by James Patton
“And Marcy?”
“Oh, she is inside one of the flying drones outside. Searching for cameras to hack around your building. We need to have advanced warning if anyone comes this way.” Finn said distractedly. “Ok, so far, other than people possibly knowing I exist, you are still secure digitally. Our safe locations are still intact and untouched. I am going to make the first one operational, and prep it just in case.”
“Do you think Vicky-” I stopped talking because I did not really know what I was going to ask. Over the past century, I had never felt the kind of connection I had in the last several days with her. Somehow intimacy had become trivialized by the coffins and people becoming whoever they wanted.
“Bran, she might not be gone,” Finn distractedly said. “We have your back, but do not fret over what we do not yet understand.”
“Fine,” I said. “Is it odd how attached I have become, it feels strange to me.”
“Not really,” Finn said. “I have read a lot of the journals Odditek keeps, and what you are feeling is known to them. Remember, Odditek was founded on brain and behavior research.”
“What does all that mean?” I felt my eyebrow raise up as I asked.
“You ever been so hungry that any food you ingest tastes like the best meal of your life?” Finn asked. “Now imagine if you starved your body of intimacy, human touch. Odditek believes that the smells and chemicals people give off cause dependencies, like a drug. You have been without that for over a century, and now it's been reintroduced in your body.”
“So I am physically and mentally addicted to her?”
“Yes, and do not get me started on mental addiction.”
“Am I dumb for doubting her motivations?” I asked.
“No. Vicky is definitely lying about something, but human nature always leans towards the sinister. I am looking out for you, just make sure you are pursuing this relationship for the right reasons.”
“Are you sure you are an AI?”
“Nope,” Finn said and laughed. “We will find her, see I am already on it.”
Finn turned into a milk carton, and on the side of it was Vicky’s face, with a caption ‘Have you seen this woman?’
Despite the drama going on, I found myself laughing. After several more minutes Finn disconnected, and I spent the night worrying. I fell asleep earlier than usual.
Chapter 3
Let the Games Begin
January 2nd, N150 (Day 2)
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Bran, welcome back to Neuroma!
“Ready?” Finn asked as I loaded in.
“Yup,” I said.
“Do not worry buddy. I have your back, and if I spot anything suspicious, I will trigger a medical release from the Pod. It will look legit.” Finn said. “I have Marcy already working on some of the security stuff and setting up more city connections to see if we can expand our reach in the real world.”
“Thanks, man,” I told him.
“Oh come on, if you go all mopey on me I am going to start calling you Bella Swan,” Finn said laughing at me.
“The hell you will!” I almost yelled but found myself in a better mood. “Screw those pansy vampires.”
“Technically, that is exactly what Bella does…”
“Alright dickhead, let’s do this.”
“That is the spirit,” Finn said smiling. “Oh, and you have a meeting after this with the boss lady.”
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Welcome to NRV-0757!
“You f-!” I started to shout but realized I was by myself.
No one from my Pact was on yet, which was fine by me. I got up early to check over some things and do some quick shopping. I was immediately hit with the class specialization menu.
Current Attributes:
Strength: 5
Speed: 17
Cognitive: 9
Perception: 24
Charisma: 8
Class Specialization, choose one:
Option 1: Underestimate – This ability allows you to lower your attributes on your inspect screen. Any threat detection ability will use your inspect screen to determine your risk.
Additional Benefits:
Crowd Invisibility – Your class skill no longer has a person in proximity limit. The number of individuals around you, including Non-Player NPCs, determines the power of your Crowd Invisibility. Be careful! There could be side effects being near too many people.
Attribute Increase: Charisma +2, Perception +3.
Option 2: Seeker – This ability is based on Perception and increases the chance you will find something hidden by 30%. All that is hidden will reveal itself in a faint glow only seen by you.
Additional Benefits:
Seeing is Believing – You cannot get lost. You remember everywhere you have been in the game.
Hide and Seek (Additional perk due to Hide) – While hiding, your chance to see hidden threats increases by 45%, this includes traps, players, and NPCs.
Attribute Increase: Perception +5.
Option 3: Runner – You can run like the wind. As a Runner, you can easily jump and dodge obstacles, people, and more. Your ability to run uninterrupted has significantly improved.
Additional Benefits:
Endorphin – Running drains your stamina much slower. Increasing your strength reduces your stamina usage further.
Grasp This - While running, you have a 30% increased chance to dodge a grapple.
Hear the Wind (Additional perk due to Light Step) – Your feet tap the ground like whispers in the dark, and as long as you remain unseen, nothing can hear you either.
Attribute Increase: Strength +3, Speed +2.
Which option do you choose?
Dammit! I thought, struggling with choosing. The problem is they were all powerful.
Tough choice. I am pretty sure you already decided on Option 1, so why the doubt? Jake asked.
Obligations. I have them and need to think long term now. Not sure if that changes my choice, but Runner would definitely help. I told Jake.
It is not like you to second guess yourself. Choose Option 1 or I will choose it for you. Jake said. I am not trying to be a jerk, just putting you back on the right track.
I shook my head, Jake was right. Too many things happening all at once and I was having trouble trusting myself with the responsibility. I chose the first option and locked it in.
You now specialize in Deception. Your default settings reduce all your attributes by 30% on your inspect screen. Also by default, your Crowd Invisibility is set to ‘Always On Except for Pact.’
Perception +3. Perception is now 27.
Charisma +2. Charisma is now 10.
Thanks, Jake. Why do you help me, if you do not mind me asking?
Manners. You have them, others do not. You tell me thanks, and you are polite. Jake said. It is more complicated than that, but that is the simple answer. You are a decent human, just do not let people take that from you.
Huh. I thought. It was not the answer I was expecting, but still something worth thinking about.
I headed into the shop to find a weapon. After about fifteen minutes Only one item caught my attention, but I avoided it because it looked eerily like the weapon Kim used on me last night. That and it cost 280 Poker Chips which would leave me with 20 Chips.
Boss’s Letter Opener
Melee Damage: 3% (+1% if Speed is over 18)
Melee Speed: Fast
Range Damage: 2% (Can be recovered)
Durability: High
Special: ???
This is a well crafted silver letter opener. Special is revealed after ownership is claimed.
Word of Advice: This may not come as a shock, but your boss is a dick. However, did you have to steal his letter opener?
Did I purchase this now or wait and see what I can get on the next floor? There was no guarantee there would be another weapon to suit me. It was a gamble either way.
“Do not over think it. Just get it.�
�� A female said behind me. I turned to see Alexa standing there. “You need a weapon, we all do. It is a speed weapon, definitely the right choice for you.”
I shrugged. “Keep it a secret yea?”
“No problem.” She said in her concise way of speaking. “Just one favor. I want to be in your Pact, even after the halfway point. You have a brain and do not leer at me. I need to stay in the game as long as possible.”
That was an unusually long speech for her, and when I did not say anything right away, she shifted nervously.
“Are you a Serf?” I asked, curious. I rarely talked to the Corporate Serfs, but only because most stayed hidden after their day job. The system made them into second-rate citizens so anyone with creds could order them to do anything, and the only thing that stopped it was another job that offered more creds.
“Yeah.” She needed to say nothing else. I knew why she was here and why she asked for my help. Even understood her reticent behavior.
“I’ll do what I can,” I promised and realized I was taking on more responsibility. It was the first time I agreed to help someone because I wanted to do so, and I felt good about it.
“I know.” She said, then hesitating she followed up with, “Thank you.”
That above everything else was worth helping her. The simple ‘thank you’ probably took more courage for her than anything else she had done. The Serf system was bullshit anyway.
I bought the letter opener confidently. Alexa smiled and then went off to do her own shopping. The moment my hand touched the letter opener I felt a jolt in my hand. Inspecting the weapon revealed its special.
Boss’s Letter Opener
Melee Damage: 3% (+1% if Speed is over 20)
Melee Speed: Fast
Range Damage: 2% (Can be recovered if thrown)
Durability: High
Special: This item carries a small electrical charge. You can trigger this effect, but it takes 8 hours to recharge naturally.
Word of Advice: This may not come as a shock, but your boss is a dick. However, did you have to steal his letter opener?
Not sure what a small electrical charge did, and I doubted it did any serious damage to anyone. It might stun an opponent for a few seconds, but I had no way to confirm that until I actually used it.
Before I left the counter, I asked the guy if there was any way to strap it to my arm. I just wanted quicker access to it, and the leather sheath it came in was not meant to be worn.
“I have some Velcro straps, and some needle and thread. Straps will cost 5 chips a piece.”
“Let’s give it a try and see what happens.”
The merchant took the letter opener and sewed a strap the top and bottom of the sheath and then wrapped it around my forearm, so the velcro stuck keeping the blade in place. He grunted, and we discussed how to quickly draw from within my sleeve, and he took a few more velcro straps and cut my shirt sleeve and quickly stitched the velcro in and sealed the sleeve back together.
I tested it a few times and was able to quickly draw it, and it was quicker than pulling from my inventory. It did make a bit of noise, but if I was pulling the blade out, I was already in trouble. The man was good at what he did.
“Damn man, you are amazing. Here are 20 chips.”
“Another 20 from me,” Alexa said from behind me. “I know you wanted to tip him and you were out. Not charity, you will pay me back after we complete this floor.”
“Yes. Thank you.” I told her and handed the man 40 Poker Chips. “For all your help, keep the extra.”
“I appreciate it, and I am glad to see some people still think outside the box. The tip is really unnecessary, this gig pays a lot.”
“I insist, you did me a solid, and this will help me immensely,” I said
“Very well. Then at least let me offer you a bit of advice.” The man glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to them. “Watch out for a contender named iCup. He bought an item to see through cloaking. Never seen a Mailroom Clerk before so I can only assume he is targeting you, so do not rely on your crowd invisibility around him.”
I held out my hand, and we shook. It was a risky move, but one that Old Worlders used to do. These days it was frowned upon and treated with suspicion. Old Worlders did not differ much from Serfs in social standings, but most hid it well.
“Thanks again.” I left the market shortly after and Alexa followed me out to the lounge after she paid for her items.
We sat there for awhile, but neither of us said a thing. It was not an uncomfortable silence, it just was what it was. We had both logged in to the Office Wars at around 7:45 A.M. to ensure we had a good choice of items. Very few people had logged in at that point, and by 8:15 our whole Pact was present. We shared a few pleasantries, but for the most part, we were all lost in our own thoughts.
At five minutes until the 8:30 AM deadline one of the Game Masters appeared. It was Theo, the same asshat from yesterday that accused me of cheating, and he looked around the crowd until his eyes settled on me and he smiled.
“Good morning everyone.” He said loudly enough to get the attention of the entire lounge, but his eyes never left me. “We have a few chan-”
His chain of thought was interrupted due to my well-placed wink at him. He stumbled over the words, and his face grew angry, but he turned away finally.
“We have some changes to the game. It was determined that the wheel needed some adjustments, mostly because we have never had over 500 people eliminated on the first floor. Personally, I think the wheel is working as intended, but I was overruled.”
“For good reason!” Someone shouted in the back bringing a lot of chuckles to the room. It did not help the man’s temperament, and he muted everyone. That seemed to be his go-to move.
“No more of that,” Theo said to the quiet room. “The Wheel will start at 1 P.M. and go every thirty minutes after that. Some of the penalties have been changed to be short term but very harsh, and it is still required that you stick around until the first spin.”
“One more thing. Bounties are now active. To you newbies, bounties are a way to make bonus money. Corporations can put money towards a player to make it worthwhile to eliminate that contender. Everyone that participated in the elimination of the contender will split the prize evenly. However, you will only get 75% of the money, and your sponsor will get 25%. This is not tallied until the end of Office Wars so do not expect a payout immediately.”
Someone raised a hand in front, and GM Theo unmuted them. “Yes?”
“How do we know if a contender has a bounty?” The Suit asked.
“You now all have name tags. That thing on you chest that says ‘Hi my name is…’ Those nametags are all surrounded by a colored border. The colors go from green all the way down to red. Green is the top of the bounty chart. If you are not aware of the color spectrum from green to red, well you are an idiot.”
“How much is a green bounty?” The same Suit asked.
“You and I do not get to know that. The bounty price can only go up, never down. So your nametag colors are on a sliding scale based on current bounty amounts. If a contender is eliminated, the colors shift again. As an example, if a green nametag contender is killed, chances are quite a few people will go from yellow to green nametags.”
“Any more questions on how this works?”
Another hand went up.
“Go ahead.”
“Are there repercussions for killing another contender?” A female asked she was the same suit that pushed a guy into the armed gunmen outside.
“Oh, yeah. A new rule this year. 10% of any bounty you acquire is added to your own. This is deducted before the bounty money is divided up. If you kill a red nametag, that person’s entire bounty is added to yours. The good news is if you survive until the end, you keep your own personal bounty.
I raised my hand. Theo gave me a calculating look but unmuted me.
“What if you have a large bounty, but the game kills you. Do you k
eep the full amount?”
The look he gave me indicated it was not a question he expected. He paused a moment, and we all knew he had entered a private chat.
“If you deliberately kill yourself, you forfeit all bounty money. If killed in general play you will retain all credits. If the wheel kills you, you keep half the bounty credits. Satisfied? Good. No more questions?”
No one else raised their hand.
“Then I guess I should share one more piece of information before I send you to your deaths. There are rumors of people tampering with the game. If we believe you are cheating…” He turned and looked right at me. “We will deal with it harshly.”
I was still unmuted, so I did what I do best.
“Maybe you should investigate your development team asshole! An architect room right next to the architect exit? Seriously? I had time to think about your accusation, and I know you fuckers are rigging the game.”
Immediately muted, but I put that seed of doubt out there. Stupid fuck wants to imply I am cheating, then he can deal with the public fallout.
“You will keep your mouth shut you lying piece of shit,” Theo said.
I raised my hand high and flicked him off. To my surprise, a lot of people joined me, and for a second I felt like the Mockingjay. She used three fingers, but I can read between the lines well enough.
However, the situation started escalating quickly. Theo took a staple to the face, and it drew blood, which I found interesting that the GM could get hurt.
“ENOUGH!” A voice boomed out that was definitely not Theo. “You!” An indicator lit me up, “You will keep your comments to yourself.”
Somehow I was unmuted.
“Then you will tell your crony to stop accusing me of cheating. You clearly have the logs and have checked over my gameplay. I did nothing wrong and was even vetted. I said nothing that was a lie. We entered the second area through an underground tunnel came up into a room with the architect map, and literally, right around that corner was the passage for that class. You tell me that does not smack of bullshit. I would have remained quiet about it, but that is twice that asshole accused me of cheating.”
