Hunter floated, motionless, for what seemed to be a very long time. He looked around without moving his head, or his eyes very much. Spread out around him were strands of shimmering blue, and he floated amidst them without touching any. Kelp I think, Hunter managed to get his thoughts moving slowly, how pretty. In the ocean, twice in one week.

Occasionally, he would blink, everything would go black for an indeterminate amount of time, and then he would see the ocean again. Must be near the bottom, everything’s so quiet and dim, except for the kelp or whatever. His surroundings were a uniform gray, dark and flat like waking up in the middle of the night, except for the blue ribbons around him, the black ones off in the middle distance, and some dull, burnt orange ones past that.

After a few seconds, or hours, he didn’t know because he kept losing track of his train of thought every time he blinked, he realized he wasn’t exactly floating, he was suspended from one of the strands of kelp, and he felt the oddest sensation when he concentrated on it.

Once, the trader that brought medicines to the redoubt had changed suppliers, or there was a mistake, or something Hunter wasn’t exactly sure about. He was so, what’s the word, contrite? But I thought it was fine. All of the drugs he brought, that particular trip, didn’t come in pills or liquids, but tablets you had to drop into water and then drink the whole glass. Hunter thought they were great, watching the blue or yellow fizz dance up, a tiny show before he’d have to take his medicine.

Effervescent, is that what they called it? How the tablets looked, slowly bubbling as they dissolved into nothingness, that was the feeling coming out of Hunter’s back when he thought about it. It wasn’t alarming, by itself, but he did wonder what exactly was fizzing out of him and into what he was starting to suspect certainly wasn’t the bottom of the ocean.

He blinked, forgot mostly about the possibility that he was dissolving, and floated for a while longer until one of those pretty blue strands started dancing erratically, then slapped him in the face. It only lasted briefly, but it gave him the sudden and disturbing knowledge that he only had a few minutes left to effervesce, before he’d be a lightly tinted glass of medicine ready to drink down.

That’s not very long, he thought, and while he wasn’t entirely sure, Hunter guessed that he was able to focus better than before the slap. He looked around and found he wasn’t between a few, sparse ribbons, those were just the ones that were lit up. He was cradled, he was cocooned, he was attached to hundreds, thousands of them, but they were all dull, lifeless, transparent.

There were too many to understand what exactly they were for, but somehow Hunter recognized the strands that were full of shimmering light. That one, he tried to point but couldn’t, wants to tell me the emergency’s over. Oh right, the emergency. Those are, huh, telling me I got better at things. That’s nice. Oh, and that one just wants to be friends.

The strand of kelp that had slapped at him tensed again and then latched firmly onto Hunter’s head, and all he saw for a good long while afterwards was blue.

Reconnecting to Infra Regency Structure v. 1375.26… complete (with errors)

You have been stabilized! [Emergency Stabilizer] is working at suboptimal (<50%) efficiency. At your current resilience (-61/117), you now have approximately four (4) minutes until death.

[Emergency Stabilizer] removed!

Disconnecting from Infra Regency Structure v. 1375.26…

Reconnecting to Infra Regency Structure v. 1375.26… complete

You have been stabilized! [Emergency Stabilizer] is working at full (100%) efficiency. At your current resilience (-61/117), you will be minimally functional in approximately five (5) hours.

You have ten (10) notifications!

Error: full real-time connection to the substrate is not possible in your current state (-resilience). Only personal Infra functions are available at this time.

You have three (3) new notifications! Would you like to view them all (13 total) now? Y/N

[Emergency Event B-015/E-006] has ended. Essence distribution will be calculated shortly. Skill gains will be capped at your largest single recorded net contribution level (moderate++).

You have gained two (2) achievements!

[Emergency Listing], [Stable] gained.

You have raised Dodge to two hundred (200).

You have one (1) talent available from maxing your dodge skill.

You have chosen [Perfect Surf].

You have raised Touch Attack to two hundred (200).

You have one (1) talent available from maxing your touch attack skill.

You have chosen [Versatile Touch].

You have raised Meditation to two hundred (200).

You have one (1) talent available from maxing your meditation skill.

You have chosen [Insightful].

You have raised Athletics to two hundred (200).

You have one (1) talent available from maxing your athletics skill.

You have chosen [Fuel to Spare].

You have gained two (2) achievements (4 total)!

[Quick Learner VI], [Skilled V] gained.

You have two (2) free talents available from achievements.

You have chosen [Dodge Master], [Versatile Parry].

You have completed a quest! The difficulty has been compared to your current level (1), your performance has been assessed, and your essence gains have been merged with those currently pending review.

A new waypoint has been added to your map function! It is over one thousand (1168) miles to the southwest from your current position.

Error: full real-time connection to the substrate is not possible in your current state (-resilience). Map functions are not available.

Emergency Assessment Complete!

You contributed minimally during the emergency response (~1%). This rating has been compiled from the following factors, organized chronologically.

Successfully closed a ripple-effect Slide (++) Failed to save over half (>50%) of [Badlands Noncombatants] (-) Defeated multiple (>25) first wave attackers [Shadow Infiltrators] (+) Partially escorted many (>100) [Rapid City Noncombatants] to safety (++) Survived encounter with [Sublime-level Source Creation] (+) Failed to defeat any (0) second wave attackers [Shadow Bruisers] (-) Technically ended Type-B Breach Emergency (++++) Satisfactorily completed Emergency-related [Quest] (++) Caused Type-E Instability Emergency (-------)

This is historically a greater than average contribution for your level (1), and as such you have been rewarded one (1) [Division+++] of essence.

You have gained twenty-four (24) levels!

You have gathered enough essence to move to the next division! You are now a [Mortal/Basic].

You have gained one (1) level (25 total)!

Resilience now at -60/252.

You have gained the following stats:

+eight (8) to all Body stats (bonus+ agility, toughness) +two (2) to all Mind stats +three (3) to all Presence stats (bonus+ drive) +one (1) to all Carry stats +eight (8) to all Wield stats (bonus+ agility) +three (3) to all Bear stats (bonus+ toughness, drive)

Resilience now at -60/274. Affinity now at 0/29. Vigor now at 0/126.

You have qualified for a class!

Error: full real-time connection to the substrate is not possible in your current state (-resilience). Class options not preloaded.

Error: full real-time connection to the substrate is not possible in your current state (-resilience). Messages function not available.

Once the flood of notifications had stopped, only two strands were left shining fully, but Hunter could start to see the slightest increases in the luminescence of the others. He made the mistake of blinking, and when he was aware again, they had appreciably lit even more.

He noticed somehow, between one moment and the next, that a vast number of the black strands he had been trying to keep a wary eye on simply vanished. He guessed, Maybe they just went clear, too. Or they’re gone, who knows how the flip this place works.

Hunter checked to see if he had a timer, found there were at least four more hours of the slow, confusing nothingness left to endure, and would have sighed if he could. Four more hours until he could get moving, until he could move at all, four more hours until he could see anything more than a sparsely populated expanse of gray, until he could see what’s next.

In the meantime, he remembered he had his small Infra file of notes, Uncle Ernie’s voice floating up to remind him, Keep it on paper. Things update, things change, and you won’t know why you planned on four when it clearly says five in the Infrapage. It would have to do, though, since apparently he didn’t bring his notebook with him, wherever he was.

He tried to keep his thoughts simple:

time constraints (can’t always wait for onc storm) burst dmg (ok ok i see why people go block/endure) ranged threats (maybe flicker step+lvls) unidentified opponents (need something scary)

After that list, which Hunter tentatively named in his head, Things I should have already thought about but I got dodge/death-punch-happy, he let himself drift. Meditation, the skill, wasn’t working, but as a concept he figured there was nothing wrong with it, and so he centered himself, in a slow, visualizing manner that he hadn’t had to put himself through in a while.

It was, Hunter reflected, even with the ominously peaceful surroundings, a long four hours to go.