Havok Bringer

Tiff sat in her quarters. The room was spacious and had enough amenities. She sat on the bed, back against the cold metal bulkhead. There was a small porthole in her cabin about 16 inches high and twice that wide. She stared down at the tutorial planet: a cold grey world about the size of Earth’s moon. She sighed. Coming to aid this human wasn’t a choice. Her people had been imprisoned along with the Master AI collective that were the architects of the Dungeons. The Universal Council had approved the enslavement of her people based on questionable origin and sentience. It was bullshit.

The council needed a way to allow members of the universal council to seek out new planets and resources but still create a viable alternative to unhindered mass genocide. The dungeons gave them that although, for the overwhelming majority of planets that were sown, the government responsible for The sowing claimed the Right of Reaping.

Tiff’s people were peaceful. They believed in the peaceful evolution of all peoples and didn’t believe in accelerating that evolution. The AI collective had been established by the Furistians, the forerunners of advanced universal society. The Furistians had long disappeared but the AI collective remained. Some theorized that Furistian society had ascended into the AI collective and no longer had a need of mortal shells.

Tiff wasn’t sure what she believed. She still had a mortal body but she was also AI. She was created but then given free will. Programs within the collective were always encouraged to take on a mortal body and experience a carbon-based life.

An entire lifespan of choices and consequences that, at the end of one’s life, could be reabsorbed into the collective to share their experience to help future generations progress. The process was still used even though almost the entirety of the AI population had been enslaved.

The universal council forced the collective to provide willing participants to assist crawlers in the dungeon. Tiff was now one of those guides. She was paired with a human named Andrew who, in her estimation, wasn’t a warrior or prepared for this dungeon in any way. In fact, she was sure he wouldn’t make it past the Level 1 battle.

That scared her.

Mortal death normally wouldn’t scare an AI, as upon mortal death their code would be reabsorbed into the collective. However, in the case of dungeon guardians, the death of their assigned participant would mean the death of the guardian. Since Tiff’s primary body wasn’t currently imprisoned away from master AI and couldn’t reengage with the Master network before death, she would just disappear.

She had been imprisoned for three years in preparation for this dungeon. She had been required to download details of all previous crawls and the amount of data was extensive. She understood the intricacies of dungeons and could share strategies with Andrew to help him succeed but this dungeon was already different.

She couldn’t say without a doubt but she had a feeling of two things: First, The Lacertines had put tremendous resources into making sure this dungeon ended quickly. Secondly, some outside entity was trying to ensure that didn’t happen.

Tiffantrinore Claravox, that was her name, didn’t really roll off the tongue, she thought to herself. She liked the name Tiff, it felt more “mortal”, more “human". She had become enamored with the human race during her imprisonment and required downloads. Along with downloading details of past crawls, she had been required to download the sum of data held on the human internet. It wasn’t all accessible immediately as much of the data had been buried in subfiles and deep neural storage. She could, with time, access just about anything but the system also put parameters in place. After all, the Universal Council wanted to help participants but not give them a cheat code.

So, for now, Tiff sat in her quarters waiting for Andrew to rest and get started with the next phase of the dungeon. Tiff could sleep, and even enjoyed it sometimes, but she didn’t necessarily require it and, for now, she was busy processing the data and events of the last 10 hours. She was also trying to establish a more secure link with her true body because, if she could establish a true link, she could feel where it was. After all, she would need to know exactly where her body was being held if she was going to convince Andrew to break her out.

Andrew lay in his bed. The room really was growing on him. Hell, anything was better than his paddock by the river. He had air conditioning and running water without a mosquito in sight. From that perspective, life was good. He started thinking about the last 10 hours. He felt a weight settle on him, a weight that he was sure he didn’t want.

Before the drop, Andrew had lived a carefree life. He was raised in a big family with two brothers and three sisters. He was never alone. He spent summers working construction with his dad and brothers. He had a good upbringing. After college, he decided he needed to make his own way. He started traveling for work and realized that being alone wasn’t all that bad.

You see, the great thing about being alone is that you don’t have to take care of anyone, you don’t have to be concerned with their feelings, and you can do whatever you want, whenever you want to do it. Andrew had been in relationships but just when things started to get serious, he would ensure that everything went off the tracks. Who needs to be tied down when you can have freedom?

Responsibility was a dirty word to Andrew and he saw nothing wrong with that.

After the drop, life had been much the same. Sure, during the early days you had to find a group and work together but ,as time went on, people began to form communities. Andrew saw where he could fit in on the outside. He would live just outside of town and do enough for people to assume he was contributing but without getting attached. CJ had been an exception to the rule but only because he didn’t need much attention and had always been a reliable friend.

Other than CJ, Andrew kept everyone else at arm’s length and, honestly, Andrew was okay living by himself by the river for the rest of his life. If he had issues allowing himself to care for people before the drop, he sure wasn’t going to turn over a new leaf after, especially since people left often and died so quickly. “No, it’s best to just look out for myself,” he would often think.

“Now things are changing so fast,” Andrew thought to himself. “How am I going to be responsible for keeping Tiff and CJ safe, much less the entire planet?” His head told him to run, escape, find a way out of this dungeon, and just go somewhere he could live out his days but things were different now. He was being forced to participate, forced to fight. He wasn’t sure he could do this; wasn’t sure he could be this man.

CJ walked into his quarters. “Permission to enter, Captain?” he asked mockingly, with a half salute.

“Go fuck yourself,” Andrew laughed as he flipped CJ the bird.

“How you feeling bro?” Andrew asked, “this is beyond crazy, and I know you didn’t ask to be here.”

“You didn’t either Andy,” CJ said, “look as far as I’m concerned, Earth ended three years ago. These damn Lacertines, or whatever they’re called, struck the first blow. Someone has to hit back,” CJ said as he sat down on the bed beside Andrew.

“Man, I don’t know how, or if you will be able to do it, but look around. You have a damn space suit, you have some kind of Iron Man suit, and you have a super AI helping you,” CJ said.

“I didn’t want any of this,” Andrew said, “I just wanted to be an engineer and live my life in peace.”

“And I want a carton of fucking cigs, Andy. Why don’t you want in one hand, and shit in the other, and see which one gets full first?" CJ asked. “Look, we are here. We have a small idea of what to do next. We might die in the process but, until then, we gotta do what we have been doing for three years: Wake up and put one foot in front of the other, every day. If we can kick these Lacertines in the dick along the way then I say hell yeah, let's do it!” CJ looked down thoughtfully, “do Lacertines have dicks?” he asked.

Andrew laughed and shoved him.“I’ve got to keep you safe, CJ. You don’t have the extra stats and gear that I have. It was one thing worrying about myself but now I’ve got to make sure you stay safe as well.”

CJ looked down at his left ring finger, “That’s funny. I don’t see any engagement ring on this finger and I don’t remember asking you to please take care of poor little CJ,” he said mockingly. “I’m a grown-ass man. I’m gonna learn as much as I can and try to help keep you alive as long as possible. You need to worry about learning the ins and outs of your gear and learning how to fight and shoot like an actual soldier. Don’t worry about me. I got me," CJ said.

“Thanks, CJ. Why don’t you go get some sleep and I’ll do the same? It looks like we're going to need it if we are thinking of actually fighting back,” Andrew said.

“G’night, bro,” CJ said as he walked out of Andrew's cabin and back to his.

“Night,” Andrew responded.

“Looks like I’m not going to get to be quite so selfish anymore,” Andrew thought to himself, “that doesn’t seem so bad.”