Starfall: A LitRPG Adventure (Tower of Somnus Book 3), page 5
Finally, almost two and a half hours later, the three of them climbed above the mist line. Their starting village loomed nearby, carved out of the mountainside a mere thousand paces from the predator-infested fog.
Now, Kat let herself sigh in relief.
If her team had been willing to settle for Wood tier dungeons, they could have been in and out in under two hours. Most of the easier dungeons were within a twenty minute walk of the sixth floor’s mountaintop villages. Even the predators on those levels were little more than an inconvenience, best avoided but easily slain.
“You did well, Miss Kat.” Dorrik smiled at her reassuringly. “Baelzar Fog Hunters are hardly to be trifled with. We were unlucky to have one pass that closely to us and your poise when it noticed you was admirable.”
“Thanks.” She smiled back. “Actually, before we head into town, I got a Gravity II skillstone and I haven’t picked out a spell yet. I was wondering if—”
“ A lucky find.” The big lizard’s expression brightened. “Although Iron dungeons can drop tier two skills, it is far from common.”
“Sounds like a lecture is about to start,” Kaleek said with a chuckle. “Anyway, I’m heading in to find a bar. You can track me down after you’re done talking with the professor here.”
“As I was saying,” Dorrik continued, not letting the desoph’s backtrack distract them. “Shear is a combat spell, a quicker to cast and more focused version of your current Gravity Spike. It will only hit one target, but it will hit them faster, harder, and for less mana.”
“Flight.” Dorrik tapped themselves on the chin with a claw, a contemplative look on their muzzle. “Flight is similar in that it is the natural evolution of Levitation. The user can lower the pull of gravity on themselves and selectively control its pull such that they can control themselves in the air, albeit at slow speeds.”
“Crushing Fist generates a cage of gravity around a target, immobilizing weaker foes.” The lizard’s voice took on a lecturing tone. “Gravity Pulse fires a wave of energy at a target, flinging them away from you with enough force to deal damage. Reverse doesn’t eliminate gravity, but it does change it in a small area, allowing you to walk on the ceiling or toss an enemy into the air and drop them.”
“Finally,” Dorrik nodded to her, “there is Gravity Plane. The name is a bit of a misnomer as it actually creates a pyramid made out of four triangles of mana. Each triangle creates a gravitational pull away from you, deflecting enemy attacks. At lower skill levels, it is helpful, but for those that manage to max out Gravity II, well, it won’t stop bullets, but curving most of them around you is almost as good.”
Kat smiled at the big lokkel, taking their intensity for what it was. Care and concern.
“It sounds like you’re a bit biased toward Gravity Plane.” She chuckled.
“Of course, Miss Kat.” Dorrik’s crest ruffled sadly. “You always insist on throwing yourself into dangerous situations. One of these days you simply won’t be able to move fast enough to save yourself from a bullet or a blade. As useful as another offensive tool might be, I would prefer that you survive whatever your next risky scheme might be.”
“Sold,” Kat replied, opening the minimized menu and pushing her finger through one of the options. “Gravity Plane it is.”
“Splendid!” Dorrik broke into a wide, toothy smile. “But before we go and pull Kaleek out of whatever den of iniquity he has no doubt found in the last ten or so minutes, I have one more thing I wish to discuss.”
“Oh?” Kat asked, raising an eyebrow.
“As I have made you aware, I am currently on a lokkel vessel in orbit?” Dorrik began uncertainly. “I am currently still handcuffed by Consensus law, but at the very minimum we can prevent the stallesp from returning and flouting that law once more.”
Kat nodded her understanding, motioning for them to continue.
“I hesitate to ask, but…” They closed their eyes, obviously trying to gather their courage.
A million possible scenarios played themselves out in her head, from out of control swarms of nanobots to a request that she leave the adventuring team. Kat bit her lower lip, steeling herself for the worst.
“I do not understand the Vex Valance arc in Chrome Cowboys,” they begged, desperation in their eyes. “I have been trying to understand more of your culture by consuming your popular media, but Vex Valance’s deeper meaning eludes me. Then when I try to read message boards to understand more, it is simply groups of fans trying to ‘ship’ ‘Sexy Vexy’ with other characters.”
“It does not make sense, Miss Kat,” Dorrik rambled. “Vex is not a naval vessel. How can he be a ship?”
CHAPTER FIVE
The maglev to Schaumberg seemed to last forever, the handful of minutes stretching out until they lasted months. The landscape hummed by. The neon and bustling streets of Chiwaukee giving way to the bombed out shantytowns of the suburbs. Their residents, little more than ghosts, crowded around the mouths of alleys as they stared warily at the train.
Kat sighed, running a hand through her hair. Given one or two missteps, she could have easily become any one of them. A drug-addled casualty of corporate infighting, hiding without an identity in the decaying corpse of a dead city.
She owed everything to Xander. When she’d gone wandering, naive and alone, looking to break out of her corporate life, he could have exploited her. Forced her to work for free or so much worse.
Instead, he treated her like a junior samurai. Sure, he deducted the cost of her training and equipment from her pay, but that was how all of the crews operated. Even if Xander liked her, he wasn’t going to lose money on a skinny and emotionally lost girl. He was like a father to her, but money was money and you didn’t get between a samurai and a pay day.
The webbing across Kat’s chest bit into her as the maglev slowed to a halt just outside the Schaumberg Arcology. The tower loomed overhead, a gigantic rectangle of gleaming steel and glass that housed an entire self-contained city. Home.
She undid the restraints and checked to make sure that her knife was still in its metal-detector-stealthed sheath. Most weapon scanners were looking for firearms, so it didn’t take nearly as much to conceal an inert but sharp lump of metal. Really, that was the main reason why Kat used the weapons.
Obviously, guns were better in any sort of real fight, but even before she acquired skills that increased the effectiveness of her knife, there was something to be said about concealability. Plus, with the help of a little judo, a knife was quieter and more effective in close quarters than even a handgun.
Kat slung her bag over a shoulder and opened the door to her pod. The rest of the passengers were chatting quietly with each other as they filed off the train. She nodded to a man in conservative business attire, and he nodded back as Kat stepped into line behind him.
One by one, they exited the maglev and into Schaumberg’s processing center. Technically, the Schaumberg Arcology was owned by a different company, but Ike Holdings was a wholly owned subsidiary of GroCorp, the megacorporation that ran Chiwaukee. The customs employees would still need to take down Kat’s pertinent information, but there wouldn’t be any of the usual complications when an employee crossed a corporate border.
She followed the line toward the concrete barriers that protected the customs station. A hasty paint job didn’t do much to cover the bullet holes in the barricades and the room’s walls. Even the corporate guards looked nervous and a bit jumpy as they stood their posts around the room.
Kat glanced downward and winced. Despite a fresh coat of paint, they’d missed the corner of a bloodstain on the asphalt walkway away from the maglev station.
All of it was a legacy of her last mission. The stallesp impersonating a GroCorp shareholder had locked down Schaumberg in an attempt to locate and destroy evidence of their misdeeds. In order to draw forces away from Kat’s final attack on the Field Tower, an Ike Holdings executive had staged a revolt.
She’d heard rumors that things had gotten bad during the height of the fighting, but Kat hadn’t really followed up on anything around that time because—
She took a deep breath to steady herself, forcing a smile onto her face as she approached the kiosk and presented the ID on her lanyard to the customs agent working there. Without even looking up at her, he scanned the card. His eyes unfocused for a second as he read something on his smartpanel, a rectangular eyepiece connected to a personal computer and the local wireless networks.
He handed Kat back her ID, and she slipped the lanyard under her jacket as the clerk waved her past. She nodded, and made her way through the security cordon toward the massive express elevators.
A security guard, clad in bulky riot armor, ran a weapon detecting wand over her. After it didn’t beep, he waved her through, and a moment later, Kat was waiting in the corner with a handful of people as the metal cage descended a couple of floors to disgorge a chatting couple. Three floors down, an overweight man wearing loud and clashing clothing got off, eyes glazed as he composed an e-mail. Then a woman in a suit nodded politely to Kat and exited on the next floor.
Finally, she was all alone. The sort of people that could afford the maglev didn’t travel to the floors that her family lived on. The door to the elevator opened, startling the two guards that were playing cards at the security checkpoint. One glance at her GroCorp College jacket and she was waved through, the mere hint of the authority and privilege that went with her schooling more than enough to waive even the most cursory investigation.
They weren’t doing their job, but Kat was hardly going to complain. She’d been roughly where they were and knew that sometimes, when people of status came through, it was best to simply turn a blind eye to duty. You survived longer that way.
She walked the roads of the floor, her trained eye picking out the hastily painted over bullet holes in brick facades and newly installed windows. Most of the pedestrians seemed fearful and a bit too thin, the food shortages and over-policing of the lockdown having taken an obvious toll.
Broken glass crunched under her foot as she turned down the road toward her mother’s house. A simple metal fence guarded by a pair of unarmored, stun-baton-wielding guards separated the small community meant for floor administrators, junior managers, and the other comparatively well to do residents.
One of the two stepped forward and opened his mouth to challenge Kat, but she simply glared at him.
Maybe it was the jacket she was wearing. Maybe it was the easy grace with which she carried herself. Hell, maybe he’d just looked into her eyes and saw a hint of who Kat was and what she had done.
He coughed, stepping aside and letting her pass unhindered. She walked the final block or two in silence, taking in the rows of two story houses. They were a welcome change from the drab, high density apartment complexes of the rest of the floor, but even here, Kat couldn’t help but notice the fresh paint around some of the doors, the telltale sign of new construction.
Without even consulting her smartpanel, she knew exactly what happened. Security and their allies with the Millennium Corporation kicked in doors in the middle of the night and dragged away ‘potential security threats.’
Then her mother’s house came into view, and for the first time on the entire trip, a smile blossomed on Kat’s face. It was only one story, much bigger than the apartment that she’d grown up in, but still smaller than the two story buildings surrounding it.
That wasn’t important.
Half concealed behind a white privacy fence, Penelope Debs, her mother, was on her hands and knees, weeding a small flower garden. A sharp yapping bark startled Kat as a small, fluffy black dog ran toward the fence’s gate, jerking to a stop when it reached the end of the leash tied to a stake in the center of the house’s small yard.
“Rufus!” Penelope scolded the dog. “Stop.”
Her mother wiped her dirty hands on her pants legs before scooping the small yapping ball of fluff up and shushing him. He practically vibrated in her arms with barely controlled excitement as Penelope turned to Kat with a smile on her face.
“There you are, Kat! You said you were coming, but I didn’t realize you’d get here this quickly. I’m sorry the place is such a mess—”
“It’s fine, Mom,” Kat cut off her rambling. “It’s just good to see you again.”
“Welcome home then.” Her mom smiled. “Don’t mind Rufus here. Ever since you moved out, Michelle has been complaining about being lonely, so eventually I broke down and got her a dog. He just wants to sniff you and get scritches behind the ears.”
“Home.” Kat chuckled, stepping through the fence and closing the gate behind her. “They say you can never go home again. Even if everything stays frozen in time, once you leave, you end up changing so much that you won’t feel exactly the same.”
“Maybe.” Her mom reached out with her left hand, pressing it to Kat’s cheek as she held Rufus back with her right. “I know you, Kat. You understand how terrible this world is, and despite that, you managed to claw out a place for yourself. I can’t imagine what you’ve had to do and the choices you’ve had to make to get where you are.”
“Honestly?” Penelope smiled, moving Rufus close enough that the small dog could excitedly sniff Kat’s face. “It doesn’t matter to me. You’re my daughter. Even if I didn’t have some idea of what you’ve done to carve out this little slice of stability for Michelle and I, well…”
Penelope paused for a moment, mouth half open as she searched for the right words. “This might not be your ‘home,’ Kat, but you’re always welcome here.”
Rufus struggled free from Kat’s mother’s grip, eagerly digging both of his paws into her shoulder before planting his snout onto her cheek, frantically licking the side of her face and snuffling Kat’s hair.
“You weren’t supposed to notice, Mom,” Kat replied, shifting her grip on her bag so that she had two hands free to cradle the small, excitable ball of black fluff nuzzling her. “I was trying to keep Michelle and you safe from the shadows.”
Penelope snorted, leaving a line of dirt on her forehead as she brushed a lock of hair from her face with her left hand.
“Kat, there were mercenaries going door to door questioning people.” The older woman shook her head. “Even the managers didn’t have enough food on the table every night. Somehow, despite all of that hardship, Arcology administration dispatched ‘maintenance workers’ to ‘repair the damaged sewer line’ across from our house.”
“Most maintenance workers don’t have chrome limbs and shotguns.” Penelope let Rufus go, allowing the tiny black dog to crawl into Kat’s arms. “Most maintenance workers don’t ‘accidentally pack too much food’ and leave a whole ham in a cooler on my porch when my rich and powerful neighbors were struggling to get kelp wafers.”
“I didn’t even notice the box for four hours.” Her mother stepped back, smiling at Kat she struggled to handle the squirming puppy. “Despite everything that was happening, none of our neighbors even dared to touch it.”
“Good.” There was a hint of steel in Kat’s voice. “I’d have preferred subtlety, but if the guards were going to be obvious about it, at least they made sure that everyone else understood that you weren’t to be trifled with.”
“There you are,” her mother replied with a chuckle. “That’s the Kat that thought I wouldn’t notice when she gave up sleep to run data chips full of blackmail past security guards. I might not approve of each and every decision you’ve made, but at the end of the day, you made them, and I really couldn’t be more proud of you.”
“Thanks. I think,” Kat laughed, pulling Rufus away from her face and scratching him behind his ears. The dog’s tail slapped against her chest and bicep, a steady tattoo of joy and excitement as he tried to jump up close enough to her face to lick her chin.
“It’s simple,” Penelope answered, motioning to her house, the small garden and the fence separating it all from the rest of the world. “I know that deep down, this is part of what you want. Something small to call your own outside of corporate control.”
“On the other hand.” Her mother reached forward, picking up Rufus and rescuing Kat from the small, furry terror. “I also understand that the person you’ve become can’t settle for this. You’re plugged into something huge and dangerous, and if you stop moving, it will consume you. Instead, you sacrificed your own freedom to create your dream and gave Michelle and I the independence you always wanted.”
“On some selfish level,” Penelope continued, leaning down to unhook Rufus’ leash from the metal stake in the lawn. “That’s never what I wanted for you. I just wanted you to stay home with Michelle and where I could watch you grow as a woman, healthy and happy.”
“I am happy, Mom,” Kat replied, a number of expressions flashing across her face in quick succession.
“Maybe right now, but I worry about you.” Her mother turned, leading Kat toward the house, “Watching you collapse in on yourself like that after your friend died. It was awful to be so far away and unable to help. It’s hard to know that I will never truly understand everything you’ve done for Michelle and I, but still—”
Penelope turned back to her, Rufus squirming in her left hand while her right sat on the doorknob, a warm smile on her face.
“Thank you, Kat. For everything.”
She turned back, opening the door and stepping inside before continuing.
“Now, come on in. Dinner’s almost ready and Michelle wants to talk to you about the Cybercow liberation arc in Chrome Cowboys.”
The next morning, Kat made her way to the elevator once more. She wasn’t smiling, but her muscles were more relaxed than they’d been in years. The guards glanced at her only to hastily break eye contact.
She rode to the ground floor in silence, stroking the hilt of her knife in its concealed sheath. The doors opened on the hubbub of the ground floor marketplace as the scavengers and survivors of the Shell interacted with representatives of the Arcology’s gray market.
