CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ASCENDANCY — The Keep
I couldn’t help but marvel at how much nature had done to tear apart the keep. Three hundred years was a long time. I used to think this place was impenetrable. The walls were broken, brought down by years of erosion and weather. The small, trickling creek I’d followed three centuries ago was deeper and wider now. The stone culverts and channels we’d built beneath the causeway had collapsed.
We’d built those walls out of hollow-cast stone blocks, each one the size of a city bus. They were clad in copper and hardwood and riveted together. The pyramid above the den had been built the same way. Its smooth, sloped sides were designed to shed anything thrown at the structure. Standing outside the pyramid, I could see where the copper had oxidized and pulled away. The alien hardwood had warped and split, and the forest had sent roots into every seam it could find. The grasslands we’d started in were gone. The forest had followed the creek up and wrapped itself around everything we’d built.
“You guys really made all this?” Hannah said as she pulled on the plain-knit top ARi had made for her and handed Yumi back her cloak.
“We did,” ARi said, “but this isn’t what it looked like when we left.”
“ARi, I think we need to take this conversation inside before anything else shows up. Can you phase those monsters into inventory so they don’t attract scavengers?”
She waved her hand, and the massive creatures disappeared. She also phased some of the bloodstained ground and debris beneath them. We took turns pushing through the crack in the wall and into the causeway. It was strange to walk across those cobbles. The last time I’d been here, they’d been brand new. The yard had been full of kobolds running drills in the early morning light. That hadn’t been so long ago, at least not to me.
ARi led us across the courtyard and down the stairs into the den. The smell of three hundred years hit us when we reached the bottom. Damp stone and the remnants of whatever had been living down here in the time we’d been gone. Roots had pushed through where the ceiling had shifted. What was left of the wooden door was still scattered across the floor.
ARi had already started before the last of us made it down.
I’d watched her do this once before. She carved this space out of the living rock and shaped it into something we could actually live in. I remembered watching her move through it. The walls came together around her. She pulled light and warmth out of bare stone like it was nothing. I hadn’t known what I was feeling then. Watching her work now, I understood it well enough.
She moved through the den the same way she always had, steady and unhurried. The space came back around her one section at a time. The debris cleared. The lamps along the walls came on. The hearth caught and the fire pushed the damp back where it belonged. The den stopped feeling like a tomb and started feeling like ours again.
“I went ahead and started cleaning up in here too,” she said without turning around. “You guys don’t even want to know what I found crawling around in what was left of our beds.”
She turned and looked back at Hannah with a smile. “I guess I have to make another room.”
I watched the look of wonder on Hannah’s face, and thought about the first time I’d stood and watched ARi work. The firelight moved with her as she went, the way it always had.
She was still beautiful, and it was still mesmerizing to watch.
Yumi slowly shook her head. “This just never gets old,” she said.
Everyone found a spot around the hearth. Tim had already dropped into the chair closest to the fire, arms folded across his chest, watching ARi with the quiet, focused look he got when something was working on him. Everyone except Kyle, who hadn’t sat down since we came inside. He was moving along the far wall, and I watched him long enough to know he wasn’t just restless.
“Kyle, what’s on your mind?”
He stopped and looked over at me. “I don’t understand it,” he said. “I’ve been turning it over since the lobby and it just doesn’t make sense.”
He pulled up a projection and stretched a line out between two points.
“When we all first met at Roslyn, the plan was to digitize our minds and transfer them into ARi’s system environment. The concept was pretty simple. We could adjust our clock speeds and do years of research and development in days. Gavin, when you went into that cradle the first time with ARi, you both experienced several minutes inside. Only moments had passed for us on Earth. Everybody was writing it off as the WBE technology working as intended.”
He shook his head.
“I’m a physicist. I found a completely different explanation for the same observation. Clock speed is a computer thing. But we know now that the cradle is moving our scans across a real distance. Time and space are kind of ‘my’ thing.”
“Okay, so what does that have to do with what’s happening now?” I said. “We already knew there was going to be a time variation. I don’t understand what’s got you so worked up.”
“Okay, you guys have all heard of the Big Bang, right? I want to put this in really simple terms. Time, space, and existence itself, all exist inside this massively expanding bubble. We’re all riding that explosion outward. Things that are farther away from that original center point, are moving away from us faster—” He paused for a moment. “I should say, ‘expanding’ faster than the speed of light.”
Tanya had her arms folded, her eyes moving over the projection. Across the hearth, Tim had leaned forward without seeming to notice he’d done it.
He tapped the projection.
“The cradles let us step outside of normal spacetime and back in again on this world. Because we don’t experience spacetime while traveling from Earth to Adaeya, it causes what I’ve been calling a lensing effect. The cradle compresses spacetime across a vast distance. My best guess is that it utilizes some kind of alternative dimension. Maybe even an artificially created space not unlike our inventory. That’s what I was trying to figure out before I leveled up and the system gave me Quantum Storage as an option. The cradles transfer us through this dimension. That’s what causes the time compression.”
He moved his hand along the line to the next point and stopped there.
“But that all changes the second we arrive at our destination. We spent three months on Adaeya and came back to find six months had passed on Earth. That was close enough to what my models predicted. I thought I understood it.”
He sighed and pressed his fingers against his temples.
“And then the system tells us three hundred years have passed, and I don’t know what to do with that. The models account for variance. They account for the scaling rate. Three hundred years doesn’t come close to fitting any of them. This trip back just doesn’t make any sense to me and I don’t understand why.”
ARi had been watching the fire the whole time he was talking, and she didn’t look up right away when he finished.
“You’re accounting for the physics,” she said. “You’re not accounting for the competition.”
Kyle looked over at her.
“The system isn’t just moving people between worlds, it’s managing a tournament. The system decides when and where we spawn on the planet. There are rules that guide that decision, but look at what’s happening right now. I don’t think there was anything wrong with your prediction models. I’m pretty sure the system held everybody back. It didn’t let anybody spawn until the surface of Adaeya met certain conditions.”
Kyle looked at the projection for a long moment. “So the lensing was real and the models were right. ARi, two hundred years. They held us in that lobby for two centuries so they could set the game board up however they wanted. There was no way for me to account for that.”
The fire crackled in the hearth as everyone sat with what that meant.
Kyle sat down next to Yumi and she reached over and found his hand.
“I know you guys are worried,” she said. “The protections that were in place on Earth didn’t account for the invaders. But we left them with everything they need to defeat them.”
She looked up with a soft smile. “I have faith: in the professor, the Colonel, in General Daniels. And I have faith in humanity. Roslyn’ll get the job done, and when we come home again our families will be safe.”
“There isn’t anything we can do about it from here anyway,” she said. “The only way forward is through what’s in front of us.” She looked around at all of us. “When the Ascendancy initially gave me access to the rules, it said there would be three phases here on Adaeya. The updated announcement made it pretty clear that the last champions standing would be the ones to claim this world.”
“That means we’re playing for keeps, you guys,” I said. “ARi, do we have what we need to spawn Bishop?”
“I’ve already started the process, Gavin. But we have a lot of system windows to go through. Skill and class selections that still have to be made. And before we do anything else we probably need to sit Hannah down and go over her character sheet.”
Hannah looked over at Tanya with wide eyes. “I have a character sheet? Does that mean I’m like you?”
“No, you dork.” Tanya smiled, teasing her sister. “It means you’re like ‘you’.”
ARi waved her hand and threw Hannah’s character sheet up on the wall. “We’re all going to help you this time, and we’ll help you any time you want our input. But if you don’t want to share it after this, you don’t have to.”
“I’m going to be playing catch up for a while,” Hannah said. “I’ll take all the help I can get.”
[SYSTEM WINDOW] CHARACTER SHEET:
Initial Scan Complete…
Hannah Ramirez. 17-year-old Human Female. Level 2
Experience: 250 out of 500 for Level 3.
Health: 135 out of 135. Stamina: 135 out of 135.
Base Attributes:
Strength: 13
Constitution: 14
Agility: 10
Willpower: 13
Intelligence: 13
Perception: 12
Charisma: 10
Unassigned Attribute Points: 10. Unspent Skill Points: 2
“This is crazy. Is that me?” Hannah stared at the projection. “ARi, did you do this? Did you pick these stats?”
“I just provide the interface with the system. The system scans and assigns your base stats.”
“Well, at least you’re not starting at level one like the rest of us did,” Tanya said. “It looks like you already earned a good amount of experience out there.”
“All I did was run for my life.” Hannah’s expression shifted. “Wait, does this mean if I get killed I—”
“Hannah, I promise I will sit down and walk you through everything,” ARi said. “Let’s just get your windows out of the way first. Don’t assign any of your skill points yet. Let’s look at your initial skill options before you make any decisions.”
ARi waved her hand and changed the projection to show Hannah’s first skill choices.
[SYSTEM WINDOW] SKILL SELECTION:
Congratulations, Hannah Ramirez. You are now Level 2!
You have 2 unassigned skill points to spend. Please select one of the following:
Ironside 1
Passively increases physical damage resistance. Bonus increases when Health drops below 50%.
Predator’s Eye 1
Passively increases threat detection range. Bonus increases in dense terrain and low-visibility conditions.
Warframe 1
Grants the ability to conjure a powered armor construct around the body of the user. Provides additional protection and bonus Speed and Strength. Scales with Willpower and Constitution.
“Before you make a choice,” Tanya said, “I want to make sure you understand how these windows work. If you see more than one option you want, you can have ARi take one of them and carry it over to your next skill window. But if you do that, it’s going to replace one of the choices on that window, and you’ll never know what you would have gotten. So you’re essentially trading a guaranteed unknown for a guaranteed known.” She paused. “We’ve been calling it rolling the dice.”
“And these skills and abilities, are they permanent? I’ll have them forever?”
“That’s pretty much how it works,” Kyle said as he put his arm around Yumi.
“Okay, well, I have to be honest. Ironside seems like it would have been pretty useful yesterday.” She reached down and rubbed her leg.
“Don’t worry about it, sis,” Tanya said. “I’ll fix it as soon as you’re done, okay? Try to look at these options in terms of how they’re going to help you in the future.”
“And it isn’t a hard rule, Hannah,” I cut in. “But we always leaned toward abilities that offer technology that could help everybody back home.”
“Like those little robotic drakes,” Hannah said. “And the rebreathers.”
“Exactly,” I said.
“Well, if that’s the case, Warframe seems like the obvious choice.” She looked up at Tanya. “I know you probably don’t love the idea of your little sister falling into the role of a tank.”
“I don’t,” Tanya said. “But I do like the idea of you running around in extra armor. It gives you a solid excuse to dump attribute points into your Constitution.”
“Plus constructs are freaking awesome,” Yumi cut in. “I love my little toys. I’ve always wished I could make one big enough to climb into.”
“How do I select it?” Hannah said.
“Focus on the choice in the window,” ARi said.
Hannah selected Warframe, and a new window appeared over the last.
[SYSTEM WINDOW] SKILL DETAILS:
Warframe 1
Grants the ability to conjure a powered armor construct around the body of the user. The construct conforms to the user’s body, providing full coverage and freedom of movement.
Active Bonuses: +3 Strength. +3 Speed.
Energy Cost: The Warframe does not draw from the user’s Energy Reserve during passive wear. Energy Reserve is consumed whenever the construct performs beyond the user’s natural baseline. This includes lifting beyond natural Strength threshold, moving beyond natural Speed threshold, and sustained impact absorption during combat. Drain scales with the intensity and duration of augmented activity. If Energy Reserve is depleted, cost transfers to Stamina. If Stamina is depleted, cost transfers to Health.
Construct integrity scales with Willpower and Constitution. Damage sustained by the construct repairs automatically upon deactivation, provided sufficient Energy Reserve remains.
Future upgrades enhance construct density, active bonuses, energy efficiency, and autonomous capability.
Hannah stared at the skill detail window for a long moment before she looked up with the biggest smile she’d had since we found her.
“Wait, are you telling me I get to pilot a Gundam? I get my own Jaeger? Am I going to be like Iron Man? Because I will absolutely be Iron Man.”
“This isn’t one of your comic books,” Tanya said. “And you need to manage your expectations. Think less Iron Man and more like a steampunk version of the Power Loader from Aliens.”
Hannah turned and glared at her sister. “My new powers are not going to be a glorified forklift.”
“Cheer up, Sigourney,” Tanya said with a smile. “You’ll be a very well armed forklift.”
Tim lost it first. Yumi buried her face in her hands trying to hold it together, and I wasn’t far behind either of them. Kyle looked around at all of us with a blank expression.
“I don’t get it,” he said.
“Neither do I,” ARi said, glancing at us without amusement. “Hannah, did you want to hold anything over from your first window?”
“No,” Hannah said, still glaring at her sister.
“Then let’s see what your next one looks like.”
[SYSTEM WINDOW] SKILL SELECTION:
You have 1 unassigned skill point to spend. Please select one of the following:
Frame Repair 1
Grants the ability to conduct field repairs on phase-generated constructs. Repair rate and efficiency scale with Intelligence and Willpower.
Retractable Blades 1
Grants the ability to manifest a pair of retractable curved blades from the Warframe’s forearms. Deals bonus damage scaling with Strength and Agility. Upgrades enhance blade length, damage, and durability.
Shoulder Mount 1
Grants the ability to manifest a configurable weapon mount on the Warframe. Compatible weapon systems include gas-operated rapid-fire dart launchers, high-compression cannons, and harpoon systems. Damage and accuracy scale with Perception and Intelligence.
“Well, looking at my options, the shoulder mount definitely makes the most sense,” Hannah said. “It’s almost a three for one. But those retractable blades and the frame repair…” She trailed off, chewing on it. “I’m starting to understand why you guys would risk the dice roll.”
“If you want,” ARi said, “I can hold one of them over for your next level up.”
“After everything I just went through, yes please.” Hannah looked back at the window. “Roll the dice on the retractable blades. I’m going to select the shoulder mount.”
[SYSTEM WINDOW] SKILL DETAILS:
Shoulder Mount 1
Grants the ability to manifest a configurable weapon mount on the Warframe. The mount draws ammunition and compressed gases directly from the user’s inventory. Available configurations include a gas-operated rapid-fire dart launcher, high-compression air cannon, and harpoon system. All configurations require appropriate ammunition in inventory.
All configurations draw from two internal compression tanks stored in the user’s inventory. Tanks recharge significantly faster within established territory. Field recharge is possible but substantially slower. The mount is unavailable while tanks are recharging and will not fire when tanks are empty.
Damage and accuracy scale with Perception and Intelligence. Upgrades unlock additional mount configurations, increased tank capacity, and improved rate of fire.
Hannah stared at the window for a moment. “Wait.” She looked up at ARi. “I have an inventory?”
