Chapters 156+157

Author's note: Howdy everyone. These long stretches where I post everything at once are strange for me. I keep thinking that I'm messing up (on Sunday) and forgetting something. I suppose that will happen when you've been doing something like this for as long as I have. These two chapters are a little shorter than normal, as will the one that follows (probably). It's a conclusion to the Luck's Haven/Sky/Alexander/Elsie arcs I've been doing for years now. I hope you enjoy it, as starting next weekend, we're entering the final battle.

Chapter 156: The Liberated Ones (II)

Walker received a message immediately after sending Athena through. 

Ulysses: Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her. The planet she’s on is slowed down as much as I can. It’ll be like no time has passed since she arrived. 

Dante: Thank you, Ulysses. I appreciate it. 

Ulysses: Not a problem, Walker. Good luck in the final battle. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. I’m rooting for you. 

Walker smiled as he quickly exited the tower to the sound of loud voices. A large pink squirrel stood amid an encircling crowd of various and angry former Creators. The majority were human, or close to it, but a few stood out. The Blitzburg looked exactly like the one he’d fought in the first battle, all four arms and four feet tall. It stood apart and alone, similar to the Cerulean on the other side of Cagna, a sneer locked in on their crystalized face. 

The moment Cagna spotted him, all the air seemed to rush out of her, “Walker! Can you please-”

Walker interrupted her immediately as he spoke to the group, “The next one of you to harass my assistants will find themselves locked in a dark room for a very long time.”

That seemed to shut them up for a moment, long enough for him to get another word in as he could already see many preparing to speak again, “I did not put you here, the Alpha Protocol and your greed did. If you behave, and I do mean behave, I’ll release you back to the Multiverse when this is all over. I’ll even make you a portal to any place you would like to go.” He found a smile on the Blitzburg’s face, lightening his mood. “You should know I have no intention of keeping slaves, regardless of what the protocol might say. However, if you cause problems, if you disrespect my people, if you step out of line, you will find yourselves and your contract with me in violation. There will be scaling punishments for that, so be warned.’

Walker received an update in his overlay, stating his contract with all twenty-four had been updated, then gave them a smile as he gestured around the area, “This is a wondrous place. I know you don’t want to be here, and you’re upset that you were knocked out of the protocol, but it doesn’t all have to be bad. There’s magic here; there’s dragons and animals and real wonder. You can even enter the…” Walker looked over at the red tower behind him, filled to the brim with his people.

He looked back at the Creators, who stared at him without speaking, “One second.”

Diving into the Item system, Walker found what he was looking for, but there was a problem. He looked back at the Creators, “Give me a moment, please.” Then, he did what he hadn’t wanted to do for some time now. He selected the option to speak to the A.I. and found himself sent to the dimension housing an extremely powerful being.

As he faded in, he found the Consciousness seated on a divan, grapes held over his head with a wide open mouth. Slowly, the Supreme A.I. put the grapes down as Walker waved and said, “Hello.”

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 Sky

Far below the vaunted bridges of Luck’s Haven, a young urchin sat in a room behind a deserted shop. The message she’d been waiting for had finally come in. The golden button in her overlay began to pulse, waiting for her. With no little trepidation, Sky clicked on it.

Hello, Sky of Luck’s Haven.

Congratulations!

You’ve been selected as a winner of the Luck’s Haven Lottery system.

Sky breathed a massive sigh of relief, all the toxic air seeming to drift out of her chest. 

Further instructions will follow soon. 

For now, please begin to make your way to the nearest portal for transportation. All costs will be managed by Lord Dante.

Symphony awaits!

“Portals…” She said in confusion. “But there are no portals in the undercity?”

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Walker

Talking to the Supreme A.I. was an uncomfortable thing. He’d done it only a few times, preferring to send one of his assistants in his place whenever possible. John, Mr. Pennybags, whatever they decided their name to be aside from The Consciousness, was weird- in a creepy, lonely stalker sense. The joys he’d received from working with each individual A.I. was a thing of the past. Now, there was instead an amalgamation of all of them fighting for the right to speak and make decisions. 

But the systems still ran flawlessly, and with a little bit of fineggling, they’d done what he’d asked. 

In the Item system, and only available to Walker, was now an item resizer. It had taken them a little longer than he wanted to get it set up, but now he was back.

And he did not like what he saw. 

Even though he’d only been gone a little over fifteen minutes, a red Cerulean faced off against three human-like former Creators. Beside them was a stressed Cagna, failing to keep them apart as the Cerulean continued to push towards them.

“What’s going on here?”

The Cerulean stabbed a finger at his opponents, “I want them punished!”

“All we said was that you had an interesting body!” One of them replied, “We were talking about the application of-”

“No! That’s Speciesist! I-”

Walker’s voice calmly cut through the bullshit he was about to hear, “Shut up, all of you.” 

“No, I’m telling you, I-”

“Contract update for all. No Ceruleans will speak unless spoken to by an authority of Symphony.” He waited a second for the contract update to go through, then smiled as the Cerulean’s red body turned a light blue. Walker clapped his hands together, “Now, I’ll deal with that in a moment. In the meantime, I left you all to get this set up. Behold!” 

Tapping into the Item system, Walker selected Heph’s tower model, then resized it to a little less than fifty percent in size. The cyan energy in the atmosphere lessened visibly, though not as much as he’d expected, and then a tower pulled itself together with a burst of energy. Standing next to Walker’s tower was a much smaller replica. He didn’t plan on imbuing it with the life-giver skill like he’d done the other, but it was still valuable as a temporary resting area. 

He gestured at it, “This is your domicile for the time being; please enjoy yourselves as you wait for the end of the protocol. It should be over in…about twenty-three hours and change.” He began to walk away when he felt a furry paw touch his arm. 

“Walker, please don’t leave me with them.”

“I’m sorry, Cagna,” And he really was, “But I’m afraid they’re your duty until the protocol ends. Can you put some furniture, food, and drinks inside? Also, don’t forget to take the Cerulean over to Mirail. He’s got some work to do.”

The pink squirrel breathed deeply, “Of course, Walker.” Squaring her shoulders, she turned around and took heavy-treaded steps toward the blue figure. Walker spent a moment sending a message to Virgil about what he’d done when he received two messages near the same time.

Virgil: It is time to get Luck’s Haven taken care of.

Athena: Why?

Though it hurt him to do it, Walker left Athena’s message alone. She deserved his full answer, but he didn’t have time to write it out as it would simply take too long. Plus, he wasn’t entirely certain himself. 

Stepping into the Tower on his way to Virgil, he couldn’t help but reflect on his choice. 

He loved her, that was without doubt. To this day, they hadn’t consummated anything. It had been a whirlwind of stolen kisses and long hugs for a long time now. There was too much stress, anxiety, and fear for him to consider much more. Even in those rare, hidden moments, sex hadn’t been on his mind.

But that hadn’t weighed on his decision to entrap her in the Ulysses-verse. It was the distraction. The Primigenials couldn’t come back. Maybe if the Soul system was active, they could, but it was too great a risk that he screwed something up. He wouldn’t be able to concentrate if he thought she was in danger. It was a large cop-out, he knew. Probably even sexist in a skewed way. He should use every available tool, resource, and weapon to succeed. But, even if everything should end, Athena’s life would continue. She would have a future, Ulysses guaranteed. 

Walker found Virgil in the room he’d left him in. The large assistant was speaking to a few of the application team members when he arrived. 

“Are we all set?”

“Almost, but there is a problem.”

“What’s the problem?”

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Sky

While she was walking around, trying to figure out how to get up above, an announcement rang throughout the Undercity. Not the overlay kind, but the old way. Large megaphones were installed on every lower wall and community center, each repeating the same message over and over again.

“You are not approved to leave the planet.”

“All portals have been locked down and surrounded.”

“If any citizen of Luck’s Haven attempts to use a portal, it will be seen as treason.”

“The punishment for treason is death, and the treasonous one’s families will be placed in permanent bondage.”

“The Undercity is on lockdown.”

“You are not approved to leave-”

Sky tuned it out. She’d finally, finally had a chance to escape this place, and the bastards above wouldn’t let her go. Wouldn’t let any of them go. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right.

Something needed to happen.

“That’s not right,” Walker replied after Virgil broke it all down for him, “You’re saying none of the unique IDs are pinging near the portals?”

“Indeed. The Lottery system is designed to automate with the Portals.”

“I know, I did that. And it was tricky.” Walker scratched his chin, “How many accepted again?”

“Shy of twenty million.”

“Then something’s happened.” He thought about it for a long moment, then had a dark idea. “How did the applicants feel about the Evolvers? You know, the nobles?”

“To call their response violent would be an understatement. You think the nobility is keeping them from reaching the portals?”

“Yep, I absolutely do.” Considering his options, Walker made a choice. With a definitive step, he began to walk away quickly.

Virgil called out. “Where are you going?”

“To get to the bottom of this. I’m going to Luck’s Haven.”

Chapter 157: The Liberated Ones (III)

Sky

Sky checked in on her small group of friends. None of them knew what to do or where to go, preferring to wait and see what happens. All of them had been selected. With liberty at just the tips of their fingers, they found themselves trapped. 

Escaping the Undercity had always been a dream, but now, suddenly, it was a very possible reality. The only problem lay in how to do so. They needed to get to the portals, but the entitled pricks above were blocking them. They needed to inform Lord Dante what was happening, but nobody was able to add him to their contacts. 

It was a real and unfortunate problem. 

Sitting among Ma Gentry and her brood of orphans, Sky looked around her old home and smiled. Even in her dire situation, it was nice to be home. Being here stirred up memories, but not all of them were bad. Ma’s gap-toothed smile. Her fellow Orphans and the adventures they’d had. The first time she’d stolen a wandering noble’s purse. They were happy times from her past. 

But that was where her memories lived, in the past, and something else had her attention for now. 

These chatrooms were interesting. It was a weird thing she’d never expected to see. Just another addition from the System Administrator; blessed be their future. There was one in particular she couldn’t take her eyes off of. 

A passing orphan from Ma’s newest brood had suggested it to her in an offhand manner. The chatroom was called the Liberated Ones, and the things they talked about sounded too good to be true. In fact, it all sounded similar to what was promised to her with Symphony—something about the power of the One. Independent strength. 

Just when she was about to call it a day and attempt to scout out the elevators again, a new message appeared in the chatroom.

Joff: Is anyone on Luck’s Haven?

Sky couldn’t believe it. The chatroom only had a couple thousand members. In the ever-numbered count of the multiverse, that was nothing. Curious as to what this was about, she replied.

Sky: Yes?

A few seconds went by before she received a response. 

Joff: Hello, Sky. So, what do you think about this whole Lottery thing?

Sky: I don’t know. Almost seems too good to be true. 

Joff: I know, right? It’s all a little crazy.

Sky: Yeah, and the blockade doesn’t help.

Joff: True. 

A few seconds went by again before he said something interesting. 

Joff: Hey, can I add you to my contacts?

Sky didn’t see any harm in that. Even if she added them, they couldn’t track her location that she knew of. 

Sky: Sure

What was the worst that could happen? 

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Walker

With twenty-three hours to go, Walker stepped out of the portal, touching feet on Luck’s Haven for the first time and quickly being shoved to the side as the platform returned to its exiting position.

He wanted to take a moment and scope out the area, but instead, Walker was immediately and audibly assaulted. 

“Tours of the Undercity! Best tours on the planet! Five resources!”

“Feeling a bit lonely? Head over to Lady Luck! We’re absolutely certain you’ll not find women like this anywhere else in the Rendition!”

“Suites on discount!”

“Khlavkalosh!”

“Dice!” “Hover-sale!” “Exchange emporium!”

Everywhere he turned, it was neon lights, screaming vendors, salesmen, or creatures dressed in what probably passed as a provocative manner. He swore he saw a two-hundred-pound crab in lingerie.

Needing to get away from the overwhelming noise, Walker spotted a glowing sign labeled Entry Inspection. Curious about how they did things, he headed toward the long lines of people waiting to get in, stopping behind a pair of fellow travelers.

The two people in front of him were a humanoid man and woman in fine robes that sadly put his to shame. The clothing held a natural shimmer, forming to their bodies in a bespoke manner only tailored clothing could match. Both stood straight, a few inches taller than himself and decked out in large, flashy jewelry that drew the eye. He listened in as he rarely got the chance to pick up on the happenings of the Multiverse without Virgil turning it into a history lesson. 

The man tilted his head to the woman beside him, “Where would you like to go first, dearest?”

“Oh, you know why I’ve been pushing you to bring me here. I want to see the debt market! You know Jameana hired her Kacey here?”

“Really? I knew you wanted to visit Luck’s Haven, but you never told me why.”

“Of course! Jameana said he was expensive, but we both know he’s fully worth the cost. The contract enforcement is utterly binding.” She gave a tittering laugh, “I bet they gobbled him up from that filthy Undercity. For all his genetic faults, Kacey is quite the entity.” 

“You’re telling me. Her husband Mathieu wouldn’t stop talking about how docile he was the last time I’d seen him. You’d think they’d beaten the spirit right out of him.”

“If only that were possible,” The woman sighed, “I wish our world had its own market. You really can’t find a good contract debtor nowadays.”

“No, you can’t dearest. But just maybe, we’ll get lucky here. After all, it is-”

“Luck’s Haven?” She interrupted him with another tittering laugh, the sound grating on Walker’s ears in a way he couldn’t explain. “I cannot wait to see it! Oh, the line has moved; we better move along with it.”

“Ah, you’re right. Come along, my sweet.”

Walker let the crowd from behind move past him. Jostling, pushing, and sporadic curses he didn’t understand slid over and through him. He hadn’t known what to expect with Luck’s Haven, but thus far, he knew one thing. Something wasn’t right here. A dark thought entered his mind, one he tried to shake off. 

But was that the play here? Did he really need to go full…Dante?

He didn’t know, but he stepped to the side of the crowd and made a few minute changes to the Lottery system. First, Walker connected it directly to the Communication system, creating a visual notifier that would identify those who had signed up to join Symphony. Then, he went through and lifted everyone who’d been approved and put them into a special part of the minimap section. A second later, they all populated at once as his map became a sea of gray with a solid green underneath it.

As he got a handle on where they were all located, he found only five hundred had been approved that weren’t currently within the undercity. That made this easier than he’d thought it would be.

With one last change to the Lottery system, and the benefit of creating portals being cost-free, he was ready to start transporting them. Stepping away from the crowd after deciding he did not, in fact, want to see more of Luck’s Haven, he walked over to the nearby Portal machine and placed his hand on it. Luckily, he’d learned the Earth’s code from the Grand Auction during his visit. 

It took a few minutes to find it within the system, but as he finally did, Walker’s opinion on the planned operation further soured.

All portals to I4959826 are currently blocked. 

Locally designated planet: Earth: Is currently undergoing the second phase of the Omega Protocol. 

…

Master Portal Key Detected…

All portals created by the keyholder are automatically approved. 

Walker didn’t know what the Earth entering the second phase meant, but as he’d told Virgil, it would only be for a short period of time. Yes, his homeworld was a fucked up place right now. Yes, it was dangerous to initially send them there. But it had to be better than the horrible living conditions spoken of in the city beneath the bridges. And he promised to himself, feeling the oath from the Book of Souls kick in with it, that he would get these people to Symphony. As many of them as he could. 

Walker felt an odd expanse in his soul on that oath. As if something should have happened, but it was blocked. What was left after burned, leaving a gaping feeling within himself. While he wanted to explore what was happening, he didn’t have much time as two blocky creatures wearing dark uniforms began to approach him.

He stepped away with a light smile at them, took two steps toward the edge of the platform the portal was situated upon, and then stepped off. Falling through the clouds and into the fog below, he tried to mentally brace himself for why so many of these people had signed up to escape from this world.

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Sky

Sky had spent the better part of an hour speaking to Joff in private messages. Sometimes, he’d seem like an old man, giving long-winded speeches that could’ve been better expressed with a simple sentence or two. In others, he’d give a clipped response, like when she’d asked what he’d put on the third question of the Lottery system. 

It was very strange. Strange enough that, as she approached the place where he’d asked to meet her, she took even more precautions than usual. 

Life in the Undercity was rarely pleasant when walking the streets. You’re just as likely to get robbed as you were to find a piece of bread for sale. Because of that, she’d learned a few things to keep her safe. An education she readily spread to Ma’s eclectic orphans whenever she could. 

• Never enter a dark corridor without knowing who had entered it recently. It was far too easy to get killed by those who’d grown a taste for it. 

• Never assume someone was just a face in the crowd.

• Movement is life, observational skills, oxygen. 

• Don’t buy the food from Randy’s cart. Nobody can figure out where he gets the meat from.

Thus, when she stepped toward her targeted street, Sky paused and entered the darkness of an area she’d been watching for several minutes. The meeting itself was obviously a trap, but a trap by who is what she was now questioning. Settling against the wall and making sure the hood of her cloak thoroughly covered her face, Sky sat in wait to see who wanted her dead. 

She didn’t have to wait long. 

Five large men entered the street she was supposed to be in. Each had the kind of uniform on that screamed money and privilege. They were too clean, too shiny, and without a rodent bite to be seen. Not the type of people that should be down here in the darkness of night. That meant they were some kind of enforcer.

Behind them stood a small, weasely-faced man with the beginnings of a beard. He didn’t look like much, but with another five enforcers following him, he didn’t need to. Money could buy you all kinds of privileges.

The problem was, she knew that man. He was a debt bondsman. He could be seen sometimes in the Undercity, offering money to the families of those who would sell themselves to a system contract to balance out their debt. But from what she’d heard of them, the system wouldn’t allow them to be forced to sign. 

So why were they here?  

Sky waited in the dark long enough to grow sleepy before they exited the trap street. The weasel was complaining loud enough for everyone to hear. 

“Another bust. Why do they think these chatroom meetups will work? Why are we even in this fucking place? They can’t get to the portals. Just let the time run out and let’s move on with our lives.”

One of the big men with a slightly shinier suit spoke up, “Your family believes those we’ve captured so far will lead us to the Liberated Ones faction.”

“Why?”

“They didn’t say, sir.”

They passed her by, close enough to sneeze on, but she remained. Sky was more than smart enough to understand what was happening here. 

The Chatroom itself was the real trap. A way to get people who thought they were meeting up with the Liberated Ones faction, only to be somehow forced to sign a debt contract with the system. She didn’t doubt it was written so well that there was no way out of it without loss of life. 

She was preparing to leave when a commotion lit up the night, and even more interesting, it came from the direction the enforcers had gone. Loud bangs and explosions cast yellow and red glows in the fog of the Undercity. 

Sneaking toward the corner and double-checking it didn’t hold anything seedy, Sky looked over.

The enforcers had walked into a trap not of their making, as dozens of people fired blasters into their group, ferocious smiles on the few faces she could see. The once shiny suits now belonged to corpses littering the ground, and common scene in the Undercity. Only for once, the dead belonged to those who lived above. 

A skinny man holding a blaster looked over at her. Taking a sudden step back, he then burst forward with a shout, his weapon left on the ground. 

“Sky!”

It took her a moment, but then she recognized him. Long ingrained instincts told her not to be too loud while moving about, but she couldn’t help herself as she saw her friend, “Alaran!”

They embraced quickly as a big man holding a very large cannon on his shoulder stepped over. In a deep voice he said, “Whose this one, pip?”

Alaran stepped in front of her, inadvertently blocking her line of sight, “A friend, not one of the Evolvers.”

“I see.” A moment later, Alaran moved, showing her that the group was stripping the bodies on the ground of their equipment as the man with the cannon called out commands. It was all done within seconds as her friend started bouncing on his toes. 

“Sooo, what do you think? Pretty cool huh?”

“But you killed them. I mean, they’re dead, right?”

Alaran laughed, “We’ve been killing them for the last few days now, Sky.” He paused, looked over his shoulder at the others, then back at her, “So, now that you know about us. What do you say? Wanna join us?”

“Join who?”

“The Liberated Ones.”

“But,” Sky paused, collecting her thoughts before saying, “But I want to go to Symphony. I won the lottery.”

“Sure, we all did.” Alaran replied with a thumb over his shoulder at the group, “But getting there’s the problem, right? Well, we have a plan, but it’s going to be pretty hard-”

“Not anymore.” A deep voice said from overhead, causing Sky and Alaran to instantly tense up. Craning their necks, they found a man gently floating through the air towards them. Knowing it to be an evolution and that only the nobles had access to those, Sky tried to run while Alaran began to bring up his rifle with a shout. 

Then, the weight of the world seemed to press down on them so heavily that each collapsed to the ground.

“I’m sorry for doing that, but I didn’t want you to shoot me. I’m here to help.”

“Why…would you help us? Who…are you?” Alaran said with gasped breaths. 

The man stepped under an overhead light, light gray streaks through his hair and bright teeth reflecting the world around him, “My name is Walker, but you might know me as Dante. I’m going to get you out of here.”