by Bruce Sentar
Contents
Foreword
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
Afterword
Copyright (c) 2019 Bruce Sentar
Cover by Phoenix Nguyen
While fiction, this story is set in a possible future of our world today. There may be contents similar to the world today, but it is all fictitious. All entities in the story are figments of my imagination. Any relation or resemblance to actual events or people is entirely coincidental.
Before you dive into it. This story is an adult fantasy that may contain elements not suitable for people under the age of 18.
There is sexual and harem elements. If that makes you uncomfortable please turn back now and ask Amazon for a refund.
CHAPTER 1
The web pages flashed under Ajax’s eyelids. The BRG Word Tournament was going on. The quarterfinals for duos in Starcraft were during his shift and he was taking peeks. Back in the 2040’s eSports had more viewers than football. Now over twenty years later, the BRG World Tournament was huge. People were guessing that it might have more viewers than the Olympic games in a few months.
Ajax opened his eyes to check his counter. He was at the help desk in the back by the doors and windows. His checkered blue and orange apron sported the paint splattered name Lowes-Depot. Retail was almost dead but hardware and home improvement materials were too heavy to mail via drone and all the contractors liked to come to pick things out in person. Even then, by how unvisited Ajax had been this shift he was surprised the store was still in business.
Closing his eyes he went back to the viewing screens of his iLids. The commentator was going back and forth between the Korean team, two skinny guys with edgy hair cuts that Ajax could never pull off and the American team, StarCrasher and MissyQ.
Ajax had seen StarCrasher. He was one of the top players in the US and without a doubt should have been there. However MissyQ was more known for MMO’s; she felt more like a stunt piece to draw attention. Not that he would ever voice anything against MissyQ. She was the number one Gamer Girl and she had so many fanboys out there. Ajax was sure one would hear him and rally a horde of her adoring fans to oust him.
He had spent more time than he truly cared to admit watching her videos. She was pretty good and if you want to watch someone’s stream why not hers. Attractive was an understatement when it came to MissyQ. She had this strange interaction with the viewers that switched between being playful and completely unattainable; it roped Ajax in every time. He suspected he was not alone in that — she was the number one Gamer Girl for a good reason.
After eSports took off attractive girls came out of the woodworks and started making videos and streams of themselves gaming. They interacted with their viewers and it basically turned into an interactive television station. Some people subscribe to support them and they run adds from time to time to generate an income.
Ajax checked around the store again to make sure there weren’t any unattended customers. The aisles orange racks were as empty as before.
Focusing on the World Tourney again the camera was zooming in on a pouting MissyQ, giving off a cute defeated face. She had a heart-shaped face with full lips and dimples when she smiled. Her bright eyes, as expressive as always, mirrored her pout with a bit of mirth hidden in there. She got up with a bounce in her step that freed a lock of wavy brown hair from her headset and caused probably every man watching the stream to focus a bit lower as her breasts jiggled under her team shirt. Ajax was sure he was going to see a gif of that on the front page of Reddit tomorrow.
Another ad for Legendary Rule came up as the two teams probably shook hands. Ajax scanned the aisles again before checking back into the channel.
The LR ad was still running but it wasn’t a bad one. LR was going to be the next big game. It ran on the first fully immersive VR system. They say that there are no classes and characters are fully customizable. Apparently, most quests are unique too. The beta testers had to sign some huge nondisclosure agreements and the most anyone has gotten out of them is that it’s practically another world onto itself. Ajax would be excited, but he was broke. Not like he just couldn’t afford it now, but he could barely afford to stay alive.
Ajax graduated college four months ago. However, it wasn’t easy to get a job anymore, even with a very relevant degree like computer science. Artificial intelligence programs started to fill job roles heavily about two years ago. The computer programming field was pretty healthy but as other fields that used to be run by people were taken by AI, the job market has become unbelievably competitive. Unemployment was up to 15%. Ajax was crestfallen that he didn’t get a career after college. He had finally finished all that school only to be thrust into a job market that wanted five years of experience minimum because they could and still fill their roles, never mind how someone would get their first job. MegaCorps weren’t going to show sympathy if there wasn’t a benefit in it for them, but he still had his Lowes-Depot job that he’d worked through college.
He couldn’t help but be a bit depressed, his entire income practically went to his cramped apartment and bleak meals. Ajax had taken up doing market research groups or taste testing the newest KFDonalds fried creation for spare cash. At least those gave him a free meal and a bit more money in the bank. He’d even gotten so desperate as to enter any free sweepstakes that he could find. One good thing Mega Corps did get rid of were telemarketers, but the sweepstakes still filled your inbox with junk.
“Ajax, are you sleeping on the job?” his eyes shot open and his heart leaped into his throat. Mr. Richards was standing arms crossed in front of Ajax. His forearms resting on his ballooning stomach. Mr. Richards was his supervisor and old fashioned; using technology was almost a sin to him. Ajax groaned internally at the lecture to come.
“N-No Sir. I was looking at the store map on my iLid.” Ajax had used this excuse before. They all had. The store on slow days would only have a few dozen customers and the doors and windows counter in the back might not even get one of them. That’s why it was such a highly valued spot, one Ajax was keen on taking advantage of so he could use the crystal gel screens in his eyelids.
Mr. Richards didn’t seem pleased with that explanation. His temper building in the tension in his temples and his face reddening made him look like a cartoon character. He was about as short in stature as he was temper.
The supervisor lowered a hard stare. Ajax kept himself together with a smile. Kinsey Richard was his boss. However, he hated his first name and it was possibly the easiest way to wind up on his bad side. As long as you avoided it and called him Mr. Richard or Sir he would act tough but never give you too hard of a time. He pressed his eyebrows down and was performing a mental exercise that Ajax could only imagine before he let up and walked off.
Ajax wasn’t sure what was worse the lecture that he was expecting or the silent disregard that his supervisor gave him. It left Ajax puzzled if he
had gotten let off or if something so far worse was coming that Mr. Richard no longer thought the lecture was necessary.
“Phew.” Ajax let out a breath he didn’t even realize he had been holding and wiped his palms on the blue and orange checkered vest uniform.
“Hey Jaxie, close call there.” A deep male voice called out behind him, he didn’t even have to turn to know it was George. Only two people in his life have ever used that name. One was his mother the other his high school friend and current roommate, George Reinhart. He was a big dude, six-two and as wide as a door. He had a muscled body that showed that he did some heavy lifting in his career and wasn’t stuck behind a desk, or a Lowes-Depot counter. His boyish freckled face and glasses were at odds with the body that could have belonged to a bouncer.
“Looking for something Reinhart?” Our elementary teachers always called him by his last name since there were two other Georges in our class. It just stuck with me to this day or maybe it was a bit of payback for ‘Jaxie’.
“Yeah, you almost done? I just need to pick up some cable, I’ll get you the store credit.” Ajax looked at the clock. He was almost done. Shoot, Mr. Richards was probably coming to tell him to go home. He snatched up his bag as an answer and stuffed his apron inside. Reinhart had a big grin on, so Ajax knew he had some good news. He quickly badged the time clock and went to help Reinhart with his cables.
“Well what are you waiting for?” Ajax was in a good mood; Reinhart always bought at the store and gave him the sales credit. That sales credit was probably making Ajax look decent to the corp as it was one of the main metrics he got judged by. This time though Reinhart almost bought the whole aisle out. By the time they finished loading Reinhart’s pickup the bed was overflowing and they had to strap it down. “So what’s making you so smiley?” Seeing the pickup so full Ajax had an inkling of what had his best friend so happy.
“I got a big contract. They paid the upfront half for materials today.” His grin still hadn’t faded from the store. Reinhart was always stead and calm. For him to be this excited; it was a massive job. Ajax knew Reinhart wasn’t going to tell him till he begged.
Reinhart dropped out of college when the AI’s started taking all the jobs. His uncle was an electrician and sponsored him into a trade school. Electrical work like programming was a prohibited field for AI’s. Skynet was still a real fear in the minds of many people.
“One Month?” Reinhart’s smile just got bigger. Damn, it really is a big contract. His grin looked too big so Ajax wasn’t going to baby step up this one.
“Three months of work?” Reinhart kept his big grin plastered on as they got in the car. “Shit man congrats! You haven’t had work this steady in a while.” Though Reinhart got paid at least twice what Ajax was making, his work wasn’t steady. He might only work twenty hours a week covering some odd repair jobs. It had been over a year since he got a project that was more than two months of work.
Ajax wasn’t jealous though, he and Reinhart were far past that. If anything he was excited that his friend was going to get ahead of living paycheck to paycheck with a contract this big.
“Four? … Shit you’re screwing with me Five?” Reinhart kept his grin plastered on his face like a permanent fixture. He couldn’t stand it any longer though.
“Six months give or take a week. It’s a small corporate building going up in our neighborhood. The corp found it was cheaper to hire a bunch of us individually than get it all done at one place.” Ajax was genuinely happy for him. They were both teetering on not being able to pay for their rent. “Look you saved me three hundred back at the store.” Reinhart picked out a Benjamin he had obviously saved for this purpose.
“No, no I can’t. You can buy some pizza and a six pack on the way back to celebrate though!” It would be impossible for Ajax to accept the money.
He was pretty focused on how much everything cost, but he wouldn’t take money from a friend like that. Reinhart knew it and didn’t bother pushing it as he got the pizza and a six pack. The pizza was a meat lovers deep dish, one of the reasons that made Chicago the best city on earth.
While Reinhart was inside Ajax was chilling in the car entering into contests that won him anything from a years supply of ramen to five bucks. There were some larger ones but honestly they all blurred by Ajax. He flipped through them so quickly with the iLids that he didn’t really read them much. Unless the site was slow and he got stuck on a page, he just kept speeding through it all without reading. iLids worked off of small changes to the pupil when an item was focused on and movements allowing the user to quickly navigate the interface.
He had won a few cases of fortified ramen last month and it had really helped the moral of the two knowing that they at least had something to eat for a while. Now Reinhart should be pretty stable for a while, Ajax just needed to figure something out.
They got home after locking up Reinhart’s truck. The two made their way upstairs to their meager apartment. With space becoming more and more premium in cities, micro apartments like this was classified were becoming more common. Walking in the place was cozy; at least that’s what Ajax kept telling himself as he stepped onto the carpet. Immediately greeted by the door to Ajax’s room upon entering the duo turned and found themselves in the kitchen/living room. They had a two stove burner and a small kitchen sink with three white cabinets up above. Across the hallway slash kitchen area was a small nook with a table now entirely covered by the pizza box and two matching chairs.
They had mounted a small flat screen to one of the cabinets, Ajax connected his iLids to it and flipped on replays of the World Tourney as they sat down enjoying the greasy goodness.
The two friends fell into their normal banter — good natured arguments about who was the hottest gamer girl or appreciation for certain moments of the games. They were debating about which of the gamer girls were hotter when a message sprang up on the screen.
***
The next day, Ajax had rushed home for the delivery. He and Reinhart were staring from his doorway.
“So how much do you think it’ll sell for?” Ajax asked.
He and Reinhart were looking at the new PIU in his bedroom. They had to turn his mattress on its side against the wall for it to fit. The metal pod had a sleek design and looked kind of like a small car without wheels. PIU version Zero was in black letters on the grey gunmetal exterior with two white racing stripes down the middle of the PIU.
Ajax pushed on the panel and a section at the back hissed and popped up before sliding over the front to reveal the interior which was a loose shiny black material and the frame of a chair beneath it.
He knew the material inside was to collect and send signals to nerves through the body. It’s what made the Personal Immersion Unit different from any VR helmet.
“I can’t believe you actually won this.” Reinhart was looking at the PIU like it was going to disappear if he blinked. “I mean, it was a global contest with only ten winners. Shit even I entered this one.”
“Ha! Maybe my luck is turning around. I could probably get 5 or 6 thousand if I sell this, I hear they are all back ordered several months now.” Ajax was hovering over the unit and Reinhart could have sworn he saw dollar signs in his eyes. “This would get me a few months’ rent worth of buffer. Do you know how nice that would be?”
“Let’s ask Sarah when she comes over. She probably knows more about this.” Reinhart went over to the closet and pulled out a spare chair for their visitor and their friend since elementary school. Sarah Jianghe had moved into their school during the 3rd grade and fell right in with the duo. Sarah had also left college early but that was because her gamer career shot off. Ajax watched her stream to support her when he could. Though she didn’t really need it. She usually had over a hundred thousand viewers and made her money off sponsors and the occasional ad that ran on her channel.
“Reinhart, that’s like two months salary.” Ajax was doing the math in his head he estimated he could get two point three
months worth of salary out of this machine.
“Man it’s just money, you haven’t played games in a while. Wouldn’t it be fun to play again? I know Sarah would be all over teaching you about it.” Reinhart tried to divert the topic.
“Yes, she would love to teach me up till her professional team took up all her time and I just became a tag along. No thanks. I’ll sell it and maybe stop taking so much overtime and focus on finding another job.” Ajax had played with Sarah often in the past. Hell it was because of him she’d gotten into video games in the first place.
He remembered when she used to try and get him to stop playing all the time. She wanted to go get ice cream or the movies. He and Reinhart were glued to them so she learned to play so she could join in on our fun.
Running his hand along with the metal he almost felt bad for wanting to sell it. He knew Sarah would object heavily. He was not looking forward to the argument that would come.
“Well, tell that to her tonight. I forgot to tell you with the surprise delivery and all. Sarah is coming over and bringing some takeout.” Reinhart said looking thoughtful and smug.
“You did that on purpose. You know I don’t like it when she pays for things. We are self-sufficient; I don’t need her to buy us dinner.” Ajax could feel his emotions boiling up. In a way, it was embarrassing to have people buy things for him. He lived off fortified ramen won in an online contest.
