<br>
## Mission Start:
“So what’s your preferred exo buddy?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
K-Rox did not want to speak to his drop-partner, or for that matter any of his squad. The game dictated that he had to be part of a six-man team, split into three pairs. Once on the planet, you were ordered to regroup, broadcast your location to main command in high orbit, then move onto your first mission objective, none of which interested K-Rox in the slightest.
As far as he was concerned he wanted to split from the group as soon as possible, so that he could get on with his real mission, which was going to be made all the more difficult by having a drop-partner.
K-Rox looked at his eager partner and tried to gauge what sort of a person he was, which was completely impossible, as the man was wearing a game skin and K-Rox’s empLink codes only allowed for game mode interaction. They were completely useless when trying to use them as he normally did, he was quite literally flying blind.
His partner had chosen a square-jawed marine-type from the soldier class, he was able to operate four of the sixteen vehicles available to them, and his speciality was heavy artillery.
K-Rox attempted a smile.
“Yeah I’ve only got the choice of two, so I want to choose wisely.”
His partner shrugged and turned back to his own screen, K-Rox also flicked his attention back to the grey/green screen hanging in front of him. He had chosen *spy*, from the list of characters, K-Rox had in fact already chosen his exoskeleton, but felt it was a great way to avoid conversation, so he scrolled across the screen and pretended to study the stats while comparing the two machines.
K-Rox had based his choice on weight, and the machine’s ability to strike from a distance with its excellent sniper capabilities. What it lacked in close combat ability and power, it more than made up for with speed and agility, K-Rox didn’t plan on doing a lot of killing, he had an idea for where to look for Asimov, so speed, stealth and agility were just the skills he needed.
His talkative partner must have been watching K-Rox’s screen, because as soon as he confirmed the exo he wanted, his drop-partner piped up again.
“So have you played before?”
He asked the question as if he was discussing contraband, his eyes gleamed and he lowered his voice further.
“I hear there are quite a few surprises, I wanted to play the original, that’s why I came to Mars; are you really here?”
K-Rox decided that this was a genuine question, and not just one designed to allow him to tell his own story. K-Rox briefly pondered how much he relied on feedback from his empLink to gauge such interactions, whether he was onblock or not.
K-Rox couldn’t find any reason to lie to the man so he simply told the truth.
“No I’m not, I came in by QSID a few subjective hours ago.”
It seemed that the man’s game avatar was quite capable of affecting surprise, as it was written all over his face.
“Wow! That’s pretty brave of you, doing that and then playing a game like Krusher, it’s like a double whammy you know? I’ve never been into the idea of QSIDs, I dunno, anyway I flew here on the express shuttle, six weeks and many, many thousands of credits later, and here I am.”
The lights darkened and a shrill alarm played around the two men. His partner sat up and raised his voice above the high pitched squawking of the alarm.
“This is it, planet fall! As soon as we land let’s rendezvous with the others, I’ll take point as I’m the heavy gun guy!”
The man grinned at him and lay back in his pod, K-Rox watched as a clear dome slipped quietly over the seat, before taking up his position in his own chair. The alarm turned to a dull pulse as the dome hissed closed enveloping him darkness.
**Previous Chapters**
>[Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 22 - The Mars Problem](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-chapter-22-the-mars-problem)
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>[Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 21 - Thought Patterns](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-chapter-21-thought-patterns)
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>[Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 20 - Reality Dysfunction](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-chapter-20-reality-dysfunction)
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>[Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 19 - The Lost Scream](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-chapter-19-the-lost-scream)
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>[Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 18 - The empLink Story](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-chapter-18-the-emplink-story)
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>[Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 17 - A Problem With Time](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-chapter-17-a-problem-with-time)
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>[Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 16 - Neither Here Nor There](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-chapter-16-neither-here-nor-there)
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>[Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 15 - At The Edge Of Madness](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-chapter-15-at-the-edge-of-madness)
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>[Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 14 - A Sense Of The Real](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-chapter-14-a-sense-of-the-real)
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>[Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 13 - The Search For Truth](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-chapter-13-the-search-for-truth)
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>[Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 12 - Empires](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-chapter-12-empires)
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>[Asimov's Ghost - Chapter 11 - Jemima's Gambit](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-chapter-11-jemima-s-gambit)
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>[Asimov's Ghost Summary & Chapters 1-10](https://steemit.com/cryptogeechronicles/@cryptogee/asimov-s-ghost-summary-and-chapter-links-1-10)
Original artwork by @nekromarinist
Original words by [*Cryptogee*](https://steemit.com/@cryptogee)