Aura Overload

20 – Equal Shares

Hector stood in the rain-slick opening of the cave, hand resting on the stone wall beside one of the auto-turrets. They were blocky little rectangles, the turrets—about half a meter high with dual twenty-centimeter-long barrels. The autonomous little killers could be mounted to just about anything using the self-tapping, threaded prongs at their base. “Better than we used to have in the Guard,” he mused, pleased to see that some things had improved while he’d been on ice.

//The Invicti didn’t rely on such things.// Evie noted, and Hector couldn’t disagree; Tribune Victus wouldn’t allow crutches—guard duty was for the soldier, not the machine. Still, such things had existed, just not so marvelously compact and clever.

He felt someone approach, and a moment later Freddy asked, “What’s the plan?”

“I’d like to wait for the storm to pass—give the local denizens a chance to forget we were out there. I’m hoping the feeding frenzy back at the old camp will erase any traces of us. The rain should help.”

Freddy walked over and rapped his knuckles against another turret. “Turrets haven’t fired since that first flayer cat came close.”

“Yeah, hoping they aren’t as smart as reapers. I don’t think they are.” Hector hesitated, then added. “I’d go have a look, but my system’s processing an update.”

The kid didn’t seem surprised. “Same. Took level twenty-five.”

“Twenty five, huh?” Hector gave him an appraising glance. “You should be using aura more. Everyone seems more…” He hesitated, letting his words trail off. He’d been about to say reliant on tech, but that might open up a conversation about what he meant by that.

“More what?” Freddy pressed.

Hector slapped his hand against the rifle hanging by his side. “Eager to shoot. Have you all been trained to save your aura as a last resort or what?” Before Freddy could respond, he added, “What about your bodyguard? He doesn’t run around with guns and grenades, does he?”

“Flint?” Freddy scoffed. “He’s Praetorian-grade. Well, not quite, but he’s getting up there. No, of course not. Why would someone with that kind of aura worry about guns?”

“Live by your aura, kill with your aura—do that and it’ll come naturally to you. Don’t, and you’ll always be slower than someone who uses it first every time.”

Freddy folded his arms over his breastplate, looking at Hector through the visor of his golden, winged helmet. “Who are you? I mean, really? No way you’re what your ID pulls up.”

Hector smirked, though the kid couldn’t see his expression; his face shield was set to opaque black. “Did some background checks on us all, did you?”

“You think my mother would send me into a rift with strangers?” Freddy chuckled, shaking his head. “So? We might die in here together—not gonna let me know who you are?”

“Maybe I am who I say.” Hector shrugged. “Maybe I just grew up with a lot of old vets who taught me a thing or two.” He clapped Freddy on the shoulder, gesturing back into the cave. “We need to have a meeting; Perry’s antsy to see what we do with the potentia.”

Freddy hesitated, clearly wanting to press the issue about Hector’s incongruous rift experience and aura abilities, but he gave in—a byproduct of his own youth and inexperience. “Right, I guess the others didn’t already get to scrape a reaper like you and me.”

Hector led the way back to the wider section of the cavern. The three techs were sticking together, each occupying an emergency bedroll—expanding foam with chemical batts that provided heat. Bobby was near the back of the cavern, scraping away at a seam in the cavern wall, and Paige, Kristy, and Perry were all standing together, talking softly. When Hector and Freddy approached, they grew quiet, staring their way.

Both Kristy and Perry had removed their helmets, but Paige still had hers on. Hector glanced at the little air filtration device humming away near the two parked mules. “Air getting better in here?”

“Good enough to get that damn weight off my head,” Perry replied, rubbing his short, bristly hair, sending droplets of sweat into the air. “What’s it look like out there? Are we screwed?”

Hector let his gaze drift from Perry to Paige. “Too early to tell.” He reached up to touch the release for his helmet’s visor, holding his breath as it hissed and then separated, moving to the top of his head. Blinking his eyes in the changed light, inhaling slowly to get his lungs used to the thick, moist air, he sighed, glad to get some air, however oppressive, on his face.

“Too early to tell?” Kristy asked. “We’ve got supplies for maybe a month if we stretch things. With this cave you guys found, I think we’ve got a good chance.”

“Depends on what might find us,” Paige replied. “You’ve heard of clicker swarms, yeah?”

Kristy licked her lips, looking from Paige to Hector. “Those aren’t common, though, right? Not near rifts—” She glanced toward the cave opening as though she’d just remembered that the rift was gone.

“Number one,” Hector said, changing the subject, “is finding the rift again. I’ll work on that, and Paige can too, until her drone dies.”

“I can recharge—”

“He doesn’t mean the battery,” Perry said, snorting.

“Oh.” Paige looked down. “Right.”

Hector tried to inject a little hope: “When we lost it, the rift was quickening. Hopefully, it still is.”

“Right!” Paige looked up, her eyes widening. “If it quickens at the same rate, we’ll just need to survive…” Her eyes unfocused as she looked at something on her AUI. “A little more than seven days.”

It was Freddy who gave everyone a dose of cold water: “That’s a big if. Rifts don’t quicken forever. Besides, we don’t know the rift didn’t drift a thousand kilometers from here.”

His statement brought a new kind of silence onto the little group, but it was a good opportunity for Hector to broach the subject of the potentia. “We need to use this,” he said, unclipping the collector from his belt, “for a couple of reasons.”

“I understand the obvious one,” Kristy said, eyeing the device hungrily. “What else?”

Hector stretched his neck, rubbing the tendons at the base of his skull as he replied, “The more potentia I have, the more sensitive I am to it. I’m hoping I can feel the rift if I get far enough away from all of you.”

“Isn’t that true for everyone?” Freddy asked. “I’ve already processed thousands of units—probably more than all of you.”

Hector shrugged, gathering his thoughts to try to explain, but Paige spoke first: “Sensitivity varies enormously from person to person. Everyone’s baseline increases with exposure, but just like the color of a person’s aura, sensitivity seems to be a personal thing. If there’s an explanation, nobody’s figured it out.”

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Kristy snorted. “More like the Royals don’t want to share their secrets.”

Freddy stiffened. “If we have secrets about that stuff, I don’t know ’em.”

Surprisingly, Kristy didn’t back off. “Only because you’re too young. You’ll be let in on all the ways they keep us down sooner or later.”

Hector held up a hand, interrupting the back and forth. “The point is, I’m sensitive to aura. I can feel a rift from a good distance.” He held up the collector again. “We need to spend this.”

Paige glanced toward the three techs. “So? What kind of shares? Shouldn’t we save some? If we survive, this whole expedition is going to be in a mountain of debt—”

“Hah!” Perry choked out bitterly. “Wouldn’t that take the prize? Nearly die in a rift, survive against all odds, only to get shipped off to Red Cliff so we can work off the debt!”

Red Cliff? Some kind of Imperial prison?

//Yes, I can see references in news archives I downloaded.//

Hector shook his head. “We’ll worry about that when we get out. I hope Mathews had some insurance for this outfit. Won’t matter much to me, though, because I intend to make someone else pay.” He meant “pay” in more than one way, and everyone seemed to get his meaning.

“Well, forgive me, Hector,” Perry said, “but I don’t really share your confidence on that front. If some damn Royals were going after Freddy here”—he grabbed the younger, smaller man by the shoulder—“then I don’t see what a bunch of nobodies are going to do about it.”

“I’m not a nobody,” Freddy said, looking up at Perry. “If we make it out of here, I know several extremely influential people who are going to be very relieved. As for any debts not covered by insurance, I’ll pay them off myself.”

Hector grinned, nodding. “That’s the spirit.”

“So, if we’re not saving any of that potentia, how are we going to split it?” Kristy asked.

Hector tilted his head toward the three techs. “You think they even have systems?”

Before anyone could object, Kristy called out, “Yo, Willa!”

The woman jerked into a sitting position, panic written all over her face. When she saw Kristy waving her over, she relaxed a little and climbed to her feet, padding toward them.

“You scared her,” Paige said.

“Well, that wasn’t my intent.” Kristy smiled brightly at the dour-faced tech as she approached, even going so far as to stretch out her fingers to brush some of her straight black hair away from her eyes. “You doing okay? Sorry if I startled you.”

“I’m okay. The n-nanites helped a lot. Just a little stiff.”

“And the other two?” Kristy nodded back toward the others.

“Ling’s been sleeping a lot. I think it’s the blood loss. Um, Simo’s strange. He’s never been easy to talk to.”

Hector narrowed his eyes, peering toward the tech. He recalled the way the man had spoken when he’d found him, and gave voice to a question he’d let sit in the back of his mind, “Has he always spoken about himself in the third person?”

Willa chewed her lower lip, worrying at a scar she had there. She shrugged, but said, “I think so. He sat alone most of the time, even when the team took breaks together. He had a friend—Laurent—but…” She trailed off.

“Anyway,” Kristy said, gently squeezing the slight woman’s bony shoulder. “We were wondering if you three had aura systems.”

Willa snorted, then looked embarrassed, hiding her smile behind her hand. “No. Only Mister Gomer had a system. He promised us bits for our share of any potentia that was paid out.”

“Okay, hon.” Kristy gently steered her back toward the cots. “That was all we needed for now. We’re just taking stock.”

As Willa, shuffling her feet, walked back to the other techs, Paige said, “Well, I think Bobby and I should take a half-share. If we manage to come out with any profit—” Perry laughed, and she glared at him before continuing, “If we do, then we should make sure those techs get an equal share.”

Everyone nodded as though it made perfect sense, but Hector tilted his head. “Why half-shares for you and Bobby?”

“Because we’re not fighters. I don’t have a single offensive aura ability, and neither does he. He won’t argue. Heck, I’d give up my share completely if you want, Hector. I just want us to get out.”

“You have shields,” Perry said, surprising Hector. “Both of you. Any aura you get and spend is going to make survival more likely.” He looked around the little group. “Right?”

Hector nodded. “Yeah. Equal shares. Not like we’ll have time to spend it all anyway—not if we get out in the next week.”

Paige nodded slowly. “How much do we have?”

“With six shares,” Hector replied, having done the math already, “it’ll be about 339 units for each of us.”

“Damn,” Perry said, blowing out a breath and rubbing his short hair again.

Hector felt a wave of nausea and a dark curtain threatened the periphery of his vision. He squeezed his eyes shut, swaying slightly as the spell passed. He felt a steadying arm grip his elbow, and he opened his eyes to see Freddy staring at him. “Are you good?” his eyes asked.

Hector nodded, covering his momentary weakness by hardening his eyes and glaring around the group. “Enough debate. I’m taking my share.”

Perry snorted, shrugging. “Go for it, man.”

“I’ll get Bobby.” Paige turned and walked toward the other scientist. Any of them could have called him over, but Hector understood her desire for a personal connection.

While everyone looked on, he lowered himself to the cave floor, sitting on his knees so he didn’t topple over when he drew in the potentia. He looked up at his teammates, well aware that he was about to make himself vulnerable before them. “Watch my back.” Everyone nodded, but Hector’s eyes were on Freddy’s, waiting for the young man to acknowledge the request. As soon as he did, Hector dialed the device to 339, touched the export setting and then held his hand over it, scraping the potentia into his aura system.

It was a big pull, more than he’d taken at once on all but just a few occasions in his old life. His young, almost natural skin, his corpus vivum, couldn’t really handle it. Hector’s mind went blank, his jaw hung open, and he lost himself in the kaleidoscopic hallucinations that overcame him. He saw starbursts, patterns of rolling, spinning color, and his ears rang with the chimes of a thousand different bells. His entire body became a single thrumming wave of pleasure—like having your scalp tickled, but everywhere.

When it faded, he was disoriented. Not especially because he wasn’t home—wherever that was—but because he wasn’t where he’d been when he started the process. He was stretched out flat on his back, a soft mat beneath him. The cave was still there over his head, but the air was better than before—dryer and almost normal feeling. He felt rested and not a bit stiff, and when he blinked, clearing his vision, and stared at his AUI, he saw by the clock there that he’d been out for several hours.

What’s happening?

//I think the aura infusion, combined with the Reaver archetype change, overwhelmed you. I wasn’t alarmed; your biological functions are healthy and the archetype adoption was a resounding success.//

Hector saw the report window blinking in the corner of his vision, but he ignored it, sitting up. He peered around the cave, noting the techs lying not far away. Bobby and Paige were sitting together, whispering, and Kristy was lying on her side, facing him, just two meters away. Her eyes were closed, but Hector had the feeling she’d been given the job of watching over him. Instead of waking her, he subvocalized into the comm channel, “Freddy?”

“Hey, you’re awake.”

“All good?”

“Yep. Perry and I are watching the entrance. All good with you?”

“Yeah. Guess I underestimated my aura system’s update.”

“Happens. We shared out the rest of the potentia. Nothing’s moving outside, but the rain hasn’t let up.”

“Okay. I’ll be there to relieve you soon.” Hector laid back down, staring at the ceiling as he expanded the window containing the report Evie had prepared for him:

//Reaver archetype integration complete—elite archetype characteristics detected. Level advancement in this archetype will result in superior attribute gains and open connections to abilities and boosts that have greater than average potency.

Archetype Integration Report:

• Reaver established – Level 7 maintained (64 aura potentia required for Level 8)
• Strengthened aura pathways, increasing maximum load—use caution when exploring this limit to avoid aura overload
• Strength increased from 15.5 to 16.1
• Neural reflex latency reduced, increasing Speed rating from 19.25 to 20
• Sensory signal resolution increased, raising Perception rating from 13 to 14.55

• Aura Pool: 26/26
• Aura Potentia: 447

• Berserk: Boost Strength, Speed, and regeneration by a significant amount. Cost: 5 aura per second.
• Aura Blade: Condense aura into a short, bladed force projection. Cost: 2 aura per second.
• Speed Boost: Briefly enhance Speed by 3 for every unit of aura expended. Cost: Variable.

• Critical Eye: Enter an aura-induced combat trance that will temporarily enable you to more precisely land devastating strikes. Purchase Cost: 12 aura potentia.
• Shadow Stalk: Gather shadows, eschew light, and mask your presence from the watchful eyes of your prey. The air grows still around you, holding your scent close and muffling the sounds of your passage. Purchase Cost: 25 aura potentia.
• Aura Tempering: Enhance the capabilities of your standard Aura Blade. Purchase Cost: 30 aura potentia.

• Usage costs for Reaver-derived abilities and boosts will likely be high.