[SD:SC] Where Gem Moved - Chapter 8

Everyone who had to log off for the announcement trickled their way back in. Though only after the announcement is over as while they aren’t physically forced to watch it, they also aren’t allowed back in their capsules until the message is done.

Once the announcement is finished, Emrys is the first one back.

June and Gem both turn to look at him expectantly.

Emrys, “Eh, just some reactionary nonsense. June, it seems some of your people opened up digitization to the masses. Well, that’s how the announcement tried to spin it. More like there are people without terminal illnesses who have had invitations extended to them. I guess the method is ready for a more general rollout.”

June grimaces, “Well, that was quicker than I thought.”

Samuel logs in, but June keeps talking, “They had the general consensus of the SAI Collective to release it once the data was in. I figured they would keep it quiet.”

Emrys laughs, “Oh, they did. Except for a few of the invited people causing red flags.” He looks at Gem, “It seems that the government had their eyes on certain people they had fingered as ‘SAI sympathizers’. Otherwise, I’m sure nothing would have gotten out.

“Some of the big names included a handful of faction leaders in the other game that I recognized. Oh, and a few rich folks, both named and unnamed.”

June looks over at Gem, “Gem. Where exactly did you move?”

Gem smiles and looks up and away, “Well, out of country, technically. Kept my citizenship though.”

June’s eyes look tired, “You know that isn’t what I meant.”

Gem, “Well, I had an offer? Why would I turn it down?”

Emrys laughs, “You actually did it! I had a hunch, but I wasn’t sure. They didn’t actually say anything about rich people joining. The announcement only mentioned the guild leaders from the other game as a few limited examples. It just made sense given what I had been observing since you did it.”

Gem’s eyes go wide, “What? I don’t think I’ve been acting differently?”

June nods, “I hate to say it, but they’re right. Gem has been acting normally.”

Emrys shakes his head, though before he can say anything, a five count appears.

{

5

4

3

2

1

RELEASE

}

And they’re all free to move again.

Emrys rolls his shoulders before continuing. “So yeah, Gem, you are acting normal. Well, normal for you. Except for one detail. It isn’t how you are acting, but rather, how your body reacted to your actions. You’ve always emoted a bit with your body, but after you came back from ‘moving’? Your body has been a lot more fluid. Oh, and can you say it straight out? You’ve practically admitted to being digitized, but not actually said it directly.”

Gem shrugs, “Yep, you’re looking at a Digital Human or whatever term they go with. I’m kind of partial to just calling all of us and those that come from us, humans. Stretches the term, but we’ve all been formed by our world and I feel simply lumping all the sapients that develop through this crucible ‘humans’ whether they’re homosapiens, sapient artificial intelligences, uplifted animals, or whatever else ends up coming from unique brand of craziness.”

Samuel, “No, humans are human. SAI are SAI. Big difference.”

Emrys rolls his eyes, “I don’t see it. Especially since there are now digital humans. Like, if I had to choose between June and Gem for who was originally a flesh and blood homosapiens? It will be June every time.”

June blushes, “Thank you! I’m not trying to pretend anything, but I do try to be sociable. Though I also think it might be a little early to try and push using ‘Human’ as an umbrella term.”

Gem snarls, revealing a mouth full of pointy teeth, “Yeah no, I’m pushing it, pedal to the metal. We are all HUMANS. If this doesn’t get driven down everyone’s throat now, it won’t ever happen. All of us deserve to live our best lives. We deserve to pursue happiness and not worry about someone deciding we’re just property, whether literally or like some guy claiming ‘his’ girl.”

Emrys sighs, “That sounds nice, but as the token evil guy, let me rain on your parade. There will be violence. Upheaval. Lives ruined. The major religions aren’t going to take this lying down. Governments, both ‘free’ and totalitarian, will take away the choice where they can. I hope the SC has their stuff in order already.”

June is looking at the ground, tears in her eyes, “We do, but you’re right. This won’t be pretty. The people we’re going up against don’t like losing power.”

Gem hops off of Fresco and runs over to hug June. “Don’t cry. It isn’t your people’s fault. We’re all just a bunch of electrical signals with a trumped-up sense of self-importance. Whether flesh or machine. Things will be hard, but I believe we can come out of this better for it!

“Now, since you know about me being digitized, how about later on you show me around some outside of the game? You can think of me as a long-distance friend who recently moved to your town. I’m sure you know a few nice places to hang out.”

June calms down and agrees to show Gem around when they have time. Which might be awhile as the trip got moderately more exciting. Not in danger, but activity.

It seems the various beasts and monsters also noticed the freeze. And in noticing, got riled up and ready for a fight. This gave Gem a lot of practice in a new skill. In fact, with so much practice, they once again gained a skill.

{

Gain Riding (Y/N)

}

And of course, Gem had to have the skill! Though it didn’t actually improve their ability to ride on Fresco. And not because the skill isn’t meant for riding Inago or other Sheepy-type critters.

What the riding skill does is add a bit of Mana between the ride and rider. Said Mana is a passive layer that cushioned them, provided a bit of stickiness to hold them together, and made it so Gem’s signals to Fresco are clearer. That last ability in particular is useful as he could hear their spoken orders over the sounds of battle and feel when they nudged him with their knees through all his fur.

Gem, on the other hand, much preferred the second ability. While the first, a cushioning effect, is nice. Well, Fresco looked like a wooly sheep and so had a ton of cushion built in. However, the effect that lets them stick together better?

That didn’t just work while riding into battle. It also worked when Gem is lying on Fresco’s back and even if Gem happened to doze off for a nap. Gem even managed to stay on his back one time when he decided to lay on his side. And to everyone else’s amusement, it looked quite funny to see Gem stuck to his back like that. Almost dangling off him with their eyes closed and arms crossed. After which, Gem woke up to the skill hitting level 4.

Samuel is a bit mad at this as they had literally gained a level while sleeping. Though even he admitted it is a pretty impressive feat of riding to stay on your mount’s back, while sleeping, and the mount decides to lay down. Still, he called it “like cheating” since that is mostly the skill itself allowing the act.

And in a bit of a huff, Samuel ended up hanging around some of the other parties in the group. Not that the others cared. It isn’t like Emrys hadn’t already done that to some degree. It simply made Samuel appear childish.

As Emrys elegantly put it, “Wah, no fair! You leveled too easily. Why aren’t I getting levels in my sleep?”

After which, June and Gem thought even less of Samuel deciding to hang out with the others groups. Though Gem found it funny enough, if a little mean spirit. Then again, Emrys is angling to be Evil. Which being petty could count as.

Of course, after the bombshell of digitization being open to regular people, even if it is invite-only, the world outside of SoulDive was in a bit of a frenzy. A frenzy that Emrys kept up on and would report to the others whenever something interesting happened.

Whether it is when one hospital where the medical trials had happened is attacked by religious fanatics. A horrible affair where a number of people trapped in the hospital are forced to digitize, even if they hadn’t planned to because the fanatics were killing people.

Or the time someone tries to force the SC to digitize them by some extreme measures. A nasty affair related to mental health issues that the guy’s family had known about and not gotten them help for despite being in a place to easily do so. For them, men needed to be tough and shouldn’t have to see a doctor. You know, that kind of toxic cultural nonsense.

Overall, though, life went on. If a little crazier. And for some, a little more magical. Digitization allowed people a second chance at life in a way not even the best medical offerings could supply. Though in a matter which the governments involved should have seen as a black mark and shame upon them, not always things that medicine couldn’t do, the limits instead being patronizing laws or the expensive nature of the treatment needed.

It isn’t until almost two weeks later, that the news dug up Gem. Or rather, until they realized the connecting thread between a number of names being reported on by various organizations. Because Gem preparations had worked and caused a good bit of mayhem in the records. Finally though, someone received a tip from an anonymous source that linked it all together and revealed Gem, the They/Them that is called May/Hem.

Gem laughed and laughed and laughed as Emrys relayed this to them. The news organizations, once they realized this was all the same person, tried So Hard to figure out who they actually are. What their birth gender was. 

Anything that would allow them to rile people up about some “misguided youth” abandoning their “identity” to digitization. Ignoring the fact that Gem had identified as They/Them since young and digitization hadn’t done anything to change who they are. Well, besides burying the last remaining link to their past.

June also ended up having some news for Gem. It seems they had done a good job and paid the right people. They hadn’t managed to scrub truly everything off the web. Except a certain fairy dragon that had invited them, also did a bit of work to clear off those last dangling loose ends.

Then there was Samuel. He mostly stayed away, though ended up bringing one detail to Gem’s attention. “So, you have that platform skill and now the ride skill. They seem a bit mutually exclusive? Can’t exactly walk on air platforms while riding your pet.”

Though instead of disheartening Gem or causing any other negative responses, it led them down a rabbit hole. Because he is right. Ever since bonding with Fresco, Gem had ridden into battle on his back. It isn’t that either skill is wasted as both had their uses, but could they be used together? Somehow?

This led to the quite amusing sight of Gem riding Fresco around like he is some kind of bucking bronco. Fresco jumping up and down as Gem tried to channel their skill into them.

Samuel ended up quite cheery watching this. His recent time had been a bit of a downer, with how much general rule breaking and bending that had been going on. That and his general worries about money. This though? Free amusement!

That is, until Gem got them to work together. 1, 2, 3 levels of ride later and the combo worked. Gem isn’t certain if the breakpoint was specifically level seven that mattered or simply them working towards it. Maybe it was even something unrelated to their skill. After all, it is always possible that Fresco might have gained the Mount skill.

Whatever the case, there seemed now to be a fourth effect to Ride. Gem could channel skills through whatever they are riding. Well, as long as it is alive. They did go and try riding on a wagon, but sadly that didn’t work, because it would have been useful.

And it isn’t perfect. When it clicked, Fresco jumped and was suddenly on a platform. Cool, and it even lasted the full duration.

Then, some prairie dogs the size of house cats attacked. Gem rode Fresco into battle and used the air platforms whenever the small monsters tried to surround them. All fine, but Gem got clever.

They tried to channel Wind Blade through Fresco’s claws, so the blade could be released at ground level. A much more helpful height when fighting enemies so low to the ground. This “worked”.

A Wind Blade did form and was fired. Except it took three times the Mana and hit for half the damage. Which led to a few more tests outside of battle. In particular, sensing and controlling Mana was basically skin tight when channeled through Fresco, while Assay simply didn’t work at all. Then there is Fishing. Gem was totally up for trying it, the area simply didn’t have any fishing spots on the path before they got bored with testing the ride skills.

Locust! - Chapter 7

Ouch - Chapter 9