IDGM4 - 10 - Down Time (Patreon)

“Lemme out, lemme out!” Emilia screamed and then began vomiting.

“Oh, god, did you just barf on me?” Maya demanded.

“Lemme out!” Emilia kept yelling.

Maya disengaged the straps and Emilia fell backward onto the RSH dirt, gagging and sobbing. She retched some more and lay there shuddering as she stared sightlessly at the sky.

A bottle of water later and using a liberal handful of dirt to rub away the mess, Maya made her way to Emilia who sat with her knees pulled to her chest. She eyed Maya and gagged slightly.

“A bit of an extreme reaction,” Maya said.

“Its fucking terrible,” Emilia said, a haunted look in her eye.

“We only traveled fifty kilometers, this is nothing,” Maya said.

“There has to be another way. I can’t… I can’t do this again.”

“Well, seeing as we’re fifty kilometers out, we’re going to have to do it again,” Maya replied.

“How can you stand it?”

“It’s just a little darkness, lack of feeling, an absolute and all consuming void of nothingness that extends for eternity,” Maya replied. She thought on it for a moment. “I guess it’s pretty bad when you’re not used to it. Using the teleporter is way worse, this is easy mode.”

Maya crouched down before Emilia, the young woman was wiping away tears.

“Are you okay?”

“Physically, yeah. Mentally? I don’t know. It felt like forever,” Emilia said, looking away. “I thought I was going to be trapped there forever, just a mind floating in a void of nothing.”

“I suppose Dimensional Teleportation works differently on people,” Maya replied. “I’m sorry you had a bad trip. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but I can’t control what you experience. Who else can take your place?”

Emilia looked at Maya and then away again. “No one,” she said.

“No, seriously. Who?”

“No one,” Emilia said firmly. “The others aren’t as strong as I am. They don’t have the levels or the mana channels like I do. If they go with you, then they’ll die and you’ll die, then we all die.”

Maya eyed the woman for a moment longer. “Alright,” she said. “Get up, we do this until you can handle it.”

“Must we?”

“We have to do this,” Maya replied. “It’s like breaking bones, the first time is god awful, but after the tenth time you can handle the pain a bit longer.”

“That’s a terrible analogy,” Emilia said, rising to her feet. She took another swig of water and looked out onto the vast plain of the RSH. “Alright, we go again.”

Maya smiled. “If you need, you can barf all over me.”

“Oh. I will.”

***

“How many kilometers?” Chu asked as he flopped down on a chair.

“Three hundred kilometers, about ten jumps,” Maya said, opening a map and showing him the spots Emilia and she had jumped to.

“She okay?”

“Gonna live,” Maya replied. “What I’m thinking is that she’s not putting enough into her Mental Stats. Especially Mental Strength, Dexterity, and Recovery.”

“She’s pretty smart,” Chu said.

“She is, but due to her being a Mage, she’s been putting more of her stats into Soul, rather than Physical or Mental.”

“Aren’t wizards and shit supposed to be all brain?” Chu asked. “In those RPG games they had big brains.”

“Soul Stats are more focused on mana handling and channeling,” May said. “Just as combat orientated occupations focused more on Physical Stats.”

“Hell, yeah,” Chu said. “I’ve never been this buff before, even eating shitty ration bars is doing this body good.” Chu flexed in his ship suit and grinned at her.

“Crafting is more focused on Mental Stats,” Maya said, ignoring him.

“So where does Merchant fall into these Stats?” Chu asked.

“It’s more Mental focused. Like crafting or building.”

“But you’re still out there kicking ass,” Chu said. “What gives?”

“Tier 2,” Maya said. “All my stats are over a hundred in Physical, Mental, and Soul.”

“Bullshit,” Chu said.

“I gained a decent amount of Foundation Points for surviving the dimensional crossing the first time and with all the other things I’ve been doing, it’s been rising higher and higher. So every level, I get a massive amount of stat points to use.”

“But you can’t use mana, right?”

“Burned out mana channels,” Maya replied. “When I was caught up in the Dimensional Instability and brought here, I was still being filled with essence mana that was being pumped into our universe. Earth just happened to be transitioning to Tier 2 also, which caused more essence mana to fill me up before I got Shanghaied from Earth. My mana channels got burned out and instead essence mana channels were formed from the residual essence mana inside of me.”

“Which you haven’t figured out how to use yet.” Chu said.

“Yet,” Maya emphasized. “What’s with the prying into the early days of Maya Sullivan?”

“Just making conversation,” Chu replied. He stretched and let out a long groan. “I’m missing conversations when all I do is yell at orcs, crows, and people all day. I mean, I was a sergeant for all of ten seconds before you made me Captain of your band of mercs and former critters. But with the shortage of officers and really anyone with non-com experience, it’s all falling on me to do the yelling. I’m losing my silver tongue.” Chu grinned at her.

“Wasn’t that silver,” Maya replied.

“It’s gotten me where I am today,” Chu said “I’m higher level than most, I’m in command of some bad ass peeps, and living the dream under cracked rainbow skies and in fear of constant death.”

“Could be worst.”

“That’s true. I could have died in the Cage, died in Chicago, died in bed, or even died in the last month’s fighting. I’m just hoping to enjoy my next three hundred standard years in peace.”

“No such thing in the Integrated Multiverse.”

“That’s what they say, but I’m sure there are ways of gaining peace. I mean, if you kill everything that is a threat, you can live in peace. A desert called peace and all that.”

“Possibly,” Maya replied.

“But not for Earth, right?” Chu asked.

“Yup.”

Chu sighed and leaned in his chair, watching as Maya worked on her tablet. “We need some down time,” Chu said.

Maya paused in her work. “What do you mean?”

“Everyone’s been busting their ass for the last few weeks, building, learning, fighting, and all that. We need to give them a break before we all lose it and start breaking shit.”

Maya chewed on the thought for a moment and nodded. “Make it so, then.”

“Make it so? How?”

“Your idea, your responsibility,” she replied.

“You take this delegation thing far too seriously,” Chu said. “But… I guess I can do it.” Chu sighed dramatically and leaned even further back in his chair. The lightweight metal gave an ominous creak. “I’ve been chatting with Emilia and apparently with some tweaking, she can begin producing alcohol with the food processors. Something about synthetic molecular combinations and mana based sugars. I don’t know. I stopped listening after she said she could make booze.”

“Your solution to stress is getting drunk?” Maya asked.

“Yeah, the soldier’s way of relieving stress,” Chu said. “For hundreds of years, the best way to prevent soldiers from doing stupid shit and going rogue is to keep them well liquored up. As we’re putting everything into building defenses and salvaging, we’re not devoting much to the small things in life. Simple things like a good bed, good food, and a place where we’re not cramped ass to jowl with other people all the damn time. Getting well and truly fucked up, occasionally, can keep that simmering pot from overflowing.”

Maya set down the tablet and steepled her fingers. “You’re right,” she said. Chu beamed at that. “I’ve been too focused on defenses and salvaging. My bad. Being in the RSH long term can screw with people’s brains, they’re not used to it and it’s just so damn alien compared to where they originated from. I had my own issues with that, but at least back then I had a virtual reality system that let me take breaks. We don’t have that here. We can finish up this round of defense building and then focus on improving the quality of life for everyone else. I don’t know how long we’re going to be here, but they need to return to some semblance of life again.”

“So about the booze,” Chu said.

Maya smiled. “Yeah, make it. Emilia’s reports show that the new and lower quality bacteria farm pod is already producing. She’s already given me a timetable of how quickly she can ramp up production and the numbers show that we can begin feeding ourselves on what we produce in about five weeks at this rate. Using a bit of biomass to create luxury goods will do everyone a bit of good.”

Chu smiled at her. “Well, if you’ll excuse me. I have some good news to spread.” He paused as he glanced at her. “Do you want to tell them?” he asked.

Maya shook her head. “No, you should. You’re their Captain, after all. The good news should come from their leader.”

“You’re their leader,” Chu replied.

“You know what I mean,” Maya said.

“So it’s back to the whole Cage way of doing things?” Chu asked.

“What does that mean?” Maya asked.

“Get to know your troops. Show them you’re thinking about them and that you want them to be happy.”

“I am and I do,” Maya said. “You came up with this idea, so you can tell them about it.”

“You can be benevolent and I can kick their asses,” Chu said. “They can hate me, but they need to love you. They need to follow you and fight for you. This isn’t about Tiers or levels, this is about being a leader they can and will follow.”

Maya grimaced. “Again, with the lectures,” she said.

“Your piss poor mercenary Infantry group fell apart the moment they came in contact with the Fleshies,” Chu said. “If it wasn’t for Emilia and the orcs and crows, they would have all been wiped out. All those levels and gear wasted on badly trained and shitty troops.”

“Ouch.”

“Be a leader and lead,” Chu said. “I know you’re trying to find us a way home, but this whole hiding away and non-interaction with the rest of the people is no way to gain their trust or respect.”

“Fine,” Maya said. She rose from her desk. “I’ll go tell them they can get drunk off their asses and they’ll love me for it.”

“It’s a start,” Chu said.

***

Earth had been deemed a Point of Contact by the System when Integration occurred. From what Maya understood a POC was one of the conduit places that channeled essence mana into a universe that was being Integrated. That had required Earth to be transitioned into Tier 2, which meant more essence mana was being pumped into the planet.

From all that essence mana that was being tossed around, it had caused plenty of mutations in the local flora and fauna. The biggest of these was the uplifting of pigs and crows into sentient and sapient creatures. Maya knew there were more of uplifted critters out there, elephants, great apes, possibly even octopuses and dolphins.

In the month since Integration, the orcs and crows had developed their own form of culture. One that was based on what they had been experiencing from the day they were ‘Awakened’, which was mostly fighting and warring.

They were warriors, they were defenders, and they fought to live and to keep their people alive. They were also damn fine music makers.

The crows led a chorus that filled the air with sharp and high singing, followed by the deep guttural roars of the orcs as they pounded on drums and the ground in rhythmic beats. There had been some machinery salvaged and among the singing and pounding was the electronic beats created by a human who had claimed to be a DJ before Integration.

The orcs were doing their best at creating a mosh pit and slamming into one another, the wet smacks of flesh and the occasional roar of pain filled the air, momentarily drowning out the music. The rules were simple, no hands, feet, or tusks, and only body checking one another.

The crows had a different sort of dance going on, they kicked out their legs, hopped about, and flapped their wings, occasionally flying into the air after a complicated maneuver of kicks and flaps. It was a avian version of a squat dance. A couple of humans were doing their best imitation of the dance, to the cawing cheers of the crows.

Maya sat in a chair, a large mug of Emilia’s Best in her hand and laughed along as the human soldiers tried joining the orc mosh pit. They lasted only a few minutes before coming out battered and bloodied, but grinning and laughing with others.

The Sinz were also enjoying themselves, prancing about in some kind of medieval fantasy dance. They squared off, a dozen or more in a line, and moved in stiff coordinated moves; barely touching and constantly bowing. But there were still grins and smiles on their faces as they maneuvered around one another.

“Man, it’s like there’s a stick up their asses,” Chu remarked, flopping down into a chair beside Maya. He was sweaty and bloodied, a sign that he had tried the mosh pit too.

He took a long quaff from his own mug and laughed as Ironbeak hopped about upon the heads of the orcs, who tried to grab him. Whitestrip plunged into the crowd of orcs, tossing them aside with his size and momentum. The whole mosh pit descended into body slamming and squeals. More orcs joined in and it ws a frenzy of flying orcs and smacking flesh.

“Those orcs know how to party,” Chu said, suddenly standing up. He glanced to Maya, grinned, and then turned to a group of humans watching the mess. “Come on, apes!” With that he charged into the orc mess, followed by a dozen humans.

“Aren’t you going to do anything?” Anisa asked, walking up to Maya. She wasn’t drinking and instead watched the festivities with a small smile.

“No, they’re just blowing off steam,” Maya responded. “If it gets too rowdy, we’ll put a stop to it.”

Anisa took Chu’s seat and watched as orcs, humans, and some crows were tossed about. There was cheering as Chu rammed into Whitestripe and caused the orc to stagger, which only made the massive orc square off against Chu. The two rammed into one another in a sumo style match.

“I’m glad everyone I taking the time to decompress,” Anisa said.

Maya noted her empty hands and raised an eyebrow. “Are you decompressing?”

Anisa gave a faint smile. “This world is terrible, but so was Earth. If I can survive there, I can survive here. Until we return home. Until then, I must survive to see my daughter again.”

“That’s not really an answer to what I asked,” Maya said.

“Fighting, drinking, gambling, they are things that I do not do. Well, fighting for fun, anyway. I do what I must do and take no joy in slaughtering creatures.”

“Religious reasons?” Maya asked.

“No, just personal.”

“I see that you’ve begun working with the healers,” Maya said.

“It is honorable work. With many here at high levels, my skills are not as needed as they were in Lebanon. Here we have the Sow, Chu, and the mercenaries.”

“You’re the second highest leveled person here.”

“And that means what exactly?” Anisa asked. “I do not wish to lead this community. I wish for peace and for my daughter to live a life she chooses, not one forced upon her. I understand that in the Multiverse at Large, being high leveled means automatic leadership and command, but that does not mean it makes one a good leader.”

Maya grimaced. “Something to tell me?” she asked.

“No. For all your faults and mistakes, you are still striving to save humanity. That is a worthy goal,” Anisa replied. “I have seen the lengths people will go to save themselves. I have seen the selfishness of mankind, but I have also seen the sacrifice too. As they say, power does not corrupt, it only reveals.”

“Trust me, the last thing I need a more boosting of my ego,” Maya said, smiling.

“No, everyone needs to know they are doing a good job,” Anisa looked at Maya. “You are doing a good job, Maya. We may be stuck here for the time being, but you are doing what is necessary to see that we survive and we return home. I am thankful for that.”

Maya took a long pull from her mug, wincing at the bitter taste of the beverage. “Thank you,” she replied.

“I do not envy you,” Anisa said. “Your levels and power are great, but so are the expectations placed upon you. I have shouldered that weight and I was glad to be rid of it. I was no leader nor was I a fighter. I am a mother and I was a painter, before all this. I wish to be so once again. When we return home.”

Maya drained her mug as she watched the orcs, crows, and humans flail around in chaotic dancing. She caught the grins and laughter that filled the place. It was a moment of peace, but there was a lot of fighting to be had soon. That would mean more deaths. Less people to return the to Multiverse.

A/N:  Sorry, been  bit under the weather lately.