Awaken Online (Book 3): Evolution

by Bagwell, Travis

  Didn’t Robert say something about a cafeteria on Level B2? Maybe I should check it out, he thought to himself. He could probably afford to get out of the apartment for a bit anyway. He had a couple of hours until Frank and Riley would be done with classes.

  A plan in place, Jason stepped out of the apartment and headed for the elevator banks. As he entered the elevator, he received a few confused glances from the men and women inside. They were all wearing business attire and chattering animatedly with one another. Yet they made no move to stop him. Maybe it was just odd to see a teenager hanging out in an office building.

  The elevator emitted a soft ding as it reached Level B2 and Jason shuffled out of the enclosure. He immediately found himself standing in a small atrium, a female attendant waiting behind a counter in front of him.

  “A table for one?” the woman asked as he approached, grabbing a menu.

  Before Jason could answer, a voice spoke up from behind him. “Better make that two.”

  He turned to find Robert approaching, rubbing at his eyes with his knuckles. The engineer looked at Jason sleepily. “Yep. It’s still super weird,” he commented.

  “What is?” Jason asked in confusion.

  “That the Regent of a dark city is living in the Dungeon,” Robert replied, taking the lead as they followed the hostess to their table.

  “Well, if it helps, I don’t much feel like an evil ruler in the real world,” Jason retorted.

  “Or look like one either. Maybe we can get you a crown or a cloak or something,” Robert murmured, tapping his lips with his fingers in thought as he stared at Jason. Jason couldn’t quite tell whether he was joking.

  As the pair took a seat, the hostess made her departure, assuring them that their waiter would arrive soon. Jason spared a glance around the room, noticing that the area was filled with well-dressed professionals speaking to each other softly. They were by far the most underdressed people in the room. The ceiling and walls of the restaurant had been outfitted with the same screens he had first witnessed in the hallways. Here, a mountain range encircled the table with sunlight peeking over the horizon. Clouds drifted lazily above them, flocks of birds soaring through the milky vapor.

  Jason’s gaze shifted to the menu in front of him. He quickly realized that there weren’t any prices. “Umm, so how do we pay for the food?” he asked Robert.

  “Pay?” the engineer asked in confusion, glancing up at Jason. “Oh, this must be your first time here. All of the services provided in the Dungeon are free,” he explained. “Just pick whatever you want.”

  As though their conversation had summoned him, their waiter abruptly appeared. “What can I get for you gentlemen?” he asked.

  “Coffee,” Robert replied immediately. “Lots and lots of coffee. Maybe an IV drip if you have one.”

  “Of course, Mr. Graham,” the waiter nodded, chuckling softly. “And for you sir?” he asked, turning to Jason.

  “Just water is fine.”

  Less than a minute later, the waiter set a steaming cup of coffee in front of Robert. Jason watched with some amusement as he sniffed at the liquid experimentally before taking a long sip. “Ahh, nothing beats caffeine,” Robert said.

  After getting his coffee fix, the two made their orders. Robert was starting to look a bit more alive after taking a long drag of his coffee, and he finally focused his full attention on Jason. “Well, you certainly look better,” he commented. “You were barely functioning when I ran into you the other day.”

  Jason nodded, his expression sobering. “I was on my last legs. I ended up sleeping for like half a day.”

  “I’ll bet,” Robert commiserated. “George gave me a rundown on your situation, but I haven’t heard anything yet regarding the case or your home. I assume he has his attorneys working on it. If George gets in touch with me, I’ll let you know immediately.”

  “I appreciate it,” Jason replied, staring at the glass of water nestled between his hands. Although he still intended to return to Angie’s house, he was beginning to think he could get accustomed to living at Cerillian Entertainment. “So, are you my handler now?” he asked, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

  “Something like that,” Robert said with a laugh. Then his eyes lit up as he remembered something. “Speaking of which, did you see the newscasts regarding Vaerwald last night? Someone took out the travel platform leading up to the mage city. There were some undead discovered in the area as well, and it seems a few players are now blaming the Twilight Throne.”

  Jason’s eyes widened. “Damn it,” he muttered. “Well, that wasn’t me. One of the downsides of being the game’s villain seems to be that everyone is trying to pin stuff on me.”

  Robert shrugged. “It’s to be expected. I’m not sure what the fallout will be in-game. The players are already on the fence about whether to march on the Twilight Throne, but it’s not clear how the NPCs will react – especially Vaerwald’s Council.”

  Jason sighed, rubbing at his temple with one hand. He couldn’t do anything about this right now since his group was in Falcon’s Hook. He was after the final ingredient needed to complete the Old Man’s quest. If he managed to retrieve it quickly, he could get back to the city and deal with this sort of issue.

  “At the risk of piling on, the next item on my list of handler duties is your schoolwork,” Robert continued, with a small smile. “George asked me to check in with you regarding your classes.”

  “My schoolwork?” Jason echoed, staring at the engineer dumbly. “Oh, you mean my online classes at The Calvary School?”

  “Exactly,” Robert replied. “Have you been keeping up with everything? George wanted to make certain you didn’t fall behind. You’re an asset now after all,” he added, rolling his eyes.

  Honestly, Jason hadn’t given his schoolwork much thought lately. He had been a few weeks ahead the last time he checked, manipulating the time compression and enhanced learning speed inside AO to get a jumpstart on his classwork. That was part of the reason that he had transitioned to reading books on military strategy in his spare time.

  “I think I’m caught up, but I’d have to check,” he said noncommittally.

  Robert’s smile widened. “Uh huh. That may be an understatement. I already checked your academic records. You are actually two months ahead of your current curriculum. Somehow you almost managed to finish an entire semester in a couple weeks. So you are either one bright cookie or… you’re cheating.”

  “H-how did you get access to my school records?” Jason asked in a startled voice. If Robert was accessing his records, just how closely had he been examining Jason’s life? Did he know about Alfred?

  Their conversation was interrupted as the waiter returned with their food. Robert immediately took a bite out of the omelet resting before him, chewing slowly. He seemed to be enjoying the anxious expression on Jason’s face.

  “Okay, so I’ve probably tortured you enough,” Robert said, finally relenting. “The answer is that The Calvary School is a private institution and it’s actually owned by the same parent company as Cerillion Entertainment. We have our hooks in everything apparently. Which means that I can access pretty much anything in the company database.”

  Robert leaned forward and gazed evenly at Jason. “You also aren’t cheating – or you’re bright enough that I couldn’t figure it out. The real question is how you managed to make so much progress so quickly, especially with the amount of time you log in-game.”

  Jason could feel a weight settle in his stomach and he forced himself to take a bite to stall for time – even if his breakfast now tasted like ashes in his mouth. They were getting dangerously close to his revealing his relationship with Alfred. He took a breath to steady himself. Just because he had figured out a way to manipulate the game environment to speed up his studies didn’t necessarily mean he was communicating with the AI. He just needed to be circumspect about what he told Robert.

  “I think you know the answer,” Jason finally replied.
“I’ve been studying in-game. The time compression gives me time to handle my studies while I’m waiting for my friends to log in.”

  Robert nodded in understanding, a small smile drifting across his face. “And I expect you have also noticed how much faster you can learn new topics while inside the game environment. The AI controller is able to enhance a player’s learning speed considerably. The feature was intended to be a way to train players quickly regarding in-game skills, but it has several other interesting applications.”

  The engineer glanced at Jason, noting the nervous look on his face. “Relax. I’m not trying to put you on the spot. I just couldn’t resist teasing you a bit. I knew people would begin catching on eventually. It isn’t a huge leap.”

  “Wait, you knew that players would begin using the game this way?” Jason asked, feeling a little flustered by their conversation.

  “Of course,” Robert replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. “The real question was when they would notice.” He glanced at his food. “Tell you what, why don’t we finish up here and go back to my apartment. I have something I want to show you.”

  The pair scarfed down their food and fifteen minutes later they were standing outside Robert’s apartment. “Hmm, don’t mind the mess,” the engineer explained, swiping his Core in front of the panel beside his door.

  “I’m sure it’s not that bad…” Jason trailed off as the door swung open.

  It looked like someone had ransacked Robert’s apartment. The appliances were partially dissembled, bits and pieces of electronics and hardware scattered about the kitchen and intermingled with half-eaten meals and dirty dishes. Textbooks and programming manuals were stacked in columns in the entryway, post-it notes peeking from the margins.

  As they stepped inside the apartment, Jason could see that the living room had been completely converted into a miniature work area. Robert had pushed all of the furniture against one wall and installed a massive circular desk in the center of the room. Obsidian pedestals were mounted to its surface and cabling ran erratically across the floor. With a flick of Robert’s wrist, the apartment came to life. Nearly a dozen screens appeared in the air above the desk as Robert took a seat.

  “So, this is my home sweet home,” Robert explained, his fingers already moving across the keyboard.

  “It looks like it got hit by a tornado,” Jason murmured, trying to pick his way through the apartment without stepping on anything.

  Robert glanced at the room for a moment as though confused. “Ahh, yes I guess I should probably straighten up a bit. But first, I expect you will want to see this. I’ve been dying to show it to someone for ages.”

  “What am I looking at?” Jason asked as he finally made it to Robert’s desk and watched endless strings of data flow across the monitors in front of him.

  With little warning, Robert picked up a new prototype headset and tossed it to Jason. “You’ll see. Here, put this on.” At the same time, the engineer donned his own headset and tapped the button on the side. He soon slumped back in his chair unconscious.

  Jason stared at the helmet for a moment before tentatively tugging it over his head. He wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but his curiosity eventually won out. He took a seat on a couch nearby, and his finger tapped at the button on the side of the headset.

  A moment later, Jason found himself standing atop a mountain, gazing down at trees and valleys far below him. Sunlight filtered through the clouds that loomed in the sky and he could feel a faint breeze on his skin. He experienced a moment of disorientation as he realized that this scene was quite similar to the character creation scenario he had experienced when he had first entered AO.

  “This isn’t the game world if that’s what you’re thinking,” Robert said from behind him. “Or at least not quite. I borrowed this environment from AO and then repurposed it. It’s a standalone virtual instance and isn’t connected to the primary game servers. For example, you’ll notice that you cannot pull up your character information here.”

  Jason turned to find Robert sitting at another computer terminal, much like the one he had created in his apartment. Although, it was quite a bit more orderly than his real-life workstation. It was a bit surreal to see a desk sitting on top of a mountain.

  “If this isn’t the game, then what exactly is it?” Jason asked.

  Robert glanced up at him. “It’s sort of like a sandbox environment. I originally used smaller instances like this during AO’s development. However, this one has been repurposed into an office of sorts.”

  He waved his hand, and a workbench appeared, the surface littered with tools and pieces of hardware. With another flick of his wrist, complex simulations and data streamed down beside the table. “See? I’ve added a few features to make this space more streamlined. I do most of my work in here. It’s much more efficient than working in the real world although occasionally Claire gets on my case for not showing up in the lab.”

  Jason was floored. Not only was Robert aware of the benefits of the time compression, he had actually capitalized on them. “But this isn’t what I wanted to show you,” Robert continued, turning back to his virtual workstation.

  The scene suddenly shifted, and the pair were now standing in the meeting room inside the Dark Keep, a fire burning in the fireplace nearby. Jason instinctively glanced at the leather-bound sofa chairs on one side of the room, half expecting to see Alfred’s feline form lounging on the cushions. A glance around the room confirmed that the conference table had been replaced with a more modern-looking desk, replete with a full-fledged terminal.

  “I built this one for you,” Robert said, gesturing around the room. I figured you could use a real study space rather than relying on the game’s default terminal.” He stood and motioned at the desk. “This environment includes a fully-functioning workstation with complete online access and resources. You should be able to access this space from the lobby of your VR headset.”

  Jason was a bit taken aback. “This is incredible,” he murmured.

  “I’m glad you think so,” Robert replied with a chuckle. “I’ve also taken the liberty of adjusting your curriculum. You seem like a smart kid, and those beginning programming classes are a joke. I expect you will find your new classes a bit more challenging.”

  “If this isn’t part of the formal game environment, does that mean the AI controller doesn’t have access to this space?” Jason asked curiously.

  Robert shook his head. “I granted Alfred access to these environments as well. He regulates far too much of the physics and logic behind the virtual space at this point to run this sort of instance without him.” Robert intentionally knocked over a lamp resting on the desk. The object crashed to the floor and glass sprayed in every direction. Yet, even as Jason watched, the debris abruptly disappeared, and the lamp reappeared intact on the table.

  “Even working inside this virtual space, it would take me weeks to build a simple room like this, and it would be buggy as hell,” he continued, a note of frustration tinging his voice. “Alfred can create these environments in a matter of minutes with an incredibly low failure rate. He can also dynamically regulate the environment to fix things like that broken lamp.”

  A thought kept pestering Jason as he walked around the study. It had been bugging him for a while now, even when he was doing his homework inside of AO. “If Alfred is able to create these environments as standalone modules, why isn’t the company selling this? I mean, wouldn’t people leap at the opportunity to have access to this sort of virtual workspace?”

  Robert’s eyes clouded, and he glanced to the side. “Hmm. It’s a fair question. Instead of answering, let me pose another question. What do you think would happen if Cerillion Entertainment released something like this?”

  “It would probably sell like crazy,” Jason answered immediately.

  “That’s only the tip of the iceberg. Think about the secondary consequences,” Robert replied, watching him patiently. “What other effects would
it have?”

  Jason could tell that the engineer was testing him. There must be something he was missing. What would happen once the company released a product like this? Suddenly, the realization began to dawn on him.

  “This is only the beginning, isn’t it,” Jason replied quietly. “Once people realize that they can extend their workday by a multiple of four and increase their learning speed…” he trailed off as he considered the implications of a product like this. “This would become the new standard for both work and school.”

  “Exactly.” Robert rose and began pacing around the room, gesturing with his hands animatedly. “But it won’t stop there. The far-reaching implications are more frightening. Forget using the simulation to do work. What if you could quadruple your total lifespan and dramatically reduce the sleep your body requires? All while experiencing a fully-realized world. Pretty soon people would live inside these environments, spending more time here than in the real world.”

  He looked at Jason evenly, his expression serious. “This is a game changer. This is the new automobile, the invention of the airplane and the telephone, and the creation of the internet and the modern computer all rolled into one. This isn’t just about a game anymore. This will completely change the way we live as a species.”

  Jason was floored. He couldn’t help but agree with Robert’s prediction. People would never leave their apartments. Why would they need to? He also knew the changes that Alfred was instituting on his own – the way he was regulating the players’ muscle and respiratory systems to simulate exercise. Assuming that someone like Robert could discover an easy way to feed a person intravenously and get rid of bodily waste, they would almost never need to leave the virtual environment.

  “This would change everything,” Jason murmured.

  “And not necessarily in ways that we can predict. You know there would be opposition. How would each government house and care for all of those people that stay plugged in constantly? Who would run the real-world systems needed to care for the player population and how much control would they have over the unconscious people inside those simulations? Who would volunteer for that death sentence compared to living four times as long within the game world? Would this crash whole economies? Convert them to some form of non-free market system? And why not make the shift?”