by Mia Archer
“I can help you,” Katie said, reaching her hand across the table and taking mine.
I looked down at that contact. It was so simple, and yet so much. It’d been so long since I’d felt human contact like that. I’d missed it, for all that I knew this was dangerous.
“I thought there might be something interesting going on up on the second level,” I said, then thought about whether or not it’d really be a good idea to tell her everything. I figured given the way everything had been trying to kill me since I got into the game that probably wasn’t a good idea.
Not until I knew what was behind this sudden desire Katie had to be all super interested in me. Until I had more information I wasn’t telling her anything. As much as I hated to do that considering how nice that touch felt.
I think it was how nice that touch felt and how it made me feel like I should tell her anything that had me pulling back.
“Then when I got to the top of the stairs I bumped into the mage who was sending people off to different locations. I have no idea what was going on with the portal, but it was an accident that caused that thing to destabilize. I guess I’m going to be the world’s worst Bladedancer if I’m that clumsy.”
Katie stared at me for a long time. I got the feeling she didn’t believe a damn thing I was telling her, but she also wasn’t going to call me on it. Finally she sighed, then stood.
I didn’t want her to stand. I didn’t want her to leave me here with nothing but my pizza and loneliness. At the same time I wasn’t sure I could trust.
“Remember that I can help you,” she said. “If you ever feel like taking me up on that offer you know how to find me.”
“I do,” I said.
She turned and left the cafeteria. It was one of those situations where I didn’t like having her go, but I also didn’t mind her leaving since she was wearing some sort of ultra-tight yoga pants that had microLEDs built in that shimmered and made a rainbow pattern across her incredible ass as she left.
It was captivating. Then she was gone and I shook my head. I’d been hypnotized for a minute there. Honestly she didn’t have to pull the whole hand holding routine if she wanted me to confess everything. All she really had to do was stand and show off those pants.
It was a good thing she’d been on her way out when I saw them and how her ass looked in them, is what I was getting at. I sighed and went back to chewing my pizza.
I needed to have a rest and a think about everything that’d happened tonight. I had people from the Academy hunting me and Katie doing whatever the fuck she was doing. I didn’t know what to think of any of it.
A good night’s sleep would help. Maybe. I hoped.
18
Rescue Mission
It turns out a good night of sleep didn’t help with shit. It probably didn’t help matters that the night of sleep I got wasn’t all that good. I tossed and turned all night long thinking about my unauspicious start in the game on top of thinking about all the ways I could potentially be getting myself in trouble with the rich and the powerful up here at the Academy.
It was almost enough to make me not want to go back into that damn game. The only monkey wrench in that plan was that every time I thought about how those bitches were trying to push me around I got mad. Like really fucking mad. Like we’re talking there were several years of bullying and shit rolling downhill onto the rizon that had some anger finally boiling to the surface.
I sighed as I got up in the morning and prepared for class. No one else was going to the things, but that wasn’t a luxury I had. No, if I was going to keep my scholarship then I had to show up to class and make sure I was making good grades.
The walk across campus was even more eerie than the night before. There were usually a shitload of people hanging around the Academy. Only this morning the place was totally deserted.
I got to class and sighed. A notice was posted on old fashioned piece of paper rather than the plate next to the door flashing updates about what was going on around the Academy.
They were very big on giving a hyperreality college experience to the rich kids up here. And apparently that included professors giving us the authentic experience of showing up to class only to find out that class had been cancelled by a paper posted rather than using fucking email like everyone else in the modern fucking world.
It’s not like email was some brand new technology either. It was downright ancient, but did…
On a whim I pulled out my tablet and checked my email, and it turns out I was the asshole here. My profs had emailed. I’d just been so preoccupied that I hadn’t bothered to check those emails. Besides, it’s not like anyone had actually cancelled classes since I started here. The only time they came close was when some terrorist group tried crashing an orbiter into one of the higher levels of the elevator.
They’d been shot down well before they got close enough to the elevator to do damage, they didn’t fuck around with that considering the kind of damage a space elevator could do when it came crashing back down to the surface, but all the students around here had been going on about how distressed they were about the emergency that wasn’t an emergency that they’d cancelled classes anyway.
I sighed. Then smiled. If the profs cancelled all my classes today because everyone was busy playing Etherea then why not do the same myself?
So I headed for the Etherea lab. I figured I’d have the lab all to myself again, and I couldn’t remember the last time I was able to just sit down and play a video game all day long without feeling like I was wasting my time.
Only I had another surprise waiting for me when I got to the Etherea lab. There was a line going out the door. I pulled up behind a pretty older lady and wondered what the hell she was doing in line considering there weren’t any nontraditional students at the Academy.
“Um, do you know what’s going on here?” I asked.
“Shouldn’t you be in class young lady?” she asked with a sniff.
Now that she’d turned I realized she was wearing a faculty badge. Talk about a surprise. I mean on the one hand I knew faculty were people too. They probably liked playing video games just as much as the students. Gaming was a pretty universal hobby these days.
Still, it was a little odd to see a professor standing in a line that wasn’t moving waiting for a chance to use the lab. I bit back a couple of choice curse words. I really hoped the reason the line wasn’t moving wasn’t because all the Etherea booths had been taken up by a bunch of old people who weren’t even students.
Also? I really didn’t care for her tone.
“Yeah, I kind of can’t go to class since they’ve all been cancelled,” I snapped back at her. I didn’t recognize her which meant I didn’t have any classes with her. I figured I could afford to be a little snippy since I was far enough along in my studies that if I didn’t know who she was there was a good chance I wasn’t going to run into her.
“Oh,” the woman said. “I suppose that makes sense. So you’ve come to play the game like everyone else?”
“Well yeah,” I said.
“And why aren’t you in your dorm playing the game with your private unit?” she asked, looking me up and down.
I knew what that look was. I was a puzzle to her. She was wondering what the hell a student was doing here, and she was a little annoyed that there was another body down here trying to take up one of the Etherea booths in that lab.
It would appear that word had gotten out and all the people who were interested in playing the game but didn’t have the kind of money to have their own private unit were trying to get in the same way I had. Which meant I might be fucked and unable to play the game after all.
“I don’t have a private unit,” I said.
“Oh,” she said, a look of understanding finally dawning on her face. “You’re a scholarship rizon.”
I liked this lady less and less with every new sentence that left her mouth. I mean it’s not like I was a stranger to people using that term, but
it was a shock hearing that kind of language coming from a prof. It got my hackles up, and my hands were balling into fists before I realized that getting into a fight with a prof probably wasn’t the best use of my time.
Even if punching that smug look off her face would’ve been fun. It’d also get me in all sorts of trouble. I’d like to say that I wanted to stay out of that trouble because I didn’t want to get expelled, but more than anything I didn’t want to get in trouble because that might endanger my access to this lab and, by extension, to Etherea.
Assuming I was even able to get into one of those booths. Why the hell wasn’t this line moving?
“What’s the problem up front?” I asked.
“Why don’t you go back to your dorm and study or something?” she asked, giving me the kind of look I typically only expected from other students. “You wouldn’t want to lose that scholarship.”
My eyes narrowed. I was used to getting shit from the other students, but getting that shit from some entitled bitch on the staff was something else entirely. I think it was that anger, coupled with a touch of the anger left over from last night when it felt like I couldn’t do anything right, that had me brushing past the bitch.
“Hey! You can’t do that!” she said.
“Watch me,” I said. “This is a student computer lab, and I’m going to go use it.”
I moved past all the professors. I recognized some of them and they nodded or smiled at me. Others were non-teaching staff. I even saw a couple of administrators. Some of them frowned as I walked past, clearly thinking that as a student I shouldn’t be getting in the way of them having a little bit of fun in this brand new game.
I couldn’t believe staff were being this ridiculous over a video game. It was like something out of a post-apocalyptic thriller, only it was a game causing the end of the fucking world instead of the usual suspects.
The closer I got to the door the louder a shouting match that was going on inside the room got. I frowned as I got close. It sounded like a hell of a fight.
When I stepped into the room I found myself staring at none other than Jessica, and she didn’t look happy. She was facing down a balding man in an honest-to-God tweed jacket with leather patches at his elbows, which was totally an affectation since we lived in a world where materials science had created clothes that never wore down no matter how much you abused them.
“I can’t believe you won’t let me have access to this new thing!” he said. “This is very important for my research.”
“What department are you in, sir?” Jessica asked.
She was towing the line of being respectful to the dude, but her tone and volume made it clear she was over this conversation.
“Well the History Department, of course,” he said. “And exploring this new game world and determining what historical cues they’re taking from the real world would be valuable for…”
“That’s nice,” Jessica said, not quite as loud but still in a tone that made it clear she was so over this shit. “But the fact remains that faculty and staff can’t access to this lab. It’s for students only.”
“Well that is ridiculous,” he said. “And I think you should do something about it.”
“I’m just babysitting the lab, sir,” Jessica said. “If you have a problem you can take it up with the administration, but the fact remains that you can put your thumb on the plates all you want and the system won’t let you access the crystal interface. This lab is for students only.”
“Excuse me,” I said. “But could I get in?”
Jessica looked at me with a hunted and haunted look. The prof turned and looked at me with an irritated expression that said he didn’t like that I was moving in on his potential game time.
Not that it sounded like he was going to be getting any game time regardless.
“How dare you interrupt me!” he said.
“Excuse me?” I said, summoning up all the irritation I could muster.
And for a wonder it worked. The man blinked a couple of times in surprise. He was reacting in much the same way that I’d seen other profs react when they were confronted by the son or daughter of a particularly influential family.
The only problem with that scenario was I wasn’t the daughter of anyone with influence, but I’d also never had this guy a class, so it’s not like he’d know that.
“I’m trying to get access to a service that’s being paid for by my tuition,” I said, kind of liking this. Sure I wasn’t usually a big fan of being a total bitch, but I figured if this guy was going to be an asshole first then he deserved it. “You might keep in mind that tuition is also what pays for your position here. It would be a shame if something were to happen and you had to go down to teach on the surface instead of enjoying your job here.”
He slumped down. I almost felt bad for acting like one of the rich assholes, but again he was the one who’d acted like an asshole first.
“Whatever,” he growled, then turned to Jessica. “I’ll be back as soon as we’ve sorted this out with the administration.”
“And maybe I’ll have a chat with administration about how you’ve been acting,” I said.
I could hardly believe that it was me saying things like this. It was totally out of character for me, but it was pretty fun.
He turned and stormed out the door. As soon as he was out more old people looked like they were about to crowd in, but Jessica was up and pushing them back.
“I’m sorry, but this lab is for students only,” she said. “Unfortunately if you’re not a student then you won’t be able to sign up for a booth. Use your thumb on the plate by the door to confirm if you are a student, and move along if you aren’t.”
The people waiting at the door stared at her like they had no idea what she was saying. Then the door slid shut and they were locked out as she tapped something on the plate on this side of the door. Finally she sighed in relief.
“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “I was trying to close the door, but I couldn’t as long as that asshole was standing there shouting at me. I didn’t want to lock him in here with me.”
“No problem,” I said.
“Where did you learn to talk like that?” she asked. “You sounded like…”
She trailed off. She’d been about to point out that I sounded like one of the rich assholes who walked around this school like they owned the place, but of course it wasn’t considered polite to point that sort of thing out.
That is to say it wasn’t polite to point out to a rich asshole that they were acting like an entitled rich asshole. It was more than acceptable to point out a rizon’s status, but that’s not what she was talking about.
“I’ve learned a few things about surviving down on the surface,” I said.
Which was true. It’s just that all those survival skills I’d learned down on the surface had been beaten down since I got up here. Though after everything that’d just happened there I was starting to think that maybe it was time to bring some of the street smarts I’d learned down on the mean streets of the surface up here to the Academy.
“So you’re here for your booth?” she asked.
“Sure am,” I said.
“Let me take you back,” she said. “You’ll be the first person visiting the lab today who can actually use the damn thing.”
“I know where it is,” I replied. “It’s really not a big…”
“No, really,” she said. “Let me take you back there.”
There was something about the way she looked at me coupled with the way she insisted on taking me back there on her own that had me going along with it, for all that her offer and insistence was just a little weird.
Whatever. Weird things had been happening to me ever since I logged into the game, so why not add a little more weirdness?
So I let her take me back to the same booth I’d been in yesterday. The booth where I’d had my ass handed to me by players and zombie bears and goblins alike. My resolve firmed as I remembere
d all the craziness that’d happened here.
It wasn’t going to be like that today. I was going to make that game my bitch, damn it. I was also going to figure out what the hell was so important about a screenshot of a bunch of people fucking in a game, and why Chelsey and Tori were so insistent on figuring out who took that screenshot.
I turned and was about to sit on the comfy cot when I realized Jessica was still in the room with me. In fact she was right there behind me.
“Um, is something wrong?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she said. “I just wanted to thank you for saving me there.”
“Uh…”
She leaned in close. Like we’re talking way closer than anyone had been in a good long while. She ran a finger along my chest and I shivered.
Hey, I’d like to see anyone else do better after they’d spent a fuck of a long time not knowing the touch of a woman.
Then she really surprised me by leaning in and planting a kiss on me. It was a quick kiss, but we’re talking lips on lips which, again, was a hell of a lot more than I’d enjoyed in a long fucking time. It was enough to curl my toes it’d been so long.
Then she pulled back and let out a nervous giggle before she disappeared out the door. I stood there wondering what the fuck had just happened. It was only the door closing that brought me back to reality.
Right. I had a game to get to, and this time around I was going to do everything different. Maybe that statue had been my imagination, but that wasn’t going to stop me from taking the advice my subconscious was clearly hitting me with.
So I sat back and let the crystal interface take over as I went down that shining portal to a totally new video game world.
19
Character Creation Redux
I faced a pulsing point of light in the middle of the blackest darkness I’d ever seen in my life. Again. It was a little less impressive the second time, and I didn’t bother to say anything to the simulation this time around.
