A Harsh World
A Terracore Story, Part 2 💥
“Raiders are here,” said Nikurskyy, as if she were commenting on the brownness of the sand.
Tayde activated her combat systems, which amounted to a wide radar dome feed and the sealing of a few of her suit’s valves. The radar display showed several fuzzy dots converging from the northeast.
“C’mon, disengage that thing and let’s go! We have to try and preserve the sample.” Tayde tried to ignore just how much she sounded like the Consortium Research Justicaar—there’d be time to reflect on that later.
“Run-huh? Advanced mining lesson, that is,” said Nikurskyy. Despite the attitude, the miner moved fast, snapping the extruder cable back to her belt in a few short seconds.
“I can spoof a signal ahead of their sensors to cover our movement to the dustroller,” said Tayde. “Ready?”
“Are you?”
Tayde took that as a yes and blinked her left eye rapidly to cycle through her display options. A closed eye wink sent the command. A gearbox whined from somewhere near her shoulders as the jammers did their work.
“I hate this suit,” she grumbled. “Go!”
The pair burst from the loose tent and raced towards a nondescript lump parked a hundred feet away. The sky had darkened since they’d set up their sad little camp. The winds were strong and hugged the arid world’s dry surface. Wide runnels of flowing sand matched the velocity of layered sheets of airborne desert, blurring land and sky to near indistinction.
Tayde let Nikurskyy overtake her, so that she could keep her eye on the Scrap cylinder within the miner’s pack. Radar response had degraded amid her jammers and the amount of particulate in the air. The attackers still appeared to be on intercept, although ETA was tough to discern.
They reached the lump, which was no longer a sheet draped over a land vehicle but its own bonafide sand dune thanks to the relentless weather.
“I’ll uh-remote it out,” called Nikurskyy.
Tayde turned back towards where they’d come, attempting to see if she could spot their guests. There was nothing but beige and dirty brown fuzz, fading up gradually to reveal a deep cobalt sky.
Behind her, there was a thrum and swishing noise as the dustroller plowed its way out of its sandy prison. Tayde turned just in time to see an egg-shaped projectile drop down and bury itself into the tiny vehicle’s hood. Bright blue lights on the egg began to ramp up in intensity.
“EMP!” shouted Nikurskyy.
Tayde loaded up a countermeasure. It amounted to a crude, wrist launched paintball—one of only four emergency tactical devices she’d be able to requisition. She had no targeting software at all, so she aimed slightly against the wind and had to hope.
Her high-conductivity fluid pellet struck the egg off centre, coating most of what she could see of it in a silvery paint, which then turned brown as the ever present sand stuck to it. The egg’s muted blue lights flickered, then a shower of sparks exploded from the dustroller, ripping away with the wind as if the transport had forcefully exorcized a fiery spirit.
Tayde’s display graphics wavered, and some went dead. But overall electronic capability was still intact.
“Yes!” she said, surprised that a piece of her equipment had performed as expected.
“Celebration time over,” said Nikurskyy. She grabbed Tayde’s wrist and pointed up.
A circle of sky had opened up above them. In the middle of it, three ground-facing hover turbines were arranged in a triangle. The craft they supported descended rapidly.
“Grappling harpoon in the back, it’s a gas operation?” shouted Tayde, racing for the trunk of the disabled dustroller.
“Ah, not recommended!”
Tayde ignored this and tried to open the trunk. She could feel the air rushing from above now. Her feet began to sink as the Raider ship blasted a crater into the loose ground below.
Locked. Electronically locked. She smashed the window and leaned in, shoving other tools and equipment aside until she found the speargun-like device. The roar from above was close enough to rattle her teeth. For once, there was no sand in her immediate vision, for it was all being banished by the force of the thing about to drop on her head.
With some physical difficulty, she stood the harpoon gun on its end, looked up, and hoped again—this time that the projectile wouldn’t just blow back down and skewer its operator.
Tayde squeezed the firing mechanism. The gun jerked in her grip, and she thought she saw a blur as the harpoon launched. A length of thin wire followed out. There was a barely audible clank!, then the whole tool ripped itself out of her grip. One of the turbines had caught the attack and sucked the whole thing. A plume of fire and smoke belched out of one and a keening whine joined the cacophony.
“Uh oh,” Tayde remarked. The ship above lurched downward.
She sprinted towards Nikurskyy, who had backed away considerably, arms crossed and seemingly unimpressed with her apprentice’s tactical innovation.
The ship landed on the dustroller with a heavy crunch. Compressed air (and sand, always sand) shoved Tayde forward. She lost her footing and went sprawling and bouncing towards the miner. The world stopped rolling, and Tayde found herself on her butt, spun around to face the scene of her destruction.
The Raider craft was a rough half sphere, supported by the three turbines. It had the same patched-together look that seemed to be the style here on Terracore. The top of the thing sported a chaotic array of what appeared to be sensor equipment. Spiky protuberances and launch tubes lined the sphere’s widest point. A name, in red lettering along the side, looked like it spelled: 034-Skicky.
“This would have been much smoother with-ah, a jettison,” Nikurskyy said, almost as a sigh.
“What? You don’t believe in def—” Tayde’s retort died in her mouth as the wrecked turbine began to melt. The smoke and flickering flames were washed away by the wind as it shimmered just as Nikurskyy’s extractor tube had done. Parts of the dustroller had been infected with the phenomenon as well, it seemed.
“I need more solarjinx’d recording storage, holy,” she said, as part of the squished vehicle melted away. A new turbine structure began to take shape.
“They have much more Scrap than we do,” said Nikurskyy.
Tayde got to her feet as the turbines started to power up again. A gruff voice boomed out from the craft, from some unseen audio transmitter: “Nikurskyy! This was a new trick. Bringing new help on are we?”
Nikurskyy mimed an exaggerated shrug.
“Wasteful of them, much to learn it seems,” said the voice. “Now, shall we make this complicated or not?”
The miner reached behind her back. There was a pop and a hiss, then she held up the Scrap canister.
“Smart. Until next time.” The canister snapped out of Nikurskyy’s hand with magnetic intent, disappearing into the cluster of instruments at the top of the craft. The ship’s fully operational turbines boosted it up, flinging chunks of the ruined dustroller away in all directions. Something moderately heavy smacked Tayde in the shin and she went down again, cursing.
Then the hovercraft was gone.
“Harsh lesson,” said Nikurskyy, after some time.
“Harsh world,” agreed Tayde. “They take all the Scrap, I assume?”
“Most, yes. There-uh, will be trace in the extruder if we’re lucky.”
“Lucky…” said Tayde, rubbing her shin. The suit armor felt like it had cracked. Of course.
Nikurskyy gestured at the obliterated land vehicle. “Let’s see if we can pull one-uh, more lesson outta that.”
Tayde limped after Nikurskyy, humiliation and anger settling in her veins now that the adrenaline was making room. She ran a diagnostic on her fullspec scan file, biting her lip until she tasted blood.
It was completely corrupted.
🚀 Publishing schedule
This story will be released as the Terracore community reaches the collective goal of contributing 500,000 Favor in-game (thus burning the $SCRAP tokens). Exact publishing times will vary, but will (generally) adhere to the following table:
| Part (working title) | Community Favor Needed | % of Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Part 1: The Nature of Scrap | 13,000 | 2.6% |
| Part 2: A Harsh World 👈 | 19,000 | 3.8% |
| Part 3: The Guild of Mirages | 29,000 | 5.8% |
| Part 4: Desert Magnificence | 44,000 | 8.8% |
| Part 5: Mud, Dust, and Steel | 66,000 | 13.2% |
| Part 6: The Heat Never Sleeps | 99,000 | 19.8% |
| Part 7: Paths amid the Dunes | 148,000 | 29.6% |
| Part 8: Sunspear | 222,000 | 44.4% |
| Part 9: With the Light at our Backs | 333,000 | 66.6% |
| Part 10: Oceanic Dreams | 500,000 | 100% |
Learn more about the Terracore Game
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