Chapter 07

With power operating at one third of its maximum capacity Vesta noticed that the energy bar for the city was way into the green. The few buildings decorating the skyline weren’t using much power at all especially considering that most of them were just empty shells.

The next mission that she was eager to tackle was Communications Blackout I. She hoped that even though it was a chain mission she could get some of the communications back online and deal with the rest of the comms issues as they arose.

Being a player and having her special phone, Vesta wondered what it was like to be cut off. These phones worked no matter where you were in the world and no matter what was happening. Then she began to consider the shift. Had it changed her phone. It had been very quiet as of late, which she had attributed to most of the people that she’d known vanishing, but she hadn’t heard from Spark at all. Not even a smart-ass comment about, well, her ass.

She pulled the phone out of her pocket and went straight to the messaging app.

Vesta: Can I get a status report?

She sent the message and locked the screen. Standing outside of the power plant she immediately noticed the heavier steam clouds rising up from the large stacks. She tapped her phone on the palm of her hands a few times nervously. In a crack and a whoosh, she vanished from the road outside of the power plant and reappeared in the new downtown district.

The buildings in the commercial district were coming up nicely. They were blank shells, but it was starting to give a substance to the city-state. The tallest building besides the main building was only six stories tall. It was built of steel and glass. The top floor angled inward.

Vesta phone buzzed in her hand.

Spark: Awe did you miss me?

Vesta: In your dreams.

Spark: Every night, mostly nude.

Vesta: You’re a pig.

Spark: I won’t deny that. I found a few people who will be heading into the city over the next few weeks. I am in Clean Break. I could really use a lift back to Summerrest.

Vesta: I think that I could use the silence, and you could use the walk. You know, to think about what you’ve said.

Spark: I’ll think about it all day long, that doesn’t mean that it will change how much I love those curves baby.

Vesta: …

Spark: You wouldn’t have messaged me if you weren’t thinking about me. Don’t want to be alone? Come pick me up.

Vesta: For your information. I met two new friends.

Spark: Oh yeah, who?

Vesta: Bert and Ernie.

Spark: LOL! If you’re going to make someone up, you need to try a little better with the names there, sweet cheeks.

Vesta: You aren’t helping your case.

Spark: Alright, fine. I’ll be back in about ten hours.

Vesta locked her screen and shoved her phone back into her pocket. She took a deep breath and resolved to making him walk the whole way back to the city. Then the fact that she was alone started to creep in on her mind. His babbling dumbass conversation was better than having no one to talk to. She pulled her phone back in frustration and unlocked it.

Vesta: I’m on my way.

Spark: I’m at the station baby. Kisses!

The last message filled her with rage and almost made her change her mind, but she didn’t. Instead she rolled her eyes and closed her eyes. The normal crack and whoosh filled the air signaling her departure. She appeared in the Clean Break station. The jump used about a third of her energy in its roughly ten miles. She would have been able to turn right back around and make the return trip if it was just her, but since it was the two of them, she was going to need more energy. On that note her stomach growled loudly.

“When was the last time that you had something to eat?” Spark asked with a grin.

“Yes.” She said with a nod.

“Yes, you are hungry or yes you’ve eaten.” He asked with a shrug.

“Yes.” She said with another nod and rubbed her growling stomach, “I need time to recoup energy anyway.”

They walked down from the train station platform then onto the calm city streets of Clean Break. City was probably not the best word to describe the glorified town. Even though it was designated as a city it must have just barely met the requirements. The main street looped around the station’s pillars that held it fifty feet off the ground. Out from the stairs the road went straight west where it branched off in three distinct paths. The main path continued out west, the first branch turned to the north and Vesta assumed that it would lead to Summerrest eventually. The last branch turned south. A quick look at the map showed her that the road eventually made its way to a city called Riverfall.

Many shops lined the sides of the main roads and they couldn’t say they were empty, but it was nothing like the bustle of Axiscore. They found a small restaurant a few blocks down the main street called Drifters. Inside they found a nice sit-down restaurant that was decorated in a fusion of fifties dinner and modernistic. The walls had bold curved lines and the tables were shiny with chrome but were covered in silk tablecloths.

“Nice place for a first date.” Spark said squeezing her shoulder. Vesta huffed and rolled her eyes following behind him and the hostess.

They sat down at a table set for two. The mousy woman placed a velvet lined menu in front of each of them.

“What time is it?” Vesta asked the woman. She hadn’t really been paying attention.

“It is four in the morning.” The woman said with a pleasant smile.

“Oh, dang.” Vesta said. The realization of the time amount of time that had passed slapped her in the face and she was suddenly very tired.

“Can I get you something to drink?” The hostess asked.

“I’ll have a water.” Vesta nodded.

“Anything with a strong alcohol content.” Spark said returning the hostess’ smile.

The woman gave a slight bow as she walked away to get their drinks. Vesta looked down at the menu for a moment. She didn’t really want anything fancy, but she was very hungry. She started to look for quantity. She found a surf and turf combo that looked like it would have what she needed.

The hostess returned with their drinks a few moments later. She took their orders. Spark didn’t put much thought into his order beside just saying ‘same’ after Vesta completed her order. Vesta looked at the short glass with brown liquor on Sparks side of the table. She had never been a big drinker. The couple of times that she had drank in during her freshman year of college she ended up blacking out then waking up in her bed not quite sure how she’d gotten there. After the third time she vowed never again.

Spark picked up the glass and shot it back. The glass had to be a few shots worth of whatever he was drinking, but he got it all down in one gulp. He made a sower face for a moment but put the glass back down and smiled.

“What are you looking at?” He asked.

“A horse’s ass.” Vesta scoffed. In truth Spark was a hansome man. His personality made that fade to nothing until she felt like she was looking at a jackass.

“Touché.” Spark said crossing his arms. His smile never wavered.

“Why are you like this? Why can’t you just be a nice guy?” Vesta said with a loud scoff.

“Aside from some off-color comments, what about me is not a nice guy?” He asked seeming to take offense, and really show some emotions, towards her statement, “I am who I am. I don’t have to pretend to be some stuck-up asshole who toes the fucking line all the time in this world. And you know what, I like it.”

Vesta considered him for a moment. Besides his comments she really couldn’t place anything that he had directly done that was not nice. He had stuck with her even though he said that he had other people that he could join up with, and that was even after she treated him like scum. Even then he chose to stick with her and help her.

“I’m sorry.” She said after a moment of silence.

“I’m not looking for a sorry. I get that I’m an asshole with some of the things that I say. I can’t say that I will change in that aspect.” He said.

There was another tense moment of silence during which their food arrived as well as another drink for Spark. He took a time and enjoyed this one in sips this go around.

“Alright, so this has become awkward with a side of weird.” Vesta said between bites. From being a small-town meal, it was very tasty, and she was in no hurry to waste enjoying a single bite.

“If you want to make it awkward baby cakes.” He said making a kissing sound with his lips.

“That one was a bit much.” Vesta said.

“Yeah. I felt it.” He said with an agreeing nod.

“What was your life like outside of the new world?” Spark asked in an attempt to spark some conversation, “You know about mine.”

“Boring.” She said flatly.

“Come on you can do better than that.” Spark said with a genuine smile.

“Alright,” she cleared her throat, “I come from a wealthy family. My parents purchased everything for me that I have ever wanted. Though I did well in school it wouldn’t have mattered. I tried to separate myself from them and make my own achievements, but they always seemed find a way to attach themselves to me. I purchased the top of the line equipment that I could get my hands on for this type of gaming. When I found My Supers Online, I finally thought that I would be able to build myself up as my own unique person.” She word vomited on their meal.

“Alright.” Spark said digesting her admission.

“I finally found a place that I felt more than a vault full of money and I had friends and family in this game that I loved more than anyone in the other world. And now…” She cut herself off with a choke.

“Now?” He asked.

“Now they are all gone.” She said.

“And you are stuck with me.” Spark finished for her.

“No, I didn’t mean that. I may have said or thought that in the past, but right now I’m thankful for you.” She said shaking her head.

“Awe I’m touched.” He mockingly put his hand on his heart.

“Jackass.” She hissed crossing her arms.

“Seriously, I’m just messing around to break the tension. It’ll be good.” Spark said with a smile.

Vesta could feel a great deal of tension release from her neck that she didn’t even know had built up. They finished their food making small talk and joking around. Vesta was honestly surprised, but she liked his company more than she ever thought that she would.

~//~

Vesta and Spark appeared standing on a small hill that overlooked the southeast side of the city. It was mostly streets and empty lots, but there was potential. Vesta raised three of her fingers and counted lowering them down one at a time. When she had lowered the last one, she pointed at Spark.

“What?” He asked, but instantly doubled over and vomited on the ground.

“There it is.” She said with a satisfied smile.

“Oh god why?” He said gasping for air.

“You’re not used to the trans-dimensional transfusion matrix.” Vesta said.

“What?” Spark stood up straight and shook his head.

“Nothing but technojargon that I made up. You’ll be fine.” She said with a scoff.

“And you say I’m the asshole.” He said with a cough.

“You know Spark, you get back what you put out in this world.” She said smiling.

“Fair enough.” He replied with a curt nod.

Standing at the top of the hill they were offered a clear view of the communications substation. From there it looked fairly normal, mundane, ordinary, and there was no obvious reason why it would be disconnected from the outside world.

Summerrest was not closely neighbored by any city, but there were cities around her. To the south of her city there was Clean Break. A small city that didn’t seem like it offered much, but she didn’t write it off. There was no telling what it was hiding away from the world. To the west about sixty miles away was Midnight Star. Vesta didn’t know much about it and she was going to have to do some research. To the east leaning towards the north was Hollow Grave. A city of tall gothic skyscrapers. Then to the east moving in a southern trajectory was Grand Basin. This city was also many tall skyscrapers but had a clean modern look.

“What are we doing?” Spark asked watching Vesta as she stared at her city.

“We are about to go complete a mission.” She said taking the first step down the hill towards the substation.

They walked down the hill. The substation was a concrete building that couldn’t be more than two rooms. There was a set of conduit pipes that rose up out of the ground and went into the side of the building. A simple chain-link fence surrounded the property.

“So do we just go in and flip a switch?” Spark asked as they walked.

“Let’s hope so.” Vesta said with a sigh. The encounter with the tech-pire was still fresh in her mind.

The gate to the fence was unlocked. They were able to push it right open and get inside the enclosure. The two of them moved in almost complete silence towards the door. The sun was up high for the morning and sky was clear.

They leaned on either side of the doorway and looked at each other for a moment silently communicating the plan. Vesta ignited the flames on her hand that she used for light and waited from Spark to open the door.

The keypad on the wall next to the door was completely dead. That was not a problem for Spark. He placed his finger on the side of the panels frame and began to will very controlled amounts of energy into the device. The screen flickered to life quickly going through a boot up procedure.

Seeing that the panel required a handprint identification, Spark decided to try something that he’d considered in theory, but never had an opportunity to try before. The door’s lock bolt was controlled by an electric actuator that moved it in and out of place. It actually moved a set of three bolts. One at the top of the door, one it the middle and one at the bottom. Spark directed his energy to flow into the electric actuator until it activated and moved the bolts back into the wall unlocking the door. With a sliding sound and a click, they were in.

“Ladies first.” Spark said with a smile and pushed the door open.

“I went first for the last one,” She said shaking her head, “It’s not my fault that you weren’t here.”

“Fine.” He said holding up his right hand. Energy started to pulse through his veins following his heartbeat giving off a white-blue light.

Taking a deep breath Spark stepped into the small building. He could see that it was split into two rooms. The room right inside the door seemed be some kind of control center, but it was completely offline. The second room was where the fiberoptic cables came into the building and the signals were redistributed among the city.

Spark took a few minutes to look around, but he didn’t see anything or anyone in either of the rooms. Just to be sure he did the whole sweep a second time.

“Its all clear.” He said returning to the doorway.

“Thanks.” Vesta said walking past him into the room. The control center was a main panel that was about eight feet wide that was surrounded my half a dozen other smaller panels. By the look of the set up there would be sever holograms if the system was online, but instead there was nothing but empty air.

Vesta started to examine the panel while Spark walked away to look for the cause of the power outage.

“Cassi.” Vesta said to get the attention of her digital assistant. She knew that Cassi was always listening.

“Yes mum.” She said when she appeared in Vesta’s vision.

“Can you check to see if the power is getting to this building?” Vesta asked. She lowered herself to the floor where she attempted to take a look at the underside of the panel searching for any kind of damage.

“One moment.” Cassi said. That was all that passed when a map appeared in Vesta’s vision that showed the power flow throughout the city. She noticed that in the south east district there were a few places that the power didn’t fully reach, but it came all the way out to this building’s meter.

“Thank you, Cassi.” Vesta said with a frustrated huff.

Without another word the AI’s avatar vanished from her view. She didn’t see any kind of damage to the panel and the junction box where all of the cables ran to was locked, but in perfect repair.

“Anything?” She called to Spark as she pulled herself back up from under the panel.

“Yeah.” Spark said. There was a cracking noise, and everything came to life in the room.

For the moment Vesta walked away from the control panel and turned the corner into the other room to see what Spark had done. Something above him took her attention.

“Don’t move.” She said in a whisper. Her eyes were locked on the tech-pires that were hanging upside down from the ceiling.

“What?” Spark asked as he whipped around sharply.

The sudden movement startled the two creatures from their slumber. The both turned, one looking at Vesta and one looking as Spark, opened their mouths and let out a loud shriek. They un-furrowed large wings and dropped down from their perch.

“What the fuck is that?” Spark yelled as he was knocked down onto the ground. He fought at the tech-pire, but it began to drain his energy.

Vesta wasn’t having the same exchange that she had had the last time. She threw her hand out and spawn a ball of flame about the size of a baseball. With a thought the ball of flame rocketed across the room in a streak and smashed into the tech-pire that was about to attack her. It flew back and smashed into the wall.

The creature dropped to the ground and writhed convulsing uncontrollably as the fire spread across his body. The other tech-pire flew across the room across Vesta line of sight smoke filling the air behind it. Spark was pushing himself up from the ground and a thick bolt of lightning the size of his wrist was burning through the creature.

“Thanks for the hand.” He said as the creature fell to the ground a chard mess.

“I was about to help you,” Vesta said with a scoff, “Plus, you totally had it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He said brushing himself off.

“So, meant to tell you, the Nanowork-Zombies weren’t the only oddity to have attacked this city.” Vesta said trying to make light of the situation.

“What the hell where those things?” Spark asked.

“Bert and Ernie called them Tech-pires.” Vesta said.

“Wait, those two are real people?” Spark asked.

“Yeah, you can’t make that shit up man.” She said shaking her head. Returning to the other room she started to look at the control panels for the city’s communication infrastructure. Mostly the systems read outs were to see how much data was flowing through the city. It looked like there was an addon that could be purchase in order to actually view and track the data itself, but Vesta felt like that was a very villainous thing to be doing.

“Here.” Spark said opening a window for Vesta to look over.

It was a page where they could reestablish the outside traffic, for a fee.

-Option 1: 1000 simultaneous users @ 10 Gigabit upload and 5 Gigabit download

-10,000t / Month

-20% Boost to number of incoming citizens.

-Option 2: 1000 simultaneous users @ 20 Gigabit upload and 10 Gigabit download

-15,000t / Month

-30% Boost to number of incoming citizens.

-Option 3: 10000 simultaneous users @ 10 Gigabit upload and 5 Gigabit download

-90,000t / Month

-35% Boost to number of incoming citizens.

-Option 4: 10000 simultaneous users @ 20 Gigabit upload and 10 Gigabit download

-135,000t / Month

-38% Boost to number of incoming citizens.

-Upgrade your infrastructure for more options.

-(1) One-year contract – 10% discount

-(2) Two-year contract – 15% discount

-Month to month – No discount

Vesta considered the options. Right off the bat she about had a heart attack when she looked at the cost per month. She decided that she did not need the ten thousand connections at the time.

The first option seemed a little slow but given that they were a budding city and nation they could deal for the time. She assumed that she could come back and upgrade as needed. Given that there were some options not even available until her infrastructure was better, she thought it was a safe bet.

She chose the first option. A message appeared that indicated that there was not enough money in the cities expense account. Vesta opened her money management window and looked over her own funds. She still had over fifty million thread in her personal account. With a quick transfer she moved ten million into the cities account.

After that she was able to sign them up to the first option. She didn’t sign a contract because she wanted to feel out the options for a while before committing to anything.

-You have completed a City-State Mission

-Communications Blackout I

-By reconnection the city’s communications infrastructure to the outside world again you have enabled an important resource for growth.

-+10,000xp

-+100 Heroic Points

-+50 Hero Tier Points

-+150 City Points

-By completing this mission, you have automatically accepted Communications Blackout II.

Vesta was kind of taken aback by the fact that the second in the chain of missions didn’t really give her any kind of information on how to accomplish the second part of the mission. She hoped that it would become clear.

While she had her notification, windows open she decided to check on her most recent combat notification. She normally had them automatically minimized as well as most other things in the game so that she could check only when she wanted to on her time.

-You’ve Defeated a Rabid Tech-Pire

-Level: 37

-+4,394xp

-+3 Heroic Points (Default to common)

-+3 Hero Points (Default to common)

-You have discovered that tech-pires have a weakness to fire. 200% damage increase when using fire-based attacks.

If they had to deal with many more of the tech-pires at least she knew they were weak against her strength. That would make things easy. Vesta closed out all of her notifications. But before she could turn her attention to anything else Cassi appeared in her vision.

“I’m sorry to bother you mum.” She said with a slight bow.

“Don’t worry about it, what can I do for you?” Vesta asked.

“I noticed that you have completed two of the city missions that you had accepted. Congratulations.” Cassi said with another bow, “I wanted to inform you that your first citizens have arrived.”

“Really? Where?” Vesta asked in excitement.

“What’s going on?” Spark asked.

“They are gathering at the main building. There is a Department of Arrivals.” Cassi said. She showed Vesta a live feed of the department that she was talking about.

“There isn’t anyone to run the department.” Vesta said her excitement turning to concern. She ignored Spark.

“Hello.” He asked.

“Yes mum. They are gathering and waiting patiently.” Cassi continued.

“We will be right there.” Vesta said turning towards Spark.

“No, I’ll walk.” He said trying to get out of her reach. She was able to grab his hand and with a loud whoosh they vanished. They reappeared in the room that Cassi had shown them.

The Department of Arrivals was a small section within the main building. The center room was an auditorium that could fit a couple hundred people. Off to either side there were interview rooms and offices. It looked to Vesta like in its hay day the department could process a few dozen people at once if it was properly staffed.

Vesta and Spark appeared on the stage in front of the people. Vesta tried to count how many people were in the small crowd but was having trouble.

“Cassi how many are there?” Vesta asked in a low tone.

“Twenty-three right now, twenty-five in about six days.” Cassi said. Vesta didn’t get it at first, but the she spotted a very pregnant woman in the front row. She was being held up by her husband.

Vesta took a quick moment to look over the people who had shown up. She didn’t know where they had come from or why exactly they were there, but she didn’t really care at the moment. The game was a foot and she was playing for real. She noticed that everyone was wearing dirty clothes. Some of the people looked malnourished. Between all of them there was hardly any luggage or bags at all. She glanced over at Spark.

“Well say something Lady Sweet ass.” Spark said with a grin.

She turned to the people who had started to focus their attention on her from the ground level. They waited in anticipation for her to speak. Sparks comment had frustrated her, but it had calmed her nerves and brought joy to the moment. A shocked moment of horror passed through her mind as she considered if she was starting to like his comments. She told her to stop stalling.

“I am Lady Vesta!” She said to the silent onlookers, “Welcome to the new, and soon to be improved Summerrest City!”