More than Human [SciFi LitRPG]

Max's eyes flickered open, disoriented. The darkness that had pressed against his eyelids receded, replaced by a scene of impossible beauty and terrifying complexity. He blinked away the flexing mathematical tensors that his mind used to try and grasp his strange dreams. His sight cleared to show his familiar haunt, the Tesseract pocket space, festooned with his gear.

Tendrils of shimmering, azure light coiled in the crowded space around him, their edges shimmering with a fractal complexity in the dimly lit space, his Tesseract. At the heart of this evolved machine, a pulsating core hummed with raw energy, embedded in the larger twisted Yggdrasil trunk and branches.

Around the trunk, a dizzying array of objects hung suspended: a bulky muscle racer borrowed from Max's brother Bo, a sleek, black hoverbike – the Ducati Airfoil Twin Turbo, a collected prize from the Death Race game; a series of tethered metallic containers, their contents filled with broken down components scavenged from the Labyrinth's dungeons.

The whispers returned, stronger now, a cacophony of alien voices, their meaning lost in a sea of static. Max winced, the pain in his head a dull throb. He could feel their impact upon the tendrils of the Tesseract. Did they shudder in response to the mental assault or was his mental state doing it?

He remembered his dreams. A monstrous entity lurking in the depths of the shattered Earth on the shadow plane. Its curiosity and hunger at his father's clone's investigation and finally, its outrage at the nuclear bombardment. Max saw through its eyes as it commanded winged dragons to taunt the sun and draw down the fire. The solar prominence was coming, and the monster was eager for it.

"Mal," he groaned, his voice hoarse. "Wha... wha's happ'ning? I's dream'n. Monst' from the oth' side ish waking. Fuckin' Lovecraf', his twis'd stories mus' have been insp'red by dreams like mine. Cthulhu's a real thing an' he's angry."

Mal's voice, a calm counterpoint to the chaos, echoed through the chamber. "The whispers... they're creating a sort of echo chamber in the Tesseract. The language is self-replicating, almost contagious..." She trailed off, her digital form flickering. "I'm holding them back, but..."

"Max-san, your concentration is wavering," Musashi's voice cut through the static, sharp and clear. "Focus on your breathing. Center yourself. This chaos is a weapon, do not let it distract you. Help Mal to hold the line!"

"Unbelievable!" Hawking's voice, usually a calm monotone, was laced with manic excitement. "Your dream…the dimensional flux... the sheer complexity! How ever did your dad understand this without these visualizations?"

"I don't understand," Tesla chimed in, his tone filled with confusion. "The energy signatures emanating from the Tesseract core... the interplay between its trans-dimensional components... it's changing. Did you do that Max? Are we in danger?"

"Enough with the geekery!" Dr. House interjected dryly. "While you two are admiring the doodads, I'd like to point out that Max's vitals are less than optimal. The strain of interfacing with this... pocket dimension, combined with whatever eldritch horrors are raging behind the walls, is taking a toll. However," he added, a hint of something like grudging admiration in his voice, "the uplift virus is adapting at an accelerated rate. New neural pathways are forming, enhancing his processing power. It's quite remarkable, really; as long as it doesn't lobotomize him."

The pair struggled to solidify control over the gabbling spillage of noise through the Tesseract's subspace medium. It was uncertain to Max whether their combined effort, his mental recovery, or just a reduction in the angry voices was the reason for the change but he'd take it. He took a deep shuddering breath as the pain in his head began to recede.

"Fuck. Wha' happened? Di' I win th' fight?" Max slurred, wiping his bleeding muzzle on his sleeve.

"No, Max. You collapsed before you could finish Abigail. I had to pull you into the Tesseract's space. She almost got you," Mal said.

"Damn it. Does tha' mean I lost?" Max groaned.

"I've opened the portal aperture barely wide enough to tap into the Labyrinth's wireless data net using Cipher's anonymizer buffers. The match is still considered to be active. My micro camera sensors show the challenge stage is empty and inactive right now."

"Hmmm, for the moment we seem to have a reprieve from the knockout match," Sherlock stated, his voice calm and decisive. "Perhaps we should make our way back to the villa unnoticed. I recommend utilizing the maintenance tunnels. They provide optimal cover and minimal surveillance. I have already mapped out the most efficient route."

Then, a jolt, a ripple in the fabric of his perception. Max paused, his senses flaring as his linkage to the Tesseract shifted. An echo appeared in his mind's eye, subtle at first but growing as he figured out how to focus on it.

"Wait," he said, his voice low. "There's something more... I can feel something…another signal. It's familiar and lower down."

He focused, pushing through the lingering pain, and felt a faint resonance, a distorted echo of the Tesseract's own signature. It was weak, fragmented, but unmistakably present.

"It's... similar to the Tesseract," he murmured, his brow furrowed. "But… different. It's coming from the depths."

"That's crazy. Do you think maybe your dad is here?" Mal wondered aloud. "Perhaps that massive thing in the Shadowverse, Cthulhu, senses it as well."

"Max-san," Musashi warned, "this is dangerous. Perhaps we should gather your friends and leave."

"I don't think it's my dad," Max replied, his gaze intense. "But this... it feels important. Something is happening on the outside. I felt that I could grasp something, some key, as my training forced me to advance. But this other signal isn't about me. Dad said there was a rogue super AI manipulating events. Maybe that's the reason I'm here. It could be the key to stopping what's coming. We can't ignore it."

Working with Mal, he accessed and directed the Tesseract to advance the anchoring nub of the Yggdrasil trunk, allowing the barest millimeter to protrude through the portal. The volume of the phantom voices decreased as the portal dilated to microscopic size. Its resonance echo was no longer so intense.

Gravity took hold, and the pebble, coated in hastily fabricated cilia, silently dropped to the pitted arena ground. Max directed the makeshift dimensional remote to navigate the empty arena, using subtle applications of Chthonic Joining to dull sensors and open doors, and slowly made it navigate back to the player villas.

Max found a janitor's closet on the way. Inside, he fully opened the portal and exited as he activated his Mask and Skinwalker skills. His form changed to a nondescript service NPC. The corridors of the casino, usually bustling with activity, seemed eerily quiet and unsettled tonight. He moved with purpose, keeping his emissions tight and alert for any untoward attention.

He carefully approached Charlie's villa and knocked. Both his friends were inside, Charlie looked out confused while Leah looked out from deeper in the room.

"We didn't order any room service," Charlie said and began to close the door.

"Wait. I have something important for you. Ah…Kane asked me to deliver it to you in private," Max said, using his skill to mask his voice.

Charlie sighed and let him in. As the door closed Max relaxed his skill and his form blurred swiftly back into its natural state. His friends were startled and their annoyance transformed to a mix of relief and anxiety.

"Max! You look like hell," Charlie said, his brow furrowed with concern.

"Max, how are you here? We heard the knockout match wasn't paying out, but when you didn't come back…. well, we assumed you were ejected," Leah asked nervously.

"It's complicated, but it doesn't matter. We don't have time," Max said, his voice strained. "I need to explain something, and then we need to move."

He paused, gathering his thoughts. "You know my dreams about the Shadowverse, right? The dimension adjacent to ours, the one where the rules are... different?"

Charlie nodded slowly. "Yeah, your nightmares have been messing you up. We figured maybe it was your brain adjusting to that uplift virus."

"Well, it's not just a nightmare. It's real," Max continued. "I'm certain that my dad's tech can do more than just pocket spaces and I know now that he's gone further with it. My Tesseract is somehow entangled with their activity. The Shadowverse has denizens. Powerful ones. One of the oldest and most dangerous is an entity called Cthulhu, a kind of global hive mind."

He saw the flicker of fear in their eyes, the dawning realization of the gravity of the situation. Charlie looked grimly determined, while Leah seemed to sink in on herself.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"This Cthulhu is planning to force a connection between our world and the Shadowverse," Max explained. "A massive breach, a ShadowGate. And it can do it in less than a week."

Charlie's eyes widened. "A week? Seriously, Max? Are you certain you didn't get hit on the head? You've been acting weird ever since these dreams started."

"It's happening," Max insisted, his gaze intense. "I saw it. I felt it. We need to move now. The heist... we can't delay any longer. And," he added, "I felt something else. A signal, deep within the Labyrinth. Something like the Tesseract, but... different. I'm not down here by chance. My dad told me there is a super AI loose in the world who's been manipulating events. I think there's a deeper reason for me being here. We need to investigate."

Leah's expression hardened, with resolve replacing fear. "Okaaaay, this is a lot. But what do you think we can do about it? What's the plan?"

Max nodded, a flicker of relief washing over him. "We have to move quicker for one, as in right now. We have to get to the next level and finish this or wash out. If I really unleash everything I've got, I'm betting I can give these AI a surprise they won't forget. My bet is this other source is important to what is going on with my dad. I need to find this extra signal. We only have days. We need to start right now, so we can start the dominos falling. Tonight, it's on. One way or another we need to be out of the Casino level by the end of the day!"

The Labyrinth's outer concourse teemed with activity—screens flashed with Teams and their scheduled entry slots, many still had open slots looking to recruit at the last minute. Vendor kiosks hawked premium augment packages and bootleg darknet fab files to use as gate tribute for the Labyrinth AI.

Clusters of trainees ran through the Novice and Adept-level obstacle courses in the massive Playground lobby. Team New Dimensions flickered onto the screen in the daily queue. Their acceptance message wasn't a scam. The control AIs really were allowing their team immediate entry. Bo knew that his dad's company, with its groundbreaking tech and massive revenue growth from Mars Terraform, was only part of it.

Bo leaned against a curved metal support beam, watching the chaos with practiced calm. Emil and Jo Jo stood nearby, scanning the crowd with seasoned vigilance. Emil, tall and lean with cybernetic enhancements barely visible beneath his tactical gear, kept one hand near his concealed weapon. Jo Jo, compact and deceptively relaxed, maintained a casual stance while her augmented eyes cataloged every face that passed.

Bo's HUD outlined faces in the crowd, matching profiles against the Labyrinth's database and his personal contacts. He'd set alerts for any signs of the Samaritans, the Diamond Man organization, and the Canyon Racers. He was pinged with an unexpected hit.

[Alert: Affiliated Contact Match. Identity: Xavier Bermatti, Team Utopia. Status: Eliminated in Labyrinth Stage 2.]

Bo straightened and reviewed the feed. The picture didn't look a thing like the kid who'd teamed with Max at the Novice tournament. The boy looked a lot older, dispensing the cosplay look for a loose tunic with a cloak. Bo spied the lightsabers hanging from the kid's belt.

Okay, maybe he hasn't completely discarded cosplay.

He made a beeline for Xavier, signaling Emil and Jo Jo to maintain distance but stay alert. The gawky-looking kid had dark circles under his eyes as he slouched at a table nursing a milkshake. He had split his attention between the incoming boards and any activity from the Labyrinth exits. The exuberant kid who had hung out with Max was missing. The Labyrinth did that to some people.

Good thing the kid didn't make it to the third level. That would have fucked him up for sure, Bo thought. He approached, his team trailing behind, and Xavier was startled but spoke first.

"Bo. You're here for Max?" Xavier's voice was flat. No handshake was offered.

"Xavier." Bo nodded. "I guess you crashed out, huh? Tough break."

Xavier's jaw tightened. "Yeah, well. That's the Labyrinth for you. One moment you're clearing challenges, the next you're facing some bullshit twist that wasn't in any of the strategy guides. I made a mistake that I couldn't take back, challenging a veteran player."

"You the only one out so far? Is Max okay?" Bo kept his tone casual but couldn't mask the concern in his eyes.

"Physically? Sure." Xavier glanced at the leaderboard. "Leah and Charlie too. They're still in, but..." He trailed off, something dark passing over his face.

Bo's chest tightened. "But what?"

"Max got infected by the uplift virus right before we dove in. It complicated things for him."

"Shit. I've seen the reports about the uplift virus. I don't know much about Max's original uplift procedure, but I think it relied more on an integrated neural core than changing his brain. Damn it, I should have come sooner."

"He was pretty out of it for a while, but if anything it's made him smarter. And right when he'd adapted to it that Tesseract of his started giving him nightmares." Xavier lowered his voice. "Have you seen the news? About what's happening out there? The incursions? It sounds a lot like the dreams Max described."

The concourse seemed to shrink around them, background noise fading as Bo met Xavier's gaze. "Yeah. I've seen it."

Bo's pulse quickened. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to have in public. He gestured toward a quieter corridor off the main concourse. Xavier followed; his movements stiff with tension. Emil and Jo Jo shifted positions smoothly, Jo Jo taking point while Emil hung back to ensure they weren't followed.

Once they were away from the crowd, Xavier didn't waste time. "It's your dad's tech, isn't it? I'm not stupid. These incursions—they're connected, aren't they?"

Bo looked pained, gaze dropping to the floor briefly before meeting Xavier's eyes again. "Yes. Maybe. I don't know for sure if they're related." His voice dropped. "My dad's not taking any chances though. He's on it…with most of the United Nations shadow ops teams and the Samaritans as well."

Xavier ran a hand through his hair, a strangled laugh escaping him. "Jesus. I knew it. Fucking end of the world scenario. Did Max know?"

"No." Bo's response was immediate. "He had no idea. None of this was on purpose. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even my dad, well…he feels like some of this was orchestrated. He was just the cat's paw to trigger it."

"Fuck." Xavier's voice rose. "All this is getting a little too real, you know. I always felt that the augmentation training was just the next level of VR game, you know. Maybe I would have taken my training more seriously if I'd known. This is bullshit."

"It's not that simple. My dad shared some of his stories about the Samaritan, after he finally fessed up to his full history. The world ain't a game no matter how much everyone treats it like one. I think one of the reasons I went so hardcore with the RUSA Airborne Rangers and then the Diamond Man competition was because I was feeding off my dad's poorly hidden paranoia."

"Your dad sounds like a trouble magnet." Xavier's laugh was bitter. "Max is in there thinking he's playing the game of his life, and all along—"

"All along, he's been learning how to survive," Bo cut in. "What about all the skills you've gained in there? They're real. The adaptations, the tactics—they'll work against the real incursions too."

Xavier stared at him. "And you? I see in your ID that you're entering the Labyrinth. Team New Dimensions just happens to show up now? I thought you already did the Labyrinth?"

Bo's expression hardened. "I did, but I completely rebooted to enable entry again. I'm here to get Max out. And the rest of your team too, if I can."

"How noble." Xavier's sarcasm was cutting. "Planning to tell him the truth? He's killing himself down there, thinking he needs to perform to live up to your family's reputation."

"When I find him. Yes." Bo's gaze flicked to the leaderboard. "I'm going to do a speed run through the early sectors. I hope to catch up to him and convince him to bug out."

Xavier studied him, searching for deception. Finding none, his shoulders dropped slightly. "Speed run, huh? Max always idolized you. He watched all your Diamond Man matches, man. I dunno, Bo. You might not get to him before he gets to the third level. When I got booted, he was cooking a plan to crack the second level, and soon."

Bo reached into his jacket and produced a small metallic cube with glowing blue edges. "This is an encryption key for the SS Winston." He held it out. "If Max and the others come out without me, I need you to get them someplace safe. Coordinates are embedded. Amundsen Paradise on Luna."

Xavier didn't take it immediately. "Luna? That's a pretty extreme emergency plan."

"It's the furthest place from the incursions. You don't want to be Earthside in a week." Bo pressed the cube into Xavier's palm. "Just in case."

Xavier closed his fingers around it slowly. "Hah. I did look into taking a long-distance trip, but the Orbital elevator is all jammed up. Nice to know someone with a personal spaceship." Xavier ran a hand over his face looking even more exhausted.

"Fuck it. I called my parents when I got out to see what they were doing with all the chaos erupting. They're buckling down just like the government is advising. They're refusing to leave… No matter what I say! I don't like it. Have you heard about Springfield? Frigging huge ass city, safe as anywhere, and boom! Gone in an instant. I don't like this, Bo."

"Sorry, kid. None of us do." Bo's smile was grim. "I can't predict the future, but I've heard things might get extreme before they get better. I'm going in. If you want to help, be ready for if they come out before I do. Get your teammates to and use the ship to get everyone to Luna before things go sideways."

Xavier nodded, then reached into his own pocket. He pulled out a data chip and offered it to Bo. "My notes on all the challenges in the first level and tweaks to the competitions on the second. Might save you some time. Maybe even enough to make your speed run achievable."

Bo took it with a nod. "Thanks. My team plans to crush this thing, but every advantage helps. I appreciate it."

"Just..." Xavier hesitated. "Get them out. And Bo? Whatever your dad thought he was doing... it's out of control now. You know that, right?"

Bo slid the chip into his pocket. "Yeah. I know. For what it's worth, if he could have put the genie back in the bottle he would have. Apparently, there are things even a Samaritan can't do."

Xavier turned to leave, then paused. "I'd suggest you go fast. Max doesn't know you're coming, and he is bloody single-minded most of the time. I've heard level three is hell. It might not be the best place for a reunion."

"Noted. Been there and can confirm, it's a cross between hell and a psycho ward." Bo watched as Xavier walked away, disappearing back into the crowd.

When he was alone, Bo pulled out Xavier's data chip, turning it over in his fingers. A small smile played at the corners of his mouth. He'd been concerned about missing Max. The Labrinth comm blocks would work against him. He was carrying an active portal though, linking back to Luna. He could check on the ship and keep a lookout for Max that way, but Xavier's help was better.

His HUD pinged with an incoming message from Lena. [All set here. Winston's packed and we've got all the supplies we need for the delve. Winston just prepped the ship for remote launch. You confirm that we're good to go?]

Bo pocketed the chip and straightened his shoulders. [We have our entry position whenever we show. Slight change of plans. I found one of Max's teammates in the lobby. He's going to need the SS Winston. Just leave it locked up at the port. Meet at the Labyrinth entrance in 10 minutes?]

[Got it, Bo. We'll be there in 5 minutes…tops.]

He cast one last glance at the leaderboard, where Max's team blinked among the active players. Then he turned and strode toward the Labyrinth's entrance, his step quickening with each passing moment. Time to catch up. He looked over his shoulder where Emil and Jo Jo lurked covering his six and yelled back.

"Come on, you roughnecks! You wanna live forever? Let's do this!"