Volume 2 Chapter 1-Empty Planet

Mina looked around cautiously.

The System had dropped her in a strange place. A frozen environment. Snow covered the ground everywhere she looked, a pattern broken only by the images of other people, a few small buildings, and evergreen trees in the distance.

Immediately, she pressed her arms against her chest. So cold!

Some warning would have been nice. Jumping from Florida to this place wasn’t her idea of a good time. But at least she had warm clothes in her bag.

“Sis! You’re here!” Yulia ran up to her from among the crowd of people. Mina smiled despite the frosty weather. They embraced, a little awkwardly around Mina’s pregnant belly, but warmly.

“Good to see you made it here too! Let’s see if we can find James!”

The two spent the next several minutes, first looking down on the crowd from atop a small hill and then walking among the other people to cover areas they hadn’t been able to see from the hill. Their hopes were disappointed again and again.

Must be strong for Yulia. But she couldn’t keep her lip from quivering. James didn’t seem to be anywhere. She was afraid for herself, for Yulia, for the baby.

Where are you?! We need you.

She resisted the urge to call his name out. I can’t afford to draw attention for being isolated. Think like James. He would survive no matter what. She surreptitiously patted her jacket over her shoulder.

At least I still have the gun. And Yulia must have James’s gun in her bag. She didn’t want to ask Yulia out loud. A pregnant woman and a teenager would automatically be targets in a place like this. If the people around knew that they were armed, someone would try to take their guns at some point.

But for the moment, everyone was just milling around. Mina couldn’t detect anyone paying undue attention to her or Yulia.

She allowed herself to shift to worrying about James for a moment. You didn’t land here with us, so where did you end up? What are they doing to you?

[Welcome to your Orientation, my fortunate members of the Class of 2042!]

A voice interrupted her train of thought. It sounded soft, feminine, mischievous.

Suddenly, Mina noticed movement in the corner of her eye. She whipped her head around and saw a female figure dressed in green and red, wearing what looked like a Judy mask from a Punch and Judy puppet show. Instinctively, she knew this was the source of the voice.

The people closest to him were giving the figure a wide berth. Those who were slightly further away, like Mina, seemed to have largely failed to notice her. How can someone just appear like that? She thought of what the Homunculus, Roger, had told her about the System. Magic, maybe?

[I am your proctor, citizens of the world chosen for today’s induction! It is your privilege and my responsibility to begin this initiation of the 73rd Earth into the System that binds the other surviving member worlds. Over the next ninety days, you will have the chance to grow stronger to face the danger that threatens your world. The Earth itself will be fairly dangerous once the System has completed its construction work there, so consider this your opportunity to adapt to a generally heightened level of danger.]

Just hearing the voice was nerve-wracking for Mina. She imagined endless stress and danger. Ninety days?! I can’t wait that long to see James again. And I’ll have given birth! After a moment of feeling her pulse race, she took deep, calming breaths to try and slow her heart back down. She and Yulia stood transfixed, staring, holding hands and waiting for the next pronouncement.

[There are opportunities beyond the opportunity to grow stronger available here, however. Those are up to you to interpret and discover. This Orientation will take all of your tenacity, ferocity, and cunning to survive. It is calculated that only the fittest of humans are likely to make it through the challenge that presents itself to you. Fitness takes many forms. The System has a way of balancing things out, so do not despair, those of you who may be physically impaired.]

The last sentence felt a bit directed at her, although there was also at least one person here in a wheelchair. The words weren't especially comforting, coming as they did against the backdrop of what appeared to be a frozen wasteland.

[This Orientation is a unique experience. It offers you an opportunity, and a question. Humans are a uniquely adaptable species. How best should such a species try to survive an almost empty planet, with limited resources? Is it better to live and die together, working in collaboration, and share in the fate of your group? Or to fight tooth and nail against other humans, and perhaps guarantee your own survival at another person’s expense?]

Mina felt fear’s icy grip take hold of her. Why are you telling us we might have to fight each other?! She had already accepted the possibility in her heart, but by mentioning it, the proctor seemed almost to be encouraging people to take a dog-eat-dog approach.

She began pulling Yulia slowly back from the crowd, in anticipation of the potential for violence to break out at any moment.

[Only you can decide what is best. There are no rules for how you survive Orientation. Just live, and there will be rewards commensurate with performance.]

Mina turned and slowly guided Yulia into one of the group of small buildings that lined the perimeter of the clearing where the figure stood making her announcement. They continued to hear her words in their heads.

[Yes, this will be a difficult challenge. This Orientation is more difficult than others, in some ways. Although there is no formal requirement that any of the population here die, the next ninety days will be difficult to survive. In previous instances, there have been occasions when almost the entire population is killed by the end. We have included a few features to make your challenge less imposing than it might be. First, you will have a counter in your System screen that will help you to keep track of population numbers.]

A number appeared in the corner of Mina’s vision, and she took a quick look at it.

[3,397/3,397 Survivors]

Hopefully, people don’t take this as a challenge about killing each other, Mina thought. She knew that many of those in the clearing would be on edge enough already, and that a single spark could set off a powder keg of violence. We might have actually been better off if the proctor hadn’t said a single word. People don’t naturally want to kill each other

Mina looked around the building they’d just entered. She didn’t see anyone else inside with them. The setting looked like an inn from a fantasy story. Around two dozen tables, a liquor bar, a roaring fire in the fireplace. She wanted to just sit down in front of the fire, but that wasn’t what they were here for.

“Let’s look for supplies in here,” Mina said quietly. “We have enough food in our bags to survive for a week or two, so we’ll try to find warm blankets first.”

In case the clearing descends into violence, we need to be able to hide out further away from this place while we wait for things to settle down. There was a set of stairs in one corner that Mina guessed led to the rooms in this inn. That was where she expected to find the blankets.

According to Roger, the Homunculus, the Small Bag of Deceptive Dimensions that they each had should be able to contain a vast amount of equipment. If she had time, Mina would love for them to be able to examine this whole place and strip it bare. But she knew they would not have time. Mina silently pointed at where she wanted them to go, and they headed up the stairs. Fortunately, they could still hear the proctor. Distance didn’t seem to be a factor.

[The second thing is that we will provide some resources, weapons and opportunities to increase your powers. Challenges that will test your resourcefulness. If you perform well, you will increase the odds of survival for yourself and your group. The first scheduled challenge will be tomorrow morning.]

Interesting. Maybe these challenges would even the odds for the physically disabled people in the Orientation. If there were battles of wits, Mina was confident that she would be a good performer, even with occasional bouts of pregnancy brain.

As they reached the top of the stairs, Mina and Yulia peered around the corner. The first thing Mina noticed was that there were about a dozen doors lining the hallway. The second thing was the sounds of movement. Someone was up here with them. Rummaging through one of the rooms?

“It looks like someone beat us here,” Mina said. “We should probably go back down.”

But Yulia darted past her, up the last step and quickly, quietly into one of the rooms.

She decided to go in alone, because she knows I would only slow her down, Mina immediately understood. It was a good decision, though she hadn’t wanted to let her baby sister go in by herself. Who knew when another person might try to enter the room that Yulia was in? There was a high potential for conflict.

Of all the times to be pregnant! At least I can keep watch. She turned her head to make sure no one was coming up the stairs behind her, and then she looked back down the hall toward where the rummaging sounds were coming from. The noises seemed to be growing quieter.

[Third, although the population of wild creatures in this Orientation is relatively small, there are some monsters here. They will generally not enter this settlement area, barring certain exceptions that will not be explained. The monsters are similar to those you’ll find once you’ve returned to your Earth, so it may be worthwhile seeking them out. You can give them experience if they kill you, and they can give you experience and possibly loot if you kill them. This is how you get those weapons I mentioned, and they may serve as another food source in this treacherous environment. For now, I bid you farewell, and good luck!]

Well, I suppose that’s useful information. A little annoying that I suddenly couldn’t hear anything except the proctor’s voice, though. She poked her head up to peek down the hall past the stairs again, but at that moment, another set of words popped up in front of her face.

[Quest unlocked: Survive the Orientation!]

Mina stared at the quest for a moment, and a further description appeared.

[Survive the Orientation: You have entered the System’s culling grounds for the new world, the Orientation. Find a way to survive until this Orientation concludes. Reward for Quest Success: Variable dependent on contributions. Penalty for Failure: Death.]

Well, of course the penalty for failure to survive is death! Useless! She dismissed the quest irritably.

And saw a tall, olive-toned man had appeared at the end of the hall. He was standing still, looking into the air, just like her. Mina quickly darted back into the stairwell. Did he see me, or was he looking at the quest?

She thought of the kitchen knife and then drew it from the Small Bag. As the Homunculus had patiently explained during Tutorial, all she had to do to remove an item from the bag was think of what she wanted and open the bag.

Mina held the weapon carefully at her side, her arm slightly raised. She slowly backed away from the opening of the stairwell, to give herself adequate warning in case the man moved to descend.

Then she heard the man moving down the hall toward her. And toward the room Yulia is in!

She clutched the knife tightly and braced herself to see the man’s head pop up around the corner. But there was nothing.

She waited a few seconds, pulse pounding. Nothing.

Then Yulia poked her head around the corner.

“I got some stuff,” she mouthed. She began descending the stairs, and Mina forced herself to lower the knife. Her heart rate began to slow.

The two of them walked back down the stairs slowly and quietly, holding hands tightly.

“Did you see a man up there?” Mina whispered as they retreated.

Yulia just shook her head no.

Once they’d made it down the stairs, Mina put away her knife. The two of them were able to sneak back out to the crowd, where people were discussing the announcements.

“What do you suppose the challenges will be like?” A woman was asking a man. She had dark skin and long, straight black hair.

“Probably tests of our physical abilities and so forth,” a man replied. He had an Australian accent and kept his blonde mop of hair long and messy.

He sounded excited, Mina couldn’t help noticing. Probably has a lot of faith in his physical abilities.

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Mina said, approaching the two. If the crowd wasn’t breaking down into violence yet, she was going to see about making inroads with other people.

“Oh, no?” The man asked, looking her up and down. Mina felt immediately uncomfortable but forced her face to remain blank. “What do you think the tests are, then?”

“Testing everything, naturally,” Mina said. “Everything that humans need to survive. It’s not because human beings are stronger and faster than the animals that we rule the world.”

“You’re a sharp one, missy,” the man said grudgingly. “Guess I was hoping it would be something easy! The name’s Kyle Dannager.”

“It’s a pleasure,” Mina said, smiling with an enthusiasm that she did not feel “And you?” She turned to the woman.

“Priyanka Dani,” the other woman said.

“Nice to meet you,” Mina said, smiling more genuinely. “This is my sister, Yulia.”

“Nice to meet you both,” Yulia echoed.

“Has anything been decided yet about what we’re doing with the remainder of today?” Mina asked. “I know there’s a lot of discussion going on.”

“Quite right,” Kyle said. “A lot of discussion, mainly led by that bloke there!”

He pointed his thumb at a tall man who seemed to be a center of attention for a number of other people, though the vast majority were broken off into smaller groups and talking among themselves.

The tall man wore a suit and tie. He looked physically strong and intelligent, insofar as Mina could tell that by appearance. Certainly confident.

I don’t think he’ll end well, though, she assessed. She wasn’t completely sure why she felt that way. Perhaps just the possible imprudence of gathering this much attention to himself at such an early point in Orientation. James would have said someone like that will either end up king of the hill or buried at the bottom.

Mina resolved to keep a careful distance from that man. She excused herself and Yulia and said that they were going to keep looking around for her husband.

“Do you know where James is?” Yulia asked once they were out of earshot.

“No, he’s not here,” Mina said. “After we met those two people, I realized it’s only people with last names like ours that start with ‘Dan’ in this place.”

“Then why…?”

“We have to meet more people than just those two if we’re going to do well here, sweet.” She tried to infuse her voice with an excitement she did not feel. “Let’s network!”

Hopefully, once the challenges began, she could show her worth. Until then, connecting with people was the only hope, she thought, of not being considered a liability in this place.

Everyone acted friendly enough as they walked around, but Mina didn’t trust it. She saw the sidelong glances from men and women who were obviously skeptical of the value that a pregnant woman and a scrawny teenager could bring to a survival competition. And even those who were warmer and more welcoming could not be expected to maintain that stance.

Mina had seen firsthand how people, and in her experience particularly women, could backstab each other and maintain a smiling face all the while. She just hoped that she wouldn’t have to behave the same way to stay alive here.

The networking didn’t last long. It came to its end when the self-appointed leader of the group called for everyone’s attention.

“We’ve been discussing what to do going forward, and although there are many issues still up in the air, we’ve resolved one thing. As far as accommodations for this evening are concerned, we agreed that men will be on this side—” He gestured to the buildings on his left. “And women over there.” He gestured toward the buildings to his right.

There were a few quiet grumbles from people who hadn’t been in on that conversation and had their own opinions, but most people readily complied.

He’s taken the first step toward seizing control of this situation, Mina thought. Hopefully he’s competent beyond being able to fill a power vacuum. She wished again that James was here.

But at least the rest of the evening passed quietly.

Mina and Yulia made several acquaintances from the women who selected the same building as them to sleep in.

And they split a room with an elderly woman and her teenage granddaughter, who Yulia seemed to get along with. They had to sleep two to a bed, but Mina and her sisters had done that for years growing up. Even with the baby bump, it was comfortable enough.

When Mina awakened the next morning, the population counter greeted her first thing.

[3,396/3,397 Survivors]