Away Game

Thousands of miles below my feet, an azure marble spun silently in the void. The planet's elegant streaks of cloud left me breathless even from this distance. Docking clamps clanked and hissed, and my shuttle was let free from its mothership. Auto pilot activated, and my ship began its descent. The U.I.P Intrepid grew smaller above me, as the water world Aquarius grew larger below.

“Aquarius is the third planet in its system,” Rita's voice cut into my thoughts through the small speaker in my ear. “Ninety nine percent of its surface is covered in a shallow ocean, with a maximum known depth of thirty meters. It has no moons, no tidal activity, and is geologically inert.”

“So why am I here?” I asked.

“For a game of course...but you will be on your own, no friends to assist you,” her voice crackled.

“Who am I facing?”

“Whatever lies within this fortress...we haven't heard from the captain in three weeks. We suspect something went down. ”

The shuttle rumbled for a moment as it cut through a layer of cloud, and the world's surface came into view. Blue stretched out as far as the eye could see, save for an enormous silver structure shaped like a pillbug with thousands of iridescent solar panels on its back. The fortress waded through the shallow sea on eight long armored legs.

I've heard the stories, Titans like these flattening cities in minutes. In the past, we would drop them from orbit to quell rebellion or to end a battle before it had a chance to begin. Nowadays, they had all been retired to spend their final days as research stations on distant worlds. Still, if you couldn't tell it was a war machine from its past, the hundreds of laser cannons would let you know.

The whine of ion thrusters ceased as my shuttle came to rest on a landing pad. It was eerily calm as I stepped outside. The wind was gentle, and the briny smell of the ocean filled my nose. Graceful thunderheads rolled across the horizon.

I recalled Rita's words from earlier...something...that doesn't tell me much. The thought sent shivers down my spine. Suddenly, a thin strip of LEDs lit up on the floor beneath me pulsing in the direction of an airlock. After a moment of thought, I decided to follow.

Guided by the light in the floor, I made my way into the moving fortress. Every step rang through the empty halls, shadows flickered and shifted in the corners of my vision. I'd never been afraid of being alone, but seeing these halls empty scared me. I reached around and pulled my slung disruptor into position. Rita usually scolded me for depending on it, but today she said nothing.

My every movement sent sounds echoing for miles. My boots hitting the floor, my hands shifting on the disruptor, my sword bouncing in its sheath with every step. Even worse than that, what little armor I had clattered like change in a tin can. Everything made noise; every noise traveled.

The floor light came to a stop at a sealed airlock. Its running lights glowing red to signify danger on the other side. Its dial pad simply read “entry temporarily prohibited.” So I did what I could.

I let my disruptor fall back around to my side, took my gloves off, and laid both hands on the airlock door. These airlocks were armored specifically so alchemists can't blow them open like this, but I wasn't your average alchemist.

Normally when doing alchemy, you convert matter to energy, then convert said energy to a different type of matter, or a different shape. It's an extremely helpful skill, it can heal wounds, fix broken tools, create distractions, it can do anything really. But if you're careful, you can stop the reaction early, and convert matter straight to energy, effectively turning anything into a bomb.

“I can tell you're about to break the rules,” Rita tried to sound disciplinary, but I could hear the smile in her voice.

“Its fine,” I said,” I promise I won’t kill myself.” I closed my eyes for a moment, focused, and reopened them. Below my hands, thin glowing lines began to spread across the airlock. Then, with a deafening BANG! The first door shattered, sending shrapnel into the second, ripping a wide gash through it.

The blast filled the air with smoke and the distinct sulfurous odor of alchemy. The room beyond was mostly unlit, save for a few dim red running lights around its perimeter. It was a huge open space, probably a landing bay for starships.

Suddenly, the doorway behind me crinkled shut as though a mighty hand had pinched the opening closed. Alchemical markings spiderwebbed across the once smooth metal. Harsh hangar lights flicked on, filling the room with an almost blinding glow.

In front of me were five huge beasts. They stood on four legs, breathed and grunted like living creatures, but their bodies were made from pulsing, black artificial muscle, and armoured with clean white steel. One turned its head to me, stared for a moment, and let out a bone rattling roar, drawing the attention of the other four machines. They stalked towards me like wolves, one taking the center, and the others spreading out in a flanking maneuver.

My mind snapped into fight mode. Before I could think, my distributor rifle was shouldered and firing at the first beast. Three calculated disruptor blasts did the beast in. One grazed its dorsal muscles, ripping apart delicate fibres. The second blast landed squarely in its face, piercing its armor and making way for the third blast to fly into the beast's brain. It collapsed to the ground in a shower of sparks and fire.

I swung around, pointing my rifle at one of the flanking machines, but it was already on top of me. It swiped at me, slicing the front half of my disruptor clean off. I threw the totaled weapon to the ground, planted my foot, and dashed toward the machine as fast as I could. It took another swipe, and I dropped to the ground, sliding underneath the machine before it could hit me. I brought my hand up hard into its chest. The tough black coating on its muscle began to bubble underneath my hand. Before it had a chance to stop me, the beast was blown to shreds.

I jumped to my feet, readying myself for the next attack. Two down, three to go. The remaining three were keeping their distance, stalking back and forth, as though they were processing the best way to do me in. They were standing lower to the ground, with their heads tilted downwards, only showing me their most well protected areas.

“You can't use party tricks forever Matthew,” Rita’s voice returned to my ear.

I knew what she was trying to do...force my hand and make me use her powers. I gripped the amulet hanging around my neck. It holds a fragment of her powers, allowing anyone who wielded it to temporarily use her godlike abilities.

Fine I thought, I'll use them, but only for a moment.

I squeezed as hard as I could and felt the amulet begin to heat up. Power surged through my muscles, as green energy arced from my body to my surroundings. I planted my foot into the ground, using it as a surface to launch myself from. The shiny steel flexed and wrinkled under my foot like tissue paper.

My heartbeat pounded in my ears, adrenaline filled my veins. I hunched down, focusing all my strength into my leg, as I flung my body forward in a mighty lunge. The sudden release of energy vaporized the steel beneath my foot as I shot forward.

The first machine didn't have a chance to react. My body slammed into it, causing it to combust on contact. Shards of metal and wire scattered across the room. Within seconds, the final two machines were on top of me. Two simultaneous attacks from opposite directions, both machines moving far too fast for any normal human to trace.

I jammed my foot against the floor, stopping all my momentum at once. The two beasts came down on top of me, razor sharp claws bared, ready for the kill. I balled up my fist, and with every fibre of muscle in my arm, I swung straight up. Air rushed upwards, throwing both machines off me. I grabbed a broken slab of armor from the floor and hurled it towards a machine like a frisbee, taking one of its legs clean off. The final beast lunged at me with a shriek. I jumped towards it, flipping midair, and meeting the beast with a powerful downwards kick. Its head caved in underneath my heel, its body was flung to the floor like a ragdoll. I landed on my feet, ready for another attack.

“Outstanding work, Matthew,” I heard a voice from behind.

Still in fight mode, I swung my body around, bringing my fist hard into the stranger's stomach. My fist made solid contact, sending a shockwave through the room, denting the floor beneath us, but the stranger didn't budge. Realising I made a mistake, I slowly looked up to see Rita’s face smiling down at me. Her six foot tall frame was unbothered by my attack.

“You passed with flying colors, unsurprisingly,” she chuckled, ”I told the generals testing you like this would be pointless...but here we are.”

“So what happens now?” I said back.

“Well...” a devilish smile spread across her face, ”You fight me.”

The air between us instantly grew hot as power began to radiate from her body. I hunched down, crossing my arms in front of my face, but to no avail. I couldn't even see her move before the world went black. I awoke in an infirmary room aboard the U.I.P Intrepid. Rita was standing at the foot of my bed, smiling as per usual. Both my arms ached like they were broken, but the only visible damage was a large bruise on either forearm.

“I tried to tell them it was pointless,” she said smugly. She sat on the edge of my bed and patted my head like a mother. “You'll be able to beat me one day buddy,” she said, “don't let the military rush you to perfection.”

She gave me one last smile, got up, and left the room, Leaving me with my thoughts.

“I never even saw her move...” I said aloud to myself.