Lair Page 4

  “While you were unconscious, we made use of the cotton fiber in your clothing to fabricate nanofibrillar cellulose to dress your wounds. Some of the cellulose from the cotton was crystallized and used to reinforce muscle fibers and aid in increasing your strength and agility stats as you train. Your Wreck-less skill enabled the cotton to resist decomposition, so more of the fibers could be harvested and utilized. Before you had nanobots, this ability was totally passive. Now, however, you can interact and develop this skill. In fact, you would probably be midway from level two to three in this particular skill had you been consciously activating it since the crash. Mentally invoking this skill with intention will trigger the skill to activate.”

  “To be honest, Nick, I have never really noticed I had a skill at all. It’s just what I’ve been told. My father Tempest made a big deal about it when I applied for jobs, saying it would make me invaluable, but I have no idea how it works.”

  “It shouldn’t. Especially since it exerts an external effect. We have not encountered how an ability such as this can function without nanobots influencing it. Humans have not reached this level of development without assistance. None of the embedded nanobots are contributing to creating this effect, and we can detect that it was present before the nanobot transition event.”

  “Yeah, Nick, I know as little about it as you do.” Gus said, surveying the area around him and starting to walk down the beach. Passing some driftwood, he asked, “Out of all the things in my memory, why was a fictional construct chosen? And why that particular one?”

  “This construct was selected based on an evaluation of your memories, life experience, current level and familiarity with your new situation. My strengths as a patient instructor should suit your reckless nature well. Nanobot interface constructs evolve after a certain amount of growth from their host, and so the overlay of personality will change to better suit the host’s current temperament and abilities. In terms you are familiar with, you might understand this as when the Doctor from Doctor Who goes through a regeneration. He is the same individual but his personality, appearance and demeanor change over time, often drastically.”

  “I actually hate it when they do that,” Gus said brusquely. “Well, time to make the donuts.” Gus focused on his muscles, seeing if he could somehow activate the nanobots. The first thing that came to his mind was the archaic game Space Ace, where the scrawny Dexter character would morph into a suave, self-assured beefcake of a hero. Maybe it was just a mental trick, but Gus felt suffused with energy. The suit didn’t feel like a burden at all anymore and he began trotting down the sandy beach.

  Chapter Five

  I Will Survive

  Day 1 12:24 PM

  14:00:12 remaining

  Gus was a pretty handy guy, thanks to Grandpa, but he was working with practically nothing here. He was a city mouse, and never really gravitated to the outdoor sportsman mindset. When he was younger, his father had insisted that he be in Boy Scouts. Gus agreed, mostly to be out of the house for a while. He loved puzzles, though, and figured if he could frame his view of surviving on the island that way, he could work out how to solve any problem. A countdown clock had appeared in the upper left of his display and made the game uncomfortably real.

  He looked for food first, since hunger was his most insistent need. He could see trees a quarter-mile down the beach, but didn’t know if they were coconut trees or palm trees or something else entirely. They looked like typical island trees, tall segmented trunks with the large wide-bladed bunches of fronds sprouting out of the top, waving softly in the breeze.

  He saw a crab scuttling across the beach and made to chase it, but he could only move so fast in the suit and it made it to the water for a quick escape when the outgoing tide slurped it back to safety.

  Approaching the trees, he indeed saw that they had coconuts, but they were pretty far up there. He gripped the trunk and shimmied up the bent tree like he had seen people do online. With his nanobot-enhanced arm strength, the process was much easier than expected. He did notice that the effort required to climb the tree started lowering his stamina bar.

  When he finally got near the top, he had drained it to a bit lower than halfway. When he got closer to the top, the natural curve in the tree crossed near another tree and he was able to brace himself in between the two and easily hold himself in place close to some coconuts and wide fronds. His stamina drain stabilized and began to climb again slowly. Where the fronds erupted out of the trunk there were large bulbs with multiple footholds. Propping himself between the trees and making sure he was stable, he started peeling branches.

  This would be a lot easier with a blade of some sort, Gus thought as he struggled with his task. He then found he had better success by yanking sharply downward to partially detach the frond then twisting them until the fibers shredded. He was grateful for the suit’s gloves that gave a good grip as well as protecting him during his work. Letting the fronds and all the coconuts he could reach fall, Gus decided he had gathered enough here. He got himself situated, then bear-hugged one and slid the rest of the way down.

  Leaving his loot there until he found a suitable camp, he trudged on. Finding a long staff-like piece of driftwood, Gus grabbed it. Maybe he could use this to smash any speedy crabs. Walking down the beach, he thought he must have looked like some type of odd space Moses. “When Gus was on strange is-lands… let my Gu-huss gooo…” he sang in his best imitation of Cameron Frye.

  He spotted a small area nearby where the ridgeline dipped lower from a small rockslide and was easier to climb without mountaineering skills. He had to duck-walk up the rough path, trying to see in front of him past the edges of the suit. Flat shale-like stones slid underfoot, making the climb difficult. At the top of the rise, he saw an outcropping of stone nearby, offering a tiny bit of shelter in case it rained. “Perfect, that should do,” he thought. He cleared some stones away, rolling other larger ones to form a makeshift fire pit as he had done in Boy Scouts back in the day. Upon the rise, the constant wind from the ocean seemed less intense, and a large tree nearby kept back the harsh afternoon sun, providing ample shade. The suit kept him perfectly climate controlled, but that wouldn’t last. He had to be prepared.

  Gus walked to the edge of the ridge and faced the beach, standing on a flat smooth section under the shade of the tree. The view was spectacular from here. He took a moment to appreciate the peaceful pale green waves rolling into the beach. His gaze drifted and the beach was empty, save for some driftwood. Are there clams on an ocean beach? Should I dig for some of those?

  Truth be told, he was not a fan of shellfish but he was expecting the unexpected when it came to feeding himself. What else? He had nothing to fish with, and no bait. Bugs. There had to be bugs, but he didn’t know how he could catch some with the suit. Am I hungry enough to eat bugs? Not yet, but would it matter if it was enough to complete the quest?

  He could hear birds, so maybe there were some eggs somewhere. Gus needed something with a low flee factor thanks to his suit, so he opted to try clams and eggs first. Maybe he would get lucky and find some fruit, but he’d heard that you should never eat plants, especially berries, without consulting a guide.

  I only need two more things to get this suit off though, so nothing says I have to actually eat the three things I get, right?

  He looked at his display and, sure enough, saw that the third requirement had changed to ‘Find 2 sources of food.’ Satisfied he had found a base of operations for his camp, he returned to the beach to search for more food.

  Slipping down the incline to the beach again, Gus went to where the waves were washing over the sand, keeping it wet with a satiny sheen. Gus looked for the little air holes clams were supposed to create. Gus watched to see if any air bubbles came from the hole but could not tell if it was just a hole or a clam.

  He kept walking and saw a raised bump surrounding a little hole in the sand. Encouraged, Gus tried using the driftwood staff to dig. Finding it ineffective, he
knelt and dug like a dog for a bone. The waves came in and filled the hole with some water, but it was absorbed into the sand fast enough to not be overly frustrating.

  In fact, it probably softened the sand and made it stick together so it was easier to pry up and out of the hole. After digging a bit more than two feet, Gus was about to give up when he hit something hard. Prying at it he was able to remove a wide clam the size of a deck of cards. Victory!

  He jumped up and danced a little jig, wiggling the clam in his hands. Gus wanted to collect more, but realized after a quick pat down that he had neither pockets nor any way to store any other clams he might find. Part of him was worried a bird would snatch it away if he left it and went hunting for more. Better to finish his quest and get out of the suit. He would have more options later.

  Gus began to think about what else he would need. Firewood, some shelter, and water. He was becoming thirstier and his efforts only added to his feeling of dehydration. Considering he would have to cook, Gus decided to gather some of the driftwood scattered along the beach. He challenged himself to grab as much of it as he could find. The exertion was somehow oddly satisfying.

  Is this enough to level strength? How does exercise compare to leveling? When he had played games, he typically only raised stats when he leveled up. He would have to see. He headed back to the shelter after amassing a sizable arm load. Carefully, he put his prize clam under the pile to protect it from scavengers. That would be enough wood for now. He could always get more later, if he needed it. Gus headed back to the beach to see if he could find something else for food.

  He glanced at his interface. The green bar had dropped to only a quarter remaining while he was gathering wood. Better to cool it for a bit while things recharged. He didn’t feel winded or exhausted as he would have expected with that much exertion.

  As he stood on the beach, a gust of wind pelted the visor with sand and he could hear the tiny ticks of grit as it hit the polymer material. Sand getting everywhere was one of the main reasons Gus wasn’t crazy about beaches. The more he worked to complete the quest to remove the suit, the more he realized how helpful it was, and he was becoming more loath to lose its advantages.

  “Isn’t that ironic?” Gus began thinking. “Or is it one of those things that people call ironic, but it really isn’t?” He was no tongue-clucking grammarian, so he focused again on the task at hand.

  “If you want me to—” Nick offered helpfully before he was cut off.

  “No, thanks, my father was a grammar Nazi and would explain them ad nauseam. You would explain it and I would forget by the time I actually had to use the information. My brain just likes to think about goofy things a fair amount of the time.”

  “As you wish.” Nick again reverted to silence.

  Gus felt like he was losing it a little. Talking to himself, and over-analyzing things with little importance. Was this a side-effect of the nanobots or was there some brain damage they couldn’t repair? Everything was so new it would probably take time to sort out the changes. Best not to get too far down the rabbit-hole until he had a better grasp of the situation. He had always been a private person, valuing his alone time, but would the isolation get to him? Was it already getting to him? He shook his head and got back to work to distract himself.

  He thought he would test the limits of his stamina. Running down the beach, he saw the green stamina bar drain. He would have to run a fair amount, because it was recharging as he exerted himself, replenishing the available energy. He made his way to the coconut tree and grabbed an armful of coconuts. He turned and ran back. The additional effort of carrying the unwieldy things was enough to consistently drain his stamina. He ran, or more accurately slowly loped, occasionally losing a coconut here and there. He ignored them and kept running toward camp.

  When he was twenty feet away, his stamina bar bottomed out. He had wanted to see what would happen, but was not expecting the sudden fatigue that hit him. His arms went to jelly and he tripped onto his face. Fortunately, the visor kept him from eating sand as he fell. He felt boneless until his stamina bar gained enough to hit the 5% level again. He would have to watch that if he got into a fight. He stood up, brushed the sand off his suit, and gathered his dropped load.

  He considered maintaining the suit for a while, at least until he could build a decent shelter and get situated. That was when his stomach issued an obnoxious growl, as if in protest. So much for that idea. He dropped off the coconuts at his camp and set off again to find one last thing that he could eat.

  “Nick, just how do I eat with this suit on, does the visor open?”

  “Once the suit is open to the environment it cannot reseal. It is a design flaw of this particular model, but it was not designed to be used outside of a very narrow set of situations.”

  “From what you’ve been telling me, I was asleep for a while after the crash, and even more after I went through the bio-field or whatever, so how have I not starved?”

  “The suit comes with a complement of nutrients, medications, and hormones. The suit working in concert with the nanobots was able to filter pure water and easily transmit nutrients to your system. If you are experiencing hunger, the suit must be depleted of the onboard nutrients, so completing the tutorial is more important than ever. How are you feeling?”

  “Ok, I guess. I think I can hold out a little longer.” Gus replied, “The faster I finish this first quest, the faster I can grab a bite to eat and get some rest.”

  Gus walked in the other direction down the beach, along a rocky section covered in bird droppings. The beach was narrower here, with large rocks protruding out of the sand and extending into the water. The ocean had smoothed the rocks and small marine creatures grew in grooves and indentations. Away from the beach, the ridgeline became a rocky cliff face. As he passed a crevice between two large rocks, Gus thought he saw something. He investigated and saw a small nest wedged in a small nook. It was empty, but he could see similar nests farther up the rocky area.

  Gus climbed around until he found another nest with eggs in it down a narrow crevasse. He reached in and found four brownish gray eggs. The eggs were larger than a chicken egg and were speckled, with more spots on the rounder, wider end.

  Shells and other debris were in the nest and Gus greedily extracted all of the eggs. He stared briefly at the eggs in his hands.

  I always said I would be better if I got powers. To consider everyone’s needs not only my own.

  He replaced one of the eggs carefully. Take them all and there won’t be birds soon enough.

  He hoped these were freshly laid. He was hungry, but doubted he could eat balut. With excitement, knowing that he could finally finish the tutorial and eat, Gus carefully crab-walked down the rock and hustled back to camp with the eggs. Peeking at the quest information, the third objective glowed green. Good. Now it’s time to work on my shelter.

  Upon reaching the camp, Gus hid the eggs under the driftwood by his clam. He began the process of transporting the fronds back to his shelter. The size of the leaves was a bit unwieldy, and only a few of the fronds could be clutched in a bundle by their bases.

  He noticed it was much easier to drag the fronds without staggering and tripping, as compared to carrying them. As he made the treks back and forth to gather the fronds, he kicked some of his dropped coconuts toward the shelter as he passed them. Eventually he had brought everything to his camp. The hunger had become more insistent and he felt his stomach cramp up.

  Now he had to make these fronds into something serviceable. At first, he tried placing the fronds in a big pile to make a nest-like structure he could sleep within. As he experimentally laid them down he noticed that the result was not very comfortable and even with the suit he could not find a comfortable position lying on the bumpy, irregular surface.

  “Nick, could you instruct me on how to better utilize these?” Gus finally asked, fighting against his stubborn DIY tendencies.

  “Are you sure? It may result in lower X
P rewards…”

  “Exactly how much lower?”

  “It depends on how much help you get.”

  Gus weighed the options. He really wanted to hit the next level and part of his pride resisted asking for help. He decided to try for himself first. He bent and folded the leaves, trying to create some pattern. After working for a while and coming up with nothing usable, he stopped and looked at the time. It was late afternoon and after ruining two of his fronds, he relented to getting some help.

  “Nick, I thought this would be easier, so yeah, I’m open to suggestions.”

  “First, begin by laying out a single frond.” Gus sat down and did as instructed. “Grab the third stem from the end and bend that one backward. Yes, just like that. Now fold these flat.” The appropriate leaf highlighted on his display. “Then alternate the bent stem over and under the other stems in its path. Now skip one stem and bend the one after that. Repeat the process for the entire frond.”

  Gus got to work. The display highlighted to show him what was next in the process and slowly faded away as he began to perform the folds without instruction. As he really didn’t need strength for this task, he tried to see if he could complete the task more and more quickly. He also attempted to activate his Wreck-less skill to make the structure more durable. As he did, he felt a tingle in his fingertips as they flipped and flopped the blades of the frond into the patterns Nick had shown him. In no time at all, he had finished weaving one side of the large frond.

  Nick instructed Gus how to finish tying off the ends so the woven frond didn’t unravel. Gus did as he was instructed and finished that side of the frond. He went on to finish three more and was able to form a makeshift lean-to that covered him from above and also gave a thin amount of padding below him. “That was easier than I thought, thanks, Nick.”