Chapter 8 (Patreon)

“How many did you get?”  Maddox asked, still not moving from his crouch.  “I must have hit four.  HUD is saying that I have 40 EXP.”

“Looks like six for me” Bruce croaked, checking his HUD.  “Back hurts like hell though.  I’m lucky that my legs are still numb from whatever they did to my nerves.  Once I can feel them too, I’m probably going to black out.”

Maddox nodded slowly, looking Bruce up and down.

“They got you good,” he agreed.  “Surprised you’re in one piece to be honest.  I felt like I was coming apart at the seams when they took my arm.  Pretty sure a second attack would have done me in.”

“I think I hit my limit too,” Bruce replied, hissing as a spike of pain in his back caused his entire body to tense.  “That was a lot closer of a fight than I would like.  Those shades move fast and hit hard.  I haven’t fought hand to hand with a weapon in years and I’m more than a little rusty.  If I hadn’t been able to throw the shield over my head and turtle under it, I’m pretty sure they would have torn me apart.”

“I wanted to help,” Maddox responded, turning his head slightly to glare at Treekipp as the tiny squirrel ran its claws through lime green fur, “but Bolt takes about two seconds to cycle between shots.  Even if it wasn’t for my stamina limiting me to three or so shots, I wasn’t in any spot to blast them off of you.”

Bruce closed his eyes, breath coming in short, sharp gasps as Accelerated Healing began to erase the numbness from his legs, replacing it with the ragged screaming agony of shredded nerves.

“Do you think you’re well enough to get back to the portal?”  He asked through gritted teeth.  “We can take a breather for a minute or so, but you only told Trey to wait twenty minutes.  If you don’t leave soon, there won’t be any rovers to take back.”

“What are you talking about?” Maddox’s tone was harsh, almost incredulous.  Silently, Bruce was glad that he didn’t have to see the hurt on the other man’s face.  “You’re crippled Bruce.  Sure, Treekipp says that the pattern you activated will slowly return you to fighting fit, but you aren’t in any shape for me to drag you out of here.  Of course, if we run into any shades while I’m bumbling around with you on my back, it’s all over.”

“That’s why you leave me,” Bruce replied, trying to keep the pain and resignation out of his voice.  “We have maybe ten minutes tops before Trey clears out.  There’s no way I can make it in time.  Just leave the little squirrel guy with me and I’ll upgrade and make a push for the portal as soon as I can put some weight on my legs.  You can tell the rest of the team not to leave and give me the time I need to clear out.”

A howl echoed through the corridors of the maze.  There wasn’t the chilly wind or scent of the grave that signaled an imminent shade attack, but i was clear that the three of them weren’t alone.

“Not happening buddy.”  It was getting hard to make out exactly what Maddox was saying through the waves of pain assaulting Bruce’s senses.  “There’s no way I would make it back to the portal within ten minutes, and even if I did, the first time I ran into something unpleasant I’d just die.  We need to move together or not at all.”

“Then we’re both trapped,” Bruce hissed through a clenched jaw.  “Even if we make it out of the portal there’s too much interference for us to flag down the rovers.  There will probably be a science team that comes to monitor the situation, but given that pushing nonlivnig matter through the portal only summons shades as well as the fact that both of us have disappeared, I’d be stunned if another person is sent in here.”

“Of course,” he continued clenching his eyes shut at the bright flashing auras that blossomed like fireworks in the darkness.  “That’s if we don’t just starve first.  The only other creatures we’ve seen down here disappear the second they die.  There isn’t any food and I haven’t seen any water.”

“You won’t have to worry about starving!”  Treekipp’s chirping almost seemed to make Bruce’s headache worse.  “Although you need to sleep while exploring the Labyrinth, food and water aren’t necessary.  After all, you’re an entity of thought and willpower while you’re here.  No body, no fuss, and most importantly, no pooping!”

“You heard the little guy Bruce,” Maddox chimed in.  “No pooping.”

Bruce just grunted in reply, shifting his body against the maze’s wall.  His back was beginning to feel a bit better, but he wasn’t sure if that was a matter of Accelerated Healing doing its work or the pain in his legs swelling until he could barely think about anything else.

“Say Treekipp.”  Maddox’s voice floated over to Bruce through the waves of pain.  “If we’re going to be stuck here for a while as Bruce’s body patches itself back together.  You might as well search that inventory of yours.  Anything that can make us stronger would be nice, but our primary goal is finding a way to turn off the radio interference outside the Labyrinth so that we can call for help with our suit radios.”

For about ten seconds, there wasn’t any sound but Bruce’s harsh gasps of breath and a cheerful hummed song as the little squirrel began its search.

“Sorry friends,” it said apologetically.  “There are some attribute upgrades, a couple of offensive and defensive abilities, and an ability to help you search and map the maze, but my records show you came in through your planet’s main portal.  Even if you were to cross to the other side of your world and use the backup entrance, every maw on your world is under a class three interdiction right now meaning that they are shielded from outside interference.”

“What about the moons?”  Maddox asked.  “Are there portals there, and if so do they hold an atmosphere and are they shielded?”

“Oh yes!”  Treekipp chirped.  “There should be exits there and all exits contain atmosphere.  After all, any protective gear you’ve been wearing will have been destroyed by your journey into the Labyrinth.  Neither moon is under interdiction beyond being hidden from scans so any communication device you can build will be able to function normally.”

Maddox snorted.  Bruce couldn’t see him, but he could practically feel the man shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

“Build?  Do I look like I have a Scientific American rolled up and keistered?  Unless I can either safely hike across Phobos’ surface in the nude or telepathically tap into the radio network the moons aren’t an option either.”

“Well,” Treekipp replied, drawing the word out in its high-pitched sing-song voice.  “Both of those are abilities I have on file.  Environmental protection is about 50 EXP to purchase and 200 to activate and a limited range radio transmission ability 20 EXP to purchase and 100 to activate.  I just haven’t brought them up because they’re beyond your price range and because, no offense, both of you are not exactly Drakkon the Conqueror out there.  You look like you need a fair number of combat upgrades as soon as possible or you’re just going to die.”

A fist gently bounced off of Bruce’s shoulder.

“There we go Bruce,” Maddox said cheerfully.  “As soon as you’re better we load ourselves down with combat powers and try to find Phobos so we can hike to the relay.  Once we’ve found it, so long as we’ve killed enough of these shade things we should be able to request a pickup.  Phobos has sensitive enough instruments that they should be able to detect any transmissions on the moon.  The plan might suck, but now we have an alternative plan.  No need for me to abandon you to your death before running off to my fate by myself.”

Bruce nodded, smiling tightly through the pain.  It was worse than anything he’d experienced before and he’d fallen off of a wall while clearing an obstacle course in basic training and broken both of his legs.

“I still think you should go,” he replied.  “Even if we can find an exit for the Phobos Relay in all of this mess, the abilities the squirrel was talking about were almost 400 EXP.  That means that the two of us are going to have to kill around eighty of these things.  You’re missing an arm and I’m basically a corpse from a dozen.”

“And I’m your superior,” Maddox responded without a pause.  “MarsCorp says that I call the shots, and I’m not leaving you here to get mauled by hungry ghosts.  We go together or not at all, and Treekipp has indicated that waiting for you to heal isn’t a death sentence so we’re going to do it.”

He bit his lip, trying to keep the pain under control as he went through his options.  Finally, Bruce let out a sigh, nodding.  He wasn’t in any shape to drive Maddox off, and as much as he suspected that his team leader was making a mistake, part of him was grateful that Maddox was willing to put himself at risk to keep him safe.

“Alright Treekipp,” Maddox continued, “Hold off on the radio and survival abilities.  What do you have on the combat and exploration front.”

The squirrel chattered to itself once in what Bruce suspected was another language before answering.

“The second tier of the attributes cost five EXP each to purchase and four to activate.  The Will abilities Sonar and Ether Map both also cost five EXP to purchase and five to activate.  The next tier of weapon patterns each cost ten to purchase and activate but they come with the ability to invest an enhancement in them.  As for other abilities, I would suggest Regeneration, Phase Armor, Multi Bolt, and Dash.”

Maddox let out a low whistle.  “It’s a good thing you look like a cute forest friend from a Saturday morning cartoon because those are some steep prices.  Almost feels like you’re gouging the two of us because we are desperate.”

“I can assure you,” Treekipp replied breezily.  “You would get the exact same prices regardless of your circumstances.  I pride myself on the uniformity enforced on me by the Treaty of Rigel.”

“I can’t help but notice that you didn’t say that you weren’t price gouging us,” Maddox remarked dryly.  “It sure seems like an odd thing to avoid in the middle of your other denials.”

“Well,” the squirrel answered, “do you want me to explain the patterns available for purchase or not?  I don’t have to narrow down your options or explain them to you.  That’s a service that I am happily providing free of charge.”

Even through the blaze of pain, Bruce couldn’t help but feel himself smile.  There was something about Treekipp’s mercenary nature that made the fuzzball impossible to hate.  Untrustworthy as a drunk in a distillery, but impossible to hate.

“Fine,” Maddox said with a chuckle.  “Give us the rundown on these patterns you’re suggesting.  Hopefully their benefits will be substantial.  After all, it sounds like we’ve got just shy of a hundred shades to kill before we can sneak out of this deathtrap.”

“Of course valued customer.” Treekipp’s exasperated sing-song voice switched almost immediately to the carefully rehearsed tone of a sales pitch.  “Sonar will let you detect twists and turns in the hallways of the maze for about 200 feet in all directions.  More importantly, it will also reveal non-hidden enemies and traps.  Ether Map automatically creates a map of everywhere you see and travel.  Unfortunately, the owner of the map is the only one that can see its contents.  Ether Map is an essential tool for exploring the Great Labyrinth, but its limitations make trained and skilled guides a necessity.”

“As for the other patterns, Regeneration, Phase Armor and Dash all cost five EXP to purchase and activate.  Multi Bolt will cost double that for both.  Regeneration is an augmented version of Accelerated Healing that works quickly enough to heal its user in combat.  Phase Armor provides some resistance against attacks.  Higher level patterns can be purchased later, but if you’re only fighting shades, it can stop an attack or two and that can easily be the difference between life or death.  Dash doubles a traveler's running speed for twenty seconds.  It can be useful to rush toward a ranged attacker or break contact entirely.  Multi Bolt uses fifty percent more mental energy to activate, but it fires three rather than one Bolt, a clear upgrade over the abilities you have right now.”

Bruce stirred against the wall.  His legs still hurt to an absurd degree, but now it felt like pins and needles were beginning to prick at them.  Whatever focus he had possessed was rapidly being torn away from him.

“What do you think Brucey?”  Maddox asked.  “You’re the rich one between the two of us.  Got a couple abilities in there that you’re interested in.”

“Regeneration sounds pretty good right about now,” he gasped back his answer.  “Seriously, if I could heal up in five minutes rather than an hour I’d be willing to spend a whole lot more than ten EXP.”

“Really,”  Treekipp said contemplatively, “In that case, might I-”

“Enough,” Maddox cut the squirrel off.  “You already named your prices.  It’s hardly fair play for you to retract those offers so quickly.  I’m sure the Treaty of whatever people would be very disappointed in you if you tried that.”

“True,” it replied mournfully.  “For all the protections the Treaty of Rigel provides, at times it truly does weigh down on the spirit of entrepreneurship and capitalism like a massive wet blanket.”

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