At the same time, he didn’t have much of a choice in this situation. If he did nothing, then he’d always blame himself for Sang’s death. If he acted, she’d probably die anyway, but at least he’d be able to know that he’d given it his all. He was facing incredible odds here, and there was barely any chance of success, but if he didn’t try, the guilt would follow him forever. There was a high chance he’d die going to save her, but then again, Neil was definitely going to shoot him if he didn’t try everything in his might to rescue her. The situation was bleak from all angles; there was no hope for him. Yet, with the disappearance of that hope came something else. The feelings of anxiety were slowly melting away as he considered all of the circumstances. There was only one truly good choice he could make in this situation: to rescue Sang. All options would lead to his own destruction, so he might as well take the option that was the most virtuous. He could do nothing and die, or he could try to save her and die. Either way, the result would be the same.
So even though Van knew that he would be facing certain death by trying to rescue her, he resolved to go down with a fight. He wouldn’t hand Draco a victory. He’d give it everything he could, using every cheap trick in the book to rescue her. It was such a long shot that he didn’t bother considering what he’d do if he was victorious, but instead he simply accepted that his life was already over.
With grim determination, he grabbed his map and pulled it open. The first real challenge was figuring out how to reach the platform. All of the flight services offered in the world were on set patterns, so he couldn’t use them. But he could use a stone of teleportation to drop in right above the building.... That would make sense. The stone would probably stop working once he entered, but he and Sang really didn’t have to do much if he could just get up there. All they needed to do was jump off the platform and the CIA would have them logged out before they hit the ground. Van’s safe fall would ensure he’d survive if he had to, if it took that long, but Sang would probably need some kind of potion of gentle falling, too... just in case. Those items weren’t hard to get. Teleport stones were easily accessed in just about any player market, too, although they were expensive. Fortunately for Van, he had just earned the Sticky Fingers skill, allowing him to steal from vendors once per day. He grabbed his map, glancing at the city of Verrata. It was only a few miles away. That city would have all of the gear he would need.
Going shopping. Get the team ready, and Sang and I will be needing you really soon, he wrote back to Neil as he grabbed his bagpipes and began marching straight toward the city. Yes, his plan was horrible, but it was something. He had enough gold to buy everything that he needed to win this fight... along with what he could steal, at least.
Sang slowly opened her left eye. She was still alive, apparently, and was lying on the steel floor of some kind of windowless chamber. Her face had been bandaged and her mouth felt numb. She climbed jerkily to her feet and glanced around the room. There was nothing around her but steel walls. She didn’t even see a door.
“Where am I?” she muttered. She felt a sharp pain in her chest and felt her heartbeat spike. She gasped and wheezed with a sudden pressure in her body, bending over until the episode passed. She hoped that it hadn’t been a heart attack. She checked her messages, but the words ERROR MESSAGE: SERVER DOWN greeted her. She sighed. Still nothing.
As she glanced around, she noticed that the steel wall on her left was shimmering a bit. It slowly contorted and changed then, turning from a wall into some kind of glass window. Beyond the window were thousands of stars. She looked out of the window curiously and gazed into space. She could see some kind of alien craft in the distance. It looked just as Van had described it. Shivers overtook her as she began to realize that this thing was more real than she could have possibly imagined.
A hissing sound greeted her from behind as a door slid open. She turned to see a long, tall creature walking into the room. The creature was blue and had long arms; its head was shaped like that of a human, but it bore no facial features other than a nose and two eyes. It looked almost like a lizard of some sort, with a long neck. She could see flaps opening and closing on the neck. It towered above her, nearly seven feet tall. This had to be what these aliens looked like, she realized.
“Greetings,” the being said, its voice echoing inside of Sang’s head. The effect wasn’t entirely unlike the strange kind of contact that the aliens from the cave had made with her.
“Ah, h-hello,” Sang said, taking a step back.
“I am Yvgo and I am the Messenger of Draco. An Envoy and Representative of their will,” it said. Its voice, while communicating to her telepathically so that she could understand, sounded chittery, like thousands of bugs speaking at once. It made Sang’s spine crawl.
“My name’s Sang,” she replied. This whole thing was now officially way past her pay grade, and she had no idea what to do. Was she honestly talking to a real alien right now?
“It pleases Draco to no end that you are here willingly,” Yvgo said. “We have much to discuss and much to learn. But first, we must discuss your skepticism.”
“Skepticism?” Sang asked.
“You do not fully believe that you are speaking to a being from across the stars. You do not believe that the things you have made contact with are not from your world. Even as you gaze at our vessel, resting within the solar system, you wonder if this might be some kind of a hoax,” it said.
Sang shrugged. “It’s, uh, crossed my mind that this could be just one incredibly intense programming thing. I mean, you can make Dragons, so why couldn’t you make spaceships? Or weirdly tall lizard things?”
Yvgo stared at her blankly for a moment and then walked up close. She backed up, trying to get away from the creature, but she hit the wall instead. It leaned its entire body down close to her. She could feel the breath emanating from the flaps around its neck.
“You are sick and dying; our reports show that your pod was damaged in transportation after it was stolen from one of our transportation trucks. Poison leaks into your brain. Your lungs and heart are sick, as well,” it said.
“Y-yeah,” Sang said, coughing a little more, almost as if to confirm the alien’s words.
“Then you would believe me if you were healed,” the creature said, placing its hand right on her face. “Breathe!”
Sang felt a strange noxious gas spray right into her nostrils, and though she tried to resist it, she couldn’t avoid breathing it in. There was a sharp sensation of pain that rushed through her lungs as she began to hack and wheeze hard, and she fell to the ground in reaction, writhing and gasping for air for a moment. And then… then she felt a burst of energy, something that she hadn’t been feeling for a while. Her fingers stopped trembling, and the hazy, almost drunken feeling of confusion she’d been experiencing began to lift. She stood to her feet and realized that her legs were working just fine now, and she didn’t need to slump over. Much to her surprise, she felt incredibly healthy. Probably better than ever before.