Sliding Reality: Chapter 4 Part 2 of 3 (Patreon)

"So, why the bots? Why not to try and recruit us as fighters?" Brad asked as he floated through the halls of Sphere World.

"They require less materials they can die and you can learn. They are machines and they require much less maintenance than humans. They don't need air, water or food, or the associated facilities. Just power and materials. They are stronger and can use more weapons, they're standardized." Sally said. "You're here."

Brad slowed down on his jets, studying the door ahead of him, on either side there were racks with bots. He tapped his feet and stepped onto the ground, the bots were each two meters tall, there was a cold utilitarianism with them.

Brad pulled his eyes from them, feeling like they would wake at any moment and come after him.

The door ahead of him opened and he walked through an armored door into a corridor.

Just like the armories and corridors beyond the hangars.

Brad walked past the armories and lockers, passing through more emergency doors and bot racks.

A final heavy door lifted up, a secondary door right behind it sliding open. He entered a room filled with planters of plants he had never seen before. He passed through the room and through another heavy door. "Elevators?"

"Need to speed you up to the habitats speed. There are fourteen habitats circling Sphere World right now."

Brad stepped into one and hit seven. The elevator sped up and the 'wall' glowed blue.

"Step on the blue, that's going to be the new ground." Sally said.

"Right," Brad stepped on it as the elevator continued to speed up and weight returned to Brad's body.

He stretched against the weight falling upon his body.

The Elevator dinged and the door opened into a hall and an airlock. He stepped through, it closed and cycled, opening into a corridor.

Noise seemed to spread out as he entered atmosphere but he made no move to remove his helmet.

More armory corridors and bots.

They're sure paranoid about defenses.

"Looks like a shopping mall, a rather big one." Brad said, looking at the planters, the elevators up and down, the open area was ringed in enclosed corridors, all fitted with automated doors.

Emergency suits and gear was labelled in different alcoves.

"Are those gear stores?" Brad moved towards one, inside was filled with holographic representations of all three types of bots as well as all the upgrades and gear that could be applied.

It was joined to another store that showed hellcats, their weaponry and Turtles, then light transports to heavy transports with a mounted turret and Main battle tanks.

He walked through the stores, looking at the gear arranged. It's like a gun show. Or a military contractor display.

"Impressive," Brad said, coming out of the stores.

"Right!" light descended infront of him, revealing a grinning girl wearing a white and black space suit.

"Sally I am guessing."

"You're getting good at this," Sally smiled. "In here there are projectors, there aren't anywhere else. All the information just goes through the bots and the net suits so things look like projections. This way to the conference room."

She practically bounced with energy. Kind of like Kira when she was younger.

He allowed himself to be guided through the habitat, it was a lot bigger than he thought originally.

"The terminals in the desk will work, or you can use the screen wall," Sally waved to the conference table, oblong with terminals infront of each chair, hidden from the others and the wall-spanning display of Valhalla outside of Sphere World.

Brad sat on the conference table and looked at Valhalla, spotting the moving lights of ships connecting the station to the planet.

"So, how many times have you done this before?"

"None, this is my first." She held her hands behind her back and twisted with a nervous smile.

Brad studied her again and then the screen. "Well that makes two of us at least. Can you stop selling to people?"

“Yes if you want?”

“Please.”

“I have stopped selling items to others.”

“You said that you would start to degrade if you were to control a lot of bots, what did you mean by that?”

“I can run a lot of things in parallel, but even with my technology I have a limit.”

“What things do you control?”

“All building inside of Sphere World, a few hundred bots that assist with maintenance, placing automated miners, piloting shuttles, that kind of thing. Expanding my ability to control more systems takes a lot of processing power which is costly in materials to upgrade.”

“And with humans using the remaining bots, they take away your need to work all of those different bots.”

“Correct, even with only a few of them selling to me, it has greatly increased my material collection.”

“You create the infrastructure, they provide the workforce.”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any ideas of how we could better control Sphere World, create rules?”

“I think your system of threats would work well here.

“Threat system?”

“Your law system you call it. Where if someone does an act that the majority disagree with, or hurts another member, then part of the collective will hunt down and place restrictions and penalties upon the person that has committed the act against their fellow human.”

“I-well I never thought of it that way.”

“It is an effective system used in a number of different cultures. Though you do require a group that would enforce your threats.”

“I’m not going to go around threatening people.”

“You humans do it all the time with contracts and declarations and your laws. If you attack my group then I will attack you with all of my friends. If you do not do the things listed in this contract, then I will seek others to embarrass you and to get back the resources I have placed in this contract. If you kill someone we will hunt you down and remove you from society.”

Brad worked his jaw.

“I am not saying it is a bad system, I am just saying that it is how your main system of governance and interaction works. It is highly effective to have got your race to this point.”

“We don’t have any rules in Sphere World, or anyone to enforce them.” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the ceiling. “In a game we could create some OP guards that would track them down for crimes, or we could put a bounty on them."

He shook his head and paused. "Could we put a bounty on them? If they're just ships and bots and not real people. Can we track down the users that are using the gear?"

“That kind of access would be possible once you unlock tier one. Here is a breakdown.”

[Tier One-LOCKED]

[Requirements: A single entity controls 51%+ of all planets in the Orion System]

[Able to set missions]

[Sphere World Purpose]

[Administration rights of Sphere World]

“How much of the planets do you control already?”

“I control all of the planets except Valhalla and Ares.”

“How do I show I control it?”

“Capture the nodes.” She tilted her head in question to his intelligence.

“Why?”

“Information restricted at current Tier level.”

Brad clicked his tongue.

“Wormhole detected entering system, identity unknown.” Sally snapped to attention.

Screens changed to show a marker at the edge of the Orion system.

“An unknown ship? Who is it?”

“Resolving, based on markings and historical records. Ship is the Xin-Tao, owned by the Xin shield, a private security contractor. They are under contract with Wei-Fan-Dang and associates.”

“What?”

“I suspect that they are reacting to Stuart Martin’s video.”

Brad raised his wrist pad.

(16) missed messages

Crap.

He had been so distracted by everything he hadn't been paying attention he opened the messages, finding four from Steve and the rest from Jynx.

He opened the one from Jynx.

>Dad, is this real? Link [Jynx]

>Dad are you okay? [Jynx]

>I'm starting to freak out. Answer your screen! [Jynx]

>ANSWER! [Jynx]

>Are you okay? [Jynx]

>Is what Uncle Stuart said real? [Jynx]

>Are you on Sphere World? [Jynx]

>Dad, people are calling the house. [Jynx]

>Answer your fucking phone! [Jynx]

>Dad, the factions are saying that they're going to the system. What is happening? [Jynx]

>Uncle Stuart confirmed everything, dad, please, please just call or text or something. [Jynx]

Brad's stomach twisted together as he tapped out a quick message.

>I am fine, what's going on? Are you okay? Go to Mary's contact Steve if you need anything else.

He waited, not seeing another message he scrolled up and tapped on the link.

It blew up into a video of Stuart on the ship, tired but determined. The knot in Brad's stomach rose from his stomach and into his throat.

"“My name is Stuart Martin I am the cofounder and owner of Orion's Belt Entertainment. Just over a month ago we were set to close down Orion’s Belt the game. When randomly a game appeared in our lobby, it was called Sphere World. We had never heard of it before, we had never worked on it."

Brad felt a chill run through him, his feet taking him back to the elevator at a walk and then a bounding run as he watched Stuart’s video.

"Stuart what have you done?”

“The scout clipper Strato of the Federation Navy has appeared outside the Oort line.” Sally sounded apologetic as Brad reached the elevator, the doors closed as he pulled on his helmet and gloves.

“Take me back to the level the ship is on.”

"Certainly." The elevator moved silently, Brad’s heart in his ears.

***