External Threat (Reality Benders Book #2) LitRPG Series Read online

  My mood collapsed. After all we’d done for the faction, I assumed us four raiders were immune to suspicion. What thanklessness! In many ways, we were the reason our faction hadn’t lost control over the Eastern Swamp node. After all, who could say how the situation might have turned out if we hadn’t diverted three hundred Dark Faction soldiers! Would the five last defenders of the citadel have managed to hold off an even stronger assault? I for one did not think so!

  Chapter Three. Endless Asteroids

  ANOTHER THREE and a half hours later, I was on the bridge of the Shiamiru hundreds of thousands of miles from a never-ending asteroid belt. On the screen, even the naked eye could see the plume of infinite dots. The ship’s locator could detect millions or even billions of heavenly bodies ranging in size from grains of dust to dozens of miles wide.

  “Your conclusions, Gnat!” Captain Uraz Tukhsh sat back in the pilot’s seat looking stately with a glass of some bubbling purple drink in hand. His body language was very relaxed as if to say this was completely my call.

  I spent a long time looking at the screen in thought, then asked the captain to filter out the dust particles and leave only the heavenly bodies large enough for our shuttle to land on. Uraz Tukhsh quickly changed the settings, but the image stayed roughly the same.

  “Now run a gravity scan and overlay a density map.”

  “Why don’t you do it, Gnat?” The Geckho unexpectedly suggested. “Just a bit ago, I explained all the locators and scanners for Dmmmitry, and you translated. Now, I want to see if you learned anything!”

  Did he really think I had just been robotically translating without memorizing?! The scanners were of enormous interest to me and, over the captain’s explanation, my Electronics skill leveled five times to thirty-one! And that was saying nothing of my two Astrolinguistics improvements. Plus, my character was now level thirty-nine!

  What could I say? I wanted the captain to see what my high Intelligence could do! I chuckled, walked over to the control panel and quickly changed the settings. I overlaid density, which changed the picture completely. Now, two colors dominated the map, one for iron-nickel composite asteroids, and another for those made of iron-magnesium silicates like olivine.

  Scanning skill increased to level thirty-eight!

  Cartography skill increased to level forty!

  Electronics skill increased to level thirty-two!

  Mineralogy skill increased to level fourteen!

  You have reached level forty!

  You have received three skill points! (total points accumulated: seven)

  I filtered out the unremarkable asteroids, then zoomed in and showed Uraz Tukhsh the fifteen that remained:

  “Here are the largest asteroids near the Shiamiru that have a somewhat unusual density. Some are too light, as if they have a hollow pocket and some are too heavy, which means they’re probably made of something other than iron, silicon or nickel. We could further constrict the search by running a radioactivity test. That would show heavy metals like thorium, uranium, actinium...”

  The captain picked his jaw up off the floor and turned to the navigator, who was just as shocked. He had a frog stuck in his throat, and it took him a long time to respond.

  “Can you really do that?” Uraz Tukhsh finally asked, astonished. His black eyes were squinting comically, and he was breathing heavily through his nose.

  Clearly, I had done something unusual, because the Geckho were staring at me. I had to explain:

  “It seemed like a good idea to combine the results of various scans. That does require Scanning, Cartography and Electronics though. This scanner has pretty high requirements. But now, we have a new dilemma: there are fifteen potentially interesting bodies, but I have only eight geological analyzers.”

  Authority increased to negative 7.

  Well, well, what an unusual message! For the first time since becoming a Gerd, I had impacted the authority parameter, raising it by one.

  “And what do you suggest, Gerd Gnat?” Uraz Tukhsh set his glass aside and turned in my direction, listening attentively.

  “If you don’t have any objections, I would recommend checking the nearest asteroid first,” I said, pointing at a large object just one hundred twenty thousand miles from the Shiamiru. “It is at the very edge of the asteroid belt, so it will be the fastest and easiest to reach. It has a suspiciously light core. It either contains a cavity, perhaps artificial, or water with heavy hydrogen isotopes. When we get closer, I could try and generate a 3D model of the asteroid with density gradients. Maybe that will clear things up. But failing that, one or two scans from the surface will be enough to determine the nature of the core. If there’s nothing good, we can check that huge rock over there. But it’s in a pretty dense cloud of small debris, so it might be hard to reach,” I said, removing the size filter and pointing at the millions of treacherous stones hurtling through space.

  “So, let’s check the easy one first,” the captain agreed and pointed at the copilot. He was listening carefully to our conversation, but I doubt he got the idea. “Let’s just come right in for a landing, not stop to scan from space. I don’t want to lose any momentum, and that will make Dmmmitry’s first landing easier.”

  I wished my friend luck and gave him the light spacesuit and Dark Faction armor. The copilot’s eyes went wide in astonishment, so I figured he appreciated my gifts. He even began mumbling something like, “I can’t accept this, it’s too expensive.”

  “Take it, take it, don’t be shy!” I said, encouraging him. “The spacesuit doesn’t even belong to me. I got it from the captain. And as long as you’re working for Uraz Tukhsh, you can use it. Eventually, you might even be able to buy it off him.”

  I left Dmitry to prepare for landing, hurrying to my spot in the bunk. I was now twenty-five pounds under my carry weight and nearly jumping for joy. It felt so great to walk around unencumbered!

  In the bunk, I warned Uline Tar that this landing would be our copilot’s first ever, so she followed my example and buckled her safety belts. Ten minutes later, the engines changed tone and became louder but, much to my surprise, it was still quieter than past landings. And the thrusters weren’t humming in overdrive with screeching whistles and ear-splitting creaks, either. My Danger Sense didn’t even trigger. All that followed was a slight bump, and our shuttle touched down. It was actually the lightest landing I’d ever experienced.

  “Everyone congratulate Dmmmitry on his first landing!” the captain’s voice rang out on the loudspeaker, and the whole crew gave a happy rumble.

  Uline Tar also bared her teeth in satisfaction and quickly unbuckled, changing instantly out of the colorful robe back into her spacesuit.

  “Tell your friend he made a good first impression. If he keeps that up, he can join the crew! Hell, that was so good he could be main pilot!”

  The captain’s voice rang out on the loudspeaker:

  “Technicians to the exit! Fasten down the shuttle, but do not open the cargo hold! Gnat and Uline come next! And Gnat, I hope you have enough sense not to run a scan right next to my ship! Take the third levitator and fly at least five hundred steps away, better a thousand! Everyone else, remain on board.”

  I checked the Listener suit’s settings one more time. One tank of air would last six and a half hours, the magnetic soles could be turned on or off, and the miniature jet pack allowed me to pop over small crevasses in low gravity. I suspected this was nowhere near everything the Relict armor could do. There were complicated electronics in the chest and back, and I couldn’t believe they were only for the energy shield. But I didn’t have a clue how to activate the ancient suit’s hidden functions.

  “Gnat, don’t sleep! The technicians have fastened down the shuttle. It’s time for us to go!”

  I hurried down the corridor after the huge Geckho woman. This time, I didn’t mind being clipped to Uline Tar with the safety lash. It was nothing insulting, and I really shouldn’t have gotten so mad before. It was just a precautio
nary measure. Then the external door slid aside, and I saw a true winter wonderland. Cliffs covered with compressed ice reflected millions of sparkles both from the sun and the Shiamiru’s spotlights.

  Without leaving the artificial gravitation zone around the shuttle, I crouched and pried loose a piece of ice with my knife, crumbling it between my gloved fingers. Just normal frozen water, even if it had borne millions of years of harsh radiation and thus contained a somewhat higher proportion of heavy hydrogen isotopes like deuterium and even trace amounts of tritium. Technically, it could be harvested for nuclear powerplants, but that would require heavy equipment, lots of time, and smooth logistics. We had none of that.

  I found an exposed stone in a cliffside and broke it loose. On closer inspection, it was just chondrite. Composed of iron and magnesium silicates, it was the most common type of meteorite that fell on Earth. I already knew there wouldn’t be much here, and we could just leave.

  Mineralogy skill increased to level fifteen!

  Mineralogy skill increased to level sixteen!

  So, the game algorithms agreed. But Uline Tar had already taken out the levitator and was waiting for me with clear impatience. So, knowing the Geckho lady’s passion for hoverboarding, I decided to indulge her. Also, flying through new areas on the levitator would quickly level my Cartography. It would have been dumb to pass that up.

  I decided to tell Uline my conclusions anyway. With the tip of my boot, I wrote a phrase in Geckho on the crumbly ice: “There’s nothing of value here. But if you want, we could just go for a ride.” Uline spent a long time looking at the broken line, then silently erased it with her wide sole and pointed to the levitator.

  “So, where are you gonna scan?” the Trader asked into the microphone, clearly for the captain and crew.

  “Way over there, on top of that ice spire!” I said, pointing at a high peak of ice three miles away.

  “Well Gnat, hold tight. Get ready to fly!” Uline warned me. Then she gunned it to breakneck speeds, making sharp turns and loops as she doubled around stones and spires of ice.

  Cartography skill increased to level forty-one!

  When we reached the summit, I could see the spooky dark side of the asteroid. In the ghostly dim starlight, I could see only the barely visible contours of steep gloomy cliffs.

  Cartography skill increased to level forty-two!

  Eagle Eye skill increased to level forty-one!

  Fortunately, the Geckho speed-demon was not foolhardy enough to ride in the dark, and she stopped. After making sure we couldn’t be seen from the Shiamiru, Uline took the laser pistol off her belt, pointed it at the nearest stone surface and, setting it to constant beam, burned a bright red line reading:

  “Thanks, Gnat! You’re the only one in the crew that understands me. If you ever become captain of your own ship, call me up. I’d join you no questions asked!”

  * * *

  AS I FIRST GUESSED, scanning didn’t reveal anything of value. It did confirm my observation about the stone and ice structure of the core, though. I also couldn’t call it a total waste because I raised Scanning to thirty-nine, and Mineralogy twice to eighteen. Also, this trip with Uline finally broke the ice between us. I now had a true friend among the Geckho, and the Trader’s unexpected confession made me think.

  On the way back to the Shiamiru, to get a better idea of how this virtual Universe functioned, I asked Uline how much a starship would sell for. The Trader’s answer made me bite my lip. Ancient jalopy ships with minimal equipment and nearly dead thrusters went for around four million crystals. No one would agree to insure a wreck like that, though. Our Shiamiru had run the captain six and a half million. A speedy interceptor went from twelve million on up, and that was without weaponry. And cruisers like Leng Waid Shishish had cost at least four hundred million, if not half a billion. So, even the cheapest spaceship required such an unbelievable amount that I could only give a heavy sigh and change topic.

  We told the crew the scan hadn’t turned anything up so, as soon as Uline and I were back inside, the shuttle started off from the asteroid and made for our next destination. It was four hundred thousand miles as the crow flies but trying to go straight through the asteroid belt would be suicidal. So, the captain was going to take a big dog-leg out into empty space, then return to the asteroid belt when we were closer. I explained the captain’s route to Dmitry Zheltov, who had already changed into his new armor was confidently piloting the shuttle.

  We calculated that everyone who wasn’t busy on the bridge had around an hour and a half of free time. Uline locked herself in her bunk. So, not wanting to bother her, I went to hang out with Vasha and Basha. The twin brothers confirmed their intention to leave Uraz Tukhsh’s crew after the next voyage when their contracts were up. They didn’t want to keep working for some loser and were hoping to find another captain to take them on.

  All the while, the brothers were playing a three-dimensional board game called “Na-Tikh-U.” It involved moving colored spaceship pieces around a glowing three-dimensional holographic board strewn with planets, minefields, space pirates and other hazards. What was more, they were playing for money. My interest was piqued, so after a round ended in Basha’s victory and Vasha set thirty crystals on the table, I asked the huge Geckho to teach me the game.

  An hour later, I had a grasp on the rules of Na-Tikh-U. In fact, I had even more or less learned all the common tactics. It was like a hybrid of three-dimensional chess, backgammon and dice. Na-Tikh-U could be played by two, three or even more players at once, and temporary alliances against a common enemy were just as common as their sudden implosion and backstabbing former allies.

  I eventually learned to beat Basha and Vasha, even though the brothers joined forces against my space fleet almost from the very beginning. It was hard, but I intuitively realized how to make a very effective defense with my remaining pieces and, at the most critical moments, luck was on my side, handing me the exact roll I needed. The large audience that crowded the bunk by the end, entertained by our lively discussion and colorful commentary, greeted my victory with a roar of approval.

  Fame increased to 35.

  Authority increased to negative 6.

  You have reached level forty-one!

  You have received three skill points! (total points accumulated: ten)

  “So, you beat our loaders. But they can’t even count to four without their fingers! Let’s see how you fare against me!” Uline cut in acridly, having stepped out of her bunk to see what all the commotion was about.

  I wasn’t opposed, but I didn’t have time to play Uline. An alarm came on over the starship intercom, warning the crew we’d be landing soon. We all had to go back to our places and buckle in. And again, the landing went so smoothly I didn’t even realize we’d set down. Dmitry Zheltov was beyond reproach and deserved all the applause coming his way.

  Well, it was time for me to get to work. Unlike the last asteroid, this one gave me cause for hope. Its high density meant it probably contained something more interesting than iron or nickel. So, after placing three of my ten skill points into Sharpshooter, so I would at least meet the requirements for my pulse rifle, I put the remaining seven into Mineralogy, raising it to twenty-five.

  Then, together with Uline, I left the Shiamiru. This asteroid looked utterly unlike the previous one. You might think two stones flying through space would be identical, all covered with glimmering ice, frozen plains and shooting spires. But this one was brownish red, and smooth like a huge piece of cast metal. It was shaped like a potato, and was two miles long, and one in diameter.

  “That way!” I said, pointing at what looked like a crater formed by a meteorite slamming into the surface. I figured that would be the best place to scan the core.

  Cartography skill increased to level forty-three!

  Uline sped off on the levitator and was about to fly over the crater’s lip when, suddenly, a blast of colorful electrical sparks erupted around us. Everything was swimmi
ng. I was totally disoriented, and so was Uline. The light show startled her, and she lost balance.

  Danger Sense skill increased to level sixteen!

  I cannot say how, but I twisted my body, unclipped my bindings from the somersaulting levitator and, after flying off the board, slid ninety feet on my stomach, leaving a long deep trail on the dark and surprisingly fine-grained surface. But I didn’t bounce off and fly into open space. I just slid along the fine sand, as if this asteroid had its own gravity! I was even more surprised to see that everything abruptly grew brighter, as if there was suddenly artificial lighting!

  I started getting up to look around the strange area, but the tether ran out of slack, giving me a sharp jerk and plonking me back onto my gut. Uline made a series of somersaults, then slammed into a building with her massive body... and it wasn’t really a building but something like a vehicle on folding supports. Her high-pitched shriek rang out in my headphones and her words were mixed with groans:

  “I think I broke my front right arm! And the levitator is smashed to bits... It won’t even be good for parts now. Gnat, what is this place? Look up! I can’t see the stars!!!”

  Chapter Four. Mysterious Development

  I HAD JUST NOTICED that, instead of a dark sky with millions of stars, there was an opaque white dome overhead, which occasionally sparkled with electricity. What the heck?

  I ran a scan (not with a geological analyzer, just the icon), and looked with curiosity at the objects depicted on the mini-map: “Meleyephatian Automatic Processer,” “Drill,” “Meleyephatian Small Robot Loader,” “Artificial Gravity Generator,” “Automatic Ore Enricher,” “Storage Containers,” “Distortion Field Generator...” Seemingly, while searching for valuable resources, we had hit upon a place where someone else, hiding from prying eyes, had already mined all the ore. I wonder what they were extracting here in such secrecy?