Chapter 5 - Game Start

Now, with some passive growth options and needed Psy abilities in the bank, it was time to look for things that would make this character shine.

Psychic Rebreather	Perk	4000 CP	Can exist without air so long as they have PP remaining.
Polyglot	Perk	20000 CP	Able to Read, Write, and Speak all Languages.
Knowledge Infusion	Knowledge Superpack	80000 CP	Gain Knowledge Skills (Psy, Cybernetics, Cultures, Celebrities, Politicians, Factions, Plants, Animals, Space, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Nature, and History) at rank 20.
Weapons Training	Skill Pack	20000 CP	Gain Blades, Clubs, Unarmed, Pistols, Automatics, Longarms, Archery, Throwing Weapons, and Heavy Weapons skills at rank 1.
Guerilla Skill Pack	Skill Pack	20000 CP	Gain Analyze, Stealth, Demolitions, Survival, Navigation, Perception, Climbing, Swimming, Running, and First Aid skills at rank 1.
Face Skill Pack	Skill Pack	30000 CP	Gain Seduction, Con, Etiquette, Negotiation, Acting, and Intimidation skills at rank 5.
Technician Skill Pack	Skill Pack	5000 CP	Gain Computers, Software, Hardware, Hacking, and Lockpicking skills at Rank 1.
Mechanic Skill Pack	Skill Pack	5000 CP	Gain Automotive Mechanic, Aeronautics Mechanic, Industrial Mechanic, and Nautical Mechanic skills at Rank 1.
Space Pilot Skill Pack	Skill Pack	10000 CP	Gain Fighter Pilot, Shuttle Pilot, Small Ship Pilot, Medium Ship Pilot, and Large Ship Pilot skills at Rank 1.
Armorer	Skill	500 CP	Gain Armorer skill at Rank 1.
Forgery	Skill	500 CP	Gain Forgery skill at Rank 1.
Ambidextrous	Perk	1000 CP	Able to use either hand without penalty.
Improviser	Perk	1500 CP	+5% bonus to improvised weapons and armor.
Jurryrigger	Perk	3000 CP	+5% bonus to jurryrigged repairs.
Hotshot	Title	10000 CP	+10% to all piloting actions.

There, that’d do nicely. I spent a lot on languages and knowledge, but if I was going to try and not stick out as someone who didn’t belong, then I needed to know things. I didn’t know how the game was going to treat players, but if I was hiding what I was, I needed to blend. After that, a bunch of skills covering pretty much anything I may need to do. Luckily, the developers realized that players going for the ‘Face’ role might not be gifted speakers, given the demographics of most gamers, and that was set a bit higher than the rank 1 all the other skills I bought came in at.

My plan, once I escaped, was to either steal a ship, or convince someone to take me on as a pilot or engineer. That would allow me to get away from the ‘scene of the crime’, and provide some bona fides in case people wanted to know about my history. I’d have to find what they used for ID, and either forge some or convince someone to make me a ‘new’ ID. If it came to it, I could make up some kind of backstory for why I didn’t have any ID on me.

Once I was well away from the lab or holding facility or wherever it was I’d be starting out, I could make new plans, or just go where things took me. But first, I still had 30000 CP to spend, and my attributes were looking mighty low for the challenge I knew I was going to be facing. Time to do something about that.

From the looks of things, the cost to raise my base stats was 50 CP per point until they hit 20, and then it was 1000 CP per point until 30. After that, well, it got a lot more expensive. Considering that, I immediately bumped my stats to the following: STR 20, DEX 25, CON, 21, END 20, INT 27, WIS 25, and CHA 30. All my stats got an extra +1 from my perks. Nothing to write home about, but it was a helluvalot better than where I started.

With that done, I set my initial appearance. I decided to go with something close to my ‘normal’ looks, before I got injured, with a few cosmetic upgrades. A bit more definition on the muscles, a streak of blue in my hair for flair, and making myself respectably sized ‘down there’. Just to see, I slid the slider all the way to the end, and laughed at something I would literally be able to throw over my shoulder. Of course, that was stupid for multiple reasons, so I backed it down to a solid 30 cm. Decidedly bigger than average, certainly, but not making myself to be part horse. I really didn’t want to think about what would happen if someone decided to target a 2-meter-long schlong with a blaster.

I took one last look at my character, before taking a deep breath, and hitting the confirmation button. Time to see what I was up against.

Now entering Dreams Amongst the Stars…

When my vision cleared, I saw that I was in a glass tube of some kind. I was floating in some sort of fluid, but since I seemed to be ‘breathing’ it just fine, it was probably some sort of oxygenated fluid, like the Pod had. I looked down, and, yep, I was completely naked. So, trapped as a specimen, no weapons, armor, or even clothes, and if I stepped out of line I’d probably be shot on sight.

Well, I did choose the Nightmare difficulty.

As I began examining my surroundings more carefully, I noticed that I was definitely in a lab of some kind. A group of people in what looked like lab coats were gathered around a console on the other side of the room, talking excitedly about the readings they were getting, likely from whatever scans they were running on me. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, thanks to the tube and the gel, but I figured getting their attention wouldn’t be too hard.

I reached out pressed my hand against the ‘glass’. The movement was enough to get one of the scientists’ attention, and he alerted the others. Soon, they were gathered in front of my tube, and began pressing buttons. I felt a current in the fluid, and saw it draining out of the tube. This caused a bit of discomfort when I was forced to cough up the remaining fluid in my lungs so I could start breathing again (giving away that I didn’t actually need to breathe seemed like a stupid move on my part), and I found myself suddenly on my knees in the bottom of the tube as fresh air surrounded me.

Now that the fluid was gone, I could hear clearly. One of the scientists leaned up next to a microphone, and spoke, his voice coming over a speaker inside my tube. He sounded excited, yet clinical. I was probably his prized experimental project. Mad scientists are the same, no matter where you find them.

“Can you understand me? Can you respond?”

I decided to play stupid for now. I could make plans when I was out of this tube. And had more to defend myself with than my manhood. I had attack abilities, but those wouldn’t be enough to get me out of this base, wherever it was, and would just put people on high alert for my real attempt. Best to play along.

“W-what? W-who you? What this?” I purposefully stumbled over the words, playing like an amnesiac who was trying to remember how to talk. Or, in this case, a newborn chimera who shouldn’t know that much yet.

One of the other scientists, a female, said, “Well, it seems the knowledge implants worked. That alone was worth the extra week in stasis. Now that we know it works on a blank slate, we can start trying to make it work on an already formed mind. Military and corporate bean counters will love the idea of just uploading the knowledge into someone’s head, and dispensing with training times.”

A third scientist shook his head. “We don’t know how much of the knowledge was implanted. And with more active skills, he may have some knowledge of how to use them, but will he have the practice and muscle memory that goes along with them?”

The first scientist waved his hand at them. “Yes, yes, all very exciting, I’m sure. We create the first viable Chimera since the Breakaway Wars, and you are talking about piddling knowledge implants!” Yep, typical science diva. Didn’t care about anything except his research.

“What chimera?”

The lead scientist turned back to me, and said, “You are a Chimera, and artificially created lifeform. You’re the first of your kind, since—“

“That’ll be quite enough, Doctor.” A new voice entered the stage, and I found myself looking towards the door of the laboratory, where two men in uniform were standing. It was clearly military of some sort, black, with some red trim and a few gold areas to designate rank. The one who spoke was clearly a man with authority of some kind. Maybe the base commander? The woman next to him, though, was different. She screamed spook. It was in her eyes. She was watching everyone, their reactions, their body language, probably making mental notes to use later.

“Commander Keene, Sir! We were just doing our preliminary examinations!”

“And telling a potential asset more information than they need to know until we have determined whether it will be useful to us or not. How are the physical scans looking?”

“No problems so far. This one looks to be genetically stable.”

“And the knowledge implants?”

“Clearly at least some of it worked, but we need to do further tests to determine the extent of the transfer, especially with the physical skills.”

“Tests that will be overseen by Major Renault and her team.” Keene held up his hand to keep the scientist from interrupting. “Your team will be helping with the tests, but operational security is the foremost concern. You will, of course, get the raw data and specimen samples to track the asset’s development.” This seemed to mollify the scientist, because he nodded, and went back to looking over the data coming in on my scans.

The spook woman stepped forward, and whispered something to the Commander. He nodded, and said, “Very well. You will be in charge of the specimen’s debrief and initial training. I expect daily reports on its progress, Major.”

“Understood, sir.” When the Commander turned, and left the room, the Major turned to look at me like I was a slab of meat, or a bug in a specimen jar. Which I was, now that I thought about it. Still, if I was judging right, she had more in mind than just evaluating me.

Your actions have created a skill. Judge Intentions – Level 1/100 (0%) +1 WIS

Looks like I was right. She’s planning more for me, but I don’t suddenly have any keen insights into what. Judge Intentions, at least at this level, was basically just a BS detector. Maybe when I got better at it, I’d be able to tell what they were hiding, but for now, I’d take what I could get.

I really wanted to try and use one of the abilities I’d gained from being a Chimera, ‘Mindread’, but while I was still under the microscope, figuratively speaking, I couldn’t exactly show off my abilities, since they certainly had something to detect Psy usage. All I could do was try to look confused at the lady, and walk the line between not hiding myself behind my hands, and posing. I was supposed to be a stupid newbie, so I shouldn’t know about how having the bait and tackle at eye level with a woman would be a social faux-pas.

“Have the specimen cleaned up and taken to the secure living quarters. I’ll conduct the tests there. And no more speaking about things it shouldn’t hear out of turn, yes?”

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