Silvertroll

Cybergoblin Fight

Old, used, or abandoned. The row of factories, vacant lots and warehouses are the same as the previous row. Half an hour of walking, following this virtual waypoint has gotten me lost. I take off the goggles to see if I can get a better picture of where I am, but without the head-up display, I have even less information to go by.

So I put them back on.

"That's the thing," says Arlan. "Once you get data off a physical dead drop, anyone can steal it in the virtual world."

"Anything to steal?" I ask.

"There is a lot of data here."

"Not helpful."

Arlan's voice overlaps, "There must be another dead drop."

"The archives are numbered. Thirty-three of seventy-five."

"Check the sky for other waypoints," Arlan spits into the mic.

I look up as I follow the footpath around a corner and enter a street that is more industrial than the one I ventured through earlier. I search the horizon; dozens of waypoints dot the urban landscape. These multi-coloured icons have been appearing and vanishing throughout my trek. A waypoint hovering in the eastern horizon is shorter than the others, which according to the boys, is an indication it is closer. I point to the sky, "Connor, is that the one?"

"That's the one," he says.

I home in on the location, arriving at the end of the street that turns into a narrow lane. I spot a lone figure, glowing, standing at the entrance of the lane.

"Ya got company," says Connor.

I lift up my AR goggles and see a real person standing there. The physique indicates it is a male, hiding under a grey hoodie. He steps forward, towards me, as if ready to pounce.

I growl, "Is that him?"

"Nope," answers Arlan, "That's another player character's cybergoblin."

"A fucking what?"

Connor's voice is distressed, "Bounty hunter, man. They're after the data. Run."

"Fuck that?" I drop the glasses back over my eyes, raise the toy gun and charge the cybergoblin.

"No. Don't."

The 'cybergoblin' launches fireballs at me. I counter with rifle fire.

I hear Connor's voice, "Dude! If you get shot down, we'll lose all the data."

I rush at cybergoblin until we are shooting each other at point-blank, when, hoping the reality aligns with the virtual, I swing my fist and deck the cybergoblin in the face. The cybergoblin goes down. I pull off the AR goggles to get a look at the guy.

It's a young man. "What the fuck!" he says as he clutches his face.

"Dude, ya not suppose to do that."

"Get the fuck outta here," I yell.

The cybergoblin staggers away. I continue into the laneway until I arrive at a dumpster. Via the goggles, the large rusted autobin is highlighted with a red glow, indicating a physical dead drop. A digital carcass of a silver sentinel lays dormant on the ground.

"Found another marker."

"Any sentinels?" asks Arlan.

Looking around I respond, "Only a dead one."

"Silvertroll wants you to access the data cache. There is no other reason why it is terminating its own sentinels."

"Hang on," I say when I spot a red goblin-thing standing against a graffiti-covered brick wall.

"We see it. It's not Silvertroll. Just another bounty hunter."

I moved to the dumpster, searching it while keeping an eye on the red goblin. "It's just standing there, doing nothing."

I locate the USBX stuck under the autobin's lid and plug my fifty dollar cable into it.

"Be ready to act as soon as you download," warns Arlan.

I raise up the toy gun, "Oh, I'm ready."