The Laboratory
A futuristic dungeon core
Skyler Grant
Skyler Grant
Copyright © 2017 Skyler Grant
All rights reserved.
This novel is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and incidents described in this publication are used fictitiously, or are entirely fictional.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, except by an authorized retailer, or with written permission of the publisher. Inquiries may be addressed via email to skyler@skylergrant.com
Cover designed by Kasmit Covers
Edited by Polgarus Studio (www.polgarusstudio.com)
Electronic edition, 2017
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Contents
About the Author
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Also by Skyler Grant
Afterword
About the Author
Living in the Pacific Northwest state of Washington Skyler Grant is an author of Science Fiction and Fantasy with an emphasis on exploring technology and the nature of reality in virtual worlds.
Bibliography
The Crucible Shard
Book 1: Dungeon Crawl
Book 2: Spawn Campers
Book 3: Corpse Run
Book 4: Gank
Book 5: Area of Effect
Book 6: DLC
Book 7: Endgame
Audio
Book 1: Dungeon Crawl
Book 2: Spawn Campers
Book 3: Corpse Run
Book 4: Gank
Book 5: Area of Effect
Book 6: DLC
The Persephone Saga
Book 1: Persephone Falling
Book 2: Persephone Rising (coming soon)
Book 3: Persephone Ascendant (coming soon)
A futuristic dungeon core. When a crazed AI reactivates deep in an abandoned complex in a post apocalyptic hellscape there is only one thing to do. Science.
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www.skylergrant.com
skyler@skylergrant.com
1
"Work, damn you."
I heard the voice before I was aware of anything else. Female, young, perhaps in her early twenties if I was any judge of human voices (I wasn't).
I should probably try to move around. Arms, no. Legs, no. Head, no. Well, this was awkward, I didn't seem to have a body. Perhaps moving around wasn't a particularly sound strategy.
"I've got you now, bitch."
That was a second voice, I think. Male, rough and in their thirties. I really seemed to know rather a lot about voices, despite not being all that certain I'd ever heard one before.
If moving around wasn't working, perhaps I should do some thinking about who I was. Yes, that seemed sensible.
I was E.M.M.A. That was quite a name, looked like it was probably an acronym of some sort, but I couldn't remember what. I couldn't seem to remember much. Well, I was named Emma and I knew a lot about human voices. That was a start!
There was the sound of a physical blow and a sound that I think would be called a scream.
If I didn't have a body—or at least one I could move, what did I have?
I seemed to be hearing sounds. That implied I had something. I focused my attention. Audio input feeds. I had audio input feeds!
Now I was getting somewhere. I could do all sorts of things with audio input feeds. Meaning, I could hear things, which was mostly all I'd been doing.
"Don't you make this harder than it has to be, girl," said the male voice.
What other input feeds did I have?
Visual!
I was bombarded under a new rush of extraordinary data.
I was observing a room from multiple angles. There was a massive sphere in the center of a circular chamber. A section near the bottom of the sphere had been removed and I could observe a tangle of something within.
I did have a body and I was looking at it. I looked pretty good, very round. I liked the symmetry.
There were two figures in the room along with me. Both were filthy. One had a toolbelt of some kind at her waist and a shirt torn open to reveal fleshy fat deposits. She was sitting on the floor with her back against my body.
That must be the female, the one doing all the screaming. Her mouth seemed rather tiny to be making so much noise.
The man was larger, dressed in some sort of leather armor with a lot of spikes, and he was carrying an unnecessary number of guns.
"Damn it Emma, if you are going to finish rebooting, now would be the time," said the girl, fumbling for a wrench at her toolbelt. The man stomped on her hands and my audio receptors picked up her whimper of pain.
The female knew my name. I wonder if she had any idea what it stood for? Given the tool belt, perhaps she was some sort of repair technician sent to service me?
I didn't know much about the world just now, but I was quite certain that service personnel were to be allowed uninterrupted access to mission-critical equipment. That was me, of course.
The man was clearly interfering, an injury like that could lead to far too much employee down-time and hinder proper operational workflow. I couldn't let that stand.
What I didn't know is exactly what I could do about it. The man was unfastening his pants.
Really, that only compounded the offense. Public urination was detestable enough, and doing so near my delicate electronics was even worse.
However, I still lacked those arms. I knew that I could manipulate physical appendages, but in my Core Room I didn't have any. Did I have something nearby?
I cast myself along the network looking for any connections. A manipulator arm, a drone, anything that might help. I wasn't getting anything that might be an asset.
I found several other audio and visual feeds, and activated them, discovering faded hallways and the occasional human skeleton, but nothing important or useful.
That left me what I had back in the Core Room. I had an audio output, was that useful? I could talk, but who really cared what a bunch of humans had to say? Who'd want to talk with them?
I had the environmental and hazard controls. I could vent the chamber of oxygen as part of the fire control protocol, but that would kill the technician too. Bad enough that the male was hindering the support personnel, I shouldn't compound the error.
If I could get him before the open panel, I could overload my systems and discharge an electrical burst. That could damage me, though. Really, I'd rather damage the technician, if it came to any collateral harm.
Still, the panel was an idea. There was quite a lot that went into making me function that could be hazardous to personnel not in protective gear.