Play 2 Wage: Linked

Early the next morning, we reconvened around the table to another fresh pot of coffee. Tevin was already wearing his armor from the waist down, and bustling around the kitchen making pancakes and more bacon. Rin sipped coffee and scrolled through a data-tablet, sitting sideways on his chair and deeply slouching with an elbow on the table.

“So, handler, what's on my agenda today, other than following the lights?” I regretted my words as soon as they came out of my mouth as Rin looked over at me.

He let out a deep sigh, and luckily for me, rolled with it. “Go to work. I’d advise bounty hunting and wandering rather than quarrying today. See if you can trigger the lights to lead you to more bounties. And lay low. Rosso employs people from a bunch of different Human Factions, and word has already spread around you swiping the first Accord they have all been vying for out from under them, everyone is screaming mad about it, and you are on everyone's radar now. Keep Tevin close, and watch out for the cultists on your way in and out”.

He took a breath, and stared me down from across the table. “Most importantly. Do not get Tevin killed in the streets like some cheap thug, or I’ll trigger the explosive I injected into your spine while you were sleeping”. He sipped his coffee and went back to his tablet.

Tevin chimed in from his position by the stove, around a mouth full of pancake. “He won’t get me killed, Rin! Not real killed anyways, don’t worry so much. You didn’t really stick a bomb in him either, did you?”

I recovered from my shock at his threat and got my mouth to work as I ran a hand along my neck and down my back. “Uh, yeah! You wouldn’t do that, right? Good joke. Haha. Always knew you had it in you.”

“Of course I wouldn’t do that. Ha. Ha. I’m so funny”, he replied in his signature monotone, with a flash of his narrowed eyes towards me again. “Do not get him killed and you won’t have to worry about it.”

I didn’t feel much like talking after that and finished my coffee and pancakes in silence while Tevin chattered on about how excited he was to hike and trailblaze around Rosso’s island.

I had a moment alone with Rin just before Tevin and I left for the day, while he went on and strapped on the rest of his armor.

I tried to de-escalate with Rin. “Look man, I know we don’t always see eye to eye, but you know I wouldn’t risk Tevin’s life if I can do anything about it. Or, you should know that. We have that in common.”

He set his tablet down on the table and squared his shoulders over to face me, sitting up from his relaxed position. “Just like you should know I wouldn’t inject you with a bomb after the Catan incident six months ago. He’s the only reason either of us are where we are, Nick. I’ll say it one last time, do not get him killed”.

He stared me down, absolutely intimidating me despite the fact that I could physically tie him around a fencepost. Then he picked up his tablet and his coffee, leaving his mostly uneaten single pancake on the table as he walked back towards his room. He spoke over his shoulder on his way out, “I’m technically on your protection detail, dumbass. Think I wanna lose my best friend and throw away my life on the same day? Think about that.”

I spent the whole walk to the Link that morning thinking about it.

Exiting our building with Tevin leading the way, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw a brand new security checkpoint had been set up on the far end of our street, opposite from where the traveler's trade-route cut through the city. Armored soldiers, vehicles, and reinforced concrete barriers taking up the wide, rarely used, pre-Link intersection where the patrol had clashed with the purists the night before.

“So, what’s it really like there? Is it all trees, bees, ants, and monkeys?” Tevin's questions were unending through the ear-wig comm channel we had set-up. The standard grunt helmets did not allow for external communication, for whatever reason, so we had long ago created our own channel for talking when we walked to work together in the mornings.

I laughed and glanced over at the big guy, “Kinda, but not really. They’re not technically monkeys, but there are a bunch of primates. The whole island is wild too, no roads or cities or anything really, other than Rossos place.”

“Awesome, this is gonna be so cool. Are there like… ele-pants there too? I’m so gonna pet one if there are.”

I shook my head then realized that he wasn't looking at me, he was busy keeping his head moving back and forth as he scanned the buildings we passed, like the hardened soldier he was.

“I think it’s ele-phants, buddy. With the ‘ph’ noise, like alpha.” I casually corrected him, not thinking twice about it. “I don't think they live on the island though, you’d have to go to the mainland to see them.”

“Ele-p-hants, got it. Thanks Nick. Do you think we could go see them sometime? I can't even imagine an animal that big, I’ve heard they're like the size of a van!”

Tev had always been curious about “the reserve” that I worked on, and especially curious about the tree-being Rosso himself. He had seen some videos and even downloaded some Kaldamori inspired mods for one of his video games.

We made it through the curtained arches of the station without incident and were met by another pair of guards toting massive riot shields again. Tevin nodded at them and joined the formation as we moved through the gauntlet. I tried for another exchange of thumbs-up’s, but was unsuccessful.

I was surprised to see that they had added some kind of fabric weave through the chain-link fence in an attempt to block line-of-sight from the crowd of protesters that had relentlessly crowded the area for the last couple of years. Much of it was already ripped, torn, and cut through, as the zealous mass sought to press their opinions and vent their hate on us state sponsored Link workers.

Today seemed different than most days, but I couldn't quite define why. Only a feeling in the air as I worked to tune out the hateful words from the other side of the fence and tall mirrored shields of my escort.

Tevin chimed in through my earpiece as we finally turned the corner and were ushered into separate Link booths.

“I forgot how much that sucks, man. If you make enough money you should totally buy a private body-rig. Maybe we could even talk Rin into Linking-up some time too, if he didn't have to leave the apartment to do it.”

I spoke back into the little earpiece as I strapped myself into the rig. “That's not a bad idea, but those things are real spendy. We’ll see how things turn out with everything going on. I’m Linking-on though, give me like 5 mins to get to Rosso's pad, and I’ll see you on the mountain.”

I took a slight detour from the most direct route up the mountain, avoiding Rossos atrium in my rush to meet Tevin before he caused too much of a scene at the loading dock.

Of course, he was already standing there when I arrived, but luckily he had moved over into the parking lot and away from the heavy traffic around the loading pads. He had removed his helmet, and was talking to one of the other workers, a woman whose name I didn't know and had never spoken with myself, but had seen around the mountain since I had started working here.

I slowed to a walk and waved over at him, pinging him through the earwigs that we both still wore. I highlighted the woman and checked her name tag for a reminder.

Andrea A.

Arktria - Conscript B6

Private F2

He glanced over at me, waving to come join them and yelling across the lot, “Kaninak! Over here!”

I approached, somewhat apprehensive. I had intentionally avoided getting to know any of my co-workers, not wanting to spark any rivalry or share information, and figured it would be even riskier now with everything going on.

The woman, deeply tanned and wearing a baggy jumpsuit, with dark hair tied into a bun and hidden under a brimmed cap, looked over with vivid pale green eyes as I got closer with a smile that quickly disappeared when she saw who I was.

“This is who you’re here for? Ugh, what a shame.” She tossed her hands in the air and walked away from us, heading back to a trio of guys who were working on an excavator parked on the edge of the lot.

Tevin's shocked look rarely failed to make me laugh, so I did, and shook my head. “I’m the opposite of popular around here, probably for the best though. Bunch’a vultures”

Tevin looked from me, to the girl as she walked away, then back to me. “But she was cute! I don’t get you, man.”

“I work here, how much crap would you get if you were dating some lady-grunt from your squad?”

“Uh, if you get caught, it’s a month of crap duty and a citation. Never really stopped any of us though, happened all the time.” the big man smiled.

I sighed, and just started moving, heading for the road that led around to the far side of the mountain and towards the highlands. Tevin kept pace, falling into step to my right.

We made our way around the mountain, and started back up along the other side, heading to a path that I knew eventually led to a river-cut valley that we could follow up to the plateau that made up most of the interior of the island.

Tevin respected the silence as we hiked up the trail, for a whole half hour. “So, why? It feels like I’m your only actual friend, you even always fight with Rin. I thought maybe you would have some buddies at work, or bring a girl, or even a guy home sometime, but…” He let the question hang.

Again, I sighed, thinking for a moment before replying. “It’s just… good business around here. I’m not a part of a squad, or a battalion, or service branch. I’m an independent contractor, and so are all of them. We compete for the good spots and valuable information is make-or-break.”

He replied quickly, “Doesn't that just… suck though? That crew was even Arktrian, so you wouldn't have to worry about spies. Plus she was friendly, and hot, dude!”

“Look, just because we’re in the same faction, doesn't mean we don't compete. That crew runs 16 hour days doing nothing but collecting gravel and slabs. No fine cutting or bounty chasing. They grind it out, trudging down the simple, reliable, boring-ass path that might guarantee enough to make rent and eat, but they’ll never break out of it. I just can't align myself with that. I’d rather go it alone, take some risks, but have a chance at finding something great.”

Tevin gave me a shove, causing me to careen across the path and glare over at him. “No comment on the bod? If you’re ace just come out with it man.”

I shrugged and shook my head, “No, it's not that simple. I’ve got too many other things to worry about. They all end up wanting something anyways.”

“Hah, yeah man, that's the point! You gotta give it to ‘em!” I laughed and shook my head, attempting to give him a shove of my own but just pushing myself off from his heavily armored form.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it, blockhead. If I let my dick lead me around like that, I’d be eaten alive out here. I have to look out for myself, plus you and Rin, maybe I’m just waiting for someone to come along that I wouldn't have to worry about also looking out for. I don’t know, I don’t really think about it. Too busy worrying about food and rent, and now with this fuckery with the lights and the Accord, I doubt I’ll have time to start worrying about it anytime soon.”

“What about Katie? I bet she’d be game to throw down since you got the Accord. She used to be my boss, I’ve heard some stories.”

I laughed again, a little harsher this time. “Hell no, man, that lady is scary. That's just the opposite end of the power-dynamic problem I’m trying to avoid in the first place.”

Not wanting to continue the conversation, I picked up the pace to a light run, forcing Tevin to stomp along after me in order to keep up. We were both in great shape and could march along all day if we needed to, but Tevin had a few hundred pounds of powered armor and his rifle causing him to need to focus harder on the rough and rocky trail as we picked our way along the rugged bluff and into the rivers valley.

We kept moving fast, despite Tevins complaints about missing out on seeing all the cool stuff in the jungle down below. The trail became less and less distinct until it hardly was more than a suggestion by the time we started walking alongside the river. I slowed down and let Tevin catch up to me, expecting the questions to pick right back up, but was cut off by a familiar shimmer closer to the river.

“Hey, if you don't want to talk then just-” I cut Tevin off, raising a hand up and pointing over at the rocky patch where I could see the light twinkling amongst the fist sized rocks.

“Hold on, I see a light over there. Do you see it?” I questioned, glancing over at him for a moment before locking back on to the light.

Tevin scanned the area, bringing a hand up to shade his eyes from the late afternoon sun that still peeked out over the top of the bluff we were climbing. “Nope, I got nothing. Can you screenshot it?”

I snorted, then gave the big man a grin, “Damnit Tev, I should have thought about that”. I navigated through my UI and grabbed an image capture, then sent it as a message to myself to test it out. “Nope, it disappears as soon as I save it, but it shows up through the recording overlay. Fuckin’ strange, man. Let me check it out.”

I gestured for Tevin to stay where he was and picked my way out over the rocky scree to the spot where I could still see the light twinkling amongst the stones. The light continued to shine as I approached, still shining brightly and at the same apparent size even from the closer distance. I crouched down, and picked up the rock that the light appeared to be on, a river smoothed chunk of light gray granite around the size of a large grapefruit. The light remained, but not on the rock in my hand, but shining from the next rock in the pile.

I hmm’d and tossed the rock to the side, pulling up the stones around the light and starting to dig my way down, chasing the still shining light a few layers deeper.

I heard Tevins boots crunch their way over the river-rock towards me as he tried to get a look over my shoulder. “Find anything?”

I shook my head, and pulled the next rock out of place and looked it over, before tossing it to the side. I glanced back as I saw the light seem to shift in the bottom of the small pit I had dug, and I looked back down, reaching in and scraping out a big handful of silt and smaller stones beneath the last stone I had pulled.

This time, the light came up with the scoop in my hand. I brought my other hand up to pick through it, brushing the damp silt and picking smaller rocks out of the handful until I pulled a muddy blue stone, about the size and shape of my thumb if it were twice as thick, from the middle of the pile and the light abruptly cut off. I let the rest drop back down into the hole and stared at the stone.

Raw Sapphire

(Holo Item, quality unknown, crafting material)

“Holy shit. These lights are definitely a good thing, Tev. This is a sapphire”, I held the stone up, looking at the light of the sun through it, and causing it to slightly glow. “I think a pretty high quality one too, I’d have to get it cut and appraised to know for sure.” I stood and hurried over to the actual river only 20 or so feet distant. I kneeled down again at the edge of the water and dunked the stone into it, washing off the silt and buildup. When I pulled it back out and examined it again, the gem gleamed. Even raw and unpolished, the light clearly shone through the frosted surface of the gemstone.

Tevin followed me along, kneeling down next to me again and watching the stone with amazement. “Wow, that's really pretty. Is it worth much?”

I nodded, “Yeah, not as much as a real one, but it's still a crafting material in-world.” I handed the stone to him to let him check it out, and noticed the whole rock-bar was lit up with little flashes of light just like the one that had led me to the gem. I stood and scanned over them, there were hundreds of them, twinkling and flashing all along the mouth of the valley. As I watched, the lights all shifted into different colors, reds, yellows, blues, all of various hues and intensities, shining like glittering stars in a clear night sky. My mouth fell open, and I took a half step towards the nearest one before they all disappeared at once, a split second later, the rest of my UI and my entire field of vision was blocked out by an opaque message box.

New Quest!

Don't freak out

Let me explain some shit. Keep your cool, and the lights can come back.