Dex Warrior (Libertas Online)

5: The Shield

It takes the better part of an hour for my stasis tank to drain and for my senses to come back to me. Waking up is a slow, not so pleasant experience. At first, as the numbness fades away and the tank drains, then the artificial gravity kicks back on. But I'm still under the effects of sleep paralysis, so I can't even control my muscles as the pod operator removes all of the equipment from my body. There are tubes in my arms, a helmet over my head, and sensors attached to various nerve endings. It takes some time, and all I can do is sit here feeling like a big blob of jelly.

By the time my vision is clear and I'm really back into the real world, I've already been plucked out of the pod and placed down in a wheelchair. My skin shivers and crawls. I pull the blanket draped over my shoulders tighter, always forgetting just how cold outer space travel is. My doctor, and pod operator, comes into view. At first, she's a bit blurry, but with a couple of blinks I can see well enough to make out her details. She has short, light brown hair, dark green eyes, and is always happy to see me. Except for today.

"Aiden, can you hear me?"

I nod groggily and rub my eyes a few times. "Yeah" I say, my chest wheezing and rattling.

"You're not supposed to wake up for another year." Her eyes are stern like how my mother's used to be when she scolded me.

"I know," I say with a croak. "I'm sorry. But it's for a good reason, Dr. Conway."

She slips up and smiles a little, letting her pearly whites peek out. It's been three years since I've seen her last, and she really doesn't look any less pretty. Pod operators are probably one of the most selfless people in existence. They have this life-extending technology right in front of them, but they dedicate their lives to helping all the other people in them. I know they have knock-off helmets that gives them access to a partial experience of Libertas, but I've never heard Dr. Conway say she's played before.

"Just call me April," she says. "I've known you too long and been through too much trying to keep you safe, so don't be so formal with me, Aiden. Now, tell me why you are up."

"Can I—" My chest rattles like no other, so I pause to cough and try to clear my throat, but have no luck. Just hearing my own voice like this scares me. I knew that the tumor-like infection was beginning to spread into my chest cavity, but I sound like a garbage disposal on bone-crusher mode. I feel like one too. With a shrug, I say, "I need to talk with the captain."

"Why do you need to talk to the captain?" April asks. She rolls on a chair to the side of me and begins taking a temperature reading from my ear.

"About a day or two ago I decided I would give Libertas a try."

"Well, that's good." She pats me on the shoulder. "That's better than just sleeping, I think."

"Yeah, maybe, but that's not why I'm here. I overheard some people in-game. They were talking about stealing the keys to the Shield or something."

April studies me. "The Shield doesn't have keys, Aiden."

I scratch the back of my head. "Yeah, but I think it means something. I think they're referring to something."

April kinda half rolls her eyes as discreetly as she can, then says, "I mean, I'll see what I can do to get the captain down here, but I can't promise he'll show up. He's a busy guy."

I sigh. "I know. But thank you."

With a shove of her legs, she rolls her chair across the metal floor to a desk and begins to type on the keyboard. The paper-thin screen changes a few times, but it's far enough away that I can't read what she's sending, and then she returns to my side. We spent nearly 45 minutes together, her examining my stomach and chest, and explaining to me how things have been since we spoke last. So far, it seems like nothing has really changed. I still have the body of a 15-year-old, even though I'm 20 chronologically (and maturity wise, I'd argue).