Mask of Humanity

Perro followed after Azure and Jo as they filtered through a tunnel, following after a small group of skeletal miners.

The miners stopped at a mined out gap in the wall, resting their cart as they set to work.

‘These ones,’ said Jo, looking back to Perro and Azure.

Perro swallowed, staring past her at the eight skeletal miners and the three guards with them.

‘Isn’t there quite a few of them?’ he queried, worried.

Beside him, Azure scoffed. ‘Don’t be scared,’ she said. ‘We've got this.’ She pulled her mace free and swung it around.

‘Really?’ he asked, looking at how big she was, then at how big and how numerous the skeletons were, and how big the pickaxes they swung at the wall were.

‘I’ve played a lot of VR MMO’s,’ said Azure dismissively. ‘These things are trash mobs. Easy pickings.’

‘This isn’t a game, Azure,’ said Jo, her tone stern, as she looked away from the skeletons and came toward them. ‘We need to plan this out,’ she muttered, looking back.

Perro wished they could have gone after a smaller group. Eleven undead didn’t sound like a lot of undead, but seeing them filling the dim tunnel they certainly looked like a lot of undead. But this was the best they could do; they’d been following the groups of miners around since Nicolai left them, and this group was the smallest they found.

‘Plan it out?’ came Azure’s voice. Perro looked over to see the girl had taken her mace out and was holding it ready. ‘I can probably handle them alone.’

Jo scoffed. ‘Where is it, exactly, that you get all of this confidence?’

‘I told you, I played a lot of games!’ said Azure.

Jo stared at her, frowning, then her eyes flicked to Perro. ‘Have you two actually fought out here?’

‘Of course we have,’ blustered Azure, while Perro avoided Jo’s gaze, unsure whether to admit the truth. The truth that he hadn’t fought anything. Cait and John and Karl had handled everything, since the day they’d all appeared in that crypt together. John had made Azure stay out of any fights, and Perro, by virtue of being the same age, was told to do the same.

###

Jo looked the two youths over uncertainly. They were less experienced than she’d imagined. She’d thought they must have at least fought something, considering all the dead. She was surprised Nicolai had managed to convince John to let the pair down here. She’d have thought Azure’s father would be completely against letting his daughter into this dangerous place without him, to fight undead. That would have been a decision made by Nicolai, then. Thinking on it, she could well imagine he hadn’t told the whole truth to John.

John was unlikely to be happy about that, when he realised the trick, but she doubted it would slow Nicolai. He’d roll right over it with arguments and excuses, as he did everything. Strange that someone who’d spent God only knew how long stuck in a bot was so good at that.

Nicolai had spoken to her about Jo and Azure, before sending her down.

‘They’re green and useless, neither of them have been in any kind of fight. There’s not a lot of here to sharpen them on that won’t be too dangerous, no way for them to gain easy experience. But down there it’ll be different. Maybe you can sharpen their edges a little.’

‘Any advice about that objective?’ she’d asked, raising an eyebrow.

He’d raised one back at her. ‘I’ve sent you the datapacket, it goes over everything you’ll find down there, what to watch out for, some suggestions. If you need anything, let me know via the drone.’

‘Other than that…’ He’d shrugged. ‘You’re smart. You’ll figure things out.’ He’d smiled that smile again, the one she was never sure of. He didn’t say, that, or you’ll die. He hadn’t had to.

But she knew that he wouldn’t have sent her and the other two down if he didn’t think they would be successful. The Contract ensured that, plus he wasn’t one to waste things, either. She’d come to realise there was always some careful thought behind whatever he chose, though it was rarely communicated.

She chewed her lip, looking over the two teenagers before her. They were arguing now.

‘That thing could flatten you,’ he was saying to Azure, pointing at one of the bigger miners, an ancient looking skeleton that stood a bit taller than the norm.

‘Psh,’ she uttered. ‘You gotta man up, man. These things are slow and stupid. Just don’t get hit.’

Age old advice, given by someone who’s only ever put it into test in VR, Jo reflected sourly. Still, there wasn’t much for it but to get started and see how they did. She wasn’t worried about herself, she’d dealt with her share of the undead by now, and these ones were slow and stupid. The best way, as she saw it, would be for her to take one side of the group of miners, and these two the other. She could deal with the more dangerous guards by herself, and they’d be able to work quickly to take all the undead out without them forming into a big clump that pushed towards them all together.

She was sure that was the right plan, and it pained her that it wasn’t the one she’d employ. She didn’t want to be separated from the other two. She wanted to be close enough to help them if something went wrong, because she felt sure something would.

She ended their argument, explaining the plan. After they’d nodded—Perro hesitantly, Azure eagerly—they got into position. Each stood behind one of the miners.

Communicating over Link, using her BIS AI to quickly paint stick-figure images, she went into further detail. They’d all hold their maces ready then strike out at an undead, and they were space out to have two of the undead to each of them, with Perro at the far end where the undead miners began their line, Azure in the middle, and Jo at the end, between the other two and rest of the miners and the guards. She was probably micromanaging a little too much, but Jo felt in a situation like this too much was far preferable to too little.

As she positioned herself, Jo took a moment to screw the silencer onto her pistol, before shoving it between belt and hip. Just in case.

Once in position, Jo looked over the other two. They peered back, ready, both of them with their maces raised and targeting the undead in front of them.

‘Wait for my signal,’ she said over Link, eyeing the undead in front of the other two, and the one in front of herself. The miners were rising and falling as they swung their picks. She found a moment where they were lining up, and gave the command.

She twisted her body slightly as she rocked forward, delivering a solid blow with her mace, one handed, to the back of the skull of the skeleton before her. As its skull broke the blue wisp of its Soul was freed, and it collapsed onto the ground.

Immediately she went for the next skeleton beside her, striking it in the skull before it could finish turning to her.

She went for the next but this one had gotten turned around and a raised arm blocked the mace blow. The bony arm had little mass and was pushed out the way, but this sent the skeleton reeling and the mace wide.

Jo heard a yell and stepped back from the bulk of the undead that were turning around behind their fallen friend, throwing a quick glance look back at the other two, and the four skeletons they’d been set to deal with.

Two of those skeletons were down, and the teenagers were struggling with the other two.

‘Shit!’ yelped Azure, ducking back from a heavy swing of a pickaxe that crashed into the wall beside her.

‘Help!’ yelled Perro, retreating back down the tunnel as his own skeleton sluggishly pursued him.

Jo dashed forward, engaging her Link’s Combat Assister as she drew closer, which helped her time her movement to get up close as Azure’s drew back for another swing. Jo got there first, and her mace blasted through its skull.

‘Follow me!’ she yelled at Azure as she kept going on past.

Perro had managed to fall over and was struggling backwards, his mace forgotten, as his skeleton bore down on him.

Jo got there in time, a two-handed swing from the back taking its knee out, then she followed up with a blow to the head. Shards of its skull pattered on the wall as it toppled.

‘Get him up,’ she snapped at Azure, turning to face the undead coming toward them. Six down, five left. Better than before, but three of those were the guard-type, who wore helmets and wielded swords and clubs.

The other two weren’t much help, so she moved forward alone, looking to get to the closest undead before they drew ranks.

That was when she heard something, a clattering from behind, and looking over her shoulder she saw a fresh crew of undead miners, coming toward them. These undead paused, witnessing what was happening, and then they hefted their weapons and tools and moved forward purposefully, looking at Perro and Azure who stared back at them.

Jo gaped at the surprise reinforcements. Shit.

‘Come after me!’ she yelled at the other two, tucking her mace away and drawing her pistol as she moved toward the undead in front of her, trying her best to keep her breathing steady as she sighted over one of their swaying skulls. Her Combat Chip focused her and guided her body, as she took a slow breath out, shifted her stance, and steadied her arms.

###

Perro heard a clack and knew that Jo had started shooting at the undead behind him and Azure.

‘Come on!’ Azure yelled, grabbing his hand and dragging him to his feet.

As he staggered into motion a glint of light pulled his gaze to a blur of motion. The drifting tip of the pickaxe caught him in the thigh. He didn’t feel any pain, just a sudden shock as the blow knocked him into an ungainly stumble. He let out a squawk of surprise, arms pinwheeling as he tried to right himself but his legs were tangled together.

He had time to realise he was falling then the ground hit him with thump as his lungs seized he let out a pained burst of air. Then his chin chipped the ground and an explosion of numbing pain erupted from his jaw, teeth clacking hard together around the tip of his tongue.

Perro groaned and rolled over, hearing nothing but the ringing in his ears. His watering eyes turned the world into a confusing blur, but thought that blur he made out Azure.

She charged forward, mace raised, and he could dimly hear her yelling, screaming, through the ringing in his ears. Her body spun as she threw the mace out and it caught one of them in the head. It tumbled away as she staggered sideways, body dragged behind the mace until it clanged into the wall.

Perro cried out in warning as he saw another stomping at her, pickaxe swinging, but it was muddled by his leaden mouth. She seemed to hear, throwing herself backwards but the pickaxe was already there. Perro gurgled as he saw it crack into her shoulder and knock her spinning. She smacked into the wall and stumbled back as though surprised to see it there, then stumbled back, her face bloodied, and sat straight down.

Her head turned as she looked at him, and they stared at one another, him horrified, her still looking a little confused.

and another skeleton, one of the guards, raised its sword as it moved toward her.

‘No!’ yelled Perro, a sudden terrified rush of energy exploding through him. He thrashed towards it, struggling to rise, but his leg gave a horrible ache and folded beneath him. Snarling, he swung from kneeling at the undeads knees, entire body extended. He caught it and it toppled, and he with it.

Struggled at the ground, looking up, he saw a skeleton standing over him, the pitiless blue light in its eyes staring down. It raised its pickaxe high.

There came a clack and the back of its skull blew out, blue light venting, pickaxe falling from its raised arms. He flinched away as it clattered into the ground beisde him. More suppressed shots sounded and more of the undead fell, then Jo was moving past him, the pistol clicking empty so she put it aside and raised her mace as she closed with the the last of them.

Perro turned to Azure. There was a bleeding gash on her shoulder, blood soaking into her clothes. He grabbed at the Rejuvenating Orb around his neck and putting it to her lips. She breathed in, and he watched with bated breath, the pain in his leg forgotten.

Her eyes cleared and she looked at him.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

‘I’m fine, I feel fine.’ She looked over at Jo and Perro followed her gaze, seeing Jo take down the final skeleton. He let out a heavy breath of relief.

###

Jo was sure Nicolai would not have been impressed at how things had gone. Beth would laugh when she showed her the footage, and tell her at least she’d saved the kids. She still felt it had been a good plan, she just hadn’t anticipated the reinforcements. Bad luck, or bad judgement? She wasn’t sure.

Either way, it was clear they needed to come up with a better way. She wanted to complete their Seeds and get out of here soon. She didn’t want to be away from Beth for too long. She felt Nicolai was… sort-of trustworthy. But even so, she didn’t want to leave Beth alone with him for too long. Her father’s advice remained true; you had to keep an eye on people like him. Jo was trying her best to keep that advice, and all other in mind, because she was worried about her occasional reactions.

It wasn’t that she was falling for him. He was the last person she wanted to fall for. It was just that she worried she might be. She’d always had a thing for dangerous people, had endured many jibes from Beth over it. And he was certainly dangerous. Mysterious, too. That was the thing, she told herself, that was all it was. She just wanted to know who he was, inside. The things he didn’t show the world.

She realised she was chewing her lip and did her bet to refocus. The undead miners, right. That’s what she needed to be thinking about. She had a job to do and it was best she did it. Nicolai had told her he’d killed the undead by himself and taken their Souls, and suggested this was the most efficient and easiest way. But he hadn’t had Perro and Azure in tow, plus he was Nicolai. Even if they tried to learn from this latest disaster, tried to do better next time, she had a strong feeling that eventually someone would die.

Seeing little other option, she opted to simply explore the area, find a good place for them to sleep in the night, and work out the lay of the land. Tomorrow they’d start trying to work out a way to take down the undead. In the meantime they could gather Oma crystals to deliver to the drone, since at least that was easy to do. The things were everywhere.

###

‘We’ll do better next time!’ Azure was assuring Jo, who looked far from convinced.

Perro was keeping an eye out, as Jo loaded Oma crystals into the drone. They were in a place in the pit they’d realised was generally ignored by the undead, where a big chunk of stone created a hidden little nook. Jo had said this would be the drone’s spot.

His eyes fell on a train of undead miners emerging from a tunnel some distance away. He certainly didn’t want to have to fight more of the undead. Seeing Azure get caught by that pickaxe, thrown into the fall, that stunned look on her face, bloodied from a broken lip, was a memory he knew would remain with him for the rest of his life. His own injury and that terrible and hopeless moment as he struggled on the stone came a close second. But he knew that they were here for a reason, to complete their Seeds, and that had to be a good thing. Surely then he’d be stronger.

‘Right Perro? Next time we’ll do better!’ said Azure, and glancing up he saw her frowning at him, her eyes demanding his support.

‘Yeah,’ he mumbled tonelessly, unable to put any pep in his voice. He heard Jo snort, and an irritated scoff from Azure.

If only we could have stayed back at the safe place… He’d never thought he would miss that cramped little complex and his squeaky airbed so much. He sighed. Azure had been so keen on coming down here, and he’d let himself get swept up in that. Now, here they were. Although, it was possible Nicolai would’ve sent him down either way.

Thinking of Nicolai he frowned, as all his other worries came back. He’d thought little on what he’d seen in the painting, the secret he’d become convinced of, since they’d started out to this place. Undead swinging pickaxes at him made his suspicions that Nicolai was a killbot seem somehow trite and pointless. Did it even matter? He really wished Nicolai was down here with them. Or John. Or even Karl.

Sometimes, it seemed like Nicolai cared about him, about all of them. Other times… not so much. Was he just pretending? Was he an AI that had gone wrong? It didn’t seem possible, but then… sometimes, the way he moved. The rest of the time, though, he seemed normal. Perro recalled the times Nicolai had clapped him on the shoulder, the smile he’d shined at him.

A smile that made him feel like Nicolai had faith in him, believed in him. That he thought Perro could be strong. Perro had been convinced that he needed to live up to Nicolai’s expectations. Then he’d seen what he’d seen in the painting, and it had all gotten confusing. He shook his head, miserable, wishing he could stop being confused.

He couldn’t make any sense of that matter, so he tried to think on one which, maybe, he could. There had to be a better way for them to deal with the undead. Fighting them wasn’t the way. But, they undead were slow and pretty stupid, at least these mining ones.

What could they do?

‘What we need is to set some kind of trap,’ said Jo, as if in answer to his thoughts.

Perro perked up at this, looking over at her. That sounded good. Sounded a lot better than fighting them. ‘Like, a hole?’

‘It’ll need to be somewhere we can reliably get groups of them,’ she said.

‘The places they go to mine?’ asked Azure.

‘Exactly.’

‘We need a way to hold them down,’ said Perro, thoughtful. ‘Maybe one big one rope, and two of us hold it on either end, attach it to some parts of the wall, and just pull tight? They’d all get dragged against the wall and stuck there.’

Jo hummed. ‘Possibly. If we could work out something in the wall to attach the rope to. The guards might be trouble, though. Depends if they’re smart enough to cut the rope.’

‘A chain, then,’ said Perro. ‘And we can just dig a hole in the wall. At least we have pickaxes. Would they just let us do it, though?’

‘They don’t seem like they’ll even react until we actually strike them,’ chimed in Azure. ‘They saw us lining up our strikes and did nothing. Maybe we could literally tie the rope to their legs and then drag them off their feet all at once?’

‘Another possibility,’ Jo nodded to her, smiling. ‘This is good. Okay. Tomorrow let’s have a look around and see what we can find, rope or chains.’

‘Best thing would be a trap we can use on our own,’ blurted Azure in an excited tone. ‘Then we could run all three at once!’

‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ muttered Jo. ‘It’s a good idea, though.’

‘How can we guarantee they come into the traps, though? We don’t know how they choose what to mine,’ said Perro.

‘Leave that to me,’ said Azure, smirking.

Perro and Jo looked to her, unsure.

‘I was always good at abusing the AI of mobs. I’ll work it out. Trust me.’ She grinned sunnily at them.

Perro felt that it wasn’t quite the same, but the undead mining crews definitely weren’t on the smarter end of the undead. Probably it will be fine?

‘Have a think of stuff that could help us with the traps,’ said Jo, and she tapped the drone. ‘We’ll leave a message for Nicolai. He told me he’d send us whatever we need, via the drone. So long as the drone can carry it, anyway. We’ll be able to use it to get things down into the pits where we make the traps.’

Perro nodded. Though they’d had limited success at killing undead, they had collected quite a lot of Oma crystals.

The three of them conferred for some time, trying to work out a way, and then they sent the drone off, with all of their requests.