I walk towards the exit and Cindy says, “leaving so soon?” She’s really enjoying this.
“Yeah, Jenkins said the slides were so good I must have been up working on them all night. He gave me the rest of the day off. Don’t work too hard.” I stroll into the lift with as much swagger as I can muster.
***
“And then I would rent a wood chipper and invite her over to get the last of her stuff. She’s got a bad knee, so it would only take a nudge for her to have a nasty fall. Hey presto, Bob’s your uncle, no more alimony. No-one would suspect a thing.”
Except any person that has ever been in this taxi. If I smile any harder my cheeks might seize up.
We ask the crazy cabbie to drop us around the corner. Carlos waits until he is sure he has left. “I swear I called a different place! Can a taxi driver work for more than one company?”
“I suspect not, but who is going to tell him that? Let’s just get your car and pretend we didn’t hear any of that.”
As we round the building Carlos lets out a gasp. I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t the empty shell of Carlos’ car. There’s barely anything left, no radio, no seats, no steering wheel, no wheels, no car doors. Who on earth steals car doors? Surely it would be more efficient to just steal the rest of the car at that point.
Carlos is still staring at the carcass of his pride and joy when a couple of local youths approach us. One of them says, “Oy, is that your car?”
He nods and the kid laughs. “What kind of idiot leaves a BMW parked here overnight?”
He’s still laughing while his mate gives Carlos and I the once over and pulls a small blade out of his pocket. He snarls. “If you’re driving a car like that you must be minted. Hand over your wallets.”
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Carlos looks like he might thump the guy. I quickly step between them. “I’m sorry, we’ve had a bit of a rough night. Now’s not really a good time for a mugging. Can you come back later?”
He waves the knife at me. “You want to die?”
“Actually I already died today, so hows about you and your mate piss off and leave us alone.” I don’t even know why I said that. It’s been a long day and it isn’t even noon.
His friend tries to convince him to leave, but our mugger is having none of it. He flips the knife from hand to hand and says to his mate, “keep an eye out for the coppers. I’m going to teach these city boys a lesson.”
He takes a step towards me and something flashes up in the centre of my view. I barely have time to read it when he lunges. Disarm? My whole body moves in one fluid motion. I circle out of the way of his attack and kick the knife out of his hand with a snap. It arches in the air and lands in my other hand, which is behind my back. I slowly hold the knife out in front of me and they both turn and leg it.
A new message flashes up on my eyes:
+10 EXP
Am I having some kind of episode? Is it normal that I am seeing things? The doc did say I may feel the after effects for a while, but surely this isn’t normal?
Carlos says what I am thinking. “What the hell just happened?”
“I have no idea. I acted on instinct.”
“Instinct? Are you secretly a ninja?”
“You’ve known me most of my life and you spend almost every evening at my house, when do you think I’m squeezing in ninja school?”
He shrugs. “You went away to university for a few years. Maybe you went to train with the monks in the mountains?”
“The only way I was like a monk at uni was my celibacy. Now please stop talking. I’ve got a headache.”
I close my eyes as the pain builds. It feels like my head is going to split open. Even with my eyes shut, the blurriness around the edges of my vision is starting to come into focus. I gasp as I realize what it is. I have a health bar and a variety of other icons. I frantically rub my eyes and shake my head, but they refuse to go away. When I open my eyes I find them overlaid over the real world.
Carlos says, “Are you ok? You’re acting strange, even for you.”
There’s something familiar about the HUD. I have seen it somewhere before.
It’s from Sarah’s game.
My heart starts to race and I take a few deep breaths before I can get any words out. “We need to go see Sarah. Right now.”
“Actually I think I’m going to stay here and call the police to report the utter decimation of my beloved beemer.” This is the closest I have ever seen him to crying. He picks up his number plate and cradles it like a newborn.
“Sad as this is, I need your help. I think something is wrong with me. I mean like seriously wrong. I might not make it as far as Sarah’s, but I really need to talk to her. Your car can wait, it’s not going anywhere.”
He stares at the wreckage and lets out a sigh as he tosses the number plate onto the roof. “Ok fine. Come on.”
LEVEL 5: LEVEL UP
We are barely in the door of the university when the receptionist says, “No begging in the lobby. Don’t make me call security.”
I guess we do look at little worse for wear at the moment. I definitely don’t want any burly security guards to try to escort me from the building. I don’t know how it would go and I’m in no rush to find out. I give the receptionist my best smile and say, “We’re here to visit Sarah Aran. We are old friends of hers.”
“I’m afraid Miss. Aran isn’t accepting visitors today. There was an incident last night and she has had to clear her schedule.”
Carlos steps forward and prepares to turn on the charm. It would probably work a lot better if he’d showered recently. I’m fairly confident there isn’t a panic button under the receptionists desk, but if there is she’d be hammering it right about now.
I grab Carlos by the arm and say, “Please let Sarah know that Marcus popped by to see her. Tell her it’s urgent.” With that I drag him out of the building.
As we round the corner he says, “What was that? I thought you desperately needed to speak to Sarah, and then the first sign of trouble you immediately give up.”
I’m not listening. I’m staring at the ground. There are a couple of sticks that look different to all the rest. There is the faintest glow around them. I pick them both up and head over to the side entrance. I rub the sticks together and just like that they become the perfect lock picking set. I have no idea how to pick locks, but it feels like I should. I randomly jam both sticks into the lock and wiggle them about. Carlos watches me and says, “What on earth are you doing?”
“I’m picking this lock.”
“Using twigs you found on the ground? Are you sure you’re ok? Perhaps you should have a lie down.”
“The direct route didn’t work. I want to avoid a fight. I figured there would be a stealth route.”
I jump as a small green bar appears, with an arrow that bounces back and forth inside it. Oh bugger, it’s a quick time event. I’m not exactly feeling speedy in my current state, but after a couple of attempts I get it figured out and the door opens with an audible click. Carlos is as shocked as I am. Before anyone sees us we sneak inside and find ourselves back in the corridor that I died in last night. There’s no sign of Sarah.
As we huddle in the corner Carlos says, “Mate, you’ve got to tell me what is going on. In the last hour you’ve disarmed a knife wielding maniac and followed it up with a spot of breaking and entering. I know it’s your birthday, but you’re a bit young for a mid life crisis.”
I’m about to tell him everything when a lab tech turns the corner and spots us. He starts hollering and in seconds there is security everywhere. We are totally surrounded. I can feel a deep urge to challenge them to hand to hand combat, which makes absolutely zero sense. Before I engage in mortal combat Sarah appears, looking like she hasn’t slept a wink. “What are you both doing here?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Right now?”
“It’s urgent. It’s about last night.”
The security guards begrudgingly disperse, clearly disappointed that they didn’t have a chance to practice their particular brand of justice. Sarah ushers Carlos and I into a side room and locks the door behind her. She does her best to keep her voice low as she says, “Are you out of your minds? This is a high security computer lab. The equipment in this room alone is worth millions of pounds, and you’re breaking in? Are you trying to go to jail?”
“Something happened to me last night.”
“I know Marcus. Our lawyers are already drawing up a settlement, just hold tight for a few days. If they hear that you’ve been snooping around here you might panic them into trying to drag this through court. Nobody wants that.”
“A settlement? That’s not what I am here for. Something is wrong with me.”
She looks at me, eyebrows raised. “I’d say you’re in pretty good shape considering you were dead a few hours ago.”
“I’m seeing things. Video game things.”
They both stare at me like I’m a crazy person. Carlos says, “I think we might need to get you back to the hospital…”
“It feels like I am still in the game and none of this is real.”
Carlos laughs, but Sarah stares at me with fear across her face. She says, “What do you mean this doesn’t feel real?”
“I’m seeing a HUD, with a life bar and other icons. A guy tried to mug us this morning and a prompt flashed up for me to disarm him. I broke into your lab using two sticks I found on the ground and a quick time event. It’s like this whole thing is one big game.”
“I’ll be right back. Do not leave.” Sarah bolts from the room.
Carlos is staring at me. I’m expecting more words of concern for my health, but instead he says, “So if you’re stuck in a video game, does that make me an NPC?”
“I have no idea what any of it means.”
“Can you learn new skills and gain experience just like an RPG?”
“I don’t know. It seems that way.”
His whole face lights up. “That sounds awesome! What skill shall we level up first? You’ve already started getting to grips with lock picking, but that’s not exactly a great every day skill. We should try something less traditional. Maybe this is finally your chance to learn how to flirt with women! We can get you levelled up, if you know what I mean.” Oh god, now he’s winking at me. This couldn’t possibly get any more humiliating. No wait, he’s still going.
“All the way to level 69 baby! You can show them how big your skill tree is…”
I was wrong.
Sarah comes back with a guest. Professor Jasper is staring at me with a mix of fear and curiosity. He walks towards me slowly, reaches out his index finger and pokes me in the abdomen. I say, “Ow!”
He says, “Interesting, you can still feel things. That’s a good sign, or possibly not. Sarah mentioned you were having some hallucinations about reality. Can you describe them for me?”
His eyes are locked onto mine, watching intently. I explain the same things I already told Sarah and Carlos.
When I am done he says, “Fascinating.” He turns to Sarah. “When exactly did the accident occur? Please be precise. Was it when I heard the screaming, or before that?”
Sarah moves to a screen on the wall and taps a few icons. After a moment she says, “The game froze just after midnight and the power surge happened a few moments later.”
Jasper grins. “Do you know what this means? My experiment was a success! I have proven without doubt that none of this is real.”
Carlos pokes me in the arm. “Feels pretty real to me.”
“Of course it does, we believe what we are programmed to believe. You are simply responding to stimuli. Are you familiar with the theory that the world is in fact one giant simulation? That we are merely computer programs running on a future civilizations ancestor simulator?”
I glance at Sarah. “Yeah, it may have come up in conversation. Sounds a little woo woo to me.”
Jasper glares at me, horrified. “I assure you it is quite the opposite of woo woo! It is based firmly in both science and statistics. We can hypothesize that advanced civilizations would want to study their ancestors, perhaps to understand decisions we made or even just for their entertainment. Assuming that computers continue to improve on the same linear progression it is highly feasible that the computer power required to do this will exist in the near future. Because a future civilization could theoretically run thousands or millions of these simulations, simulated lives would number in the trillions. Therefore it is far more statistically likely that we are in fact denizens of a simulation, rather than actual flesh and blood organisms in the one true universe. If we were virtual beings that simulated the real thing, we would think, act and behave as if we were the real deal. From our point of view it makes no difference if we are real or virtual, because the virtual world would be our reality. With me so far?”
My headache is coming back. Carlos says exactly what I am thinking. “What does any of this have to do with Marcus seeing video game stuff?”
“My experiment was attempting to prove that we are in fact living in a simulation by triggering a chronal incident. If our reality is running on a computer, it is theoretically possible to influence that computer’s performance and see a degradation in reality. I did that by putting a strain on the simulation, using the university’s super computer to process impossible math equations. I then monitored time to see if reality slowed down. At just past midnight I detected a blip in time, but before I could quantify it the simulation shut me down by frying the super computer. The one that you were attached to. In that exact moment, when the simulation was at its most vulnerable, you died.”
Sarah is the first one to speak. “You broke reality, and reality fought back, and somehow Marcus got caught in the crossfire?”
“Precisely. He was in a game within the simulation when it broke. I suspect the system tried to restore him to that same state when he was revived, not understanding that he was no longer in the game. The rest of the world lost a few seconds of reality, but for Marcus those few seconds contained a crucial transition. Computer programs are not infallible, bugs and glitches happen all the time.”
“Lets say I believe you, and this is all just one big glitch in reality. How exactly do I make it stop?” I ask.
“How do you make any game stop?”
Carlos says, “You win, or you die.”
“Precisely. There is no reason to suspect that the rules will be any different. However, there may be some complications. The simulation is trying to reconcile two different sets of rules. There is no way to know how it will do so. It could choose rules at random, it could slowly blend the virtual rules with reality, or anything in between.”
There’s really only one question I need to know the answer to right now. “So if I die, do I die for good, or do I restart?”
“No way to know I’m afraid. You could die and find out?” This is said so matter of factly I’m not sure if he is joking.
“Ok, so that’s out. I’ve already hit my death quota for this week. How do I win?”
“There should be a quest list. It usually just lists the open quest items. The end goal in the game is to beat the end boss, but there are a lot of optional quests along the way. Can you get into any menus?” asks Sarah.
I try. It is a very strange sensation. The menus overlay onto my vision. Selection is handled simply by thinking about the option I want. It takes some getting used to, but slowly I figure out how to navigate.
Several of the menus are nonsensical, but a couple prove interesting. One opens my inventory and shows a phone, a wallet, two sticks and a pack of cards. It is laid out in a grid, with each item taking up a single space.
The next menu to catch my eye is simply titled stats. I open it and gasp. T
here are pages and pages of stats here, for my entire life. I scan through the list and a few choice entries jump out at me:
- Hours spent asleep: 75,324
- Number of women slept with: 1
- Number of missed opportunities for sex: 13,456
- Number of times sexual frustration was self resolved: 8,923
Yeah, I’m going to stop reading those now.
I keep searching until I find what I am looking for. Quests.
I excitedly proclaim, “I’ve found a quest list!”
Current quests:
- Conquer your fears (0 of 4)
- Complete a legendary armour set
- Defeat the Dark Lord
- Earn the love of a fair maiden
The last one really makes me panic. Fighting monsters and flinging fireballs is one thing, but who said anything about love? Could this get any worse?
That’s when I see the timer. It says 40 hours 43 minutes. As I watch the minute counter ticks down to 42. I say, “Sarah, does your game have a time limit?”
“Oh, yeah. The build I was working on was for VR arcades, there was a hard time limit. We had it set for a couple of days in our version though.”
“What happens when the timer reaches zero?”
“The game shuts down and you lose all your progress.”
Bollocks.
LEVEL 6: SMALL THEFT AUTO
Professor Jasper runs off to run more tests. He seems positively thrilled at the thought that the entire universe is completely made up. As soon as he leaves I say, “So he is clearly insane.”
Carlos says, “Well one of you is. You are the one seeing a video game HUD. Either this is all real and you’ve gone bananas, or what he said is true.”
“Why are you so quick to believe him? If he is right then none of this means anything.”
“Not at all. Maybe all the real humans died thousands of years ago, and we are all that is left of them. Or maybe there are millions of Carlos’ out there, leading virtual lives, some rich, some poor, some famous, some happy, some dead.”
Level Up Page 5
