Episode 7.3 - Their Sentimentality - Part 1/2

Finally within the confines of the occupied town, I carefully make my way along what seems to be the main thoroughfare. Now that I'm up close, I realise things are in far more of a state than seemed the case from afar. Whole buildings have partially collapsed, wooden doors kicked off their hinges, glass smashed, blockwork dented, and the scent of burning from destroyed thatched roofs still lingers in the air. This town couldn't have had many defenders, perhaps a couple on the gate, some sort of policeman and so on, but all this? Did they put up such an intense fight, or did the drones do it for some kind of cruel idea of recreation?

 Stepping out of the street, I emerge into a massive town square, probably used for a market. On the opposite side of the square is the big building I noted as the likely headquarters; I can tell it's definitely a town hall affair now.

In front of it is a single sentry. It doesn't look to have spotted me, more credence to Sek's theory of poor eyesight. I stay close to the shadow of the ruined buildings that line the square, avoiding approaching the drone head-on.

 ‘Where are all the people?’ is a thought I can no longer try to suppress. I suppose it's possible this town only had a couple dozen, that's video games 101 - but I've been considering a different theory about Escape lately: I think this world follows 'lore' now. Take the robot’s crystal weak point, a lore note was put in to explain that, so when Escape's barriers fell and it became more real, that note too became fact. I believe that, unlike the original WarLands game, if you covered up those crystals now, they would actually overheat and explode. So then the question of this town becomes its lore. Like most games, it may have only had a small number of actually generated NPCs to talk to, but how many lived here in its in-universe descriptions; a few hundred? No, for a central market town, capital of a region, however small, maybe a couple thousand? Would that be better or worse? A few victims likely already dead, or the potential of thousands we could still save, but if we fail...

While I'm mulling through this, I make it about halfway around the square and finally notice it. I wonder if my mind had deliberately tried not to look.
In the square's centre, three pairs of feet hang off the ground.

Beneth them sits another of the bio converter machines, proving the enemy consists of at least more than one squadron of drones, as Lila said. Blood still drips from it, of course, but it's the floating feet that get me most. An old woman, a middle-aged man, and a child, I can't bear to look at long enough to ascertain gender.

 Examples to the townsfolk, I guess, one of each age group and gender that a robot is likely to consider. All sorts of logical questions try to vie for attention in my mind, ones that surprised the drones would even waste potential workers and energy on such a display - but mostly, after what I say earlier in the tunnel - I realise I'm growing a numbness to it, to seeing horrible mutilated corpses, and it sickens me.

Desperate to focus, I keep making my way around until I'm just a few metres from the guard, back hugging the large stone building's wall.
    Much like we gained the Demon Realm's levelling system, either because of our servitude to Lila, or the changes occurring to the world, we also have its skill system now. Before leaving, Eshu and I invested some ‘points’ in its stealth branch. In Sek's case, overcoming his heavy armour would have cost a few too many. I put those silent movements to good use now, creeping up on the drone and smashing yet another crystal with ease, catching its body as it falls to prevent any loud clattering against the cobbles below.

The building has fittingly tall windows, so I make my way next to one and peek in through the frosted glass.
    What greets me is almost underwhelming. A large meeting space that has been thoroughly tossed about: All chairs removed, a hodgpog of tables and desks strewn about the centre of the room, covered in maps and atlases..A few blackboards have also been found, from a school perhaps?
    ...The image of the smallest pair of floating feet pops into my mind, and my eyes drift back to the centre of the square. Just how many children live here exactly?

I shake my head. There is actually one chair, and bound to it one human. He's young and has light brown skin. That's something of a rarity, actually. Escape’s developer claimed it's just because the game is in beta and the real release will have much better diversity of skin tone - but well, studios always say that.
     
In general, for a local, he looks oddly detailed. Even his clothes have a more modern-age plastic sheen. I presume he's a hostage of some kind, maybe the town mayor's son? But then, would these drones really need a hostage? It strikes me then, that the window is slightly ajar. Gingerly, I pull it open slightly. What greets me are two robotic voices, clearly standing just outside my view!

"COMMANDER, SHOULD WE CONTINUE THE EXPERIMENT, OR AWAIT NEWS OF THE INTRUDERS?"
A metal man steps up to the chair. Like all the others, it's thin and silvery; a narrow head with glowing mouth and eyes, lanky limbs with weapons affixed. Only its torso has any bulk, and most of that is just to house their precious crystal power sources. He has no real signifier to show he's their supposed 'commander', except for a thin black metal band around one arm. It is, I realise, the same unit that visited our base yesterday. That feels like such a long time ago.
      "NEGATIVE. BEGIN EXPERIMENNNNNNNT TWO."

On command, the first voice's owner comes into view, carrying a pile of roughly hewn metal ingots. It calmly drops the collection at the foot of the chair, the bound boy making some sounds of protest as it hits a little too close to his feet.
     "REMOVE GAG." The helper promptly does so.

"YOU WILL COMPLY," the leader barks, and I see the boy gulp as he nods fervently, "S-system open."

What?
     A translucent blue box appears in front of the boy. Of course! He's a player character, I should have seen it straight away; the clothes, the avatar only features. I think his eyes might be heterochromatic, even.

Systems can be accessed by voice, but it’s a rare choice as it's rather awkward if you're in a crowded room. With some coaching from his captors, the kid slowly navigates the menu before the pile of metal on the floor glows white and, with a comical puff, transforms into a single piece of armour. A breastplate of some kind?

So that's their plan then. Capture and use a player character’s menu, in essence the same thing Lila has been doing. This guy, another living human just like us, he must have been lucky. We might not of ever visited the natural spawning towns south of our base, but even we would have noticed another player base. That implies this guy was simply down visiting here, that his home was probably further north and destroyed in the one-night war. Ergo, he won't be generating currency the same way Lili's fortress does - that's probably why they gave him the raw materials.

 That's the 'optimistic' answer for where the other villagers are, too; mining. Probably being worked to death. That said, the pile of metal they used looks rather more Sci-Fi than not. I can't help but wonder if they tore apart some of their own comrades for it. I'd hardly put that past them.

"S-so ah," the boy prattles, job now done, "I did it right, ya? So maybe you could let me free? I won't run, I promise, where would I even go, ha-ha..."

"NEGATIVE, THERE IS NO NEED FOR FREEEEEDOM," the commander says, that slight slur of 'his' rearing its head.

"But, but were like partners ya? I'm your ally, I'm helping you!"

"REPLACE THE GAG." The assistant robot is quick to comply. When the boy tries to turn his head away, the commander suddenly lurches forward, his lanky, snaking limbs seeming rather creepy even from here as they snap out. He holds the guy’s face still with the side of his chainblade, and speaks just audibly, "YOU ARE ONLY NECESSSSSSSARY FOR YOUR ABILITY. YOUR LEGS ARE NOT NECESSARY, YOUR ARMS ARE NOT NECESSARY. NOTHING BUT YOUR MIND IS NECESSARY. I AM UNDERSTOOD?" I can actually see tears in the poor kid's eyes as he nods wordlessly and lets the gag be put back in.

That finished, the helper bends down and picks up the strange chestpiece. It has what look like vents, the sort you might see on a mecha’s chest in your average anime of that type. It raises and lowers the thing onto its commander, obstructing the glowing orange crystal beneath.
    "ARE YOU FUNCTIONAL, COMMANDER?"

With a whoosh of steam, the vents slide open and close, "CORRECT. WE WILL PRODUCE DEFENCE UPGRADES FOR ALL UNITS."

Well, I reckon that's enough intelligence gathering, time to make my move before Sek or other drones or Sek being chased by said enemies, come this way.
     I take a deep breath, check the grip I have on my guuanlets, and jump, crashing right through the large window, the bright blue moon at my back shining down.

The two drones immediately turn towards the intrusion, as does the wide-eyed boy. My first move is to kick the nearest table, flipping it into the air. At the same time, my two foes immediately open fire, their blasts collide with the poor circular wood, splintering it to a shower of pieces - but I've already sprinted past. Running low, I scout along the biggest table in the middle of the room, energy bursts singeing the air around me.
     One hits the large map, and the thing catches ablaze. In moments, the paper burns up, but thankfully, the table beneath doesn't take so easily.

With a jump, I put all my weight into a flying kick towards the ‘helperbot’. I was slightly nervous that some robotic strength would keep it upright, but no, the metal mook tumbles under the assault and I land on top. Straddling what goes for a waist, I make a quick jab with the claws of my silver gualent, crushing his crystal, then roll forwards without hesitation.

 As I predicted, the commander fires where I was, the blast smashing into his already dead subordinate. I quickly get to my feet, raising my weapons in front of my face; they’re no substitute for a shield like Sek's, but they are of a similar metal. The reverberation will hurt like hell, but I'm hoping they can block a shot or two before I close the distance with my final enemy.

The impacts I'm expecting never come. Looking up confused, I see the truth; rather than continuing to pursue me, the commander-bot has flipped the chair around and holds its captive player towards me, gun against his head, blade at his throat.
    I hold back any instinct to panic or show empathy, knowing any emotion is just what this freak wants. "What's the meaning of this?" I ask, trying to feign indifference as best I can.

"YOU WILL NOT ACT WITH THE HUMAN MALE IN DANGER."

"Oh, won't I? What's he to me? I think you've got this backwards, mate," 'mate'? I've got to stop picking up slang from Sec, ahah...
     "You are the one who needs him, not me."

The boy in question looks utterly miserable at our exchange.
     "INCORRECT. HIS VALUE HAS CHANGED. YOU ARE IDENTIFIED AS HUMAN: PLAYER CLASS. HIGHER SPECIES LIFEFORM, YOU ARE THE SAME BUT GREATER. YOUR SKILLS AND EQUIPMENT INDICATE A HIGHER VALUE. WE WILL USE YOU. THIS BOY'S VALUE IS NOW ONLY IN THAT OF A HOSTAGE."

Ah, so they can detect all that then? Man, robots are a real pain; this is why I always stuck to fantasy.
    I make eye contact with the guy, trying to communicate some sort of reassurance to him, project some confidence, but instead it's him who sends me a message. He's pointing with his eyes, his whole face no less, trying rather bravely to beckon wordlessly behind me.
I glance that way subtly as I can, but all that is there is a smaller door, to the bathrooms or something surely.

"EXPERIMENT ONE, ENTER!"
     The door flings open hard - human footsteps with an inhuman uniformity march through.

"What have you done to them?" I murmur. They’re villagers - NPCs, all different shapes and sizes, obstinately just humans with slightly lower polygon counts than us overdesigned players - they look completely real, just like the man in the tunnel did.
     Actually, they look far too like him, down to glassy clouded eyes. They are all dead, I can tell almost instinctively. All men I notice, all fit and young, but very much so dead. On their heads is some sort of apparatus, a shiny metal headset.

"AN OPERATION UNAVAILABLE TO SCOUT UNITS, YET AVAILABLE IN THE SO-CALLED 'SYSTEM MENU'. IN OUR GLORIOUS EMPIRE, IT IS USED ON CRIMINAL ELEMENTS, TO CONVERT THEM INTO USEFUL LABOUR DRONES.
     NOW IT SERVES AS A DEATH SENTENCE THAT WE HAVE DISCOVERED EFFECTIVE USE OF THESE LESSER SPECIES HUMANS--"

 He gets no further. The number of these poor souls marching out the door is getting dangerous. I act while I still can. I'm fast, even Lady Lila praises my speed; I put it all to use now, charging in long bounds over the wooden floorboards at the commander, gauntlet swinging through the air.

CLANG

The metal of his new chestplate does not crack under my assault.

Pow
     The quiet sound of his energy gun is far more successful than my attack.

"Ahh, ah, no, I, ahhhhh," sounds I can barely associate with myself tumble from my mouth. I absently step back, letting my hands fall limply at my side. The young guy's head, the energy just– it went– there’s just– I mean, like.

 I intensely want to vomit again. Slowly, the boy’s body topples off the chair, only his hands are still bound behind it, so the furnishing partially topples with him. With what's left of him. From the neck dow– With– I–

Do people, players that is, respawn in Escape? It's a question that has plagued me for a while. And say they did, would it not be in the starter city? A city that no longer exists, that's now in the middle of a nuclear wasteland?
     If they appeared there, would they simply die again of radiation poisoning? Would that loop, respawning and dying, feeling the genuine pain of death by irradiation, over and over for the rest of the time?

"Y-y-you didn't need to do that..."

"CORRECT."
    I blink in surprise at that response. Honestly, it helps me look away from the gory shower of remains, "W-what? I thought you were all about your twisted generic robot logic?”

"HA HA HA,"
     I... I think he just laughed? Everything in Escape is more real now, even the ‘mobs’. I remember Sek's whole speech about the Espolfo. How does that 'realness' affect something designed to be a logical robot, but that doesn't actually have the depth of programming to be that?
     
"FIGHT WARRIOR," he suddenly pronounces.

"What?"

"FIGHT! THE EXPERIMENTS AROUND YOU ARE UNARMED AND DEFENSELESS. YOU CAN EASILY DISPATCH THEM ALL."
     That's true... About six villagers have filled in, standing in a half circle behind me, no obvious weapons. But there… I mean, even if they have dead, they're still...

"HUMAN?" the commander says aloud, "YOUR IMPLIMENT MAY YET PROVE EFFECTIVE AGAINST MY DEFENCE UPGRADE. PROLONGED STRIKES FROM IT COULD BREAK THROUGH. YOU NEED ONLY RID YOURSELF OF THESE THRAAAAAAAAAAALLS AND YOU MAY YET BEST ME. FIGHT WARRIOR! KILL THEM! CUT THEM DOWN!! DO IT NOW!!!"

"I--" My eyes dart between the commander and the zombie villagers. Back and forth, and down to the corpse of another living, earth human player. My breathing races, sweat trickles down my back.
    Shit, is this a panic attack? Now?!

"I just... I can't do that..."

"HA, HA, HA. THIS IS A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR MY HUMOOOOOOOOOUR SETTINGS. HA, HA, HA. GRAB HER."
     Unable to resist, unable to just hurt the people I came here to rescue, I let two of them grab me by a shoulder each.

"YOU WERE NOT BAD WARRIORS. YOUR PLAN WAS SOOOOOUND, YOUR GOALS LOGICAL, YOUR ABILITIES ADMIRABLEEEE. BUT YOU WERE MISGUIDED. YOU BELIEVE WE TO BE WARRIORS LIKE YOU, WE ARE NOT! WE ARE SUPERIOR. WE VALUE NOT LIFE. WE ARE NOT CONSTRAINED BY SENTIMENTALITY.
     ALL THE WORLD IS RESOURCE, ALL LIFE IS ENERGY, ALL MATTER IS MOLDABLE TO OUR ENDS. THAT IS WHY YOU HAVE LOST."

He beckons the husks towards the front door. Before I know it, I'm tossed down the steps, flung onto the ground in front of the building. We-- I've failed.