Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 31 - Return

Many of the aliens I’ve encountered resemble creatures out of our mythology. From elves to gnomes and everything in between – I often wonder if there’s some meaning behind that. Had they made contact well before the Initialization, and our myths were the result? Or was there some other explanation?

Patrick Ward

“You think it’s safe?” asked Patrick, lying next to me in our bed. His head was cradled in his hands, and he wore a satisfied expression on his face.

I draped my arm over his bare chest and answered, “Probably not.”

“Then don’t do it,” he advised. “I think I’ve got a good enough start to finish the armor on my own. We could head somewhere off the grid and –”

“No.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Aside from the fact that you’d be going back on your word and burning a bridge that doesn’t need to be burned?” was my answering question.

“That’s the pot calling the kettle black,” he said.

He wasn’t wrong. It sometimes felt like I was missing something necessary for maintaining relationships with other people. I managed it okay with Patrick, but it seemed like everything I did resulted in the alienation of people that should have been friends. Like with Simon and Vanna. If things had gone differently, I could have leaned on them. But every time I saw them, disaster followed. By now, they were probably on the other side of the world trying to set up a new life.

Because of me.

Still, just because I couldn’t follow my own advice didn’t invalidate it. So, I said, “You might need her sometime in the future. And besides, she has a state-of-the-art facility, right? And you said it yourself that she’s a genius when it comes to this kind of stuff. If we want the best results, she should be involved. Plus, there’s the other thing.”

“What other thing?”

“I don’t want to break the agreement,” I said.

Patrick barked a laugh, but cut it off as soon as he realized that he’d misread the situation. “Oh. Sorry. Thought that was a joke,” he said.

“It wasn’t.”

“Yeah, no – I see that now,” he said sheepishly. “But…well…”

“What?” I asked, seeing him struggle to find the words for whatever he wanted to say. “Just spit it out, Pick.”

“You’ve never cared about keeping your word before,” he stated. “I’ve seen you lie through your teeth is you thought it could get you ahead. You’ve stolen. You’ve killed people for money. I mean…I’m not judging, but since when do you care about morality?”

“This isn’t about morals,” I said. “It’s about trying to be better.”

Indeed, my recent encounters with aliens had made it abundantly clear that I wasn’t ready for life as a resident of the wider galaxy. I could easily stand up to the dregs that had found their way to Earth, but the moment I found myself facing off against any aliens that weren’t two-bit smugglers who’d been pushed so far against the wall that they thought going to a recently Initiated world was a good idea, I had found myself at a distinct disadvantage.

For instance, I still had no idea how the Dingyts had even found me, let alone avoided my detection. It would have been so much easier to swallow if it had only been one. That was easily explainable by attributing it to an extraordinarily skilled individual. I had no doubt that Alistaris Kargat qualified. But it wasn’t just him. It was an entire squad. So, either they were extremely advanced as a species – something I doubted based on my previous interactions with them – or I was missing something.

And then there were the Pacificians to worry about. I only had Freddy’s word to go on, so I really wasn’t sure who they were or what they were after. I liked Freddy, and the Templars had done right by me. Still, I had long subscribed to a “trust but verify” doctrine, and I wasn’t going to stop now.  As far as I was concerned, the more information I could get on them, the better off I’d be.

However, the simple fact was that I needed to be better in every facet of my life. I needed to stop relying on my skills as if they were foolproof. I needed to commit more to my training – even the parts I didn’t like. And most of all, I knew I needed help. Maybe not immediately, but once the Initialization ended and the Integration began, I would need allies if I wanted to survive, let alone thrive.

And a few aliens in the Bazaar weren’t going to cut it.

So, I’d decided that, going forward, I needed to be more cognizant of how I treated other people. Not because I thought they deserved my regard. Rather, because I thought I might one day need their support.

With that in mind, I had no intention of screwing Cyrilla over. Or letting Patrick do so.

“Personal growth that doesn’t have to do with your status readout?” he scoffed. “Who are you, and what have you done with Mira?”

“Ugh. That joke was old even before the Initialization,” I groaned.

“I stand by it.”

“Of course you do,” I said with a slight smile.

“So – you want to go to the Bazaar, huh? Even with everyone gunning for you,” he said.

I shook my head. I’d made a lot of enemies in the past few years, most of whom were aliens. And those aliens frequented the Bazaar. I didn’t think they could actually hurt me up there – although, I’d recently discovered that what I thought I knew wasn’t always based in reality – but the same couldn’t be said for my friends. The last thing I wanted was to bring unwanted attention to Gala’s or Dex’s doorstep, so I’d refrained from visiting the Bazaar unless absolutely necessary.

“You could just call them,” he suggested.

I shook my head. I’d discovered the hard way how easily communications could be hijacked. So, a call was fine if all I was doing was ordering ammunition or inquiring about mundane purchases. But for this? I needed to be face-to-face.

I explained my reasoning, ending with, “Besides, Ana has been begging me to visit for weeks now. I think she got a new poster, and she wants to show it off.”

“She could just show some of her alien friends.”

“I don’t think they appreciate boy bands as much as she does,” I said with a chuckle. “Come to think of it, neither do I. In fact, I don’t think anybody appreciates boy bands like she does.”

“I do believe you’re right about that,” he agreed. “But seriously, Mira – I’m fine with leaving all this behind. This is a risk we don’t need to take.”

I just shook my head. As much sense as that made, I knew it wasn’t a route I wanted to take. Besides, I was intrigued – and more than a little creeped out – by the Pacificians. Maybe that colored my judgement more than I wanted to admit.

“It’ll be fine.”

“Every time you say that, something bad happens,” he pointed out.

I shrugged. “Bad things are going to happen regardless of what I do,” I countered. “I’m just trying to control what I can.”

After that, we both went silent, and soon after, I fell asleep in his arms. I never felt safer than in little moments like that.

The next morning, I set about preparing for a trip into the Bazaar. The first item on my list was to determine precisely which Confluence I intended to use. Fortune simply wasn’t big or important enough to warrant access to the Bazaar, so I would have to head somewhere else. To do that, I would need to pilot the Leviathan, which made Patrick incredibly uncomfortable.

“I could take a day off,” he offered. “I think Cy’s tired of having me around anyway, and I could –”

“I’m perfectly capable of flying my own ship,” I stated evenly.

“Yeah, but…well…you do have a habit of running into things. Not that it’s always your fault!” he was quick to add. But the damage had been done. Even if I’d been willing to entertain his offer, there was absolutely no way I was going to do so now. Not after he’d said that.

Even if it was kind of true.

In my defense, I didn’t have a Pilot ability like him. Nor was I a {Smuggler}, which meant that people noticed me when I landed. With Patrick at the helm, everyone just sort of ignored the giant, shiny ship.  They knew it was there, but it wasn’t noteworthy to them. With my lack of appropriate skills, things usually went a different way.

“Last time you went off on your own, you started a gang war,” he pointed out. “And you rammed a building.”

“That building deserved it,” I maintained.

And it had. Or rather, the people inside had. In any case, I wasn’t going to apologize for doing what needed to be done. That gang had tried to steal the Leviathan; there was no way I was going to let that pass uncontested.

“You know the ship has cannons, right? You didn’t have to ram it.”

“I can’t use those cannons and fly the ship at the same time,” I muttered, annoyed at having to point out my own deficiencies. Patrick’s skills let him do lots of things all at once when piloting the ship. I had no such advantages. So, I’d used the tools I had at my disposal.

Chiefly, that I was in a giant ship that, so long as I kept the Mist shields running, wasn’t going to even get a scratch from ramming a building.

“I’m going, okay? Even if I don’t take the ship, it needs to be done. So, either I go in the Leviathan, or I use other transportation. Your decision,” I said. I had no interest in using a train or hiring another pilot to fly me around, but I would do it anyway, if for no other reason than to make a point.

“Don’t be like that. You know I’m not going to stand in your way if you really want to do something. I’m just pointing out that accidents tend to happen when you fly the Leviathan. That’s all,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes in annoyance. “Noted.”

Patrick seemed to get the picture that he’d said the wrong thing – or many wrong things, really – so he quickly changed the subject to the armor project. He really hadn’t made much progress that I could see, but he seemed happy with what he’d accomplished so far.

Soon after we had breakfast, he left for Cyrilla’s facility while I started researching Convergences I could potentially use. There was still one back in Nova City, but it was buried under a pile of rubble. I could probably still use it, and it had the added benefit of being completely under the radar. I’d have to dig it out, though.

And I’d have to return to the scene of my greatest regret.

My greatest accomplishment, too. While I hadn’t set out to destroy the city, I had brought it to its knees. And through my actions, it had fallen. Dire though it was, that was an accomplishment.

Still, I wasn’t quite ready to revisit Nova. Not unless I had much of a choice.

As I went over my options, though, it quickly became apparent that it was my best option. Every other potential choice came with a host of problems, most of which were my own fault. I had made a lot of enemies, after all, and most of them were congregated in the larger cities that just happened to play host to Convergences.

With a sigh, I realized that I was avoiding the city for all the wrong reasons.

Or maybe the right ones when I considered the effect it would have on my psyche.

Still, I made the right choice, and soon enough, I was piloting the Leviathan across the country. Thankfully, I didn’t encounter any major threats, so I made it to the appropriate region in good time.

It wasn’t the homecoming I expected.

The site of the city was nothing more than an overgrown mountain of rubble. The wilderness had begun to reclaim it, but it would take decades for it to complete the job.

In addition to the vegetation running rampant across the region, I also saw evidence of human habitation. Had some people survived the fall of Nova? Or had the people from the surrounding villages and towns recognized an opportunity for salvage? I didn’t know, but I suspected I would soon find out for myself.

After circling the area a few times, I set the Leviathan down about forty miles north of the city’s ruins. Then, I engaged Bastion before activating every security measure the ship had in its arsenal. Finally, I used Mimic to disguise my face. I didn’t think anyone down there would recognize me, but I didn’t want to take any chances. After all, any survivors had probably had family in Nova.

Family that I had killed.

So, with those precautions taken, I mounted the ATAV, opened the hatch, and started on my way. I could have used the Cutter, but I thought the All-Terrain Assault Vehicle was a better choice. For one, it was equipped with a sizable cannon that might dissuade any would-be bandits from attacking me. For another, it was cheap to operate, and my stores of Rift Shards were running pretty low.

So, the ATAV was the obvious choice. And I have to admit that, while I preferred racing across the terrain on a cushion of Mist, there was something to the visceral sensation of feeling every bump along the way.

It took a couple of hours to reach my destination, but I quickly discovered that my caution was warranted. Because the ruins of Nova City was still populated. In fact, the mountain of rubble had become a veritable warren; it was invisible from the sky – probably by design – but it was evident the moment I laid eyes on it from the ground.

The people themselves reminded me of Mobile. They were dressed similarly to what I’d seen in Nova City, but there was none of the bombast with which I was familiar. No garish colors. No outrageous cybernetics. Instead, everyone I saw looked as if they were prepared for a hard day’s work.

The ATAV got a few curious glances, but it was a mundane enough vehicle – aside from the cannon – that it was easy for the population to ignore. So, I kept going until I reached a gate that protected a tunnel that led underground. Or into the ruins of the city I’d destroyed, rather.

It was manned by a trio of hardened warriors, each one armed and armored with serviceable equipment and better-than-average cybernetics. The leader asked, “Who are you, and why are you here?”

“Just passing through,” I lied. “I had family who lived here, and when I found out the city had been destroyed…”

I left that hanging.

“You came running,” she said, running a hand through her auburn hair. “Three years after the fact. You not like your family or something?”

I shrugged. “Came as soon as I could. There any survivors?” I asked.

“No. Not to speak of,” she said. “A few made it out before the city came down, but they left the area. Everybody around here came from the surrounding towns.”

“Why?”

“Salvage, mostly. There’s a lot of valuable stuff in that pile of cement,” she said, hiking her thumb backward to indicate the rubble. “Got to dig for it, though.”

“Any of the old city still intact?”

“Just the Convergence. Crazy thing, that. We found it a month or so after the city came down. Completely undamaged.”

The obelisks that allowed access to the Convergence, which in turn provided the ability to send one’s awareness to the Bazaar, were protected by powerful Mist shields. Likely, that was why it had survived.

“Entry fee?” I asked.

“Three-hundred credits,” she said. “There’s also a few information brokers inside who might can help you find your family. Like I said, there weren’t any survivors, but maybe they got out.”

I shook my head. “Not likely,” I said. “But I’ll check it out.”

After that, I initiated the credit transfer, and once the lead guard accepted it, I was allowed through the gate. The tunnel beyond was just wide enough to accommodate a pair of people walking side-by-side, but it wasn’t clogged with much traffic, so I had the space mostly to myself. The walls were lined with jutting and roughly cut rebar, and I could see huge cracks in the concrete. However, I could also sense the gentle hum of Mist in the air, telling me that everything had been reinforced.

After a few minutes, the tunnel led to a wide chamber that reminded me of the old city’s underground society. Shops lined the walls, and the space was mostly populated with various booths where a wide variety of goods were sold. Most of it was clearly salvage, but there were also quite a few food stalls as well. I didn’t want to know what animals the meat they sold came from, so I passed them by without hesitation.

After wandering around a little, I surreptitiously asked where I could find the Convergence, and after handing over a few credits, I got the information I wanted. However, I didn’t make it to my destination before I saw a familiar face.

Somehow, Gunther Gunderson had survived, and he’d clearly established himself as some sort of leader within the ruins of the fallen city.