I didn’t have time for this, Chikyu. You may be able to get away with everything, but I still have responsibilities.
He looked towards planet Incola and started flying towards it, suddenly crashing into the edge of the translucent box.
He grabbed his face in surprise. “Fucking hell!”
Entropi jolted awake at the noise. She looked over and saw Bliss at the edge of the box.
“Oops, sorry about that.” She chuckled and rubbed her head.
“Just let me out of here. I’m waiting for some very important updates and I need to work on my presentation for M&M next week.”
She lowered the force field around them. “I can get you out of that if you want. You don’t have to explain his death to the board.”
Bliss grinned. “Oh but I want to, I really want to explain to them in detail how Armageddon ripped his head off. They can hardly blame me, it was Armageddon. Crux himself told me to let it happen. They're gonna try and grill me for sure, but nothing will come of it.”
She opened her mouth again, but he zipped off before she could say anything else. She sighed and looked back towards the void of space. With nothing else to do, she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
Bliss landed on his balcony and greeted his precious Sorebel inside. He lifted the cat into his arms and plopped him on the couch, sitting down next to him. He put his CellPulse on projection mode and a large screen formed in front of him. Any messages from Sir Jelly were set to notify him with a loud, shrieking alarm. He started working on his backlog of mission reports, mindlessly entering dot phrases and editing them to fit the situation.
His mind felt blank, desperately awaiting something to do lest the shadows take that empty space. He was even starting to miss his interns. He was excited to be seeing them on Monday. Longing for work was never a good sign, but it was all Bliss seemed to do these days. Nothing else could distract him enough.
He didn’t even bother trying to sleep through the night; he was lucky that Entropi didn’t witness one of his nightmares back in space. Writing notes would give his head enough white noise for the time being, at least.
Time passed and he filled out note after note. The words swirled around in his head, blocking worse thoughts from coming in. Sorebel snored loudly as he reached the end of the notes. Morning finally approached, and Bliss’s alarm started ringing at 0630. He returned to reality and blinked a few times.
He could almost feel his head pounding from staring at the screen for so long. Sorebel noticed his movement and woke up with a yawn, reaching his paw out towards him. Bliss petted him a few times and got up, finally able to go to work.
Lunai checked for any Sir Jelly updates on her way to the office. The leaves on her body rustled in anticipation. She couldn’t help but feel nervous for him, even though he was a master at his craft. Her eyes remained on her CellPulse all the way up to the resident room. She saw Bliss sitting at his desk with Surfrista standing in the corner. They seemed to be idly chatting, despite the prior hostilities between them. She smiled at Surfrista and he nodded at her.
“Hey there, you’re both pretty early today. I heard you stayed for the night on Friday. Real exciting stuff for an intern.”
“Yeah, we’re working with Sir Jelly on a longer mission. I’m just kind of worried about him…I wanted to come in as soon as I could.” She looked back at her wrist.
“Don’t be worried about him. If you want something to worry about, worry about messing up when we’re called back in for the rescue,” Bliss said, still typing away at his computer.
Lunai felt a pit in her chest. Surfrista gave her an awkward look.
“Don’t mind him, he doesn’t think you’re going to mess up, he just can’t keep anything to himself. Entropi rubbed off a little too much on you.” He nudged Bliss’s shoulder.
Bliss shrugged. “I don’t think telling you to calm down is going to do anything, but you should at least have faith in Sir Jelly’s ability. Everyone is going to be terrified for their first few big missions, might as well accept it.” He stopped for a minute, finally giving her proper attention. “You were so excited about your first press conference, what makes this different?”
Lunai looked down at her shaking fingers. She tried to take a few deep breaths. “Talking to people is different than fighting. We try to avoid combat whenever possible on Ya’ar. And besides, no one’s life was at risk from a press conference.”
Surfrista patted her on the back. “That’s what you think, HA!”
Bliss and Lunai stared at him. His joke did not land. Sighing, he took his list out to do the morning sign-out. She didn’t fully absorb any of the words or notice when Argalax walked in and sat down next to her. She picked at the peeling bark on her fingers, inadvertently causing some minor bleeding.
“So that’s about it. Kind of a boring weekend, except for the party. I’ll invite you two next time. Bliss ditched after a while, can’t say I’m surprised.”
Surfrista left the room and Lunai finally noticed Argalax sitting next to her. He also appeared jittery and was fidgeting in his chair. They both sat in silence, staring at Bliss. He typed on his computer for a bit before looking at them.
“So…do you guys wanna talk about anything? I was kind of excited for the small talk today.”
Argalax cautiously opened his mouth. “I think we would both feel more prepared for any upcoming missions if you could teach us more about how different types of missions usually go.”
Bliss rocked in his chair for a moment, hands behind his head. “Tell you what, I can do better than that. Lucky for you two, I finished writing a ton of notes last night. We can go to the simulation room and do a spacecraft rescue mission.”
Lunai shot up. “Yes, that would be amazing! I think that would make both of us feel a lot better.”
Argalax nodded in agreement. Bliss locked his computer and stood up, beckoning them out of the room. They passed through the office workers and walked to the circular hallway. Lunai assumed it was just there to be confusing or entertaining for kids, but Bliss put his hand to a faint scanner on the wall in the middle, causing an elevator to open.
She pointed at Bliss. “Wait, when were they going to tell us that this hallway actually had something in it? You didn’t even mention the simulation rooms on the tour!”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Sorry, the board didn’t want me to tell you about it during orientation! Your first use has to be with your senior, anyway.”
They all entered the elevator, which had a small terminal in the front. Bliss once again scanned his hand on it and then started typing in a code. The machine hummed and they felt themselves going downward.
“They should not have put this thing in that damned circle. Kids are always trying to run in here, you have to make sure to check for them before you put the code in.” Bliss took another look around, double checking that they were alone.
The elevator stopped and opened to a room filled with workers in lab coats stationed at various computers. Each area had several screens playing a video, and a few screens with code running down. Bliss looked around the room until he found someone who looked available. His interns followed closely as he approached.
“Good morning, it’s a slow day upstairs. I was thinking I’d take my interns here so we could prepare for an important mission.”
The man at the computer looked up. “Welcome back, Bliss. Of course we can accommodate you. Most of the seniors haven’t taken their interns down yet, so we have lots of availability today. What type of mission would you like?”
“Human trafficking rescue mission on a spacecraft, preferably on a vessel within a larger armada. Make it simple and easy. I’m not going to be helping them much and it’s a small team.”
He nodded and started typing on the computer. Several options appeared on the screen and he selected the mission type, mission location, and additional complications. A soft whirring sound started and the computer began to run the proper code. The wall next to the machine opened up, allowing the three to enter. They walked in and found themselves in a narrow cylinder.
A kind voice in the air started talking to them. Her tone sounded calm and refreshing.
Hello and welcome to the Standardized Situation Station. Please tell me if this is your first time using our simulation technology.
“Yes, this is our first time,” said Bliss.
Thank you very much. Please do not be alarmed by the small area. We are currently preparing your simulation for you. When your simulation is ready, the walls around you will fall, and you will find yourself in a location that was generated based on the prompt you selected.
As part of a full simulation experience, you will be able to feel pain. Do not be alarmed. While damage may appear on your body, this is not reflected in the real world. For safety purposes, please avoid panicking. The simulation will end when you have succeeded in your mission, or if all participants are indisposed.
Never attack each other within the simulation, as this can cause actual damage to your body. Do not bring food or drinks into the simulation. Finally, please make sure to fill out the feedback survey at the end of your experience. Happy learning and thank you again for using the Standardized Situation Station.
Lunai looked around in wonder. “Did Dr. Crux make this technology himself?”
“He was involved in the design, but he had a lot of outside contractors for it. It was very expensive; he made sure to purchase the full rights for it so he could be in control of scenario generation. Not the kind of thing an outside company should be doing for us.”
“Your simulation is now ready. The walls will be removed in 3, 2, 1.”
The room started to shake as the walls disappeared. They looked around and found themselves in the cargo hold of a spaceship. They could hear footsteps and faint talking nearby.
Bliss looked at his interns and spoke within their minds. “You two will lead this simulation. I’m just along for the ride.”
Lunai surveyed her surroundings and looked to exit to the cargo hold. Two voices could be heard coming from there. She stood next to the door and gestured for Argalax to walk over. She nodded at him while pointing towards the door handle.
“Open it quickly. The door will cover me as my roots take out their comms,” she whispered.
He nodded and jerked the door open, two guards standing outside immediately turned to face him.
“Hey! What are you-“
Lunai’s roots quickly grabbed both of their wrists, breaking through the skin and wrapping around the chips implanted within them. Their CellPulses sparked and fizzled out. When they looked down to check, Argalax grabbed them both by the collar and threw them back towards Bliss, who gracefully caught them.
Bliss closed the door and the three of them prepared for a fight. He dropped the men to the floor, then flew to the corner of the room, letting his interns handle the fight.
One rushed towards Argalax, taking out a sword that sparked with entropic energy. He slashed at his head, with Argalax moving his arm to block it.
Clang!
Metal battled metal. Argalax felt a tingling sensation from the impact, his arm starting to move uncontrollably. His other hand grabbed at the hilt of the now broken sword, pushing it up with a force that knocked the man backwards.
Lunai went for the man standing up. He took out a gravity gun as she spread her roots out on the floor between them, encompassing the area he was standing in. He shot excessive gravity at the roots, causing them to flatten, trapped in place. She detached them from her body and left them there, using her remaining roots to grab a beam on the ceiling, pulling herself up and towards the man.
She swung herself forward and planted her foot in his face, which was protected by a helmet. Bits of bark and thorns broke off from her skin and wedged into his helmet. She let go of the beam and willed the debris she had planted within his helmet to extend up to the ceiling, gripping the beam and pulling the helmet off of his head.
He shot at Lunai, and her hero suit threw up a gravity modulator to protect her. The move was not without cost, as it drained a significant amount of the suit’s energy. The man’s weapon ran out of charges as well, leaving Lunai an opening to grab it and grow her roots inside, disabling the machinery.
While the other man stumbled back, Argalax shot forward and aimed his hand at his vibrating hand at his throat. With a swift jab, the man grabbed his throat and fell backwards. Coughing on the ground, Argalax approached and knelt down next to his head. He morphed his hand into a small hammer and landed a precise hit in the middle of the man’s head, knocking him out. The vibration subsided with the end of the fight.
Lunai’s opponent threw the disabled gun at her face. She slapped it to the side, causing a loud crash as it flew into metal shelves. He kicked at her chest, the impact leaving a small crater as the air filled with wooden debris. He continued his assault, landing punch after punch.
Lunai stood with several gaps in her form, but then the ground started to rustle as the chunks of bark on the floor surrounded his feet, sprouting roots that wrapped around him. He fell forward and the roots took hold of his entire body. Muffled screams erupted from the mass of bark on the floor, followed by silence. Lunai pulled the roots back into her body, filling the gaps created in the fight.
“Did you kill him?” Argalax looked a little shocked.
“What? No! I just tapped into the part of his brain that keeps him awake, the reticular activating system. He’ll be asleep for a day or two.”
Bliss floated to the floor, surveying the bodies. “Everyone complains about the alien biology classes during training, but then you guys go and do stuff like this.”
The three of them shared a laugh before securing the two attackers. They were both tied to the metal shelves in the room.
Lunai turned to Argalax. “My guy will be asleep for a while, but if we wake yours up we can get some useful information.”
He nodded and started trying to shake the man awake. A light slap did the trick, causing him to sit up and gasp. Argalax put his hand over his mouth.
“We disabled your communications devices. There will be no way to call for help, so please cooperate with us so we may be done with this quickly,” he said.
The man nodded and Argalax removed his hand. “How many members of your group are on this ship?”
The easy-mode villain quickly relented. “I don’t know the exact number, probably around 25 on this ship.”
Before Argalax could ask the next question, an alarm sounded in the room. The man started to panic, and several beams of light started to shoot out from the walls around them. They cut through the entire room, severing the bodies of Lunai and Argalax. Pieces of them fell to the floor in silence. Bliss stood in his non-physical form, the beams of light passing right through him.
“Ok guys, I know you’re watching this from the outside. Your little fight was cool but very loud. You didn’t know the layout of this ship, so you had no idea where the closest room was. You also forgot this.” He pointed towards a security camera mounted to the ceiling. “It wasn’t even hidden, so I’d say you guys need a little work. End the simulation, please!”
The voice of the machine returned.
You have indicated that you would like to end the simulation before a total resolution. You will be returned to the physical world shortly. Thank you for using the Standardized Situation Station. Please leave a review of your simulation once you have exited.
The world went dark and Lunai and Argalax opened their eyes back in the real world. The door to the lab opened and they returned to the attendant at the desk, with Lunai and Argalax trying to hide their embarrassment.
“Don’t feel bad. I mean, it was a pretty stupid mistake, but good for you for being confident!”
Bliss gave them two thumbs up and smiled. The interns sighed and looked at the floor. They couldn’t tell if he was genuinely trying to be nice.
“Alright, no time to sulk. You two clearly aren’t ready for the real thing yet, so let’s get back in there!”
He looked at the attendant who ran the code again. The three returned inside for another round in the Standardized Situation Station, where interns' self-confidence goes to die.
Sci-fi ? Telepathy ? Psychics
The technocracy will fall. And my powers started it all. Oops.
- Straight & queer romances. (No harem.)
- Seven-book interconnected series.
- Comedy Space Operas: .
- WLW Psychological Thrillers: .