“Okay. Sounds great. Let’s do it,” I continue on, wondering what is up with him.
“Chill John. Not all Elements work well with others and creating an affinity with one element might mean you lose access to others. Maybe all of them if the conflict is too great. And there’s no way to tell for sure,” Ali explains. “It really depends on the individual.”
“What’s your affinity?”
“Electromagnetic force.”
“Umm…” I pause, staring at Ali. Well, electricity then – which explains Ali’s preference for energy weapons and his coveralls. Still, “Lightning?”
Ali rolls his eyes at that, just giving up and walking away with his hands in the air shouting, “God damn corporeals. I say electromagnetic force and. Every. Single. Time. It’s Lightning Bolts or Electric Shocks. Get some fucking education.”
I blink, watching the Spirit walk away and then just disappear. I scratch my head, wondering what the hell has gotten into him. Fuck. Well, that ended just dandy. I sigh, staring at the sky and then stretch, walking back to the gardens.
Fine. Fuck him. I’ll just keep training then.
Chapter 11
The next morning, I’m up well before Lana. At Ali’s insistence, we head out to ‘get some mats’ for Lana in the surrounding low-level region. Clad in Sabre, running and bouncing through the woods at Ali’s directions against these low-level animals is actually quite relaxing. None of them can actually do damage to me inside my armor so I can practise my burgeoning style to my hearts contents.
The guards at F.H. Collins are rather surprised when I start bringing back my kills, dropping off the various mutated animals for the cookpot. Ground squirrels, a couple of wolverines, various hares, a pair of foxes, marmots and shrews are all the recognisable animals, even if they are at the minimum the size of a big dog. Then there are groups of creatures that I’ve never seen before, creatures with 3 legs or 7, with a dozen eyes or none, furred, scaled, sometimes both or with carapaces. Interestingly enough, I begin to notice that the plants are beginning to transform too, growing thicker and wider as well as adding defenses to protect themselves. Even our usual pines mutate, the sap becoming thicker and stickier – I found one particularly unlucky hare stuck to a pine, unable to move with the sap beginning to congeal around it and liquefy its flesh. Seems like the peaceful, easy going hikes of pre-System life are gone.
On my last trip in a female guard walks up to me. Tall, wide, with dirty blonde hair, she could easily be put in a pioneer dress and get away with it and clomps her way to me to prove it. She gives off the vibe of tough competence and the remainder of her RCMP uniform speaks of previous experience. That and her Level of 14.
“Thank you. This is going to help a lot. Though I’m not sure that’s edible,” Amelia Olmstead gestures to the most recent carcass that I have dropped off. It’s spiky and a lurid blue and missing its claws and seems to have a weird rubbery thing around its face for its eyes.
“It should be,” I glance at Ali who gives a nod back. “Seems like the System makes sure that most animals are now edible to each other. If you avoid the poison sacs – and I’ve got those out already.”
Amelia falls silent digesting the information. I take the chance to ask something that’s been bugging me, “So, what happened to the emergency services personnel? You’re the first RCMP member I’ve seen in Whitehorse.”
Her eyes darken at that and she looks down, her words a whisper; “Most of the others are dead. There was a monster a few days after it started, this rock thing. We tried to kill it, but guns didn’t hurt it much and hitting it just didn’t do anything. We… I… ” she stops, forcing back a sob.
I bite my lip and put a hand on her shoulder for a moment and she doesn’t push it away, shivering before she looks up at me, eyes filled with unshed tears. “I hate this world.”
“Don’t we all,” I agree with her, though a part of me wonders. It’s kind of been fun, especially the fighting. At least when I’m fighting, I don’t have to think and there’s a thrill to it, a rush that makes me feel well and truly alive.
Amelia smiles at me again, pulling away from my arm and then bends down, grabbing the blue creature by its tail and hefting it. “Thank you again.”
I nod and watch her walk off for a moment before heading back to the house to enjoy the luxury of a warm shower. Ali goes to Lana’s room to ‘report on our excursion’ but the glint in his eye makes me think he has other motivations. I consider going after him, only to deal with him of course, but I dismiss the idea after a moment. It’s not as if he can’t go spy on her when I’m asleep either after all. Seriously, how can a sexless spirit be such a pervert?
Shower done, it’s time for me to meditate again. No skipping more than one day of this, otherwise, I’m sure I’m going to have problems. Strange that such a simple thing is so important to my stability. I spend over an hour, sitting and breathing and find that by the time I’m done, Lana has left with my materials and nearly all my Credits.
“You know, I’m not entirely comfortable with this taking my stuff without my permission thing you’ve got going on here,” I eye Ali and he snorts, waggling his finger at me.
“Spirit companion. Can’t do anything that could harm you,” he reminds me.
“Yeah, I recall an Ant. And a bee. And that weird plant thing,” I reply.
“The first two were for your own good. You needed to level,” Ali points out.
“And the last?”
“It was hilarious?” Ali grins and then holds his hand up horizontally, waggling it side to side. “Rules are a little shaky on non-lethal amusements.”
I stare at him, not sure if he’s joking or just telling the truth. I sigh after a moment, rolling my eyes and head out after finishing the meal Lana set aside for me. Time to finish my escort quest and make some more money. It seems some things hold true - money or Credits, they never last long.
Unfortunately, my plan of a nice and easy ride back followed by more hunting is interrupted by that annoying thing called humans. In this case, it’s Jim with my escort standing together waiting. At their insistence, I’m brought into another boardroom to have a chat. Really. Boardrooms? More of them?
When I get in, there is quite a bit of a crowd. There are Jim and Badger – sorry, no laughing, it’s a traditional name – sitting together on the left and in the center, a cluster of six boomers, four men and two women arrayed facing the door and me. In addition, both Richard and Mikito are here along with Nicodemus and that woman clustered together on the right with some of the other hunters. Interesting, the fact that all the boomers have a non-combat class with class levels ranging from a level 8 Minion to a level 12 Dealmaker.
“Mr Lee, thank you for coming. We understand you’ve been very busy and we were hoping we could have some words with you about your recent actions,” the man in the middle, slimy and overweight breaks the silence. Mr Slimy and overweight looks really familiar…
“You’re the ex-Mayor right?”
“I am the duly-elected Mayor of Whitehorse, yes;” Fred Curteneau says, leaning forwards with a smile on his face that makes me need another bath. “The council and I would be grateful for any help you could provide.”
“Boy, this looks real fun doesn’t it?” Ali asks rhetorically to me as he yawns, lounging on a bean bag and floating next to me.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I spot Luthien smile at Fred’s words, absently running a finger along her cheek. Next to her, Nic just stays silent while I spot Mikito waggling her fingers at what is likely her Status Screen. At least someone’s getting some use out of this time.