Mask of Humanity

Nicolai was pleased when, upon examining the boxes, the text that popped up gave him the information he wanted to know and not—as he’d briefly feared—some script saying “a box.”

Mossberg 500 (standard layout)

A pump-action shotgun which has proven its effectiveness through centuries of combat. Comes fully loaded with nine twelve-gauge shells.

In the box there is; Fully loaded Mossberg 500, user’s manual, tool kit for disassembly and cleaning.

Y1a

This shimmer poncho bends light around the user, hiding them from those seeing in visible light, and it is also capable of altering its outer temperature to provide limited circumvention of thermal optics. Its interior possesses solar charging capabilities, allowing the user to recharge it by turning it inside out in sunlight. It comes with a small bag, and scrunches up small enough to fit inside when not in use.

In the box there is: Y1a, user’s manual, belt-bag, repair kit.

TNA50-B1

A pair of goggles providing thermal vision and magnification capabilities, alongside a built-in AI dedicated to pattern analysis; capable of picking out objects, people, and threats.

In the box there is: TNA50-B1, user’s manual, solar charger.

STBT-200kv

A robust, extendable charge baton capable of delivering a powerful shock with landed blows. It is especially effective against augmented or artificial bodies.

In the box there is: STBT-200kv, user’s manual, two spare batteries.

Interesting. All of these items held one thing in common. They would be of immediate and obvious use to him. However, in every other respect they varied wildly.

The shotgun was a model centuries old, nothing like the kinds of weaponry on offer in the modern day. That said, it would be very effective against humans or undead.

Whereas the charge baton was quite modern, a device issued en-masse to enforcement officers the world over, but though it would have likely been the most costly item of the four were he to purchase it on earth, he felt it would overall be of less use than the centuries old shotgun.

Next the thermal goggles, another device first invented long ago, though this particular design was only a century out of date. On Earth, he would’ve been able to find something comparable in effectiveness at a very low price.

Finally, the shimmer poncho. It was a somewhat more recent invention, but on Earth these items were considered more of a fun novelty than anything serious. They were of very limited effectiveness against the arrays of cameras and sensors that clustered at every street corner in any Corporate city, alongside the very commonplace scanning drones; though in the warring states they were of slightly more use.

‘What’s in the boxes?’ came Kleos’ voice from behind him, curious.

Nicolai glanced back at the head, then explained. ‘In this long one there is a gun; one of those weapons I told you about. Kills people from a distance.’

‘How quick?’

‘Pretty much instantly, if you hit them right,’ Nicolai said. ‘Then there are goggles that let you see heat, a baton that stuns with electricity, and a poncho that allows for sort-of invisibility.’

‘Hmph,’ Kleos uttered. It sounded interested, but not particularly impressed.

Nicolai considered, and quickly made his decision.

For him, it came down to the shotgun, the goggles, or the shimmer poncho. The charge baton was out because unlike the goggles and the poncho, it had no method to charge itself. With two spare batteries it should be good for quite a few hits, but eventually it would become useless.

The shotgun suffered a similar problem, as it came fully loaded with nine rounds but with no other ammo. He estimated the charge baton should be good for dozens of hits so would remain useful longer than the shotgun. But even so, a gun was pretty much always better than a melee weapon in Nicolai’s view, so it ranked higher than the baton.

The thermal goggles and the shimmer poncho both came with, theoretically, infinite usage. The poncho could recharge itself by being turned inside out, the goggles came with a separate solar charger. This made both of them much more appealing to Nicolai.

The shotgun would still be a game changer, but with only nine shots then against what he faced in the castle the shimmer poncho seemed the most useful. People had guns already, but he’d not seen anyone wearing a shimmer poncho.

Though, it must be said that is rather the point. With a shimmer poncho of his own, he could get close to the people with guns and take those guns. The shimmer poncho would also allow him to move over the bridges with reduced risk of being shot by the sniper.

It would help him avoid the undead, and turn the Gauntlet run into a relaxing stroll. In contrast, the thermal goggles would be of little use against undead, as they presumably released no body heat. It would be handy for something like finding the sniper from a distance, but it wouldn’t help him getting over to her. If he had a sniper of his own the goggles could be very handy, but that wasn’t the case.

He stepped forwards and lifted the flat box containing the shimmer poncho from its plinth, then retreated. He felt an urge to grab at the other boxes, but pushed it down. Utter foolishness, the interface was clear that such an act was not permitted, and he did not doubt there would be some form of punishment.

The statue retracted its plinths and slid back into the stone. Just after it had disappeared, a hand popped out bearing a small pouch. Nicolai grasped it and saw ten Oma crystals and one points tag. Pulling it out, his eyebrows rose upon seeing it was a tag for one thousand points. He supposed that must be a decent number, but he really couldn’t be sure as he’d yet to gain access to the Trade Link. His eyes narrowed in thought. With the shimmer cloak, sneaking past the Chosen to the Trade Link was now a possibility, if a faint and dangerous one.

He unsealed and opened the box and found the inside to be padded with foam, and set inside was the folded up shimmer poncho, a manual, a small bag with attachments allowing the poncho to be affixed to straps or a belt, and a box labeled: repair kit.

Nicolai opened up the manual and spent a few minutes going through it, building up a solid understanding of how the poncho worked. It wasn’t a cutting-edge piece of tech; this particular model was decades old, but with Nicolai spending the last couple centuries in a killbot he had never personally used it.

Finally he tucked the manual away and took the shimmer poncho out, unfolded it, then held it out before him, looking it over.

It was a large poncho made of black rubber. It was quite thick, and heavier than he’d expected. There was a concealed, doubled open-end zipper down the front, allowing him to open it from top and bottom and wear it in various configurations.

He threw it on, worming his head through the opening into the hood, pushing his arms through the snap-fastenings that created optional sleeves. He felt at the edge of its material near to where his hands emerged from it until he’d located the buttons, found a square shaped one and held it down for five seconds.

The shimmer poncho flickered with lights, then a word zipped around his whole body multiple times before settling into the middle of his chest. It said BYNRU TECH. There was a jarringly jaunty start-up jingle. BYNRU TECH faded away and on one of the sleeves he saw the word AUTOMATIC pulse, then the whole thing fuzzed and he could see the ground below him, saw right through himself.

It wasn’t perfect. If he moved rapidly it was possible to make out the folds of its material, get the impression there was something there. But if he moved slowly or was at a distance it would be very effective. If he was still and ideally against a wall, he would be almost impossible to perceive, even from very close-up.

He pressed a different button, and a box formed on the sleeve. SETTINGS, it said. Then;

MODE | PAIR | OPTIONS | CLOSE | POWER: 100%

He couldn’t pair because he didn’t have a Link like everyone else, and was thus forced to use its in-built commands. His first move was to go to options. There he scrolled through the list until he found the setting to disable the start-up jingle and display, both of which he felt were absurd additions to a piece of equipment designed for stealth.

Nicolai exited options then thumbed it to mode and a list formed. He saw that he was on standard mode, and had various options including a thermal neutralising setting to counteract thermal optics, which he knew from the manual would be heavy on power use.

Dismissing the menu, he settled the hood into a better position, tugging to unfold its rain-cap, then felt around the left edge of the hood until he found a tab. When he pulled on this, a gauzy, see-through material emerged from the edge of hood, wrapping over his face until he found the connection for the tab on the other side, hooking it in. After that it loosened a little, covering his face without pressing too tight.

Next he unfolded flaps from the underside of the poncho, until they hung below, covering his legs. Each of them had a drawstring, allowing him to adjust them till they each hung at an ideal height, just above the floor. Once unfolded these flickered and took on the same light-bending quality, hiding his legs. The flaps had a gap on the sides, not present on the portions of the poncho which became its sleeves. But there were more snap-fasteners below the sleeves which clipped the material together to make a sort-of skirt from the flaps, while allowing him to use the un-flapped sleeves.

He spent a moment simply walking around, getting used to it. It was a little restrictive, especially if he wanted to take something that was held on his body, such as a knife, out of its sheath, as he would need to pull his arms back through the sleeves then draw it then extend them again. He pulled the zip from the bottom, and it opened slightly at the front, giving him an easier time getting to his things. The poncho was large enough that even open, the material tended to fall across him and keep him hidden, but it was clear that only when fully zipped would the poncho offer its most complete and effective invisibility.

Fortunately, with the snap-fastened sleeves he could still interact easily with the world and it wouldn’t tie him up except for slowing him slightly when retrieving things from his person. The double zips were also well designed, moving easily but with little tabs that could be pressed and they would secure themselves in the current position, ensuring the poncho wouldn’t accidentally unzip or rezip. The zipper also had an emergency quick-release tab, allowing it to be rapidly opened. Overall, it was well designed and functional considering the limitations its purpose imposed.

He didn’t have a mirror, so Nicolai stood before Kleos, his hands tucked into the snap-fastened sleeves.

‘Well?’ he asked.

Kleos was staring at him with a quizzical little frown. ‘I suppose it’s quite effective, so long as you don’t move too quick. What is that? The effect reminds me of some Symbiotes I’ve seen in the past, but less effective and much more… in your way.’

‘Light bending technology,’ explained Nicolai. ‘You’re right, it’s not an ideal solution. Only so much tech you can fit into something this size. But you’d be surprised by how effective these things are against biological eyes.’

‘What does light have to do with being invisible?’ Kleos frowned at him.

Nicolai paused, looking at Kleos curiously. It seemed that Kleos’ people had missed out on some basic photonics. ‘More than you’d think,’ he said.

‘And you think it’ll be more helpful than the weapon that kills people instantly from a hundred feet away?’ Kleos was still watching him carefully, perhaps aware that if he lost track of Nicolai for a moment, he’d lose sight of him entirely as his shape dissolved into the room.

‘There are others with similar weapons running around out there. With this I can get close to them. Then their weapons will be mine.’

Kleos raised its eyebrows. ‘I see.’

Thinking on the poncho and its invisibility, Nicolai recalled how the Centipede had hidden from his Soul Sense. ‘I met a creature down there. A Centipede. It was a dark and evil thing. Would you know anything of such a creature?’

Kleos did a little shrug with its eyebrows. ‘There are many odd creatures in this world. Sounds like some kind of mutant, they crop up sometimes. Generally they are unthinking beasts that wish only to kill.’

‘This one was no unthinking beast,’ murmured Nicolai. ‘It hid from my Soul Sense, somehow.’

‘Ah, it must have Shelled itself. That’s what we call it. Shelling is when one controls their Soul in order to hide from other Soul Senses. Once you have a Soul and some time, I can show you how to do it.’

‘Do you think I could do it now?’

Kleos looked doubtful. ‘With just that little worm? I don’t think so. No. It’s a whole-body process.’ The head glanced to the torch which was a dull red. ‘Almost night.’

Nicolai grunted in response, his thoughts turning to his next move. He deactivated and removed his shimmer poncho, then approached the table, taking a bag of Oma crystals. His Seed needed recharging after he’d used its Oma to activate the Orb of Fire he’d thrown at the Warden.

Once that was rectified, he considered all that he had taken from the storage room. He looked it over then began arranging it all neatly on the table, settling into the seat as he did so.

The bags of Oma crystals he placed on one side, along with all of his points tags. He had sixteen now. Fifteen of them the two-hundred points type, and one the one-thousand points variant, for a total of four-thousand points.

Before him was the rapier, the metal-reinforced leather glove, the statue of a turtle, the keys, and the little bar of metal resembling a points tag.

On the other side, he arranged his rings and the necklace. With the two he’d taken and his ring of flight, he now had three rings.

He began examining it all, starting with the rapier, glove and statue. He intended to find out what everything did and how useful it could be for him. He was especially interested in the jewellery, all of which seemed to be Imbued.