Holly Jhast

  Cosmos Customer

  Life Level 136

  XP: 88/100

  HP (Health): 100/100

  EP (Energy): 100/100

  RP (Reputation): 165

  The young Socializer’s heart rate was amped up to monstrous levels. She felt herself sweating in her plain black bodysuit, the most unremarkable outfit she could think of. She’d shrunken in her barstool, her legs pulled up to her chest, and her now-purple eyes constantly glanced around with fear. Many strong, intimidating species were around; hot-tempered Hajjians, proud Voraxians, stone-skinned Mercurians.

  As she watched Katelyn serve another customer, Calista couldn’t believe how calm she was. How could she not be on guard? Did she really work in this environment for a year already? It was no wonder she’d looked so shaken up after her first day at the ‘museum’; the family had assumed she was overwhelmed at having a job for the first time.

  Both Medley girls had full-body Masks on and fake aliases. Calista was now a Paesmartian woman with pale yellow skin and dark blue curls in a blunt bob named Holly Jhast. It was adjusted to fit in her large, round shoulders, making her look less eye-catching. Calista constantly shifted, the ballooned arms stinging from the pressure.

  “What time was he here yesterday?” Calista asked her sister, constantly re-checking her Mask to ensure it was working.

  “Around noon. There’s still time.” It was currently 11:30, Genesis X Time.

  Calista looked at the HARP against the far wall across from the bar, seeing Whitley Geanna standing in her hologram. “Thiki, sadly, just does not understand the importance of unity in this mission,” she said in her accented English. “A ‘utopia’, by definition, is a place with no faults. No quarrels, no problems, no glitches— excuse my language— just a wonderful place where all can live in harmony. How on Earth are we ever going to promote such a society when we join together every four years for the sole purpose of beating each other up? I hope that soon, we can start with our planet canceling its participation in such an immoral, roboticizing competition. After the upcoming tournament, I am confident that everyone will see it for what it really is, and we can work toward a real Treaty that really maintains peace in our Utopia.”

  She sounded like a Ruhirian. Ruhiri had formed part of the Utopia only eight years ago, and their people had the capacity to see the future, making them unable to compete in the Games to keep it fair. Did Whitley consult a Ruhirian for a vision predicting her victory?

  Calista hoped that, if she did, she got scammed; Ruhirians frequently sold fake visions to gullible people for thousands of digits. It would be awful if Whitley ruled Earth for the next decade.

  An Earthian jeered at Whitley’s figure in an Earthian language Calista couldn’t understand. She pointed her AIDA band at her for translation— she was speaking Romanian. “Stupid glitch has no clue what’s coming out of her modded mouth. I wouldn’t be surprised if her whole body was a permanent Mask. These Socializers are a cancer to our planet. No wonder people hate our species so much.” Calista shuddered. What would people here do to them if they found out who they were?

  “How long are we going to wait for-” She was interrupted by a shrill alarm piercing through the bar, accompanied by red flashing lights in the corners of the ceiling. Katelyn leapt over the counter and grabbed Calista’s arm, hurriedly bolting to the hidden door with a crowd of younger patrons. “What’s going on?”

  Task In Progress: EVACUATE!

  “It’s a raid. We need to get out of here,” Katelyn told her.

  “A raid?”

  “Just stick close to me and don’t get distracted. We have to get to the escape pods before they run out.”

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  “Run out? What are you-”

  “Just follow me and stop asking questions!”

  Calista gripped Katelyn’s hand, joining the panicking crowd in the atrium. It was absolute chaos, too much for Calista to even register. There was screaming, booming, shattering, and some laughter mixed into a hodgepodge of madness. She grunted as people’s shoulders knocked against her, nearly sending her to the floor. All the holo-screens flashed in red, reading, ‘EMERGENCY’, ‘RAID DETECTED’, ‘EVACUATE NOW’ over Thiki, Geanna, and Versus fighters’ faces. Plane-shaped SECURE drones zipped through the air, with blue lasers shining down on the crowd as they tried to recapture the convicts.

  “This way!” Katelyn shouted, pointing to the tunnel with a flashing red sign above reading, ‘EMERGENCY EXIT PODS’, and a counter below that decreased in number: ‘106’, ‘105’, ‘104’. SECURE drones swarmed the tunnel, blue lasers shining on people and teleporting them away with angry, defeated yells. Crowds of civilians were pouring into the tunnel, pushing and shoving to get ahead. Calista realized what Katelyn meant; there were only so many escape pods on the station. If they ran out, they’d be stuck there.

  A painfully loud explosion shook the atrium. The non-emergency pods were in the opposite direction, and the tunnel leading to them had been blasted open, previously locked down to keep the convicts in the station. Calista briefly saw a group of burly, strong-looking people running into the tunnel, chased by SECURE drones. Some of the drones were immediately shot down.

  Calista lost her footing, falling backwards onto the floor. She cried out when a foot stepped on her arm, then her leg.

  -2 HP

  -2 HP

  The inflated portions of her arms felt like they’d burst open.

  -6 HP

  She reached out, looking for Katelyn’s hand, but she couldn’t see her anywhere in the mess of running legs— she has a Mask on, she realized. She wouldn’t be easy to recognize. She tried to stand, only to be painfully knocked down by someone’s foot glancing her huge shoulder, which stung as if an entire chunk of flesh had been ripped away. All she could see behind her closed eyelids was her Pet UI, warning her that her HP was decreasing quickly.

  The pain was unbearable. She could feel her arms burning, like they were melting away in acid. She couldn’t move. More feet kicked her and she struggled to stay awake. It was pain. Pain. Pain…

  -3 HP

  -1 HP

  She needed to find Katelyn. She couldn’t just stay down and wait to be stampeded to death.

  She finally managed to stand, trying her best to fight against the suffocating, squeezing sea of panicked citizens. The pain was too intense to ignore, distracting her constantly and weakening her body, making the sea of people more powerful against her. The emergency pod tunnel was clogged up with people demanding to get in. SECURE drones’ teleporting lasers now flashed faster, trying to clear the rioting crowd.

  A strong hand suddenly clamped onto Calista’s wrist and yanked her away. She initially fought back, swiping her forearm onto the person’s wrist and releasing herself, but the stranger grabbed her again and pulled her towards the exploded door to the non-emergency pods, which was also starting to fill up.

  “Get off me!” Calista shoved him away again. Her forearm stung from the impact, but it was nothing compared to the deflated parts of her arms. Her Energy Bar was also depleting:

  -4 EP

  -5 EP

  -4 EP

  “Just follow me! Your sister went over here.”

  The moment of shock was enough for the stranger to pull Calista forward. How did he…? Looking down at herself, she realized her yellow skin had turned back to its normal, rosy complexion and her bleeding limbs were in full view. Her Mask must have been deactivated when she was pushed.

  She saw the scarlet liquid running down her arms and felt faint. She groaned with nausea and stumbled forward, but the stranger kept her on her feet.

  -7 EP

  ADRENALINE RESERVE ACTIVATED: +30 EP

  Up ahead, the crowd was starting to thin out, the drones working to clear the way. She recognized Katelyn’s short blond bob, her Mask also off.

  Katelyn was struggling against a bald, pink-skinned Seeyastian woman, who was trying to pull her towards the pods. The girl brought out a white, rectangular device and jabbed it into the woman’s neck, which zapped her with electric currents until she passed out. Katelyn’s HP bar was in view, at around 85 points.

  “You two, get to the pods, and don’t let anyone else in with you!” The man lightly shoved Calista towards her sister and ran to a large Mercearthian man, tackling him to the ground. Calista couldn’t see his tag; it was glitching horribly to the point that it was illegible.

  “Cali!” Katelyn ran to her and caught her. Realizing her state, she took her face and looked into her eyes. “Hey. Calista, focus, okay? I need you to focus.”

  Katelyn’s voice was slightly faint and the surroundings started to blur. Calista’s arms still felt like they were on fire. One more look at the blood, and she’d be a goner.

  -5 EP

  -5 EP

  WARNING: BELOW 50 EP

  “FOCUS. PLEASE.” Katelyn stared at her intensely with her matching eyes.