TS6 - Chapter 13

Kat crouched behind a rock, crossbow trained on a furry sex-legged monster that was about the size of a small car.  It shuffled slightly, a dangling trunk sweeping back and forth over the dungeon floor as if trying to vacuum up crumbs.  

A metallic scrape at her side marked Kaleek shifting his weight slightly.  The monster perked up, the four oversized eyes in its lumpy head swinging back and forth as it tried to find the origin of the sound.  Kat muttered a curse under her breath and triggered the crossbow.

Mana flowed out of her and into the quarrel and it zipped through the air, burying itself in the front of the monster’s face before triggering Gravity Spike.  The creature’s snout reared up into the air, trumpeting in alarm as Kaleek jumped from cover with a sheepish shrug and started running down the hallway toward the monster.

Dorrik flowed into motion a half step later, sprinting after Dorrik.  A second six legged creature rumbled around around the corner, its trunk reaching down to pick up one of the boulders littering the room it was dwelling in.  

Halfway to the monsters, mana flared and Kaleek froze, a hint of blue magic glowing around him that felt vaguely like Kat’s Ward spell.  Dorrik ignored it, blazing past the immobile desoph  and toward their opponents.

The one Kat had shot was sumbling drunkenly, blood oozing from its four eyes and soaking its thick fur as her magic twisted and pulled at the gravitational forces inside its head.  The spell wasn’t enough to kill it outright, but it clearly had seen better days.

Its partner launched a boulder, about twice the size of Kat’s head, with enough force that Kat could barely track its flight.  The rock slammed into Kaleek’s chest, disrupting the stasis spell that was holding him in place and sending him sailing through the air with a massive dent in his upgraded and supposedly high end armor.  An eyeblink later, the crack of the projectile’s sonic boom assaulting her eardrums.  Mentally, Kat made a note to not get hit by one of the rocks.  She was a lot softer and more splattery than the heavily armored warrior.

Both of the monsters reached for another rock, but Dorrik reached them before they could do anything with their payloads.  He swung his swords through the air while still a half dozen paces away, generating a pair of purple crescents that burned into the front of the uninjured creature. It staggered back a step, giving Dorrik the room he need to leap into the air and reverse the grip on his swords.

He came down blade first, each weapon moving with surgical efficiency as the skewered one of the monster’s four eyeballs.  It staggered backward, trunk instinctively dropping its rock in order to wrap around his waist like a furry python, squeezing the lokkel tight enough that Kat’s enhanced hearing could pick up the sound of his bones creaking.

Dorrik was glowing purple, enhancing his body with Psi energy, when she raced past him.  The remaining monster threw its rock at her, but Kat had already seen the creature’s exaggerated wind up.  

Gravity in front of her shifted 90 degrees, multiplying itself exponentially.  Kat could still barely make out the boulder, but its fast speed meant almost nothing as he domain altered its trajectory, causing it to curve away from her just enough that it zipped past Kat’s head en route to shattering a pace deep crater into the dungeon wall.

Then she was upon it.  Without thinking, instinct took over.  The monster’s gravity flipped, slamming it unceremoniously into the ceiling even as she used her mana to cast Pseudopod.

It tried to regain its feet only for Kat to switch gravity a second time, dropping it to the ground with bone jarring force.  Before it could get up, her Pseudopod grabbed her backup knife from her waist and jammed the blade into the creature’s side.

She doubled its gravity just as the blade hit, preventing the monster from jerking backward away from the weapon.  It lashed out at her with its trunk, seeking to constrict and break her.

A flicker of will rendered the creature weightless, and she used the knife still lodged in between its ribs to throw the monster across the room, letting its trunk flail fruitlessly as it spun and tumbled until it hit the edges of her domain and ordinary gravity reasserted itself.

The monster fell to the ground again, its four eyes blurry and disoriented from what looked to be a fairly severe concussion.  With a wave of Kat’s hand, she cast Overpressure and blood began to squirt from the hole in its side, creating a fountain of scalding tar as it quickly began emptying itself onto the dungeon floor.

She ran at it again, not giving the woozy monster a chance to fully orient itself.  Just before Kat entered trunk range, she once again flipped gravity sending the bewildered monster into the ceiling yet again.

Even with the empowered gravity, the constant falls weren’t doing much damage.  The dungeon was too compact and the monster’s thick furry hide was too tough for that.  Still, Kat’s ability served its purpose, distracting the creature yet again as its damaged brain sought to make sense of her tossing it around like a crumpled up wad of paper.

Kat gave it just enough time to sway to its feet on the ceiling, staring down at her with dazed eyes.  As it stared at her, woozy and uncomprehending, Kat’s Pseudopod snaked across the ground beneath it, setting itself up directly underneath the monster.  Then, she changed gravity yet again, sending the monster plummeting toward the dungeon floor where her knife was braced and waiting for it.

Its weight worked against it, jamming the point of Kat’s weapon clean through its hide and into the upper portion of one of the monster’s lungs.  It yelped in pain, and Kat cast Overpressure yet again.

She took a couple steps back, keeping herself well out of range of the monster’s distressed flailing as the toll of three concurrent spells began to burn through her mana reserves even as her Pseudopod pushed upward, slowly sliding her blade deeper and deeper into the struggling dungeon beast.

A glance back at Dorrik revealed that he wasn’t in any danger.  The monster he’d been fighting had released him and although it wasn’t dead, there wasn’t any strength in its trunk as it tried and failed to hit the dancing and weaving lokkel.

That was probably for the best.  Three spells was Kat’s limit, and each one progressively increased her mana costs.  The gravity domain could help with that, letting her exert quasi magical power without forcing her to expend mana, but for many situations, it simply couldn’t match the utility of her elementalist spells.

The six legged monster in front of her gurgled, finally able to fight back against the increased gravity in order to roll over onto its side.  A dark black splotch of steaming blood marked where her knife had first entered the creature, and even as Kat watched it more and more of the tar-like substance splurted out of the hole that her Pseudopod was steadily sawing into its back.

It rolled over onto its side only for Kat to shift gravity again, sending it skidding along the ground and into one of the dungeon’s walls some thirty paces away from her, well outside the range of her domain.  It staggered to its feet, thick black blood matting its fur as it swayed back and forth.  

Kat stood perfectly still, eyes locked on the monster.  Behind her, she could hear the grunt and thud of blades as Dorrik finished his opponent off just as clearly as the clank of metal on stone as Kaleek gingerly walked toward the fight.  The creature in front of her slumped forward.  It was still alive but its front pair of legs were boneless while its second pair trembled madly.  Only the last set of legs held firm, but on their own they couldn’t do much.

More blood gushed from the creature’s side and back.  The thick black liquid began to pool around its second pair of legs.  Finally, they slipped and it collapsed entirely.

It wasn’t quite dead yet, Kat could see its trunk weakly questing toward a nearby rock, but its demise was clearly only a matter of time.  She walked toward it, lowering the pull of gravity on the stone it was trying to pick up before nudging it away with the toe of her shoe.  

“Awww,” Kaleek grumbled.  “You killed all of them before I could get in on the action.”

A hum of activated Psi marked the end of the monster behind him.  It hit the ground with a dull thump, and a second later Kat heard Dorrik wiping its blood from both of his blades as he turned and walked toward her.

“Tell the desoph that maybe he could’ve participated in the fight if he’d paid enough attention to spot the stasis trap,” Dorrik said primly.

“Come on Dorrik,” Kaleek replied, pushing his index finger into the deep dent in the center of his armor.  “You can’t still be mad about the fish thing right?  So maybe I engaged in a little bit of light smuggling.  Its not like anyone will notice.  Plus, I got you that polish you wanted.”

“It isn’t just a ‘fish thing,” Dorrik snapped, crossing both sets of arms in front of himself as he glared at Kaleek.  “Minaaq are a lot more than ‘just fish’ and you know it.  Eighty percent of the known galaxy bans or regulates their consumption due to their addictive properties.  You aren’t supposed to be on Earth and already you’re breaking dozens of laws.”

“They aren’t even that addictive,” Kaleek said with a shrug.  “As long as you only have a couple it's unlikely that anything will happen.  Beyond that, people over level five are basically immune to the psychologically addictive properties unless they’ve completely neglected their fortitude, charisma, and endurance.”

“Less than one percent of Earth is in the dreamscape,” Dorrik responded unhappily.  “Of those, I do not have a good measurement on their levels, but it doesn’t seem like many have leveled properly.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it were less than one in fifty thousand that could actually safely consume the minaaq.”

“Charisma?” Kat asked, going down to one knee and pressing her hand against the side of the creature she’d killed in order to collect its marks.  Later the three of them would pool and redistribute their resources so that each of them would get an equal cut.

“The addiction isn’t really physical,” Kaleek replied, reaching up to scratch the fur around his neck.  “It mostly just feels good to the point where your brain wants more of it.  Eventually it gets to the point where your body starts to consider feeling good ‘normal’ and everything else starts to be a bit of a drag so you start looking for excuses to eat more minaaq.  Charisma helps boost your force of personality so that you can voluntarily power through those desires and ignore them.”

“And that is why it is banned on most planets,” Dorrik said crossly.  “Psychological addictions are insidious and most people do not even realize that they are starting down the road toward such an ailment until it is too late.  Then, it takes weeks of treatment from specialists in order to return to normal, but that is only if someone has the strength of will to seek out such treatment.  Most addicts simply choose to eat more minaaq causing the problem to worsen.”

Kat clambered over the monster in front of her, reaching into its back to pull her spare knife out of it.  She frowned slightly as she processed Dorrik and Kaleek’s argument.

“Wait, is that it?” She asked.  “I know that you said that the fish were psychologically addictive, but I expected them to have some sort of other horrible side effect.”

The desoph and lokkel stared at her without comprehension.

“You know,” Kat began, “The shakes?  Nerve damage?  Maybe something esoteric.  I don’t know, if you eat too many of them at once you grow gills or something?”

“A psychological addiction is quite bad,” Dorrik replied, a hint of uncertainty creeping into his voice.  “I know Earth has its share of drugs and euphorics, but I can’t say that they are an area of study for me.  I presume by your reaction that they are also addictive?  Although this is not common in the galaxy, it is also not uncommon on newly integrated worlds.  Still, there is no need to add something as volatile and potentially dangerous to your social fabric as minaaq into the mix.”

Kat reached up, scratching the skin behind her ear as she blushed with a hint of embarrassment.

“Wellllll,” she said slowly, her mind racing as she tried to explain the situation on Earth to the two aliens.  “You see, things on Earth are really bad for the working class.  I want to make that better when I get the chance, but for right now major social reforms would just paint a target on my back.  So far, I’ve managed to help out my employees, but there are a lot of people that aren’t employees of any company.  They range between refugees barely surviving in bombed out ruins from before the Megacorps rose to power and chromed out bandits that have completely lost themselves.  Mothers tell their children to watch out or the bad samurai that have gone past the Wierzbeck limit will eat them.  Now, that’s partially an exaggeration, but I’ve also heard credible reports of the really far gone samurai actually engaging in cannibalism, so maybe it isn’t completely absurd.”

Dorrik froze, crest stiffening in alarm.

“Do you mean to say that your people haven’t managed to cure cyber dysmorphia?”  He asked slowly.  “But that cannot possibly be the case.  I’ve seen so many humans with cybernetic enhancements.  They could not possibly be all intentionally torturing themselves like that.”

“Cybernetics mean power and respect so people slot them in anyway,” Kat replied apologetically.  “That’s actually where a lot of the major drugs came from.  Corpse Dance was originally a sedative to help people acclimate.  Neural Itch is supposed to let you disassociate and ignore any issues with your body.  Chrome Powder… well that’s just a stimulant and a euphoric.  If you’re too busy with euphoria and mania, you can ignore your intrusive thoughts about dismembering civilians.  Theoretically.  That one didn’t really pan out.  A lot of civilians still got dismembered, it just involved the person doing the dismembering giggling a lot in the process.”

Both Dorrik and Kaleek were staring at her like she’d grown an extra head.

“I don’t suppose the side effects of those drugs are mild?” Dorrik, horror dripping from his voice as he asked the question.  “Perhaps the names are extra evocative?  I can’t imagine that people would willingly take something named ‘corpse dance’ unless it was more a marketing ploy than a description of the drug’s abilities.”

“It doesn’t usually kill you,” Kat responded with a shrug.  “It knocks you out for about six hours and makes your entire body twitch like crazy for a while.  I’ve heard you’re supposed to feel pretty good for a couple days after you wake up, but a lot of people suffer from serious injuries during the time you’re unconscious.  Punching a brick wall with all of your strength is a pretty good way to break your hand if not your entire arm.”

“Of course,” she continued ruefully.  “If you take too much, you just don’t wake up, and you’re usually addicted by the third time you use it, and the addiction only gets worse from there.  Withdrawals start with tremors and forgetfulness, but if you’ve been using it for more than a couple months you usually just have a stroke and die if you stop using it.”

Kaleek winced and Dorrik gasped.

“That’s awful!” He exclaimed.  “How do your governing bodies allow substances like that to be produced?  Your people are dying and they’re doing nothing?”

“A lot of the times we’re the ones producing it,” Kat replied, once again flushing with embarrassment.  “Neural Itch is one that lets its user ignore Wierzbeck concerns for a while, but it also lets them focus without emotion or distraction.  It’s pretty popular among security and soldiers for that.  From what I could see it always had some addictive properties, but GroCorp fiddled with them, making the addiction a little slower to catch on but a lot harder to kick.  It's listed as a ‘proprietary formula to encourage repeat customers’ in the corporate files.”

“And the withdrawals from that-” Dorrik began only for Kat to finish for him.

“Usually not fatal but they cripple you for two to three months.  The entire time you’re in absolute agony.  You can’t keep any food down, your hands are shaking, and you suffer from extreme mood swings.  Most people that are serious about quitting voluntarily cuff themselves to something sturdy and use an IV to feed themselves nutrients.  Anything less and it’s almost impossible to stop yourself from breaking free and buying more Itch.”

“Chrome Powder just kills you,” she said.  “Users usually only make it two to three years before their entire nervous system shuts down.  If you stop early?  You usually die within a week.”

After she finished, the entire room was filled with a heavy silence.  Dorrik shook his head mournfully.

“That is awful,” he began.  “I knew that the state society on Earth was truly deplorable, but it is easy to forget about such deep suffering while I am enjoying masterpieces like Chrome Cowboys.  Truly it is one of the great paradoxes that a culture that could produce such wonders could also sink to such horrifying depths.”

Kaleek nodded, his eyes distant.

“So what you’re saying is that the situation is such a mess that adding a couple minaaq to the mix would be like tossing a handful of sand onto the beach,” he said, nodding to himself.

Dorrik glared at the desoph, and Kat couldn’t help but smile.

“Come on,” she said, nodding toward the large stone door that marked the exit from their room.  “The boss chamber is next.  We might as well kill whatever’s in there before the two of you finish this little spat of yours.”

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