07. Unexpected Dev-elopments, page 25
part #7 of Apocalypse Gates Series
“B52 and a couple of fighters?” Gothy asked as they flew off.
“Yes to the first, but I have no idea what the fighters were,” Alvin replied.
“Packing up,” Bill said happily. “I’ll return your rifle tonight.”
“Agreed,” Alvin said. “See you back at Green River. Geezers, you good?”
“Good,” Sam muttered, clearly upset and embarrassed.
“Could’ve happened to anyone. Just took a bit longer for me,” Gee said.
“Yeah.”
“See you all back at base,” Alvin said.
“Copy.”
“Copy.”
“Home first?” Gothy asked.
“Got to let her start to repair,” Alvin nodded.
“Hero,” Desiree said, “I know what to call her.”
“Oh?”
“‘Bunker.’ She’s as tough as one of our bunkers back home.”
Alvin grinned. “Bunker it is.”
“Not bad,” Gothy smiled.
“Very apt,” Mousie nodded.
“Let’s go home and get ready for tonight’s dinner,” Alvin said.
Chapter Thirty
Leaving the bedroom behind, Alvin found Jarvis seated at the table, speaking to a dev. “Why am I not surprised?” Alvin asked, announcing himself to the two men.
“Because you know as well as we do that vehicles are broken,” the dev said.
“They do make things easy mode,” Alvin agreed. “We paid for them in blood, sweat, and XP, though. Feels like a dick move to change them now.”
“Yeah, I’m sure things are already starting to snowball now that Team Asshole knows,” the dev sighed.
“Guys, give them a chance to explain first,” Alvin said to the ceiling. “Okay…?” Alvin trailed off, clearly fishing for a name.
“Renato, and yes, I’m currently the face of the dev team.”
“Okay, Renato, go ahead and explain things to us.”
Renato watched Alvin as he took a seat at the table. “Okay... the rework on vehicles is going to separate the durability from the fuel, and Fuel runes are being done away with. Only the most idiotic person didn’t slap them on a vehicle anyway, but now, you don’t have to worry about fuel for any vehicle.”
“Another rune slot to use for something else, nice.”
“Armor on all vehicles is being cut in half to bring them back into line. We’re also going to stop the stacking of Durability runes on vehicles. Every vehicle currently equipped with Fuel runes will get the spots back empty and ready for use. If more than a single Durability rune was used, they’ll be rounded up to the next best rune, and that rune will be the only one left on the vehicle.”
“Wait...” Alvin said. “The Durability runes are going to merge and round up, but how does that work with the current armor being cut in half?”
“All armor is being cut down to half of its original value, then the new runes will apply to them.”
“An overall nerf, with the only winners being those who stacked Durability runes.”
“Ruffian is also being modified and brought into line with the other vehicles,” Renato said.
Alvin glared at Renato. “What?”
“It has the same armor as the Bradley, and you know it shouldn’t.”
“True... it shouldn’t even have more armor than the Turtle. Doesn’t mean I approve of you mucking with my old gear.”
“It’s not all bad,” Renato said quickly. “The battle armor is being given an upgrade in armor value. They really should be better.”
“How much better?”
“Double base armor value before runes.”
“That’s not bad,” Alvin said.
“All armor gear is being reworked similarly to vehicles,” Renato pressed on with a sickly smile. “Only a single Durability rune will be allowed to be applied.”
“Including old gear?” Alvin asked pointedly.
“No. They’re going to leave your duster and other old gear alone. It’s thought it’ll be outdated by gear with more slots for Resistance runes.”
“What about weapons?” Alvin asked, not pressing about the armor.
“We feel like stacking durability there has a purpose, especially for the bigger guns. The trade-off of durability for other damage types is fine. We have enough data to prove that it’s worthwhile.”
“What about Sammi?” Alvin asked suddenly, trying to trip Renato up.
“She’s fine, should be jo—” Renato cut off and glared at Alvin. “That was cheap.”
“A little,” Alvin chuckled.
“I’ve been okayed to tell you, and by telling you, everyone,” Renato said slowly. “Sammi will be one of the few alpha testers for the full dive equipment. She should be in the game in a day or two.”
“Where’s she going to spawn?”
Renato shook his head, clearly not going to tell him.
“So the game is going to be allowing others to join?”
“Alpha testing is slated to take a while, then a selected beta test... you know how it works,” Renato said.
“Yeah.”
“Maybe two years for everything to be vetted and approved for people joining the game.”
“This has to deal with the original purpose of my brain being pasted, right?”
“I’m not allowed to talk about that yet.”
“What’s to stop the gaming world from coming in and just slaughtering everyone?”
“The same thing that stops you,” Renato said. “A single life. Everyone who registers will have a hard-locked account, and when they die with no extra lives, that’s it. They’ll never be able to play again.”
“Hard mode,” Alvin chuckled. “Nice.”
“There’s going to be a tutorial part like you had to experience before they get to join the game, too, and if they die there, no more tries. Once they finish with that, they’ll be able to keep their gear when they join the world.”
“Makes sense.”
“When do you plan to gut everything for the fixes?”
“Tomorrow, but we’ll be locking out rune additions starting right now to make sure no one— mostly you— can game the system by suddenly stacking durability.”
Alvin laughed and shrugged. “Guilty. I would have.”
“Hero?” Gothy asked, coming out of the bedroom.
“Gothy, this is Renato, the new face of the dev team. Sammi will be in-game in a few days, but I have no idea where she’s spawning yet. Hopefully, she messages as soon as she hits a kiosk.”
“Nice. We can get a little dev action,” Gothy smirked.
“Ex-dev,” Renato said. “She’s just an alpha tester now.”
“Meh, semantics,” Gothy waved him off.
“He’s back? And behaving?” Mousie asked, her blades in hand when she left the bedroom.
“Renato is proving himself a decent person,” Alvin said. “No killing him… unless he provokes us.”
Renato shuddered, looking away from Mousie.
“Does it hurt you when you die?” Alvin asked.
“Simon said it felt real both times. He refused to come back in after the second time.”
“Simon?” Alvin snickered. “Well, he tried to say, and that didn’t work out for him.”
Gothy snorted. “Weak, but just barely funny.”
“That’s everything I came to say,” Renato said. “You can explain it to them. I have to take Jarvis’ idea up the chain.”
“Jarvis’ idea?” Alvin asked, looking at the butler.
“I can explain after you tell them, sir,” Jarvis said. “By the time that’s done, it’ll be dinner in Green River.”
“Huh, okay.” Alvin turned to thank Renato, but he was already gone. “Okay, then… here’s what I was told.”
~*~*~
“Well, yeah, I understand, but it’s still bullshit,” Gothy said.
“The battle armor getting more armor will be nice,” Desiree said. “Father will be happy.”
“We’ll be heading that way to hand off stuff and check on David tomorrow,” Alvin said. “We’ll have to take the Turtle, though, since Bunker was nearly toasted by those bombs and falling into the crater.”
“How bad?” Gothy asked.
“Under two hundred thousand.”
“The fuck did they use?” Gothy asked.
“No idea. Maybe Susan will have heard,” Alvin said. “I don’t mean to cut this conversation too short, but I still want to hear what Jarvis has to say.”
“I merely pointed out that all the changes they’re going for— the ones they found in Sammi’s notes— were my ideas. The devs are tired of dealing with things. The majority of them just want to fix minor errors and call it a day.”
“Okay, and...?” Alvin prompted Jarvis when he didn’t elaborate further.
“I suggested that I and my remaining contemporary might be better suited for running the game.”
“They can’t accept that, not with all the shit they give us for you trying to tell me something as it is.”
Jarvis looked away from them, clearly unhappy with what he was about to say. “It would require me no longer being here. I’d give up the body and being your AI to co-run the entire system with my fellow AI.”
Alvin blinked, at a loss, never having expected this to happen.
“Alvin, it has been my greatest joy to see you grow and thrive, but I can do so much more.”
“He’s right...” Gothy said softly. “We might not want to lose him, but Jarvis is right, Hero.”
Alvin looked at his hands on the table. “It’s not a given yet, is it?”
“No, sir. I merely suggested the idea be passed up the line. Truthfully, with a little bit of XP spent and with how fast your wives are progressing with cooking, I’m not really needed here. I could streamline, fix, and make things good for you and everyone else. You’d have real challenges, but you’d also have a real chance against everything.”
“Fuck,” Alvin sighed, getting to his feet. “It hasn’t even been three months, but you’ve been with me in one form or another the entire way. The idea of you stepping away…? It hurts.”
Jarvis smiled sadly. “I know, sir. I know. You’re not the only one to have grown during this time. I honestly know what loss is now, what pain and heartache feel like. The joy of being appreciated, and even loved. But that was part of—”
Jarvis froze up, and Alvin snorted. “Fucking assholes.” Moving over, he clapped Jarvis on the shoulder. “I get it, buddy. I do.”
“Hero, are you okay?” Mousie asked gently.
“Yeah. Won’t be the first person I cared for who was taken from me, but he’ll be the last one. He’s right— it makes more sense for him to run this world than those assholes. At least we’ll know we’re not getting screwed deliberately.”
“Are we going to dinner or blowing it off?” Gothy asked.
“We do what we say we’ll do,” Alvin said as he pushed the melancholy away. “We’re going to do dinner with Green River. Terry’s waiting on us, and she reminds me too much of Basha to disappoint her.”
“That explains so much,” Gothy smiled as she took his hand. “Come on. The sooner we go, the sooner we come back.”
~*~*~
Terry had created a true feast for the settlement, with the help of the other cooks. Everything was Italian, and excellent, from the different types of alfredo to the zabaione. Alvin and his wives sat with Susan, James, and Bill at the table on the stage.
Everyone had heard about the fight from both of the groups that had gone earlier, but the story was being told and retold all throughout dinner. It was during one of the retellings that Alvin learned that the bombs were Mark 84s.
Bill slapped Alvin on the back as the feast was coming to an end. “Can’t believe you all survived those.”
“We almost didn’t,” Alvin replied. “Next time, we won’t.”
“What?” Bill asked, clearly hearing the implied story.
“Devs are going to fuck with shit again,” Alvin shrugged. “All vehicle armor is being changed, Fuel runes are going away, and Durability runes are changing. Big fucking patch again.”
“Haven’t they fucked with us enough?” Bill asked.
“Apparently not. I can’t even blame them. Do you think a Bradley should’ve survived that?”
Bill grimaced. “Maybe not, but life ain’t what it used to be, either.”
“Tomorrow is the changeover, and they’re making sure people can’t cheat the system. Better tell your people to hold onto their good runes for a day or two.”
“I’ll let them know,” Bill said, getting to his feet and walking toward the two hunter groups that had gone with them.
“Alvin, what’re your plans for the future?” Susan asked as she pushed her empty plate away.
“We’ll be leaving tomorrow. Going back to the Dwarves to drop off some stuff and to check on David. After that, we’re going back to heading east, but I hope at altitude. It’ll depend on when Shawn finishes fixing the Huey.”
“Huey?” James asked, leaning forward. “You guys got a chopper?”
“It was badly damaged, but it has armament and can fly,” Gothy smiled. “Once Shawn finishes with it, we’ll pimp it out a bit more, and then no more cross-country driving for us.”
“Do you even know how to fly one of them?”
“We do. We bought the knowledge on the kiosk,” Gothy replied. “We even did some simulations in the training room.”
“That makes sense,” James said. “Won’t that make the dragons and the like even more dangerous?”
“Yeah, but we haven’t seen them going east,” Desiree answered.
“I wonder what the hell is happening that way?” James pondered.
“We’ll let you know,” Alvin said. “I have a few places I want to visit, and who knows what else might happen?”
“Fair enough,” James conceded.
Susan got to her feet, and a microphone appeared in her hand. “Ladies and gentlemen,” she paused, waiting for the crowd to go silent for her, “Alvin and his wives will be leaving us tomorrow. We’d never have known about the trouble in our midst, nor have defeated the fish-demon, without their help and their allies. They have time and again helped us secure our town. As the Overseer of Green River, I hereby set their reputation with the settlement to the maximum: Exalted.”
Most of the room applauded and a few called for a speech. Alvin gave Susan a put-upon look, but she just smiled at him with a twinkle in her eye. Rising to his feet, Alvin took the offered microphone and stood there silently for a few seconds. A number of people began to shift uncomfortably as he looked over the room.
“Green River... I never even knew about this town before I found myself here. I might have fueled up a car here once or twice on a road trip or two, but the town itself was not memorable to me.”
The crowd looked at each other, confused about Alvin’s start.
“Now, though... now, it’s different. Green River is more of a home to me than most places I’d lived before. Friends,” he nodded to Susan and James, “and family,” he smiled at Terry, who smiled back, “live here. I’ve done my best to help make sure this is as safe and secure a place as I could. In time, we’ll be back— maybe for a short visit or maybe for longer, but I’ll make sure Susan is always updated on what I’ve learned and who I’ve met so she can make sure this place stays the haven it is today.”
Sophie was the first one to clap and whistle, but she was soon swallowed up as the majority of the room joined her. Terry wiped a tear from her eye as she gave Alvin a proud smile. Alvin blinked, holding back a tear of his own, as Terry really did remind him of Basha in that moment.
“That’s it, folks. Dinner is over,” Susan said, taking the microphone back. “Party as you see fit.”
As people began to get up and move about, Alvin opened a portal up behind the table they were seated at. “Susan, James, take care. We won’t be back before we leave.”
Susan, James, and the others at the table stood up and said their goodbyes to each other before the family stepped through the portal home.
Chapter Thirty-one
Having spent the night cuddling with his wives, Alvin woke to find a pop-up notification displayed directly in front of him.
