Chapter 2: Briefing (Part 2)

“I’m sorry for that.” Ereos smiled faintly, his charming demeanor returning. “It’s part of your enhancement—that top-of-the-line, never-before-seen chip we placed inside your head.”

“Enhancement!” Graks bellowed as the crowd grumbled. “You just controlled us! That’s illegal use of a modification chip!”

“It’s a safety feature,” Ereos explained, holding his hands up as the grumbling intensified. “To keep you from becoming violent. It’s for your own safety. And everyone around you.”

He paused, letting his gaze sweep across the crowd. “These are new chips. Side effects, while incredibly rare, can happen in those with weaker minds. The feature will be disabled once your training is complete, and you’ve proven you can control yourselves.”

Dozens of people erupted at once, a roar of protests slamming into the stage.

Ereos held up his hands once more. “Okay, okay, we’re getting off track here.” He turned, gesturing at the viewport behind him. “Frankly, I’m surprised you’re more concerned about some character in a simulation than the fact there’s a life-sustaining planet just outside this window—already inhabited by aliens.”

The room fell abruptly silent. The word was jarring, just as Giddeon figured Ereos intended. The man smoothly redirected the crowd’s anger from his illegal hack back to the planet.

“Cavemen and legality aside, what’s our mission exactly?” Kilner asked.

“Simply put: to explore,” Ereos replied. “Much of the planet is unknown. We’ve gathered what information we could with long-range satellites, but our data is lacking, to say the least.”

“Why didn’t you just send drones down to the planet?” Redler asked. “You’re Vibane Corp. Everyone knows the company’s worth quadrillions.”

“There’s a…snag, preventing us from doing so,” Ereos replied. “The planet deactivates modern technology the moment you enter its atmosphere. Call it a feature. In fact, we dare not steer this ship any closer.”

“Deactivates?” A man in his mid-forties with broad shoulders and a graying beard leaned forward. “You mean like a gigantic electromagnetic pulse?”

“No, Mr. Hinelin,” Ereos replied, “not like an EMP. This is something entirely different.” He shook his head, struggling for words. “All electricity is rendered completely dead, planetwide. As far as we can test, only basic mechanical inventions work properly on the surface.”

“Then what about our chips?” Hinelin asked, pointing at his skull.

“I’ll let Taka handle that one. Taka?” Ereos stepped back.

“Yes, we…” Taka moved forward, grabbing the sides of the lectern. “We found that a substance that, uh, Vibane Corp developed can mask technology, to a degree. Nothing large, mind you—not yet—but small items, hidden tech, yes. When applied to devices, it tricks the planet into thinking nothing’s there, or that it’s part of the natural world. We haven’t figured out which is the case. I…I hope that makes sense?”

“Is that what you injected me with?” Kilner demanded.

Taka nodded. “Yes, it’s a diluted formula meant to merge with your chip. In practicality, your chip and the substance are one. This is why we believe it fools the planet.”

“What’s the substance?” Hinelin asked.

“That’s classified,” Ereos interjected before Taka could speak.

“You pumped us full of something, and it’s classified?” Kilner scoffed.

Ereos raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Unfortunately, our company’s tech falls under strict military regulations. Even with my influence, I have no desire to draw the eye of the Triumvirate’s inquisition. I hope you understand.”

“You talk as if the planet is alive,” Redler said.

Ereos exchanged a look with Taka, then returned his gaze to the woman. “That kind of thinking is exactly why you were hired. To explore, discover, and report back what you find.”

“Why’s a game designer even here?” Hinelin questioned, echoing Giddeon’s thoughts. “Does the Triumvirate know he’s attached to this mission?”

“The Triumvirate knows I’m making headway in discovering Enivia’s secrets, and they’ve given me full control over how I do it and who I employ. After reviewing video feeds from the planet, I decided to partner with an expert on strange and fantastical things. Mr. Ushi was my choice for several reasons. I’ve tasked him with assisting my coders in designing AIGES’s User Interface and navigation systems.”

Ereos turned to Taka. “Speaking of which, should we have a little fun?”

The pudgy man nodded, taking over. “Let me walk everyone through some of the capabilities of your AIGES. We’ll start with voice commands. Eventually, once you become fully integrated with your chip, you’ll be able to activate commands mentally. For now, repeat after me: Open character sheet.”

Everyone looked at one another in silence. Kilner was the first to speak.

“Open character sheet.”

The man’s eyes immediately widened, his mouth opening in surprise. His gaze shifted from left to right, and he swung his hand in front of his face, as if trying to touch something visible only to him.

The others quickly followed suit, voicing the command. One by one, looks of astonishment plastered their faces.

After a few moments of observing, Giddeon softly mumbled, “Open character sheet.”

Light gold lettering shimmered into existence, settling quietly into the background without blurring his sight. Character Sheet—Giddeon Seres. He blinked at the level 1 designation, then tapped at the hovering figure of himself in the top left corner. His avatar rotated on command, displaying his current attire and even his surprised expression. Below this, stats were listed as a neatly boxed row of nine attributes, which he silently read off.

Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Speed, Intelligence, Charisma, Hearing, Olfactory Sense, and Luck. He frowned, seeing only the number 10 next to each one. At the bottom, the heading: Description, offered only the words, “Aiges Employee”, as if he were considered nothing more than Vibane property. To the right, other sections such as Strengths and Weaknesses, along with a few others, remained blank, waiting for a future he had not yet earned.

Taka beamed proudly, rocking back on his heels. “Pretty neat, right? I designed it to mirror a classic user interface. It processes data cleanly, mapping your physical, mental, and sensory outputs—like being your own game character!”

“Why are all the numbers ten?” an Asian woman sitting a couple of feet to Giddeon’s right asked.

Glancing at her, the name Uzari Reses hovered above her head in golden text. He turned back to Taka, then did a double take.

The woman was quite beautiful, with long, shiny black hair framing a perfectly oval face and a slim, athletic body. She sat in her wheelchair with cool confidence, her long legs crossed casually, one slim finger tapping her seat’s armrest as she awaited an answer.

As his gaze lingered, the woman took notice. She boldly stared back at him, her red-painted lips lifting slightly as her hazel eyes sparkled with mirth. Giddeon quickly looked away, his face uncharacteristically burning.

“Because we don’t know your attributes yet,” Taka answered, adjusting his glasses. “Over the next few days, we’ll be testing everyone to determine your initial stats. Your AIGES constantly compiles information into a database—your character sheet—that you can access and interpret. For example, If Mr. Kilner is observed lifting weights slightly higher than the average human, his AIGES might change his Strength from ten to eleven. If he continues training and lifting even heavier weights, his score will increase accordingly. Makes sense, yes?”

Most nodded.

“We’ll cover more of that later,” Taka continued. “For now, I want to go over a couple more commands. Repeat after me: AIGES, analyze the field.”

Everyone repeated the phrase aloud, Giddeon included. Suddenly, yellow lines shot out, targeting everyone in Giddeon’s eyesight. Level 1 hovered above the line.

“Now, look around,” Taka instructed. “Try focusing on individuals.”

Giddeon’s eyes roamed across the hall. As his gaze settled on individuals, they became outlined in a soft, golden aura while information popped up on his screen, mirroring his own character sheet. Like him, everyone’s stats sat at ten.

“As you can see, you can analyze one another,” Taka explained. “You can also analyze the fauna on Enivia, drawing from information already provided by Vibane’s database. If you encounter something unknown, your AIGES will automatically analyze it. Several creatures have Strengths and Weaknesses, which we’ve saved to your database.”

Taka pressed a button on the lectern. “Let me give you an example.”

Behind him, the view of space blinked out, replaced by a dense forest. Towering trees formed a high canopy, plunging the forest floor into deep shadow. Clusters of red-and-green bushes swayed in a phantom wind, while purple-veined rocks lay scattered across the mossy landscape.

A rustling bush drew everyone’s focus. A dog-sized lizard with crimson scales crawled into view, its split tongue flicking the air.

“This feed was captured two years ago,” Taka said. “Despite our satellite limitations, it’s our clearest data to date. Focus on the lizard. I’ve logged it as a fire drake in your AIGES database.”

Giddeon focused on the creature. “Small Fire Drake” appeared in yellow above its head, along with its stats. Scanning the sheet, he saw Fire Resistance 50% under Strengths, and Cold Resistance -50% under Weaknesses.

“As you can see, our little friend here is resistant to fire, but he’s quite vulnerable to the cold.”

“Why does it say ‘small’?” Hinelin asked. “That thing’s as big as a dog.”

Taka smiled faintly. “We’ve seen larger.”

Hinelin frowned as whispers rippled through the crowd. “How much larger?”

Ereos stepped forward, replacing Taka at the podium. “Much larger,” the CEO replied. “Now, I realize Enivia is not without its worries.” He scanned the divided room, holding up one finger. “Which is why I’m willing to deposit an additional one hundred million credits into each of your depositories—pending you bring back the list of samples you’ll be tasked with finding.”

The buzz became giddy excitement as most stared, slack-jawed, at the amount he had just thrown out. One hundred million credits was no small amount; with it, they could buy a sizable plot of land and a mansion on Earth Two.

“The site you’ll be landing at has been scoured for years,” Ereos went on. “It’s thick with trees and little else besides some harmless monkeys and drakes no bigger than the one you just saw. But, just as extra precaution, a few trained Aiges will be given some ancient weapons.”

“Weapons?” someone asked.

Ereos nodded. “Nothing grand, just what we could put together. Most ancient weapons were used as scrap to help build the launch ships when our ancestors abandoned Earth One centuries ago, and any modern weapons the Triumvirate could loan us—” He shrugged. “Won’t work.” He turned to Taka. “Now, the other commands.”

Taka took the podium again. “Th…there’s also a command to see your current gear,” he continued nervously. “And what it—”

“What’s the point?” Giddeon interrupted loudly. “Of all this? I know how strong, quick, and intelligent I am. Why the glorified number cruncher? I’m sure you’re not doing some poll on how long it takes random John Doe to go from doing fifty pushups, to fifty-one, then compiling it into data just for fun.”

Taka’s brows lowered. “John Doe?”

Giddeon waved his hand dismissively. “It’s an Earth One saying, meaning the average guy.”

“Ah!” Taka’s eyes lit up. “Yes, well, no.”

Ereos stepped back to the podium as several perplexed looks were thrown the developer’s way.

“What Mr. Ushi means by ‘no’ is that your statistics might change drastically, in theory. There are indications that some kind of power source does, indeed, dwell on the planet.”

He nodded at Taka. “A second video of our little red friend might help clear things up.”

Taka tapped a key, and the high-resolution feed refreshed, locking onto the same drake. This time, however, another creature appeared: a huge snake, nearly thirty feet long, with glistening black scales and ruby-red eyes. It slithered silently down a tree to hover just above the lizard resting on a tall rock. The serpent reared back, ready to strike.

The drake turned, spewing a small but intense flame. Engulfed in fire, the snake plummeted to the ground, twisting until its convulsions stopped. Waddling up, the lizard stretched its maw, snapped up the still-burning corpse, and devoured it. As it chomped away, a subtle green glow suffused the drake, fading a split second later.

“That was just one incident. Let me speed this up to show you more.” Taka prompted the console, skipping the timeline forward.

The scene shifted: the lizard, now locked in a ferocious struggle with a large boar, clawed at its prey. As the fight dragged on, the reptile finally latched onto the beast’s side, unleashing a torrent of fire that roasted it alive. As the drake fed again, that familiar green light momentarily engulfed it, causing it to swell. It was noticeably larger than before.

“Did it just…grow?” Redler asked, voicing the crowd’s disbelief.

Taka nodded. “It evolved. Let me show you.”

The screen flickered through more scenes of the drake fighting other animals. Each time it was victorious, devouring its prey. As time passed, the creature grew until it was triple its original size.

“So, it grows fast? So what?” Kilner commented. “Humans start out as babies, too.”

“This was over the course of three weeks,” Taka replied.

Gasps echoed through the room.

“The drake is growing at a phenomenal rate, and it only triggers after it’s defeated an opponent. This isn’t natural growth; it’s growing by killing or devouring other organisms.”

Taka adjusted his glasses, driving the point home. “Even more fascinating, other wildlife we’ve observed don’t get bigger—they get stronger, or faster, harder to kill—it varies. Some even exhibit such high levels of cunning, we believe their intelligence is growing.” Taka glanced at Ereos, then back at the group. “We believe they’re evolving, but not all of them, and not all the same way. Lily proves this.”

A wry smile lit up his lips as he pressed the display. The screen pulled up the image of an odd-looking creature. It was small and furry, with skinny arms and legs and a protruding belly. Its bulging eyes and fat, pink lips sent snickers bouncing off the walls of the room.

“Lily appears to be distantly related to an extinct animal called a sloth and has no offensive or defensive abilities to note. But watch this.”

Taka proceeded to show a sequence of clips. In the first, a large snake coiled, poised to sink its venomous fangs into Lily. Suddenly, a hawk swooped down, its talons piercing the serpent’s flesh and carrying it away. The next clip showed Lily lounging in a tree. A bobcat stealthily climbed the trunk, but out of the blue, a coconut dropped from a high branch, striking the feline directly in the temple. The cat crashed onto the rocks below, instantly motionless.

The final incident was so far-fetched it felt entirely unbelievable. Lily was resting on a flat rock when a large fire drake waddled up from behind. Just as the lizard opened its jaws, a three-winged bird dove from the sky and snatched Lily into the air. As it soared, a giant hawk slammed into the bird, forcing it to drop its prize. Plummeting toward the jungle floor, Lily was caught by a safety net of crisscrossing vines high in the canopy. Stranded there, the creature simply closed its eyes and drifted off to sleep.

“What do you think about that?” Taka asked, doing his best to hold back a large grin.

“Stupidly lucky,” Graks replied.

“Exactly!” Taka exclaimed. “We believe another property of this evolving process is what we call Luck.”

This caused several chuckles, and more than a few scoffs.

“Regardless of whether it’s real or not, or if Lily is the luckiest creature alive, we’d like to find out,” Ereos spoke up. “We believe some force is influencing certain beings on the planet. We’d like to test and see who, why, and how.”

“Are you asking us to eat the planet’s denizens?” the Asian woman asked.

Taka looked down at his lectern. “Yes, Mrs. Reses,” he replied, smiling. “Within reason, of course. Only things you would normally eat will suffice. Your AIGES will note any changes in your biological makeup.”

The woman smiled back at him. “Please, call me by my first name—Uzari. What if we grow, like the lizard?”

“What if we become three times as big!” Kilner exclaimed, adding tension to the room.

“The process is normally slow, Ms. Uzari,” Ereos replied. “That fire drake you observed ate twelve times a day. If you find yourself a smidgen taller, stop eating the animals.” He smirked. “I’ll even pitch in to buy you some new shoes and a whole new wardrobe if you bring me proof of such data. And you, Mr. Kilner.” His gaze shifted to the short, skinny man. “You might want to eat more than your fair share.”

Most of the room chuckled at the lighthearted joking.

“Now, let’s move onto pictures of the planet, and what we’ve recorded so far,” Ereos continued. “Taka will go over what other commands AIGES possesses, including an encyclopedia on plants and animals, mapped out areas, and other information we’ve downloaded into your chips. Listen up, because testing begins tomorrow. We plan to have everyone planetside in a week.”

“If electronics fail when you breach the atmosphere, how are we even getting planetside in the first place?” Redler asked.

“We’re using new technology, specifically designed to counter the planet’s phenomena.”

“Which would be what, in a nutshell?” Hinelin questioned.

“Dormant technology can ‘fire off’ for a few seconds before the planet disables them.” Ereos paused. “We’re going to drop you straight down in a freefall, then activate reverse thrusters mechanically when you’re near the surface. Deployable parachutes will handle the rest.”

Everyone sat in stunned silence.

“What’s a parachute?” Graks asked, his large eyebrows squinching. “Like a gravity thruster?”

“It’s an ancient device soldiers used when jumping out of aircraft back on Earth One,” Giddeon answered the question. “It’s like the sails of a boat, except, downward.” He made a swooshing sound, his hand flat as he lowered it.

Giddeon looked around the room, making eye contact with as many as he could before stating in a clear, confident voice, “We’re all going to die.”