The Rift: King and Country

Act 2: The Threats

Warm yellow light of the midday sun beat down on Sam's head as he walked, his sweatshirt tucked under one arm. They had packed up camp early in the morning and hiked a few kilometers north along the forest edge, but when it seemed apparent that the dark swath of trees wasn't getting any thinner, they decided to cut their losses and just go through it. Since then several hours had passed uneventfully, aside from more Zindraeven lessons, and now they were leaving the denser forest behind for short-grassed plains dotted with rocks and trees. They could see for kilometers in every direction ahead, and could even make out the dark moving mass of plains-dwelling animals in the distance.

". . . which is why it's called a spec," Xen finished saying, looking proud of himself for knowing whatever he had been talking about.

Sam glanced back to him from staring at the animals in the field. "Sorry, what was that?"

Xen's fluffy ears pinned back in annoyance as he glared at Sam. "Did you not get any of that?"

"Uh, you have a metric version of time?"

"*Sigh* Yes. A spec is the unit, which is one hundred centispecs, or cents, which are each point-eight Terran seconds, so a spec is eighty seconds long. A hectospec, or hex, is one hundred specs, so two hours, thirteen minutes, and twenty seconds. A military day is ten hex, a military week is ten days, a military month is ten weeks, and a military year is ten months, or a thousand days. Does that make sense?"

Scratching his head, Sam shrugged. "Yeah, sure, but that's gonna take a bit to get used to."

"You're smart, I'm sure you'll get it."

"<Movement ahead,>" Ruby said quietly from the front of the group, motioning for them to get behind a cluster of rocks.

"<Enemy?>" Elara asked, wrapping a hand about her sword hilt.

Ruby shook her head, unsure. "Giegedan."

"Means "I don't know"," Xen whispered in translation.

Sam peeked around the rocks to get a look at whatever she had seen. "Yeah, I kinda figured."

He had to squint to make anything out, but there they were, a group of humanoid figures roughly a hundred meters away. They had just come around a small copse of trees, and it seemed they hadn't noticed the team yet. He watched them for a moment, then felt someone grab him by the back of his shirt and tug him back behind the rock.

Xen pushed past him, hissing, "<Stay,>" and reaching over his shoulder to grab a long gray rifle. He flipped open the scope guards and racked the loading bolt, looking to Ruby, who had readied her own weapon and was peeking around the other side. Setting his rifle down, he put his hand on the rock and muttered a command to his suit. Instantly, a dull droning sound came from the rock, then a large part of the stone seemed to disappear, and in its place was a large pistol that looked to Sam almost like a strange version of a military service sidearm in a black composite holster. He pulled the weapon out of the boulder and opened the chamber slightly to ensure that there was a bullet ready to load, then handed the weapon to Sam with two spare magazines clipped into its holster. "Molecular constructor," Xen explained. "Breaks down and puts back together atoms. I'll explain the science later. You know how to use this?"

Sam buckled the holster to his thigh and looked over the firearm curiously, amazed that it had been stone and air mere moments before, but not exactly surprised, considering he figured he was basically in a video game anyway. "I guess? My dad took me shooting a couple times a year when I was younger, but this looks a lot more complicated than a Glock."

"Same principle." He pointed to the different parts as he described them. "Trigger, safety, magazine release, slide. Now keep it in its holster unless I start shooting, got it?"