I rushed my mech toward the greenhouse, and as I approached, I hit the caltrops button, emptying the backpack as smoke rose all around me.
“In place,” I said to Roger.
“Please hold on,” he said. “Keep your view ahead. This will take approximately twenty-five seconds.”
As I waited, I moved my eyes down to the command chat. It was moving rapidly, and I could only catch a few snippets here or there before it fell off.
Cricket-Is-Life:What sort of shield do they have? I just watched a ton of shrapnel flash across that stage, and the cowgirl singer didn’t even flinch. Lining up my Sniper shot right now.
BorneoRomeo:Anybody else getting weird phone calls? My “mother” just called, telling me she was hurt, but my mom is really right here with me.
TandooriTaco:Same! My work just called to tell me to come in right now, but my boss is in my squad, and he doesn’t know where that call came from.
PoBoi77:Guys, that IS Farm Girl Gigi. Holy fuckballs. I did a private show with her once! And this song whips.
Hooker_Island:I just heard they’re streaming their concert on Tuneage. But they’re on an account that’s like five years old and it’s called Rhythm Mafia but with the spelling all fucked-up.
AcesHigh84:My squad mate said he had police at his door and hasn’t come back. What is going on?
Cricket-Is-Life:I had that bitch dead center, and the shot punched a hole in the back of the stage. Do you guys see this?
“Whoops,” Roger said. “I see Cricket-Is-Life’s mech. It will be down shortly. I have now identified TandooriTaco’s boss, and I am calling emergency services to his location. Oliver, you are loaded. Ready for damage?”
“I am ready.”
A pulse bolt came from the night and hit my mech directly in the knee. Multiple warnings popped up on my HUD.
I moved over to the communications channel and clicked “Request Repair and Reloading.” Two separate warnings popped up.
Warning: You have custom ammunition. Your ammunition is not stored on a drop ship. You will be charged for transport to receive a refill. Do you wish to proceed?
Warning: Your knee joint is damaged. This is from the beta set, and repair parts are not stored on a drop ship. You will be charged for transport to receive repair. Do you wish to proceed?
I clicked “Yes” to both.
Warning: No drop ships are available. Would you like to wait until one becomes available?
My heart stuttered, but we had expected this. I moved over to the “Purchases” tab, and I found the—very expensive—priority-emergency-repair-and-reload pass. The onetime pass had costa lotof yuan. Luckily, Hobie’s mother had a high limit on her card.
Do you wish to use your pass? Are you sure? You can’t undo this action.
I clicked “Yes.”
An emergency drop ship has been deployed. You will be picked up in four minutes.
There were some reports of the pass not working or getting delayed when someone was simply out of ammo, so Roger believed shooting me in the knee, especially since I was using the beta legs, would put me at the top of the queue. It also helped because the repairs would happen before the reloading.
“Roger,” I asked as I waited, “how’re the streams doing?”
“Lulu’s Real-Friends now has just over a hundred fifty thousandviewers. The Tuneage account has seventy-three viewers, and the Pig Plus Some Chickens account on LoftBase currently has one point eight million viewers. In addition, the Zapatero Films channel on LoftBase and the streaming on Rosita’s Indie Auteur account have a combined viewership of thirty-five thousand, but that just went online a few minutes ago.”
“Wait, what?” I asked as I did a fill. The chorus to this song had a weird time signature, and I had to concentrate a little bit. The entirety of the song after this one was a swing, and it would be hard for me to do it well without focusing on Sam’s bass. A small part of me hoped the whole charade would be over by then, but another part was really hoping to see if I could pull it off.
But all of those thoughts fled as what Roger said registered. “Howmany streamers on the pig’s account?”
“I said one point eight million, but it is climbing rapidly, and it is approaching one point eighty-three million. It is currently on the Hot Feeds list, and there are multiple feeds live-commenting on it. If you count the Goat Sects feed, which has the concert window up, the documentary up, and the feed from Skeet-Skeet up all at the same time, that’s another ten million viewers. In addition, several news outlets are starting to report on the telephone calls, calling it a terrorist invasion.”
“Holy shit,” I said.
