Chapter 6: Gearing Up A Little

Standing outside, the villagers were bringing the gear we’d bargained for and laying it in front of us.  I couldn’t help but breathe deeply in the air.  It was so fresh!  Nothing at all like being caged in layers and layers of radiation-absorbing metal hull of the Victoria.  The air moved!  Blowing around us and into the large and green trees beyond, whipping their leaves around and sounding almost like rainfall to me.

“These are heavy.”  Marci hefted her new grey cotton sleeping roll over her shoulder.  Dust lifted off of it, then vanished in the wind.

“Definitely not made out of nylon.  And the tent, it must weigh over twenty kilos.”  It was heavy fabric, much heavier than we were used to.

She shook her head, “We’ll need to get a donkey or something.”

“Actually, Marci,” said Bent, bending over and unrolling, then shaking, his tent, “that’s a good idea.  Some of the games I’ve played, you can use a pack animal to carry extra stuff.”

Avery strode over, picking up the tent with ease, “I got this.”

Now rolling up his sleeping blankets, the wizard asked, “Aren’t you going to tie that to your backpack?”

She gave Bent a quizzical look, “Yeah,” and walked over to Fred, carrying the heavy tent in her left arm.

After setting his role down, Bentley knelt down by Maric and me, concern in his voice “They’ve changed.”

Marci’s large almond eyes, already wide, grew larger, “And if they’ve changed . . .”  Blowing in the wind, her golden hair fluttered around her pointed ears.  She ran both hands through, pushing it down.

Bent nodded, just a little, “That’s not what I meant, but yeah, sure, we’ve changed, too.  I mean this with no disrespect, but do they seem less intelligent to you?”

“Definitely focused more on, what, gameplay I guess,” said Marci.

I added, “Their job is to protect us.  They’re not really trained scientists.”

“I know, I know.  So, they’re trained in observation, alertness.  Not just fighting.  But I haven’t seen much of that from them.  Mostly talking about fighting and leveling up.”

Marci leaned in, a half-smile on her face, blue eyes holding mine, “Tell me you’re not.  I am.  Kinda.  I’m kinda interested in leveling up, too.”

I smiled back, not knowing what else to do and not a little worried.  “Really?”

Bent jumped in with, “Yeah, me too, oddly.  What about you, River?”  His hood shifted when the wind picked up.

“No, uh, I don’t know.  Honestly, I’m torn.”  I shook my head.  “I mean, Tak’s right.  We need to be trying to solve the problem, looking for computers guiding the nanotech or . . . I don’t know, maybe we should build a Faraday cage.”

Bent shifted his weight to his heels, “A Faraday cage.”  He paused for a bit.  Then, “To cut off electricity?”  He asked Marci, “What do you think the nanites in our bodies would do?”

“It’d cut off all EM waves.”

“Yeah,” I said, “they’d stop receiving signals, maybe energy.  We don’t know how these work specifically, though.  Where do they get their energy from?  Their instructions?  A Faraday cage will at least allow us to test part of that.”

Marci lost her smile, her voice slightly quiet, “What if it makes them angry?”

I had no idea what she meant, “Angry?”

“Wouldn’t you be if you were suddenly cut off from your playthings?”

“You think they’d attack us?  That would suck.  But only in a Faraday cage will we have the chance of knowing that we are making our own decisions.”

Bentley shifted his gaze to me, “I don’t think they could alter our brains to the level of controlling our behavior.  Not that quickly.”

“No, Bent,” Marci grabbed our attention, “They’ve certainly demonstrated the ability to reshape a person’s brain.  Those troglodytes must have 70% normal brain volume.”

I looked over at Fred and Ave, shaking my head.

“I think they’ll attack the cage,” she continued.  “Think about it.  They’ve taken over the planet, and pretty quickly according to communication records.  So, we know they’re hostile to . . . our civilization.  Our society.  The people on this planet must have tried fighting them with Faraday cages.  EMPs.  Everything at their disposal.  Wouldn’t you?”

“Yeah, maybe, Marci.”  I paused, a dog barked off in the town.  “You’re right.  Eridani had a strong military, so yeah, you have to be right.  But, it’s the best I’ve got right now.  Let me think on it more.  God, I wish we had a programmer with us.”

***

Running along a dirt path, dodging errant small branches, I caught up to Takao and Lane, the villager leading our way to the troglodyte camp.  He looked to be in his early twenties, in good shape from all the hard work he was likely doing.  Tak was walking with him.  “Hey, how long have these, uh, troglodytes been attacking your village?”

Well-muscled and wearing thick fabric grey clothing, Lane had an easy stride.  This was his home, he didn’t even look at the ground.  “Since the end of spring.  That was fortunate for us, as we were able to get our crops in.  But if we lose too many people, we won’t have enough for the harvest.”

“Does this kind of thing happen normally?”

“Mostly with new villages.  But we’re not so new.  I’ve seen caravans pass us, on their way to setting up newer villages.”  He looked over at me, “If you’re looking for work as adventurers, they’d keep you busy.  Our village perhaps can, too.”

An errant root nearly caught my foot on the rough ground.  Not quite a road, more like an animal trail over thick grass, but this path had been used frequently as the growth was shorter here, crushed.  “Can you explain that?  We’re, ah, new here.”

Tak leaned over, “Lane was just telling me this is somewhat of a frontier town.”

Our guide made a face, “Not quite frontier, I’d say.”

Tak nodded, “Part of a larger civilization pushing out into the wilds.  They start villages, clear the land to work it, but also have to deal with, ah, incursions.”

“Monsters,” corrected the villager.  “So, each village hires its own adventuring group.  I’m surprised our headman hasn’t offered you the position.”

Tak and I shared a look.  I asked, “Why not hire soldiers?”

“Too expensive.”  He shrugged.  “Many caravans do, of course.  Or form militias.  But we don’t have the money or the training.  It takes a lot of work, you know, to run a farmstead.”

“I’m sure.  Monsters.  What about your last adventurers?  Adventuring group?”

“Party, they’re called adventuring parties.”  He shrugged again.  “They went on a quest and never came back.  Probably they found enough treasure to retire on, by a nice homestead somewhere.  Or a castle.  I’m sure,” he smiled, “that we’ll come back from this one.”

***

I stood staring at the tent, unpacked and on the ground.  Canvas, thick, heavy.  Straps.  No supports.  “Uhm.”

“It’s old school,” said Marci, looking exactly where I was.  She crossed her arms, but below the elbows.  “Like, really, really old school.”

Shocked, I shook my head at the prospect, “Do we have to cut down trees for supports?”

“Perhaps,” said Bent, staring at the tent, “we should just sleep by the fire.  That’s probably what most people do.  At least, in the stories I’ve read.”

“You’re not bothered by mosquitoes and biting flies?” asked Marci.

Bent lifted his left hand and shrugged, “The smoke will keep them away.”

Looking over at the other group, Lane was pointing at nearby trees, then pointed at the tent, getting Fred and Avery to lift the its corners up.

“I think we use these ties to attach it to trees.  Oh!  He’s cutting down a smallish tree.  Stump?”

“Branch,” said Marci, absentmindedly.

We watched as Lane directed them.  Dylan cut down a small tree, then hewed its branches off.  They then stuck the tree lengthwise through the cloth tent as a beam.  From there, Fred and Ave lifted it up about six feet or so and Lane tied it to some other trees.  Then they went about tying the rest of the straps, which were on the corners, to nearby branches.

“Huh.  I guess these can only be used in forests.”

“That or we’d have to carry a lot of support beams.  Maybe if we get a cart.”  Marci looked around, “This tree seems about the right size.”

Bent said, “I’d kill for some aluminum right now.”

“We have what we have.”

***

After we got the tent set up, we all sat around a communal fire, including Lane, the villager.  And that was a shame, since I was hoping we could discuss our future.  Our mission, if possible, but I was thinking, more and more, it’d be unlikely we were going to escape this situation.  Game?  We seemed to be stuck living in a game.

And, anyways, how do you defeat nanotech that’s inside you?  Yeah, the Faraday cage.  Maybe.  That depended on a lot of factors.  Would the nanotech know we were building a cage to keep them out?  Would it care?  It would be very, very bad if the nanotech didn’t like that.

And, a thought I didn’t want to have, but had anyway, was it changing me, my mind?  How would I know?

Lane was speaking when I stopped thinking, and returned to the conversation, “It’s a cave.  Three days from our village, up in the foothills.  I found it while hunting last season.”

Tak leaned in, “And you saw computers inside?”

“Yes.  Large ones.”

“Can you describe what they look like?”

“After we drive off the troglodytes, you will see them for yourself.”

Marci leaned into me, whispering, “See?  He’s definitely lying.”

I smiled at her, then spoke up, “What if the computers have moved off by the time we get there?”

“If you can brave the cave, even without the computers, the core itself is very valuable.”

Except for the fact that Lane clearly didn’t know that computers don’t move, his comment piqued my interest!  Maybe it was a computer after all.  “Core?”

“Highly sought after.  Valuable to adventurers such as yourself.”  He gestured to Bent.  “Like your mage here, you could use the core, could you not?”

Bent straightened up, “What?  Oh, uh, yes.  I’m sure.”

“I was wondering,” Lane said, “do you often sleep under the stars?”

Dylan looked over at the tents.  The one Lane put up was straight, trees holding it upright and the one Marci, me and Bent put up sagged, looked sad by comparison.  “Yeah.  We’re not used to these tents.  These kinds of tents.”

“Do tell!  What kinds of tents are you used to?”

“Uh,” I said, “yurts.  Large, conical shaped tents.  Heavy fabric.”

“I have never heard of those.”

Marci jumped in with, “Hey, is it dangerous at night?  You said villages aren’t safe because of monsters.  But we’re out here with no protection.”

He looked at Marci like she was daft, put a fake smile on and said, “Because you people have been so kind, I will take first watch.”

“The first watch?”

“Right,” said Tak, “we’ll set up watches.  Lane, I’ll sit with you for the first watch.  Fred and Bent, you take second.  Ave and River, third.  And Marci, wake me up for the last watch.”

“But you won’t get enough sleep then.”

“I don’t need so much.”

***

Inside the tent was musty and dry, the taste of dust in the air.  “I don’t think this canvas has been used in a long time.”

“Do you think we’ll get home?” Marci asked.

“I’m not sure I want to,” said Bent.

“Well, I do!  I was supposed to talk to my parents this weekend.”

“FTL coms?”

“What else?”

“Pricey.”

“I’d been saving a while, so yeah.  I had shore leave coming up, so I wanted to touch base, work out some plans, you know, for a vacation.”

“They still on Earth?”

“Yeah.”

“How were you planning on getting home?”

Marci looked at me, “This mission wasn’t supposed to be a long one.  Just pop in, check the planet out, return to Earth.  Didn’t you check the flight schedule?”

“Honestly, I’ve been dreading returning.  I, uh, had an evaluation coming up.  And, you know, we haven’t had any away missions.  So, I didn’t have any data or anything interesting to say for the eval.”

“Well, now you do!”

“Yeah, holy shit.”

“But, seriously, what do you think our chances of getting back to the ship are?”

“Not good.  If we can’t locate our lander, if the nanobots repurposed its molecules, I’m not sure we can build anything to get us into the upper atmosphere.  Past the nanotech.”

“I guess a hot air balloon wouldn’t work?”

“We’d need a helium balloon, but to build that, we’d need a factory.  I doubt the nanotech would let us build it.  It looks like it’s keeping this world to somewhere around the medieval era.  Except, I guess, for the missing guns.”  I patted my empty holster.

“I don’t know,” Bent said, “it will be interesting to explore our classes.”

“Dude,” Marci shook her head, “showers?  Flush toilets?  I for one am not looking forward to doing my business outdoors.”

“Oh, right.”

“Yeah.”

“And coffee,” I said.  “Going to get a withdrawal headache for sure tomorrow.”

The leaves rustled then, a knocking sound outside the tent off in the distance.

“What’s that?”

“Just the trees being pushed together.  Ok guys, I’m crashing.  Got the next watch.”  Bent turned over to face the wall.

“I don’t think it’s trees.  That sounded like a footstep.”