“We're not going to go inside of the bunkers, are we?” Miko asked.
“Not unless we absolutely have to,” Zach said. “Considering how close the last one came to killing us all, I think we need the whole company present before we try to tackle another one. How come?”
“I'm trying to decide what skill I want to take,” she said. “I was wondering if I should try machine pistols, since it was such a pain trying to use a sniper rifle in the bunker.”
“Can you send me your profile?” Xavier asked.
“Me too,” Zach said. “We can give you some suggestions if we see how your class is built.”
“Sure thing,” Miko said. She opened her menu and sent them both a message.
Zach opened it and looked it over. Sniper, level 7, it read. He read over her list of skills and perks. Hawk eye, level 1. Camouflage level 1. Stealth, level 1. Hunter, level 1, Two boosts to her health.
“Looks like a pretty solid build,” Xavier said.
“Well, Selene did give me some help. So, should I go with machine pistols, or should I do something else?”
“I think that hawk eye level 2 would be a good choice,” Xavier said. “Problem being, you need another skill point.”
Currently, each skill had five levels. The cost to learn it went up each time, so level 1 would cost a single skill point, while level 5 would cost five skill points.
Javy walked into the briefing room. “What did I miss?”
“Not much, we're just going over what Miko should do with her skill points.”
Javy made a face. “I just put a skill into every tree that I had available. Probably not the best way to try and build a class.”
“Actually, that is a pretty good idea too. It keeps your options open at lower levels so you can figure out what you want to do. Plus, we wouldn't be in nearly as good of a position if you didn't take that point in pharmaceuticals,” Zach said.
“I honestly think you should just wait to spend the skill point,” Xavier said to Miko. “Your class is centered on shooting with your rifle, which you're already pretty good at. Any of your other skills are just to back that up.”
“How did you get so good?” Javy asked. “Are you in the army in real life, or something?”
Miko laughed. “No, I'm not. I've shot a few times, but it's not like I'm practiced or anything. It just feels natural, you know?”
“This is a totally random question, but I have two friends who are trying to get into the game,” Javy said to Zach. “Would it be alright if I invited them to join the company?”
“Oh, yeah, definitely. We need more members.”
Black Wolf had been the first company founded in the Chicago area, but at this time it was no longer top dog. They still had considerable power, but they lacked the numbers and fighting strength of other companies. The top company was Ragnarok, with almost two hundred members. A tier lower were Bravehart, Grizzly and Ronin, having between thirty and fifty members each. Black Wolf's status was solely tied to being the first company founded. The overdrive discovery might put them back into a position of power. But they needed more members as well.
“What classes are they?” Xavier asked.
“They haven't started playing yet. They wanted to see if they could get in the company before joining. Is there any specific class that they should pick?”
“They should choose whatever they think will be most fun for them. This is a game, after all,” Zach said.
“Great, I'll let them know that they can join,” Javy said.
“So I guess I'm going to just wait on spending the skill point,” Miko said as she closed her menu.
“Good choice, “Xavier said.
They went over the plan. The scouting team would head back to the entrance of the bunker they had found. From there, they would conduct a sweep around that section of the forest, looking for signs as they went and gathering any resources they needed for overdrive as they went. They wouldn't engage anything unless they absolutely needed to.
“Sound good?” Zach asked.
“Sounds fine,” Xavier said. Miko and Javy also agreed.
“Great. I'm going to switch my gear in the armory. Be ready to head out after that.”
CHAPTER 7
Synthesis
“Zach?”
He whirled around at the sound of a familiar voice. “What the heck are you doing here, Danny?” Zach asked.
“I got an invitation to come here last night after I had logged off,” Danny explained as he walked down the hall toward him. “I'm guessing you did too.”
“Well, I do work here. How much longer I'm not certain,” Zach shrugged. Other than ironing out a few last minute bugs, his work on World at War was finished.
“Ah. So, do you know where we're going?”
“Up this hall and to the right,” Zach said, motioning for him to follow. Danny fell into step beside him.
“So this is Elysium, huh?” he asked as they walked down the hallway. “Just how much do they make?”
The hallway was floored with dark slate tiles, and the walls themselves were made of opaque, purple tinted glass. Zach didn't know how much this building had cost to construct, but Elysium Visions had made huge amounts of money selling their technology on the mass market. He had been well compensated for his work as well.
“We're going to the Acropolis conference room,” Zach said. “That probably means this is important. They use that place for executive meetings and the like.”
“So why do we warrant an invitation?” Danny asked.
“That I don't know,” Zach admitted.
They turned right at the end of the hall and proceeded forward. Zach waved to the woman sitting at a desk at the entrance to the conference room.
She smiled and nodded back. “You're the last ones. Have fun.”
“How many more of them went in there, Jen?” Zach asked.
“Eight,” she said. “Now go on. Don't want to keep them waiting.”
“No small talk?” Zach asked.
“You shouldn't keep them waiting,” Jen said. “And I don't want to be the cause of it.”
“That's... encouraging,” Zach said.
Jen laughed. “Go on.”
“Here goes nothing,” Zach muttered to himself as the pushed the door of the conference room open and stepped inside.
He had never been inside the Acropolis before. His first view impressed him. In front of him was a huge window spanning one side of the building, overlooking the Chicago skyline. Polished black marble made up the floor. The ceiling beams were bare, made of black metal, but Zach noticed they were molded to look like Corinthian style pillars. A steel statue of the Greek goddess Athena stood at the end of a huge conference table at the left end of the room. There was a chair sitting at her feet. To the other side of the room was a fountain surrounded by chairs, almost like a lounge. There were people over there. One of them saw them and motioned them over.
“Looks like a super-villain’s lair,” Danny muttered to him as they walked.
Zach didn't recognize any of the faces at they approached. There was a black man in his mid twenties, dressed in a polo and slacks. Next to him sat a Hispanic man, in his late teens or early twenties, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. There was a male with glasses and shoulder length, sandy colored hair that looked to be in his late twenties, and a woman that looked around his age, with dark crimson hair. And next to her sat Selene, all six foot two of her. She had cut the long black hair she had been sporting when he had last seen her. Miko sat beside her. Her hair was dark brown and waist length, in contrast to her game avatar.
Then there was the man that had motioned him over. He was much older than the rest of them, in his mid fifties, by the looks of him. He was dressed in a cardigan. There was something different about him, Zach thought. He had the air of a scholar about him.
And there was one more person, sitting with his back toward them. He stood up out of his chair and turned around. “Is there somethi
ng on my face?” he asked in a good humored manner. He offered his hand.
“Uh, no. Sorry sir,” Zach said. He accepted the handshake. The shock must have registered on his face.
The man standing in front of him was Anton Starvos, the founder and president of Elysium Visions. Zach had met him once, when he was touring the various departments working on World at War, though it had only been in passing. The man was considered a visionary, one of the richest men in the world. In twenty years, he had taken Elysium from a garage into the ranks of one of the most powerful companies in the world.
“Thank you for your work on the game, Mr. Wofford. Your systems are quite elegant,” he complimented.
“Thank you, sir,” Zach said.
The president moved on the Danny. “And Mr. Eller, thank you for joining us as well. I trust you're enjoying being a part of the world?”
“Yes, very much so,” Danny said, accepting the handshake with no sign of timidity.
“Please, have a seat,” he said, motioning toward the last two empty chairs. “I would like you to meet your fellow players.”
“Hi, I'm Xavier McCoy,” the black man said.
“I'm Javy Valdez, good to see you guys in person,” the Hispanic man said.
“I'm Gavin Davis, if you couldn't tell from my chest,” the last man joked.
“I'm Nora Cleary, despite what some of you might think,” the woman with the red hair said.
Zach held up both his hands. “Okay, I believe you now.”
“What, did you think she was a guy?” Gavin asked.
“Well, no.”
“He thought I might be a guy,” Nora confirmed.
“Hi, I'm Yumiko Nakamura. Miko, for short,” she said.
“And I have the misfortune to already know you two. For the rest of you, I'm Selene Kastaros,” Selene said.
“I'm Danny Eller.”
“And I'm Zach Wofford.”
“And I'm Anton Starvos, the president of this company. And this is Dr. Richard Unger, sociologist.”
“Pleased to meet you all,” Dr. Unger said.
“So let's get right down to it, shall we? Why did I call you here today? Why did I call members of a single company within the game world, and no others? And why did I choose your company in particular?” Starvos looked around at all of them. “We have been working toward this goal for quite some time. To take players within the game, to study how they interact, how they live in the virtual world around them, whether they can form a society around them given scant few rules and no laws. To that end, we would like to perform a study on your group.”
“We have two goals in mind,” Dr. Unger said. “The first is to study what effect the time spent in the game is having on your brains, and on your physical self in general. The second goal, and the one I am most closely tied to, is the sociology of the game. We will study how players interact within a virtual reality.”
“You will, of course, be compensated for your time and effort,” Starvos said. He took a stack of folders in front of him and passed them out.
Zach opened his folder. Inside was a contract, detailing the study. At the bottom their compensation was listed. The room went dead silent. Zach could see the shocked looks on faces all around. He was probably wearing one as well.
“Yes, this compensation is for real,” Starvos said. “The virtual reality is one of the most important undertakings in the history of science, and I want to be sure that we can unlock all of its mysteries. I will spend what it takes in order to achieve that. Are you all willing?”
“Yes,” Javy said at once.
“Of course,” Xavier said.
Zach frowned. “I'm definitely willing, but why us? Why did you choose us, in particular? Why not one of the larger, more powerful companies? Is it because we were the first company founded?”
“It was on the suggestion of Dr. Unger, actually,” Starvos said.
“I've been searching for test subjects since the game launched,” Dr. Unger explained. “I was looking, not only for people who were capable fighters within the world, but also had the vision to utilize the other parts of the world as well. Your decision to keep the formula you discovered shows vision. It's a vision to create a society in the virtual world, and I am most eager to study that.”
“I'm not sure that decision had such lofty goals, but that does make sense,” Zach said. “I'm in.”
Danny, Miko, Selene, Gavin and Nora gave their assent.
“Thank you. We will begin organizing a schedule for you beginning next week. Those of you from out of town, we will provide lodging for you until we can find you suitable housing. Feel free to discuss this among yourselves before you go. And once again, thank you all for your time.”
President Starvos and Dr. Unger stood up, shook hands with all of them, and left the Acropolis.
“Two hundred fifty thousand a year, plus a five thousand dollar up front signing bonus?” Javy said, still incredulous. “That beats being a busboy.”
“Or sitting in a cubicle all day,” Xavier said.
“They must really want this,” Danny said.
“Doesn't this seem a little, you know, odd?” Miko asked. “This is an awful lot of money to throw around to simply study a game.”
“I think it's the systems behind the game that they're more interested in,” Zach said. “It will probably help them design better virtual worlds in the future, so that will mean more profit for them in the long run.”
“What about the tests they're going to run on us?”
“They're brain scans,” Selene said, looking over her contract. “Nothing that out of the ordinary.”
“I'm probably just paranoid, that's all,” Miko shrugged.
“Oh, while we're all here, I'm not going to be able to get on tonight,” Danny said. “I have to meet my parents for dinner.”
“Yeah, I have a date with my girlfriend,” Javy said. “I already made up the batches that we need for today.”
“I was going to show Miko parts of Chicago while she was here. We've been playing every night since the game launched. Why don't we use tonight to take a break?”
“Think I could get tickets to the basketball game tonight?” Xavier asked.
“With the money you have now, probably,” Danny said.
“Right. Well, see you guys later,” Xavier said as he stood up.
“Tonight's as good of night as any to go bar hopping, then,” Gavin said.
“Just don't die. It'll be a pain trying to find another assault to take your place,” Danny said.
“Haha. Have fun with your parents.” Gavin said on his way out.
Danny's phone started buzzing. “Speaking of which, that's them now. See you all later,” he said, bringing the phone up to his ear.
“Time for me to split as well. You don't want to be later for my girlfriend, no sir,” Javy said.
“See you all later,” Selene said. “I'd say we need to catch up while I'm in town, but it looks like this move is going to be permanent.”
“Later,” Zach said to her and Miko. That left him and Nora.
“Nothing like getting left behind,” Nora said. “Want to grab a bite?”
“Any preferences?” Zach asked.
“Is there a good pub around this section of town?”
“The best one would probably be Belfast Manor,” Zach said. “Let's go see if we can get a seat.”
“So, what do you think of all this?” Nora asked as they sat at a window seat in the pub.
“What, the study?” Zach asked.
“No, the whole thing in general,” she said. “I mean, sometimes I wonder if getting into the game was a great idea. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of fun. And I probably would have never met you all if I didn't join, which would have been a shame. That's seven friends I would have missed out on. But between finishing up my master's degree and everything else, I haven't even had time to go out much.”
“That's partially our fault,” Zach said. He took a
gulp of his beer. “I mean, we're pretty much obligated to log in every day to make sure our base doesn't get taken or we don't run out of money.”
Nora frowned. “I wonder if it was planned that way.”
“Could be,” Zach agreed. “Of course, this problem goes away now that we're being paid to do it.”
“Yeah, but I want to finish my masters degree. I only have this semester to get through,” Nora said. “I'm glad for this, but then I wonder if living half my life in a virtual world means that I'm missing out on a lot of experiences I would have otherwise.”
“So you're worried that your life is poorer for it?” Zach asked.
“Yeah, you could put it that way.”
Zach thought for a moment. “I guess it's a matter of perspective. I mean, look at the bunker raid we did. That was an adventure in and of itself. Is it any less meaningful because it happened in a virtual world?”
“Some people would say that it is. Like living in a childhood fantasy,” Nora said.
“Well, there has to be balance as well. I mean, you can't live your entire life in the virtual world. It's fun, but I'd miss out on so many things in the real world as well. So I guess it's all a balancing act.”
Nora sighed. “I can see why Dr. Unger is so keen on studying this. There's a lot going on behind the scenes.”
“Well, I think you're right. I think we do need to spend time interacting with the rest of the team outside of the game world,” Zach said. “It's been a major part of my life, and I'm proud of the work I've done on it, but I don't want it to become all consuming.”
She smiled. “And I don't think it's this huge, evil thing that will ruin everything. It's just a feeling I have. I think it's because I'm a musician. There's just something about sitting and talking with you in a pub that just wouldn't be there if we were doing this in a cafe in the virtual world. It, I don't know, it just seems to lack soul.”
“Yeah, I see it.”
“I mean, it's like someone who collects books even through they could put them all on an electronic reader. It's nostalgic, I guess.”
Zach frowned. “That's a rather disturbing thought, actually. Basic, live interaction with people in real life could be considered nostalgic.”
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