The Starfighter Invitation

27 gauntlet

"What’s a gateway series?"

[[If you complete this series, you can unlock a very prestigious Challenge.]]

"Cool."

Arrows led me back to the pods, and on a long and pleasingly scenic trip to a point about a quarter of the way down the great stretch of the rift valley. The entrance to the Challenge was a giant metal-reinforced tunnel leading into the valley wall, and there were a lot of people—mostly human, but occasionally not—coming to and fro. The majority were disgorged by a tank-like tram thing that rumbled up as I arrived, swallowed more people, and rumbled off into the tunnel with its new batch, followed by a cloud of Renba.

My arrow ignored the tram, and took me to the entrance of a narrower side passage, where a handful of people seemed to be setting off on foot. Joining this line, I was treated to a progression message.

"You really didn’t go overboard on flowery quest description, did you Dio?" I thought to my personal overlord.

[[Detailed explanations are like clear shots of the monster in a horror movie.]]

I shrugged, but thought it would be worth filtering more for narrative in the future. This seemed a more game mechanics-based Challenge, but at least the first stage was probably shorter and easier than the rest: a quick tutorial. I hoped.

The players in the line ahead of me seemed to be a team, chatting to each other as their Cycogs and Renba drifted above. They were plainly DS players, since I recognised Mandarin.

"Is there a way for me to learn the main language, uh, the main language Type Threes use in The Synergis, Dio?"

[[Sonaso and Carai are the two primary languages—with considerable variation for species. Both can be learned through Challenge systems on your Snug. I’d recommend Sonaso, as that’s more dominant among in this quadrant.]]

The group ahead of me moved off into the tunnel, and my arrow shifted me a few steps forward, then began circling me slowly, which seemed to be a direction to wait some more.

"Did you tell me which species was the most common?"

[[Type One. You Type Threes are second, and perhaps seem even more common because Type Threes made a good base for variants, and so there are many humanoids of roughly your size and structure.]]

"And are we considered the crude, violent ones, or the resourceful creative ones?"

Dio laughed. [[Yes.]]

Typical Dio response. But before I found my next question my arrow changed, and I remembered this Challenge was about things that could kill me. My Renba no longer felt quite so creepy as I passed through a section of rough-hewn stone narrow enough to touch both walls if I held out my arms. I promptly stopped, and ran a hand over gritty stone, because Mars!, but I didn’t linger too long because there’d been people lining up behind me.

The passage widened, and I thought of ten-foot passages beloved to D&D campaigns, and wondered if this place had been dug specifically for this Challenge, or if it had been repurposed. Had there been mining on Mars? People living here before The Synergis came along?

The passage curved, so length could only be a guess. There was a tiny ridge running down the centre, and odd circular openings regularly spaced along the walls. A double ring of flat metal surrounded each opening, and I was frowning at the nearest when it made an ominous buzzing noise.

I brought the shield up just in time, and a bolt of force zapped out of the opening and slammed into me, sending me staggering back a step.

[[Oh, well done, you remembered what you’re here for.]]

"You get to come along and snark at me on these, huh?" I said—panted. That definitely would have killed me.

[[I can observe, but I can’t assist. There are Challenges where Bio and Cycog are expected to work together, but they’re far more advanced.]]

"I did that without my focus active," I said, remedying that lack as I spoke. "I didn’t even know I could."

[[The focus makes projection management easier, but it’s not a mechanism in itself.]]

There were evenly spaced circles on both sides, as far down the corridor as I could see. After all my skid practice, a simple shield wasn’t difficult to maintain, and I managed to extend it into a kind of doughnut around me, but I was not altogether sure how long I could maintain it. That hit had been hard, too, and the harder the hit, the more my strength would drain.

If I walked on, would every opening fire at me? Only some? Each strike would cost me. I’d last longer if I brought my shield up only when necessary, but while there’d been ample warning of that first shot, I couldn’t be guaranteed of more.

Juggling caution and risk, I decided to make a small skid. It would require a good share of my attention to maintain my balance, but the Pocket training had at least given me plenty of practice maintaining two lan shields at the same time, and I thought I could manage it. The sick feeling in my stomach came from anticipation of the next strike, and because I didn’t know how well I’d manage maintaining the skid while being blasted. Time to focus on speed, and….Go!

Not every opening fired at me as I whizzed along, but more than enough did. Two hit. The first strike taught me that my strategy had not factored in that backward step after impact, or what low gravity would mean to skidding. I catapulted into the wall, bounced off, and ricocheted toward the opposite side. Desperately shifting balance, I skidded into the curve of the tunnel, saw that it went on for at least another bend, and was hit again. My second ping pong performance was a little more controlled, and I came around the next curve to see an end point that arrived even as I recognised it.

Zipping out into a small cavern with a single exit, I managed to drop my skid while maintaining the doughnut shield, and paused, gasping, to see if anything else was going to happen.

I let my shield drop, and wiped my face, then leaned against the nearest wall because my heart was still in overdrive.

Some focused breathing later, I had enough spare to say: "Did I surprise you?"

[[That’s one word for it.]] Dio’s voice brimmed with mirth. [[Most Bios just put up a shield and sprint.]]

"When they can’t see how long the tunnel is? What’s the success rate of the Challenge?"

[[Stage One? That rather depends on who is attempting it. Fresh-out-of-the-Enclave Bios like you run to around 50%. Most of you lack either the strength, or sufficient practice in shield maintenance, and usually only succeed by attempting it in groups. It’s not particularly difficult for higher ranked Bios.]] Te paused, then added. [[You did surprise me: I expected you to fail this because you don’t have the strength as yet. You made up for it with fine control and adaptability.]]

"Is fine control valued in the same way as strength?"

[[No, but it is useful—particularly for more advanced lan constructs. The ideal is a combination of both, of course.]]

I had recovered enough to start down the exit, discovering a return to the narrower type of tunnel.

"Would you like to motivate me to keep on surprising you?" I asked.

[[I am always open to surprises. What do you propose?]]

"If I survive the next gauntlet as well, you answer three questions. With whatever level of honesty you’re actually capable of mustering."

[[I can’t give you main game spoilers, sadly. And anything I say about secret plans or real purposes will be a lie.]]

"Three questions about you, then. The you who is playing the role of Dio the fledgling, whenever Dio isn’t a construct."

[[Hm. For that…if you complete the entire Challenge series without dying, then yes, three questions about me.]]

The little spark of hope kindling in my chest fizzled to ash. That was an extremely high bar to get over.

"Can I die doing other things?"

[[Almost certainly. But, yes, that won’t invalidate the bet—and I won’t stack the odds against you. Though you’re only allowed to group with other players—no power-levelling with a high ranking NPC.]]

"We can do that?"

[[Depends on your powers of persuasion. What do I get out of our bet, should you fulfil my expectation of ignominious death?]]

"What did you get out of throwing a storm at me?"

[[But the storm was my idea. Matching stakes will do. You can answer three questions about you.]]

"Being a not-an-AI, I’m astonished you don’t know everything about me already."

[[Most things. So is it a bet?]]

Most things? I tried not to let my reaction to that show on my face, and then wondered at the futility of hiding anything in this game where we weren’t even sure our minds were our own. Then I shrugged.

"Sure."