by Dante Doom
“This our guy?” the short agent asked.
“That’s him,” O’Hara said.
“Great. Listen, kid, these things are top of the line. Best gear you’re ever going to use. We’ve got a medical staff to keep you going ‘round the clock. You’re not gonna need food, water, or nothing. Sleep Time is optional. Sure, you’ll have to pop out every now and then, but you could even log out early, catch some sleep, and then log in during the restricted time.”
“How?”
“Let’s just say we didn’t acquire these unmodified,” the man replied. “Anyway, your partner’s gonna be here in a minute, so I suggest you get changed and get situated for your physical exam.”
“Sure thing,” Van said, unable to take his eyes off of the haptic pod before him. The Immersion Pod 2.0 was the greatest achievement in the history of mankind, so far as he was concerned. No other pod was so realistic that it would even simulate taste, sensation, and texture to a degree near what this Immersion Pod could. It was a beast of a machine, and only the elite would ever dream of owning one. And now, one was sitting here, waiting for him. While his day had been relatively crappy, what with him having lost his computer, and assaulted and blackmailed by the government, maybe this would make it all worth it. After all... didn’t he like to spend the majority of his time online? He could maybe even look at this whole scenario he was in as some kind of a quest.
Yeah, perfect, he thought: he was on some kind of an IRL quest.
He hastily grabbed the medical clothes and began to change, not even caring that there were people still around him. He wanted to get into that pod so badly that he could almost feel his body aching for it. As he finished dressing, he heard a loud “ahem” from behind him.
He spun around to see a rather short Asian woman standing in front of him, her arms crossed and a frown on her face. With a frown that deep, Van wondered, was it even possible for her to smile at all?
“Are you Van?” she asked.
“Yes, I am,” he said as he finished buttoning up his gown.
“I’m Agent Sang Ngo,” she said, not bothering to uncross her arms. “And I’m going to be the one you are escorting.”
Great, he thought, another completely hostile person. Doesn’t the CIA employ any nice people? “Great,” he said through gritted teeth as he went to extend his hand to her. She didn’t move to shake it. She just glared at him. He coughed a little.
“I want you to get things straight, Van. I’m here to investigate Draco. I’m not here to have fun, play around, or have a good time. Furthermore, just because I am a girl doesn’t mean you have any right to make crude, sexist, or piggish remarks about me—is that understood?”
“Oh, ma’am, I’d never... uh, make any remarks about you,” Van squeaked. She seemed exceptionally more hostile than the other two agents. Neil and O’Hara had been mean, and somewhat scary, as well, but that had all seemed at least somewhat professional, if only to keep up an act. With Sang, it seemed as if she were personally angry with Van, even though he had just met her.
“I see you’ve met our field operative, Agent Sang,” Neil said as he slid up to the two of them, causing Van to give a sigh of relief. “Van, I can assure you that Sang is our top hacker in her division, incredible at handling cyberterrorism and exceptionally adaptive in the field.”
“Great, great,” Van said. Sang’s face never changed away from her angry, stern expression.
“And Van here is the top guide in all of the realm, one of the very best and loyal. Right, Van?”
“Sure, sure, very loyal. And a good guide. Um, I’m a good guide,” he stammered, exceptionally uncomfortable as Sang continued to glare. What was going to make her stop?
“So, Van here is going to be making your character for you, Sang. He’s played this game for a long time and knows how to craft the perfect class. You’ll have the best stats. Right, Van?” offered Neil.
“Oh yeah, I’ll make you a great character, for sure!” Van said, smiling a little at Sang. She shrugged a little.
“Anyway, let’s get you guys examined by the doc and then we’ll throw you in the tube so we can get this show on the road,” Neil said. Sang grabbed the clothes on the table and abruptly spun around, storming off.
“Oh man, that was... she’s very intense,” Van said once she was out of earshot.
“Yeah, she hates games, gamers, and everything about them,” Neil replied.
“What? Then why in the hell is she doing this job?” Van demanded.
“Well, sport, it’s because she’s really damn good. But look, between you and me, this woman might be a tiny bit hard to motivate. So, it’s up to you to help her out. I’m gonna be relying on you here, for success. If you pull this off,” Neil said, pointing over to the tube closest to them, “I’m gonna get a truck, get two guys to load that thing up, and drive it straight to your crappy-ass little apartment so that you can happily die in there. If you don’t, I’ll send whatever information we got straight to the FBI. Deal?”
“You’re just gonna give me that pod?” Van asked, well aware of the price-point of such a piece of technology.
“Well, let’s just say this deal is off the record. Stuff gets lost in moves all the time, right? You’d be doing me a solid by making sure Sang stays involved and invested, and I’m doing you a favor right back? Got it?”
Van considered the deal. He wasn’t particularly sure if he could trust Neil, but out of the two agents, he seemed to be the nicer one. When compared with Agent Sang, Neil was like an angel. “Alright, fine. I’ll make sure she stays on point, and in return, you give me that.”
“Good man, good man,” Neil replied as a doctor came up to the both of them.
Van went through the motions of the medical exam while considering the situation. He felt a little bit of tightness in his chest; after all, this was pretty outrageous—that not only was he being forced into this situation, but he was being forced to work alongside a woman who absolutely despised gaming and gamers. That was probably the worst of it. So, more than anything, he was angry, but it was the anger that came from being trapped inside of a very unpleasant situation. It was inert rage, because he could do nothing for it. He was almost positive that Neil was just screwing around with him, too, promising him that pod, but still… it would be the best possible outcome from the scenario. The worst outcome was that they’d drag him out in the back of the woods and shoot him in the head after forcing him to dig his own grave. Maybe, he thought, he should just stick to thinking about the best possible outcome.
“Well, looking at your vitals, I’d wager to say that you are an extremely unhealthy man,” the doctor said as he looked at a few charts. “In fact, I’d wager to say that lying around motionless in a tube is pretty much the only thing you’re healthy enough to actually do without having a heart attack.”
“Thanks, Doc,” Van groaned.
“You should cut back on the Cwake, son; that stuff will kill you.”
“I don’t do it anymore,” Van lied. He had stopped selling Cwake a long time ago, but he wasn’t particularly inclined to stop using it to keep him going on those days where a buddy would find a backdoor into Sleep Time for a while. He wanted to cut back, but it was helpful to his gaming endeavors.
“Well, whatever. I’ll make sure we get some meds in your IV that will counteract the inevitable withdrawal that you’re going to experience,” the doctor said. “Try not to die in there, will you?”
“I’ll try not to,” Van said as he walked away from the doc. Sang was waiting for him by the pods, her arms crossed.
“So, did the doc find your heart?” Van joked as he approached her.
“No. Did he find your brain?” she replied harshly.
“You know, that was legitimately a good comeback, so I’m going to count that as an attempt at comradery,” Van replied.
“Alright, jokesters, enough,” Neil said as he approached. The nursing staff was busy preparing the pods for activation. “Here’s the
deal: Sang’s character is going to need escorting as she investigates and pokes around various areas in the world, okay? Your goal is to investigate specific bugs that have been potentially linked to locating Draco’s servers. We aren’t sure where they are but we’ll report them as we find reports about them. O’Hara is going to be the one staying in contact with you guys over the communication feed we’ve got going on. And don’t say anything stupid over our feed, okay? That means no references to the CIA, no talking about the investigation, and certainly no talking to anyone else about our goals.”
“Fine, so what’s the cover story?” Van asked.
“You’re players playing a game. That’s your cover story,” O’Hara said as she walked up and handed them both pills.
“Yeah, but why would Sivlander be with a total scrub? Am I escorting her for pay? We cousins? I mean, my friends are gonna ask a lot of questions,” Van pressed.
“Your friends don’t know you’re playing the game right now. As far as they know, you went AWOL when your Cwake habit finally landed you in the hospital. You’re fine, but gotta take a break for a while.”
“As soon as someone sees Sivlander, they’re gonna know what’s up,” Van replied.
“Which brings me to my next point,” Neil replied. “You’re going to have to start new characters.”
“Sivlander is a Level 78 beast of a warrior; he’s got the best gear, the strongest weapons, and tons of gold! Why would I ever start a new character?”
“Because it’s undercover work, Van. Draco was all over your account, chatting you up and monitoring your activity. Sivlander is basically dead for the time being. You can play him on your own time later, but for right now, you’re making a new character. And you’re making hers, too. Alright?”
Van frowned, considering the options. He’d been planning on wielding his greatest character yet, Sivlander, but he didn’t particularly mind starting over again. He would power level new characters for rich kids who just wanted a high-level character every now and then, so was this really any different? Besides, he’d get a chance to make his character with a different class, which wasn’t a bad deal.
“Alright, fine. I’ll start a new character. But can you at least buy the starter’s pack for us? Weapons, gold, in-game currency for quick access to things?”
“Free players are ignored by Draco, but they buddy up to anyone who spends as much as a nickel on the micro-transactions in this game,” O’Hara answered, “so we’re going to keep you guys off the radar as long as we can.”
“Well, fine... I’ve done this before and I can do it again,” Van said, grinning confidently. He actually felt a little excited at the fact that he’d be able to show these agents where his skills really were. He would get them both to level 50 in no time flat. Of course, there were 177 levels in the game, but 50 was where a player was generally considered to be good enough to handle the harder parts of the game.
“Great. Well then, the pods await. Lay down, plug in, and by the way, have fun! It’s a game, right?” Neil offered.
“This better be worth it,” Van and Sang said at the exact same time. They glanced at one another then, and Van could have sworn that she cracked a smile at him as she climbed into the tube.
He climbed in, as well, and lay back, taking a deep breath.
”Welcome to Draco’s Haptic Pod Immersion System 2.0. I’m Freida, your artificial intelligence guide,” said a feminine robotic voice. The pod slowly closed around him. Much as he’d been looking forward to it, he felt a bit claustrophobic as he was covered in complete darkness.
“Please remain still and relax. I am booting up Dragon Kings of the New World. Enjoy your time, and remember, with Draco, our games are more than real,” the voice finished, offering Draco’s trademark slogan.
There was a slow build-up of light, starting from the bottom of Van’s feet and going all the way up to the top of his face within the pod. Next, the light flashed, and suddenly he was standing inside of a white room.
“Welcome, Knave, to Dragon Kings of the New World!” said a cheerful voice. “Before we set sail for the New World, tell me a bit about your character!”
Before Van, a display appeared. It was the familiar character creation display that he had used half a dozen times. Seeing it, he grinned. It was nice being back inside of the confines of a gaming world. Of course, this was just an in-between world, since the actual game wouldn’t load until both he and Sang had their characters created, but it was the first step, and it counted for a lot.
Van pulled up the class selection screen. There were the basic fantasy classes of warrior, paladin, ranger, rogue, wizard, and druid. While everyone would jump to be a wizard in most other games, Van knew that this world was a little different. Magic wasn’t all it was cracked up to be in Dragon Kings of the New World; in fact, it was somewhat of a disappointment for those who liked to cast spells, as there were very few spells to actually use and, for the most part, magic was only found in things like weapons or ancient scrolls. Casters weren’t entirely useless, but most people, including Van, avoided playing them. Instead, he settled his eyes on the ranger class. Rangers were fast moving and clever, and above all, they were masters of their environment. They had more skill points than the warrior class and were exceptionally useful in just about any situation. He had seen and played his fair share of classes, and with the travel and guidance that he often had to do, he knew ranger was the right class for this particular situation.
He fiddled around with the stats and the character’s physical features, and finally chose the main weapons of the ranger. Bow and arrow all the way. He grinned at his selection.
This was going to be absolutely perfect for him. He’d named his character Semimodo, after one of his old screen names back from when he’d been some hacker wannabe in his early teens. It fit the circumstances, he thought. After he finished up his own character, it was time to work on Sang’s.
Now, Sang was a grumpy, mean, and somewhat jaded woman who seemed to have no songs in her heart. For a laugh, Van selected the bard class. The bard’s special abilities were to sing cheerful songs, uplift the fighters, and tell riddles and stories in order to motivate people. And it didn’t really matter what Sang played, right? She didn’t seem particularly interested in gaming, and it wasn’t like she’d be doing any of the work. Van chuckled to himself as he fooled around, throwing some random stats in and specializing her character in bagpipes. If they were gonna bully him, antagonize him, and blackmail him, then he was gonna have some fun with their agent. She probably wouldn’t even know better, really. Van snickered as he imagined watching Sang being forced to play the bagpipes in the middle of a heated battle. It was too funny. As he kept playing with his joke of a character, he re-thought it for just a moment—he wasn’t seriously going to give her this character, was he? Wouldn’t that be too cruel? As his hand hovered over the “Reset” button on the character creator, he frowned. Why did he have to make her a serious character? “No!” he said defiantly, “I’m gonna do it! She’s a bard!” And with that, he slammed is hand onto the “Finalize” button.
This would take them to the in-game tutorial and transport him into his own character. With a sly grin on his face, knowing that he had just pulled one over on the CIA, he leapt through the portal and felt the blinding light encompass him.
The burning smell of smoke immediately greeted Van as he felt a familiar warmth surround him. The sounds of the crackling fire, the mumbling of patrons, and the loud exclamations from the barkeep to his staff could only mean one thing: Van was in the Dancing Mule, the tavern where every new player started out. He grinned a little as he remembered the very first time he had stepped into the Mule, wide-eyed and impressionable. It had been in the beta, a long time ago, and at the time it had been one of the most incredible experiences of his life.
Now, he glanced around, taking note of the powerful immersion systems that he was currently plugged into. The pods offered an exceptional difference from
his old haptic feedback gear. The scene was vivid, and he was suitably impressed, but he had also been in the VR world for long enough that he wasn’t too overtaken by it. Perhaps the biggest difference was the full-blown sensation of warmth. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck beginning to stand up with awareness as he felt the heat all around his body. It was encompassing and, for a moment, he completely forgot that he was lying motionless within a tube. With a system like this, maybe he could finally get rid of that waste of flesh he called a body and just live inside of the game. If only that were possible somehow.
Van stretched out and glanced down at his body. Something was wrong, though. He wasn’t wearing leather armor, and nor did he have a longbow. Instead, he was wearing… a kilt? That didn’t make any sense. He stared at the strange green and red checkered manskirt in disbelief. Why was his character equipped with a kilt? His hands instinctively went to his side and he felt the nice, thick bladder of his bagpipes. How had he become the bard? He spun around to see a ranger standing beside him. She had all of the gear that he had equipped his own character with, except… the character was a woman. She seemed extremely disoriented.
“Hey!” Van said as he saw the name display pop up over her head. The ID number indicated that it was Agent Sang’s character. The name read “Jane.”
“Oooh, ohhh, something’s not right,” Sang said as she rocked back and forth. She was bent over, clutching her stomach.
“Why are you the ranger?” Van asked, completely ignoring her physical status. She was coughing, too. He wondered if Sang would die due to some kind of tube-related complication. He felt a little guilty, as he also began to wonder if he’d be blamed for her death this early.
“Heh…” she wheezed, looking up at him with a smirk. “I…” she paused to cough, “I’m not an idiot, Van. I don’t know what a bard is, but I know bagpipes aren’t a good weapon. But I like this bow. So, I switched it.”
“How?” Van demanded as he stepped forward to help her stand. She really wasn’t handling the transition into the game well.
