System Break

The tiny light inside my pod turned green when I woke. I'm sure it was comfortable, but I couldn't feel the cushioned white bed beneath me. The cybernetic link gave me access to a UI here in the old world and I opened the lid and ordered the robot chair to come fetch me.

I was alive, which meant the big bastard didn't eat my core. Not yet at least. I wondered about it - if I was disconnected from the cybernetic link and the Qi World - how could I die? Maybe the Qizhu scholar had no idea what he was talking about.

"You're here?" Jia stood there in a form fitting body suit.

"I died too. Assuming you died."

"No. You didn't," she said. She looked at me wide eyed with her mouth open.

"I did."

"The big ape thing?"

"Titan," I said. "And they aren't as tough as a Colossus. Which is fucking scary."

"I thought you would have escaped," she said.

"We could have. We were on a boat when it entered the city but there was no one left." The robot lifted me out of the pod. "I guess I have a weak spot for people dying."

"Your body! So much work went into it – that's such a shame."

"I'm more worried about Gisael and Peppin. I can always get a new body; they only have the one."

She waved her hand in dismissal. "They'll be fine."

"I hope you're right. When it took me out we were in a mess. Gisael probably rescued my core which would have put her in harm's way. It killed me with its laser eyes."

"Oh," she said. "The protectors didn't stand a chance. And the adventurers, there was so many, but they died like flies. It even ate some of them."

I gasped. "You need to check the news or whatever systems you have. The Qizhu scholar said if it ate their core they would die for real."

"What?"

"You heard me. This could get really nasty very quickly. These are rich people; I can imagine the newsfeeds now."

"You're not worried about them?"

I laughed. "No. I only care about regular people."

She stared at me and frowned.

"I'm kidding. Of course I do, but there's nothing we can do about it now."

She went to a terminal and tapped away. I checked regular newsfeeds using my cybernetic connection through the robot. They were clear, nothing about mass deaths of rich people playing a game.

Jia yelped. "Seventeen deaths. Seventeen!"

"How do you know so quickly?"

"Their vitals are logged through the cybernetic connection."

"We're fortunate it's only seventeen. That thing could have eaten all of them."

She flopped down in a chair. "How can we continue. Father invested billions. He's going to lose it all and blame us."

"Me? I didn't tell him to buy the company."

"I mean me and Gan. If it was a billion or two it wouldn't be an issue, but this was a massive investment. We've got to act fast - stay here." She said in a panic and then ran out the door.

I moved my chair. "What am I supposed to do?" I sighed. I died and now I was stuck outside the Qi World, or Sky Island whatever it was.

There was a virtual keyboard in my hud and tools which I rarely used. I wrote an email to Gan and told him everything. From the plan with the Chancellor that never got off the ground, to the fight, Gisael, Peppin, the Sea folk and the ship. Everything. I didn't really need to send him an email if he logged out - I could tell him, but it was cathartic. So I wrote it all down.

My chair could lie back forming a pseudo bed and I lowered the top half, so my head was raised slightly and I rested. I lay there for an hour thinking about the fight. No matter how I turned it and flipped it there was nothing I could do. I simply lacked the power to kill something like that. It was inevitable that I would run into something more powerful and I wondered what would happen to Dawnharbour.

I chuckled. It was like Godzilla trashing Tokyo. It wasn't funny but I couldn't help myself. I'm a terrible bastard sometimes. In my defence it was unreal. It felt more like a movie to me rather than something that happened.

I was bored. I sighed. I shouldn't just lie here doing nothing and then I remembered. Qi – I should work on my qi. I'd learned a lot but never put it into practise in the old world.

My core was nowhere near the size of my lumps. But it had grown since I last inspected it after the operation. Were they connected somehow? They must have been. Some of the qi I consumed leaked from inside the system to my body here.

I closed my sight and imagined my streams filling and running down my legs. I didn't need to look I could feel it. It felt thrilling, like going on a ride or anticipating sex with a hot chic.

I sighed.

I missed Gisael already. Even Peppin a little and Reyas of course, but I'd been missing her for weeks.

I lifted my head and realized that when my qi was flowing I could feel my legs. I hadn't felt these legs in seven years.

Stitching up wounds with qi was one thing. But healing my nervous system, that was a pipe dream. My core was still healthy, but I realised I had no way of replenishing it here other than rest. There were no monsters to kill - that I knew of. Not that I could. I couldn't even walk.

I pulled up a book to read. It was something I'd been meaning to do since meeting the shaman. He mentioned the ancient ones who were far more powerful than him. Through the cybernetic link I searched the internet on qi and its origins. After sifting through all the fantasy writings - I found Daoism.

And then I stumbled on a name I recognized - the name from a hallucination. Lao Tzu. The old bastard was from 6th century BCE. I laughed - he was thousands of years old - he didn't lie. 

He had a book. The Dao De Jing. I read it but it didn't make much sense. It was one of those poetic things with lots of sayings. And it was translated from ancient Chinese, so it probably lost a lot in translation. I would read it again later and maybe it would make more sense.

I rested.

I lay there for a while and I got a ping. Who the hell was pinging me? I answered.

"Hello comrade," he said, and his face filled the screen.

It was Pieter the Russian hacker. "Hey wise ass. How did you know I was out?" I was rarely out of the game, only a few minutes a month until today.

His mouth twisted into a smile. "There is a little green light next to your name. I never saw it before because you're always in the game. How goes it? Everything working good?"

"Yes and no," I said.

"No?" he asked.

"I died," I said.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Ben, we don't know each other well. But I am worried for you."

"Not comrade? You never call me Ben. Why are you worried? That I died or I'm an invalid."

"Neither. If you ever need a friend you can contact me here. I will do what I can to help you and I don't charge much."

"How much do you charge? I have some money but compared to the people I work for I'm dirt poor."

"Oh, comrade. It is not money. I work in favours - I have enough money."

"So I ping you on here?"

"Da."

"So if I wanted, you could help me now and I'd just owe you a favour."

"Da."

"Is there something I should know? Because it's not perfect here but it's okay. Unless they shutdown of course."

"Shutdown? What went wrong?"

"I can't tell you. It's a corporate secret."

He laughed. "Comrade do not worry - corporate secrets are my speciality."

I laughed. "Okay, you didn't hear it from me."

"Da. You are clean like a babies bottom."

I wasn't sure if they were clean. I remembered Reyas and sighed. It was like having withdrawal, I missed being inside terribly. I didn't want to be here - I wanted to go back.

"What is wrong?"

"Just missing being inside. I'm a junkie I guess."

"Da. I need to go. Message me if you are in need."

"Sure. Thanks." 

The connection closed. It was weird, we chatted a little and I felt like he was an acquaintance at most. But he reached out and offered to help me like we were brothers in arms. I hoped I never needed him, but if I did I guess it would be because I was at rock bottom and then it wouldn't matter.

I read the Dao De Jing again. It made one percent more sense than last time.