Free WARP world by Kristene Perron, Joshua Simpson

requested from home. Clothing to disguise Manatu and himself—the Damiar were the class most suitable to imitate for this venture—local currency and an assortment of the nonsensical items these self-imagined nobility were so fond of. Large quantities of everything, in keeping with the Damiar custom of excess for the sake of excess. All could be manufactured, (ironically, by the caj of other worlds the People had conquered), well enough to fool the Outers.
    Thanks to wide geographical and cultural differences, he could use his own name and Manatu’s as part of their cover, which gave him one less detail to remember.
    The list of weapons was restricted to those that could be easily hidden. Two micro-chacks, two pistols - the former were more powerful and the best choice for a primary weapon, latter were smaller and could fit inside a pocket or boot, a perfect back-up defense. However, both weapons were reliable and near silent, firing toxic huchack spines that easily sliced through flesh and poisoned the blood. There was also a selection of micro grenades on the list, (smoke, concussive and fragment); eight chack cartridges and two forearm straps to conceal the weapons; six blades; another pair of stunners; a chack for Manatu and some remote micro-dets. They weren’t going to war, and if they had to use any of their arsenal then things would have gone drastically wrong by that point and the weapons would most likely be useless anyway.
    The Signals Operator had incorporated a means of text-based communication, via Seg’s digipad, to keep him in covert contact with the squad, and he had also put together a larger audio/visual comm unit, which in an emergency would allow him to communicate with the World. As per protocol, he kept a set of digifilms to record the details of the mission–information that was the property of the sponsor House. He had also requested another warpgen and warp gate. That would raise some questions and it would be bulky, but if he needed to get back home in a hurry he couldn’t depend on rendezvousing with the rest of the troops.
    He had already stashed an auto-med in his kit as well as the standard selection of medication; field rations; map disc; and VIU - Vita Indicator Unit, for scanning vita sources.
    He was ready for any eventuality. One more day of travel, one more night of study and he and Manatu would be on their own. Tapping his digipad, the new world returned to darkness.
    Seg laid his head on his pack and looked up at the night sky. Stars were visible to the naked eye. Strange. Could a Person get used to such a thing? Closing his eyes, he reviewed the list in his head. Yes, it was complete; there was nothing to add.
    He was ready for anything.

 
    T he Central Well dominated the landscape more than any other structure on the World. Towering over seventy stories high, it transmitted a continuous, translucent stream of vita into a shimmering aperture projected over its height.
    Efectuary Jul Akbas always found the sight a testament to the will of the People and their superiority over the greatest force of nature in existence. The Well was power, a flag of defiance against the Storm–the force that had threatened to consume their World for over a millennium.
    No one knew when the Storm had first appeared, those records—as was the case with so much of the People’s history—had been lost. What they did know was that the black, howling monstrosity had once ravaged the land, destroying cities with its insatiable hunger for vita, and the People had fled, hidden or been consumed in its path. Billions of People had perished, entire continents had been rendered uninhabitable. Then the Well had been constructed; at last the Storm could be fed, directed, controlled.
    Of course, as a natural phenomenon, the Storm could not be completely contained, but shield technology had eventually been developed to cover all the inhabited areas of the World. The people had triumphed.
    And who had led this