Nullform
Book One
a RealRPG series
by Dem Mikhailov
Magic Dome Books
in collaboration with 1C-Publishing
Nullform
Book 1
Copyright © Dem Mikhailov 2021
Cover Art © Sergei Kolesnikov 2021
English translation copyright © Mariah Astulfi 2021
Published by Magic Dome Books in collaboration with 1C-Publishing, 2021
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 978-80-7619-235-5
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is entirely a work of fiction. Any correlation with real people or events is coincidental.
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Table of Contents:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
About the Author
Chapter 1
Operation log:
Hydration — complete.
Assembly — complete.
Resuscitation — complete.
Did green letters just flash before my eyes? But my eyes are closed. How am I seeing letters? Words, even...
Assembly? Hydration? What’s that supposed to mean? Damn, my head hurts. And my left elbow... and my lower back. It hurts so bad I want to puke. Constant, exhausting pain. Horrible pain. Not like I got hit or something. It’s more serious, something chronic... I know it for sure... or do I just feel it?
“HEY! ELEVEN! Come on, wake up!” I heard an impatient, angry voice on my right.
The voice was a woman’s, and she was shouting right into my ear.
“Double ones! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”
I tried to move my lips, only managing to grind my teeth and croak out a few hoarse noises. This set of miserable actions and sounds coalesced into a barely-audible request:
“Don’t yell at me...”
“There’s no time for this, Eleven! None. Ugh, why did I agree to this? Get up! The alarm’s about to go off!”
“Alarm?” My mind felt sluggish, like I couldn’t catch up with what she was saying. Nothing made sense.
Almost nothing.
I was being ordered to stand up. She was calling me Eleven, which wasn’t my name. My name... what’s my name? My name... I can’t remember.
Who am I?
Nothing but indifferent silence echoed in my head. My mind was desperately searching for the information I wanted, diving into the depths of my memory — I could even hear the splash of imaginary waves — but I found nothing below the surface. I wasn’t even surprised. Then it hit me. I realized the oceans of my memory were empty. No life to speak of, not even one little fish that could give me at least a shred of information about my past. All the wriggling life forms of my memory had been caught in a fine net and taken far away, so far that my mind had no chance of ever finding them.
“Come on, nullbie! Get up!”
Nullbie? Is she talking to me?
Eleven. Nullbie.
“Come on, double ones! Get up, I’m begging you! They’ll punish me if you don’t!” I could hear fear in the woman’s voice. A feral, involuntary terror.
The fear in her voice made me feel so awful that I forgot the pain in my head, arm, and back. Shoving my body’s protests aside, I moved, groaning, and managed to roll onto my side. Only then did I realize I had been lying on my back. I spat. Something sticky rolled slowly down my cheek. As I tried to move my arms, a stabbing pain bad enough to make me scream out loud shot up my left arm. All right...Got it, I’m lying on my left side. Better take a look around...
I felt a twinge of panic as my eyelids twitched, but wouldn’t open. What is going on?
“Hang on, I’ll get that...”
A rag scraped my cheek roughly — too roughly. Like a cheese grater running across my face. I was instantly alert, my drowsiness fading.
One more try... This time my eyes opened, only to be hit with unbearably bright light. A groan escaped me and I squeezed them shut again. I twitched, involuntarily moving my left elbow, which caused horrible pain to wrack my entire body. Something was very wrong...
“My arm…” I croaked, not opening my eyes. “My left arm…”
“Yeah, bad luck about those arms,” the female voice answered. “But your own base parts, your torso and head, are in fantastic shape. The legs are pieces of shit. But the arms are even worse.”
“Huh?”
“I said you got a crappy set. Real garbage. You hit the shit jackpot, Eleven.”
“Why do you keep calling me Eleven?”
“It’s written on your chest. Double ones. Now get up! The alarm’s gonna go off, then it’s time for inspection! We have to be standing over there by then! So get up!”
“I think I’m sick... I feel so awful... Water... I need water...”
“Later! Stand up, Eleven! Stand up! Come on. I’ll help you.”
It was like she didn’t hear me at all. I felt unbelievably bad. Completely disoriented, weak to the point of helplessness. I couldn’t feel my arms and legs, other than the nebula of pain around my left elbow. My back hurt, too, and my temples throbbed. I felt nausea rise in my throat, but then it slowly retreated back into my stomach.
Something terrible must have happened to me. Was I in an accident? Maybe. I don’t remember anything. Maybe I hit my head...
“My memories...”
“Erased, of course! You’re a nullbie! No memories. They’re all locked away.”
“What?!”
“Listen to me! If you don’t get up now, I’m leaving without you. And you won’t make it to the hallway alone. You’ll miss inspection, which means you’ll get no work and no pay! And then how will you pay for your limbs? They’re on loan, and you have to pay for ‘em every day! How will you pay for food? Or showers? Snap out of it, Eleven! If you don’t eat and drink today, you’re a goner!”
I listened very carefully, even through the haze of weakness and pain. I tried my hardest to understand her, but still, nothing made sense.
What is she talking about? Is she crazy?
“Please!”
The sheer terror and pain in her voice...
I gave myself some time. Just a little. Ten seconds to get myself moving. I slowly counted down from ten to one. My pain and weakness eased up the slightest bit, and I seized at the chance.
Two! One!
I twisted sharply, rolled over onto my stomach, and got my stiff legs under me. My right hand hit the wet, sticky floor with a slap and started helping my torso straighten itself. I opened my left eye a little. Closed it. Opened the right eye. Closed it. Come on... come on...