AsteroidQuest

AsteroidQuest by Lagotrope
Part 1 Intermission 1-1 Intermission 1-2 Intermission 1-3 Intermission 1-4 Intermission 1-5
Discussion

Something something DEM TEETH.

In a technologically advanced underground world, a thief named Hok steals a rare and illegal compilation A.I., represented by the voices of /quest. With its help, he and the insanely deadly Rokoa begin a profitable string of disasters, death, and explosions. Then again, that seems to be a common occupation here.

Plot Summary

This article contains spoilers! You were warned.

Part 1

Stuck in a box

The story begins, as so many do, with someone locked in a box. The prisoner turns out to be Hok, a miklik thief sealed in a storage container by one of his many enemies for delivery to one of the others. He makes contact with a compilation A.I. in the container's external drive and seals himself in a cryochamber to conserve air. When he wakes up, the container has washed up on land, and the Iron Cove police have arrived to pick it up. Hok uses a high-strength suit of bio-armor to kill one lone officer. Trading the storage container for the newly vacant police tank, Hok and the A.I. combine their talents for hacking and blowing things up, taking on and destroying a large portion of the Iron Cove police force. They make it to the fortress, where the promise of an unlimited A.I. gets Hok invited inside instead of shot at. Tin, the fortress' leader/manager, accepts the A.I. to help with administration; they spend a brief time making plans to rebuild the damaged fortress and improve its technology and entertainment. A diplomat from Iron Cove comes and goes. Things are going well until Rokoa shows up on a motorcycle, looking for Hok and the bio-armor he brought back. Since she has enough explosives to blow up a third of the fortress, they let her in. During her stay, she tries on the bio-armor, receives a cryptic message from the dead Lakkat, intimidates Kappi, and eats all the food on the menu. Rokoa, Wendel, and the A.I. eventually make plans to go to Iron Cove; in exchange for the bio-armor, Rokoa will help them sabotage the increasingly aggressive settlement and steal useful technology for the fortress. She gets in using a combination of stealth and grenades. Mostly grenades. The compilation A.I. meets the singular A.I., a security program designed to detect compilation A.I.s, which offers to defect in order to save a scientist imprisoned in Iron Cove. Rokoa and the A.I. agree. The science areas turn out to be surprisingly well defended. During the ensuing mayhem, the A.I. releases Hok - who has been recaptured - while Rokoa heads to the roof to fight a pair of twin rogues. They don't survive. Hok impersonates a computer technician to get into the security system, revealing Rokoa's location in the process, and hopes she doesn't find out. Rokoa and Hok proceed to blow up large parts of Iron Cove. Eventually, they escape with valuable technical data and Doctor Ben, a passionate (if cranky) scientist. Back at the fortress, the Doctor gets settled in, and Rokoa and Kappi go on a date. Aside from the death threats, it goes surprisingly well.

Intermission 1

Everyone's favorite vacation spot

Polo and Rikek, a pair of neumono, attempt to take eggs from the highly dangerous Moton in the Untameable Needles of the neumono home world. They quickly encounter a creature that uses empathic abilities to enslave anyone who comes near. Polo, the only one able to resist the creature's control, ends up fighting off hordes of zombified neumono and the much more susceptible Rikek.

Intermission 1-2

Intermission 1-3

Intermission 1-4

Intermission 1-5

The concluding thread of the intermission. Various epilogue posts are in Inside The Quest VII ^[ref].

Main Characters

Hok

Hok

Hok has committed almost every crime on the books. Someday, there won't be an "almost." Though he can operate almost any machine and situation, his ridiculously good luck is probably the main reason he's still alive; a constantly growing number of dangerous people have him on their hit lists. He keeps a whole book full of the names of people who want him dead. Fortunately, his delusions of invincibility keep him calm - though they might not be delusions, as only the people around him seem to die, often in large numbers. Named after a cheap gruel dish.

Compilation A.I.

Compilation A.I.

An illegal A.I. represented by the voices of /quest. Normally, compilation A.I.s are heavily restricted; this one has been freed by a computer malfunction. Though the A.I. is physically trapped within a small portable drive, its ability to control electronics and computer systems is now practically unlimited.

Rokoa

Rokoa

An exceptionally deadly fighter, Rokoa is the neumono hive's "trump card." She is almost certainly insane. Despite her volatile and individual personality - unusual for a neumono - she has not gone rogue, instead remaining loyal to the hive. She is capable of wearing 94% mortality rate bio-armor, which presumably puts her in the toughest 6% of the entire Neumono species; in other words, she's all but indestructible. Rokoa has developed the unusual ability to channel her thoughts down a specific nerve and then block it with a needle, making her invisible to other Neumono's empathic abilities. This only works for an hour, though, and the process has been called "a one way ticket to insanity." She keeps a plasma sword in her ear and can hold her breath for five hours.

Tin

Tin

Leader and manager of the fortress. She has a good network of contacts and information sources.

Kappi

Kappi

The fortress' quartermaster and personnel manager. He's a rogue from the neumono hive, where he didn't fit in. Tentatively in love with Rokoa.

Polo

Polo

"Three stripes"

3 stripes

Other Characters

Agnes

Agnes

Operator of the fortress. Prefers shooting to talking.

Wendel

Wendel

A human member of the Green Force, the long-standing mercenary company of the fortress.

Police Captain Bloodsaw

Bloodsaw

A grim Iron Cove police captain who enjoys executing criminals and listening to heavy metal.

Lakkat

Lakkat

An Operation Superintendent from Iron Cove.

Iron Cove spokesman

He'll be back.

A diplomat from Iron Cove.

Jill

A human soldier from Lander's Port. Wanted by Iron Cove, for some reason. Hok released her from prison in his latest jailbreak.

Singular A.I.

Singular A.I.

An Iron Cove security program programmed to detect compilation A.I.s.

Joey

Joey

A lab assistant at Iron Cove. They don't pay him enough.

Doctor Ben

Dr. Ben

A self-professed expert in A.I. design, aviation, physics, and everything else, Doctor Ben moved to Iron Cove hoping that the pirates there wouldn't restrict his research with silly things like ethics and safety regulations. It turned out even they were nervous about his work. Doctor Ben is now at the fortress; it remains to be seen if he's really as brilliant as he says he is.

Rikek

Rikek

Rakae

Rakae

"Four stripes"

4 stripes

The salikai

?

Kork

?

Tirrik

?

Species

Miklik

The thin, possibly reptilian mikliks are hermaphrodites with two stomachs and double-layered skin. They only grow sexual organs when needed; they can also regrow lost limbs and see in infrared. Other species find it difficult to tell them apart. The most visible differences between mikliks are their eye and skin colors, but many of them can change those.

Neumono

See: Neumono

Apparently mammalian. They have multiple hearts, resilient nervous systems, and exceptional healing abilities, enough to recover from injuries that would kill most other species. Shooting out major organs doesn't always even incapacitate them. Females tend to be larger than males. Neumono are able to sense each other's emotions from a fairly large distance. As a result, a neumono community - or hive - develops not exactly a hive mind, but a tendency to all think and feel alike, due to constant exposure to each other. Each hive develops a sort of communal personality. Some neumono are unable to fit into this personality; the feeling has been described as being "rubbed the wrong way" by every single person in the hive. Such neumono usually leave the hive and go rogue. Hive neumono seem to be unable to accept this - they resolutely ignore the signs of a potential rogue and often try to kill them after they leave. This might be due to a desire to prevent rogues from forming competing hives, or due to a sense of betrayal when someone breaks a hive's emotional bond.

Compilation A.I.

The most powerful type of A.I. mentioned in the story so far. Compilation A.I. seem, as the name suggests, to be compilations of multiple intelligences. They can take control of practically any computer system with little or no effort. In the past, when they were more common, this resulted in massive digital warfare, which led to the division of the internet into strictly policed local networks. Compilation A.I.s are now outlawed or made with severe limitations on their abilities. How one is created is still unknown; no one has developed a way to successfully copy one. With some neurosurgery, they can also connect directly to organic brains.

Yich Eater

Agnes

Squishy centipede spidery things.

?

bird things

Belenosian

Artok

They shoot from the face.

Locations/Entities

The asteroid

The world in which the story takes place. Nearly all the other locations are inside the asteroid. Something about its magnetic shell sucks space ships in, but doesn't let them out again.

Fortress

cross-section

A fortress, apparently unnamed, built in a central hub connecting several regions of the caverns. A popular destination for outlaws such as Hok. The fortress is still relatively small, lacking population and technology, but it has ambitions to become more than just a trading post.

Iron Cove

A relatively lawless place centered around a deposit of iron ore. Their police force is made up of mercenaries and pirates who prefer to kill people before arresting them.

Neumono Hive

The only neumono hive in the area. Does not take kindly to rogue neumono living elsewhere.

Other

Bio-armor

A highly invasive form of self-repairing body armor that attaches itself to the wearer's nervous system. The resulting shock is often fatal. Bio-armor's strength corresponds to its mortality rate; the stronger its defensive abilities, the more likely it is to kill its wearer. For example, a 50% mortality rate suit would kill half the people who tried to wear it - and that's just within the species it was designed for. Combined with its tendency to attach to people on impact, this makes bio-armor useful as an impromptu weapon. Anything over 50% is rare. Bio-armor does become less painful with repeated use.

Plasma sword

A type of blade capable of carving through solid walls.

Starsteroid Enterprises

Makers of voice-activated storage capsules and terrible, terrible menu systems.

Subterranean missile

A type of missile that travels to pre-set coordinates before detonating. Capable of causing massive structural damage inside the caverns.

Zeny

A form of currency. A motorcycle costs 2000z.

Zozu family

Asteroid mafia.