Gideon came back to himself, gasping for air. He was still in the chamber with the dead Striker nearby and Mia leaning over him, smiling. Pain came back to his body, but it was accompanied by a strange warmth which was similar to the healing he’d experienced when his echo had automatically consumed ether to heal him.

  Mia gave him a hand as he pushed himself up to a sitting position. He offered her a weak smile.

  “Thanks.”

  She returned the smile.

  “No problem. You were looking pretty bad there for a while.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Turns out that first Stalker was just the entrée. Main dish turned out to be a whole lot harder to deal with.”

  She turned to face the corpse, shaking her head.

  “I can’t believe you actually took that thing on. It was already wounded when we showed up too.” She turned back to Gideon. “How did you manage that?”

  “Luck mostly. Had some convenient timing with my inventory kicking into gear and I managed to grab a little ether.”

  They got to their feet and walked over to red who was standing in the gap between where the Stalker’s sword arm was jutting out of the wall and the rest of its body lay slumped on the floor. He looked over at Gideon as the others approached.

  “That was fucking epic!”

  Gideon grunted. “Didn’t feel epic. Felt like getting blown up when you fired that thing.”

  His smile dropped. “Oh, shit. Yeah sorry. I tried to aim it a little away from you, but I figured your echo can take a hit.”

  “Really? How’d you figure that?”

  He shrugged. “The way you took it to that first Stalker and the fact that you survived against big boy here. I figured if you survived as long as you did you’d be able to take a little light explosive action.”

  Despite the anger he felt, Gideon laughed. He knew that Red hadn’t hesitated for a moment before firing that grenade launcher and he doubted he even bothered to try aiming away from Gideon. But there was something undeniably likeable about the bastard and he had given Gideon the chance to finish the Stalker and end the fight.

  “Okay, well we need to get moving,” Gideon said, looking nervously through the bent metal frame that used to be a closed door. “We could have more company real soon.”

  Red shook his head. “I already checked out the corridor and the next room. We’re all clear for the moment.”

  “We found the EV suits,” Mia offered, motioning to the suits draped over the remains of a table nearby. She was holding an assault gun at her shoulder, the same gun she’d used to distract the Stalker and buy Gideon enough time to get clear of the enemy.

  MISSION COMPLETE: Gearing Up

  You have successfully acquired an EV suit and a firearm.

  REWARD: 2 Enhancement Points

  MILESTONE 1: Acquire EV suit - Complete

  MILESTONE 2: Acquire firearm - Complete

  He looked over at the EV suits. “Okay, let’s loot the corpse, grab anything of worth and get the hell out of here.”

  “We can’t loot yet,” Mia said, pulling Bullseye out of her pocket and handing the little turtle to Gideon.

  “Apparently this fancy pants AI upgrade can’t handle the transition,” Bullseye said with obvious glee. “I’ve passed on the relevant information, but this Elysia refuses to play ball. We may need support from a Ministry technician.”

  Gideon walked over to the dead Stalker and bent down over the body, reaching for the talon he’d stabbed into the body and pulling it free.

  “What about your inventories?” he asked as the first talon slipped free. “Are those working?”

  Mia nodded. “Yeah, we can store items. Between us we’ve got two spare pistols and another assault rifle as well as some ammo. Once you’re done I can give you whatever you like.”

  “Okay then,” Gideon said, pulling the second talon free and then moving to the small throwing knife. “I’ll do the looting and then we can divide up whatever we find.”

  They both agreed and Gideon deposited his reclaimed blades into his inventory. After a little experimentation, he confirmed that dropping a blood-covered blade into his inventory and then pulling it out again would also clean the weapon, returning it to its pre-gory state.

  So far, everything here was working in more or less the same way as it was supposed to on Artemis. That was good. It seemed that the enemies they’d be facing also had ether, to some degree. That was also good, because without ether to harvest they’d be limited in how quickly they could advance.

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  He was about to loot the larger of the two corpses when another warning appeared on his chat display.

  WARNING: You have utilized Ministry ether without proper authorization. Recently incurred ether debts have not yet been paid in full, so you now owe the Ministry 50 ether. This will be deducted the next time you make a deposit at the nearest ether harvester.

  Gideon lifted Bullseye to eye level.

  “What the hell is going on with this ether debt bullshit?”

  “Technically, you have used ether without Ministry approval. So, your echo is behaving appropriately, informing you of the debt you have thus far incurred.”

  Red laughed. “You’re in debt, already?”

  “Fifty ether,” Gideon said, shooting him a hard stare. “But it’s bullshit! The first lot of ether I had to use as an emergency to get into this chamber and the second was to keep me alive long enough to kill this bastard.”

  He kicked the dead Stalker with one boot.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it,” Mia said. “These are extenuating circumstances. I doubt the Ministry is going to hold you to the debt given everything that’s happened.”

  “Yeah,” Red chimed in. “Maybe earth has already been conquered by these alien freaks and the Ministry doesn’t even exist anymore. Screw the debt.”

  The turtle shook its head. “I hate to be the fly in your soup, but the Ministry takes ether debt very seriously. If you continue to utilize ether the debt will increase exponentially and may quickly become too significant to pay off.”

  “Well, how the fuck is that fair?” Gideon complained.

  “It’s not fair at all,” Bullseye retorted. “But then life is not fair, is it? After years of service, I have been tossed aside, relegated to the trash heap without even being given the satisfaction of facing my accusers. No, life is not fair. We are all victims of the powerful, destined to be ground beneath their boot and squished out of existence.”

  The three of them stared at the turtle for a moment, Gideon frowning. Bullseye cleared his throat.

  “I could be wrong, of course.”

  Gideon handed the turtle to Mia once more and watched as another orb of purple smokey light appeared above the dead Stalker. He reached out a hand and looted the corpse.

  ITEMS LOOTED

  Ether + 20

  Bloodborn blade + 1

  Stalker bile + 1

  He placed each item into his inventory before bringing the Bloodborn blade back to his hands. The blade was made from the same chitinous substance as his talon blades. It was heavier than the talons, but still relatively light. Gideon looked over at Red whose eyes were practically bursting out of his head.

  “I figure you’ll want this?”

  Red leaped over the twisted metal and broken chairs between them, taking the large blade from Gideon with an appreciative nod.

  “It’s frigging beautiful!”

  He gave the blade an experimental slash, tipping over balance a little before getting the hang of the weight and size of the weapon. Like the talons, it wasn’t fashioned specifically into a weapon, but Gideon knew that will a little time and the right materials, they’d be able to adapt the weapons to be more comfortable to use and more effective in a fight.

  He turned to Mia apologetically.

  “I’m not sure there’s anything here that could help you specifically. I did find this, but I don’t know if you’re gonna be able to use it for anything.”

  She picked the small round organ up off his hands and examined it.

  “Stalker bile,” she said with a grin. “Apparently I can use this to make a powerful healing salve, or a kind of venom that causes bleeding.” The item disappeared into her inventory as the pointed over at Red. “It’s not a great big sword, but it’s something, I guess. Besides, at least we’ve got weapons now.”

  She hefted the assault rifle.

  “Yeah,” Gideon said, walking over and taking Bullseye back off her. “I was going to ask. Where the hell did you learn to shoot like that?”

  Mia shrugged, smiling. “Counterstrike mainly. Plus, my uncle owns a ranch, and he taught me how to shoot when I was little.”

  They all moved over to the EV suits and began getting dressed one by one. Gideon’s shirt was in tatters, so he took a moment to head to one of the sleeping quarters and grab a new one. When he returned the others were almost fully suited up.

  While he was climbing into the EV suit a series of stats and messages showed up on his HUD. He dismissed them after quickly reading through the list but lingered for a few moments on the final announcement.

  Dodge +3

  Counterattack +1

  Stealth +1

  Endurance +2

  Leadership +1

  ** ENEMY INTEL **

  Stalker: Bloodborn Variant

  These scout troops wear heavier armor than normal Stalkers and are typically used to provide additional protection for advanced forces entering enemy territory. While among the weakest soldiers within the Collective, Bloodborn Stalkers can still cause significant damage to infrastructure and are capable of wounding and even killing novice soldiers.

  Gideon snorted.

  “What is it?” Mia asked.

  He pointed at the dead Stalker. “That’s one of their weakest troops. It was on its own two. I don’t think we would have done so well against two or three of the bastards.”

  “Not before,” Red offered, raising his oversized sword. “Now though, I reckon we’d have half a shot.”

  He looked downright comical dressed in his EV suit and wielding a huge black sword. The grenade launcher slung around his shoulder completed the look.

  “Yeah, I’d probably stow that gear if I was you, dude,” Gideon offered. “You can pull the sword out of your inventory at any time if you need it, but if we go charging outside with that thing out you might accidentally stick yourself with it.”

  “Or one of us,” Mia added.

  Unlike the burly tank, she’d already dropped her guns into her inventory. She handed Gideon an assault rifle and a handgun and he placed them both into his own inventory as they prepared to leave.

  “Anyone else think that’s a bit weird?” Red asked, pointing at Gideon. “The fact that they had two assault rifles and a bunch of handguns in this ship. Not to mention a grenade launcher.”

  “It is weird,” Gideon agreed. “Book said there wouldn’t be much. Maybe whoever runs this ship is a bit of a gun nut?”

  “Not anymore,” Red suggested. “We found a bunch of bodies on our way to get the suits. Four or five crew. Looked like they’d run into one of these boys before they could reach the armory.”

  Gideon took one last look around the chamber and then motioned toward the exit.

  “Okay then, we should go.”

  “Ah, one question,” Bullseye said. “What are you planning on doing with me as you charge through the vacuum of space?”

  Gideon frowned, looking down at the little turtle nestled in his palm.

  “Will you survive if I stick you in my inventory?”

  “Probably a second or so longer than if you expose me to what’s waiting for us outside the ship. You can’t stick anything living into your inventory. Not if you want it to stay alive at least.”

  Mia stepped up, squinting at the turtle.

  “You’re gonna need to keep him in the suit with you. There should be plenty of oxygen for you both.” She reached for Bullseye. “Here, I’ll help you.”

  After a few minutes they’d figured out the logistics of the operation and all four were ready to depart the ship. The turtle clung to Gideon’s t-shirt, its claws scratching his chest in a way that was close to torture.

  He gritted his teeth, pushing past the annoyance and leading the others through the ruined door and into the passage beyond.

  “Let's do it!”