by Aaron Jay
“You are being naive. You need to give up the notion that you can win this wager. You need to make a deal. We will find out what clan is playing games and helping you embarrass my daughter, me, and the Eastmans. That kind of thing always leaks, eventually. Our information network is the best amongst all the clans. We will find out how you completed the cradle quest. If you make it easy and help us, we can help you. Maybe even take you on as an affiliate. You can end this unwinnable wager.”
Tasha Eastman wasn’t in the habit of doing favors without expecting to make more out of it than she gave. She wanted a double agent against one of the rival clans. As I had no clan allies I had nothing for her. I turned to Maya.
“Well, Maya. I think this is proving which of us was right in our little wager. Don’t you?”
“Shut up, Miles.”
“No big speech about how the Party is on top because of their abilities? Because it seems to me that you all are cheating by bringing me here and interrupting my play.”
“Don’t lecture me on cheating,” Maya spat.
The Captain stirred at this comment.
“Mr. Boone,” the Captain sermonized, “detaining you is within laws and regulation. There is no cheating. I’d advise you to be careful what you say. False accusations of cheating come with a stiff penalty. You were detained under color of an investigation of a suspicious amount of unregistered nano.”
Whoever had done his personal nano-design work, they were tops. His voice could make even that pile of nonsense seem reasonable.
“The nano is registered and my logs will show as such. And what are the Eastmans doing sitting in on your investigation?”
“They aren’t,” he continued smoothly, “Tasha Eastman heard we would be investigating the nano which is related to the wager her daughter, the clan heir, made. She asked to meet with you. The GMs are always happy to help facilitate game-play for leading citizens from the Party or a family member of Numitor Boone.”
Tasha Eastman tried again.
“And the Eastmans are grateful to the GMs for all the solid work that they do. Miles, I don’t know what this other clan is offering you but they can’t match the Eastmans for you. Work for us. Tell us who helped you. Tell us where you are and we can help you get out of the cradle. Get out of this silly wager you made with my daughter.”
“Why should I?”
“I’d think that would be obvious. Whoever you have helping you, whatever promises they have made to you, they cannot guarantee you your freedom. My daughter and the Eastmans are the only ones who can do that. Only she can agree to end the wager.”
Tasha Eastman raised one hand like one end of a balance scale and placed her words on one side. “Your allies can promise to help you win the bet, but now they will have to do so against everything I can do to make sure my daughter wins. There isn’t a clan that can promise to beat us now that our guard is up.”
She raised her other hand. “My daughter can end this wager today. Right now. You have already finished a beginner’s quest. You could be a full player immediately.”
She looked at the hand that had held my supposed allies. And let them go, rubbing her fingers like removing some dust or dirt that had stuck to her fingers.
If I had an ally to betray I’d have been incredibly tempted. Just my luck I had no one to sell out. I supposed today wasn’t the day I got to find out if I had integrity.
Jude decided to add to the pressure on me.
“Miles, don’t be a stubborn ass. You can get out of the wager. You can leave the cradle. We can play together.”
“I really can’t tell you what clan has been helping me.”
The horrible thing of it is that I couldn’t. There were no allies. It was just dumb luck.
“A name, Mr. Boone,” said Tasha, the Clan Head.
“Suppose no one helped me? What if I really did accomplish this on my own?”
“Then you would have nothing of much value to offer me.”
“You’d have to admit that I was a pretty amazing player, wouldn’t you? Isn’t that worth something?”
“One player who managed to pull off one incredible trick once, versus the dignity and standing of my clan and the integrity of the game? It isn’t even close.”
I turned from the mother to the daughter.
“Maya. We have had our differences. Whatever issues I have with you, I have always thought you were a true believer. The whole point of this wager is to prove that I can play as well as your hand-picked Party members.”
“So? You had to have cheated and gotten help from one of the clans. You cheated.”
“And if I didn’t?”
She glared at me. We were at an impasse that Jude decided to break.
“Miles, if you don’t tell them where you are I will,” he said with a sigh,
“Jude, be careful. I haven’t been sure how we were going to remain friends through all of this. Inform on me and we are through.”
“Just shut up. This is what winning looks like. Take the deal. Stop acting like a holier-than-thou son of a bitch and enjoy it. Tell them where you are and what you have been doing and with whom.”
“I can’t.”
“Sorry, Miles. You will thank me for this later. He is in Quartzite. Some nowhere town in the high desert.”
“Jude, you son of a bitch.”
“You will get over it. Now there is no way you will win the bet, but you can still win your freedom. You might as well cop to the rest. You will see I am just forcing you to do what had to be done. Tell us what clan you worked with.”
Maya took his hand in gratitude. I saw red.
“Jude, you smug, arrogant son of a bitch. Same with the rest of you. I really did pull this off without help.”
Tasha Eastman seemed to recognize Quartzite. Of course, she had been playing for our entire lives so she was bound to be familiar with more of The Game than our generation.
“Quartzite,” said the head of the Eastman clan.
With clipped words, I explained exactly how this had happened. The incredible prices in Quartzite. The gear from the five beginner quests. All of it. I could see when they came to believe me.
Tasha Eastman burst out laughing. Jude’s stone face finally cracked. I could see that he realized that instead of forcing me to betray and win by his lights, he had just ruined me. Maya’s face was a picture of conflicting emotions.
“Clan chief, can we take Miles in as an associate?” Jude asked.
“No. If he had been working with another clan then the wager would have been seen as just an inter-clan struggle. Co-opting Numitor Boone’s son would have been a feather in our cap and the reputation of the Party would have been enhanced. If he has no clan allies to betray to us, he has no value. Moreover, he is obviously still politically unreliable. We cannot take in someone loyal to Numitor Boone’s ideals. Quartzite. What are the odds?”
“Maya. Please, call off the wager.” Jude implored.
Maya opened her mouth to respond but before she could, her mother interrupted.
“I forbid it.”
“Mother?”
“We cannot afford it, Maya. Calling off the bet now would be seen as a loss. An admission that Numitor is right. You know that there is often discontent in the cradle. You must keep the wager. And Miles,” she turned to me. “You will lose.”
“I’ve done pretty well so far,” I replied levelly.
“Yes. Yes, you have. That ends now. Captain?”
“Yes, Tasha? You know that I am constrained. Numitor will have all my actions in this affair reviewed by the AIs”
“Nothing illegal. Nothing against the regulations. That is why the Party writes the laws and regulations.”
Arneson, who had been quiet throughout all of this, cleared his throat.
“Pardon the interruption,” he ventured.
The Captain and Tasha Eastman indulged him with a nod from him and a small wave from her.
“The nano that Boone claims is his should
be checked to make sure it is his. Throughly. Individually even. His pod as well. If anyone could game the nano blockchain and ledgers, it would be Numitor Boone or his son. That might take a few months,” he continued.
The Captain smiled and looked to Tasha for approval.
“And? He will simply play elsewhere,” said Tasha impatiently.
“Anyone under investigation for tampering with the game’s architecture can be banned from game-play while the investigation is underway. They can even be forced into a GM pod without access to The Game to ensure they don’t cause any further problems,” smiled the Captain taking up Arneson’s suggestion as if they had practiced their presentation.
“There you go. Thank you, GM… Arneson, is it? There is always something in the laws that allows one to do what is necessary. Your diligence will be remembered,” said Tasha.
“Yes. Solid work, Arneson,” said the Captain.
I stood unmoving.
“Miles… Miles…” Jude was saying my name, his face pale. I ignored him.
Arneson and Pulling took me by the arms.
“Let’s not make any trouble and add resisting arrest, OK?” said Arneson with a smile. They walked me towards the door. Pulling had her poker face in place.
I stopped at the door and turned back, and Pulling gave me enough slack to do so. Jude’s face looked hopeful that I had something to say to him but I only had eyes for Maya.
“Maya. You may win our wager but I won the bet. Didn’t I? You and I will always know that. I may slave for you. That will be horrible. But I won’t be a slave master. That is worse.”
Maya said nothing. Jude mouthed, “I’m sorry”
“Gods. Shrink him down and make him less repulsive and it is just like listening to Numitor. Boones don’t seem to learn,” chuckled Tasha.
As I was led away, all I could hear was Tasha’s hideous laughter.
CHAPTER EIGHT
We once had things called jails and prisons. Jails were where you were held before you were convicted of a crime. Prisons were where you went after you were convicted. I guess technically I was in jail, not prison, but in our great society I was going to be in a pod either way. The days of iron bars and concrete walls were long gone. I sat on a park bench looking at ducks. Not a bad place to sit and wait for a trial.
Trapped here I couldn’t help but consider a number of other ironies. Free or jailed, prisoner or upstanding citizen, everyone was still going to find themselves in a pod in our great society. That said, there was a world of difference between being a prisoner in a pod and a free man. Go read a book in prison and then read the same one at home. Another irony: the pod experience you get in jail is the same one you get in school. Parental control censors are on max. The content is all designed to be educational and morally nurturing. The prison pods (as opposed to jail) and virtual experience aren’t like this at all. I hoped I would never get stuffed into a Mahanenko (so named for the inventor of the Prison Pod). While GM Arneson could waste two months of my precious year and cause me to lose my wager and thereby face a lifetime of slavery for Maya Eastman, I didn’t think he could get me red banded and Mahanenkoed. So, I had that going for me. Bastard.
Five minutes ago, I had been led to an entire floor in the subbasement of the Tower lined with pod after pod, one of which was going to be just for me.
Pulling found a moment to say a few kind words while her partner was off logging me in and setting up my jail cell.
“You managed to finish a cradle quest in days. Losing two months is a big blow but you aren’t finished yet. Don’t give up,” she encouraged.
“What’s it to you?”
“Your father saved us all. I see more of the worst of the Game than most do. I’d have no problem seeing The Eastmans humbled a little and I have no burning need to see you stuck in the Cradle. We needed a Boone before. What if we need another and you are stuck in the Cradle?”
On one hand, she seemed pretty regretful about her part in this. On the other, she still backed her partner up and was about to put me into a pod, and never said boo in front of anyone. On the gripping hand, she was hot.
Arneson came back and one of the pods nearby opened, waiting for me. There was no point in making a run for it. Where could I go? The Game was everything and controlled us all even down to our food. There was no escaping.
“Don’t worry, Boone. In a few months you can get back to grinding rabbits,” smirked Arneson.
I thought about telling him how I had taken out that local boss but I knew it would just sound lame and defensive. So I let him have the last word and climbed into the pod.
That is how I found myself sitting on a bench by a pond in a park or, if you prefer, in a jail cell in the high-tech dungeons under the White Tower.
The game world couldn’t be accessed from here. I couldn’t earn EXP. Auction houses and trading were cut off. Any crafted items made here couldn’t be brought into the game. Adventures here wouldn’t help my character. I couldn’t communicate with anyone in the game. My avatar was just as it had been in the game. I was living in my permanent character but you can’t play the game from jail.
Mostly though, I thought about how my best friend had betrayed me. He thought he was helping me, but really, what does that matter? Betraying my confidence to my family’s enemies as they work to enslave me wasn’t something that I thought I could forgive. The sheer arrogance of it. His confidence was something I had always admired. But people who excuse terrible things because they think the rules don’t apply to them--what are they worth? Jude thought he didn’t have to keep faith with me because he knew better. Bastard. The Party justified rigging the rules because they were saving the world from wild nano. Tasha Eastman and the GMs think they can apply the law selectively and still have everyone respect the law and respect them. Maya’s decision to bet me rather than follow the rules may work out for me yet. But, she never should have entered this wager with me. Jude. That arrogant motherfucker. My head was all messed up as I experienced hating someone I still loved like a brother.
I looked at my character sheet:
Miles Boone
Level 3
Exp: 3,132/6,000 to next level
Hit Points: 27 (8 +1 Con bonus per level)
Str 13 (+1)
Dex 12 (+1)
Con 13 (+1)
Int 12 (+1)
Wis 12 (+1)
Cha 12 (+1)
Luc 0* (-%$)
Title: Wheeler Dealer
Skills:
Journeyman Trader 111/1000 to Master Level
Unallocated Skill Points 2**
*n/a
** see a trainer to use unallocated skill points and
acquire new skills
I was 2,868 exp from my next level and no matter how long I spent in here I’d be exactly that far from level four when I got out of jail. I couldn’t advance in anything. I was stuck. Quartzite was impossible to reach from here. I waved my character sheet away.
A slider hovered in front of me. I had some choices on how I’d spend my time in jail awaiting my moment in court. And “spend my time” meant something pretty literal. I could adjust the speed that time passed in this jail world. I could make the time fly by, and almost before I knew it, my time in jail would be over. Or, I could drag it out with a flick of the slider.
I had played it pretty tough for the Eastmans, Arneson and Pulling. No tears or begging or pointless struggle. But Arneson knew he was getting his licks in. Tasha found it funny. I could already feel myself climbing the non-existent virtual walls as my opportunity to complete the remaining four quests shrank.
Fast or slow. How to pull the band-aid off.
In my life, I had spent a lot more time than most people in the educational content of VR. With a nearly infinite number of worlds filled with entertainment, most people chose either to play versions of the game as practice or just to enjoy themselves with pleasures and distractions. Those pleasures cost at least some nano. For me, the facts that VR
educational programs were free to use and my father encouraged an education beyond the game, meant that I was much more familiar than most with what I could do to pass the time here in jail.
Making the time fly by would let me run away from all this anger. I wouldn’t have to sit through every minute of this damned timeout obsessing over how I lost my best friend. How I lost my bet. How I lost my freedom.
Conversely, haste makes waste. I needed to get centered. This was some free time for me to think and plan. A chance to try and figure out what to do about my odd gaming circumstance. Try to figure out what that tutorial was all about. And that insane vision of the AIs. Remus. Get over Jude’s betrayal.
The hell of it is that I decided in spite of myself to listen to what would have been Jude’s advice. I could just hear him urging me to take stock. Think first. That patient bastard would never rush. He’d never let his emotions make him impulsive.
I jammed the slider to make time pass at a crawl. I now had plenty of time to decide whether to have time pass slow or quick. Too bad that this option was believed to be impossible in The Game. Something about shifting the speed of events in the Game created stochastic errors that caused nano to go feral.
I sat and took a deep breath. It felt like I had been running, struggling and racing without a break.
The complete sum of human knowledge was at my fingertips. It could be presented in a variety of interactive and immersive ways and still I knew I’d be bored since I couldn’t play the damned game.
There was a rustle in the bushes. A dog jumped out and the ducks flapped off quacking and squawking from the sudden appearance of danger. But it was too big to be a dog.
“Remus?” I said.
He gave me that same smug tongue lolling grin. He ran off after the ducks and left a book behind.
Hardcore Playmode Tutorial.
I started to laugh.
“Saved by an honest-to-god, goddamned Deus Ex Machina.”
