Dear #$(@*$D2s

This is a special letter to extend our offer for you to join our ranks and become a member. Normally, this would be against several of the rules that have been established but your most outstanding performance led us to believe it is worth the risk; do not squander that belief. Below you will find the information submitted by you and ask that you confirm it is correct. With the pleasantries established we will list some ground rules:

You cannot declare, confirm, or hint at your membership. Any information you acquire through cooperation with us can be used freely. It will be in our best interest for you not to desert, betray or switch sides against us. Do anything a superior asks you too, no matter the cost.

You will not be given a leader to follow as your path will be different from most. The starting position will be third-level access and your mission is to rise to the fifth-level within the year.

Good Luck,

User: #$(@*$D2s

Password: sǝpnu puǝs

Gender: Other

Age: 1 day(s).

Other: ???

Email received: 21/05/2066 at 17:42

****

Hello #$(@*$D2s,

This is an automated alert to notify you of your mission accomplishment of: achieving fifth-level access. The payment is: unavailable. In order to acquire it, get in contact with .2SD2#@.

Have a nice day,

Email received: 22/05/2066 at 19:42

********

With a source of energy and no damage on our bodies, we were in good spirits-

An enormous explosion reverberated and shattered trees some ten meters from us. The pillar of flame reached far above the remaining tree tops.

[Defence Mechanism: Activated]

I had gotten used to reading these messages and when I understood what it said, my heart sank. By the time my brain caught up, my right arm was extended in front of my chest. My hand clutched some sort of dart, out of which a small trickle of smoke came out; similar to what I had seen in the shop.

‘Are those...those what? Wait, how did I know it’s a-’

My thoughts were interrupted by my body spazzing out to avoid several more projectiles, two were dodged by jerking to the left and diving to the ground, while another two were caught by my hands.

I could feel impacts on my legs and my body stiffening up. Somehow, I managed to fall in a way that gave me a clear view of Gash and Nicks. They were safe but on the ground and not moving, like me.

[Foreign influence detected. Engaging…]

‘Uh oh…’

[Nature unknown, effect unknown, no counter detected...]

‘Not good!’ As I read the message my consciousness was stripped bit by bit.

[Defence Mechanism: Deactivated]

‘Fuck.’

With my body immobilised, there was little I could do as dark spots in my vision grew bigger...

[Return to the meeting spot immediately.]

The monk’s voice sounded in my mind, but it was of little concern now. Instead, the approaching footsteps held my attention.There were two pairs that neared Gash and kicked him over, there was no movement from him.

One the the robots, covered in scavenged metal plates and a cloak bent down to grab Gash by the arm…‘What are they-?’

The panic roared to life as I realized they were trying to dismember him!

[Are you retarded? The fuck you doing?] The voice was monotone like everyone else’s but caused the cloaked robot to stop and look over.

[What does it look like?]

[Like you’re trying to spoil our damn merchandise!] At this point a third robot came into view, he had the same cloak and plates but a long rifle was strapped over his shoulder. He kicked the crouched robot and turned to someone.

[Pick them up, they walked as a group and that one seemed to have potential, perhaps their leader.] The armed robot pointed at me as the message came out.

Within moments I felt someone hoist me upwards and over. With my immobilized body leaning over someone’s back, I had no strength to resist the encroaching darkness. The assailants’ leader was not bent on killing us outright, and that was enough.

****

[Unexpected shutdown occurred. Boot as normal or initiate safe-mode?]

I was still reeling from what happened before, never a moment of rest. From almost being gunned down the moment I stepped outside, to just fighting for my life in a forest and now this. Kidnapped by another group of robots.

I focused on the message in front of me, the rest of my vision pitch-black. I could not feel my body or open my eyes to look around. ‘What the heck is safe-mode? And the shutdown was most likely the other robot’s doing so I doubt safe-mode would help…’

‘Boot as normal!’

The message and colourless canvas was replaced by my usual sight and control over my body returned.

I was sprawled face down on some dirt, Gash and Nicks were on either side of me.

[The leader woke up!]

A monotone voice came from somewhere. I got onto my feet and look around. The three of us were left next to some sort of wooden wall, while a group of five robots set in a semi-circle on the opposite side. They had identical gear, from their clothes down to their guns.

[Oh good, I was getting tired of waiting. Long story short, you’re now our slaves for us to do with as we please. See the gadget around your neck? I don’t recommend tryin’ to taken it off. Let’s do all sorta stuff with you including tracking. Behind you is a simple buildin’. I need to know if you are worth a dime or should we just scrap you. Your crew’s job will be to go as far as you can and bring back the most valuable stuff you find. If it’s enough, we give you a new mission, if not, we scrap you. Simple right?]

That was no question but a command, with one correct answer.

‘Got it.’ ‘Send four meters.’ ‘That should be far enough...I hope.’

[Great, we’ll be back tomorrow.] With the parting words, the leader and his gang left us. I watched their retreating forms until they disappeared from view. Gash and Nicks were still on the ground, silent. I brought a hand to my neck and found what he was talking about...it reminded me a of a collar more than a gadget, but I was not about to mess with it...yet.

To say the doors were huge, would be correct. They had some kind of nails, wider than my own fists, going through the surface of the planks which were parallel to one another. There were two metallic rings attached to the doors at about shoulder height. The rest was simple bricks covering the walls of the structure. All in all, it was a tower six times my height and had several holes where I presumed windows should be.

‘Nicks and Gash are still out...I should go check if we can even open the doors.’ The sun was just a quarter of the way up and the bleary, dry, cracked ground was inviting as ever.

The doors dwarfed my size, ‘why would they use wood instead of something sturdier…’

As I traced my hand over its surface I remembered two skills that have yet to be used.

‘Command List.’

The familiar blue screen filled my vision and I scrolled the list…

Scan

Scan a target to get miscellaneous information such as height, weight, composition and store it in the data bank. The more information in the data bank from ‘Examine’, the greater amount of details can be distinguished.

Examine

Inspect a material or object to learn its properties and composition. Adds it to the data bank.

‘They seem rather similar...both add information to the bank, except one inspects while the other scans? Scan seems to rely on the bank more than examine though.’

‘Let’s start with the simpler one then.’

‘Examine.’

Just like when I picked up the drive in the shop, the surface of the wood was covered in perfect squares which were outlined by neon-green edges. The shapes then twisted and rotated for a few more seconds with all of them converging on a spot where the surface was splintered, exposing the wood five centimeters in.

[Wood colouring and texture match those of Ebon Wood Tree, information already present in data bank.]

‘That’s it? In that case, let me try scanning it.’

[Wood colouring and texture match those of Bubon Wood Tree. Genetically created by humans as a cross-breed of Ironwood and Bubinga with a compressive and bending strength, on average, of 11,500 and 23,421 psi respectively. The species is not native or present on this continent.]

‘Holy...that’s a lot of Newtons. Also, it’s not present on this continent? That means there is at least one more continent…’

[Mark! What happened?!] I turned to face the shouting Gash struggling to get on his feet with Nicks just starting to move.

‘Well, we were kidnapped and were told to do stuff for others without an explanation...again.’ ‘Send message two meters.’

[Keep going.] That one must have been Nicks.

‘The group that took us, there were five of them that I saw, had guns and identical protection of warped sheets of metal and cloaks. They told me that we must go inside the building and bring out anything of value, the group will be back in one day.’

I left out the part about being slaves-

[That doesn’t sound so bad, we go in, get out and all will be happy.] ‘I don’t think it works like that Gash.’

[What did they put on our necks?]

Nicks was pointing at his collar.

‘They didn’t say much other than being used as tracking devices, not to attempt to take them off and some other... unspecified functions.’

[So what are we waiting for? Let’s go in already!] Gash’s enthusiasm almost came through the monotone voice.

[Hold on, what about that bag?]

When I turned to see who spoke, I found Nicks approaching a coarse sack that I somehow missed. It was positioned away from the tower so it must have slipped my notice, but still.

‘What’s inside?’ I sent the message as Nicks started rummaging through it.

[It’s our solar panels, Mark’s drive and half of an arm.]

‘So they left us with our stuff before leaving, how nice of them.’

‘Just bring it with us, no point in leaving it out in the open.’

Nicks slung the bag over his shoulder and the three of us stepped inside.

No noise came from the doors as they opened, and the inside was even quieter still.

[I can’t see jack shit in here!] I do not think Nicks would complain like that…

‘Just activate night vision.’ It was dark, with the few windows behind us acting as stationary spotlights. Anything outside of their radius was impossible to make out.

‘Night vision!’

I winced as my eyes underwent a shift and the surroundings became clear, if dreadful, once more.

‘What is this place?’

Despite its outward appearance, the tower seemed rather small. The three of us began to creep forward on high alert for the slightest sound. There were some kind of shelves made of stone and marble, with various blank screen located on them. It felt like a surreal library, but those haven’t been made in years… ‘How did I know that?’

Another random piece of information skirted past my mind. Instead of books lining the shelves there were cracked monitors, ripped wires and moth-eaten cloth hanging down the sides of the aisles. There was some kind of writing on them, but they more resembled old rags than anything intelligible.

No ladders nor anything resembling lifts were present to take us up since there was nothing up there but three enormous screens, or so they were supposed to be. Only a single screen remained intact, while the others were shattered and missing large sections of themselves.

[Dunno about you guys, but that giant screen up there is the only thing of value I see…]

Both Gash and Nicks looked up and inspected it.

[There’s no way to get it down.]

‘You guys work on that, I’ll make a quick sweep to make sure we didn’t miss anything.’

The two did not even look back as I jogged past the countless isles. After checking the interior of the aisles and coming up empty, I made my way back around the perimeter when there was a pull and the floor traveled straight for my face-

I braced for impact with my hands. ‘For heaven’s sake!’

Rather annoyed, I glared at what caused me to fall and found an odd ring sticking out. It was no more than a handspan in diameter, but with everything being a various shade of black and white, it blended in with the dust and dirt on the ground.

‘Hey guys! Over here!’ ‘Send message five meters.’

[Where’s here?] I got the response which reminded me that they don’t hear me in the typical sense.

‘Just run around the perimeter, you’ll find me.’

While I waited for them to arrive, I crouched down and hauled the ring upwards. The wooden trapdoor that was perfectly covered by the dirt and sand to the point of being invisible exposed a hungering darkness below. Placing it back down hid the entire door, with nothing but the miniscule outlines and the metal ring visible.

[There you are, so what’ve you got?]

I took that as my queue to lift it open once more and take a peek below.

Forget about light, it was pitch black down here, even with our night vision we struggled to make out anything.

‘See anything?’

[Yea, there is a good nine meter drop straight down. It looks like some kind of balcony but can’t tell much more. We’re blocking the only light source.]

‘Which means we need to get down there to see more. Not to mention with that depth it’s for sure below surface level, tens of meters below. At that point could anything live down there...without light?’

[So how are we going to get down there?]

Both Nicks and me stared at Gash as he was about to just jump in, head-first.