THE ASCENDANCY -- The Den - Day 3

  The next morning, Kyle, Tim, and I all sat staring at something on the table.

  "Tim, that's the coolest thing I think I've ever seen."

  "I know, right? It's easy to see how empires were forged with things like this."

  Kyle sat shaking his head. "It's terrifying even to look at."

  "Yeah, but tell me you don't want one so you can play with it too."

  "Yeah, I do," Kyle said with a grin.

  Tim reached down and picked up the Egyptian khopesh. The blade had this wicked sickle-shaped curve to it, kind of like someone had taken a sword and bent it forward into a nasty hook. The whole outer edge of that curve gleamed razor-sharp, while the inner edge stayed blunt - probably meant for catching shields or yanking weapons out of people's hands. The thing was maybe two feet of curved bronze blade, topped off with a handle that looked like it was adorned in ivory and composite.

  "I thought it'd be a lot heavier. Honestly, I haven't had a chance to mess around with a lot of bronze blades before."

  "Well, we're kinda cheating, Tim. In the bronze age they would've had to make their bronze a lot differently than we are. We may have smelted the material, but we didn't exactly have to pull it out and work it at all or even pour it for that matter. ARi reached in and phased it out."

  "The damn thing's as sharp as a razor too," Tim said as he ran the blade along his forearm showing that it could shave hair.

  "ARi told me she can make a smaller version for my rogues, and we came up with a decent design for smaller daggers," I said. "Scale wise, I don't think they'll be anything we can use, but they'll be perfect for the kobolds."

  "All right boys," ARi said as she walked up to the table, "the sun's out and it's time, I mean if you guys are done playing with your toys."

  Tim secured his khopesh on a leather-like belt and hook that ARi had helped him fashion the night before. We met the rest of the girls at the door leading outside. Before we had a chance to open it, the door swung inward and Bishop trotted inside, dented, scraped, covered in filth and blue blood, with the little water drake looking exhausted and still clinging to the top of my familiar.

  "Where the hell have you been?" I asked in an admonishing tone. The last time I'd seen Bishop, I'd sent him to run the perimeter.

  Bishop stopped and looked up at me; the glowing orbs recessed in his head looked weary. He waited a second to see if I was gonna give him any additional instructions. When I didn't, he moved to the side of the hearth, spun three circles, and plopped down beside the fire. The little water drake hopped off, ran to Yumi rubbing her snout against her leg, yawned, and climbed up to her shoulder.

  Tim and Kyle winced. Tim pinched his nose with his fingers. "Good grief, Gavin. Bishop smells like he's been rolling around in death."

  "It's all right. I'll clean him up while we're working outside," ARi said. "Gavin, I don't know if you've taken a closer look at your familiar yet, but he also ranked up while he was gone, so they obviously got into some trouble. I'll go back through his memory banks while I'm at it and make sure that whatever he was up to didn't involve other teams."

  "Thanks, ARi. I appreciate it."

  We walked up the stairs and stepped outside, and for the first time I could see the start of real progress. For almost seventy yards in every direction the plant life was gone and the terrain had been flattened. Adjacent to the stone formation there was now a platform made from stone bricks and cobblestones that rose about a foot off the ground. We followed ARi to the new staging yard.

  "All right guys, if you don't mind I'm gonna get my stuff done first. That way my new big boys can be working while we sort other things out."

  "Sounds good to us, ARi," Kyle said.

  Now that we didn't have to worry about bringing the constructs back into the den at night, I knew that ARi planned on making them a little bigger.

  "I still wanted to keep the constructs small enough that I can operate two of them off a single control point, but check these guys out." ARi waved her hand and two of the six legged stout utility constructs started to form on the ground in front of us. They were identical to the constructs she'd created before; only these ones were much larger, about ten to twelve feet long with their core structure roughly four feet tall. The massive manipulator arms could reach much higher than their frames.

  The moment the constructs fully materialized, they both headed off the staging yard and moved toward wherever ARi had programmed them to go.

  "My plan's to make two more of these guys for a total of four, and one larger construct. I'm gonna do the larger now, and once I've given my energy a chance to recharge a little I'll do the other two," ARi said.

  We all took a couple of steps back as another utility construct identical in design started to materialize on the staging yard. Whereas the earlier constructs were roughly the size of a small pickup, this new one was massive, the size of a tractor trailer.

  "ARi, that's pretty impressive."

  "Well, I hope so, Gav, because it's eating up two of my control points. I'm gonna use this one to finish any excavation needed for the wall. We need the wall counterSunk into the ground a bit. This is also the same unit that's gonna play Bob the builder on your oversized cinder block wall."

  The utility constructs had a head on the front of their chassis similar to Bishop's, only they had one glowing orb for an eye recessed in the face. The massive construct leaned down toward us looking at ARi as if it were waiting for instructions. Yumi, giddy like a kid on Christmas, ran up and patted the side of the construct's head.

  "He's big," Yumi said, turning back to ARi. "His name's Rufus."

  "Rufus!" ARi exclaimed. "Why Rufus?"

  "Look at him," Yumi said. "He's big but he's so cute. He looks like a Rufus."

  "All right Yumi, we can name this one Rufus," ARi said. "But if we're gonna name these things," ARi smiled, "I'm naming the other two Leroy and Jenkins."

  Yumi clapped her hands and walked around Rufus examining him. "Gav, I think we're ready for the next part," Kyle said, shaking his head at ARi and Yumi's naming antics.

  "You guys might be, but I'm not," I admitted, taking a deep breath.

  ARi instructed Rufus to move off to the side of the yard, and he squatted and laid down on the ground to wait for instructions. I opened the Architect menu and selected the Kobold Shieldbearers. After I applied my available attribute points, I had enough to spawn six of the little kobolds and two of the rogues. I decided to start with the Shieldbearers.

  "You guys, I'm gonna spawn the first one in. Let's make sure everything's working before we bring in the others."

  We'd already discussed how we were gonna outfit the little kobolds and what skills we'd give them. Thanks to the cross training skill and Tim's late night decision to specialize in blades, I thought we'd come up with a pretty well rounded standard infantry unit. After selecting skills and equipment, I summoned our first cohort.

  The little Kobold phased into being like the rest of us and was startled as he looked around and took in his surroundings. I stepped forward and knelt down in front of the creature. "It's all right, little buddy. You're safe."

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  The Kobold turned and looked at me like he recognized who I was. "Can you understand me?" I asked.

  The Kobold replied with a chirp and nodded.

  "Are you able to talk?" I asked.

  The creature tilted his head, considering my question, and shook his head. "Okay, that's all right. We can work with yes and no for a little while. I know this is probably overwhelming, but there are a couple of important things I need to ask you before I spawn the others, okay?"

  "Do you remember anything from before I spawned you into this place?" I asked.

  The Kobold shook his head no. "Okay. Worth a shot. I'm not gonna press you on things you don't remember."

  "All right, let's start with the basics. You recognize me as being in charge?"

  The little Kobold nodded.

  "Good. So here's the deal. You're going to be part of this team. Your role isn't to be a servant who follows orders blindly. I want you to be part of the group. Part of the team. Do you understand?"

  The Kobold seemed to take what I said into consideration for a moment, and nodded. I was surprised that even a low level cohort could grasp more complex concepts than I expected.

  "Do you understand that you are here to defend your world?" I asked.

  The little Kobold looked confused and a little frazzled. There was weariness and hesitation in his eyes. "It's okay," I said. "Like I said, you're safe. This is not your world, but what we do here affects what happens back home. Do you understand?"

  Again the Kobold nodded. The rest of the group stood behind me, mouths dropped, clearly shocked at the exchange. "We can talk more in the future, but here are the basics that you need to know. You are of Earth. This is Earth territory on this world. The rest of the group behind me are your team. They are of Earth as well. One of your primary responsibilities is to protect our team."

  ARi stepped forward, knelt in front of the little Kobold, and bowed her head in respect. To my surprise the Kobold bowed back.

  "ARi is important and must be protected with our lives, including mine if it comes down to that. Do you understand?"

  The little Kobold pounded his fist against his chest in acknowledgment and squawked. ARi waved her hand in front of him and a shield and a short spear materialized. The little creature bounced excitedly before dropping down to grab the equipment.

  Still kneeling, ARi conjured a small straight pointed short sword about a foot and a half long in one hand, and in the other a bronze helm with a horizontal crest of brightly colored red feathers. Clearly thrilled with the new equipment, the Kobold retrieved his helm and blade, slipped the helm under his arm, stood next to me, and faced the area where he had spawned, looking up at me in anticipation.

  "Guys, I think he wants Gav to spawn the rest of them in," Kyle said.

  Tanya and Yumi watched in amazement, mouths open, whispering to each other. "Are you seeing this?" Yumi asked Tanya.

  "I'm seeing it," Tanya replied. "I'm not believing it, but I'm seeing it."

  I brought up the Architect menu and spawned five more kobolds. As soon as they materialized, all five looked around in wonder and shock. Before panic could set in, the first Kobold marched up to them and started chirping in a language none of us understood. They talked for a few minutes, the first Kobold pointing animatedly back at ARi and the rest of us, and the five new kobolds walked shoulder to shoulder and knelt in front of ARi. The first tapped his spear on the ground, holding it out to me, and indicated to the others.

  ARi waved her hand and a pile of equipment materialized in front of each new Kobold. Excited, they rushed to grab their gear. The first Kobold I had spawned noticed the feathers on his helm were different. His were bright red running front to back, but the others had black feathers that ran ear to ear.

  "You noticed that, did you?" I said, looking down toward his helmet. "Yours is different because you're going to be in charge of the others. In fact, I think we should fix your shield too. And I think I know what I want to use." I leaned down and whispered into ARi's ear, and she smiled in agreement. The little Kobold jumped back in shock as his tower shield disappeared right out of his hands and reappeared face up on the ground before him, this time with the red six legged drake painted across the center while the same two black lines ran down the shield behind it.

  The little Kobold jumped up and down in excitement. I instructed him to split the others into two teams, each team to follow one of the smaller utility constructs that were heading toward the tree line. "I want you to establish a tight perimeter and to protect the constructs. If it's all right, little buddy, I'm going to call you Red." Red chirped and tapped his chest. I can only assume that meant he liked the name.

  "Red, listen carefully, this next part is important. Those constructs, although valuable, are replaceable, but you and yours are not. Do you understand?" The little Kobold nodded. "Good. Now if something tries to attack the constructs and you guys think you can take them, do it. If not, leave the construct behind and you guys come back here for help, okay?" Red stood at attention for a second, nodded, chirped to the others, and they split into two groups with their shields and spears, moving off to their objectives.

  "Well, that leaves the last two cohorts," I said. "Come to think of it, I probably should have warned the others I was bringing these in. But it'll be good practice. I'll make sure the rogues stay hidden for now and introduce them later. Maybe it'll help them gain experience."

  I waved my hand and two dark robed cohorts materialized. They looked similar in frame and stature to the others, but their dark scales and feathers disappeared into the black cloaks ARi had helped create for them. Kneeling, I repeated the same process and presented each rogue with two daggers, a smaller version of the Egyptian khopesh, and on Yumi's recommendation, a wrist rocket.

  The wrist rocket looked out of place and took a moment for them to figure out how to strap the device on. One of them picked up a small stone sphere from the ground, loaded it into the wrist rocket, aimed at a tree about thirty yards away, and snapped the slingshot into action. A couple of seconds later we heard the telltale thud of a small projectile smashing into the tree.

  The two little Kobolds practically squealed with delight, knelt and began scooping up the bullets, stuffing them into little cloth pouches and tucking the pouches under their cloaks on some kind of belt hook. The wrist rockets folded down over their arm so they didn't have to remove them after strapping them on. Two daggers were sheathed on straps across their chests. Each rogue knelt before ARi, stood and looked to me for instructions.

  "Each of you are to track your fellow cohorts that we sent out to protect the utility constructs. Try to avoid being seen until the constructs come back and I introduce you to the group. This is practice. You're going to help protect your fellow cohorts and the constructs. Scout the area and get as much practice as you can with that wrist rocket and your weapons. Hunt insects or other small lizards, but don't shoot any of those," I pointed at the little water drake.

  The drake chirped from Yumi's shoulder before nestling back against Yumi's neck.

  "Be careful. I don't want you to waste your lives. Do you understand?"

  Both rogues nodded.

  "Okay, go."

  Without missing a beat, each rogue jumped off the platform and disappeared into the tall grass.

  "Okay, ARi, you are now in charge of setting up some private quarters in the den for our new little buddies. Tim, you're going to stay with Kyle while he starts working on battlements around the outside of where the wall is going to be."

  "You know I don't need a babysitter, Gav," Kyle said.

  Tim moved over and put his hand on Kyle's shoulder. "Yes you do."

  Kyle smiled. "Yeah, I do."

  The two laughed as they walked off toward the nearest wall section.

  "Ladies, you're with me," I said to Yumi and Tanya. "ARi, since everybody's pretty close by, I'm going to go ahead and take Bishop too. Is that okay?"

  "Suits me fine. I should probably be paying attention with Rufus here to make sure I don't accidentally step on Kyle," she said, grinning.

  "Before you start that, ARi, would you mind making three of those wrist rockets for us as well? And the daggers and short spears too, one set for each of us."

  Yumi looked up at Tanya, and Tanya cut in, "And because Gavin doesn't plan things out properly, and likes to jump into whatever, ARi, will you please put aside some rations from the pantry for us?"

  ARi smiled, waved her hand, and the equipment and rations materialized on the ground before us.

  Yumi's smile was ear to ear. "Now I understood how our little kobolds felt. It's like Christmas, except the presents appear right in front of you and you don't even have to unwrap them."

  Bishop stepped up onto the platform and walked over to my side. His plating had been repaired and he was clean, thank God. Before, he'd stunk so bad, I'd seriously considered making him walk behind us

  "Okay, so my plan's pretty simple," I said. "We'll send Bishop out ahead of us to find some easy prey and pin it down, and we'll take turns."

  "You know, none of this is easy for us, Gavin," Tanya exclaimed. "I'm vegetarian and..."

  "I'm vegan," Yumi finished.

  "Well ladies, those were noble stances to take back on Earth, but back on Earth our food wasn't trying to eat us," I said.

  The girls exchanged looks, contemplating that for a moment.

  "You know, Yumi, honestly, as stupid as that sounds, it actually does make me feel a lot better about this."

  "Right," Yumi said. "Me too."

  "Besides," I added, "if you think about it, you're still protecting all of the precious cute little fuzzy animals back on Earth.

  "So far, with the exception of my little water drake, everything else here has tried to eat us," Yumi said.

  Tanya smiled at me and looked back at Yumi. "I wonder what dino bacon's gonna taste like."

  "Oh Tanya," Yumi said. "I miss bacon so much."

  "Well girls, grab your shit then. Let's go huntin'. Bishop, find the girls' bacon."

  Without hesitation, Bishop dropped down onto all six legs and blazed forward toward the tree line.

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