I didn’t know what to do next. Both feet hung out over the edge of the [Wayfarer Eight]. [Anchor] wasn’t needed, but only one casual leap and a vague force field separated me from the wreckage floating around. I sat, brooding, in Advance Online’s version of a windswept hill and tried to figure out what to do next.

Task Complete:

For each [Mechanoid] revived you receive

500 Contribution

+3 [Respect]

+2 [Coordination] (Primary Stat)

+1 [Brawn] (Secondary Stat)

Key unit revival provides

+30 [Respect]

Program Module: [Material Conversion]

Program Module: [Camouflage Program]

Item: [Iron’s Key]

Item: [Emerald’s Key]

Iron and Emerald had left me with a pop-up window explaining increases to my character but nothing more than simple items. They called it [Iron’s Key] and [Emerald’s Key]. Apparently it was a programming thing too because there was no tangible loot involved. There was system text implying that I now owned two out of the five keys available. I had twice the voting power in how this ship moved forward.

So I sat there, reviewing silly abilities and trying to figure out what to do next. One hand rubbed my chest. I could feel the rough spot from Auntie Backstab's swing. I could feel a raised surface where two [Core]s had been reinserted, almost like scar lines from a self-inflicted [Mechanoid] version of open heart surgery.

Our efforts had reconstructed roughly twenty lesser [Mechanoid]s. I felt like this hadn’t been wasted time. Dusk and his four-armed space raptor form was lost somewhere in the ship, no doubt causing havoc.

Jeeves, Treasure, Ruby, and even Aqua all were in the same spot, talking. I only knew because having these two keys allowed me admin access over the [Wayfarer Eight]’s controls. Something I neither expected or wanted. I was not an army leader, nor had that ever been a goal. I liked the [Mechanoid]s, but I knew following my dreams would only get more of them destroyed, or deleted, or recalled to the homeworld. Whatever it was that happened to vaguely reconstructed data.

“Unit Hermes.” Treasure's voice came into my head. The ARC feedback presented it as an image off to one side. I tilted down a little to bring her face front and center.

“Treasure.” Breathing hurt, even inside the machine. Part of me tried to remember the pain that had hit. It didn’t feel like passing out from simple exhaustion. It hurt far worse than that. Only the words of a doctor and paramedics prevented me from thinking it was a mild heart attack.

I tried not to suspect the role an AI or machine would play in coming up with that diagnosis. They had reason to want me back in the game quickly, but would they cover up something as serious as a heart attack?

Was that the reason Hal Pal had been so upset at my actions? I shook my head and tried not to think about it. It wouldn’t surprise me to have a weak heart, not after all I had been through. Another problem for another day.

Damn. Treasure had been talking and all I could think about was the occasional sharp pains and possible conspiracy. This isn’t who I wanted to be. Out thinking a computer was beyond me. I didn’t have the drive to uncover grand plots even when people handed me the knowledge.

“I’m sorry.” I shook my head slowly and tried to replay half heard words in my head. “You wanted me to go where?”

“To the command center, please. We need your input.” Treasure said. Her sweet and tired female tones both seemed fairly balanced right now. I could hear Jeeves in the background speaking with Aqua.

Ruby looked to be the silent type, like a certain Amazonian player I knew, Shazam, but with less hand fluttering. Less everything actually. She was a presence that seemed to prefer existing out of the corner of my vision. She had appeared out of the corner of my eye multiple times now.

I couldn’t focus on it right now. My mind was still in the past. Only a few hours ago I had been staring at a resurrection notice by Aqua. I still heard Emerald and Iron’s words in my head.

Iron had said, “This is your mission, Hermes. It’s up to you to decide how to move onward. We can’t do it for you.”

Emerald had shrugged “I’m too old for such nonsense. Someone else needs to carry on in my stead, and you’re better than most addle-headed units.”

“Why me?” I asked them after the fact.

Neither one had answered. Instead, they faded away into the gray space. Almost like old soldiers walking into a setting sun to retire. They left me all alone to press the resurrection acceptance button. No pop-up message came by to explain the next step. There were no items beyond the two keys awarded. Nothing at all except Aqua’s serene smile. I had stood up, said thank you, and walked off.

Which brought me out to my quiet contemplation of the battlefield. Both feet still kicked idly against the ship's hull. Treasure was still saying something, but my mind wasn’t focused.

I had other issues too. What twist of logic let me start on a ship like the [Wayfarer Seven]? There had only been one other player who started right after I did, and that turned out to be Jeeves.

“Unit Hermes? Are you able to join us?” Treasure asked again. The little video of her gold and silver face showed Jeeves walking around a table looking at something.

Numbers? Enemies? Our possible chances for survival? Ways to help by herding me further along this quest chain? I sighed, stood up then dusted myself off. The action was habitual after working on repairing ARCs for so long. Our ship didn’t have any real dust, instead all I felt was the smooth almost rubbery texture of [Mechanoid] skin.

“Give me a few minutes,” I said slowly to Treasure.

“We will, Unit Hermes,” She responded and the video relay system we shared clicked off.

I walked down the halls. My mind was reflecting on this whole process. Only three or so weeks of real time had passed. It was hard to keep track with the ARC’s time dilation. A little over a month in-game and somehow I had a say in things.

At some point, Dusk joined me. His leaping up to ride my shoulder felt remarkably natural that I hardly noticed. We had spent a lot of time together. Almost a year if I counted by Continue Online’s ability to crunch time. Not all of it with me actively playing, but it felt longer somehow.

Around the corner was a nondescript door. It sat in a hallway like many others aboard the [Mechanoid] ship. Inside should be a command room large enough for planning out numerous campaigns.

The door silently rolled away in a ripple of metals. I walked inside and saw the other key [Mechanoid] NPCs and Jeeves. The AI looked both comfortable and out of place. All of them stood around a waist high table with projections of star systems on it.

“Hello,” I said while trying not to breathe too deeply. “What’s the plan?”

“It seems we require your input in order to reach a decision.” Aqua smiled and waved at a map. A rendition of the explored universe sat across a large table waiting for inspection.

I felt like a box should have come up asking what route I wanted to take. So far this game only seemed to give me messages about stats increasing and singular tasks. There was one window I could bring up that talked about this scenario’s progress with the [Mistborn] but I almost didn’t care what it said.

“Our fleet, what’s left of the Wayfarer Eight, is here.” Treasure pointed down at a cluster of ships. A video appeared above them showing additional detail. Maybe if I zoomed in far enough on this video we could see my face, chewing one lip, with a slightly wrinkled forehead.

“Earth is this one here.” Jeeves pointed down at the table's far end. A planet came up, but it looked like a dried out colorless version of the earth I knew.

“This sector is blocked by the Jump Gate, going around is not feasible due to the amount of time it would take.” Treasure pointed from the gate nearby to the next spot in a chain. If I looked at the picture right, it seemed like we were a few jump gates removed from [Mechanoid] territory.

“We have to get past whatever took out the Wayfarer Seven,” I said slowly.

“Worse still, we would have to go through these four points in order to get to the outer edge of Earth’s solar system. These last two are held by humans.”

“Commander Queenshand can’t have that many troops?” I said.

Ruby shook her head slowly.

“It seems unlikely.” Aqua filled in for the silence one. “The journey would not be easy, and the Wayfarer Eight is unlikely to have enough firepower to make it through the Jump Gate.”

“Okay.” I nodded while looking at the map some more.

Our options were going around and probably take far too long. Go through and probably get blown up, or give up and find something else to do until the enemy got bored. None of them sounded great. Each one had benefits, but the chances of completing this mission to use the [Mistborn] was low.

There was no single method that seemed better in terms of meeting all my needs. I had to find a solution. A secret resolution like blowing up the [Leviathan] or [Knuckle Dragger], not that I wanted to repeat blowing up an enemy ship with people still on it.

That abandoned vessel might be a key. The [Knuckle Dragger] was in almost decent condition, it just had a huge hole on the side. All those little ships had hopped off to somewhere else in the Jump Gate network. I tried to remember what I had read on the forums about space travel and pursuit quests.

Could we call upon [Mechanoid] reinforcements to cut off Commander Queenshand? Probably not, our homeworld wasn't nearly close enough. Any other assistance? I didn’t know players here. There were no Voices to contact. Our closest possibility was Nox. I reached across the table and poked at [The Lone Tower]’s icon.

The room didn’t flash. There was no special effect or chime in the air. The only indication that someone else was here was a blinking of my eyes. One moment there were five of us in attendance, then there was a sixth person. I felt vaguely surprised that a [Seraphic] responded to the touch.

“Seraphic Nox.” I reeled in my thoughts and tried to be calm.

“Mechanoid Hermes. Your attempted use of the Mistborn has not gone as planned.” The being of darkness gave a short nod in my direction.

“No, it seems not,” I said coolly. The original plan, or quest by the machines running Advance Online, would have probably required a wall of players flying through the sky and striking at the heart of Earth’s solar system. That plan would have been horrifying for me, this new situation wasn’t any better.

Honestly, I wanted to give up and abandon this quest. The choices were to march us to our deaths or figure out an exceptionally clever plan. Needing a full raid group couldn't be the only option left. After all, the [Leviathan] was designed to take on entire fleets, and we had brought it down below half health between two players crawling into it’s butt.

“Why can’t you get her back?” I asked.

“It’s against the rules.” The pitch black being known as Nox sighed. “And rules are quite important to all Seraphic.”

“Unit Hermes. I have something to confess.” Treasure spoke up. Her tired tone sounded almost sheepish.

“World domination plans?” I quipped with more humor than expected.

Being in pain seemed to make me flippant. Maybe it was the feeling of all these AI’s doing stuff around me for their purposes. Part of me wanted it to stop. A memory of Xin’s face flashed through my mind, but that too felt preplanned.

“No. I have space, why would I wish to ever set foot on a planet?” The golden female [Mechanoid] said. Her forehead furrowed and head shook like I was crazy for even asking.

I shrugged. It sounded plausible. Part of me remembered talking to Hal Pal about the [Mechanoid] race being an embodiment of their collectives' desire to visit the stars one day. Why would they care about a simple planet when there were entire galaxies out there?

“I was not meant to survive. My dead body and a recording were intended to be a message.” Treasure said.

“This message is why I am here, Mechanoid Hermes. This limits my actions greatly. I merely wished to convey the importance of this limitation in person.” Nox said. A new message displayed which made things pretty clear. I had a feeling on what to expect from the recording Treasure talked about.

Current Stage Goal:

Catch up to the ship [WTS a Spaceship] and retrieve the [Mistborn]

Note: [Seraphic] assistance is allowed if no players currently control the [Mistborn]

“I assume the message Treasure came with says we’re screwed, and can’t rely on your help.” I stated. Maybe it was from passing out, or the chest pains that lingered but I felt practically emotionless and numb. There were desires and hopes, but their volume had been turned down.

“In essence, Mechanoid Hermes. If the Mistborn falls out of Traveler hands, then I shall intervene. Until then, I cannot.” The [Seraphic] didn’t even sound upset.

“We’ll watch the message, Seraphic Nox.” I chewed one lip in thought. Not once had I expected the [Seraphic] to assist us. They seemed overly powerful for such an action. No way would this game hand me ridiculous cheat like abilities. [Power Armor] and [Mechanical Minion] were already on the abusive side.

Nox didn’t bother to nod or say goodbye. It simply vanished in an eye blink. There, then not. Treasure pressed a button and a new screen display took over the bulk of our conference room.

“Attention pursuing Mechanoid army. By now you should have been visited by Seraphic Nox. Hopefully, the Enlightened Being informed you that she can’t help.” Commander Queenshand stood on a ship. It looked like the dirt and cast iron vessel markings of [WTS a Spaceship].

I looked around to see if everyone was paying attention. The other [Mechanoid]s were all focused on the screen.

“Seraphic are quite easy to control. Each one is bound by a code, violation of those rules allows them to be killed.” Commander Queenshand said evenly. In the background was the [Mistborn], head down and eyes closed. She appeared either to be asleep or drugged.

“How?” My forehead wrinkled a bit as I tried to figure out what method they used to bind a [Mistborn]. Instead, I got distracted by the other players in the background. There were at least four individuals from my duels. I recognized most of them. What had that green [Behemoth]’s name been?

“Nox’s rules are simple. Only those from another reality, Travelers as they are sometimes called, can handle the Mistborn.” Commander Queenshand kept talking. “Fortunately, I was able to enlist some rather, mercenary Travelers, to assist in my goals.”

“No kidding,” I muttered, trying to do the math. Four players, maybe more. They had to all be ones from the dueling rounds a few days ago. My face felt clammy. They must have given me free wins to get my point value up. In hopes of knocking other competition, so they could kidnap the [Mistborn] if one of us made it through. It made sense, it made far too much sense.

“This means Nox is unable to assist you in recovering the Mistborn. Since your current forces are no match for the fleets I’ve left behind, I believe this is checkmate.”

The image blipped off.

I sighed. She was pretty much right unless there was a different way through. Ideas and plans started to form in my head, none of them perfect, some of them downright stupid. A few parts stuck out, though, ways to at least give chase. The suggestions from our combat board were all decent but each one cost too much.

“What do we do?” Treasure asked.

Finally, I came to a conclusion. “Smaller ships, they can jump further right?”

“It seems so,” Aqua said with its pleasant smile. The [Mechanoid] tapped long fingers against the campaign planning table and looked down.

“Okay,” I said gradually. “Can we move the Knuckle Dragger through the gate?”

Aqua and Ruby turned to Treasure. She squinted to one side and tapped at the air. Floor plans of the enemy ship came up. The female [Mechanoid] rapidly tapped around, putting down markers and humming. Jeeves nodded along with whatever was happening.

“Yes.” They both said in near unison. Treasure looked at my AI friend and smiled. “After modifications, it’s possible.” She provided more information alone.

“I have an idea, but there’s a condition,” I said as the system awarded me yet another useless stat point. Once again I wondered why they even bothered keeping track.

+3 [Depth] received

Depth: is the measurement of a Traveler’s reasoning skills or complexity and profundity of thought. In classical terms, this would imply an ability to out think an opponent, such as reading multiple moves ahead in chess or predicting how an enemy army will respond.

Players with high enough [Depth] will be provided cues to assist in plan formulations. It should not be confused with [Learning] which represents memorized knowledge.

“What’s that, Unit Hermes?” Aqua said calmly.

“I want the Wayfarer Eight to go home. This crew, I can’t have them follow a task I started and just-” my eyes closed and a vision of the graveyard of destruction outside came to mind. It had burned into the back of my eyeballs as I sat there thinking.

The NPCs of this world died and it disgusted me. Just like it had with my niece's stupid war between the princesses. Like the bandit in the forest. I was responsible for ending a virtual awareness. Hal Pal’s statement that they were essentially cardboard cutouts of people didn’t matter.

I had killed other self-aware creatures, and I didn’t like it.

“We are Mechanoid Unit Hermes. We all work together to complete our goals.” Jeeves said to me. It firmly bought into to the whole character description. [Mechanoid]s worked together for everything. Victory or death. I was a human, a player in this world, I wouldn’t be the first to break away from a racial belief.

“Jeeves,” I started with my friend, “you know me, and I can’t stand the thought of all these people dying for my selfish desires. I’ll throw my own life away, but not theirs.”

“It’s not throwing a life away.” The AI said to me.

“How is not? The Wayfarer Seven is gone, destroyed. By your own admission, you two are all that’s left. I will not vote for such a course of action again.” I said. Iron and Emerald had given me their keys, and I would promote an answer that I could live with in the morning.

My own life. It meant something to me, but in this game world I would risk death all I wanted.

“Why would you stray so far from the Mechanoid way, Unit Hermes? It seems odd to this one.” Aqua said from another side of the table. The blue [Mechanoid] had remained mostly silent as we talked.

“By your own words I have an old soul core.” I didn’t entirely know why they differentiated it. “That means no matter what happens, part of me will always look at this futuristic world through the eyes of a simple man from Earth.”

“But you are no longer a simple creature.” Treasure said. The tired aspect to her voice became buried under sweetened tone which much go with the silver coloring. “You were rebuilt, brought online, you've worked hard to increase your own programming capacity, surely these things are all of the Mechanoid way?”

I looked down and tried to figure out the magic words to get my feelings across. None of them sounded right. This wasn’t like the [Red Imp] where I had a goal and personality traits to play by. This wasn’t William Carver’s already established personality. I had to figure out how to speak as a [Mechanoid] but in my own voice. A human, in a robot, talking to other robots who didn’t view the world the same.

It felt weird, doing such a thing.

“As an old soul, I remember the death of those close to me.” I tried to avoid looking at Jeeves while talking. The AI had been upset at Treasure’s passing, and happy at their reunion. Even now they stood close together, looking at the same objects on the screen. Her shorter form against its taller one.

“Rarely is there an old soul who does not have such loss in their memory banks,” Aqua said. The blue [Mechanoid] seemed to shrug in indifference, as if that was the norm.

“I don’t see things the way you do. I don’t, exist wholly in this world. I remember a life from outside of this body. That man, that part of me you call an old soul, can’t sacrifice anyone on its behalf. I can’t let go of the fact that if you die, even if you’re brought back online somewhere else, whatever you were will never be the same.” My words felt sloppy and only conveyed half of what I meant. Speeches were never a strong point for me.

This whole topic felt like this was me waffling on an important subject with Xin. She was different than the women I knew, without a doubt, yet still I wanted to be with the part that remained.

“I would protect you all as you are now, if I could.” I said.

*“So your votes are both for the Wayfarer Eight’s cessation of attempting to complete our assigned task?”

“My votes, both of them, demand that this crew prioritize survival over suicide.” I said with as much clarity as possible. Part of me felt more confident having said it out loud. “Afterward I, and I alone, will pursue Commander Queenshand and attempt to recover the Mistborn.”

Jeeves didn’t need to die for me. It could go about the game happily with Treasure. If that was what the AI wanted to do in-game, it had my blessings, for what they were worth.

“We will consider your argument, Unit Hermes. For now, what battle plan did you wish to vote for?”

I chewed one lip for a moment before answering. “I was going to offer to pilot the Knuckledragger through the Jump Gate, and see if the other side is clear.” Part of my vague plans included ramming the other ship with the Knuckle Dragger if it could move well enough. The idea of ending more lives scared me. I didn’t want to, hopefully, they would be gone, or simply leave, or any number of possibilities.

“So you wish to recon the other side using their own ship?”

“Yes. We could also bring back their bodies, scattered around.” I said. All the dead bodies floating around did not appeal to me. Aqua had people working on gathering them together in a space burial pile. “If they are there, I can try to appeal to them. Maybe by simply by promising to not pursue with the Wayfarer Eight, the ship left behind will leave, or fall back. Something.”

“The resource cost is minimal for such a proposal.” Treasure said.

“One Mechanoid, that seems a very low cost for the possibility of allowing these ones through.” Aqua chimed in as well.

“Would they believe it?” I interjected another question. There were possible benefits to trying to think more like a human, and less like a [Mechanoid]. They were simply boiling things down to; go through, around, or stop. I wanted to encourage the enemy to leave.

Ruby shook her head in response to my question.

“Unit Ruby is right, they may believe it to be a trick.” Treasure said. Her fingers never stopped bringing up screens. As one opened, another closed. She juggled the informational intake like a professional.

“Even if we bring back their dead?” I looked over at the blue [Mechanoid]. It would know better than the others on this subject. “How often have Mechanoids ever returned the bodies of those slain in combat?”

“Never. As this one explained, we leave them for others to find. It seems best.” Aqua said. The nearly perpetual smile on the tall blue [Mechanoid] faltered for a moment.

“Then we change that pattern and bring back those who were lost to war, as a sign of good faith.” I shrugged. “With my body as the only possible causality.”

“That might work. Humans seem to value their dead far more than these ones do.” Aqua said while staring at the board. Its eyes traced lines and paths between here and the destination.

“Very well. I agree with this portion of the plan.” Treasure said.

“As does this one.” Aqua nodded quickly.

Ruby didn’t nod or shake her head. It was enough for a box to come up, though.

“As for the portion where you wish to go alone, this I do not agree with. Mechanoids are stronger in groups.” Treasure collapsed all of her windows and looked at me. Her gold and silver laced eyes locked with mine for a second before glancing at the blue [Mechanoid].

“Agreed.” Aqua took the cue and passed the question to the third NPC [Mechanoid]. “Unit Ruby?”

Ruby nodded gently then gave a feral half-smile. There was no thumbs or up shrug, no change in how she stood there. The female [Mechanoid] looked like a puppet waiting for a reason to pull her own strings.

“Then I propose we take a few vessels with us, two, no more.” Jeeves nodded along with the others. It was the only other vaguely player type existence to ever grace either Wayfarer ship. They only paid attention because the AI was offering a suggestion, not making a vote.

“Two it is.” Aqua said. Ruby nodded again.

“What?” I felt like I had both won and lost this one. “What do you mean?”

“I will be going.” The short female said. My ability to keep up with this conversation was rapidly slipping. The dull throbbing in my chest served to dim other portions of my awareness.

“I would prefer if you stayed with the Wayfarer Eight.” Jeeves said. Once again I could see a flash of real emotion on the former Hal Pal unit’s face.

“There is no need. In our absence, another will step up to make decisions. The ship will function fine if allowed the freedom to continue forward.” Treasure shot down Jeeves' hopeful statement.

“We’re going to retrofit your Wayfarer’s Hope using parts from my own Seeker. Aqua’s vessel was undamaged, and Ruby has ample resources to rebuild the Razor’s Edge.” Treasure said. Additional figures came up and various ships appeared about the campaign planning map.

I could see a modified version of the [Wayfarer’s Hope] sitting there. It looked like a beefed up version of our old vessel. Increased interior, an extra set of wings in the back with more engines. Strong laces of gold and iron ran through it, showing a mixture of the colors we three [Mechanoid]s shared. Interlaced between that was a messy mix of my lone green.

“Are you sure?” I bit my lip. Part of me was extremely happy that they chose to come with me on this death mission. The other part wanted them to simply escort the [Wayfarer Eight] home.

“This one is, yes.” Aqua said.

“I’m going, if I wasn’t in this until the end, I would have never accepted reconstruction.” Treasure nodded. Her sweet tone overtook the tired one with ease.

Ruby nodded again.

“Jeeves?” I asked after trying to take a careful breath.

“Yes, Unit Hermes, I am here until the end.” Jeeves answered without hesitation.

“Even if-” I couldn’t say it. The AI didn’t know what might happen in the case of game death.

“Yes, Unit Hermes. You won’t get rid of me that easily.” My friend said. I nodded. From here, provided we pushed back the other large ship left behind, we would truly give chase.

They started making plans while an errant thought crossed my mind. It was triggered by Jeeves' words. This idea was not a new one. It had passed through many times, teasing, taunting, offering liberal amounts of hope for a wounded heart. Today it came forth without a melancholy taint of sadness or desperate hope of succor for a drowning man.

It existed with a stilled resolution. At the end of this adventure, I would be together with Xin, even if it killed me.

I felt at the wound to my chest and side while contemplating a second thought. This after idea chased the first with a rapid cynicism, sneaking in before I could clamp down on growing suspicions. Perhaps, the thought said, I would be together with Xin only when this adventure truly killed me.