He eyed me up and down. ¡°I can¡¯t speak for my brother, but it was interesting to meet you.¡± He extended his hand in a sign of respect and farewell. We shook hands. A moment of respect between two men that hadn¡¯t seen eye to eye at first. ¡°Aidyn Thomas. Figured we should at least be properly acquainted. At least if I am going to see you as someone I can respect.¡± He paused. ¡°I wish you luck, despite that being an anachronism. You might need something like it. From what I understand, this will be¡­ rough.¡± He moved past me heading the way we came. ¡°Take care. I hope you find him.¡±


    I find myself a little stunned. ¡°Aidyn. Thank you.¡± It¡¯s all I manage as he keeps walking. Mr. Thomas 2 moves to stand in front of me.


    ¡°Nikolai. I¡¯m not sure how I feel about this. I may not ever have another shot at what I thought was my future, but I¡¯m finding it hard to be angry at a man putting his life on the line. It¡¯s something we don¡¯t seem to respect anymore.¡± He also stepped closer putting his hand out. ¡°Hopefully someday, I will see you out there. Try not to die.¡± We shook hands. Just as I thought he was going to let me go, he pulled me close. Looking me straight in the eye. ¡°You get out there, and you do what you gotta do.¡± He paused, giving me that serious look shared between men. ¡°Make it through this.¡± He moved past me as well raising his hand in the air giving a wave. ¡°It¡¯s Fisher. Fisher Thomas.¡±


    He hollered back at his back moving back down the hall. ¡°See you out there Fisher! I¡¯m counting on it. Prolly need some backup.¡± I took a moment to get my shit together. Packed it up in a backpack and got it all together. Took it to the shit store and sold it. It was time to face this next hurdle.

 Its a trap! ...Its potentially a trap...

    Have you ever had a moment where you opened a door and thought...nope don¡¯t want to do it. This is a mistake. ...Okay. Okay. It wasn¡¯t that bad, but it did remind me of an operating room crossed with a mechanics garage and a medieval torture dungeon.


    I stopped took a moment, took a breath as I took in the room. There were several bays littered around the room. For what looks like, I imagine are different procedures. A speaker chirps up and a familiar voice begins broadcasting.


    Erin begins pleasantly if a bit monotone, clearly distracted by what she is typing in. ¡°Okay. I know this is probably a little bit of a shock, but we just need to go through bays 2-7. Bay one is just a measuring unit that determines aptitude and strength of internal Aether. Since we took the reading earlier and you are already equipped with a Military grade VALENT unit, that won¡¯t be necessary.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s great news. Here I had assumed I just walked onto the set of an American horror movie.¡±


    ¡°Oh, come on!¡± She clearly snapped out of her distracted state, to argue the merits of this...room. ¡°Only bay seven looks remotely scary. Anyway, that bay is just for suit adjustment. None of the scaaaaary looking things are even going to touch you.¡± I guess I heaved a visible sigh of relief, the tirade began again. ¡°You big baby. You felt your arm split open, but some probes and adjustment devices scare you.¡±


    ¡°Oh, come on! I was blindsided by that! I am pretty sure I would have had some reasonable apprehension if you told me what you were going to do in advance.¡± Indignant outrage smoldering in my demeanor. ¡°Here let me split your arm open, then let¡¯s compare reactions.¡±


    A cheery...saccharin voice replies back, ¡°No, Thanks.¡± I can hear the smile in her voice.


    ¡°I swear to god I will get you back for that!¡± A good performance, but we both know it¡¯s just a farce.


    ¡°Okay, Step into bay 2 we need to take measurements for your balance, and get you measured for your best-tailored suit.¡± completely disregarding my outburst.


    ¡°Alright! I¡¯m going.¡± I feign grumpiness. ¡°So¡­ I just stand on the roughly foot shaped silver plates?¡± I ask warily. She just gives me an ¡®uh huh¡¯ of affirmation. I step on the two silver plates.


    ¡°Turn around.¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°You have to. You are facing backwards.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t want to. I saw the camera. I know you are watching. Something bad is going to happen. I can feel it.¡±


    A little screen pops out of the bay walls.¡°There you can see me in the booth. Ya happy you big baby.¡±


    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you here¡­I see the control station at the far end.¡±


    ¡°I have to be here for the other procedures.¡±


    ¡°You have an awful bedside manner.¡± I begrudgingly turn around. I just know something is about to happen, judging by the pod¡¯s looks. Betrayal! The thing I thought safe was the dangerous part. The plates feel like they are skewering my feet. ¡°You! Monster!¡± I see her giggling at me.


    ¡°Oh yeah!¡± She feigns forgetting something. ¡°This part might be a little uncomfortable. Make sure you remain on the silver plates.¡± She smirks. ¡°Here let me help you¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    An ominous series of clicks sound from the wall. A mechanical version of a straight jacket for my feet installs itself up to my knees. ¡°Well. I see how this is going to go. So she¡¯s an early 21st-century Anime villain.¡± I mutter to myself through gritted teeth.


    ¡°What was that?¡±


    ¡°Hey... so do you like...Anime? Perhaps early 21st century Anime?¡±


    ¡°Oh YES!¡± you could really hear the all caps in her voice. ¡°In my opinion, it¡¯s the only thing that has any right to be called Anime. After that period we had a huge diversification of the animated art form. After that, the traditional Anime feel was lost. Also, it was just a few short years later we lost most of Tokyo. That forever changed the landscape of the Japanese style of animation.¡± She regained that manic glint in her eye again. ¡°It is why I will forever only ever refer to Anime as Anime. Everything that came after was just iterative work that attempted to capture the grandeur of the real thing. Even 20th Century Anime is far superior to what came after the collapse of Tokyo.¡±


    ¡°Oh, God. What have I done.¡± I mutter.


    ¡°What was that?¡±


    ¡°Are we almost done? My legs are starting to feel numb.¡±


    ¡°Oh! That means we are finished.¡±


    ¡°Really? There isn¡¯t a timer that could have told you sooner?¡± Pretty sure if I manage to handle 8x compression, this is going to be a long week.


    ¡°Okay, those stabs of pain in your feet were probing your current sense of balance and reactions so that we can tune the Aether circuits to accommodate for that. That way when you put it on it feels like you¡¯re just wearing a perfectly fitted skintight suit that doesn¡¯t impede you at all.¡± She was looking pretty pleased with herself. Clearly, a pat on the back kind of moment. ¡°In the next station, you need to use your engraph unit/units to either grip or stand on one of the contact points. Since I believe all you are missing is the arm, just step forward and grab on to the device so it can deactivate your engraph. Aaaalsoooo, since you are using military hardware, we have to use the military specced suits. This is going to be way more work for me.¡± I grunt in understanding as she continues on.


    I walk over to the next bay. I hesitantly slide my hand into the brace and grab onto the handle. I feel the sensation of a device docking to my hand inputs again. Just as I am wincing in anticipation for some unseen horror to befall me. A soft click sound comes from the base of my engraph unit. ¡°Why are you removing my engraph?¡± I try to look towards the screen, but find that I¡¯m off balance as my unit is already fully dislocated. I nearly lose my balance. ¡°Whoooa. Hey, I thought this suit just goes over me. Why would I need to remove my engraph unit?¡±


    ¡°Well, we found out we can use a sort of amplified signal loop by connecting directly to an engraph port and the VALENT unit. The engraph unit is already an Aether output device. So if we hook your suit and Rig up through the port we get much better results. It allows for an incredible mind-body connection that makes using a Rig as easy as going about your daily life. All things considered, this is probably your biggest boon. I would have requested twice as much time if you hadn¡¯t had an engraph unit.¡±


    ¡°So. You''re telling me. That having an arm missing makes this next step easier? Why wouldn¡¯t there be a brochure on that? Why wouldn¡¯t you want to advertise this?¡±


    ¡°Well typically this isn¡¯t as big as a benefit, and in the long run you might have to work around this, but your engraph is a constant drain on your normal Aether stores. It usually requires us to include additional Aether collectors on the Rigs to compensate for the extra drain. Meaning you lose hardpoints. Losing hardpoints is not usually something Rig operators want as it means they lose out on the use of additional focuses. ...It can limit customization for your Rig. Buuuuut. Due to some fortunate/unfortunate circumstances, you have an out. Since widling exposure pretunes your body to aether circuits...so to speak, and your longtime use of original military hardware, we should be able to skip the collectors. It certainly doesn¡¯t hurt that you start at a higher VALENT rating as well.¡±


    ¡°Ooooooh. deus ex machina. I mean other than the torture, isn¡¯t this a little too convenient?¡±


    ¡°Well what this means is that you will/should be faster to get going, but you may have to figure out how to compensate later. Although some of that will be determined by your loadout and perks.


    ¡°Perks? Like in a video game or like a job.¡±


    ¡°More like a video game. I mean you pilot a rig, there¡¯s a safety system to keep you from dying, and you get magical powers. Kinda. I mean that¡¯s way more like a video game then I am comfortable denying. Some people call it the Demon Souls of VR experiences.¡± She looked a little bored by fielding some of these queries. This might be something she gets asked frequently.

 Blast it! ...not again.

    ¡°Now we need to test for focus compatibility. With your high scores on the Generalist assessment, I don¡¯t foresee you having issues with any of them.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Am I done with this bay?¡±


    ¡°Yes move on to Bay 4. You will be interfacing with some focuses through the engraph port. We can get a better idea on whether or not you have any perks available.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Is this an optic plug or is it an Aether sync plug.¡±


    ¡°We will be using the sync plug. Your base unit will give us better results than if we just simulate it through the optical cable. Plus I¡¯m certain your VALENT unit will handle the sync just fine.¡±


    ¡°Okay. That actually, sounds reasonable. Should I be expecting any discomfort? Any pain? This time?¡±


    ¡°Nope. I have heard people describe it as feeling weird, but I haven¡¯t seen anything that might warrant concern.¡± She smiled pleasantly. It didn¡¯t seem like a trap this time. My spider sense wasn¡¯t tingling. Didn¡¯t even seem like a trap for her own amusement. ¡°So we are just going to be feeding some of the pure Aether into the focuses and we should get a fairly telling response.¡± Since I assume you have no experience folding raw Aether flow, imagine trying to push water. Since we use a haptic feed it should feel like your pushing against something if you are doing it correctly.¡±


    I step up to bay 4 and look over the apparatuses. I quickly locate the sync cable and port. ¡°Okay. Here goes nothing.¡± I say more to myself than to Erin. Click. It easily and snuggly clicks into place. I find myself not sure of what to expect. Wait... Yup. That¡¯s totally weird. I feel like I¡¯m underwater. I feel the sudden urge to try and swim.


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t try that if I were you.¡± Sounding like a mother who hasn¡¯t even bothered to look, but knowing all too well what is going on. ¡°You might actually end up having the ability to fly, but you¡¯re more likely to just hit the wall. We have the haptic feedback turned way up. So, yeeees, what your feeling is the Aether you have access to around you, buuuuut it is registering as far denser than it actually is.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. This is weird. I keep having to remind myself I can breathe.¡±


    ¡°Well at least your not actually hyperventilating like some people do.¡±


    ¡°Okay, so I can feel it. What now?¡±


    ¡°We hook you up to the first focus module. This first one will be the lovingly monikered AoE or FFE. It allows you to use your Aether to color the flows around you, and it specializes in reactive area type zone usage. Attempt to move the ¡°water¡± around you as if you are sweeping it away.¡±


    ¡°Well, this feels strange. Are all directions gesture-based?¡±


    ¡°No. This is how we teach the noobs how to use Aether focuses. Eventually, you should be able to replicate utilizing focuses with just hand gestures or even thought.¡±


    ¡°Thanks. You know, I am old enough to know what that means... nerd.¡±


    ¡°Trying to get you to focus grandpa. Let¡¯s get a move on.¡±


    I sweep my hands forward attempting to create a conal wave away from me. I see the FFE focus unit light up. A screen showing a room via relay shows how the Aether is reacting. It ends up being more of a crashing wave then a directed cone, but it seems to work well enough. It bowls over the targets with a crash. ¡°Oops?¡±


    ¡°Wow, Grandpa! She lets out a whistle. ¡°Impressive showing. Real lack of control, but good force. Those aren¡¯t supposed to fall over. That¡¯s a little excessive don¡¯t cha think?¡±


    ¡°I just did what you told me to!¡±


    ¡°Okay moving on to the dart unit. These will be small units of energy that primarily are used for harassment. They home in and are light and fast. Think of throwing a harpoon through the water. Focus on one of the targets on the screen and hopefully, we will see how well this works.¡±


    I try to visualize the throwing of a spear or dart through the water. I focus on the target the furthest to my left. ....Nothing happens. No light activating on the board. No movement or light indicating a hit on the target. I even try pantomiming a knife throw. ¡°Uh, nothing is happening this time.¡±


    ¡°Try it again. This time think of a Torpedo or something. Something that self-propels and guides itself to the target. Maybe even just a homing missile.¡±


    ¡°Take 2,¡± I mutter to myself. ¡°Here goes nothing.¡± I feel like I have the mental image really dialed in. I go to push it out into the Aether, and again...nothing happens. ¡°I feel like I have the sensation right, but nothing is happening.¡±


    ¡°Hmm. You may have bad connectivity with dart or homing focuses. We can test that again on the hybrid linkages.¡± She is clearly confused by this. ¡°This is really weird though. Darts are usually one of the most consistent things people can use. Nevermind!¡± She shouts abruptly. ¡°Mooooving right along. We will try the blast/burst unit. This can either be a single shot, a blast if you will, but it should be just a single target. Either that or a burst. Something designed to suppress a large group, or do serious close range damage. Switching focus now.¡± I see her hit a couple of buttons.


    ¡°Okay. Can I imagine like a Hadouken? A fireball. Like from a fighting game?¡±


    ¡°No¡± She looks clearly unamused. ¡°Streetfighter is for suckers. There hasn¡¯t been a good one in a couple of decades. Clearly. You. Are. Old. I bet you main Ryu. Scrublord.¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°I did not. I just thought it might be an easy way to attempt to activate it.¡±


    ¡°Do whatever. I take no responsibility for how badly you suck then.¡±


    I take a very iconic stance. One that would make one think of a wave firing Anime Icon. ¡°KA-ME--HA-ME--HA¡±


    ¡°No!!! That meme is over 9000!¡± She shouts in mock horror. The room on the monitor¡­ A perfect brilliant beam of pure Aether blasts across the room. Decimating everything in its path. ¡°Oh. What. The. Hell.¡± She responds with a certain amount of shock and disbelief.


    To both of our surprise, It was overkill. Here I thought it was just a bad joke, to poke fun at her. The thing I didn¡¯t take into account was a very vivid mental image. With so much internalized imagery. It sucked in the Aether and decimated a swath of targets. ¡°Oops? I think the joke went a bit far...like way too far.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m having a hard time being mad that you wrecked half of this lab. That. Was. Amazing! That was SOOOOO ANIME!¡± She clearly lost it. So. Very. Chuunibyou.


    ¡°Well, that one seems to work¡± Clearly looking relieved that the disaster was less problematic than my original concerns. ¡°Shall we move on?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s switch output rooms. I think a 2:1 output might be safer. Also, you destroyed my 1:1.¡± She gleefully hit a few buttons and the screen shifted, showing new targets and a not destroyed room.¡±


    ¡°How do these room things work?


    ¡°Well, we take your Aether pulse and put it into a trap room to contain the output. The output largely depends on the density of Aether in the space. The Sync port is outputting to a transmitter, much like what will be attached to your Rig. The Aether pulse triggers a chain reaction. An Aether pulse is like a set of instructions, or like coding in a program. When introduced to raw uncontrolled ambient Aether it propagates an outcome based on the variables. The strength of pulse, contesting/contested Aether, the simplicity of directives, ambient Aether availability, and so on and so forth. A simpler or optimized Aether pulse will almost always win out over a complex one. With complex Aether pulses, there are a lot of things that can go wrong or be sabotaged during the execution. That is where contesting Aether becomes important.¡±


    ¡°So... Thanks for the dissertation Doctor, on a separate note, I understand there are different types of Rigs now. I hear that, even though the Skeleton Crew has a bad track record for losing people, they have highly customized rigs. They always seem to cause a stir. How does that factor in with Hardpoints and all of that?¡±


    ¡°Well since Rig manufacture is largely all Gen 5 Printing, it is easy to customize. In fact, as long as you use one of the bases, most everything else can be resculpted. I do believe there is a spider mod in the Skeleton crew. She taught herself how to use four extra limbs! They are essentially 4 engraph units. Which was an insane task in and of itself. They limit her hardpoint capacity, but she is known for being very ...uh creative with the application of her armaments. That being said, after we finish testing we will start to consider some modifications to the base Rig, based on the outcomes here. As for the Skeleton Crew, their strange appearances seems to add to their notoriety. Although part of why they specialize so much is due to their unit not operating as a normally structured squad, platoon, regiment system that most of the other Rig companies use. They tend to operate on a 2 to 3 man group sortie system.¡±


    ¡°Do I get any say in it? My Rig Design I mean?¡±


    ¡°Yeah of course. Most people seem to op for the Warframe look though.¡±


    ¡°That¡­ that¡¯s still around to be relevant?¡±


    ¡°Yeah after they introduced the VR version they got a lot of crossover from Parkour enthusiasts. It really revived the game. I don¡¯t know if they will ever be done making that game. Did you know it is being used as a test bed for the flight Rigs?


    ¡°Uh...no. That seems like taking it a bit too far right? It¡¯s just a video game.¡±


    ¡°Well after the Last War they sunk a lot of tech and money into making it more realistic as a way to pre-train Rig runners.¡±


    ¡°Wow. Really?¡± Finding myself stupefied at how far one game company had gone to stay relevant. ¡°That¡¯s actually really impressive.¡±


    ¡°Let''s retest the blast/burst unit. We didn¡¯t try the burst function. I particularly like this focus as it is so very functional and flexible. This unit besides being a blast can also issue a burst...like a shotgun blast.¡±


    ¡°A shotgun?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I mean it¡¯s not a literal shotgun, more like spread shot in that Contra franchise.¡±


    ¡°Did they remake it again?¡±


    ¡°Yeah although this time was the ¡®VR edition¡¯ like so many others of these ¡®remake the games¡¯ companies, it¡¯s pretty bad. They even used pixel art. I mean that hasn¡¯t been in vogue since like 2029.¡±


    ¡°Really? I mean I still liked it for Rogue-likes and Rogue-lites up until 2037 or so.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s different. That type of game thrives on simplicity. Remaking a game in VR with pixel art, now that¡¯s just wrong.¡±


    ¡°So Spreadshot...any kind of limitations that I should be aware? I don¡¯t want to use sub-par imagery. Is there things that might work better?¡± I asked hoping for some pointers.


    ¡°That¡¯s the problem, most of these are highly dependant on personal imagery. Whatever you feel like you can visualize the clearest, whether it includes hand gestures, verbalizations, or whatever, just use that. The results may vary, but you can always adjust from there.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I think I got this.¡± I shuffle my feet a bit shake out my arm and loosen up. I get a little bravado in the spine and really picture a shotgun being attached to my stump of an arm. ¡°Good. Bad. I¡¯m the guy with the gun. Hail to the king.¡± I can feel the pulse recoil through my engraph port. Erin is clearly watching intently as after just the barest of moments, the light confirms the focus activation and then a double cone burst erupts into the room. It seems far less destructive than the blast but the coverage is great. Although it acts almost like a conflagration, instead of a red flame it''s more like a belch of bluish white flame. It clearly looks impressive to me. ¡°Wow, that seems pretty good. I can see this being useful.¡± I speak out loud, more to myself. I turn to look for Erin¡¯s response and notice she seems a tiny aghast by the outcome. ¡°Did something go wrong? Is that a good expression or a bad expression?¡± Starting to feel a little self-conscious at the result.


    Her jaw kind of clacks together gently as she shakes out the disbelief. ¡°I don¡¯t even know where to start.¡± She is clearly sorting through some thoughts, her face scrunched in consideration. ¡°Okay. The output was really high, like way higher than I was expecting. The range was unusually short, but there was an Aether conflagration. That shouldn¡¯t happen. These aren¡¯t tuned focuses, there shouldn¡¯t be any elemental bias. But it¡¯s like the mix of Aether you used was so volatile it just kinda....well blew out. It was incredibly uncontrolled.¡±


    ¡°Well, I hardly consider a sawed-off shotgun to have much control. I mean, it is half blast wave since it has so little time to propel the projectiles down the barrel.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Well, I pictured a sawed-off shotgun. Like from that seminal classic ¡°Army of Darkness¡± I mean he is missing an arm and affixes a shotgun to his stub. It was very vivid.¡±


    ¡°I think that is one of those, you might need to adjust that imagery. Or at least have more than one. That image while strong and fairly efficient was pretty much a textbook case of an overly specialized output. Although I think you really are getting the idea of the imagery down. Some of the jarheads I have to work with think everything needs to be solved with a crowbar application of Aether. This is promising though.¡±

 Its not an accident, its an experiment!

    ¡°Are we done then?¡±


    ¡°No not yet, we have a few more singles left, then we have hybrids. Let¡¯s move on to the Railgun test.¡±


    ¡°A certain scientific railgun?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s move you to 3:1¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah! Here goes nothing.¡± I happen to have a deep abiding love for the concept of a railgun. I bolt of something is squeezed out between two directed equal and opposing fields. It¡¯s a principle that just looks cool. Compressing fields, increasing density. Introducing projectile. Initial acceleration, and boom there it goes. I hadn¡¯t realized that I was already going through the motions...at least mentally. The indicator light for the focus went super bright. I ended up bringing up my hand reflexively before realizing the indicator had already burnt out. The testing containment room showed a clear trail and hole in one of the testing targets. ¡°Uhm...looks like I have that one down to a mental command...I guess.¡± Having the good decency to look sheepish at her agape face over the screen.


    ¡°Wh-wh-what the hell was that! These numbers are terrible, but that output was phenomenal! I don¡¯t know why your efficiency was so god damn awful, but that output registered at three times the highest recorded output coefficient. How did you visualize that?¡±


    ¡°Well, I visualized the opposing field oriented at 45-degree angles instead of the typical 90, to maximize the acceleration vector overlap. So that more of the field is overlapping. I also thought of the fields as being compressed down into their highest energy state. Kind of like how most of a neodymium magnets fields are much denser the closer you go. Then I thought about launching a projectile into those fields via a slingshot-style delivery system. A flick really.¡±


    ¡°So the details of the visualization, as well as the clearness of the image, might have something to do with the overall output. It seems to increase the cost as well. You might not be able to use that all the time. Currently, you are in an Aether rich environment, so I doubt you would notice the fatigue yet, but the cost on that is quite high. Powerful for sure, but think of it more like a ¡°Big Gun¡± or your final form. Something to use only when necessary.¡±


    ¡°This isn¡¯t even my final form!¡± I mocked with mirthful shenanigans.¡±


    She sat and stared at my silly display. ¡°Are you done?¡±


    ¡°...yes?¡±


    ¡°Okay these last ones should be less destructive we should be able to go back to the 2:1 room. I¡¯m pretty sure the board is going to skin me alive for using the common rooms.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s left? The suspense is killing me.¡±


    ¡°We have fields and elemental bias left.¡±


    ¡°Fields? What are fields?¡±


    ¡°Well they can be force fields, deflection shields, absorption grids, It¡¯s basically your defensive typing¡±


    ¡°Could I have more than one?¡±


    ¡°While not uncommon...unlikely? But hey, that¡¯s what we are here for.¡±


    The room switched back to the slightly disheveled 2:1 room. ¡°I¡¯m feeling kind of lost here. What am I supposed to do?¡±


    ¡°There will be some hostile pulses shot into the room at a humanoid figure. That figure will represent you and those pulses that collide with the dummy will be transmitted as feedback to you. They will be largely inert, shouldn¡¯t cause you any damage, but they will sting. Your job is to do whatever comes naturally to you, to defend yourself from them.¡±


    ¡°When?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Hey? You hear me?¡± It was at that time. I knew when. ¡°Oh holy crap, that feels so uncomfortable. Like frozen underwear, or pliers on my nipples. I guess we already started¡± I grimaced as stoically as I could manage. How does one defend? A shield? I guess a shield. The next pulse comes, but I miss deflecting it by the barest margins. Oh god, that feeling will never be okay. I prepare again, changing the structure of the shield in my mind. It¡¯s similar to a Kite shield or heater shield. Although it looks like someone stretched a heater shield out and cut it in half, making a new shield out of one half. It was oddly asymmetrical, covered 2/3rds of the dummy in one direction. I raise my shield again, but the pulse this time comes at me from a different angle. I go with my back up plan as I was worried about making just a directional shield. I visualize taking the other half of my shield and forming a 90-degree bulwark in two directions. I barely get it up in time, but it has the added benefit of deflecting the pulse off course entirely. ¡°Well I mean that worked. Not sure if I need to come up with something better though. What do you think?¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°I think it might be a little too specialized. It boasts great deflection strength, but its defensive area is kind of small. I mean if you hunkered down you could protect yourself from just about any Aether projectile we have seen to date, and even stop melee blows, which is a weakness many defenses have, but it won¡¯t save you from AoE¡¯s or other Field effects. Really the density and Aether solidification is top notch. Maybe we could try for a different shape or defense type as well? Absorb shields are pretty popular.¡±


    ¡°Popular? Well... if it¡¯s popular, wouldn¡¯t it be something that gets countered?


    ¡°You¡¯re aren¡¯t wrong, but that¡¯s only showing up in skirmishes, they seem to be still effective in Monster mining.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm. Let¡¯s go again. I think I have an idea.¡± Instead of imagining a bulwark. I focus and imagine a hungry field. Like a coalescing pool of hot plasma. Having it tear and break down everything it comes into contact with, to feed its burn. A reactive armor. Something that I could use to break down and recycle hostile Aether. The next pulse arrived on schedule. It evaporated into nothing. The field was still weak, just barely visible, but it was growing in strength as it fed on the surrounding Aether.


    ¡°Huh, that¡¯s weird. Are your defenses in place? I¡¯m not sure what happened to that last pulse, it just ceased to be. Even the readings in the room aren¡¯t anything spectacular.¡±


    ¡°Yes, my defense is up.¡±


    ¡°Do you mind if I up the offensive?¡±


    ¡°As they say, ¡®Hit me with your best shot¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Here it comes. Commencing in 3. 2. 1.¡±


    The pulse this time was far more dense. Far more dangerous. I could tell that there was some nasty feedback in store if I didn¡¯t stop it. I doubled down on the image. A swirling hungry void pulling the raw broken down Aether back into a useable wellspring in front of me. I would stop this. I would use it against itself. The pulse clashed with the disintegration effect, and even though it continued to push and attempt to crush the void it was up against. It was like watching a car try and go up a hill without the benefit of any additional acceleration. A now rapidly shrinking car¡­ I think I stretched that analogy a little too far. It within just moments of meeting the field was rendered into a not insignificant amount of raw Aether for me to use. My personal little puddle of Aether. ¡°Hey! I think I got the hang of this one! It¡¯s cool right?¡±


    ¡°What did you do? It reads on the sensors like a rapid decay of Aether, but I can clearly now get a reading of about the same quantity of Aether from you.¡±


    ¡°Well, I imagined a swirling plasma storm of Aether, if you will. An Aether system programmed to break down and convert Aether in real time.¡± I felt like that made sense.


    ¡°You did what? You actively broke down and converted Aether in real time? That¡¯s insane. That was so fast! What was your loss ratio?¡±


    ¡°If I had to guess¡­ maybe 10-15 percent loss?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s incredible. Yeah, I think with those two forms of defense you should be more than prepared enough for what you can expect to deal with. I think. I mean... you essentially just ground down a bowling ball as it was thrown at you. That¡¯s intense.¡±


    ¡°Okay. So that¡¯s good? Are we done?¡±


    ¡°Almost. We have some hybrid units to test. They are like combined focuses. We found out in our testing, that if we combined a couple of focuses together we could get interesting new results. Although the blast/burst one is essentially a combined type already, we found that we couldn¡¯t really combine those two in the same way. It¡¯s like it generates a fork in the road and you can only go down one of them, but we can pair up other ones with that, and still get interesting outcomes.¡±


    ¡°Okay let¡¯s get through these. I am starting to feel a little fatigued.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s pretty normal. You are expending an excessive amount of Aether, especially for a first time out. You are actually doing quite well considering the output you are achieving.¡±


    ¡°Great. So what''s up first?¡±


    ¡°First we will try the dart homing + blast/burst.¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we just skip this? The dart thing was a dud last time.¡±


    ¡°It might be an incompatibility for sure, but the hybrids are where we usually get interesting results. We are going to switch to a 4:1 room. It probably won¡¯t be flashy, but I can still get the readings I need.¡±


    ¡°Oooookaay. Am I good to go yet?¡± A small click occurred, and the room view switched.¡±


    ¡°Ready when you are.¡±


    I tried to imagine a lance or explosive quarrel. I gave it an impulse to fire off. The broad-headed quarrel fired off and hit a target. It then proceeded to burst into tiny shards. Little spikes or quill-like munitions. ¡°Well, that worked? I think.¡±


    ¡°Wow that¡¯s good you even managed a submunition. It¡¯s like you managed to pack some burst into your blast. This is very interesting. It was clearly added separately, but you managed to pack it together before loosing it.¡±


    ¡°Should I try the other way? Like attempting to use the burst side now?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Let¡¯s continue.¡±


    I tried to imagine a burst of little homing darts. I tried to ¡®lock on¡¯ to all the targets in the room as it felt pretty natural. ¡°Here goes.¡± I pulsed the pack and a volley of small knife-like projectiles launched in unison and took off like needlefish after prey. They flashed in a dance of arcs each one homing in on a different target. One after another the ¡®thok¡¯ of them sinking into targets could be heard. ¡°Well, that too seems to work. Maybe the dart alone is either too simple, or it overwhelms it when I try and use it by itself. After all, isn¡¯t it like the very first focuses that people learn? Maybe I had too much output and not enough finesse to run it?¡±


    ¡°That is possible, we can put that to the test later.¡±

 Her disarming nature.

    ¡°Are there other combinations with dart we could try?¡±


    ¡°Typically no. We can always do some field testing later, during training, but for now, let¡¯s keep moving on. Shield + any offensive focus tends to produce some sort of melee weapon. We can always give that a shot.¡±


    ¡°Do these typically land in archetypes? Should I just try to imagine what will happen?¡±


    ¡°Yes as ultimately it will be your own physical aptitude that determines your effectiveness.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s start with Shield + Blast.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Go for it. You can see what you''re manifesting on the monitor. The arms of the device are engraph units so you should be able to use the weapons a bit.¡±


    Hmmmm.I find myself musing over design. What¡¯s direct, able to defend, and has a good blade for smashing against/into something. I find myself conjuring an axe looking weapon. Looks kind of like a bladed two-handed hammer. I swing it. Certainly feels like I could smash something with it. I decided to see if I can modify it or change its nature depending on the image. I try to imagine the hammer side capable of blasting out a shotgun like blast. I sense through the VALENT and engraph units that I indeed have created a series of small barrels in the hammer face. ¡°Is there something I can test this on? I want to see how creative I can be with these images.¡±


    A panel on the wall pops loose and to the side. What looks like a grey lump of an unhappy sandbag, is motored out. ¡°Here. Take a whack at mister grumpy. Testing feedback is also good practice.¡±


    ¡°Why does it have a face?¡±


    ¡°Because he does. He has to express his frustration at people being weak somehow.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure he isn¡¯t grumpy because you made him that way?¡±


    ¡°How dare you accuse me of meddling with the manufacture of a nonsentient punching bag for my own amusement.¡±


    ¡°Hope you don¡¯t like it. Well if this works that is.¡±I puppet the weapon into a swing, hammer side to the bag. I pull the trigger on contact, focusing on the blast element of the focus.


    Krakoom!


    ¡°Whoops? Hey, at least I didn¡¯t destroy the room this time. It¡¯s only a little messy. Was that real sand in that thing?¡± a grimace spreads across my face. ¡°That¡¯s going to be one hell of a mess.¡±


    A meek whimper of a sound is just barely audible over the screen, ¡°Meep¡­ Mr. Grumpy. Don¡¯t go.¡±


    I think now would be the best time to pretend that I didn¡¯t hear anything. ¡°Should we test anything else? I think this one works alright. Should have interesting practical applications.¡±


    A clearly marshalled expression pops on to the monitor. ¡°We can try the Rail + Shield might give you something interesting based on the available output on the rail focus.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that does sound promising. Let¡¯s give that a go.¡±


    ¡°Switching¡±


    I get the go ahead and try to lean towards a more defensible option. Something like a Lance and shield. Something that I could use when backed into a corner. I think we can work a trick into this weapon as well. I work on developing the image of a lance with a pistol grip and a brace running along my arm. Giving me a well-supported lance to thrust with. I try to visualize a piston attached to a trigger in the handle. I¡¯m thinking, with a ¡®surprise¡¯ spike thrusting lance, I might be able to catch someone off guard. I go with something similar to a tower shield. I create a nock to lock the lance into, and a foot to brace it on the ground with. My thinking is, I can go a bit all out with the penetrator spike and still keep good position. ¡°I hate to ask¡­ but is there another target to use?¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°What kind of madness are you planning now.¡±


    She seems to be losing it a little. ¡°Well, it¡¯s just a lance. It¡¯s intended for thrusting. I thought I might try something more defensive.¡±


    ¡°Fine Mr. Happy will be glad to assist you.¡± Another lump of a sandbag was motored out. This one had a kind of manic grin on his face. I wasn¡¯t sure what I was in for. I give it a little poke. The material doesn¡¯t yield. This is clearly not a sandbag. I figure, what the hell. Now is as good as ever to test the penetrative force on this spike.


    I clamp the foot into place on the ground. I place the tip just a couple of inches away from it. I pull the trigger.


    KaTHUNK!


    ¡°You monster! What the heck did you do to Mr. Happy!? You monster. You clearly aren¡¯t human!¡±


    I consider my handiwork through the monitor. A nice clean hole has been punched out of the front of Mr. Happy...the back is another story. A good third of the back is just blown off in a jagged damage cone. ¡°Well, I think that works alright. I think this should give a defensive position a little punch.¡±


    She seems to be pushing through some feelings. Clearly, she wants to be done now. ¡°Lets quickly go through the elemental bias...in the 4:1 room and see if we can¡¯t wrap this up.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Do I need to go anywhere or is this where I still have to be.¡±


    ¡°Oh, you will stay right there until we are done.¡±


    She is clearly losing it. ¡°Okay so how do we start?¡±


    ¡°We are going to just go through a series of numbers 1 through 10 and I will say the number and the element, and you will try and visualize it. Whatever you have a high affinity for should manifest as whatever you¡¯re trying to visualize.¡±


    ¡°1. Fire¡±


    Nothing happens.


    ¡°2. Water¡±


    Nothing happens.


    ¡°3. Earth¡±


    Nothing happens. I¡¯m starting to get worried.


    ¡°4. Electricity¡±


    A little arcing happens.


    ¡°5. Metal¡±


    Little small jaggy blades start growing.


    ¡°6. Psionics¡±


    Nothing happens.


    ¡°7. Force¡±


    A small little shockwave pops into existence for a moment.


    ¡°8. Light¡±


    A small laser-like beam shoots forward.


    ¡°9. Dark¡±


    A small globule or gravity-defying inky mess clings to my hand.


    ¡°10. Entropy¡±


    It happens a little too fast for either of us to be prepared for. The dark little swirling mass from before explodes out and starts covering things and belching out a black miasma. This keeps repeating itself every time this gloopy mess can completely cover something it bursts, and the cycle continues. She quickly punches in some buttons and the room becomes brilliantly white for a moment. ¡°Uh what happened? I think that was bad¡­¡±


    She is starting to look pretty tired at this point. ¡°You managed to fuse a dark element and an entropy element together resulting in a virulent mass. It was attempting to infect everything with entropy. Hence why I have another lab that is largely a write off at this point.¡±


    ¡°I feel like I messed up. Did I do something wrong?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not that you did something wrong, but that there were too many unknown factors going into this. We would normally have at least a couple of years of pre-data to work with, but this was just so much flying blind. I get it. You are worried. I¡¯m just tired. I now have to document all of these accidents, and that¡¯s before we get going on your training.¡±


    ¡°So? Do we have the budget for a training montage?¡±


    She is clearly quite frustrated at the outcome of my test, my shenanigans, at this point aren¡¯t helping. ¡°Go clean up.¡± she sulkily huffed. ¡°I have the measurements and the data. Go grab something at the commissary and meet me back here in an hour. I will have your gear ready by then. We will transition to the rumpus room when you get back. You¡¯ll pay for what you did here. You¡¯ll pay.¡±


    With an ominous feeling, I disconnect the port from my socket and move to retrieve my engraph unit. I notice that it is no longer there anymore. ¡°Hey! What gives? Where¡¯s my arm?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that old thing?¡± It¡¯s in storage for now.¡± I noticed a malicious grin spread across her face. ¡°Have fun getting food!¡± She sweetly sang. Her face clearly a mismatch to her voice.


    I turned and headed out the way I came in. I realize I don¡¯t have much time if I¡¯m going to figure out where I am going and get food. I have the feeling I better eat while I can. I think I may have just created my own worst nightmare.

 A mixer with more Punch.

    After a brief moment of confusion at not having my holo navigation unit, I relented to navigating the old fashioned way, via signs. I mean... why have one implanted when I could just have it as a module on my engraph unit? It didn¡¯t take long to locate the commissary. Although it was far more of a traditional restaurant then what one would think of as a commissary. Things sure have changed since 2020. From free tuition for all trade schools, greatly subsidized room and board, not to mention compensated internships, the debt crisis of the higher education racket was all but a footnote in history.


    Ugh. Nostalgia wasn¡¯t going to get me fed. Still, It feels weird to get a decent bowl of ramen for what would have amounted to pennies on the dollar. If we still used dollars¡­ I mean don¡¯t get me wrong, we still use money, but as you had the world globalize and economies get further intertwined, a new monetary system had to be put into place. Ha. I bet you think this is just an exposition dump for your benefit. You¡¯re not wrong, but this is also how the mind of a philosophy major works. We can¡¯t help but consider the past as we face the future. To ponder the eccentricities of the past that shape our future and the worlds around us. Seriously we also break the fourth wall regularly. In case you missed it, I ordered the ramen.


    I find myself staring into a bowl of ramen and sighing for the fourth time. What does this all mean? I understood that wildling exposure would change me, but it seems like my life experiences have achieved some interesting results. I understood from the beginning that if this worked, I would have power. Now, I had to figure out what to do with it. Figure out how to hone a new weapon of ¡®war¡¯ to further my goals. This moment of respite felt like it was turning into a whirlwind of thoughts, feelings, and machinations. I had to figure out a way to apologize for all the destruction of Erin¡¯s labs, maybe a cookie. A plate slamming across from me brought me out of my reverie.


    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s impressive, a one-armed man eating ramen. Hell, it¡¯s pretty unusual to see a one-armed man. Judging by the socket, you¡¯re getting fitted; so, I guess you¡¯re him.¡± Before I could get a word in, the woman across from me leaned in conspiratorially halting my rebuttal. ¡°So, one-armed man¡­ did you do it?¡±


    ¡°Uh, do what?¡±


    ¡°You know the one armed man did it. So it¡¯s gotta be you.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a little young to be using that one?¡±


    ¡°My dad was weird. He said weird old shit all the time. He said, and I quote: ¡®It builds character¡¯ What¡¯s your excuse? Is it just being old, or did you build character too?¡±


    ¡°Certainly builds character. Not certain what kind of character, but certainly... character. Yes, I¡¯m old. I¡¯m possibly as old as your dad¡­ ms.?¡±


    ¡°Whoa, there. Breaking out the ms. for little old me? You really must be old. Call me Exxes. As in, you know, X¡¯s and O¡¯s, as in, you¡¯ll be kissing the ground, my ass, the dirt, or the trail I blaze¡­ wait that last one doesn¡¯t work¡­.hmmm. That sounded better in my head.¡±


    ¡°So Exxes, What brings you to talk to the ¡®fossil¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Oh, apologies mister fancy pants. I¡¯m your Skeleton crew liaison. I''ll be helping with your training, as well as, being one of your sparring partners. We at the Skeleton crew require that our future squadmates receive hands-on training to better facilitate a higher survival rate. Jester will be here in a moment. Despite his name, he isn¡¯t funny. Like, at all.¡±


    ¡°Liaison...hmmm. I wasn¡¯t prepared for that. Jester? Is he another member of the Skeleton crew?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah... Mr. Fossil we typically work in three-man sorties. So, again, to better facilitate you not going extinct, the crew policy is to have new members be paired up with their future initial squad.¡±


    ¡°If we are using Mr.¡¯s it¡¯s Mr. Wolfe, but you could just call me Nikolai.¡±


    ¡°Use your name? No, way. That¡¯s not how we do it in the crew. We use monikers. It makes us both closer and still gives us distance...you know, for when you inevitably die.¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m no stranger to a bit of gallows humor. War will do that to ya. I guess I might fit in better than I thought.¡±


    ¡°How old are you?¡± A vaguely disquieted look crossed her face.


    At that point Jester quite dourly yet drolly appeared with a tray of food. I at least assumed it was him by the traditional harlequin faced patch on the shoulder of his black fatigues. In the same place that Exxes had a patch of double X¡¯s. ¡°Hi.¡± he acknowledged me before addressing Exxes. ¡°What do we call him Exxes?¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t decided. I was going to go with Fossil since he is soooooo ooooold, but Boss might get mad at me. He looks to be about the same age. His name is too cool to be used as his moniker. I think we might have to hit the training room before we figure it out.¡±


    ¡°Understood. We have 20 minutes before we need to report to room 9a to test for 8x time compression with our new sortie member.¡±


    Looking down and realizing I was only about halfway through my large bowl of ramen. I placed my chopsticks down with a reverent one-handed apology bow. I grabbed the backup fork I received with my meal and started shoveling the noodles in. I Ignored the stares. I proceeded to pick up the bowl with one hand as soon as the noodles were gone. I drank down the broth. Finishing with a final slurp I then paused and sighed with contentment. ¡°I¡¯m going to head out first.¡± Noticing that neither of them had touched their meals and had apparently just sat and watched me devour my food over the last 5 minutes. I gave them the one-handed sorry chop and tried to give an explanation. ¡°In the military, you learn to eat quickly. You often don¡¯t have much time. A habit that stuck around.¡± I pushed my seat back in to place and picked up my tray, and headed to the dish window.


    I heard a muffled voice behind me, ¡°Wait for me!¡± She called after me. Clearly stuffing what looked to be a fried egg sandwich into her mouth.


    ¡°You know running with food in your mouth is a good way to choke.¡± and as if on queue she started choking on the bite before I could even finish the sentence. I patiently waited as she caught her breath/finished her coughing fit.


    ¡°Ugh¡­ you jinxed me.¡± She sputtered around a cough.


    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it was actually just a consequence of your choice of actions.¡±


    ¡°Are you always this stiff?¡±


    ¡°I just believe in being accurate. Is that what you call stiff? Well, I guess I also believe people should take responsibility for their actions. I can see how that could be seen as stiff. I do have a Ph.D. in philosophy, does that make me stiff?¡±


    ¡°Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. You have a doctorate? Hmmm. That¡¯s something we can work with.¡± She said as she fell in step as I turned to leave. Jester nodded, seeming to again appear out of nowhere and followed suit.


    ¡°Well, anyone got directions? I left my holo nav. In my other arm¡­¡± Waiting for the inevitable groan. Congratulating myself for my supreme sense of humor, I was jarred out of my reverie.


    ¡°Sure. I can give you a hand.¡± A literal disembodied hand appeared on my shoulder like a little hand spider.


    ¡°Gah!¡± I am not proud to admit I jumped a little. As I collected myself I realized that it had black painted nails to match Jester¡¯s other hand. ¡° I thought you said he wasn¡¯t funny? I mean apart from the jarring delivery that was comedy gold.¡±


    The incredulous look on Exxes¡¯ face told me the whole story. ¡°Oh no. You are one of those.¡±


    I caught Jester¡¯s smirk as I turned back around now following the small holo pop up from the hand on my shoulder. ¡°Thanks for the Jester, it sure is handy.¡± I shoveled on to the pile.


    An unmistakable begrudging groan let me know I had hit critical threshold. ¡°Why? Why did it have to be another one of ¡®those guys¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Well Jester, I think we can proceed toward a bright future...hand in hand.¡± Continuing to pile it on.


    ¡°Just don¡¯t ask me to put my foot down on it. That¡¯s still attached.¡± Chimed in Jester. Clearly glad to have a compatriot to assist in the torture of Exxes and a colleague in the art of pun.


    The reverie ended all too soon, Exxes covering her ears hollering, ¡°la la la la la¡± quite loudly. Clearly missing out that we had already stopped as we reached room 9a. Exxes ran square into my back. ¡°Hey! ...oh.¡± She realized we arrived.


    ¡°Exxes could you please back off¡­¡± a pregnant pause left to elucidate what I had done. ¡°You know because you ran into my back. I mean... I wouldn¡¯t want you to be taken aback, but I could really use a backstep right about now.¡± Mercilessly raining puns on her now that she was out of her ¡°safety bubble¡±.


    ¡°I swear on my momma¡¯s grave, I will get you back for this.¡±


    ¡°Wait? Your mom¡¯s dead? My condolences.¡±


    ¡°No she isn¡¯t dead yet, but she will be someday, and on that future grave I swear to return this torture upon your head.¡±


    ¡°Jester, is she always this easy to mess with?¡±


    Jester clearly trying to avoid Exxes wrathful glare but fighting off a fit of the giggles. ¡°No, Exxes is a clear-headed and even-keeled sortie leader. We never have to bail her out of the fire.¡± The exaggerated sarcasm caused Exxes to snap.


    ¡°I swear on my daddy¡¯s grave that I will get you back as well.¡±


    ¡°This a future grave as well?¡±


    ¡°Yes it is.¡±


    ¡°You realize you¡¯re not supposed to do that, right? Swear on a living person¡¯s grave that is.. Originally that was highly frowned on, as it implied you were wishing a person dead.¡±


    Exxes had a moment of blanching at the implication. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it like that!¡±


    ¡°Oh good. Let¡¯s head inside shall we.¡± I moved to the panel and realize there is a keycard swipe slot that needed to be activated. ¡°Um? One of you have an entry card?¡±


    Jester stepped forward and picked up his hand off my shoulder as he moved forward to swipe the card. ¡°Yes. Allow me.¡±

 Never be the Butt of the joke.

    The next moment shall be burned into my memory forever, or at least as long as synapses still fire. The door zwooped automatically to the side with a soft whoosh. There directly ahead of the three of us, was what could only be described as a ¡®cute behind¡¯, the owner being bent over to grab something. Bare-assed as the day she was born. ¡°Uh? Erin? I assume we might be early.¡± a startled eep and a scramble to the side resulted in her tripping on the inner suit she had been in the middle of pulling up.


    Jester couldn¡¯t seem to contain himself. Speaking with a straight and even tone. ¡°Perhaps we shouldn¡¯t have butted in early.¡± The sound of Exxes hitting her face with her palm was the only thing you could hear over the soft groaning of Erin as she was still smarting from the near faceplant maneuver she had just managed.


    ¡°Jester, perhaps we shouldn¡¯t make butts of ourselves and wait outside while Exxes helps Erin up.¡± I intoned as I turned on my heel and waited for Jester to do the same, then slapped the sensor on the door to give the two ladies some privacy.


    ¡°I hope our buns aren¡¯t in the oven. This is an honest mistake! Normally that wouldn¡¯t have been a big deal. Usually, it¡¯s just a shared locker room for the pilots. It just feels different when you include an outsider. You know, an unspoken truce among the pilots that it¡¯s, ¡®Nothing personnel kid¡¯. ¡°


    ¡°Wait someone still knows that meme?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. especially considering that some of us can actually teleport. You, my new found friend, will enjoy the memes from the Coffins. Most of us have pretty twisted humor honestly. Skeletons tend to just be a little more open about it.¡±


    ¡°Wow. Memes...memes everywhere.¡± We both fell into a fit of snickers. ¡°You have anyone on this side Jester?¡±


    ¡°We normally don¡¯t talk about stuff like this. Especially in the Skeletons, we tend not to. I know a well-honed sense of the ¡®dad joke¡¯ when I see it though, and yeah I got a little girl. It might seem callous of me to be here and not with her, but I¡¯m ¡®doing my time¡¯. I fucked up bad and this was my one golden opportunity to get back. I don¡¯t even know when my time is up anymore. Time gets funny on the other side. They have some trackers that log our time. I just keep at it. It¡¯s better this than never getting to see her again.¡±


    ¡°Well, I know we all have our own reasons for being here, but I got your back as much as I can. My wife¡¯s dead, my sons a wildling, and I don¡¯t know if anything is going to work out. ...I feel your pain.¡±


    The silence was affable, but it was still a heavy silence. It was a moment later that the door zwooped open again. Exxes had a huge Cheshire grin on her face as she waited for us. ¡°So Jester, Doc here is a Natroll.¡±


    ¡°A Natroll? What¡¯s his threshold and base resonances?¡±


    ¡°He apparently is a 4, out the gate. He has almost no elemental resonance other than electricity, at a 3 out of 5. Out of the specials, he registers 4 out of 5 on metal, force, light, and a 5 out of 5 on dark on entropy. He has a focus specialization in almost all except dart, with at least a 3 out of 5. High points include 4 out of 5 in special uses of burst and blast, and a 5 out of 5 on Rail. His melee rating is a 5. The Doctor here destroyed 2 rooms one all the way up to 4:1. For a prodigy, he rates higher than you did at your start, but he was one of the first cases of wildling exposure, so he cheated a little.¡± She finished clearly trying to provoke a reaction.


    I had been listening, trying to parse the information. Apparently, my scores were quite high for a start. I was also guessing Natroll had something to do with a high natural roll. Possibly jargon that developed out of the D&D culture. I know, hard to believe. Real magic exists yet people still play it, granted it uses more modern elements now. Last I knew we were up to 11th edition. I was in the middle of my reverie, a veritable deluge of my thoughts and memories when I heard the last part of what Exxes said. I lost it. ¡°Yeah holding half of a wife is what it takes to get where I am. Don¡¯t forget, having a son tortured and experimented on in order to trigger a wildling event, luck to survive that first bit of the event, and then some luck to survive a VALENT install. Yeah, it¡¯s easy. Anyone can do it. We done fucking around here?¡± I moved through the door, ignoring Exxes¡¯ sputtering attempt at a recovery. Suddenly being reminded of all the reasons I was here, was not the motivation I was hoping for, but nothing moves you forward like running from the ghosts of your past. I made it just into the pilot fitting area.Stolen novel; please report.


    Jester clearly unfazed by the exchange moved up to quickly catch me. ¡°Hey, Nikolai.¡± He placed his hand on my shoulder with a surprising amount of firmness. ¡°Exxes is just a kid. I know she doesn¡¯t always think before she speaks, but she was just trying to give me a heads up on what we have to work with. Take a few minutes before getting suited up. I want your best in there. We are going to be working together for quite a while and we need to be able to work this out. Exxes has survived for about 8 years worth of time out there. She is one of the longest standing members of Skeleton. Being out there so long messes with your head. There is a reason most corps will only do 2 years worth of time consecutively. Give the kid a break, for me maybe, she has been in a Coffin since she was 14. Most of us in Skeleton are hard cases, try not to take anything personal.¡±


    I take a breath. I take another as I start to collect my thoughts. ¡°Honestly. I regret that. I normally don¡¯t let stuff like that get to me, but with having something happen earlier and seeing someone like Exxes, who looks so young, pop off about it like it¡¯s such a trivial thing. It really took me by surprise. Yeah, I¡¯ll take a minute. Can you let Exxes know that I didn¡¯t mean it?


    ¡°No can do on that. She might be a kid and need a little leeway, but she deserved that tongue lashing. I just don¡¯t want what she said to keep us from working together as well as we can. It can be hellish out there. She has survived a lot of shit, but sometimes only by herself. She hasn¡¯t hit S rank on her own so she isn¡¯t cleared for solo forays. Which means she still has to work with others. Nothing wrong with her getting taken down a peg so she can learn to work with others. We all have our problems in the crew, but this last minute sortie group change was clearly designed to wrangle all three of us. Let¡¯s try and get through this together.¡± He clapped me on the back with just enough force to come across as fatherly. ¡°See ya in a few. ¡°


    ¡°Great! Way to ruin the moment!¡± I hollered back. I moved forward to the only inner suit hanging on the rack. I see the label on the right shoulder. With the suit being so slinky it just pops out there like a sign. ¡°N. Wolfe. I wonder if that makes it into my ¡®moniker¡¯?¡± Musing out loud to myself. I sit down on the bench next to the open locker slot where the suit is hanging. Was I really that raw? I haven¡¯t gotten upset about it in ages. I mean it didn¡¯t help that she looked like a kid, or Erin bringing up the whole mess earlier, but I still don¡¯t know what got into me. Did I cheat to get here? I guess I did. I had no right to be here, but here I am trying to get to him, and breaking all the rules to get there. Fuck. I¡¯m the bad guy here. Erin walked around the corner trying her best to not look embarrassed. I straighten up and wiped the corner of my eye as I run it through my hair, trying my best to be nonchalant. ¡°Uh hi there? Everything okay?¡±


    ¡°I was going to make sure everything fits with the inner suit. ...I¡¯m sorry for earlier. I¡¯m not a pilot, I¡¯m just a tech. I¡¯m really not used to being naked around people, like you guys.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a pilot yet, you know. I just have experience being around naked people from my time with the military. I¡¯m not going to lie, most of that was not around cute girls though.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean? Wasn¡¯t the military desegregated by then?¡±


    ¡°It was for all intents and purposes, but not a lot of women actually wanted to be on the frontlines.¡±


    ¡°Wait, did you say I¡¯m cute?¡± sudden realization sinking in. She blushed bright red.


    ¡°Huh? You say something?¡±


    ¡°Nothing!¡±


    ¡°Hey, could you give me a moment of privacy? If these are like the kinetic barrier sensor under layers they take a little shimming to get into.¡±


    Clearly taken out of her cycle of embarrassment by the question. ¡°You don¡¯t have to shimmy. These suits will just seal down onto you once you¡¯ve put it on. Also, these suits don¡¯t actually take impacts out in the mining zones. They facilitate the high-speed information and Aether pulse transfers between your body and the Coffins. In turn Coffins relay that information out to the Deadweights to anchor your position into one of the mining zones. We will be doing an 8-hour dive to start. That will be around 64 hours under compression. We will be taking camp breaks to give your brain time to process as it would during normal sleep cycles as mental fatigue is what will cause us the most difficulty. It will be the limiting factor.¡±

 See you on the other side.

    ¡°Okay. So it¡¯s, suit up, get into our Coffins, and it puts us into a remote host, and we live in there for 64 hours?¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s hard to explain. It isn¡¯t so much as a remote host as it is one of the techniques we learned through our studies into Peragomancy. You don¡¯t as per say wear it, but it is kind of like an Avatar. You are in it, in certain respects. In fact, before the Deadweights, it would cause brain death, if your Exo was rendered inoperable. It more or less takes a copy of your synapses, and the electrical signals in your brain and translates it out to your Exo. Then the Exo translates it back when you do things. It¡¯s kind of like old online games. Although it¡¯s way more than just positional information and inputs. You will experience your time in the Exo, but since we don¡¯t have to make room for a body we can keep the Exos roughly Human-sized, and shaped. So the Deadweights act as a buffer. That way if something happens it can prevent ¡®damage¡¯ from coming back down the line to you. You won¡¯t have a health bar like in a video game, but it will be a bar; it shows percent operability. Although it is broken up into all of the major systems, If enough damage to render you inoperable is done all at once, it will be a 1 hit K.O.; just like in real life. So you will need to be mindful of vital areas. It seems to affect the minds ability to perceive the body as whole if you get a hole through your chest. We have tried to keep systems placed in similar spots as traditionally vital areas, so as to make use of the bodies natural defensiveness of those areas. ¡°


    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s a lot to process. I take it the ability to visualize what you are doing is going to be very helpful here?¡±


    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s what we hope most pilots can do, although by using Peragomancy there is no perceptible lag, so it should feel like you are there, and are doing actions in real time. Visualizations are just one of the most important steps to ranking higher. The more you believe you can do, the more you can do. I imagine you might even leave here with a provisional Rank A or B.¡±


    ¡°Jester mentioned something about ranks. I thought ranks were just a form of seniority. Is it some system like a meritocracy?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a little bit of both. So it¡¯s a combination of what you can do, and what you have done. I am certain your time in the military will greatly assist in the ¡®what you have done¡¯ score portion of a ranking. For instance, Exxes is capable of a lot, but her actions that have not contributed to her sortie mates survival weighs against her. S rankers have to not only be able to take care of themselves but others as well. That may seem counterintuitive, but even if an S rank can operate solo, they are the first called in during crisis situations, or to help others they come across.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s an interesting system. How many S¡¯s are in Skeleton crew? How many in other corps?¡±


    ¡°Well, the Skeleton crew boasts the highest ratio of S¡¯s, at a total of 13 out of the 70 or so members. Although against some of the bigger corps that doesn¡¯t mean much. Paladin has 47, but they are also the largest corp amongst all of the rig runners, at just over 5000 runners. One of Japan¡¯s national teams has one of the only 2 Double S¡¯s. Korea having the other. The problem there is that neither country has any kind of substantial corps presence, as they are two of the lowest contributors to rig runners. At least speaking nationally. There are plenty of Japanese and Koreans that fled to other countries that were more willing to put up for rig runners. Russia and America were the first to seize on these opportunities. Both boast a fairly large number of Japanese and Korean transplant as part of both of their primary forces. WotS, known as woe-ts, from America is one of the highest-ranking corps with an average ranking of A across all of their rig runners. Many of them are Japanese. Russia¡¯s corp Iron Fist has the highest number of successful missions and is largely made up of Koreans.¡±


    ¡°Interesting some of these corps act like sports teams, almost. I mean I have heard of all of those corps and they are practically treated like movie or rock stars.¡±


    ¡°Some of them have been keeping us safe, and providing valuable resources for years. Also with all the data that the Deadweights record, it was fairly easy to post highlight reels that glamorized the SpEc Zones.¡±


    ¡°So. There is fame, fortune, and infamy on offer.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you could say that.¡± She paused. ¡°Let¡¯s get you fitted so we can get in there. The other two are probably in transit stasis waiting for us to log in.¡±


    ¡°Log in?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it is a sort of dreamscape VR lobby where you queue to launch altogether. Nothing worse than Rigs getting picked off one by one, because of a poor launch.¡±


    ¡°Well, let¡¯s do this.¡± I stood up and grabbed the suit noticing that it looked like some sort of bondage suit minus buckles. ¡°Uh¡­ How do I do this?¡±


    ¡°You step into the legs and then you put your arms in and pull it up. Once it is pulled up and over your shoulders, you just grab the straps and lay them across. The suit material reacts with the Aether that will start circulating through the suit, and it will kind of glue it down. The button on the side of the collar will dump the Aether from the suit, and it will allow you to take it off.¡±


    ¡°What about my arm?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, in the lower locker you will find the newly modified arm unit. It''s the same previous unit, but it has some new safety features built in as well as the new connector that the suit will use once it¡¯s on. Also, you can use some of its functions remotely as well after you install the module. Here let me help with docking the new module.¡± Erin moved closer. She bent down and retrieved the unit from the lower locker, and moved closer to install it. She flustered for a moment as she remembered our earlier awkward ¡®butt¡¯ moment. ¡°I mean if that¡¯s okay.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Honestly, I forgot how much it sucks to be forced to do things one-handed.¡± I waved my stump towards her.


    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t feel anything when this slots in.¡± She stepped closer and took the very nondescript black module, about an inch or two thick and modeled to look like the rest of the arm, and placed it up against the port at a 90-degree turn. Once pressed tightly up, she swiftly twisted it into place, with a satisfying click. ¡°That should do it.¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    ¡°Could you help me dock the arm? I know it¡¯s heavy, but I just need it stood up a little.¡±


    ¡°Sure. Although you should have some remote connection control now. If you focus on gripping and then pulling like you would get out of a chair, it should stand up on its own. If that doesn¡¯t work I can help you wrestle it.¡±


    ¡°I think this might be a little much, but I can give it a couple of tries.¡± The first attempt went about as poorly as one could imagine. It was a little all over the place. Although, having got it to move and lift up a couple times during the flailing I figured I should be able to do this. I visualized gripping harder this time and did my best to visualize grabbing onto something and the feeling of doing a pull-up. ¡°Quick grab it. I am not sure how much longer I can keep it steady.¡±


    ¡°Got it. Quick put it in.¡±


    ¡°Ahhh there we go.¡± The feeling of having an arm flooding back. Oh, I needed that. Thanks for the help. I¡¯ve been really missing this wayward limb.


    It was at this moment that Exxes came storming around the corner. Seeing Erin on her knees, clearly having just gone through some exertion, and me standing up stretching my arm looking quite satisfied with myself. ¡°What the hell? We waited to go into the lobby for you guys to catch up and you are in here buh¡­ du¡­ playing around!¡± She was clearly frazzled at the idea of Erin and I being intimate so much so that she was sputtering.


    ¡°Erin was helping me attach my arm. I haven¡¯t used a remote unit before. I couldn¡¯t keep it up. Just let me get into my suit. Arms all good now. The new module and accompanying modified arm is now taken care of." I turned my back to them as I stripped off my shirt. The spider-like scarring that I took for granted coming off my arm drew a couple of gasps. ¡°Oh sorry. I forget about that. I¡¯ve had the scarring so long I don¡¯t even think about it much anymore.


    Erin was the first to respond. ¡°Not the arm scarring, that¡¯s cool. You¡¯re a mess though. What the hell happened to you?¡±


    ¡°You look like you forgot your vest and armor, and still went to war.¡± Exxes spoke barely above a whisper.


    ¡°Something like that. The guys liked to say I was lucky, as I seemed to survive every mess and scrape we got thrown into. Since we got things done...they threw us into more and more. I ended up racking up quite a few injuries over the last month of the war as they continued to put us into these untenable situations. Medical tech was rapidly advancing, so they were able to patch me up pretty well. I got a bunch of neat scars though. Chicks dig scars ya know. I could have requested leave many times over, but I knew that the reputation of my company was built on my back. If I wasn¡¯t there, the boys would have been just chewed up and expended. I went back in, over and over. Now, I look like this.¡± I take a little turn to show off my shirtless body riddled with scars. ¡°The price you pay, to keep others alive. At least it was for me. I still lost too many.¡± Realizing I was sinking back into that dark place. I forcefully put on a happy face. ¡°Don¡¯t worry! Other than the arm, everything else is in working order. Some of it is even better than new.¡±


    ¡°Just hurry up.¡± Exxes blushed and turned to storm away. ¡°We are logging in. Hurry up.¡±


    ¡°Yes, mom.¡± I said feigning exasperation.


    ¡°How do you do it?¡± Erin questioned me.


    ¡°What exactly?¡±


    ¡°Face all of this with such a cavalier attitude.¡±


    I sucked in a breath. ¡°It just appears that way. No one likes dealing with a sack of emotional potatoes. Sometimes you just have to muster your fighting essence, and deal with the devil in the details with a little gusto and humor.¡± I went back to stripping off my clothes as I turned away from Erin. ¡°I don¡¯t think my wife would have forgiven me for turning into a basket case either. I got shit to do.¡± I finished stripping and grabbed the oddly heavy slinky suit. I heard Erin turn away as she realized I was just going to go about my business even if she was still standing there. I stepped into the suit and slid it up and over my shoulders. It felt oddly pleasant, almost reassuring. A nice weighty feel to it. I got it shifted and situated and started to lay the straps over their target marks on the opposite side of the suit. In an oddly surreal moment, upon finishing laying over the last strap, the straps slide until it was perfectly snugged into place with a fitted feel. I turned around to see Erin kinda hopping from one foot to the other while waiting. ¡°Well I think I am ready to go, it even seems to be connected properly to the new arm connector, I think.¡±


    ¡°Here let me check.¡± Erin turned around and started visually scrutinizing me. I could tell she only had eyes for the suit, but it was odd to be so thoroughly scrutinized. ¡°Yep. Everything appears to be in order. Let''s move to the stasis room.


    We left the alcove we were in and made our way down the corridor running by all of the other locker alcoves. We arrived at a white door that had clear red markings. It had DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT SAFETY GEAR, all over it. I noticed a smaller note right at eye level, on the door sensor side. ¡°This facility is NOT responsible for dimensional shrifting if you enter without proper safety gear.¡± I read out loud. Confused I turned to Erin ¡°What the heck is shrifting?¡±


    ¡°Uh. Well¡­ It¡¯s kinda what happened to your wife. When dimensional borders are breached and there is no protecting Aether field. Shrifting happens. The results can be deadly.¡±


    ¡°Dimensions breached? I guess I don¡¯t understand how this all works.¡±


    ¡°Okay we step into there, and once we are in our Coffins and secured, The room will be put into a dimensional limbo state. Physical objects will be aging at a normal rate, but everything in the Aether buffer will be happening much faster.¡± She paused a second clearly struggling to find the words to explain it. ¡°I think it will be easier if we get in there and secure first, and we can field any questions once you get oriented in the Lobby.¡±


    We step into the room, and two pods are already sealed, a thrum of energy can be heard coming from them. There is a dense stasis field structure around them. It¡¯s clearly an Aether technology of some sort. It looks like a wall of glass made up of hexagon pieces. I know from experience though, that it¡¯s about as hard as a giant block made up of Carbon nanotube plates. There wasn¡¯t much that could penetrate a field that dense. I looked at the two other empty pods. They looked far more pleasant without the stasis field in place. Kind of like a bed in a box...okay, a metal coffin. It really did look comfortable, despite its macabre appearance. ¡°So we just pick one?¡±


    ¡°No. Mine on is on the right. These are pretuned for us. Normally it wouldn¡¯t matter, but since this is a specialized program, these are pretuned so that it can facilitate your development faster.¡±


    ¡°So the Left. Got it.¡± I move over to it. ¡°Is there anything else I need to do?¡±


    ¡°Just slip the helmet on and lay down. Get comfortable, and hit the green button on the inside. Hold on to the grips on the side of the box and press both thumb buttons, and say out loud ¡®Connect¡¯. That should be it.¡±


    I step in and sit down in it, and orientate myself to where I can hold both grips. They are very control stick like, with a button under each thumb. I grab the helmet off the hook on the lid and slide it over my head. It is very comfortable. It feels like it is just cradling my head. I reach up and hit the green button on the inside of the lid. It shuts smoothly, cutting off all noise. I see the Stasis field erect around the pod. With nothing left to do. I move my hands to grip onto the handles. I press both buttons. I say ¡°Connect¡± with a firm conviction. The world goes white for a moment, as it feels like I have just been pushed through an ice cold membrane of water. I am certain I wasn¡¯t, but that¡¯s what it feels like. I find myself in a fairly nondescript room. It looks like a well-furnished break room.


    ¡°Well, this is weird.¡±

 I hate these myself, but I understand the need for themm

    My day to day has been hectic.


    The days I have wanted to write, I haven''t been able to. The few days that I did have some time I could have written I was just too exhausted and drained to do it. I have my ''during the week help'' back, so hopefully I will get my next big update finished. I apologize for the delays, and I have way more respect for the authors that manage to get shit up daily. Especially Mythran''s continued. I am sure not having kids and such makes it easier, but it is still impressive to be able to write so much, so consistently well. Except for how they always mispell wary as weary. Those are two distinctly different words, meaning vastly different things, and it bugs the hell out of me. With all the typo catching readers... HOW THE HELL DOES IT CONTINUE!! Is this a trope or meme I am missing? Anywho. Back to writing just wanted to give a heads up.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

 Welcome to the Lobby.

    ¡°So what is this place exactly?¡±


    ¡°The lobby.¡± Exxes plainly replied. It feels like she is trying to mess with me.


    ¡°I was informed of this, but I didn¡¯t expect a break room. For instance, why is it so thoroughly furnished, why is there a fridge and fresh fruit, and are we actually here or not?¡±


    ¡°Someone¡¯s gots lots o¡¯ questions. I¡¯ll let the lead designer answer that.¡± She nodded behind me, indicating someone else I should be asking these questions to.


    Turning around I realized she was indicating that someone was on the weird circular platform I arrived on. The room was a little trippy if nondescript. It was, in fact, trippy because it was too nondescript. The room...I think you can call it that, felt like a white open expanse of nothing. You couldn¡¯t tell where there were walls or ceiling. The floor was easy enough because we were standing on it and there were furnishings on it, even a rug, but past a certain point, it became impossible to tell. ¡°Uh, Erin? They said you designed this place. Aren¡¯t you a little young to have designed this?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Yes, I am. I was 14 when I started working here, I just had a knack for systems. Chronologically I¡¯m 18, but I¡¯ve been alive in compression for almost an additional 10 years. Some people call me a prodigy, but I feel like a total klutz about everything else. Feels more like an idiot savant. I can swiss cheese a system or build one from scratch, but I still have problems tying my shoes. Math is easy, relationships are... problematic.¡±


    ¡°I see. So you, at 14, were helping write some of the most complex quantum state coding of any generation, but have trouble tying your shoes. It¡¯s a good thing no one really ties shoes anymore.¡±


    ¡°But I do! I have a super cute collection of vintage style tennis shoes, and I have to have my head maid tie them for me. It¡¯s super inconvenient.¡±


    ¡°A maid tying your shoes is inconvenient? A head maid!!! Why do you have any maids?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m really rich? I¡¯m barely at home? My parents are in poor health?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that makes more sense.¡±


    ¡°I basically wrote most of the interface code we use today. Like this room for instance. Well, I use the term ¡®room¡¯ loosely. It¡¯s more like limbo. I found out this place as a quirk of a quantum entanglement. So We use quantum state coding and a trick of Peragomancy to link to the deadweights. Since quantum states are determined based on when ¡®read¡¯, using Peragomancy we can read it at a transition point between states and effectively stop time in here. I mean not really, but 8x compression is REALLY slow. Like REALLY, REALLY slow. We found that when we tried to do anything higher than 8x nothing really was stable until 16x, but that seems to be something to do with a geometric progression.¡±


    ¡°Are there people using 16x?¡±


    ¡°No, not really using it, but being subjected to it, yes. Apparently, Jacks use it frequently in their training programs, although they are somewhat genetically engineered for it. There are ¡®bogs¡¯, as we refer to them, in the SpEc Zones which are also in a kind of 16x compression. We have had mixed success with engaging them. They have amazing utility, but the risks are pretty high as well. At 16x we have still had some damage done to pilots, even using the deadweights. They are often referred to as no respawn zones.¡±


    ¡°Ugh, are most pilots gamers or something? I mean sure I grew up with this, but couldn¡¯t we just go with danger zones?¡±


    ¡°Well piloting, as you will see, will feel kinda like those reincarnated in another world kind of things. Very LitRPG.¡±


    ¡°Ugh, this is all starting to feel a little too self-aware.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°Nevermind¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, since this is a limbo space, this is a construct I kind of weaseled in here. It helps keep the mental fatigue down, and it acts like a rest stop. There are rooms that will be for sleeping. The console on the ¡®coffee table¡¯ will allow us some control over the space. The fridge is actually a neat little trick where it loops in a fridge from normal time to provide real food that we can prepare and eat in here. You can actually order takeout, but you have to order it like a day or so in advance. The order goes out instantaneously, but the wait for it... is obviously a bit much.¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°30 minutes or less places don¡¯t seem like they would be too bad. That¡¯s just an order in the morning.¡±


    ¡°But is that really what you want to eat every day? Bad pizza?¡±


    ¡°No? I mean I could, but I see your point.¡±


    Exxes kind of turned her nose up at the conversation. ¡°Honestly would you really want to wait all day/look forward to crappy pizza?¡± She hooked a thumb at Jester. ¡°Plus, this guy is a really good cook. Almost chef level really.¡±


    Erin seemed like she was eager to get us back on track and going. Honestly, she seemed the most gung-ho about this. ¡°Well, we are just using a looped backup, so we don¡¯t have to wait on deadweight deployment. We can start the tutorial and training right away. Let me call up the arena. I figure we can start at 5:1 just to get things started.¡±


    Jester chose to pipe up at this point. ¡°We are looped, I would like to start at 2:1. He already has combat experience, we can speed this up.¡±


    I caught Exxes rubbing her hands together. ¡°Yeah, time to settle the score. I mean it wasn¡¯t insubordination, but let¡¯s ¡®work¡¯ this out.¡±


    I had a feeling this was going to get physical pretty quick, ¡°Sounds good. I don¡¯t have a rig yet, is this native Aether utilization? I don¡¯t have any experience with that.¡±


    ¡°We can start with the emitters like normal.¡± Noting my confusion she continued. ¡°Let me explain their function.¡± She walked to a receptacle on the wall and grabbed what looked roughly like a tonfa with an extra handle on the long end. ¡°This is an emitter module. We often use these for image training. It works as a kind of ¡®all in one¡¯ focus. Since it has a lot of functions, it isn¡¯t particularly optimized or efficient, but it should give you a chance to start learning your native Aether handling, and will handicap the ringers here a bit.¡±


    ¡°It can work as all of the modules? I get that it isn¡¯t efficient, but does no one use anything like it?¡±


    Jester jumped in at this point. ¡°Paladin actually uses it to train their rookies out in the field, but their shape is more like a traditional combat rifle. It provides some room to include some optimizing functions, but the idea is the same. It keeps investment cost low and rapid manufacture is much easier.¡±


    ¡°Are there any focuses that can be wielded rather than mounted?¡±


    ¡°I have one that I wield, but it is specialized, I have better visualization when wielding it, but it is highly specialized, it is a little less efficient because it isn¡¯t wired into my rig, but I find the stabilization I get from wielding it to be of greater value.¡±


    ¡°So you mentioned earlier that the lobby is in 8x, have we been in 8x compression this whole time? Isn¡¯t there some potential for concern?¡±


    ¡°Yes, this lobby was set to 8x, we won¡¯t know until the first rest period whether or not you are adapting to it. If you can¡¯t sleep or have other bad reactions we have to boot you out and try it at 4x¡± Erin was quick to respond.


    ¡°Can I take two emitters or will that not work?¡±


    ¡°You can take two, but it may be hard to use them both at the same time. I have seen a couple people manage two emitters at the same time, but it seems to be somewhat taxing.¡± Jester helpfully added in..


    ¡°Would it be alright if I went in first? I would like to get a feel for this, before going right into an inevitable sparring session.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, you can get a couple of minutes pretty boy.¡± Exxes seemed downright frustrated by not being able to get out there and ¡®duke it out¡¯ right away.


    I grabbed two emitters from the receptacle and then stopped after a moment''s realization. ¡°Uh, how do I get to the practice arena?¡±


    Erin had walked over to one of the couches and was at the console. ¡°Just step onto the transition plate, the display above it will let you know where the destination of the plate is set. There are also a few foot plates on the transition plate for presets.¡±


    Noting the location was now set to ¡®Arena¡¯, and noting the foot plates. I took my leave. ¡°Well. See ya soon.¡± I felt like I was again pushed through an ice cold membrane, but this time as if I was being launched up as if by jet propulsion. This was over much faster than the first one. Just a brief moment this time around. I felt a small moment of weightlessness as my momentum appeared to stop. My feet settled on what was clearly solid ground. I took a moment to look around. This was one part arena and another part battleground simulator, with walls for cover, trenches, small simple buildings, and what appeared to be a sniper¡¯s nest built into a wall. I moved to the more simple arena space. I tried to activate one of the emitters as a Kriegsmesser type blade. It wasn¡¯t quite a Kriegsmesser, but it was a nice looking blade designed for thrusting. Not much meat to it, long and slender, more like an Estoc or Side Sword. I was more interested in thrusting attacks, so that works, but I had to hope that this slashed well if it came to it. I tried to refine my mental image, but I didn¡¯t really see any change. It seemed to be a problem with the lack of refinement in the tool. I holstered both emitters to the clips on my belt and attempted to craft a blade of my own; using native Aether manipulation with my free hand. I don¡¯t know if it was just an ¡®unused muscle¡¯ kind of thing, but even with doing my best to really picture a Kriegsmesser, all I managed was a short little dagger thing. It looked to be a lot sharper and more well-formed, but it was clear I was not overcompensating, with such a tiny sword. I used the emitter again and was rewarded with the exact same shape it gave me before. I could definitely see how this would be limiting.

 A surprising start.

    After thoroughly testing one as a sword, I decided to try using the second at the same time to see if I could make a shield. While maintaining my sword, I activated the second emitter while trying to focus on the idea of a shield. The blade sputtered furiously as it tried to maintain shape. I realized I needed to focus on the idea of a sword and shield together, treat the devices like extensions of the same concept. The two emitters stabilized. The shield seemed a little hazy and was wavering. I figured it must be that I was asking too much of the emitter. I tried going with a sword and buckler image. The shield looked much more rigid. I tapped the two together and was rewarded with a stiff bouncing off of each other. They seemed to be solid enough as limited Aether constructs go. It was time to move on. The next hurdle was to try and use them as a projectile firing weapon. I know many riggers swear by energy blasts, but nothing says hello like a slug to the chest. I tried to maintain the shield shape, while still firing a slug like projectile from the end of the emitter. I had kind of intuited where the emitter release points were based on the design. That seemed to work quite well. It seemed to be able to be held like a 1 handed or 2 handed sword a pistol/submachine gun or combat rifle, and last but not least a shield. I tried wielding one emitter in both hands imagining different configurations and was rewarded with a claymore like blade, a large tower shield type device, and a shotgun or battle rifle type construct, as I attempted various visualizations. I felt like I had a good number of options. Using two together, I could use them like a couple of pistols, sword and shield, a thin pilum like spear and shield, or even two shields if it warranted it. I tried to use blast and burst and found I could use them both one handed or two handed, but results varied greatly. I tried the using the Rail aspect and was only really able to make a couple of laser-like pistols if using them 1 in each hand, and a medium output rail gun rifle if I used 1 in a 2 handed grip. I figured I should call it there, if they were watching me, it would ruin any more surprises that I could come up with.


    I tried to wave in the air and call out for them to see if that would get their attention. In just a moment or two, Jester and Exxes popped into the room and walked over to the arena.


    ¡°So are we doing this like combatives, or should I consider this a street fight? No holds barred.¡±


    ¡°We can kind of treat it like combatives at first and see how it goes in a melee engagement. I will go first, Jester will go second if you are still up for it. This is a 2:1 room so you might need to expect some bumps and bruises, possibly broken bones. We have a healing station in the Lobby, but you could be out for over an hour in that thing.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡± I said with confidence. I was always first in combatives. I was very confident in my ability to melee. I wasn¡¯t sure I was ready for a magic battle, but I feel like I could hold my own in a gunfight, as well. Hopefully, my skills weren¡¯t rusty.


    ¡°We have the field set to raw Aether, so it will actively inhibit any elemental factors. This is more just a test of your ability to mix it up. Melee weapons are all on the table, but no projectiles yet.¡±


    We circled around to the middle of the Arena space, sizing each other up. I observed she only had one emitter, but I knew already that it was a plenty flexible tool, I could not take a single emitter lightly, just because I felt I could handle two. Jester took in a quick breath of air. ¡°BEGIN!¡± He bellowed.


    Exxes moved towards me with a quick step in, switching her emitter on at the last second like a bladed tonfa. The blade shot out at an unbelievable speed. It was much longer than I originally gave it credit for. I was saved by the fact that I had decided to go for a shield at the last second. Having only activated one emitter had given me a larger more solid shield, even while holding it with just one hand. I pushed her attack to the outside, and Exxes whipped it back around like longsword attached to the end of the tonfa. These kind of unorthodox attacks were keeping me off balance. I was clearly having my defenses tested. I again interposed my shield to parry her. Following the parry, I pushed in before she could take her next swipe. As I stepped in, I holstered my second emitter and gripped the handle on the long end, that was near my elbow, while it was in the shield style hold. It gave a clear impression that I was holding a pistol grip pump action shotgun. I ¡®fired¡¯ my devised pile driver, aiming for her wrist. I was rewarded with a very crunchy sound and feel. Her wrist went limp and dropped the emitter. I was about to ask her if she conceded when she dropped into a low sweeping kick that caught my heel as I tried to jump back. I tumbled backward, and rolled out of my back fall. She used that low sweep as an opportunity to pick up the emitter with her uninjured hand. She took a kendo high stance but with only one hand on the emitter. She swung down clearly intending for a forward step strike to the head, and it was fast. She bent the blade at the last second, seeing as I was attempting to sidestep. I barely managed to get the shield up in time, as the blade came down on my shield, it wrapped around the edge. My shield was pulled, and I was thrown off balance. I didn¡¯t have much time to react, I just continued with my off balance trajectory and threw myself to the side as she attempted to thrust the blade into me for a chest strike. She was fast and pushing my reaction speeds. She was clearly running me low on stamina as my breathing was much heavier than hers. The break in her wrist or forearm was fatiguing her as well, as you could clearly see the strain on her face.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    I called out as we took our distance and started the dance of combat and spacing. ¡°How about we call this one a draw. I¡¯m running on fumes and you¡¯re injured.¡± I didn¡¯t feel it was smart to injure my soon to be squadmate, especially if that would hamper our training time.


    ¡°Not a chance Sunny Jim. You got me by surprise, but I¡¯m not done yet. We go till Jester calls it.¡±


    Her face grew hard, it looked like she thought I was taking her lightly. That couldn¡¯t be further from the truth. I could tell that if I hadn¡¯t got her by surprise, I would have had to be working much harder. She clearly had a great sense of visualization. I knew that I needed to end it, if I could, in the next engagement.


    ¡°Hey. You doing okay there champ? Looking a little woozy.¡± I trash talked a little bit trying to get her to dive in rashly. Seems it worked a little too well. She charged in at me and kicked back my shield. I pushed into it and regained my forward lean. She whipped her sword towards my open side. I shoulder charged my shield into the blow deflecting it wide. She couldn¡¯t respond in time as I pulled my second emitter and formed an oversized gauntlet type weapon and at the last second I dropped my shield projection and used a pile driver type action on the gauntlet weapon, slamming it home and doubling her over as it sent her sprawling backward.


    ¡°Hold! Going to have to call it there. She¡¯s out cold.¡± Jester moved forward and attempted to pick up Exxes. Her body a little limper then it should be, he ended up dragging the ragdoll off to the side and picking her up only to place her in a pod that appeared near the silver plate. After securing her, it disappeared. ¡°Well, the hothead is chilling out for a while. That was pretty cold. Quite the veteran fighter.¡±


    ¡°I was top of the Advanced combatives competition for 5 years running.¡±


    ¡°Shall we just have a friendly spar? I don¡¯t mean take it easy, but I am not the hot head that Exxes is. I¡¯m more of a ranged specialist anyways.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough. Weapons or hand to hand?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s start hand to hand, and then we can move to a series of weapon challenges. Sound good?¡±


    ¡°Works for me.¡±


    We circled around each other looking for openings. I stepped in with a jab to his body. Lightly making contact as he stepped back. ¡°That¡¯s a sharp jab.¡± He started using a bit of fancy footwork to stay out of my range.


    ¡°Having mastery of the basics is often the best way to move forward.¡± I dove in weaving between his jabs as he retreated staying light on his feet. I kept trying to work him towards the edge of the arena. ¡°I give you lots of credit for being fast on your feet. It definitely suits a ranged specialist, but I thought this was supposed to be a melee.¡±


    ¡°I can tell when I¡¯m being worked, and especially when I am being worked towards the wall.¡± He rapidly shifted from dodging backward to diving quickly in. My intuition screamed that he was trying to sucker me into punching so he could counter. He clearly had some boxing training. It wasn¡¯t going to save him from my assault. I shifted into his line and kicked out with a step kick, forcing him to stop his forward movement. Instead of pulling back after the kick, I use the forward movement, of the step, to step into him. He tried to get his arms up in time to stop the knee, but that was just a feint. He didn¡¯t see the left hook, after the unorthodox right jab, and dodged right into it. It was a clean hit and rattled him. My left was also smarting as we didn¡¯t have any kind of gloves on. He stepped back clearly trying to stay on his feet. ¡°Should we call it there?¡± I called out.


    ¡°Yeah, I can tell when my bell has been rung. You picked up on my bad habit of falling into boxing habits when pressed in melee. Against monsters, it has limited success. I try and avoid that bad habit, especially having been an outboxer.¡±


    ¡°It left you less flexible, but it suits you. I would suggest sticking with it. After all, when you add in some of your rigs techniques I imagine it is quite the daunting task to keep up with you in melee. Don¡¯t sell your skill short.¡±


    ¡°I appreciate the compliment. You really do know your stuff. Plus, you have that flexibility from facing abilities out in the field. The experience really shows. I bet it would be a sold-out match between you and the boss.¡±


    ¡°Who is the boss of Skeleton Crew? I heard that everyone just calls him ¡®Big Boss¡¯ or Something Snake, I think. Can¡¯t remember, at the moment.¡±


    ¡°David Hayger.¡± He paused a moment as he saw shock cross my face. ¡°He was in some special forces unit. Although putting pieces together I think you might know each other. He used to mention the Wolf of the Battlefield. That led ¡®The Pack¡¯ to victory. Judging by your face. I assume that¡¯s you?¡±


    Standing there a little dazed and reeling. I shook myself to regain my wits. ¡°I was his CO, I was the Captain of the Special Forces that head up most of the early action of the Last War. We later became pivotal as we started to sabotage their technology and force them back. He became my right hand as we went through hell together. I just couldn¡¯t find anyone to replace him either, despite both of our mounting injuries. He served in that function until our company was recalled.¡±


    ¡°I guess that explains a few things. He has always forced us to be our individual best. To lean into our strengths and find new ways to capitalize on our own weakness. I¡¯m guessing we have you to thank for that?¡±


    Still reeling I didn¡¯t really acknowledge what Jester said. I was too lost in my own thoughts. ¡°We lost touch after that. I was a wreck. I lost time and contact, with most people, during my coma. This is probably going to be an interesting reunion. I have no doubt he has grown responsible and capable in the interim. The rhyme and reason to the Skeleton Crew makes more sense. I can see why it has the reputation it has. I¡¯m not sure I look forward to seeing him again, but I want to nonetheless.¡±


    ¡°Well, that is certainly an enlightening revelation.¡±

 Ex-ploh-shun.

    ¡°How you feeling? Should we wait to continue?¡±


    ¡°I have a feeling I won¡¯t do as well if weapons are involved. How about we move over to the battle simulation area and try and get some constructs to test our teamwork.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good to me. I think it would probably be more constructive.¡±


    Jester looked up and away from us towards the direction we came in. ¡°Erin please send in a random construct pack. Preferably close quarters units.¡±


    We didn¡¯t have to wait long. Something like a cross between a jaguar and a gorilla came charging over the rise. Looked to be 4 of them headed this way. You would think with all that mass up front they would be slower, but these were way faster than a sprinting horse. They pushed hard off the cat-like legs and then used their more dexterous front ¡®arms¡¯ to control the landing and redirect the lower body for the next push. ¡°Things like these exist in the SpEc Zones? These things look freaking dangerous.¡±


    ¡°Typical Monday...well or a Thursday, definitely not a Tuesday though.¡±


    ¡°Are Tuesdays worse?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡±


    By now, the monsters had closed the distance. Giving an idea of how big this area was. We didn¡¯t have any more time to idly chat. I brought up just one emitter in a two-handed grip. I produced a tower shield, designed to be placed at an angle to the ground to mitigate a potential crashing direct force. I realized my mistake as this gorjuarilla dead stopped in front of me and then aimed to bring both arms down on the shield. I collapsed the shield and rolled to the side. It repositioned to track me. I produced another shield exactly like the first and tried to bait another haymaker smash. The gorjuarilla took the bait, and I switched the shield projection at the last moment, turning it into a series of spear-like projections from the ground. This was great in theory, but despite the now impaled arms it just got more wild in its behavior. I again collapsed the Aether projection. I decided to go for a large 2 handed sword projection. It started to move back. I stepped in to cut at its arms. I thought I had missed, but it appeared the reach was a little better than I thought. It reeled back as the flesh split open on both its arms. Its head lifted up and back as it howled. I dove in another step and converted my emitter into the pile driver power gauntlet, and fired it off under the head of the gorjuarilla a perfectly executed rising uppercut with an explosive finish. Its head was on its way back down when it met the rising fist. The piston fired off just as its head started to rest on the fist. The maximized transference of force crumpled its skull. It started to slump forward and I had to hop back out of the way, but still tripped. ¡°It was at that moment that he knew that he fucked up.¡± I thought to myself as my brain registered a second one moving in to slam my face into a colorful spray on the ground. I tried to create a brace of armor between me and the very angry gorjuarilla, an improvised shield using the emitter. I didn¡¯t exactly succeed, but I did deflect the fist into my shoulder. That is when I learned what the setting on the simulation was for damage. It was at hurt o¡¯clock. A blistering crushing force of pain blinded me for a moment. Enough for me to be slow to use that arm. I could tell it wasn¡¯t broken as I could see a field of energy flash around my shoulder, but I was certainly hurt and feeling it.


    ¡°Testing the Aether barrier? That wasn¡¯t on purpose right?¡±


    I looked over my right shoulder to see Jester standing there with a shit-eating grin on his face. ¡°It was on purpose. Totally on purpose. Just had to see that everything worked.¡±


    ¡°That would be your ambient Aether barrier. The simulation field provides the basic protection against these things, but you''re still going to be bruised and feeling it. You won¡¯t die, so there¡¯s that. Give us a good show or Exxes is going to have an identity crisis over you beating her.¡±


    ¡°Great. No pressure then. This is my first time you know!¡± I mock indignantly yelled at him. The gorjuarilla was clearly trying to decide if it could move in to finish me off as Jester was watching on.


    The A.I. for these things was particularly awesome. Props given to the game developers for pushing those envelopes. It bought me a few moments. My shoulder was still stiff, but I was feeling a little sheepish, seeing how Jester was clearly finished with his two. Time to get creative. I picked up my emitter off the ground having dropped it during the life lesson I just had. I pulled out the second one. I taunted the gorjuarilla. Showing that I was clearly going to fight it. It roared in a weird combination of a gorilla bellow and a jaguar wail. Yeah, I was keeping the name. It took a cross swing at me, and I intercepted. This time I brought up a smaller buckler like shield, in the hand that was on the same side the swing was coming from. At the exact moment the shield caught the blow, I shoved the second emitter up to the arm and activated it in the shape a crescent moon punching dagger. The arm deflected behind me as it continued past me, cleanly severed. The gorjuarilla lost balance but lashed out. I turned and dove away as it swung its good arm after me. Realizing I was wasting time and energy fighting these things like sentient humans, It was time to just go for the kill. I placed one emitter in the clip on my side. Holding one in a 2 handed grip, I attempted to create a greatsword version of a billhook and was pleasantly rewarded with something very similar to my imagination. It was one part cleaver, one part billhook, and all greatsword. I took a Posta di Falcone and brought the sword down with my back step, as the gorjuarilla tried to take out its frustration out on me. My Aether projection cleaved down through its head with little resistance. It clearly connected as the blue glowing liquid of the gorjuarilla poured out all over the ground in front of me before starting to dissipate. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    I felt sheepish for how I started the fight. I really should have gone for a killing blow both times. I knew I had a long way to go before I could face these things down quickly and efficiently. I had some bad habits I needed to break. These were the new rules of engagement.


    Lost in my own headspace I hadn¡¯t noticed that Exxes returned. The back of my head instantly knew when she smacked it though. Reeling from the open-handed smack to the back of my head I frustratedly turned around to bark at Jester but instead came face to face with Exxes.


    ¡°That was pathetic. I guess your experience stops at fighting humans and humanoids. Guess we get to train you after all. Erin run that from the top.¡± She turned back to us. ¡°You boys step back and watch a pro.¡± We watched 4 gorjuarillas come charging from the same hillcrest. Exxes pulled out her emitter and made a sickle-like shape with her blade. She ran to meet them to keep them from engaging us. The first one just crashed forward and slid headless as she rolled under its shoulder. She had aimed for the point it was coming down on its arms and took its head. The two behind it started to circle around her. She jumped back towards one, and it went to slam it¡¯s arms down on her. It instead seemed to lose its head as it fell forward, not finding support from its now severed arms. The one she jumped away from, shot forward at her. A spray of blue Aether gunk spilled out of it as it had been bisected during its jump. She got up off her knees to address the last one that was angrily charging at her but at a much more measured pace. She danced to the side, clipping off one of its arms on the downswing and its leg on the upswing. It crashed into the ground. She skipped over to where it was struggling to get up and removed its skull cap. It stopped struggling. ¡°That boys is how you do it.¡±


    Jester huffed at the display. ¡°Great job, Exxes. You killed things. You still don¡¯t know how to work as a team.¡± I could tell Jester was not a fan of this side of Exxes.


    ¡°You¡¯re just mad that I killed four in the time it took you to kill two.¡± Exxes sneered clearly misunderstanding Jester¡¯s frustration.


    There was a sternness to Jester¡¯s eyes. He turned towards me. ¡°How many do you want to face at once, or would you like them funneled to you, one at a time?¡±


    ¡°Can you get them in a straight line with less than a foot deviation?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s do that. I want to try something.¡±


    ¡°Erin from the top please, times two.¡±


    ¡°I think I can manage two groups¡­ if this works. Can I count on you for backup?¡±


    ¡°Your plan. Call it as you need it.¡±


    The gorjuarillas came all at once. 8 angry Aether constructs barreling at us. I grabbed both emitters and held the ¡®front end¡¯ of the experiment with my left hand. My engraph unit. I tried to interface the units and bridge them together through the new functionality of my engraph unit, its wireless connectivity seemed to work like a charm. I held the units like a rifle while they were stacked up against each other. I aim down the line of their frame. I visualize one of them providing the energy for the magnetic fields of a rail gun, and the second one providing the structure. I get the processes linked up and the visualization takes over. The projection isn¡¯t any bigger than a typical sniper rifle, but I can feel the Aether building up in the chamber and the fields. It visually solidifies. The field generators start arcing at the increased load on the emitters. ¡°I think I may only have one shot at this! Get them lined up.¡± I started to take stock of the field down range. My moments of preparation, have been productive for Jester as well. They were forming up into a perfectly straight line, they couldn¡¯t look more regimented. You would swear, they could win ¡®best in show¡¯ at a gorjuarilla show, with how well they were lined up. I could see Jester Peppering them with fire that just grazed their skin anytime they deviated in the slightest from the designated single file procession.


    ¡°I do believe this is what you ordered?¡±


    ¡°Taking the shot.¡± Simpler said than done. I had the shot lined up, now it was time to fire it. I charged up the magnetic fields to what I felt was the safety limit for the construct. I parsed a chunk of hardened, crystalized Aether as the slug. I mentally loaded it into the firing chamber and squeezed the trigger in my mind¡¯s eye. The recoil from the shot added to the emitters quite literally blowing up in my face, I was knocked on my ass, but that shot flew true. It was more powerful than I thought I could manage with an emitter, but clearly, that had consequences.


    ¡°Wow... Now that¡¯s some punch!¡± Jester was whooping it up.


    I decided to sit up and take a look at what the fallout was. ¡°Not a particular practice I recommend, but it seemed to work out.¡± Looking down the line I could see the line of carcasses of a glowing mess of Aether constructs. A furrow plowed straight through them with seemingly no resistance. ¡°Yikes. That seems particularly effective. Great work Jester.¡±


    ¡°You too. Excellent usage of your tools. I didn¡¯t even think something like that could be possible.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t either! I thought it might work though as Erin clued me into engraphs just being a specialized focus. I figured, maybe I can link them together.¡±


    Exxes butted in, ¡°That wasn¡¯t just a doubled up shot? You made a rail gun on a nonspecific focus device?¡±


    ¡°Not really? I mean yes, but I just constructed it through visualization using one, and then just powered it through the other one. Just using the two emitters in parallel, to minimize the potential for loss and/or wasted Aether.¡±


    Now it was Jester¡¯s turn to be surprised. ¡°Holy shit, I don¡¯t think anyone has tried something like that. Most people would count that as horribly ineffective. I think they just lack imagination. That was an insane amount of firepower.¡±


    ¡°You are remembering the part where it literally blew me off my feet when it blew up in my face right? I highly don¡¯t recommend that. It worked for sure, but that¡¯s definitely a one-off. I also don¡¯t think I should precharge it as much as I did. Probably prevent the whole blowing up part of it. I just wasn¡¯t sure I could get through all 8 though.¡±


    Erin¡¯s bodiless voice rang out from everywhere. ¡°Let¡¯s call it there for the moment. I think we can work on some rig customization for Wolfe. I am thinking he will gain more out of starting at a rigging level. He has shown remarkable talent. Come on back.¡±


    Exxes was clearly a little annoyed at being shown up. ¡°It took two of you to kill 8. I hardly call that a win.¡±


    Jester was clearly incensed over this. ¡°Exxes, you don¡¯t seem to get it through your thick head! I know what you can do. I don¡¯t doubt your talent, but you lack the ability to lead or work with a team. It would have taken either of us significantly longer to kill 8 then it did for you to kill 4 if it was just us by ourselves. We worked together though and got 8 down in the same time it took you to kill 4. The reason I was put here, the most decorated second in command, was to help you learn teamwork! Because right now you are a liability. I¡¯m not here for him. I¡¯m here for you. I¡¯m here to give you a second chance. Keep screwing up like this and you¡¯re getting busted down two ranks.¡±


    I just didn¡¯t know how to respond to that, so I headed for the plate first. AWK-ward.

 Just a quick update.

    My Patreon is now up and running! It got approved. Not that I didn''t think it would, but you never know how long some of these review processes can take.


    I have a small side project I am working on, but it requires much less of my time, so it shouldn''t interfere with updates here. I will link to that once I feel like it is underway proper.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    It''s a more fantasy based short little one off that I will be posting to every so often. Depending on how well it does, and what kind of support I get here. I should be able to push more content for both. Fingers crossed that you guys like my work and want to continue supporting me.


    Thanks for the views if nothing else.


    Thanks again,


    Sincerely,


    Sir Proper.

 Plans and designs

    We could see Jester and Exxes still going at it over the monitor. Thankfully Erin had the sound off. Internal conflicts, this early on, wasn¡¯t something I was ready to wade into. I turned to Erin who was plugging away at her databoard. ¡°They''re going to be okay right?¡±


    Erin looked up from her databoard. ¡°How should I know. I don¡¯t know them, other than occasionally in passing.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Shall we get started?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s do this! All though... I feel like I have no idea what I am doing. I mean, I haven¡¯t even tested my abilities thoroughly, how am I going to design something that is going to suit my strengths and mitigate my weaknesses?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s just it. Most of this is more about how you see yourself. So if you view yourself as some heroic badass swinging a sword that¡¯s something that should work out quite well. So we design it with traits that mirror what you visualize.¡±


    ¡°So if I say I want 2 smaller blast/burst focuses mounted in parallel to the top of my forearm we could do that?¡±


    ¡°Well sure, but you have a limited number of focuses that you can use, certainly size does play a role in the total number you have available, but I¡¯m not sure if that would be optimal.¡±


    ¡°Well one of the things I have learned in my life, won through time on the battlefield, is that sometimes the numbers lie, and what works best is something purpose built. For instance, say you have 100 soldiers equipped with the latest smart weapons. What happens when an enemy closes into a melee? Sometimes the right tool for the job may not always be the most optimal. Sometimes something that seems less optimal, but with some type of specialization will be a superior choice.¡±


    ¡°I see. I think that makes sense. It¡¯s like using a sledgehammer to break a rock versus a crowbar. Sure the crowbar might work, but a sledgehammer is designed for it. Well depending on size we might be able to treat it as just one of your total allotment.¡±


    ¡°What size are the focuses? Can you give me a rough estimate so I can visualize the systems I am drawing up in my head? I need to know if it will cause complications.¡±


    ¡°A typical Rig is scaled up from the user¡¯s height by about 1/3rd. A standard focus before specialization equipment is about the size of a softball.¡±


    ¡°I have a question. It sounds like to me, if they are wired into a rig they are assumed to be always on. Is there a way to turn some on or off? Could there be different modes that change which focuses are connected? Does a wielded type only count as part of the system if it¡¯s being wielded?¡±


    ¡°Wow, you ask a lot of questions when it comes to weapons. Are you some kind of gun nut?¡±


    ¡°No, ma''am. I¡¯m just deadly serious about what weapons and or force multipliers I can or can¡¯t manage to carry with me. In any conflict, the outcome is determined by the hardware brought to bear. That¡¯s ultimately why we ¡®won¡¯ the war. I like to refer to it as the great interdimensional skirmish, but people seem to take offense to that. We sabotaged their weapons and tech, and since they thought they would stomp us in their first offensive, the ultimately didn¡¯t bring enough weapons to the fight. Once we defanged their main force everything else was just tacit token resistance. There is a reason the founding forefathers of the United States of America included the Second Amendment. An enemy from without or within will have a hard time oppressing or conquering an armed people. Certainly, there are reasonable regulations to be put in place, but it has a purpose, and it certainly saved the U.S. They suffered the least out of the nations that were attacked.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s a very traditionalist point of view.¡±


    ¡°Only because I lived it.¡±


    ¡°Well as far as the number of focuses, usually 6 standard sized focuses can be used simultaneously. We have had some luck testing mode switching, but that has had limitations. Focuses that are intended to be wielded usually requires a micro focus installed to act as a pipeline to it, but only the micro is counted as being active until it''s being used. It is about the equivalent of 1/4th of a focus.¡±


    ¡°Are there large focuses? I figure you have a micro at a fourth, small as a half, normal as a whole. Is there a double that is considered a large focus?


    ¡°Yes, but most pilots don¡¯t go for something that¡¯s going to tie up two whole slots. The spider leg mod actually runs on a large focus. That is why it limits the focus options so much. Although with some specialization you can lower the total cost. For instance, it only requires one large one, because that focus is tuned like an engraph would. Otherwise, it would have been 4 normal focuses.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I think I¡¯m starting to get an idea of what I want to try out. I think a micro focus for each arm. I want wielding options.¡±


    ¡°That should be simple enough.¡±


    ¡°I want specialized burst only small focuses, if possible, on the outside of the legs and on the shoulders If possible. I¡¯m not sure if it can be specialized that much.¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°I think we might be able to keep that cost down to 1 equivalent focus instead of two with the right tuning. I am guessing you are looking to have evasion jets?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, more or less that¡¯s the plan. I am interested in doing 2 small focuses 1 on each forearm to help with the shield generation. Would they be strong enough for that?¡±


    ¡°Yeah if you specialize them with a short range emitter array. We should be able to get you the shield size and hardness you are looking for. Wouldn¡¯t be able to use them for your other defensive technique.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine. That should work just fine. Would 2 small focuses on the left forearm that are specialized to ¡®burst only¡¯ be enough to duplicate my shotgun blast?¡±


    ¡°No I don¡¯t think so, but I think we might be able to do an array of 4 micro focuses that are blast/burst and get the same result. The size will greatly limit the range, no worse than before, but I think treating them as an array we should be able to get the same results, and that same oomph. It¡¯s tricky. Larger single designed focuses usually benefit from an increase of around 25 percent. In an array, depending on tuning, we sometimes lose certain effects that don¡¯t scale well, like in this instance range, but we make up for that with about a 50 percent increase in output. Meaning we are crippled on range, but boosted on output. That should work quite well with your shotgun blast. Might even be able to double up and use it as your pile driver punch. The range would be about the same. The output would be devastating.¡±


    ¡°I was wondering if we had a shoulder pod, could it be something that didn¡¯t count, unless engaged? Like readying it up, locking it into position or something.¡±


    ¡°I actually think that could work. What did you have in mind?¡±


    ¡°I was thinking a railgun with a large focus, and a ¡®missile pod¡¯ of dart + blast/burst with 1 normal sized focus each, for the hybrid effect.¡±


    ¡°Interesting. We will have to test it, but that seems like it could work, we would need the additional micro focuses though.¡±


    ¡°I want a large field focus, as a kind of backpack. Well... installed center mass. I feel like that would allow me plenty of defensive options.¡±


    ¡°With your defense options that could be a powerful tool. Your entropy might even work to damage some of the more potent monsters out there. There is a category we refer to as elementals or spirits. They often have a high density of Aether, it would wreak havoc on them. It should also give you an advantage in Aether control confrontations.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the plan. I figure I can also use it as a giant shield projection, in the worst case scenario. I¡¯m betting If it¡¯s a directional shield I could potentially create something like a bulwark. Being able to set up a stable defensive wall would be of great tactical value.¡±


    ¡°You really do think these things out.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a pleasant surprise. Usually, I¡¯m being told I think too much. Okay, if I¡¯m honest, it¡¯s usually: God! Why do you have to overthink everything!?¡±


    ¡°Well assuming everything balances out, we still have one more focus point to work with.¡±


    ¡°I think an explosive quarrel hybrid for the right arm would be good. A 2 small focus burst/dart unit. That should work right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t see why not. If it was another microarray, that would be good as you could double up with the other arm. Not sure how compatible that would ultimately be, but if it isn¡¯t compatible, we would just end up a net loss. I don¡¯t think the explosive quarrel would be very effective being hamstrung by a quirk of a microarray.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that was pretty much my thinking as well. Is there any testing on how it would work? Would the range be reduced or would it be the number of fragments?¡±


    ¡°That would ultimately depend on the array set up. Technically that applies to both. You could tune the ¡®shotgun¡¯ microarray to have better range, but lower power output and projectile count. I honestly don¡¯t think that would work very well with your visualization. Not to say that you couldn¡¯t adjust it, but your current one just has immense destructive potential. I know we haven¡¯t really covered elemental biases, but pairing that with your entropy or entropy + dark, would be potentially very powerful.¡±


    ¡°Yeah... I¡¯m kinda lost there. We have only worked with raw Aether, so far, but how would I go about adding, folding, combining, or whatever it¡¯s called with my elemental biases? Would that be helpful, you mention one combination being a good idea, but how will I know what is a good combination?¡±


    ¡°Whoa, there. Let¡¯s go through this one at a time. Good questions, but this gets complicated. You still have ports for wielded options. Why don¡¯t we finish that up first.¡±


    ¡°Okay, I guess I understand setting up a base layer first. I just worry that I might set different priorities if the elemental inputs change things too much.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t foresee anything that would limit you so far, but we still need to start testing some of those things. We can always adjust things later.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I was thinking a basic emitter focus that was comprised of an array of small focuses.¡±


    ¡°That should work fine, but a generic emitter? Granted using an array should combat some of the downsides of the generic emitters, but you have to understand that arrays can¡¯t take as much Aether at one time. You can ¡®burn¡¯ them out. With a failsafe built in that equals a kind of a cooling off period, but that will present its own risks.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, it¡¯s more of a backup anyway... Is it possible to make a large focus that combines blast and rail? How about Field and burst? How about a threeway between field, blast, and rail?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Yes, if we put a limiter in it that only allows 2 to be active at any given time, Yes.¡±


    ¡°Could you create a mounting bracket to hold one of the three-way hybrid and one of the field burst ones?¡±


    ¡°Depends on design. I¡¯m guessing you want the ¡®backup¡¯ on your thigh in a pistol style holster?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that would be perfect. Here let me sketch out the design I¡¯m thinking for the hybrid and the field burst units. Could I wield these at the same time? What happens if I go over my target of 6 points for a focus load across the system?¡±


    ¡°Sure that might work better. You could, it might be taxing. It varies, it will often prove very taxing if you don¡¯t have the mental focus for it, and the results could be poor. If you are not actively using all of them all at once in a continuous fashion, it shouldn¡¯t pose too much of a problem. The more you increase the load, the greater the chance you drain/utilize too much Aether too quickly and it either knocks you out or causes you to become sick. You might just be rendered unable to move. I have no doubt you should be able to handle a little extra, due to being subjected to wildling exposure, but I would definitely be careful. Taking too many risks like that could prove fatal.¡±

 Coffee Break Down

    Drawing out the designs went pretty quick. They were pretty simple. I was fairly decent at drawing blueprints, thanks to a degree in engineering. I made a silent prayer of thanks for the hours spent in classes on design and drafting. The one that was intended for the burst field combo was designed in the shape of a Cestus, maybe a little larger¡­ buckler-ish? After consulting with Erin we included to spots for the emitter points to be, one pointing forward, the other would be on the back of the hand. The last one was a little trickier. I wanted it to be able to be held like a lance, a greatsword, or a giant shield used for ramming or holding a position. We created a kind of interconnect more between the two, where the cestus was locked into the top of the 2hnded emitter. Erin was sure that by linking the two I could get my desired result with little chance of it overloading. One of the special features to the 2hnder was a sort of Aether capacitor it allowed me to release it and it would maintain its shape for a little while. Nothing crazy, but it could last for a few minutes on a single charge. The bonus was that I could preload it while it was docked into its holder. The same went for the cestus, but that was only included after we designed the docking mechanism. It would ultimately give the shield a quick setup and extra durability. Then Erin took me by surprise.


    ¡°So we haven¡¯t really included any features for the FFE modules, or really included for that matter. We could use part of the storage design to make a rechargeable ¡®one-off¡¯ for use with the FFE. A limited use, due to recharging needs, toggle for some of your modules. I think that would fit your theme of flexibility and options. I¡¯ve noticed you like an ace up your sleeve. I think this could fit that bill.¡±


    ¡°Honestly, I had forgotten all about the FFE functionality. We only really tested it by itself. I know making things complicated just gives things more ways to break, but could we include an extra charge for some of these to store preloaded elemental charges? This charging mechanism might be able to give me even more utility. What about storing a couple of charges for my ¡®shotgun¡¯? Say 5? Could we possibly do a large storage for the shoulder mounts? Either separate or as one big pool? What about a redundancy charge for the main field unit?¡±


    ¡°Well considering your other design utilities, I do agree that it would be an exceptionally useful upgrade. Normally we wouldn¡¯t use this many as it does provide dangers for rupturing, but if we set up a major microarray of 8 micro focuses, we could run an efficient charging function. You will have to route and toggle things more manually, which might slow down activations if you fully drain any of these storages. We can¡¯t really store elemental inputs, not in the sense of just assigning it, but if you intentional charge one of these with an elemental load it should maintain it. It will be something you have to plan for. I can see this Rig being extremely powerful, but the downside of that is the requirement for lots of resource management. If you think you can handle it. I think it may revolutionize some of the current design trends. So let¡¯s get down to charges, uptime, how to precharge with elements, and the other finer details. ¡°


    After about 2 hours of hammering out pro¡¯s and con¡¯s regarding the systems, we had come to a decision on some test plans regarding my personal rig. We were going to hold charges for 7 total quarrels for the right arm 3 would be for elemental preloads. The preloads had to be manually reloaded, the other 4 standard shots would charge over time using the large microarray. I could direct more Aether recharge to any 2 systems, but that would decrease the charge rates for everything else. It allowed me to be more mission or role critical if need be, but still have options. The left arm only had 5 total shots after tweaking. 2 would be elemental preloads. We found that with the lower consumption high output, that they, according to the math, should recharge faster, than the quarrels. A whopping 50 percent faster per shot. The back mounts each had 3 total shots, 1 of those 3 would be again for an elemental preload. These had the longest charge lengths due to the large requirement that Erin determined they would need for an average shot. She did seem to think we could overcharge at the time of firing if the Aether flow was adjusted. That would give them a maximum of 2 shots apiece. The shields mounted on the forearms had an active measure by the length of deployment. 10 minutes of continuous operation per arm shield. If I was alternating back and forth I could manage continuous shield deployment. There was a pulse function that would have the shields either temporarily become electrified or repulse attacks using a force pulse, light burst, or metal spikes. We talked about applying entropy to the spikes, to break down things it came into contact with, but Erin could not isolate the emitter enough to not have it not break itself down under simulation. She said she would continue working on it. The trickiest was the main large field focus. We devoted a direct portion of the large array to it, so if I was having it run continuously that it would be the system that stayed up or recovered the fastest. If I had it running continuously with no active depletions it would just maintain the levels, but as it took attacks, depending on the mode it would deplete faster. The most costly was the ¡®bubble¡¯ shield, followed by my active denial mode. The bulwark mode was dependent on size and distance of deployment, but it was peanuts in comparison to the other modes. We also included some detachable pod batteries for deployment in active denial traps or emplaced defense points. They didn¡¯t last a super long time, but depending on how close I was they could be directed to recharge through a kind of wireless charging system. The wielded weapons had more ambiguous charge meters, we tried to consider how to specify things more, but we found during simulation tests the more we specified, the more we ran into efficiency problems. I would just have to learn the consumption rates of different modes and configurations. I could start recharging them just by holstering them, so there was that. I sat back and looked at the specs. I think this can work. Yeah... It is going to take some juggling, but juggling resources is what I did day in and day out on the front lines. I can work with this.


    ¡°Erin I think we got this.¡±


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    ¡°It looks good and stable, but we will need to test it. We still might have quirks and kinks to work out.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll work out the kink. Kinks, yeah we¡¯ll get that tied down in testing.¡± Finding myself a little taken by the young engineer and flirting before I had really thought about it... I know it sounds cavalier, but as those poetics fops go on about, the heart wants, what the heart wants.


    As the thought entered her brain and registered, I caught just a moment of blushing as she turned away. ¡°We could take a break and grab a bite to eat.¡± She paused as she turned towards the monitor for the training area. Noticing that the two Crew members were exiting the recovery pods finally. ¡°Looks like we might get a few more minutes of peace before they come looking for you. They are just exiting the pods now.¡±


    ¡°What? When did they get in pods?¡±


    ¡°Sometime after their third duel things got sloppy and they started getting hurt, by the 5th both of them were bloody and either limping or clutching an arm. I assumed they either stopped then or after a 7th. The after action report from the pods shows nothing serious, but the cumulative damage was certainly extensive.¡±


    ¡°Yikes, they apparently had a lot to work out. I¡¯m hoping I¡¯m not expected to do that as some sort of hazing. Not a fan of the hot-headed way of doing things.¡±


    ¡°Well, shall we grab a coffee and a bite to eat, before we start Rig testing?¡±


    ¡°Sounds fantastic. I could certainly go for something with either caffeine or alcohol in it.¡±


    ¡°The bar doesn¡¯t show up except during downtime intervals, that doesn¡¯t start for another 4ish hours. Pretty good selection for a temporal bar if I say so myself. I do have some cold brew coffee in the fridge. I think that should scratch that caffeine itch.¡±


    ¡°Say no more. I can tell you either drink in quantity or quality, either way, it should work out.¡±


    ¡°Who says I don¡¯t do both. I have a personally managed coffee growing lot. Has some of the best beans in the world. I make my own custom blends, and either I or 1 of 2 highly trained staff do the roasting. This batch I roasted myself. It¡¯s one part mild roast Colombian, 2 parts Geisha with a light roast, and Bourbon with a medium roast. Not sure if you are up for my usual strength. You might want to cut it with water or milk. We have exceptional water quality available to us.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure I can handle your strength. I think...maybe? Let¡¯s take a look.first. Better to not look like a fool if I can help it.¡±


    ¡°Well, guests go first. I can answer any questions.¡± We arrived at the fridge. There was a weird shimmery bubble about a meter-ish square in front of the fridge, it was part of a rectangle that covered the fridge as well. Erin boldly stepped into it. The ¡®image¡¯ of her distorted like a blur or Erin colored smear. There was an audible pop as she stepped out with a large pitcher of a very dark syrup-like viscous liquid. ¡°That is still a weird experience. Although there are some funny ¡®blurs¡¯ or crossovers that happen, it should be safe. You still gotta worry about a shared space being quantum entangled. For instance, my head maid likes my coffee and it can literally disappear from her hand if I am in here and grab it just before she grabs it. Things move so fast here, it looks like magic out there.¡± Noticing my dumbfounded expression she kindly began explaining it. ¡°This a transposition field. It forces a synced quantum state object, in this case, the fridge, to be looped into here. It exists native to that time but can be ¡®entangled¡¯ to this time. So if I step across the boundary...which feels really weird, you can interact with it. Once you move back through the barrier, the objects become natively attuned to this time space. Now if I left this here all day, when I put it back, it would act as if it aged a day in just an hour. We don¡¯t age at an advanced rate though, due to Aether being pumped into our systems as part of our entanglement. It slows our aging, much like it does in the SpEc zones. The Jacks are practically elvish in nature if we look at life spans. ¡°


    ¡°The more I learn, the more I feel like I took most of these changes for granted. I mean... I know many of the things you¡¯re talking about only because I heard them here and there over the last couple of years, but I didn¡¯t understand the sheer scope of what was going on. The world changed for me overnight, and I thought I managed okay, but it feels like I¡¯m more behind than I thought. Thanks for taking the time, and not belittling me.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t belittle you the first time, but after that no more freebies. I hate repeating myself.¡± She said with a wink as she prepared her coffee. ¡°I do 4 parts coffee to 2 parts water, a dash of coconut creamer, and a dusting of cinnamon and lightly sweetened cocoa dust. I also like it plain, but that¡¯s a ¡®first thing in the morning¡¯ kind of thing for me.¡±


    ¡°Can I try a shot of the cold press concentrate?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn ya that it¡¯s strong.¡±


    I took the little espresso thimble of coffee and sipped and aerated it across my tongue. I noticed the smooth fruitiness of the Geisha, the light almost vanilla-like sweetness of the bourbon, all rounded out with the earthy richness of the Colombian. There was just a little hint of the barest hint of coffee bitter from the Colombian, but that just improved the depth. I was taken aback by the masterfully blended union. I took one more sip, before tossing the rest back. This was the good stuff that I splurged on for special occasions. This could ruin me. How do I go back to regular coffee after ¡®day¡¯ in and ¡®day¡¯ out of this stuff? Erin clearly noticed that I was clearly taking in and appreciating the coffee on multiple levels. She caught my grimace before I could respond.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°I think you might ruin me. This is what I sometimes splurge on for special occasions. How am I going to go back to my ¡®normal¡¯ coffee after this day in and day out!¡±


    ¡°I said I was going to get you there. I plan on assigning myself as your operator after this. You can have all the coffee you want.¡±


    A tear welled up in my eye. It was just a simple thing like coffee, but it was the little things that often really allowed those big ideas to hit home, to really sink in I had someone else in my corner. Someone else watching my back. I might just make it there. ¡°If your taste in beer is a good as this coffee, I might just have to marry you.¡± I just said it. My brain didn¡¯t process it. Just one of those stupid things you say to exaggerate how you feel about something, but I could tell Erin was thinking about it. I couldn¡¯t tell if it was happy or just confused about how to feel about these events unfolding. I pulled myself together. ¡°I¡¯ll have what you''re having. That looks good.¡±

 Its like falling off a bicycle

    We chatted for a while after Erin got the coffee put away, we were munching on some fresh pastries when the other two arrived. ¡°Looks like you finally took a break from settling your differences.¡± Erin snorted next to me at my comment.


    ¡°Merely team building exercises¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s team building, I would hate to see what you do to your enemies.¡±


    Exxes butted in before Jester had a chance to retort. ¡°That fucking hipster bait coffee?¡±


    ¡°People still say, hipster? Has it gone so far around that it¡¯s popular again?¡±


    ¡°I say it.¡±


    ¡°Got it.¡±


    Erin helpfully offered an alternative to her coffee. ¡°There is some of that institutionalized stuff in the cupboard near the sink. Doubles as paint stripper. Pretty sure that¡¯s what you''re looking for.¡±


    ¡°Thanks!¡± She merrily skipped over to the counter to start filling her mug with scoop after scoop of the coffee crystals. She didn¡¯t stop until it was like 2/3rds full.


    I just couldn¡¯t help myself. ¡°We are, from my understanding, not in a water shortage, nor do I think that counts as coffee at this point. I think that¡¯s going to be a tar-like substance.¡±


    ¡°Indeed. Just the way I like it. Spoon dissolving, diabetes inducing, train wreck of coffee. It¡¯s the only way.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll just sit over here. Don¡¯t mind my stares of bewilderment at the substance you referred to as coffee.¡±


    ¡°So, Wolfe¡¯s prototype should be ready in the next 45 minutes.¡±


    Jester decided to join the conversation in between bites of his pastry. ¡°We saw it printing. That looks like a lot of hardware. Are you sure we aren¡¯t going to just be cleaning you up off the floor and throwing you in a pod to recover after you pass out from using it?¡±


    I attempted to mitigate his concerns, ¡° After extensive simulation runs, we think that it should work just fine. It works on a slightly different principle than the typical rig unit. I¡¯ll discuss its features as we start our first co-op course.¡±


    A long drawn out slurp noise interjected from Exxes, before adding, ¡°We called ours in. We should all be up and ready within the hour.¡±


    We made some idle chit-chat. Nothing important said, but we took some time to get to know each other. As the hour closed out, we heard the ding sound from an easy bake oven.


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°What? I liked it. I thought it was endearing.¡±


    I got up and walked over to the monitor to visually inspect it. ¡°Yeah, I think I can work with that. It looks less bulky than I thought. Is that because you swapped out normal plating for the composite?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I think you won¡¯t notice the reduction in defense. We were able to get some better recharge rates by lowering some of the overall weight. Plus it should be easier to dodge it.¡± She winked at me during her last comment. She clearly thought it was going to be a good surprise.


    ¡°I would say suit up, but everyone is already in their flight pajamas.¡± Exxes cheerily piped in. ¡°Since you are new to this. There is an interface plate on the front of the unit. I am sure Miss Knight has shown you it¡¯s location. Once you place your hand on it and confirm the activation sequence, that¡¯s when the magic happens! You should feel like you fall into it. At the point of activation, it connects you to the deadweight system, and you will lose your quantum state body and gain the ability to drive your rig. We often call it immersing. Some also call it dolphining. The weirdos¡­¡±


    ¡°Shall we get going?¡±


    ¡°I move to the plate and select rig training arena.¡±  I once again find myself feeling launched away. I feel the landing sensation after a moment, greeted by my very own prototype rig. It¡¯s a lot more black than I remember it. It¡¯s black, with silver trim, and glowing red accent lights whether important or decoration, I¡¯m not sure. ¡°Well Hello there. Ain¡¯t you a beauty¡± I take a few moments to study it in detail. Seeing how well it meshed with my visualization. Exxes and Jester popped in just moments behind me.


    Exxes just lets out a whistle, definitely an ¡®I¡¯m impressed¡¯ whistle. ¡°Guess we should unwrap our toys. Let''s go, Jester. Queue up situation 1-581, Erin. I think that will be a good place to begin. His rig looks like it should survive. Probably give him a chance to put it through its paces."


    ¡°Queuing now.¡±


    Both Jester and Exxes moved towards the nondescript boxes that weren¡¯t there before. ¡°These are launch boxes. Rather than moving differently in time using Peragomancy they move through space. It is the same technology that replaced the shipping industry. It takes time to map the coordinate interdimensional positions, but once linked you just need an open space, otherwise, it¡¯s messy. It just transposes things between the two points. We had these delivered from the Crews hanger, our personal units. Only the box is quantumly keyed so it has to completely contain what¡¯s being transferred. Go get a feel for yours while we pop our crates¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°Got it. Well, here goes nothing.¡± I reach up to the smooth silver plate tucked behind the breastplate of my Rig. Once my hand makes a full connection. With the hand-sized plate, a voice feels like it penetrates my brain.


    ¡°Hold hand to plate for 3 seconds. Take a deep breath. Say your activation phrase. Activation will then commence.¡±


    I followed the steps, and as soon as I finished saying ¡°It¡¯s nothing personnel, kid¡± It felt like the floor fell out from under my feet and I was starting to fall backward. My vision snapped back to upright, and I could feel the difference. I could feel the Aether pouring out of me into the charging array. My initial start-up making me feel unsteady.


    Erin¡¯s voice sounded like it came from right next to my ear. ¡°Take a breath. With the way your rig works, you need to control the flow of Aether or you could pass out. Imagine a full body flex.¡±


    I concentrated on flexing my whole body at once. I felt the flow settle down and I immediately began to feel less woozy. ¡°Thanks. I don¡¯t need to remain like that, do I?


    ¡°No. maybe just a few moments during boot up. Having everything draw at once will be taxing. I will set up a draw regulator for the startup sequence in the next model. I thoroughly expect you to destroy that one. 1-581 will be quite the first challenge.¡±


    I tested relaxing and indeed felt a different sensation. It felt like a warm connectedness. It was quite pleasant really. ¡°Wow, that¡¯s a pleasant feeling. Like a warm blanket.¡±


    ¡°That is probably the charging array interface. Taking damage to it will probably be excruciating.¡±


    ¡°Right got it. Avoid chest damage at all cost.¡± I tried to take a step forward as I felt more stable now. It felt really light. ¡°Wow talk about feeling light on my feet.¡± I hopped a couple times up and down in place.


    ¡°Says the man in a Rig that weighs around 2.5 tons.¡±


    ¡°I feel light on my feet. I actually feel really good. This shit feels like it could be addicting.¡±


    ¡°Interesting I wonder if it¡¯s the charging array leaving you with lots of spare operational Aether for movement. Most people say it feels reassuring like wearing a full suit of armor. Depending on how this tests. It might be something we incorporate in other units on a smaller scale.¡±


    Exxes piped in but sounded like it was over a mechanical radio. ¡°Heads up. 1-581 is already starting. I¡¯ll take point. Jester on overwatch. New guy, you respond to my call outs. Show me something interesting. Horde inbound.¡±


    All at once a four-legged monster or did that count as six, clearly, a female unit, stepped out of one of the crates. It was missing one hand and it was clearly replaced with some type of emitter. The other hand had a 3 hand width length silver rod. The legs came out from her lower back, right at the hip line, making it look like she was sitting on an invisible throne. As she finished climbing out of the box her legs lowered and her feet were just off the floor. The hauntingly beautiful porcelain doll-like face turned in my direction. Exxes voice cut in over the com system again. ¡°Like what you see, old man? Don¡¯t drool too much.¡±


    Just a moment behind her reveal, a somewhat spindly unit flipped out of the other box. ¡°Overwatch reporting in.¡± Jester¡¯s voice crackled in over the com as well. He looked like he was taking inventory or stock of his unit. He had something that looked unmistakably like some kind of sniper rifle emitter on his back. He had a few of a small rounded cube item on his belt. He had 3 palm-sized silver cylinders affixed there as well. He had some kind of boxy thing attached to his right arm. It just was just barely doubled up the thickness of his arm. I figured it was some kind of docking port. He had a very sleek head unit like a futuristic looking motorcycle helmet that was seamless. It had a port on the side of the head that looked like a fighter jets intake. On the side of the intake port, there was another hole that seemed to go straight in from the side. He grabbed an item from the side of his belt and locked it into place by sliding it into the port. It didn¡¯t fill up the port completely, and it extended forward over one eye. As he turned to address me I noticed he had a pistol like unit strapped to his thigh. There was no trigger, and it looked like it docked into a socket rather than being held. He nodded in my direction. ¡°Taking my position now.¡± He faced forward and hopped a little up into the air as a couple of what I could only describe as thrusters lifted him further up.


    ¡°You have an actual jetpack?¡±


    ¡°Yes. This is just its boost mode. It can hover and fly as well.¡± His ascent slowed as he reached a ledge that was behind and above us, as a turret like sniping position finished resolving itself. He dropped the rest of the way onto it. ¡°In position.¡±


    ¡°I have vanguard position. I should be able to keep them off of you two. Show me what you can do Doc.¡±


    ¡°Do I have to wait or can I start now?¡± I asked Exxes.


    ¡°What?¡± Exxes confused retort came back just as shots started ringing out from above clearly hitting things as Jester started counting to himself.


    ¡°I have a couple of things that should help. Do you want me to wait till they get closer?¡±


    ¡°Do what you can do now.¡±


    I reached behind me on my belt and pulled out 4 slightly larger than hand-sized units. Conveniently, they had handles so I could hold two in each hand. I tossed one to the left and right, and one slightly forward of those on each side. Crisp walls snapped into place forming up into a choke point that gave room for about 4 of Exxes at the mouth of it. It would stop the tide, but it would keep us from being flanked. I pointed my right hand in a gun-like shape and started miming shooting things 15 times twice. I pantomimed holding a flight stick and pulling a trigger. ¡°Fire!¡± two barrages of dart like rockets launched up 7 meters into the air. before redirecting towards the rapidly approaching horde of enemies. The fired off like bolts once they got to height and reorientated. The first salvo crashed into the front line of the horde. A moment after striking with little fanfare, the front liners struck, erupted into spiky metal spears creating natural tide breaking obstacles. They tore and shredded anything that was unlucky enough to come into the unnaturally sharp jags of metal. The horde slowed as they now had to choose between going around the obstacles or try and move through. Just as the horde was starting to break up and disperse to go around the obstacles the second volley of projectiles hit. The ruined messes of Aether that marked the impacts declared quite loudly that these ones were intended to kill and maim. Often crippling the goblin-like horde monsters all around the ones that detonated. Jester¡¯s shots rang out picking off those that attempted to go around the tide breakers.


    While these actions were effective, it wasn¡¯t halting the horde of little green monster things. I pulled the longer emitter from its back holster. Exxes clearly tired of sitting back moved forward, blasting away clusters that were starting to get clear the tide breakers. ¡°Heavy infantry units moving in. Armored bruiser class! Jester slow them down, it would be nice if we weren¡¯t overrun by them.¡±


    ¡°You want them one at a time, or just not in a big rush.¡±


    ¡°One at a time is a luxury. We need to avoid a big rush, at all costs-ish...unless Doc has some sort of plan for that.¡±

 The best laid plans

    Jester, can you call out clear lines to the Heavies? Call the front grid 30 units. Tell me if I can fire a direct to point shot or if it needs to be a vertical column from the front grid.¡±


    ¡°Yes. First, call. L7, straight to point. Fire on a 2 count.¡±


    I counted a 2 count in my head and pulled the trigger. The shot just barely missed the edge of one of the tide breakers along its trajectory. Reloading ¡°5 seconds till next shot.¡±


    Jester narrowed his field of fire to focus on the wake of carnage my rail shot carved out. Probably looking for quick finishes on targets. ¡°2 heavies down. Next shot at your convenience. R15 straight to point.¡±


    I waited till the meter was filled just enough to get my next shot off, without compromising a follow-up shot. ¡°Firing!¡± The shot easily pierced between the tide breakers and carved a new gash all along its line. This one much more obvious as it slashed across much of the front line.


    ¡°Good shot. 4 down. I don¡¯t know how you are going to manage it but on my mark R1 Vertical Column.¡± I charged my secondary meter with a light element Aether. A few moments after I finished charging Jester called his shot. ¡°Mark!¡±


    ¡°Firing!¡± My shot discharged slightly more Aether than I was expecting on that shot taking the meter down by 2/3rds as opposed to the previous 1/3rd, and still took all of the Elemental flavored Aether. The effect was awesome. The shot hit a small flat spot on one of the tide breakers. It hit at just the right angle to turn and blast down the vertical column on the outside edge. The shot was about twice the width of previous shots and cleanly carved an edge to the horde. ¡°That went better than expected. Longer cooling period. 15 seconds. Hopefully, that was good enough to buy that time.¡±


    ¡°Good enough? I had you route most of the heavies to that side. You just took out no less than 15 with one shot. The Heavies have slowed considerably. Although they are spreading out. Exxes, expect them mixed in with normal squads.¡±


    ¡°Understood. Can you call them out on the same grid, and same units going back? I want to possibly break them up further.¡±


    ¡°L3 and uh 10.¡±


    Exxes actual feet touched the ground. She leaned back against the rear-facing spider legs and lifted the front ones. A glowing orb appeared at the tip of each lifted leg. ¡°Grenades out!¡± She called as she tossed them out. The report from the grenades followed just moments after large gouts of flame burst out. The pops from the grenades was a little more unnerving as there were screams that followed.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure the realism on the screams was totally necessary here, but you picked up two on that Exxes. If you can go again, single lobs on points L8 and 5, second on R9 and 12.¡±


    ¡°Grenades out!¡± Two more projectiles were tossed out to the chorus following the pops.


    ¡°You picked up 3 more, 7 injured. Cleaning up now.¡± He fired off 7 double shots in quick succession. ¡°Still a couple of heavies, but they are staying further back or holding up shields.¡± Jester¡¯s voice took on a slightly more worried tone. ¡°We have fast units moving in. Looks like riders!¡±


    Before we could try and strategize, the riders cleared past the tide breakers bounding over them easily. With Exxes still being forward, they started to swarm towards her as she started trying to move back. ¡°Back up incoming!¡± I pulled out my shield unit from its holster on the back of my belt. I connected the units together. The shield snapped into place easily covering my body it being at least twice as wide as my rig was. It was about 3/4ths my height. I held it up turned sideways to charge at them, from the left side. I sprinted out to meet them as Exxes was keeping them back as she deftly dodged them using the high mobility of her spider legs. She had activated her held silver emitter. She was whipping it at them. It looked like a sword, but it deceptively bent, twisted, and shifted to track the nimble opponents. She moved to the right as she heard me coming. I approached with a guttural warcry. They started to turn towards me, I turned my left shoulder into the shield just slightly as I jumped towards them to better get my evasion boosters directly behind me. These had no charges so I had no idea what to expect from them. Since my rigs system didn¡¯t have much drain on it, when it wasn¡¯t charging some utility or other, my evasion boosters were a bit stronger than I expected. To put it bluntly, I wasn¡¯t prepared to be hurled across the entire of line of riders and to end up tumbling after having bowled almost all of them over.


    It¡¯s never a good thing to find yourself on the ground in front of an enemy. This was no exception. I started to get up to my feet realizing that I was directly in front of the rider that I hadn¡¯t knocked down. I was watching the charging rhino like beast in what felt like slow motion. This was not going to be fun. I just barely noticed the flash over my right shoulder as it struck the mount square in the face. I wasn¡¯t spared the rider crashing into me, as it was launched off the beast as the mount crashed into the ground. The rider slammed into the shield and knocked me on my ass. The combined emitters came loose from my grip landing a meter or so away. The goblin thing gathered it¡¯s wits before I could, and was preparing a two-handed smash on my face. I got my right arm and forearm shield up just in time to have it bludgeoned back into my face. Seeing the next one. I got my left arm up just barely in time. I fired off a standard shotgun charge, and my vision exploded into Aether goo and bits as the simulation of the little monster was shredded into so much gore shrapnel. The wet mess was unpleasant. I rolled leaving the lower torso of the goblinoid thing to fall as I scrambled away from the frontline. I grabbed my large shield and separated it and reholstered both units. My eyes took in the scene of carnage as Exxes stepped literal holes in the downed enemies before her, the sharp tips of her spider legs glowing and punching through with no resistance. I was just about to get clear of the front line that Exxes was dismantling. The only warning I got was a roar just before one of the goblinoids was hurled at me. I tried activating the evasion boosters with more restraint. I still jerked a bit as it threw me to the side, just barely missing the thrown goblin. Barely having a moment to sigh in relief before the next one was thrown in my direction. This time a slug slammed into it even as I went to dodge its trajectory. The body stopped dead in the air having collided with a literal cube of stone. Two more came sailing at me. I abruptly dodged giving me clearance from both of them. A stone bolt again met one of them, the one closest to me. Despite the dodging. I now had plenty of clearance from the frontline and was behind Exxes. I fired off all three elementally charged quarrels in an even spread along the front line. The quarrels detonated as they struck a target hurling jagged metal fragments in all directions maiming and crippling large swaths around the initial victim. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    I took more distance falling back to the barriers. I could feel the minor drain as all the barrier units started recharging. I figured while I was taking a moment. Now was a good as a time as any to test another elemental volley. I queued up the force elementally charged pod. I marked my targets switching between left and right moving in towards the middle but keeping the middle clear. ¡°Jester can you use some stones to try and move them into the middle after this salvo does its business.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do what I can.¡±


    ¡°Firing!¡± The projectiles again launched straight up before streaking down. This series of projectiles was not without fanfare. As they all struck their targets. Bodies were flung everywhere. Mostly redirected back into the center of the horde, the bodies were being hurled like projectiles away from the impact zones. Stones started impacting stragglers, getting the horde to pack more to the center. Certainly not single file, but they were much more bunched up. The horde was just starting to spread again. ¡°Exxes, Move to the right! Get clear!¡± I pulled the long affixed rail on my left shoulder up and into position. The stabilizer legs fired out and down behind me as I went down to one knee. They helped form a brace as if it was artillery. It was artillery. I used the electrically charged Aether to fuel it. It spooled up. The magnets whined just a moment before the projectile was fired. Exxes had just finished clearing to the far side when the Rail cannon fired. The projectile tore through the air. The electrical charge superheating the air to plasma in its wake. As the low-pressure wave following the projectile caused the air behind it to readily convert to hot plasma, It created a superheated shockwave, you could see the goblinoids become instantly charred as the superheated plasma washed over them and cooked their lungs. A wide stripe up the middle dead instantly from the projectile, plasma, or having their lungs cooked as they simulated a need to breathe. The biggest downside to this was the destruction of three of the tide breakers. As the horde recovered from the destruction, they swarmed towards the opening in the middle.


    ¡°Exxes, you should fall back. We are coming up on the back of the horde, but with that opening, they are going to cut you off.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t have another volley ready. I could use another rail shot, but If this is supposed to test me, then how about we fight together at the front Exxes.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Nothing wrong with a little teamwork, don¡¯t slow me down. Jester, thin the herd. I know you got some more tricks.¡±


    ¡°You got it, boss.¡± Jester methodically started peppering the horde with stone spikes that had a similar function to my tide breakers, but it didn¡¯t seem that he could put as many out or as deadly. It still helped to slow the encroaching horde, but less so. He hopped down and pulled out his pistol like back up. It fit into a slot that ran along the back of his hand. ¡°I¡¯m tapped for the moment on big shots, but I can provide some close range back up.¡±


    ¡°Welcome to the melee.¡± giving him a salute before readying up my buckler weapon. I snapped it on. Noting the meter was slowly refilling after the initial activation cost was taken. ¡°Hey, Exxes do you mind if we let them get a little closer? I want to give them a present.¡±


    She waved me forward with her right hand and her forward right leg pantomimed the action. ¡°I¡¯ve been impressed so far, give me another interesting spectacle.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know how cool this one will be, but I am hoping it will be effective. I charged my shotgun with an electrified load of Aether and a dark and entropy load. I waited till the first few started to get close and I blasted them with the electrically charged shot. The one right in the middle clearly died on impact, but as I had hoped it would work, the rest just peppered with the electrically charged projectiles seized up and twitched as they were stunned. More had caught up to the first ones and I fired off the dark entropy blast into the densest group of them. ¡°Let¡¯s see how that works.¡± I moved off to the side again and waited with my shield.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s nasty.¡± Exxes winced at the sight.


    ¡°I¡¯ve seen an effect like that before. That¡¯s particularly dangerous. I would suggest caution. That mixture can be incredibly fickle.¡± Jester chimed in.


    The group of goblins hit by the blast was visibly starting to melt wherever it touched them. Anything that came into contact with them at the spots of the sloughing goo of decay started having a secondary reaction and looked incredibly lethargic and weak. As if they were rapidly becoming ill. ¡°Ewwww. I see what ya mean. I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s a good idea to touch any of them.¡± I pulled out my backup weapon and readied it in my left hand, still having the buckler on my right. I joined Jester in picking off the ones that looked sickly pale, while Exxes fired off explosive blasts into the denser groups... The goo seemed to start being less effective as time went on, and Exxes¡¯ blasts of fire clearly cooking it off. ¡°Looks safe to get into melee now¡±


    ¡°Finally! I¡¯m feeling fatigued from using my blaster too much. I should be able to recover as we fight in close quarters. This I can do all day.¡± Even though she sounded casual about everything, she started using her spider legs to stab foes left and right, as her body just drifted along. An effortless ballet of death. A heavy was preparing to hurl a grunt at Exxes and I noticed it far too late to warn Exxes. I fired up both forearm shields with force energy in one swift motion as I holstered my buckler and sidearm, and aimed my evasion boost to intercept the hurled goblinoid. The instant acceleration from all evasion boosters firing at once was staggering, but it looked like my math was good as my now shielded body was interposed between the hurtling goblinoid and Exxes. The force element violently detonated as the goblin hit both shields. Hurtling the goblin back from whence it came, and launching me just as violently away. Both crashes were spectacular. The goblin had become a cannonball as it was hurled back into the surging goblinoids. I was slammed into the wall near the left side of our ¡®fort¡¯. I had become a bit of a wreck as most of the damage was prevented, but the defensive systems had broken and gone down with me. The barrier walls started to sputter and fail. It seemed the surge had broken them in some way. Maybe a negative feedback loop, like trying to charge a battery with an inverted charge. I picked myself up noting my forearm shields were shot. ¡°Exxes I have an idea. Can you hold them till I tell you to run?¡±


    ¡°If Jester keeps covering my back. I should be fine.¡±


    ¡°Buying you time. Get moving.¡±


    ¡°On it.¡±

 Sometimes all you need is just one good hit

    I scrambled as best I could to the barrier units. They weren¡¯t completely fried but were in bad condition. They definitely wouldn¡¯t survive this. I started charging them with entropy and setting them to their decay field mode. It started sparking ominously as it neared its full charge. I started charging the second from the left side. ¡°Here goes nothing! Fall back!¡± Exxes just did a couple back handsprings away disengaging seamlessly with a lithe grace. Jester boosted back and up, easily clearing the blast zone. He remained hovering and continued to pick off the stragglers, as the horde started pushing in from all sides on our position. I threw both of them into the largest group of them. The densest portion of the horde, it contained about half of their remaining forces. We were really close to the end of this, so it would seem.


    The first time you see something so destructive that it defies your preconceptions, it often has the effect of making you look on in disbelief. I was looking on in disbelief as the equivalent of a gravity well opened up in the densest portion. The goblinoids were being drawn to it and being compressed into a smaller and smaller space. Stragglers were trying to flee from it, but often their progress was halted almost cartoonishly, before being pulled towards it slowly but surely. Now upon further jaw slacked observation it could be clearly seen that the goblinoids were being pressed together in a solid mass. Many weren¡¯t dead, but just struggling in vain. That¡¯s when the second turn of events occured. The unit¡¯s detonated. It seems that the drain they caused by draining Aether was exceeding their ability to contain that energy. Simply put, it seems that if there are enough sources to pull Aether from, it can exceed its usage rates. Did I mention they exploded? 2/3rds of the remaining group was evaporated as the devices went super critical. All three of us were blown back by the shockwave.


    Amidst the wreckage that was us, Exxes was the first to recover. ¡°Doc. What the fuck was that!?¡±


    ¡°Would you believe me if I said a happy accident?¡±


    ¡°Not sure happy is the right word. Jester, can you continue with the mop up?¡±


    ¡°Affirmative, it caused turbulence, but it wasn¡¯t as debilitating as it was for you two.¡±


    Exxes suddenly started to bang on one of her legs. ¡°Godfuckingdamnit, you break now of all times? Damn it! I¡¯m down a leg. I can¡¯t take the front position. My mobility is too reduced. Can you do anything that won¡¯t kill us Doc?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I should be able to tank for you. Can you get behind me and stab anything that tries to get by me?¡±


    ¡°I should be able to do that.¡±


    I finished taking inventory of my systems. My 2hnder was experiencing some sort of issue, the buckler was fine, both back weapons were toast, my sidearm was still good, my shotgun worked, something had sheared off my quarrel launcher, and my defense unit was on it¡¯s last leg. I pulled out my sidearm, and buckler. I fired up the buckler in shield mode. I moved to the front to meet three incoming goblinoids, Exxes moving in behind me. I blasted the three incoming apart and back into a gore spray as I tested my FFE Force flavored burst unit built into the shield. It looked kinda like a shield shaped projection hit them like a sledgehammer moving at Mach 2. It immediately drained the FFE unit. Definitely a one off. I started picking the approaching goblinoids as the came at me. Exxes leg units become as reliable as a Spartan spearman formation. The legs skewered anything that tried to flank us. Allowing me to keep firing away, and only using the shotgun blasts for things trying to rush us from the front. This last bit became a slog. My systems kept everything I was using charged up, but it was mentally fatiguing. I managed to dive at a group and use my FFE unit once more when it finally charged up. That took almost 20 minutes. It was a slog. I¡¯m certain that if we hadn¡¯t carved them down to these final numbers we would have been just decimated. It seemed as a group that we really did compliment each other, even in the face of adversity. The real test came when the heavy showed up. It wasn¡¯t just a heavy though. It was the boss. He stood almost twice as tall as one of the other little fuckers. He had been harassing us through the fight. Throwing his units at as like projectiles, and keeping Jester from targeting him in much the same way. I noticed as he came up that his armor had taken one of my 2hnder rail shots. A patch of clean green skin where the armor should have been covering.


    ¡°Shit this guy regenerates. I think we are going to have to get creative with this.¡±


    ¡°No more of those bombs!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I could do that again. I think it was a perfect storm of circumstances.¡± I barely managed to get out between the blows being rained down on me by the big guy. Exxes was a little bit further back than she had been, but she was using her legs to try and keep him on his toes so he couldn¡¯t overwhelm me.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have anything that could help.¡± Joker called out.


    ¡°Doc, hope you have something else interesting. I really don¡¯t want to wipe after all this.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ¡°I think so?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like the lack of confidence.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s never been tested! How should I know if it¡¯s going to be enough!¡±


    ¡°Exxes, I think it should be alright. He has proved plenty reliable. If it doesn¡¯t work. It may provide us the advantage we need.¡±


    ¡°Go for it doc. Give it your best shot. Jester is right.¡±


    I start charging my shotgun preloads, one light, one electricity. It takes just a moment as nothing else is charging. I wait to deflect a heavy blow. He swings wildly down, I manage to just barely parry it. He is thrown off and kinda stumbles forward. I reach low by my hip planning for an all in uppercut. On the way up I pop the FFE on my shotgun array. I visualize the pile driver punch, and fire off everything all at once. The stored Aether starts ripping apart the rig arm, but it dutifully takes the shape of an arm, a pile driver unit, and it crackles with energy. It¡¯s nearly three times the size of the rig arm. It slams into the goblinoid commander¡¯s chest and carves a path up it¡¯s chest, It stops at its face just barely lifting the commander off his feet. The pile driver fires. The head, shoulders, and part of the chest vaporize as the plasma blasts out from the explosive charge driving the fist shaped Aether through where his upper torso used to be. The Aether destabilizes. I¡¯m down an arm. It feels really, really, really weird to be missing my arm again.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I have anything left. Pretty sure my rig unit is failing on several fronts.¡±


    ¡°Pretty sure that did it.¡± Said a slightly stunned Exxes.


    A couple of shots fired out and seemed to turn the remaining flesh to stone, before a final brick shot smashed it all to rubble. ¡°Now it is. He was starting to regenerate. Probably would of been a brain dead moron if he regenerated, but it would count as a fail if we left him alive.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for the assists.¡±


    A pleasant and cheery ding sounded throughout space. ¡°That completes the simulation 1-581. A provisional Rank of A has been provided to N. Wolfe. Team Jokers Wild will be granted an operational rank of A, upon completion of course 2-34 and 3-75. Good luck.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t a voice I recognized, but had too much inflection to sound like a system message. ¡°Are we being watched?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but why would you ask that?¡±


    ¡°By who, and why did we just get graded?¡±


    ¡°We queued up an official simulation so it was graded, If my guess is correct that sounds like the Madame board director herself. Guess you have drawn some attention Doc.¡±


    Erin¡¯s voice chimed in over the space. ¡°That was me. I may have filed a review document to Madame board director herself. We were testing new tech and Wolfe is a bit of a celebrity. Seems my plan worked out.¡±


    That same voice rang out again. ¡°Yes, it did. Keep up the good work Wolfe. Although I think you might want to look over the flaws in the prototype. It shows promise.¡±


    Erin¡¯s voice chimed in again. ¡°Thank you Madame director. I¡¯ll let you know when we run the other modules.¡±


    ¡°Does anyone else feel like we are being talked over?¡± I asked to the other two that were now standing next to me.


    ¡°I do get that feeling.¡± replied exxes.


    ¡°I second that. How about we get out of here. I ordered a pie and some burgers from a diner this morning. Should be here, if my math is correct. Hopefully, you guys are okay with just some basic bacon cheeseburgers and a lemon meringue pie. I¡¯m personally famished. There is enough for two burgers a piece, and well a fourth of a pie. Should give us time for the boxes to repair our units and Doc to print a new one.¡±


    ¡°Burgers and a lemon meringue pie? Are you sure you aren¡¯t a stalker? That¡¯s pretty much the best pie known to man.¡± Clearly in awe of the superior food choices. I might have drooled a little if I was in my actual body. I think?


    ¡°I can take or leave the pie, but those burgers sound like heaven.¡±


    ¡°I figured we could all use a good first meal. A kind of a welcome to the team kind of thing. ¡°


    I looked down at my ruined arm, cracked armor, and the various fluids leaking out of the various scarring all over the unit. ¡°I think this one needs to be retired. I think it did okay for a prototype. I got to test pretty much everything. That is a bonus in my book.¡±


    Jester and Exxes eyed my unit. Exxes spoke first. ¡°I¡¯d like you to take a look at my unit. I think I might be able to make an improvement or 2.¡±


    Jester quickly followed up. ¡°We have the time and I think I could use a look over as well. I think I could make better use of my abilities if I wasn¡¯t having to power them on the fly. I could also use an ace up the sleeve or two.¡±


    ¡°Sure. If you think you can benefit from it. A stronger team is always better. Let¡¯s get that food. I think I¡¯m starving? Does Aether use burn calories?¡±


    Jester always mr. helpful piped up. ¡°No, not really, but heavy Aether use is akin to running a marathon.¡±


    ¡°That would explain it.¡± We drug ourselves over to where their boxes were located. ¡°How do I get out of this?¡±


    ¡°Since it doesn¡¯t have a dock and being a prototype, just signal for a Disconnect. Erin should be able to do it for you.¡± Exxes said as she turned away. Giving just a moment to realize that the porcelain style mask had a spider web like crack that started by the edge near her right ear.


    ¡°Hey Exxes when did you get hit in the face? I never saw anything come close.¡±


    ¡°I wasn¡¯t hit, that was from the blast of that last attack. That¡¯s the first time my mask has ever received damage. I think I might scan it and keep the design. That was some show Wolfe.¡±


    ¡°Hey, Erin can you disconnect me?¡± I immediately felt like I was falling backwards into ice water. I opened my eyes to see Erin hovering over me. Before I could react or respond, she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.


    ¡°Good job out there.¡±