Mask of Humanity

Two days later found Nicolai along with Beth, Cait, and John, standing on one side of a long bridge that let to a fortified outcrop, separated from the rest of the bastion. Elena wasn’t with them. She’d refused to come. Nicolai hadn’t gotten all the reasons for this, as she’d refused to interact with him. He got the gist, anyway. She blamed him for Karl’s death. She hated him.

He didn't mind, in fact he deserved that hate far more than she realised. He’d done what he had to do and he was content with that.

In fact, he was relatively pleased. Good progress had been made. Since he’d taken care of the issue down below, Jo and the others in the prison continued to send weighty bags of Oma crystals, and had told him they were making good progress. In his last communications they’d told him that they expected to complete their Seeds today. At the same time, he’d completed his temporary hand Nodes and his lung Nodes were making good progress.

User Interface 376 | User #53,217

- Cultivation

Total Nodes: 1 Major, 2 Minor

Available unconstructed Nodes: 0 Major, 3 Minor

- Nodes in progress;

Right Lung (Finalising: 59%)

Left Lung (Finalising: 59%)

Completed Nodes;

Heart (Flawless) (100/100)

The temporary Nodes weren’t noted on the system interface, which made sense to Nicolai. They didn’t seem to properly mesh in with the rest of his system, they were just messy little additions that served a single purpose: allowing him to use hand Symbiotes. As usual he and the others wore black balaclava masks with the best combat-orientated clothing and bullet-proof vests the Tier 1 Trade Link Market could provide, wielding submachine-guns, shotguns and rifles.

John and Cait both carried sports bags crammed with weapons. Nicolai had spent some time practising with the Grasping Finger Symbiote, which had revealed that it was a very good find. It allowed him to pull on objects or people within reach of his Soul Sense. This had a huge number of potential applications.

It could also apply quite significant force, as the mantis that had first used it on him had demonstrated. The creature had been able to pull him through the air and up toward it, and he found the Symbiote to possess almost as much power in his own hands. It wasn’t quite as powerful, which he believed to be because he was using it with a temporary Node. But it was certainly enough to pull people over, or to rip a gun from someones hand.

He had tested it, after Perro had agreed to be his dummy, and found that the most he could do was pull the boy toward him, sending him stumbling over the stone. But he hadn’t been able to apply enough force to drag Perro through the air. He had also found that when applied to anything living, like Perro, it was unable to act inside of them, which meant he couldn’t pull on people’s hearts to stop them beating. There was some kind of skin-level barrier similar to that Cultivators possessed, but a more subtle one he’d never noticed before. His Soul Sense was still able to press inside, which wasn’t possible on someone with a Soul, but the Symbiote didn’t work past that barrier.

When applied to non-living things, it had been much easier. He could reach inside a gun and move specific parts of it. The Symbiote seemed to work in a manner where he would mentally “target” something, like a person or a gun or a bullet inside the gun, and then the finger locked onto that thing. This also had a visual effect: through his Soul Sense he would see a pale yellow line move through his Soul Sense, latching onto the thing he had targeted. He’d checked with Beth, who had told him she could see it, too.

Interestingly, regardless of how that line looped and moved around things, the effect when applied always pulled the thing directly towards him. He could even send it around a corner, and though the yellow line was turning at an angle, still the effect was a straight line between him and the target.

One unexpected benefit was that he could use it not to just to pull things toward him, but to pull himself toward them. Through this he’d also realised that the pull of him toward things was more powerful. He could actually lift his whole body from the ground and send himself flying, if he pulled on something above him. In combination with the Pegasi ring it allowed for significantly faster movement when flying, so long as there was something to latch onto in range of his Soul Sense, which was only around ten metres.

However, there was one final limitation in his use of the Symbiote. This was not so much tied to the Symbiote itself, as it was a side effect of Nicolai having to use a temporary Node, or so Kleos had said. The Symbiote was supposed to be charged while inside a Node, but his temporary hand Nodes were incapable of holding Oma. So, he had to charge it in his heart Node. Once charged, the Symbiote was able to take a continuous draw of Oma from him, keeping it active and ready.

At this point it would migrate to one of his temporary hand Nodes while he continued to charge it, and once within one of his hand Nodes it would finally be active and ready for continual use. The entire activation process took roughly three seconds and then required him to continue feeding energy into it at all times, unless he was willing to let it return to his heart’s Node from which he’d have to begin the process again.

This limitation, plus the fact he was sure it was not operating at the level of strength it would have operated if he had a proper hand Node—based on the power the mantis had shown—made him extremely eager to get a hand Node as quick as he could. He intended to build one the moment his chest area was complete, at which point his system would be robust enough to build a new Major Node.

Peering across the way, Nicolai saw a motley crew standing ready on the far side, where the bridge found a large square opening into the looming wall which encircled the outcrop. The square opening was that of a gatehouse set into the wall at this point before the bridge. The only way inside, for those who couldn’t fly. Figures clustered there.

On the top of the gatehouse and the walls either side of it Nicolai spied figures armed with bows. There were also two short towers, a short distance along the wallseither side of the gatehouse, but no one seemed to be atop them. Rising above and behind them Nicolai made out the leafy branches of a great tree, which looked to be somewhere in the centre of their compound.

This group had been particularly reticent when Nicolai first contacted them. Where the other groups they’d met with over the past few days had willingly come out to meet them, these had refused to leave their compound no matter what Nicolai said.

Normally, he might have suspected a trap, but in his communications with them he’d developed a strong impression of disorganisation and naive idealism.

The four drones sped out above the five of them, towards the outcrop. He didn’t suspect a trap, but he would still perform his due diligence in making sure.

The drones hummed over the walls of the fortification. Through their feeds Nicolai saw that behind the circle of the walls there was little but a large open space. The walls were thickest by the large gatehouse and its two towers, and these walls alongside the gatehouse seemed to double as housing. He saw open doors on the back, people looking out. The rest of the area was an expansive and grassy area, peppered with figures whose faces flashed in the sun as they peered up. They seemed to be attempting to farm the soil.

In the centre of all this stood the great tree, to one side of which there was a sparkling pool of water, half of its roots diving within.

Surrounding the tree were over a dozen people. They were kneeling as though praying to it.

Nicolai frowned. Odd. He shrugged inwardly. Odd, but interesting.

He looked those on the walls over closely, and he spotted many bows and blades, but not a single gun. These people didn’t seem to have found any Trade Link items, be that from quests or kills or trades. But perhaps they have some hidden. He decided to assume they had some guns, at least until he was able to confirm they didn’t from closer up.

An arrow shot up at one of the drones, missing by a wide margin. Simultaneously Nicolai received a communication over Link, from a carefully guarded connection he’d allowed with one of the people on the far side.

‘Please keep your drones away. My people grow concerned.’

‘We’re just making sure this isn’t a trap. Tell your people not to shoot at my drones.’ Nicolai had three of the drones return towards him, a show of concession, meanwhile the last simply rose higher, continuing to give a distant view behind the wall, but from a safer altitude.

‘There is no trap. We are a peaceful group, and simply wish to be left to our own devices. Normally, we would not engage with any outsiders. As you are here to trade, we will permit you entry. Please, cross.’

Nicolai snorted. He truly didn’t get any bad feelings from these people, but he wasn’t going to simply walk up to that gate. Threat Analysis made him all too aware of the fact that if the people manning it chose to close it when he and the others were mostly across, they would be stuck right within all of the overlapping fields of fire the fortification provided the defenders. He could visualise it easily. He and the others all stuck on the bridge, in the open, carrying their goods. The gate closing. Bullets and arrows flying.

‘I appreciate your reassurances. However, what you’re describing also happens to be an excellent setup for you to ambush and rob me. I have to take proper precautions.’

‘Proper precautions?’

‘Two of us will cross and check all is well. Then the rest of us will cross.’

‘What?! I… we will have to discuss this. Please wait over there.’

Nicolai had no intentions of waiting for however long it would take these people to deliberate. In his previous communications with them they’d been extremely slow and he had the impression there’d been a great deal of waffling behind the scenes. They might well leave him standing there for an hour or more, and he didn’t like the idea of being stuck in the open for any longer than necessary. He wanted to get this done quick, in and out.

‘Beth,’ he said, glancing over at her. She looked back, ready. Beth was starting to truly shine, in Nicolai’s opinion. As her initial reservations faded he increasingly detected a hunger in her, a love of action. She was happy because he was giving her something to do and she was finding that she was good at it, that she enjoyed it. He’d been spending quite some time with her recently, as they engaged in Soul Sense spars during free moments.

The score was currently eighteen-to-one in his favour, something she was extremely sore about. Her singular win was the result of some tactical decision making on Nicolai’s part, having recognised that if he never let her win any she’d refuse to spar. He’d immediately regretted giving it to her as she’d been extraordinarily smug and annoying about it, in a way that, though amusing at first, had quickly began to grate as he’d realised that she had no intentions of ever shutting up about it.

‘We’re going under,’ he told her.

From her eager eyes, he knew she immediately understood.

‘Wait here until I give the signal,’ he said to the others. ‘We’ll make sure they can’t pull any tricks before you cross.’ John gave him a nod.

Nicolai and Beth rose, levitating with the use of their Pegasi rings, and floated over the side of the bridge to descend beneath it. There they clustered close, sticking right in the centre beneath the bridge as they floated onwards, the bridge itself protecting them from any shots.

‘Hey, what are you doing? Hello? Please wait, we must discuss this!’

‘We mean you no harm,’ spoke Nicolai, setting his Link to broadcast wide on the Local, his voice entering all receptive ears. ‘But if anyone should shoot at us, all of you will die.’

He and Beth had now reached the other side and they rose from beneath the bridge, clinging tight to the wall so the defenders would have a difficult angle if shooting at them, rising until they crested on the right side of the gatehouse. There Nicolai saw a group of men, two of whom were in front of him. They let out yelps of surprise and staggered backwards, fumbling at bows.

As he’d rose Nicolai had prepared his Grasping Finger Symbiote for action and now he used it, reaching towards the two men with his hand and Soul Sense then pulling with the Symbiote.

The men yelped as one of them stumbled forwards and into the other, dragged off balance by Nicolai who, in turn, was pulled towards them, sliding through the air. He cancelled the pull and deactivated his Pegasi rings to land before the nearest, reaching out. Activating the Grasping Finger again, he wrenched on the bow in one man’s hand, snatching it from their grip. Meanwhile he drew a knife and put it to the throat of the guy closer to him.

‘No need for this,’ he said with a smile, catching the bow that was spinning toward him in one hand then dropping it, glancing to the side where he saw two more people frozen in fear, Beth levelling her submachine-gun at them. He’d opted to mainly bring submachine-guns for this excursion, as he believed this group to lack any real armour or shielding. Peering down from their perch into the area beyond, he saw those inside looking up with shock and fear on their faces.

His eyes narrowed. These people are especially weak. Not that he minded; not everyone could be like him. But, it did open up some options that might have otherwise been unavailable. He could likely get away with being unusually pushy and demanding, which was well within the limits his Mask was suggesting to him. He pressed the man in front of him back with one hand and sheathed his knife, seeing no signs of any of them causing trouble. They were frozen, tense with fear.

‘This isn’t an attack,’ he told them. ‘We’re just here to trade. Don’t make any trouble and everything will be fine.’ They did not look convinced, but with a little urging he had them drop their weapons and move to one side.

‘Alright,’ said Nicolai to the individual he’d been speaking with. ‘Everything seems fine. I will have my people bring the goods across. Are you capable of ensuring none of yours do anything stupid?’

‘This… this isn’t what we agreed!’

‘It is what we agreed. You wanted us to come to trade. We’ve come to trade. We simply couldn’t afford to spend time sitting around out there. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this place is dangerous.’

‘Keep a watch from up here,’ he said to Beth, who nodded in response, then Nicolai messaged the others to start coming over and tugged an Oma crystal from a pocket, starting to refill his Node. As usual, he aimed to keep it as full as possible at all times whilst it was still being slowly drained to finalise his two Nodes-in-progress.

After finishing the crystal and pulling a new one to keep draining, Nicolai stepped off the wall and floated to the ground, landing beside the gatehouse, glancing inside the opening, now from within. He saw a group of confused and worried looking people, all clutching crappy, rusty melee weapons. They spotted him and gasped, clucking and clutching at one another like a gaggle of chickens. He was aware the black ski mask he wore wasn’t the friendliest of looks, so he couldn’t entirely blame them. One of those closest to him stepped forwards. A man with a pot-helmet perched lopsidedly on his wizened old head, scraggly grey hairs making it out from within.

‘You were meant to wait!’ he yelped at Nicolai, taking a few uncertain steps forward and then glancing around at the others. ‘I told him to wait!’

‘Well, he didn’t wait,’ said a stick-thin woman. She sighed. ‘Great start.’

A woman with a shamanistic vibe and her eyes closed emerged from amongst them, extending a wavering hand on which she held her Seed. From it Nicolai saw strands of Soul Sense emerge, feeling around her. They reached out and clumsily felt at him. It was as though a curious toddler was poking him in the leg, and he froze, staring at her, confused.

‘I…’ she pronounced, the others staring at her. ‘Detect… something. Mmmm. Mmmm! I detect something!’ She took another step, reaching out and running her hands over his shoulders. ‘There,’ she mumbled. ‘Who is it?’

Was she blind or mad? Perhaps both? A dull, angry ember was growing within him, incited by the transgression. Don’t touch me. His hand rose and gloved fingers crept around her throat, beginning to tighten. His Soul Sense hissed around him, twisting and darkening. There was something in the air, something in this place that reached into him and stirred.

‘There is a darkness!’ she screamed, lurching backwards. ‘A darkness!’

Nicolai’s Mask spasmed and his hand released, the woman tearing herself away. She disappeared into the midst of the others who surrounded her protectively, clucking and muttering.

‘What did you do?’ said pot-helmet, wide eyes morphing into a scowl aimed at Nicolai.

Nicolai didn’t answer, staring at his own hand, mind full of an endless dark whirl that spun and spun around him. His gaze rose and stared at the people before him, only they weren’t people. The light had dulled and now it flashed, revealing all in a strange, reddened glare. They had transformed into gigantic chickens, all bulging, mad eyes, empty and stupid, and they were letting out endless, irritating clucking sounds.

There was a dull droning in his ears as he stared at them, his face blank. The humming rose in pitch, becoming a sharp ringing that made him wince and grit his teeth, then the sound was gone and the light flared. When his vision returned, all was back as before, pot-helmet still staring at him.

It’s okay. I’m fine. I’m relaxed. Cool and calm. He found his hand gripping tight to the grip of his shotgun, and Nicolai let out a deep, careful breath as he made his fingers let go, shoving the homicidal urge down. Best to just get this done quick. This was just a trade, wasn’t it? No need for any… unpleasantness. He cast a wary gaze about. The hallucination had caught him by surprise. It had been some time he’d had such a clear one. The dark was buzzing within the cage, reacting to something.

To what?