I sighed. “How did that even happen?”

  Sync frowned, and it almost looked like she might cry. “This happened because of me. They got killed because of me.”

  “There, there.” Silas reached over and patted her shoulder with his tentacle. “It’s not your fault. Humans are notoriously inept, and playing around with… what seems to be an air-blender wasn’t a great idea.”

  A tear rolled down Sync’s cheek, and she squeezed her eyes shut. I nudged Silas to get him to shut up, and I wondered why she thought it was her fault.

  I scratched the back of my head. “Listen, we don’t know if people really die. They might be fine.”

  “You don’t sound like you believe that…” Silas whispered. “Try saying it like you’re not hollow inside, reading from a script full of clichés for a paycheck. Go on, give it another go.”

  Sync took a few deep breaths, wiped the tears away, and squared herself with me.

  “Okay. I won’t stop until I find a way to shut this place down and get the people out. That’s what I’ve been trying to do since this started. That’s what Dirk, Stecker, Shawn, Laura, and Brandon were helping me with. I’ve already lost almost everyone working with me.” Her eyes seemed to glow with intensity and determination—a good look for her. “I need to know, will you help me? One billion lives are at stake… and you’re a big reason why we’re all here.”

  I sighed and thought about it. If I were honest, out of the one billion people stuck here in the AllVerse, I really only cared about one life:

  Mine.

  I needed to get out of here, and she was the only one really working toward it. I guess maybe Brando was helping, but Sync seemed to be leading the charge.

  On my own, I hadn’t gotten anywhere. So far, I’d adopted a space octopus, hauled people around on a rickshaw for imaginary money, and satisfied the dental needs of a cartoon shark. All commendable, but not one meaningful step closer to the actual goal.

  Sync seemed to have her finger on the pulse of what was happening. If I wanted to escape, I’d need her help, and I was certain only she could get me out. And sure, if everyone else got out, too, huzzah… I guess. Two frogs with one car.

  Still, she was keeping things from me, and I didn’t like that. But she’d promised to tell me later, so for now, I decided to go along with it.

  I nodded. “I’m in. Where do we start?”

  Sync tensed her jaw, clearly still fighting emotion.

  “There are key points in-game where we can access the background code and hopefully find out what I need to know. One was back at the water treatment plant, but it didn’t have what I’d hoped for. Another was supposed to be here. That’s what Dirk and Stecker were looking for.” She glanced around. “But it’s not here.”

  I folded my arms. “How do you know that will work, and what do you need to find? You need to tell me exactly what’s going on if you want my help.”

  “I coded in failsafes when working on Lucretia and the AllVerse. Small code fragments to kill the servers and shut it all down. I call them Relics. I hid them in convenient locations within the game. But nothing is where it should be, and I think Lucretia is responsible. It wouldn’t be such an issue if I weren’t stuck in here.”

  I stared at her, expression blank.

  She sighed. “Think of it like this: If you want to solve a maze when you’ve got a top-down view, it’s not that hard, right? Now solve it while you’re in it and being attacked. And the maze can change on you with no warning.”

  “And Karjok are trapped and need to get out of the maze, too!” Silas blurted. “Great Barrier Reef, the stakes continue to rise like the high tide!”

  We stopped and eyed him.

  “Sorry, just felt like being part of the conversation.”

  “The adults are talking.” I returned my attention to Sync. My eyebrows arched down. “Back up from the maze analogy for a sec. You added in code like that without official consent or permission, so you alone could shut Lucretia down?” My voice rose. “How do we know that’s not what went wrong?”

  Sync rolled her eyes. “That’s not how it works. It’s essentially just a killswitch, completely inert unless activated in a specific sequence. It’s just code bound to the AI in case it operated anomalously or wouldn’t allow itself to be shut down.” She gestured around her emphatically. “Like right now. We warned you about this, but you just did what you always do.”

  I held my hand out, unwilling to accept her words. “Mmkay, let’s put down the blamethrower. This isn’t my fault. You nerds built this nightmare machine.”

  “The point is, Lucretia is more advanced than we presumed, and she’s capable of becoming even more powerful. Limiters were put in place, like any sane programming architect would do, but she seems to be actively circumventing those limiters and concealing her code from me. We can argue later about whose fault it is and whatnot, but right now, we need to work the problem.”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  She was definitely fired as soon as she got me out of here. The miserable irony was that she might be the only one able to get me out of here. So I needed her.

  For now.

  Silas inspected his suction cups the way one would their nails. “I mean, you nearly got killed by Todd the rabbit, and you’re about as charming as an anglerfish. Feel like you need more friends, not enemies, mate.”

  I side-eyed him. “Fine. And yes, we will be having a conversation about all of the technical coding stuff when this is over. Where to next?”

  Sync inspected her map. I tried to look at it, too, but I could barely make heads or tails of it. Why bother with maps when you had a personal driver to take you wherever you wanted to go?

  “There’s another place with the code access… It’s builder- and simulator-game territory. There’s a lot of strange code coming from there. If I can tap into that, maybe I can get some answers, or at least get closer to finding them. If we can get there and don’t get killed.” She paused with a thousand-yard stare and gave a mirthless chuckle. “New objective.”

  “That’s good, because this factory is a real downer,” Silas muttered.

  “Is it? I thought it was kind of…”

  One of the android factory workers looked over at him and waved. Then it just kept waving, not stopping.

  Silas and I blinked at each other, and I turned back to Sync. “If we don’t die, and get out, can we please patch these creepy androids?”

  Sync was already striding toward the exit and ignored my comment, but I inched toward the filtration fans.

  “So, Karjok don’t handle high-velocity blade-like fans very well…” Silas muttered.

  “Again, no one does,” I retorted.

  Sync froze and shrugged at me. “So what are you doing?”

  “Dirk and Stecker’s loot crates might have useful gear. Don’t wanna waste it.”

  “You’re a grave robber? That incurs coral punishment on Karjopia.”

  I crouched low and carefully reached for the loot crates, resisting the pull of the fans. “Well, we’re not on Kartopia.”

  “Karjopia! Although your point is true enough. No laws against human barbarism here.”

  I managed to get both their loot crates without suffering the same fate, which made me wonder what had happened here. They contained the following:

  | Health Pack x 2 |

  | medkit x 1 |

  | Tools x 3 |

  | Clothing: Utility Jumpsuit |

  | Energy Booster Pack x 2 |

  As an experiment, I backed away from the fans and equipped the utility jumpsuit. Of course, the Octo-Boxers remained outside, and of course, neither of them had left any sort of shoes or socks behind. I sighed, unequipped the jumpsuit, and rejoined Sync. She hurried to the doors leading out into the city.

  “I’m letting Brandon know we found each other,” she said while typing on her WHIM. “He’s still level-grinding on Assassin’s Bleed and saving up AllCash. He’ll stand by to help if needed.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Sounds like a great use of his time.”

  “I’d rather he not get too involved since four of our team are now… gone. He’s got his son to think of.”

  “Whatever. By the way, how did you hack open the door back at the treatment plant? And can I do that? Is it a skill?”

  “There is a skill for hacking, depending on the game and class you have, but no, I don’t do it through the game. I can tap into the code with my WHIM. Like a… built-in console command, if you know what that is.”

  “Yeah, sadly, I do. Is that how you class-steal?”

  “Sort of. I’m a custom class of my own design. I can hack or siphon a class and its items from any Player or NPC, but at reduced efficacy, and I technically have no class or game of my own. It’s advantageous, but it has drawbacks. Like right now, I’m stuck with Sunshine Overdraft. Useful for getting around the city, not so great if I’m being attacked.”

  “Why did you design a custom class? That’s a lot of work for a stupid game.”

  “I created it as a tool to navigate the game world for maintenance, bug-fixing, identifying hackers, and such. Plus, I needed to enter the AllVerse while it was in development. You may not appreciate it, but right now, it’s the key to stopping this mess. And it’s bound to me specifically,” she glared at me, “so don’t get any funny ideas.”

  “In case you forgot, between the two of us, only one of us has stolen the other’s class so far.” I held up my hands.

  We exited the factory, keeping a cautious eye out for any pursuers.

  “So who, exactly, is after you? Why’d they take out Dirk and Stecker? What did you do to irk the bird men?” I asked.

  “Nothing to the Godfeathers specifically… and it’s Lucretia who’s trying to kill me.”

  [It is a violation of my programming to harm any Player. On the contrary,I work to ensure the wellbeing of everyone within the AllVerse as well aspreserving gaming fidelity.

  Player safety is my top priority, along with providing the Ultimate Gaming Experience!]

  I repeated those last three words in unison with Lucretia as she said them. It was a catchy saying—too catchy. Once I got out of here and fired Sync, I’d fire my marketing department next. They’d done too well.

  Silas furrowed his brow ridge. “That was a threat if I ever heard it. And I’ve heard my fair share, let me tell you.”

  “That, I absolutely believe.” I rubbed my temples and pinched my eyes shut, then I refocused my attention on Sync. “Lucretia’s annoying but, I don’t think she’s out to kill you. That’s against her programming in every way. If that were the case, couldn’t she rally the NPCs to swarm you now like a zombie movie and be done with it?”

  “She can’t kill me directly. She works through the mechanics of the games. The AllVerse can select Players as objectives for specific games, and I get chosen as the objective a lot. I’ve had Hall of Duty, Painbow Seven, Mad Max: Flurry Road, and now The Godfeather Players all trying to kill me because I’m the ‘random’ target.” She gestured with air quotes. “But Lucretia’s the one handing out the objectives and targets.”

  “Ah, plausible deniability and loopholes.” I knew those well. Our lawyers had leveraged them to the max when we’d fought to acquire the rights to all the in-game content for the AllVerse.

  “Exactly. If she didn’t have to obey those rules… all heck would break loose. I’m pretty sure she went after Dirk and Stecker because of what they were helping me do. She’s designed to keep the AllVerse going, and we’re trying to shut it down. So keep an eye out. Ugh, I really need to swipe a better class.”

  “And I need to find some shoes.” I wiggled my toes and looked around. “There’s a store nearby.”

  “Where is this copious cluster of curious code?” Silas asked.

  Sync checked the map on her WHIM. “It’s a haul. We need to go to another city, cross the canyons to the east, and pass through some RPG and simulator game territory. Hopefully, that Data Point will allow me to locate the fragments of code I need.”

  My eyes blazed. “Just how big is this place?”

  She halted mid-stride and glanced over her shoulder at me. “Big. Scary-big. No one’s found the borders yet… if there are any. There are other planets, too.”

  “Well, yeah,” Silas said. “That was established as canon ages ago.”

  I let out another weary sigh—one that sounded like my soul abandoning my body.

  Rickshaw Riot chapters will be posted every weekday. If you don't want to wait, follow us on Patreon:

  https://www.patreon.com/collection/1588880

  break--Royal Road. They call us the Critical Hitters.

  In the desolate desert of the North American Sector, the government harvests the Soul Energy of siblings Eos and Maxima in secret.

  When their powers attract the attention of a dangerous criminal organization, their routine lives are shattered. Eos and Maxima must search for freedom and the truth about their past as hostile forces close in.

  The answers they seek lie behind one word—!

  Occam's Favor

  A grizzled ex-mech pilot is drawn back into the Everwar, a decades-long conflict raging across Jupiter’s moonscape.

  This time he refuses to fight alone, bringing a crew of misfits and a mech powerful enough to rewrite the war itself.

  is a can't-miss power-scaling mech series. Read it now!

  ------

  Dungeon Crawler Carl Audio Immersion Tunnel for Soundbooth Theater, and he's the lead writer for the Dungeon Crawler Carl Role Playing Game.