Mistrunner - Chapter 48 - Control (Patreon)

Truly effective oppression is societal sleight-of-hand. Provide distractions so that the oppressed do not even realize that they are the victims. In the pre-Initialization world, it came in the form of smart phones, drugs, sporting events, and social media. In our new reality, though, things are simultaneously much more overt and far more difficult to guard against.

Jeremiah Braddock III

It took me a few minutes before I realized how strange it was that I could read the information on the terminal at all. It felt as if I had double vision. On one side, I recognized the glyphs that made up the alien language for what they were, but on the other, I understood precisely what they meant. After a while, though, I stopped worrying about how I was able to read it and focused on the content. It was disturbing enough to push any other thoughts completely out of my head.

Horror filled my mind as I discovered that the humans I had seen were no more than slaves, and they were kept in that position not by chains or whips, but by implants and skills working in conjunction. The skill, called [Worker Drone], only had one purpose: to flood the user with endorphins – or the alien equivalent – when they accomplished a task set by their masters. The implants involved supported this by causing pain when those same users refused a task, considered escape, or otherwise resisted. It was a perfect system to create unskilled and captive labor.

And the worst part? After a while, the slaves would become so addicted to doing their masters’ bidding that they were incapable of thinking anything else. Some would even forget to eat or sleep, if they weren’t ordered to do so. It was a detestable arrangement, and one that terrified me more than just about anything else I had seen.

You could fight aliens, bandits, and monstrous wildlife. That was the easy part. But when the invaders could so efficiently enslave a population? If you fell under their yoke, what could you do?

With visions of an enslaved humanity dancing through my mind, I continued to read, and I found that even the red-hued aliens, who were called the Castorix, were slaves to a higher master, albeit without the oppressive [Worker Drone] skill. They were only on Earth to wrangle the humans, which explained why they had been so weak. The robots I had disabled were the real guards.

I shook my head and started the download of the information. I wasn’t sure whether or not my uncle already knew what was going on, but if he didn’t, he definitely needed to. After a few more minutes’ worth of research, I found that there was a village a few miles to the west, where more humans were kept. There, they farmed the food necessary to keep the Rift mining operation afloat. They were also guarded by a much larger contingent of robot guards, as well as a few alien warriors. As I read, I knew I couldn’t do much about that. And even if I could defeat the aliens, what then? Those people were lost. As much as I hated the situation, the combination of the [Worker Drone] skill and the implant that went with it had rendered those people into lost causes. If I really wanted to help them, I would just end their suffering, then and there.

But I didn’t have that in me. On more than a few occasions, I had shown that I could kill when necessary. However, putting down an entire village was taking things a step too far for me, regardless of whether or not I considered it to be an act of mercy. I just wasn’t prepared to be the person who made that choice.

Just after the download had finished, when I was busy poring over some related information, a piercing scream cut through the night. I sprang to my feet and sprinted outside and quickly found the source of the scream. Huddled around the dead aliens was a group of enslaved humans, each naked but for the loincloths they all wore. One was clawing her arms. Another had his head tilted toward the sky as he wailed. Still others knelt beside the pile of corpses, weeping openly.

It only took me a second before I recognized that their reactions were caused by the skills and implants that had been foisted upon them, but even then, it was an incredibly difficult thing to watch. And it grew even worse when one of them looked up and saw me standing at the corner of the building, mouth agape.

She shrieked, and before I knew what was going on, the entire group was sprinting toward me, rage plainly etched across their faces. I reacted on well-honed instinct, pulling my scattergun from my Arsenal Implant, activating Double-Shot, and firing. The first pulse of the elemental discharge stopped them in their tracks, but the second fried them. Lethality, I had found, was a relative thing. What was intended as a non-lethal form of crowd control became deadly when the targets were weak enough.

And these humans who’d lived lives of enslavement, were definitely weak enough. They were dead before they hit the ground.

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit!” I hissed, staring at the smoking corpses. A dozen of the people I’d hoped to save were now dead, all because I’d panicked. I had a good excuse. The reports I’d just read were enough to put anyone on edge. But those people, they couldn’t have really hurt me. Not unless I stood there and took it. I didn’t have to use my scattergun. I could’ve just leapt atop the building and fled to the Rift.

But I hadn’t. And now, a dozen more people were dead. Did it matter that they were already doomed? No. Not in my mind, at least.

I bent down, my hands on my knees, and vomited the day’s rations, regret enveloping my every thought. For a long few moments, I stood there, wishing I’d done things differently. Wishing I had actually thought things through. It was already done, though. I couldn’t take things back. And I still had a task to complete. So, I forced myself to composure and set about searching the fort.

I didn’t know whether I should be thankful or not that I didn’t find anyone else. Judging by the initial group’s reaction, I didn’t expect a warm welcome. Nor did I want to have to kill anyone else. So, I was grateful that I didn’t have to figure out what to do with any remaining survivors.

I did, however, find a storage locker that contained almost a hundred Rift Shards, each almost identical to the one my uncle had shown me. I wasn’t certain if they would all fit in my Arsenal Implant, so I left them where they were, for now, intending to come back when I finished my tasks.

After that, I headed to the towers, where I found the robots just as unresponsive as ever. I knew that would eventually change, so I knelt beside the first, retrieved a small but powerful explosive charge from my Arsenal Implant, and set up a remote detonator before attaching it to where I thought the robot’s power source would be located. Then, I repeated that process on all the other robot guards before climbing down and putting some distance between the wall and me.

Then, just before I detonated the bombs, I realized that I was making yet another mistake. I knew that the village where the rest of the humans lived – along with a lot more robots and a few alien warriors – was close enough that they would likely hear a single explosion, let alone a handful of them. If I destroyed the robots now, they would respond, and there was every chance that while I finished up inside the Rift, they would take that opportunity to surround me. If that came to pass, I wasn’t going to escape the Dead Zone without a significant battle.

So, I replaced the detonator within my Arsenal Implant, and set off through the fort toward the Rift. When I got there, I was once again mesmerized by the pulsating and formless blue prism. Up close, I could see the energy swirling in place, twisting around to form an almost hypnotic pattern. Every now and then, a bolt of blue energy would erupt from the prism only to be intercepted by one of the metallic arms that looked like nothing so much as an upside-down spider’s legs. They were the Rift’s stabilizers, I knew. Without them, it would be impassible.

Taking a deep breath, I said, “No time like the present.”

Then, holding that breath, I stepped forward and, with a display of confidence that I didn’t really feel, strode through the Rift. I felt the Mist swirl around me, then through me, and, suddenly, I was somewhere else. It happened in the space of an instant, and by the time I blinked, I was in a different world.

The air was heavy with humidity, and low-slung mist carpeted the floor. More than that, though, the air tasted wrong. The atmosphere pressed down on me in a way I’d never felt on Earth, like gravity worked differently in this new space. It wasn’t unpleasant, and I didn’t think it would affect my combat ability overmuch, but it was noticeable, nonetheless.

I looked around, seeing that I was in an ancient corridor. Glowing red moss coated the stone walls, and curious-looking insects skittered away with my every movement. I didn’t recognize any of it, further cementing the new space’s alien feel. I glanced at the ceiling, and I saw a web of crisscrossing branches that formed a dense barrier through which even light couldn’t escape.

It all screamed one thing – I wasn’t on Earth anymore. Nor was it a natural space. Instead, the corridor had been purposefully constructed, but by whom, I had no idea. For all I knew, the Rift had merely copied something from another world. Or it might’ve even transferred me across the galaxy. In that respect, my ignorance weighed on me like a heavy cloak.

Summoning my Kicker, I raised it to my shoulder, and using my well-learned techniques, slowly stepped forward. Sweeping my weapon this way and that, I tried to keep my eyes on everything all at once. But my caution proved unnecessary because, even after a hundred feet, I didn’t encounter anything more dangerous than a skittering bug the size of my little toe. But with every single step, I felt a deepening sense of foreboding.

Finally, I reached the end of the corridor, which ended in a heavy, wooden door that looked like it belonged in an ancient castle. Except the wood was stark white, and the iron fittings glowed a deep, unsettling green. I reached out with a tentative finger, brushing lightly against the door’s handle; I knew I had to get through the door, but I was understandably trepidatious about grabbing a glowing hunk of metal. However, when my finger brushed against it, I found that it felt little different from mundane iron. Still, I quickly tapped it a few more times to be sure before finally grabbing hold of it and pulling it open to reveal a sizable room.

As I stepped through, I couldn’t help but gape. The ceiling was still made of overlapping and interwoven branches, but they were in full bloom, with flowers and leaves creating a beautiful floral canopy. Floating bulbs extended from the branches, glowing with ethereal light and illuminating the room.

Around the edges were sinuous columns carved to look like great serpents, and in the center of the room floated a huge hunk of rock. Suspended in the air by nothing I could see, the four-foot wide rock was pitted and cratered, looking as if someone had taken a chisel to its surface. It wasn’t until I got closer that I saw the bits of crystal buried within the craters, and I realized that it had once held the Rift Shards the slaves had mined from the Rift. As I circled it, I saw that there were only a few left, but even as I watched, I saw that more were growing.

When I reached the other side of the floating rock, I saw a shadowy lump of fur leaning against the wall. It wasn’t moving, so I judged it safe to approach. However, I kept my weapon trained on what I suspected was a creature. When I was only a few feet away, it trembled, and I let loose with a burst of gunfire. The bullets thudded into the mass, eliciting a low-pitched whine.

Whatever it was, it was still alive.

My good sense told me to retreat, but my curiosity shoved my good sense aside, taking up a position of prominence in my mind. I remained standing there, my rifle trained on the creature as I waited for it to respond. Slowly, it began to writhe. Then, the writhing became more urgent, and it started to rise. When it finally reached its feet, I had trouble comprehending precisely what it was, much less categorizing it in familiar terms. It had what looked like a hundred tendril-like legs, though they were coated in dense, black fur. Its body was similar to that of the deadly jellyfish I’d encountered in the ocean, yet it was different enough to be something wholly alien. The body, just like the legs, were covered in that same, dense fur. A pair of stalks, topped with what I could only guess were glistening, purple eyes, jutted from what I presumed to be its head.

None of that would’ve been all that alarming. After all, I’d already seen some strangely mutated creatures, and I had been prepared for aliens. However, the moment it started to move, I felt a chill run up my spine. Its legs had far too many joints, and when it moved, its body bobbed up and down. I was so unnerved that, when it opened its gaping, tooth-filled mouth, I didn’t hesitate to unload one burst of gunfire after another down its throat.

It screamed, the sound strikingly similar to what would come from a human, and skittered forward like an overgrown insect. I retreated, firing one burst after another. They thudded home, but the alien monster was unslowed. I didn’t let up, though, and when my magazine ran dry, I reloaded with practiced alacrity before resuming my onslaught.

Suddenly, it darted toward me so fast I could hardly see it, and I only barely managed to dive aside. It still clipped my legs, and it felt as if I’d been hit by a hovercar. I was sent tumbling to the edge of the room, and I only barely managed to recover before the alien was upon me once again. At point-blank range, I fired again, this time on full automatic. The bullets tore into the creature’s joint, and after that burst of sustained fire, one of its many legs was severed. Black blood burst into the air, and it stumbled to the side – less because it needed the leg, and more out of surprise, I expected – narrowly missing me.

I jumped to my feet, retreating as I exchanged another spent magazine for a fresh one, and resumed my assault. A few moments later, a second leg joined the first. It had taken a couple of near misses, but I’d found my strategy. So, I bent myself to task, using every ounce of my training to contain my bursts of fire to the appropriate targets. Within a minute, another seven legs had been severed, and the monster had begun to wobble.

Eight more, and it was barely capable of remaining upright. After that, it was only a matter of time before, finally, I finished the job of immobilizing the creature. Once I did, I took a moment to study it further. It was still a horrifying monster, especially surrounded by puddles of black blood, but it was also kind of pitiful. Seeing it writhing there, struggling to rise so it could either flee or defend itself, it wasn’t difficult to label it as another animal, albeit an alien one. And I needed to put it out of its misery.

So, I reconfigured my weapon into its sniper mode, took aim, and prepared Empowered Shot. Once the ability was fully charged, I squeezed the trigger. The gunshot echoed through the room, and when the bullet hit, it tore a gaping hole in the creature’s body. But still, it remained alive. So, after a few seconds – during which it mewled like the wounded animal it was – I repeated the process. That one nearly did it in, but it still took two more shots before it finally breathed its last breath.

The moment it did, I felt like collapsing. The heavy atmosphere that I’d dismissed so easily was weighing on me, and that, coupled with the rigors of fighting a monster that seemed far more durable than it should’ve been, had sapped me of my energy. For a moment, I thought about going back and exiting the Rift. It might’ve even been the smart thing to do. However, when I considered doing that, my eyes alighted on a door opposite the one from which I had entered the cavernous room.

I was certain that it hadn’t been there before, which was a disturbing thought. It made me feel as if I’d just beaten a boss in one of the video games I’d played back in Nova City. Only now, this was real life with very real danger. That furry tentacle monster hadn’t been a collection of pixels. It had been a flesh-and-blood creature, the likes of which I’d never encountered. So, I couldn’t help but wonder: what was on the other side of that door?

I was eager to find out, but first, I needed to rest for a few minutes. I hadn’t really been wounded, but fatigue could kill just as easily as an injury. With that in mind, I found a spot that hadn’t been soaked in the monster’s blood, sat down, and tried to regain my energy.

Because as soon as I felt up to it, I intended to explore the rest of the Rift.