PROJECT: LAST STAND v1.09
Stats*
Status
Map
Armory
Module Bay: LOCKED
Skills: LOCKED
Help
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Colt looked at Clay, then at Kevin. “One more to go.”
Clay nodded, arms crossed. He’d stopped making jokes about three upgrades ago, just watching the screen with his jaw clenched.
Colt went to Status.
Status:
Shinki Reserves: 1
Power Bank: 503.7
Software: v1.09
Class: Frontier Operative
Lineage: 3 (1 Primary, 1 Secondary, 1 Corrupted)
Next Upgrade: v1.10 — 77.5 shinki
He focused on the upgrade line.
Upgrade to version 1.10 — 77.5 shinki?
Yes.
INSTALLING PROJECT: LAST STAND v1.10…
He floated in that black nothing, waiting for the bar to fill. It crawled slower this time, dragging across the empty box like it was pulling something heavy.
Just before it hit halfway, it stopped.
UNLOCKING SKILLS…
Then.
UNLOCKING MODULE BAY…
The bar started moving again, faster now, filling the rest of the way in one push.
INSTALLATION COMPLETE
PROJECT: LAST STAND v1.10
Colt opened his eyes. The HUB tilted sideways. The lights smeared into streaks and Kevin’s shape split into three. Clay was talking but the words broke apart before they reached him.
His legs gave out.
“Colt? Hey—”
He hit the floor.
***
Pig shit. He was lying on something soft.
He heard Kevin’s voice nearby.
“—the smallest unit of matter. It is spelled A-T-O-M. Atom. Molecules are constructed from atoms. Not your friend from a few miles over.”
“So mole-cues are made of atoms.” That was Clay.
“Correct.”
Colt coughed. His throat felt like dust. He tried to open his eyes but the light was too bright and everything washed out white. Then shapes started coming back.
A face leaned over him. Small, wooden, wearing a cloth outfit and a crooked hat.
Kevin.
The room had changed. Rough plank walls. Packed dirt floor. Smoke hanging near the ceiling. The perception overlay was back.
“You are awake,” Kevin said.
Clay pushed past him and dropped down beside the bed. He grabbed Colt’s shoulder. “Finally. Damn, Colt.” He let out a breath. “How long was it, Kev?”
“Forty-nine hours, thirty-four minutes, and eighteen seconds.”
Clay shook his head. “That’s a shit ton of hours, brother.”
Colt pushed himself up. His body felt good. Loose. The strength from the AP sat in his muscles, ready to go. The display floated in the corner of his vision.
PROJECT: LAST STAND v1.10
Shinki: 1
Power Bank: 426.2
He swung his legs off the bed and took a breath through his nose. The pig shit smell made him wince. “You had to bring this back, Kevin?”
“Clay required the perception overlay for comfort during your extended unconsciousness.”
Colt looked at his brother.
Clay shrugged and breathed in deep, his chest rising. A grin spread across his face. “Smells just like home.”
“That ain’t a good thing.”
“It is to me.”
Colt stood. His legs held. He felt better than he had in days.
Then he looked at the bed.
His chest tightened. “Where’s Pa?”
“Oh, hey.” Clay held up his hand. A metal cylinder sat in his palm, about the size of his thumb. Silver, with a faint blue light at one end. “He’s right here.”
Colt stared at it. “What.”
“Kevin and me, we had to do somethin’. Pa was startin’ to stink real bad.” Clay glanced at Kevin. “Kevin broke him down. All the way to them atoms. Stored him in here.”
“It is called a Molecular Storage Unit,” Kevin said. “The process preserves all molecular data. Reconstitution is possible with the appropriate equipment.”
“I was real mad at first,” Clay said. “Trust me. I tried to stop him and he hit me with that eye light. Blinded me for a good minute.” He shot Kevin a look. “We had words after that.”
“The interaction was prolonged,” Kevin said. “I acquired significant data from our exchanges.”
“But we settled it.” Clay looked at the cylinder. “I think we learned a lot from each other. Ain’t that right, Kev?”
“I believe the experience was mutually beneficial.”
Colt looked at the cylinder in Clay’s hand. Pa was in there. Everything he’d been, broken down smaller than dust.
He wanted to cry, but never again, right there, he promised himself.
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“Okay,” he said. “Okay.”
Clay set the cylinder on the table by the bed.
Colt’s stomach growled loud enough for both of them to hear.
Clay laughed and reached into his coat. He pulled out a gray sphere with a bite already missing. “Here. They ain’t that bad after a couple days without food.”
Colt took it and sniffed. The smell was faint. He took a small bite, then a bigger one. His stomach didn’t care what it tasted like.
“I gotta use the toilet,” he said around the mouthful.
Clay’s face lit up. “Oh, we got a real one now.” He walked to the third door and kicked it open.
Inside was a wooden room. An outhouse. A bench with a hole cut in it and a roll of paper hanging from a hook.
Clay stood a little taller. “Don’t know where it goes. But it’s got paper.”
“Everything is recycled,” Kevin said.
Colt stopped chewing.
He looked at the nutrient ball in his hand. Then at Kevin. Then at the outhouse.
“What do you mean?”
Clay’s face changed. “Wait. Kev. You mean everything?”
“Affirmative. The HUB operates on a closed-loop system. All waste matter is broken down and reconstituted into—”
Clay gagged.
Colt spit the bite onto the floor. He threw the rest of the ball down and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Water. I need water.”
Clay grabbed a cup from the table and handed it over. Colt took a long drink.
“Wait.” Clay’s voice went thin. “The water too?”
“Affirmative. All liquids are filtered through a seven-stage purification process before—”
Colt spit the water out.
“Damn it.” He wiped his mouth again. “Get rid of it, Kevin. The overlay. Now.”
The room flashed.
The planks disappeared. The dirt floor turned back to smooth metal. The smoke cleared and the pig shit smell vanished, replaced by that sterile nothing.
Kevin stood in front of him, metal again, his single eye glowing.
Clay looked around at the clean walls. “I didn’t hate it that much.”
“I did.” Colt walked to the table and sat down. He grabbed the plug, found the seam on his wrist, and pushed it in. “Now. Where were we?”
He opened the main menu and went to Skills.
Skills:
Frontier Operative
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“Kev, there’s still some question marks under Skills. What’s that about?”
“You must unlock your other Lineage classes to access those skill trees.”
“How do I do that?”
“You must up—”
“Upgrade the software.” Colt rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, I figured.”
He opened Frontier Operative.
Frontier Operative
Dead Eye 1.0 (?): LOCKED — 300 shinki
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Kevin. It’s locked. Three hundred shinki.”
He saw the question mark next to Dead Eye and focused on it.
Dead Eye 1.0:
Slows time perception 4:1 for 5 seconds.
Upgrade to 2.0 — 100 shinki
“What does 4:1 mean?”
“For every four seconds of perceived time, one second passes in reality.”
Colt turned the words over in his head. “So it’s like… time dial—” He stopped, tried again. “Dila… tation?”
“Affirmative. Time dilation is an accurate description.”
“Slow time,” Clay said. “Like magic.”
“For lack of a better framework for your understanding, yes.”
Clay’s brow furrowed. “What’s he mean by that? What’s he sayin’?”
Colt grinned. “I think Kevin just called you a dummy.”
“I ain’t no dummy.” Clay glared at Kevin. “You take that back, Kev.”
Kevin’s head tilted and his eye dimmed.
Colt laughed and focused on Dead Eye.
Unlock Dead Eye 1.0 — 300 shinki?
Yes.
Frontier Operative
Dead Eye 1.0
“Alright. How’s this work, Kevin? What if I’m in a fight and I don’t have time to open the interface?”
“You may activate skills outside of the menu through focused intention.”
“So I just gotta want to use it.”
“Affirmative.”
“Oh, I should have a few of them AP now too.”
He went to Stats.
Stats:
Strength: 15 (?)
Speed: 20 (?)
Endurance: 15 (?)
Perception: 15 (?)
Willpower: 10 (?)
Resonance: 5 (?)
Luck: 10 (?)
AP: 9
Nine points waiting.
“So I can put them wherever I want. What’s it gonna do to me?”
“You may allocate them according to your preferences. Placing a point in Strength will increase your muscular capacity. Placing a point in Speed will increase your reaction time and movement velocity. Each attribute governs different aspects of your physical and mental performance.”
Colt looked at Strength. Fifteen. He thought about the ninjas. What if he didn’t have bullets? What if he didn’t have his knife? He needed another way to fight back.
“Done,” he said.
He dumped all nine points into Strength.
Stats:
Strength: 24 (?)
Speed: 20 (?)
Endurance: 15 (?)
Perception: 15 (?)
Willpower: 10 (?)
Resonance: 5 (?)
Luck: 10 (?)
AP: 0
His body started to vibrate. He pushed back from the table and stood. The plug pulled free from his wrist. He held his hands out in front of him and watched them shake, the edges blurring.
“Oh, shit.”
“What’s happenin’ to him?” Clay stepped forward.
“He allocated all available points into Strength simultaneously. His body is conforming to the increased muscular capacity.”
His shirt pulled tighter around his arms. His shoulders ached like someone was stretching them from the inside. His hands cramped and he squeezed them into fists.
Then it stopped.
He stood there breathing hard. His shirt fit tighter across the chest and arms than before.
He flexed his hand. It felt different. More waiting behind every movement.
He grabbed the edge of the table and squeezed. The metal groaned under his grip.
Clay walked a circle around him. “You certainly don’t look much stronger.”
“I feel it though.” Colt let go of the table.
“How about them modules, Kevin?”
He opened the main menu and selected Module Bay.
Module Bay:
Module Inventory: 0
0/3 Gear Equipped
Module Display
“Says I got zero of them.”
He opened Module Display.
Modules Available
1. Spatial Anchor MK-I — Earth 447
Rec: v1.05
2. Dermal Plating MK-I — Earth 312
Rec: v1.10
3. Sound Suppression MK-I — Earth 178
Rec: v1.35
4. Resonance Blade MK-I — Earth 088
Rec: v1.50
5. [ENCRYPTED] — Earth 001
Rec: v5.0 [PARTIAL DATA]
Five modules across five Earths.
Colt read through them. The first two had recommended versions below where he was now. The third and fourth were higher, but not by much.
The fifth one. Earth 001, version 5.0. He was at 1.10. He wasn’t good at math, but he knew where he’d started and what it took to get here. Whatever was on Earth 001, it wasn’t meant for him. Not yet.
“What’s that mean?” Clay pointed at the word encrypted.
“The data for that module is classified,” Kevin said. “I do not possess the decryption key. Its function, precise location, and threat assessment are unknown.”
“But you know it’s on Earth 001.”
“That is the only information available.”
Colt stared at the line. Earth 001. The first one. It had to mean something. But he couldn’t reach it, so he let it go.
He focused on the first module.
Spatial Anchor MK-I
Location: Earth 447
Recommended Version: v1.05
Status: Available
Function: Allows user to designate a single location as a spatial anchor point. User may travel directly to anchor point from HUB. One anchor active at a time. 72-hour cooldown between uses.
Current Location Data: Museum of Natural History, Section B, Display Case 47. Artifact catalogued as “Ceremonial compass.”
“It’s in a museum,” Colt said.
Clay leaned in and whispered. “The hell’s a museum?”
Colt didn’t know either. “What’s a museum, Kevin?”
“A museum is a structure designed to house and display objects of historical, cultural, or scientific significance. They are common on Earths with advanced civilization development. They are normally open to the public for viewing.”
“So it’s a building where they keep old stuff?” Colt said.
“That people go look at for fun,” Clay added.
“That is accurate.”
Clay scratched his jaw. “Like a barn for junk nobody wants to sell?”
“An imprecise comparison, but adequate for your purposes.”
“And the module’s just sitting in there,” Colt said. “In a glass box.”
“Correct. However, museums on modern Earths typically employ security measures. Guards who patrol the building. Alarm systems connected to the display cases. If you are seen taking the artifact, local authorities will be alerted.”
Clay looked at Colt. “So we gotta steal it.”
“The likelihood of them giving you the module, no matter the way you ask, is indeed zero.” Kevin’s head tilted. “There is an additional complication.”
“What now,” Colt said.
“Earth 447 exists in a modern era. Year 1960 by local calendar. Your current attire will draw immediate attention.”
Kevin walked to the big screen on the wall. It flickered and an image appeared.
People walking on a smooth gray path. Buildings made of brick and glass, taller than anything Colt had ever seen. The people wore clothes that made no sense to him, there were men in dark suits with narrow jackets and thin ties. Hats with short brims. Women in dresses that stopped at the knee, their hair pinned up in shapes he didn’t recognize.
Everything looked pressed and tucked in.
Clay leaned in and squinted. “They all goin’ to a funeral?”
“That is standard civilian attire for that era.”
Colt stared at a man in a gray suit with a tie so thin it looked like a ribbon. “Where’s he keep his gun?”
“Civilians in that era do not typically carry firearms in public.”
Clay and Colt looked at each other.
“I ain’t wearin’ that,” Clay said.
“Same,” Colt said.
“Remaining in your current attire will increase the likelihood of detection by a factor of approximately eight.”
“I don’t care.” Colt crossed his arms. “I’ll take my chances.”
Clay nodded. “Rather get caught than get caught wearin’ that.”
Kevin’s eye dimmed, then brightened again. He didn’t argue.
Colt turned back to the screen.
“How do I get there?”
“Select the module mission. The HUB will transport you to within ten miles of the module’s location.”
“Ten miles. Then what, I just walk?”
“Correct. The landing zone will clear fog of war in that radius. You will need to navigate to the museum on foot.”
“Fog of war?” Clay scratched his head.
“Unexplored territory appears as blackout on the map interface. Upon arrival, a five-mile radius will become visible.”
Colt took a breath and looked at his brother.
Clay stretched his back.
Colt’s eyes went to the cylinder on the table by the bed. Pa. Stored in a tube no bigger than a rifle cartridge.
He looked away.
“You ready to rob a museum?” Colt asked.
Clay cracked his knuckles. “Brother, if it’s got somethin’ you need, let’s go take it.”
Colt turned back to the screen.
Begin Module Retrieval: Spatial Anchor MK-I?
He focused on it.
Yes.
Module Retrieval Initiated.
Destination: Earth 447
Era: Modern Industrial — Year 1960 Local Calendar
Warning: Local threat level unknown. Proceed with caution.k
