Glitchworld

by Damien Hanson

  Take that Khan the V! he thought as he took a few heroic jabs. With the proper choices he could play superman versus that vile 5th generation STELLAR VOYAGER villain any day of the week. Imagine corkscrewing through space and just drilling holes in starships. This is going to be so fricking awesome. I can do cool, crazy, and just funny dumb stuff and it is all going to be real! Absolutely real!

  “I'm done playing with TI– with the tutorial. Bring me back in because I’m ready for the real thing.”

  Lily smiled and clacked over her remote. The wall slid back into place as the tutorial ended. “Get ready for the most unbelievable and action packed two weeks of your life.”

  ***

  They met back up in the lobby, both of them wearing skin tight super suits, hers blue and his black. Lily nodded to Meredith and then went off on her way to help the next person get acquainted with his or her TITS. Derek smiled broadly at Meredith and she returned it with gusto. It was really rare to see him this giddy; she really got into the moment.

  “So it’s that good, yeah?” Meredith teased.

  “Look at me! I’m a superhero! Mare, this is so absolutely freaking fantastic. I mean I hacked a giant robot then I ran through the city to the cheers of the citizens and I got to shoot lasers. From my hand!” he gushed. “And the story isn’t just beat baddy take loot like so many of the VR ones. That robot was fixing itself. The storyline reacted to my choices! It had an agenda and a plan and it wasn’t all hit points and–”

  “Woah, Derek, settle down! Yes, I do great work. You’re welcome.” Meredith grabbed a hold of one of his hands and drew a bit closer. “And, you know, maybe after we save the day we can chill out, catch up. Have some Meredith and Derek time.”

  He looked down at her light brown skin and he squeezed her hand lightly.

  “Absolutely. As soon as we save the day I’m going to go ahead and find the gift store and buy you the biggest teddy bear that they’ve got.”

  She kept the smile plastered on her face, until it became painful. Sweet is not stupid. It’s endearing. Meredith blew air out her nose in frustration, then concealed it with a cough.

  “Teddy bears are lame. I’ll figure out the thing to get you. Just have to give it some thought. Sorry, you okay?” Derek asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I just swallowed wrong. Let’s get this show on the road! So have you decided what we’re going to be doing mister savior of Cityopolis?”

  Derek nodded boyishly, his head bobbing with such energy that it might have been dangerous to an older gentleman. Then he did a little jig.

  “Yes yes yes I absolutely know what we are going to do. Meredith Johnston get ready for a medley mashup. I choose Age of the Powered and Galaxies Unknown– so, um, how do we get there?”

  Meredith pointed. Past the lounge chairs and sofas, across the blindingly white and clean surfaces of the hub he saw sky blue plexi-glass. Looking around himself he saw that there was one every fifteen feet or so.

  “What are those?” Derek asked.

  “Those are just doors. But what they open to is the Terminal Inter Transit. Up to five people per car, those little pod trams are capable of a good 300mph, totally safe, a minute long journey to the hub of our choice.” Meredith grabbed his hand. “Let’s go!”

  They strolled up to the nearest door and Meredith hit the call button. There was a buzz, a light poof of air, and then the door hissed open.

  “Terminal Inter Transit 127, destination to Age of the Powered,” the pod announced. The two of them clambered in. The pod was roomy, with five very comfortable massage chairs and a beverage fridge in the center. Derek reached out a hand to try to open it, but couldn’t see the handle.

  “Ha! Noob,” Meredith ribbed him. “One Mountain Dew and a kiwi wine cooler for myself!”

  The machine clinked and clanked, the side nearest them opening and pushing a tray out with the requested items on top.

  “Oh my god! This is just like the drink machine that Masked Midnight got for his Midnight Mobile HQ!”

  Meredith laughed. “Yeah, pretty nifty hey?”

  Outside in the hub the pod announced that they were going to depart in ten seconds. As it did its countdown Derek popped open the top of his Mountain Dew and listened to it sizzle. Meredith twisted open her own bottle with a plop.

  “To the best two weeks I’ll ever have!” Derek toasted clinking his can to her bottle.

  “To being a handsome geeky hero type,” Meredith added.

  ***

  “Arrival at Safe Zone– Access Level 0. Age of the Powered,” the tram notified them before cycling the door open with a hiss.

  Derek and Meredith stepped out into a brand new world. This place was not the shiny white neutral of the main hub. This was a giant metropolis full of flying cars, gleaming streets, and towering skyscrapers. It was breathtaking. They took a few steps and a hologram popped up from the ground to greet them.

  “Welcome to Hippopolis!” the shimmering bald man exclaimed. “Does life have you feeling down? Do you feel lonely, or depressed? Well feel no more with NeverFeel, the very red pill that turns off your personality and turns your feels into facts!”

  “Pass,” Meredith said, waving her hand through it. It shimmered and broke into a million fading pieces.

  “Woah. Did you just wreck that thing?” Derek asked. “Like in issue 37 of–”

  “No man. It’s an in-world ad and in this world you can dismiss them by waving through them. It’s not a big deal. Do it all you like, you aren’t breaking a thing. Alright now that we’re here we have to get over to the Galaxies Unknown mashup. For that you have to use your HUD and trigger the AR paths display.”

  He did so, following her lead, and in an instant a number of colored paths appeared through the metropolis.

  “Now we just narrow it down to your selection and . . .”

  A single blue path remained. It glowed brightly and beckoned them forward.

  “I never thought I’d have a chance to be here,” he said. Hell, he was grateful to have money enough for a couple of digital issues of comics each month. There were a ton of titles he just couldn’t afford. He had to figure out a better job than the game store, like, last year.

  Mare seemed to have everything figured out. She’d been coding virtual games back in high school, while he’d still been just geeking out over comics and immersive VR Hollywood films. And rolling dice playing RPGs in his buddy’s basements. She was so much further along than he was, maybe further along than he’d ever be. Come to think of it, he wasn’t going anywhere working at a comic shop. There was a retro kick on right now, but people didn’t buy paper like it was 1983 or anything. And even if they did, he was making a quarter over minimum wage. He couldn’t afford college and didn't even know if it was worth it. What would he end up doing, anyhow? Putting himself further in debt, that’s what.

  “So, we’re about to head into Galaxies Unknown,” Mare said. “Mashup with Age of the Powered. Any idea who you want to be?”

  “Who I… oh. Oh my God, did I tell you? In the TI– the tutorial, I told them my superhero name was Captain Hammings. Dumbest name in the history of ever.”

  Meredith stopped short. He whirled to find her, hands on knees, laughing silently. “You… Captain… Hammings... “

  He laughed along, even through the sting of it. “It was… the heat of the moment. You know…”

  “Well,” she said, after she’d regained the ability to walk. “Good news, Captain Hammings, you can be whatever you want once we head into the Galaxies sector. This part is Access Level Zero: totally safe, no challenges, full of hotels and spas and restaurants. You basically do whatever you want here.”

  “Like, whatever?”

  “I mean… no? If you commit crimes or mess with other players they boot you into Access One, where they ramp up the difficulty level because you’re being a dick. But for NPCs, yeah, you could kill any of them and desecrate their corpses.”

  “Gross.”

  “
Yeah,” she agreed. “You’d be surprised how many of them just go on a murder hobo kick, and then screw everyone they don’t kill.”

  “Yeah let’s not do any of that,” he said. If there was a way to win, he would find it.

  “But aside from that, we can do pretty much anything you want.”

  “Nice.”

  Better than nice, as it turned out. The edge of the neighborhood began to melt into science fiction territory, with sleeker buildings reaching up into forever, with hardly a plant to be found. They’d entered a middling sort of place, a metallic road where hovercars zipped and zoomed by. Off the edge of the road, the world now continued downward into steaming pipes and furtive figures darting out of sight, some of which were clearly half his size. Above, great spacecraft took off and landed on massive platforms extending from the city-sized buildings. A space lane consisting of ships of all shapes and sizes stretched off into eternity.

  “Ohhh… my... oh my God.”

  “You’re going to want to save that orgasm, Captain Hammings,” she said, and flagged down a hovercar. In a minute, a beat up floating vehicle piloted by a droid swooped over and slowed to a stop a few feet off. It sported two great big fins off the back that had once been metallic before the chrome had been eaten off, either through use or high speed chases. Above the fins sat (his goggle HUD informed him) plasma turbines from the X-Meer corporation, though his HUD also informed him they were several years out of date. Amazing.

  The droid’s domed head turned to regard them, and it (A55 was its name) addressed them with several beep boops. A readout of what it said appeared on the goggles in green lettering. Where to?

  “What do you say, slick?” she asked. “Anywhere in Access Zero should be free. We can gamble, have a weird meal that’ll try to crawl away from you, watch a zero-G opera and bunk down in a floating hotel with your sugar mama. Eh?” She took his hand. “Come on.”

  They entered a small grayish building with a neon sign advertising he-had-no-actual-idea what. The door slid open with a familiar sci-fi hiss, and admitted them into what appeared to be a convenience store. A bright green alien waved at them from behind the counter, three fingers splayed. It was naked.

  “Woah!” Derek exclaimed. “Why are you naked?”

  The being’s antennae waved. “Why aren’t you?”

  “Great question!” Meredith agreed. “Derek, why aren’t you naked?”

  “I, um–”

  Meredith laughed, and he joined in. The alien shrugged. The nonchalance was so good! They had a good healthy laugh, and then an extended tear-squirting laugh, until Derek couldn’t help it and fell on the floor.

  “So what are you folks looking for?” it asked them. Meredith tapped at a console pad as Derek looked around. This place didn’t seem very well stocked. There were a few displays of fake food, drinks, and first aid kits (labeled medi-nanities). But mostly it looked like the customer side of a post office, with lots of chutes and square ports through which packages could be retrieved or sent. Off to the side were three large vending machines with keypads full of alien script on the buttons, and no way of knowing what would come out of the grubby chutes at the bottom. It was a bit off-putting.

  “What, um, how do we buy stuff here? How do I even know what is here?” Derek asked her. Confusion clouded his face.

  “You could ask me,” the alien huffed. “Look, this is a convenience hub. We’ve got most anything your puny little human heart could desire. So long as you have the credits.”

  Derek nodded at the alien and turned to Meredith. “Do we have the credits?”

  She tapped once more, decisively, upon her handheld console. “Usually newbies start with the basic package: a few credits, some few items and weapons, but I used an enhanced premium start to give us a little bit of extra oomph. We’ve got two credit loads and another two in stash. That might not sound like a lot, but it is. So go crazy.” She turned to the clerk. “Where’s your best Gear?”

  It nodded over towards a bank of vending machines with flaking paint and old school huge white plastic buttons. Derek followed her over. Once there, screens within the machines flared to life. In the center of each, instead of where you’d see rows of soft drinks, was a hollow space lit from within by what turned out to be holograms. On the left were selections for spaceships and high tech sci-fi gizmos and weapons. You could cycle through different ship models, along with various R upgrades. Rare then.

  ● Improved thrusters

  ● Upgraded blasters

  ● 1 Shuttle craft (may be purchased more than once)

  ● Improved crew quarters

  ● Ship has a good/fearsome reputation

  ● Improved deflectors (+2 armor boxes)

  ● “Snuggling” compartments (ages 18+)

  He flipped down to the L ship upgrades. Legendary.

  “Whoa,” he muttered.

  ● Smuggling compartments

  ● Specialized weapon system

  ● Upgraded navicomputer

  ● Well-appointed quarters

  ● Various ship registration codes (increased effect on appropriate rolls)

  ● Unsurpassed deflector shields (+3 armor)

  ● Replication technology (typical gear can be created free)

  He found a layer of options beneath Legendary, called Masterpieces, but the vending machine said his Access Level wasn’t high enough to make Masterpiece choices. If only he could… see… what they were… He tried swiping down real hard on the touchscreen and couldn’t quite get to any of them. Ah well.

  The center machine held a selection of super suits. Each one had a few power cards attached. He flipped to a different view, to get at individual powers. Just like before in the tutorial, each card displayed a separate power.

  ● Super sense

  ● Super ability

  ● Improved healing

  ● Natural weapon

  ● Natural armor

  ● Invulnerable

  ● Flight (up to 50mph)

  ● Blast

  He picked several, which turned into a super suit, customizable with different colors and insignias. Under each power, he found he could skin them however he wanted: ice blast, for instance, eye blast, acid spit, fire, energy bolt in any color you could think of, and the list went on. The Legendary abilities were even crazier.

  ● Blast Ray (weapon that functions as a blast ability, above, does not require AP. Needs a power pack or electricity to recharge, can be plugged into a wall socket after 12 shots)

  ● Mastery over Magnetism

  ○ Blast (use metal to strike an opponent, as above)

  ○ Flight (as Rare ability)

  ○ Rend (adds +1d to wreck attempts, against targets containing metal)

  ○ Repel gunfire (as Natural armor ability, above)

  ● Invisibility

  ● Flight (up to 250mph)

  ● Super speed (up to mach 2)

  ○ Rapid strike (as Blast ability, above)

  ● Transform into Element (choose two that apply free: free Armor, Blast, invisibility, teleport through element, super speed through element, Flight– Rare, or invulnerable to that Element)

  ● Telekinesis. Range is typically 50 feet.

  ○ Blast (throw a person, or throw an object at a person)

  ○ Repel attack (counts as Natural armor, as above)

  ○ Affect massive object (larger than car-sized requires 3AP to use, building-sized requires 5AP to use)

  ○ Fine manipulation (take apart a mechanism, unlock a door) requires 2AP to use

  “So you found your Gear in the tutorial right? The superpowers. Now that we’re here, we can take our pick of ships and upgrades, or go back to powers. You’ve got three selections for Rare Gear, or one Legendary and one Rare. Also, if you want to redo your skill choices, definitely do that.” She began to cycle through various ship exteriors. It looked like they could get a pretty decent ship for absolutely free. Which made sense. He’d hate to have to go through
half the trip stuck here, only to make enough money to buy a garbage ship and not be able to do much. “So… deflector shields, crew quarters, advanced weapon systems, smuggling compartments... you name it, we can get it.”

  “Maybe,” Derek said. He rolled his eyes over all of the choices. “I still have to learn the system. Let’s roll back and start with the basics.”

  Meredith rolled the selector back and checked over all of the items from the beginning. “There’s replication tech - that’s an absolute necessity. Something for nothing anytime we need it. And maybe some sort of specialized compartments?” she asked, a hopeful look riding over her face.

  “Good thinking,” Derek said. His finger arced toward snuggling compartments and Meredith’s heart hammered at her sternum. Then it arced past and landed on plush crew quarters. Meredith’s face puckered.

  “What?” Derek asked.

  “Just, let’s discuss things before we finalize selections, okay?”

  Derek nodded and she rolled over the ship choices. “I’ve narrowed it down to two. Improved thrusters will get us out of a jam, but a shuttle craft will let us land on planets and storm the bad guy citadel! What do you think, you hairy bastard?”

  Derek hesitated. “You know what, I get lost in the mega-mart. Let’s get that nav-computer so that we don’t spend our two weeks lost in the vastness of space.”

  Meredith flashed him a thumbs up and finalized the selection. Then they exited the ship screen. Meredith turned her attention to the center, entering into Legendary and displaying its treasure trove of abilities. She cycled quickly and latched onto magnetism. “It’s a heck of a power - trust me.”