Chapter 11.B

Hank and Jimmy went through scenario after scenario. They faced things as simple as gunfights with unruly criminals, to scenarios as complex as defusing a bomb. Hank had a particularly fun scenario where he got to attack an enemy missile silo using his Killdozer. It was great for leveling the first floor, but once he had to descend into its depths he unfortunately had to leave the Killdozer behind. After a few more solo scenarios Hank and Jimmy got to link back up to work in a civil unrest situation.

That one was particularly confusing for Hank. His Arbiter Intuition was making every decision twice as hard for him. A father guarding his children throwing off a positive aura might flare evil for a second when he tries to rip bread away from someone else in the hopes of feeding his children. An evil deed for a good cause, kind of, ensuring his kids could eat would mean other kids would starve. Jimmy who wasn’t weighed down with Arbiter abilities treated the scenario as a black and white situation. If someone was breaking the law they got shot with the less-than-lethal weapons that Hank and Jimmy had been provided with for this scenario. The weapons let out some kind of strange energy blast leaving the victim convulsing on the ground for a few minutes.

Hank couldn’t really tell if he had won or lost that scenario since the whole thing had left a bad taste in his mouth. There had been too many factors to consider, too many moving parts. Shit like that was why Hank preferred to just find the bad guy and smash ‘em. On the other hand, Jimmy had seemed nonplussed by the situation. Which again made Hank wonder why he had been chosen to be an Arbiter over Jimmy. As soon as that scenario was over a single glowing blue portal had opened up in the intersection they had been working in. Jimmy and Hank knew the routine by now and jumped through. They arrived to weightlessness, wearing some kind of spacesuits floating among the stars.

They were about ten feet apart with a tether connecting them. In the distance, maybe 600 meters or so they could see a space station. A mechanical voice came from inside of Hank’s suit.

“Only 13 minutes of oxygen remaining.”

Before Hank had more time to ponder his current predicament large wording started flashing across his vision.

“EMERGENCY SIMULATION SHUT DOWN, EXITING IN 3 SECONDS!” Sure enough a few seconds later Hank’s view of space went black and then his VR helmet recessed up above his head giving him a view of Suzie and Cerulean sitting behind the monitor bank. Jimmy was skeptical at first, he had digested enough science fictions books and shows to know the classic trope of putting the characters into a simulation that looks exactly like their own reality. His fears were assuaged once his helmet came up. Reality was… cleaner than the VR, the edges were harder, the smells were realer. When you are actually in the situation and surrounded by it, it's hard to tell the difference, but actually coming back to reality left no question in his mind that this was the real world.

“Why did we get pulled out,” asked Jimmy as he jumped out of the VR chair and began to stretch.

“We got a possible lead on the whereabouts of the demons,” Cerulean replied.

“Why am I not hungry? Why don’t I have to pee? How long were we in? Why am I not tired?” Jimmy blurted out.

Cerulean just knowingly smiled before replying. Your first Arbiter VR session can be intense, I understand. I grew up on a planet with full immersion VR, but it’s nothing like Arbiter tech. And most of the stuff we do in the Arbiter VR is super illegal under universal law. Plus the stress of it would kill most regular folks. To answer your questions though in no particular order: You were in for 17 hours, we all had a good night sleep while you two trained. You aren’t tired because the VR actually put your body into what you humans would call REM sleep. So on the contrary you should be extremely well rested. You did pee multiple times, the chairs you were in took care of that. The chair you were in also had a basic intravenous nutrient drip to keep your energy up, but I suspect you will be starving soon. We are in route to the demons suspected location now. Let’s head to the chow hall and I’ll get you two something to munch on and give you the rest of the details.”

Cerulean’s ship wasn’t very big so they only had to go a few doors down to get to the small room designated for eating. They all sat down around a small table, except for Cerulean. She was at some kind of touchscreen embedded in the wall next to a recessed area that reminded Hank of a soda fountain. She clicked a few more things, but Hank couldn’t see what she was doing fully since her body was blocking the view. Suzie scooted closer to Hank, uncomfortably so. Hank still needed to break it off with her. He knew his future was going to be tumultuous at best and he only needed those he could trust implicitly around him. He knew Suzie was infatuated with him, but that didn’t mean he could trust her. She had already burned him once. Cerulean finished up whatever she was doing at the strange machine and brought over some small gray and dull looking cubes on plates. They were about the size of a human fist. She set one down each in front of Hank and Jimmy.

“What the fuck is that?” asked Hank. Jimmy didn’t add an additional comment but you could tell by his face that he was equally as appalled at their dining selection...

“It’s a nutrient cube, basic space food meant to be non-poisonous to as many species as possible. Not that it would matter to you Hank. An Arbiter’s stomach can filter out toxins and poisons.”

Hank considered it for a minute, before deciding that he was hungry and his combat experience in the military had ingrained in him the fact that being fed and urinating before battle was key. He picked up the cube and roughly shoved the whole thing in his mouth. It was already pretty gelatinous to begin with so he only chewed it a bit before consuming it entirely with just a few swallows. It had tasted like white rice and stale green beans, so overall not so bad.

“It’s edible,” declared Hank.

“I got through about half of one this morning and gave up,” said Suzie.

Jimmy hesitantly took a bite, and then finished his as well in short order. “I pretend to be a crime-lord 7-days a week. I’ve eaten some interesting things in my time, overall that wasn’t terrible in comparison.

“Dractus will eat 10 of those things mushed into a ball and slathered in the blood of a Kalrothian Sandworm,” said Cerulean. Jimmy raises his eyebrows at this comment, but decides he ultimately doesn’t want to know.

“Right, the intel,” says cerulean as she points at a wall that a recessed screen slides out of before continuing. “This is a small town in Washington called Winthrop. We believe it to be the demon’s current location. We are en route now.”

The screen shows a satellite view of a small town basically surrounded by hills and trees in all directions. “Winthrop only has a population of four-hundred, and it’s over one-hundred miles from the nearest airport, so it’s very secluded. All communication with the town ceased about 6 hours ago, and all internet and phone lines in and out of the area have been cut or destroyed. A delivery driver that was dropping off food and supplies mysteriously disappeared as well after a scheduled drop-off there. He never checked in or returned from his run. His cell phone’s last ping showed him entering the town, but now that can’t be tracked since the area is in essentially a digital blackout. We hijacked a few satellites and took some photos, here,” she says as she presses a few buttons on her tablet which causes the screen to show new images.

The new pictures clearly show scattered fires and bodies laying in the streets.

“Some of the residents appear to be holed up in their homes shooting at anything that even comes remotely close to their A.O. but the bulk appear to be dead or missing. We are assuming that this is the work of our demons, but even if it isn’t they need an Arbiter up there ASAP. Human authorities haven’t gotten wind of this yet so we will be the only ones responding. We are going to drop Suzie off here in about five minutes near a major airport in Idaho. Then you two need to get suited up in some armor we worked up for you on our 3D printers when you were in sim-training.

“Hank can I have a word in private with you?” asked Suzie. Hank knew this moment was coming.

“Sure, let’s head out to the hall.”

Once they were out in the hall they could both tell that there was an air of awkwardness between them, Suzie was the one to break the ice.

“So you are walking better, those aliens sure know their stuff.”

Hank hadn’t even noticed until she mentioned it that he basically felt fully-healed. “You're right.”

“Listen Hank, I want this to-”

“I think you should go home Suzie.”

Suzie got quiet and didn’t speak for a minute. “Can I ask why, we just made love yesterday. I just thought… I don’t know I thought I meant something to you.”

“You did, you meant everything to me. Then a small mix up happened, Eugene cut you, your father turned on me, and you abandoned me. I needed you, I needed your support and you threw me away like garbage. I need someone who will stick with me when the going gets tough and you have a track record of doing the opposite of that. My life is about to get really complicated, hell it already is really complicated. I’m not dragging you with me out of respect for you, but I can’t be with you because I don’t trust you...”

Suzie was openly crying now, but Hank wasn’t done yet. “You think I don’t want to take you with me? You are beautiful, hell you are stunning. You got your face cut up and somehow that only made you better looking. You are an animal in the sack. Hell, I like everything about you, but I don’t know you beyond the hyped up image I have of you back from high school. I’m about to leave the planet for a long time if I don’t die hunting these demons. You think it wouldn’t comfort me to have your beautiful face nearby? I’m doing what is best for both of us...”

Suzie had turned her back on him, and she said one thing before storming away. “You are a bastard Hank.” Hank didn’t disagree with her, but he was the bastard he had to be.