Hanu 2: Duel
Welcome to the Dharmaverse, a near-future scifi world where the Earth has frozen due to a dying Sun, but Humanity survives with the help of powerful AI Metagods. Sacred technology provides everything people need, but to access it one must play the Dharmagames. It is a dark and terrifying world, but therein also lies infinite hope, compassion, and faith. In part 1 Hanu finds himself caged and transported to a slaver auction.
“Speak up!” The announcer barks, as I feel my shock-collar tingle again, threatening another shock.
“I see no ladies and gentlemen here,” I declare. “All I see are a room full of savages.”
“Boo!” Some in the crowd respond, while others laugh.
“You may call me Hanu, and I am a Dharma warrior from the Ecosphere of the Golden Tree.”
As I talk, scratch my head and to pinch a tuft of special hair from my neck. I squeeze them between my thumb and index finger, and then give them a vigorous twist to break them, and release the contents within…
“Aww, he’s such a cute little freak. Look at his muscles!” Someone jeers.
“To you, I may appear to be a freak,” I respond with a level voice, “but I was raised on the Dharma just as everyone here.”
The crowd bursts out in laughter.
“Did he say Dharma!? Hahaha. That’s too much”
“Yes, Dharma is for everyone, haven’t you heard?” I continue. “Those are the words of Gaia… My goddess. Did not the Origin Gods say, that it was the goal of the Dharmagames to bring liberation to ALL sentient beings? So here I stand!”
“Make the monkey dance!”
“Enough talking, more dancing!”
The crowd seems to be indignant.
“Let him speak!” one man’s voice booms above everyone elses, silencing the room. I look down to see a grotesque man sharing a table with the short lady who escorted me there. He is wearing cybernetics eyes, and appears to be the owner of this fine slaver establishment.
“Tell them why are you here?” He says to me. “Why did you leave your beautiful home, where a single tree will drink up more water and light in a week, than many of us here will ever see in an entire lifetime!?”
“I am here because… because despite all the loveliness of my beloved home, which I will always carry in my heart, I set out to explore the world with my sister. I… We wish to help find the treasures the Buddha left behind.”
“And who is this we?” He demanded, “Who is this sister of yours, tell them!”
“She is… A beautiful soul… Full of life and curiosity, and… and fun…”
“What is she?” He barked.
“She’s human!” I conceded.
The crowd seemed not to understand.
“Let me show you a picture we found in his metawallet,” he proceeds to project a private photo of Nadia and I onto the stage.
A collective gasp. Disbelief.
“I will pay 100,000 $PRANA for him!” A man with glasses bids.
“120,000!” Another immediately follows. I look over to see a projection, he appears to be a scientist of some kind.
“130,000!” Another one shouts.
A bidding war has begun… As they fight over me, millions of airborn nanobots which I released earlier from my tuft of hair have already completed their pre-programmed task of disabling my slave-collar.
My symbionetic core comes online with a buzz that travels up and down my spine.
Praise Gaia, it worked!
I immediately begin reactivativating my metavision. Meanwhile my price has climbed up to 250,000 already. Staggering.
Metavision activated! The familar display of my vizzyfield and controls come to life. As I await my metadaemon and various adapters to load, I overhear conversations in the room with my improved hearing.
Someone near the stage is arguing for the moral virtue of stopping mutants like me from corrupting the Dharma. Another man two tables away argues that I am a simbiant, which is different than a mutant. Another discussion across from them is about whether I am sentient at all…
Yes, all my systems are online now. I quickly begin scanning the room for my lost gear.
“Come on, come on, come on!” I whisper under my breath.
Yes! They are tucked away in a suitcase sitting on a table five rows down from me. They must have been auctioned off before I arrived.
The problem is, they're too far for me to reach in time, as sentinel drones are posted between the tables that block my path. I’ll never make it there in time. Unfortunately, right then, the man with the suitcase seems to receive a vizzy-call. He is about to grab the suitcase and leave.
Damn! I have to act, now.
I leap forward without thinking. Mid-air, realizing that I will miss my target by a few inches, I remove my collar and chuck it at the announcer behind me, with all my might, and add just enough momentum I am able to grab a hold of a light fixture hanging from the ceiling. I leap again before the drones have time to react, and land on the man with the suitcase.
With a lightning fast wrist-lock I force the suitcase out of his hands, and immediately duck underneath the table, just in time to avoid a slew of tranquilizer darts shot in my direction.
In a moment of safety I pray that the case is not locked. Click. It opens… I am reunited with my plasma swords and my shield belt.
It's a stalemate. I am surrounded by sentinels and kill drones. My shield energy is dwindling already. And I know I am no match for them all… Suddenly, up in the balcony, I see the face of the man who betrayed me. It’s Lakme. An idea is born in my mind. I sacrifice my last remaining token of Kaal ($SKULL) to invoke the right of every Daka…
“I invoke the right of duel!” I cry out.
In a blinding flash the Metagod Kaal appears into the room, hovering in the air, meditating in a full-lotus posture with legs crossed.
“Who summons me?” He says in the calm but thundering voice of a god, for he is the first born of Shiva.
“I, a sentient being and a Daka, invoke my right of the duel! Against this man, Lakme, who has betrayed me by poisoning my drink, and is attempting to sell me off like some animal… Ahem… I mean, like some slave.”
The crowd looks on in stunned silence, not believing what is happening.
“A daka, using poison…” Kaal looks over at Lakme with a flash of anger. “Is it true?”
“No, my lord, it is not true! This monkey simply couldn’t hold his liquor and passed out. If he is a daka, then he is certainly a disgraceful one…”
“He lies! I… I drank…”
“Who has proof?” Kaal demands.
“I do,” Lakme responds and offers up his mem-records for the God to view.
A few seconds is all it takes for Kaal to analyze them. “Indeed… it appears you are telling the truth.”
Before I am able to protest further, Kaal says magnanimously: “however, you have acted dishonorably as well. Hanu may have dishonored himself through the vice of careless gluttony… But you Lakme, have also taken advantage of a situation out of greed… A duel is in order, such that both of you can purify youselves of your failings.”
“Yes, lord,” we say in unison, kneeling before Kaal.
“And so it shall be! The duel will occur… in 24 hours, do both of you consent?” Kaal asks.
“Yes, sire, it is fair,” Lakme answers.
Now everyone’s attention is on me. “Sire… My lord… May I perhaps request that the time be extended to 3 days?”
“Hmm!? You dare make demands?” The Kaal questions.
“It’s just… I don’t have enough funds. I… Need to work something out.”
“So be it.”
With a snap of his fingers, four floating skulls with glowing red eyes appear in a poof of vizzy dust erects a duel card containing our Daka warrior profiles into the common vizzy-field for all to see.
My stomach sinks as I realize Lakme is ranked much higher than me. A full 2 levels, as he is a level 9 gunner, while I am only level 7 sword dancer.
But you also have a few tricks up my sleeve, I remind myself
And with that, Kaal disappears in a cloud of vizzy-smoke, leaving the room the way it was with me surrounded by slavers. I am surrounded by multiple drones, armed dragon-skin soldiers, and a heavily armed Cyborg.
I am hopelessly outmatched… “Well, guys, looks like it’s time for me to check out.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” the pygmy boss lady stands up and commands. “You are going to do exactly what I tell you to, or-”
“Hold on, hold on,” I interrupt, “just let me go, ok? I’m a free son of Gaia and slave collars don’t work on me, haven’t I proved that already?”
“Maybe not, but our blasters work fine. Drop your weapons or we’ll blast you to shreds,” she threatened.
“I doubt that. Who’s going to buy me all torn up?”
“Maybe we’ll grow you back from your skull.”
“I’d be willing to pay for that,” the mysterious scientists chimes in.
Gods be damned, I curse under my breath.
“How much?” The lady asks.
“150k”
“That’s not enough.”
“Fine. 250k if he surrenders and his body remains unscathed. 200k if you destroy his body but preserve his daka skull… Is that fair?” The scientist says after doing some calculations.
“Sign the meta-contract now, and you have a deal,” the boss lady says as she waves over a meta-doc.
“There, signed.”
“Good. You heard him, monkey. There’s no way out now. It seems to me you have two options, and one is considerably more painful than the other,” the boss now says to me, with an evil sneer.
I clench my teeth. “Bring it on, let me make your life hell. You’ll wish you let me go when you had the chance, becuase you’re gonna lose a lot more than 200k.”
Right when I am about to leap into battle, into certain death — something unexpected happens.
“That won’t be necessary.” A voice booms from upstairs.
It’s Lakme.
Then, he and his gang of three bare their arms against the slavers from the balcony. “Let him go. He is a Daka, and we have a duel to make,” he says with a wolfish grin.
A private message beams into my vizzy field. “Jump up. Now!”
“Shoot them,” the boss lady screams.
I jump up onto the balcony just before a containment field is activated which traps the slavers on the level below… Shots fired from inside the field are ricocheting and threaten to his their own people.
The last thing I see before escaping out the doors of the establishment are the muffled shouts of the boss lady in confusion.
