Play 2 Wage: Linked

The first thing I bought was a new plasma knife, missing the comfortable weight of it in my pocket. Instead of buying a replacement from the Kern-tech promo shop that I had frequented up until now, I had stopped at some place called ‘Zoltans Pocket Protectors’ that had signage showing off all sorts of “legal” self-defense equipment.

“From diplomacy grade plate-carriers to tasers, blast knuckles to magnet grenades. Come inside and stock up to throw down!”.

Many of the items were outside what I was willing to spend on myself, and Arktria’s council had long outlawed any projectile based weaponry without an expensive permit, but the mag-nades were cheap for how effective I’d heard they were from Tevin. I picked up one of those, a new ear-wig headset similar to the one Tevin always wore, and a nano-mesh T-shirt that was supposed to stop knives and most bullets from pistol-caliber firearms.

I equipped the shirt, stuffed the grenade into my pocket opposite from my knife, and continued down the street until I saw a sign advertising the next item on my list. What I really wanted was a set of jump-boots, or grav-boots. Tech exclusively made by the highly advanced Gonlieus, one of the First-Five factions to Link to the Coreworlds. The Gon released captivating ads showing sophonts of various species, jumping up onto buildings, running through the air, or casually walking along a few inches above a muddy street. There was a wide selection of different series of the boots, in a surprisingly wide range of prices and levels of performance.

I skipped past the first few boutique-looking shops with the recognizable logo of the boots being displayed, sort of like a silhouetted work-boot crossed with a wifi symbol. Deciding to check some of the second-hand stores in an effort to save some creds, I continued my wandering and window shopping.

Eventually I found one that had a virtual display flanking either side of its open doorway, cycling through images of the stock shelves inside. One of the screens that popped up as I walked past showed a rack of the boots, about a half-dozen different pairs of the cheaper models.

‘Bryce Banters’ was a small shop, filled with tall shielded cases along the walls and down the center of the aisle. Unlike the promo shop or Zoltans, or most of the shops that I had visited within the Hub, there was an actual attendant sitting behind a counter to one side. An old man, with frizzy gray hair sticking out from under a sun-bleached cap that had to be from the era before the Links arrived, he glanced up and gave a lazy wave before turning back to the data slate he was scrolling.

I gave him a quick downward nod in return, and made my way through the lanes between the shelves, looking for the cabinet that held the boots I had seen in the window display.

The place was filled with all sorts of crap, mostly useless junk to me. Tons of personal convenience tech, data tablets and slates, small computers, mobile comms, and a variety of power tools. As well as a couple of shelves of weaponry, both pre-Link and post, ranged and melee.

From what I had heard, the upright humanoid two-arms two-legs body formfactor was the most common amongst the thousand or so Linked species, which meant that us humans could use a lot of the equipment that had been designed and circulated throughout the worlds for hundreds of years now. The boots all had the same rough shape, practically identical to the shape we had settled on ourselves a few hundred years before the Links came blasting down out of the sky, only really missing the laces and leather in favor of auto-straps and thick nano-weave.

The two cheapest sets were what most of us humans had started referring to as blast-boots. Too dangerous for us to use outside of the Hub, yet not really needed within the perfectly safe city. They worked by channeling a series of small reloadable explosives with fields of energy to rocket you upwards, and broke a ton of people's ankles before us humans figured out that they were not a great tool for us. Plenty of people still broke their ankles with the other series, but the blast-boots were the only ones that commonly broke them on the way up, rather than via poorly judged landings.

All of the rest were made with more advanced tech, including self-charging batteries that refilled a little with each step. The most expensive were a single pair beat up old low-charge legit grav-boots, out of my footwear price range at just under 7000 Cr. I still eyed them for a moment, they looked really cool, and had some of the most entertaining of the never ending deluge of alien ad’s.

The grav-boots could move you around in 3d space within a deep enough gravity well, or let you walk on air rather than pulling you around by the feet or pushing you upwards, but had a very limited charge only good for a few moments. The longer lasting models cost upwards of 7 figures, and I doubted there was a single human who owned a pair outside of the few dictator led human factions.

The other three sets of boots were what I was actually looking for, sort of the same idea, boots that let you move through the air in some way. Except these worked only under certain circumstances. Using some kind of magnet tech that none of the other factions had managed to copy yet, they could either push or pull on metal, or even metal-rich ore. You could use them to lock the soles of your boots to metal floors, or awkwardly walk along metal walls or beams. You could also use them like the grav-boots over metal surfaces, up to a certain height anyways.

Two of the pairs of mag-boots looked to be in pretty rough shape, one splattered and caked with what looked like fine blobs of metal, the other sunbleached to a gross off-white and heavily frayed and worn. I settled my eyes on the final set which were relatively new looking, mostly black with thin chrome colored accent lines. I actually kinda liked the look of them, and the asking price was a much more reasonable 1200 Cr.

As I gave one final look over the shelf, one of the sets of blast-boots caught my eye, a line of light reflected off the accent lines and twinkled around the edges. Gleaming like a polished object being turned in direct sunlight and shining like the lights that had led me to the cave.

I froze for a moment, watching the scuffed red, black, and white ankle-breakers continue to shimmer as they sat on the shelf. Whatever was causing these lights obviously had to be fucking with me, even if they had promised to have my best interest in mind, there was no way I would risk strapping those on.

I growled under my breath, mumbling a few half-formed words and phrases of discontent. I had planned to do a little more browsing around the store, but the light had frustrated me. Part of me wanted to follow, the gleam had led me to riches once, even though it had also almost ruined me in the process. This time though, it was going directly against long-held plans of mine. Mag-boots had been on my list of things to save up for, for well over a year, and I had numerous ideas on how I might be able to use them.

Turning away from the shelf, I made my way back down the aisle and stopped in front of the counter opposite of the old man. He put his slate down and stood with a drawn out grunt.

“See something ya like?”, he said as he met my eyes. His face was leathery and heavily lined, he had the look of an old farmer, tanned and weathered, made of wire and sinew.

I nodded in reply, “Yeah, can I check the page for the black and steel mag-boots?”. I hooked a thumb over my shoulder in the direction of the shelf.

He grunted and looked down at the data slate resting on the counter, which was privacy shielded from my view. He poked and scrolled for a moment, before a public prompt sprung to life hanging off to the side over the counter. We both looked over at the window.

The top section was a picture of the boots resting on the shelf, with the price listed below and a number of stats and information below that.

Mk90 Mag-Boots

(Commodity grade True equipment)

-2 Grace

-1 Speed

8 hours* hold-time on a full charge

Up to two minutes of levitation*

Common equipment for tradesmen in metal-fab and ship related industries of all kinds, the Mk90 Magnet Boots offer steadfast support to many laborers and sailors galaxy wide. Constructed from high-grade nano-mesh uppers, heavy duty proprietary alloy infused soles, and fueled by Gonlieu electrostatic field manipulation technology, these boots are fit for lifetimes of service.

*times are general estimates and may vary depending on battery age, surface compatibility, and user size stat. User is liable for any injuries incurred during the use of this product.

1200 Cr. Non-negotiable.

I frowned at the non-negotiable tag that had not been present on the shelfs sign, and looked back to the older guy.

“Non-negotiable, eh? You sure you can't come down a little”. I tried to mirror his gruff look as I spoke.

The man, who I was starting to doubt was the Bryce that the store was named for, just grunted and pointed a calloused finger up at a little sign taped to the metallic wall behind him that read “Take it, or Leave it. No refunds”.

“Not much for banter then, are you?” I said flatly, which caused him to narrow his eyes slightly. I continued, “Okay, okay. I'll take them. I hope you cleaned them at least, they better not smell”.

Without a word, he punched a few more buttons on his slate and a trade window appeared. We went through the usual confirmation screens, and I walked out of the store a few minutes later 1200 credits poorer.

I made a stop at one of the smaller trade plazas near the Hub-side Link and picked up another cheap hoodie, some sunglasses, and splurged on a slab of bacon small enough to stuff into my hoodie's front pocket. The hoodie was bright red with the logo of some sportsball team I didn't care about on the front, but I figured it would provide good contrast for my mid-station changeover. I pulled it all into my inventory and continued on through the Link, paying the tariffs to transfer over all of my newly acquired equipment. Luckily, it was all still under the 10 kCu. limit and would all be covered by the cost of a single 1.99 Cr. Transfer Token.

“Core Units” as the system called them, were frustratingly close to the measurements I was familiar with at home, or at least one of the types. Apparently the homeworld of the Suk was similar enough to ours, that we had come to almost the same conclusions, except their stupid “Cu’s” were just over 98% of what we called grams. Luckily, we used the same basis to establish what a meter was and there was no conversion or alternate names and it was just translated straight over.

When I felt the sensation of my body finish the oddly comfortable shift from the Hub to reality and reached up to lift the helmet off of my head, I was startled to see an attractive and smiling brunette woman in a crisp gray skirt-suit with a ruffled white blouse, flanked by two armored shepards waiting for me within my booth. The privacy screen had gone entirely opaque rather than the normal blur effect, and I instantly felt my heart rate skyrocket.

The woman gave a short bow, just a nod of her head and a slight bend of the waist before speaking, “Hello Mr. Spenser. My name is Katie Roderegious, this Link-sites CLE. We have been made aware of some changes to your Contract with Ambassador Rosso.”

As she spoke, I watched her eyes dart from mine and to the side, back and forth, and realized that she was reading my information from some kind of UI. Something all too common while Linked, everyone had a UI in the Linked Worlds, and plenty of little wearable tech devices offered the same in reality, for a price. However, whatever she was using was entirely invisible, no ear-piece, augment line along her cheekbone, or flashing light of a projector anywhere in sight. I don’t know why, but it unnerved me.

“I would like to personally congratulate you on your success in achieving an Accord of Friendship with your contracted Ambassador, and am happy to inform you that the Council, per my personal recommendation, has decided to drop the pending investigation into you for the suspected killings of four men two nights ago. As well as…”

I opened my mouth to try to speak, and she just kept talking. Something about elevated statuses and packages, but I just couldn't follow along. I eventually got my mouth to work and cut her off as I struggled out of the straps that still held me in the body-rig.

“Wait, killings?! What?” I glanced at the two giant armored figures standing a few steps back to either side of her.

The woman, Katie, I guess, offered another brilliantly white and straight smile, “As I said Mr. Spenser, the Council has decided to drop the investigation-”

“What investigation? I haven't heard about any of this! I didn't-”, her smile disappeared and she cut me off with a stern look, a hand gesture, and a slightly raised voice.

“There is video evidence of you commiting the killings - in self defense - before entering your residence. Which corroborates with the logs of your buildings surveillance and tracking systems. I have personally reviewed this evidence, and we have followed up with witness reports and have taken the fifth assailant into custody early this morning.” She held my gaze for a moment, her hazel eyes hard as she stared me down.

“You have been an asset to all of Arktria, working diligently to establish ties with our esteemed Ambassadors, and I am not in the business of prosecuting hard-working law-abiding men like you for defending themselves. Calm down Mr. Spenser, I am here to congratulate you, not to detain you. Do you understand?” Her smile returned, and she offered me a manicured hand to help me stand from the body-rig

I blinked at her, dumbstruck, but managed to take her hand and climb out of the saddle and onto my feet. She stepped back as she helped haul me up, she was surprisingly strong, and gave my hand a single pump handshake before releasing. Now that I was standing, I towered over her, yet she continued smiling up at me before launching back into her speech.

“As I was saying, Citizen Nickolas, you are one of the first of our Faction to achieve an Accord from one of the Ambassadors. Your Arktrian Social rank has been automatically increased to Citizen C5, and you will have access to all of the perks the Citizen rank entitles you to. If you are unaware, your newly elevated status has many benefits, including priority Link access, you will no longer be bound by specific Link-up time windows, cheaper fares and tolls for the Travellers networks, as well an escort through the exit corridor,” she gestured to the two Shepherds who still stood guard behind her. “A greater housing and water-ration subsidy package. Plus, my personal thanks and appreciation. Do you have any questions, or is there anything that I could help you with? I am authorized to leverage a number of resources to facilitate the deepening of our newfound relationship with your contracted sponsor.” She finished her little spiel, and her face reset into the same sparkling smile as before.