Chapter 15: Finding Lucrim Anomalies

Kneeling in the dirt, Rick did his best to focus on the technique and not let his mind wander. Unfortunately, this was the third time he'd taken an aura sampling and gotten no good information. Part of him had been hoping that it would naturally lead him toward an anomaly - like a compass in a video game, he supposed. But instead every location just gave him an ambiguous reading of local activity.

He'd tried to take multiple readings at regular intervals to see if there was a trend, but what looked like a growing amount of resonance turned out to be just local variation. After getting frustrated he'd called Emily again to check, but he wasn't doing anything wrong. There simply was no easy way to find the pockets of excess lucrim. Again, he understood why the corporation needed more people to solve the problem.

Rick stood up and brushed off his pants irritably. Clearly he needed a different approach, but he was out of time. If he wanted to get back to the gym in time for his shift, he needed to get moving now. After walking back to the nearest highway, Rick manifested his bike and began heading back.

As he made the long trek, he found himself considering, yet again, whether or not it was a mistake to try to do both jobs at once. Almost all the other candidates he was aware of were focusing entirely on finding anomalies. If he didn't need to head back in so often, he might have made more progress, but quitting his previous job with no guarantee of an income just wasn't something he could make himself do.

While biking back an alternate idea occurred to him out of nowhere: maybe he was approaching this from the wrong angle. If lucrim anomalies could be easily found via aura techniques, the GLA would probably already have done so. Maybe it would be more effective to use other sources of knowledge to get close, then home in on the source from there.

Though he wanted to try that immediately, he couldn't afford to miss his shift, so Rick just kept biking. He shifted up another gear even though he knew his muscles would regret it later. At least he was making clear progress there: he could comfortably bike in the 28^th gear and could manage the 31^st if he pushed himself. Most of that progress was just his body and lucrima soul getting used to biking, but he'd take it.

The additional ache made work a bit more productive, if not interesting: he was drained enough that his clients' blows actually worked his lucrima a bit. Rick stumbled his way through his shift, then shuffled back outside. It was getting dark, but there was still time left in the day...

When he got to the side of the road, it took him several tries to manifest his bike. Rick stared at it blearily, then realized that he was much too tired. Even if he made it out of the city without an accident, he would be too braindead to accomplish anything. Instead of going out, he headed home and paced himself instead of rushing.

Just trying to get up the steps to the second floor, he found himself stumbling and hitting the steps with his shoes. He almost looked as strung out as the meth heads around the apartment complex. Was something draining him? Then again, when he tried to think about how much sleep he'd gotten the previous two nights, he realized that was a more likely explanation. Trying to work two jobs would have been hard enough, but the constant bike training taxed his resources further.

He fumbled several times at the lock before getting inside. Melissa was watching television and turned with a smirk on her face, but her eyes widened when she saw him. "Rick... you look like you fell out of the exhaustion tree and hit every branch on the way down."

"Heh... exhaustion tree..." Rick snorted and stumbled in. His sister quickly came to support him, insistently moving him into the bedroom.

"Okay, you obviously need to get more sleep. You take the bed tonight, I command it." As she eased him down onto the side of the bed, she gave him a concerned look. "Are you sure you want to be pushing yourself this hard? I'm really doing fine, and we have plenty of money. You don't need to run yourself ragged anymore."

"If I don't..." He trailed off, too tired to put together his thoughts properly. Maybe he was just clinging to old patterns foolishly. Maybe not. So many of the people he was competing with were wealthier, more talented, and more experienced than him. If he didn't do something...

"Okay, now is obviously not the time for talking. You rest, okay?"

Rick almost heard his snoring before he passed out.

~ ~ ~

Though Rick slept in a long time, he woke up feeling refreshed. He didn't make himself get out of bed right away, instead stretching and yawning. His body ached a bit, but it was getting used to the new rigors of the lucrim bike. Though that might not be a useful combat ability, he was going to enjoy the benefits if he kept it up.

By contrast, right now neither of his jobs were benefiting him much. Working at the House of the Cosmic Fist provided enough money to live, but that was it. Surveying for lucrim anomalies was providing him nothing at all until he reported one and began receiving a salary. If he wanted to get past this exhaustion, he needed to break through that problem as soon as possible.

Rick got out of bed and saw that the door was closed. Melissa had left a drawing of a stern-looking hamster urging him to rest on the inner door. He smiled and pulled off the tape, momentarily wondering where she was before realizing that she was at work. Of course.

Meanwhile, he had an entire day without any shifts to work at the gym. He needed to use it wisely, which meant not wasting a lot of time surveying. No, he needed to start with his new approach, and he thought he had a good lead.

First, he made a few other preparations, like texting to meet up with Lisa. After that, he ate a bowl of cereal while doing his meditation, then ate two more. Damn, he was hungrier than he'd expected. Hopefully that would be enough fuel to get him through the day, because he didn't have much food that was handy for taking along on his trip out of town.

After that he biked over to Eastpark, since it was a convenient location for both of them. He found Lisa on a bench, enjoying the morning. She smiled broadly when she saw him and patted a box at her side.

"This has more of my serum, plus my attempt at a mixture that increases perception. You're not relying too heavily on this, are you? These really are just experimental."

"Actually, today shouldn't rely too much on my perception at all." Though he considered sitting down to chat with her, too much of him was eager to test out his new theory, so he just picked up the box. "And the serum is just because it's good."

"Oh, is it?" Lisa lit up and he realized that he'd forgotten to compliment her on it before now.

"Definitely. It's hard to judge how much more effective it is than normal serum, but it's definitely better tasting and feeling. You might be able to improve it more, but I'd already buy it over normal serum."

"That's a relief to hear. I've tried to approach a few massage clients with offers and I've had mixed results, so I was getting a bit discouraged."

"No, I think you're onto something." Rick put her box into his backpack and hefted it to one shoulder, already looking outward. "I don't think a single thing you've given me has been actually harmful, so you have a good track record so far."

"I'm glad to hear that. Rick, do you..." Lisa paused, a strange expression passing over her face. "But you're eager to get out of Branton to try something new, aren't you?"

He winced that she saw through him so easily. "You're right. Sorry, it's just that until I find an anomaly..."

"No, I understand." Lisa got up and put a hand on his shoulder. "Good luck out there."

Her encouragement made him feel a lot lighter, and he looked forward to trying her mixture later. Perhaps after his first attempts, since he always needed a boost after unsuccessful searching. Buoyed by his rest and new motivation, Rick burned out of town at a rapid rate.

Instead of approaching the area he'd been surveying, he instead followed the highway that led to the site where they'd all been tested. Others had already swarmed that location, trying to look for residual lucrim that might offer a hint about finding other anomalies.

Fortunately, Rick had no intention of going there.

Instead he stopped at the ramshackle gas station from before. It was just as deserted as the last time and there was no sign of the old man, so he went and knocked on the door. After a long wait, the old man shuffled out, peering at him from under his bushy eyebrows.

"Hello again, sonny. You didn't come all the way out here for cheap serum, did you?"

"You gave me a good deal, but no." Rick glanced around on instinct, but there was absolutely no one anywhere near. "Last time I was here, you hoped that the GLA would clean up the area. Well, now I'm working for them. Are there any local lucrim-based problems you think could use a look?"

"Huh. Can't say anybody has ever come and asked that before." The old man tapped his cane against the ground several times as he thought. "There's more pests everywhere, but I think the biggest problem is that there are more feral dragons around lately. I think they have a nest up in the hills over there, I just haven't worked up to pushing them out yet."

Rick tried to keep his smile under control. "That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for. Can you show me where?"

The old man was glad to point out the exact hills he meant and give him plenty more information about what he'd observed. Some of it was useless and the story veered into complaints about local problems, but Rick listened patiently and gathered all the key details. Once he was done, he thanked the old man and headed out over the wilderness.

He found the hills soon enough and raised his hands to try the surveying technique. The results were slightly higher than usual, but nothing that would have made him pause before. Sticking with his strategy of starting with concrete information, he kept doing readings in different locations until he finally found something.

The aura passing between his hands hummed in response to something. It wasn't enough that he could feel it in the air, but he knew he was close to one of the anomalies. Rick grinned and struggled not to run, instead forcing himself to walk and keep focused on the aura, targeting the source. Though the hills distorted the exact location, he knew he was getting closer.

One of the improvements Emily had suggested was theoretically supposed to help him survey an entire region, he'd just never been close enough to make use of it. Once he'd gotten about as close as he thought he could, he knelt down and focused on Emily's version of the technique. Instead of simply resonating with the nearby atmosphere, the flow of aura sent out testing spikes in multiple directions.

The task had entirely consumed him when he heard the growl. Rick looked up, dropping the technique to raise his fists defensively, and found himself facing a dragon.

It was a miserable-looking creature, its scales mangy, its mane torn and matted. Though old paintings presented them as larger than humans, this one was only as big as a medium-sized dog, albeit longer. Instead of undulated gracefully through the sky, it barely hovered at all, its claws skimming through the dirt.

Even though he was face to face with a wild creature, Rick found himself feeling more pity than awe or fear. The dragon's ancestors had been symbols of luck and good fortune, yet this half-starved creature struggled to survive on the scraps humanity left behind. Other creatures had gone extinct without atmospheric lucrim to support them, and judging from this miserable creature, he wondered how long dragons could hold out.

Rick shook himself, realizing that the dragon was wild and angry. If there was a nest, he was probably encroaching on it. Though he could definitely defend himself, fighting the poor thing felt wrong. Instead he rose to his feet and gathered up his aura around him, refusing to look away from the dragon's gaze.

Several times it made a floating loop toward him, growling again, but he refused to give way. Rick couldn't quite remember whether or not you were supposed to raise your hands over your head with dragons or not, but he towered over the thing anyway. He expanded his aura into a larger area and the dragon flinched back. After they went back and forth several times, it turned and rushed away, leaving him with only a glimpse of its flowing tail disappearing between the hills.

The encounter left Rick less pleased with his progress. His surveying technique had gotten a signal, so he advanced on it. There were no more wild dragons and he soon found his destination.

It was just a space between two small hills, yet he knew that it was the right place. He could feel a slight throbbing in the sphere they'd given him, confirming it. The aura between his hands went wild as he got closer, and when he stepped into the space itself he could feel lucrim in the air around him. Rick actually gasped at the sensation, so similar to being paid lucrim and yet different in a way he struggled to describe. This was how the entire world had once been?

For the first time, he went through the process of recording the local and lucrim flow in the sphere they'd given him. It was easy, especially after his practice trying for bank jobs. Once that was done, all he needed to do was call in the specific report to fill out his forms. Yet the process took long enough that by the time he was finished, he was of several minds.

His hand pulled out his phone and reached for the number he hadn't yet dared to call, yet the rest of him stopped the movement. Though he considered trying to absorb the lucrim, he quickly realized that was foolish. The traces of natural lucrim here might feel good, but they were nothing compared to the lucrim he'd be paid for reporting it.

What gave him greater pause was thinking about the poor dragon. If it lost this source of lucrim, would it survive? Obviously it had survived before the recent set of anomalies, but judging from its poor health, he wasn't sure how long it would last. Even if he tried to do something, what could he do?

In the end, Rick decided that it would be foolish to give up his chance for the sake of an animal. He'd research more and see if something could be done, but he and Melissa needed this. Rick reached for the sphere and made the call.