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Chronologs of a Combat Archaeologist - Chapter 2 — … And Your Death
Contents
Previous Chapter
Chapter 1 — This Is Your Life…
Chapter 2 — … And Your Death
“You’ve died,” Manny started to say, but paused for a moment looking serious before continuing, “—well, I hesitate to give a number as you might see it as a quantification of failure. Perhaps we can talk about the number of times you’ve been instantiated later.” He used “instantiation” which was the polite term that included both the original and clones.
“Perhaps we can,” I said, keeping the reluctance out of my voice. I wasn’t sure if how often I had died was any better than the progression from gangly youth to my current instantiation’s statuesque form, but I wasn’t adverse to talking about it. The number of times I had been instantiated—revived as a clone—was, after all, a public stat easily found on the Celebrity Server.
Taking note that I wasn’t upset at the topic, he brighten, and said, “What I was trying say was, this isn’t your first instantiation.”
I thought I knew where he was going with this, so I played along and said, “Yes, that’s correct.”
“Does it get easier with each resurrection?”
Was he trying not to offend me by using “resurrection?” I mentally shrugged. Perhaps he had done his homework and knew that I preferred it to the more common term “respawn.”
“Not really,” I said. “It’s like awakening from a particularly vivid dream, then reality asserts itself, and you can’t avoid the fact that you’re in a clone bank and you didn’t wake up, but died.”
“Do you remember dying?” Manny said, his voice slightly more avid than I thought healthy.
“Thankfully, no,” Then, not being able to resist pedantry, I added, “The ER, that is, the experience replication is disrupted just before brain death.”
“But you remember everything up to death, right?”
“Yes, of course,” I said, and then continued hoping to derail this morbid topic, “There wouldn’t be much point to the experience replication technology if you didn’t.”
Monsoon laughed and nodding said, “My bad. I know you’re quite familiar with it. You died three times during your first dig, and each time your memory leading up to that death helped your next incarnation to progress.”
Almost correct, I thought, but I stopped myself from pointing out his error. It would just muddle the issue if we talked about remember remembering. Instead, I said, “And progress is the name of the game.”
Manny beamed. “It certainly is, and you have to start somewhere. And this is where you started.”
A display containing stats appeared floating like a 3D bulletin board above the projection pit between us. I scanned over them. They were from my first instantiation as I was just readying to enter my first dig.
Xelia Numinal, Combat Archeologist
Celebrity Rank: 1,193,895
Badges: 0
Credits: -1,002,796
Fans: 1
Likes: 1
Clones: 3
Backup: active
Standardized Assessment:
Strength: 11
Constitution: 13
Size: 14
Coordination: 15
Speed: 15
Agility: 15
Intelligence: 16
Will: 17
Focus: 16
Charisma: 14
Appeal: 8
Manny Monsoon rubbed his chin again, which I was guessing was a gesture to convey thoughtful contemplation. He said, “Even then you weren’t exactly average, were you?”
I deflected as much as I could by saying, “I had to pass a rigorous battery of tests to even qualify.”
“And you passed them with flying colors,” Manny said.
Next Chapter
Chapters
- Chapter 2 — … And Your Deaths
- Chapter 3 — Combat Archaeologist
- Chapter 4 — Chronolog of a Combat Archaeologist
- Chapter 5 — Dig 1: Crypt of the Tetrahedron
- Chapter 6 — Dig 1: Entrance Hall
- Chapter 7 — Dig 1: Premature Dead End
- Chapter 8 — Dig 1: Slide into Darkness
- Chapter 9 — Dig 1: Hidden Passage
- Chapter 10 — Dig 1: The Octagon
- Chapter 11 — Dig 1: This is Your Life…
- Chapter 12 — Dig 1: Deeper and Deeper
- Chapter 13 — Dig 1: Spherical Chamber
- Chapter 14 — Dig 1: Rising Elevator
- Chapter 15 — Dig 1: Duck and Roll
- Chapter 16 — Dig 1: Into the Helix
- Chapter 17 — Dig 1: Smart Matter Rush
- Chapter 18 — Dig 1: A Matter of Gravity
- Chapter 19 — Dig 1: Another Flush Attempt
- Chapter 20 — Dig 1: False Step and a Stabbing Pain
- Chapter 21 — Dig 1: Double Portal
- Chapter 22 — Dig 1: This is Your Life … and Your Death #1
- Chapter 23 — Dig 1: Respawn
- Chapter 24 — Dig 1: Celebrity Server Updates
- Chapter 25 — Dig 1: Retracing Steps
- Chapter 26 — Dig 1: Bug Bots
- Chapter 27 — Dig 1: Elevator Explorations
- Chapter 28 — Dig 1: In the Lower Helix
- Chapter 29 — Dig 1: Cleanup in Passageway 14
- Chapter 30 — Dig 1: Blocker Beetle
- Chapter 31 — Dig 1: Reservoir of Death
- Chapter 32 — Dig 1: This is Your Life … and Your Death #2
- Chapter 33 — Dig 1: Clone Two
- Chapter 34 — Dig 1: No More Messing with Elevators
- Chapter 35 — Dig 1: Double Portal Bypass
- Chapter 36 — Dig 1: The Grand Gallery
- Chapter 37 — Dig 1: Crushing Defeat
- Chapter 38 — Dig 1: This is Your Life … and Your Death #3
- Chapter 39 — Dig 1: Clone Three
- Chapter 40 — Dig 1: Final Preparations
- Chapter 41 — Dig 1: Speedrun
- Chapter 42 — Dig 1: The Core Chamber
- Chapter 43 — Dig 1: The Last Defenders of the Tetrahedron
- Chapter 44 — Dig 1: Progress
- Chapter 45 — This is Your Life … and Your Death #4
- Chapter 46 — A Brief History of Humanity After Ascension
- Back to Chronologs of a Combat Archaeologist preview chapters.
- Back to Chronologs of a Combat Archaeologist
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