The Game (The Game is Life)

by Terry Schott

  “What are you a prodigy in?” Lilith asked. “You’ve never shown any aptitude for the arts, or math, or science?”

  “I know. I think I’m a prodigy at the Game itself. Risking it all and winning. I believe my skills are at playing games… and winning against all odds.”

  Lilith snorted. “Sorry to disagree, kiddo, but you didn’t exactly win on your last play.”

  “One time I lost,” Alex agreed, “But, Lilith, you have to admit, I used to play very aggressively. I would spend more credits than you ever recommended. I recall coming out of a play and you telling me how lucky I was that I wasn’t ruined. My rise in the standings wasn’t overnight, but I didn’t buy my way to the top or have a one-time stroke of luck. I played well each and every time.”

  “Very true,” Lilith admitted.

  “And I don’t think I really lost on my last play.” Alex said. “I think the Mainframe is an intelligent being, and took me out of the Game on purpose.”

  “Even if that was true, why would it do something like that?” Lilith asked.

  “Well, I go back to Earth tomorrow,” Alex answered. “If it is true, I’m sure we’re going to find out.”

  Chapter 13

  What is the allure of the Game and why do so many of us watch it? The simple answer is that the Game fulfills our desires for entertainment and fantasy. Want to gamble? Pick an event in the Game and place your bet. There’s nothing that you can’t bet on inside the Game. Want to watch true love bloom? Once again, you can find it in the Game. You can experience anything in the Game, better than movies from the old days. If you want to watch a spy actually become a spy and follow her/his adventures, just put in the correct search term and the Game video feed system will find you a list of spies in action. If you have enough money, you can do more than watch; you can experience it firsthand. Quite simply, we watch the Game for the same reason we don’t allow people over the age of 18 to play it; because in many ways it’s better than real life. Or perhaps it’s because on rare occasions, for reasons no one can seem to explain, players who die in the game also die out here in real life... very popular events when they happen.

  My name is Stephanie, and I’m watching myself in a dream. I have no idea how or why, but it’s been occurring for as long as I can remember. They feel so real and, for the most part, I’m in it experiencing all of the emotions and sounds and sensations. But there’s this other part of me watching curiously, trying to figure out what’s happening and why.

  I’ve been having this one a lot lately.

  I’m standing on a hill. In front of me is an empty city, cars and buildings all abandoned. It’s obvious that for some reason, everyone left quickly. Skyscrapers and other tall buildings stand silently; the birds and animals are quiet, which makes the roaring sound even louder.

  I look behind me and see hundreds, maybe thousands of people. They are terrified, huddled in groups, some holding their children desperately, looking at me, silently pleading, as if expecting me to protect them. Behind me stands an old woman. Spanish like me, my height, long black hair and dark tanned skin. She looks at me and nods familiarly. Her eyes are mine, and I know that she is me. The old woman places her hand on my shoulder and, from the looks on the face of the people behind me, I know that something terrible is approaching. I calmly turn to face the threat.

  A large wave of water has risen above the city, roaring with rage and hunger. The wave is so large that it makes the skyscrapers look like a small model toy set. Quickly it engulfs the city, great white waves of boiling, rushing water destroying the manmade landscape as if it were made from paper and sticks instead of steel and concrete. I quietly watch the wave as it comes towards its true target — me.

  I smile as the wave gets close enough to feel. First a fine mist of coolness, followed by a deep presence of hate, pain and hunger. The old woman and I peacefully wait for its arrival.

  My eyes sparkle as I raise my right hand, a thin, weak thing compared to the destructive force of nature charging to claim us. Small and weak, but it contains the power of my energy and intent.

  I extend my fingers fully towards the wave, feeling a familiar warm golden tingle spread up from my feet and focus outwards from my hand. The wave has no hope; it never had any chance to harm us. The two-hundred-foot tidal wave washes harmlessly over, and then past us. Seconds pass and the wave screams in frustration, but it is bound by laws that forbid it from turning back and trying to claim us one more time.

  I look behind me and start to smile at my old self, but she is gone. I can still feel the warmth of her hand on my shoulder. People surround me, smiling and crying with relief.

  Then I wake up to the sound of my alarm clock.

  The deejay is announcing the time and date. ‘Well, for those of you thinking the world will end today, so far it hasn’t. December 21st, 2012 appears to be just another regular day in Toronto, Canada, and all reports from the rest of the world are just as uneventful.’

  I lay in bed, waiting until the man on the radio finishes talking. I’m waiting to hear something today, not sure what it is, but I’ll know when I hear it.

  ‘The only noteworthy observation is that the birth rate is incredibly high,’ the deejay reads from his news script. ‘If you own stock in anything related to kid products, get ready to see an increase in business. The world is experiencing a baby boom greater than the one that happened after the Second World War. No one can guess why this is happening, but it isn’t a cause for concern, as far as anyone is reporting.’

  Well, that’s curious. I wonder what it means.

  ‘Similar to New Year’s day, everyone has been tracking the baby born at the significant hour. Today we weren’t tracking the first child born at Midnight. They’re trying to identify the first child born at 12:21, since some believe there is importance with those numbers. Experts predicted a lot of confusion trying to pinpoint who the clear winner of this would be, especially with the abnormally high number of births occurring. But yeah, this is a bit strange, I guess — at 12:21, only one child was born. On the entire planet. Does that even make sense? Well, that’s what my paper says. A young man living in our own city, if you can believe that. Trew Radfield was born at precisely 12:21 to happy parents Louis and Carol. Not sure what the prizes are for being born at the correct time on the day the world is said to end, but I’m certain it will be something interesting.’

  Bingo! I jump up and quickly write the kid’s name down. Better get his parents’ names down, too. Trew Radfield. I feel compelled to keep an eye on him, and my gut is always right.

  If I’m looking for him, it’s a good bet others will be, too. I wish there were a million kids born at that time; it would have made things easier. Trew Radfield is shining like a bright candle in the darkness to every nutjob out there, and to people even more dangerous than that.

  Chapter 14

  There are an incredibly large number of attributes, power ups, scenarios, and skills that can be purchased for a Gamer’s play. The sheer volume of combinations ensures that each avatar will be extremely different once they enter the Game. It’s this diversity which enables individuals to learn, and also provides viewers with a wealth of choices for watching. Some of the common attribute selections are Longevity, Health, Intelligence, Strength, Love, Relationships, Focus, Spirituality, Intuition, and Aptitude. Strategies abound for advancing in the Game, but the Mainframe makes it impossible to develop a clear path to the top rankings. What might work for one Gamer will not for another. Repeating a strategy doesn’t produce identical results for the same Gamer on their next play. Intuition and Spirituality are not often invested in heavily, but when they are, it can lead to the avatar searching for meaning from its life on Earth and the existence of some higher intelligent lifeform that guides them. Major religions being formed are often the result of players who have spent extreme amounts of credits on these attributes. Attributes alone are not enough to provide religious breakthrough, however. A Gamer must skillfully and co
rrectly invest in scenarios, skills, and power ups at exactly the right moments in their avatar’s lives to increase their odds of successful revelation.

  Excerpt from ‘Gamers Manual 7 - Human level guide book’

  Earth - years before December 21, 2012

  I’ve been sitting at this crowded cafe for over an hour and a half. The computer is open, the blank screen looking back at me. That annoying little cursor flashing, blink, blink, blink. Are you laughing at me, little cursor? Are you trying to make me get scared and give up again?

  This book has been in my head for too long. Something always seemed to come up, to distract me from writing it. Well, nothing’s distracting me anymore. My kids are gone. No grandchildren survived the crash either. My wife. No, don’t think about Tricia right now, George!

  Damn it, why did I not get on that plane with the rest of them? How can one 74-year-old man have a business meeting on the day he’s taking his whole family to Hawaii for a big vacation? All of them, gone...

  Okay, I have to calm down. This isn’t what I’m going to write about. People can find that story all over the Internet. I swear, if one more person sends me a message saying how sad they are for me, but the bright side is that I’m lucky I wasn’t on that plane… I’m going to run them over.

  All right. I’m writing this. People have laughed at me all my life for my crazy theory. If I was born 200 years ago I would have been labelled a Heretic, but that’s a sign I might be on the right track, right? So many discoverers and geniuses were mocked and ignored at first. They laughed at Darwin, Copernicus, Mendel, even Columbus! But the world is round, isn’t it!

  I know I’m on to something. The evidence is all around us.

  Perhaps the time isn’t right for this idea, but maybe in 10 or 15 years someone will read this book and it will make perfect sense.

  Okay, George… here we go. I begin to type, and I’m not stopping until it’s all down.

  We live in a game. Somewhere ‘out there,’ our real bodies are plugged into a very real virtual reality simulation. Earth isn’t real, but it’s important to those running the game. What we call God, or Allah, or the Universe, or whatever spiritual name religion gives it… is simply the supercomputer that runs our universe.

  How can I be so sure of this?

  Because I’ve spoken to it. And it has spoken to me…

  Chapter 15

  It took ten years for the Game to thoroughly embed itself into Tygon society. Television shows, movies, books, sports of all types, all slowly declined in popularity. Instead of reading, people tuned in to the Game. The movie business of make believe and special effects could no longer appeal to an audience that was seeing real avatars living, loving, and dying inside the Game more realistically than actors could portray. The Game provided that special something for everyone, and as it celebrated its 10-year anniversary, people were so immersed in the Game that it was a worldwide obsession. Thankfully these industries didn’t die out; jobs simply shifted to focus on the Game industry. Sports experts were still required for fans, they just studied and followed Game players instead of real sports stars. The media business grew even bigger; thousands of new channels devoted to Earth players, continents, and history were created to feed the frenzy of Game followers.

  The world prospered and thrived due to Brandon Strayne’s creation. Through the Game, he indirectly controlled all business and finance… a danger no one seemed concerned about…

  Excerpt from the video ‘Brandon Strayne; Rise to Power’

  Brandon Strayne walked into Zack’s central command office. VirtDyne was the biggest building in the city, boasting 200 floors above ground and another 25 floors underground. The command offices were located on the top floors of the building, with each player sponsored by VirtDyne having their own dedicated area. Of Brandon’s players, Zack was the highest ranked, and his command centre was the first penthouse floor. The outside walls were tinted glass from floor to ceiling, providing a majestic 360-degree view of clouds and the sprawling city. Interior walls separated the floor into five key areas; four large corner offices and a centre squared main office. The centre of the command office was a glass walled area filled with large screens, each displaying different feeds from both around the world and inside the Game. Occupying this space was Zack’s team, an elite group comprised of over 30 specialists in media, marketing, strategy, computer programming, and every other aspect involving business and the Game. Brandon had made certain that each team member was the best in their field. It was evident by the scale and calibre of this operation that the Game was much more than just an educational tool for kids. The new virtual school that Brandon had created wasn’t only for learning. Big business and the world economy now revolved around the Game — a business and economy controlled entirely by VirtDyne, and its majority owner.

  Brandon walked directly to the centre office and sat down in the chair at the head of the large, long table. All the chairs were occupied and the team looked prepared to meet. Brandon knew they had advance warning when he was coming, which he preferred. His time was too valuable to waste and this was not a team of hacks fooling around when he wasn’t here. This was the big leagues of the Game.

  “Give me the details, kids. Same priority as always, biggest problems first.”

  Zack’s Right Hand, Michelle, stood up from her place and walked towards the large monitor opposite from Brandon. The Right Hand of a player was the leader of the group, in charge and responsible for all aspects of the player from this side of the Game. The Right Hand answered to the Patron, everyone else answered to the Right Hand.

  At 25, Michelle was a retired top ranked player. She was beautiful, smart, and very experienced at coordinating winning teams. Each time their player went into the Game, the team would elect one member to be the Right Hand for the duration of that play. If a Right Hand did their job well, they would be elected to do the job during the next play. Michelle had been Zack’s Right Hand for the last five plays, a very impressive record even among the elite player groups.

  “Someone’s trying to kill Trew,” Michelle said.

  Brandon nodded, apparently not too concerned to hear this. “Any idea who?”

  “Some ideas, but nothing definite yet.”

  “You have it under control? Our boy is as safe as we can make him?”

  “Absolutely, sir.”

  “Who’s making sure he’s safe?”

  Michelle looked downwards towards her left. “I’m not able to say, sir.”

  “You just did, Michelle. So she’s watching him and it’s all good?”

  Brandon scanned the entire table, searching for someone to silently indicate the situation wasn’t in control. Everyone looked calm and confident. He nodded positively. “Next?” Brandon asked.

  “It’s been five days played, and Trew is very young. The scenarios and credits spent on power ups have all worked properly so far. We know that he won a one million dollar prize for being born at 12:21. That was expensive for us to buy and, as it turns out, a total waste of credits. Who would have guessed the Mainframe would stop all other births at that time once the first player purchased it?”

  “The money sits in an account for him until he’s what age?” Brandon asked.

  “Twenty-five,” Michelle said. “His parents are comfortable when it comes to money, so he won’t need it until then.”

  “What’s his overall health and disposition?” Brandon asked.

  “He’s a happy, healthy boy. They are teaching him religion and eastern spiritualism. Teachers and neighbours all like young Trew; his charisma is high. He’s a natural leader.”

  “How old is he and has he begun to self-narrate?”

  “He’s seven. The self-narrating is beginning, but still nothing an audience will want to turn in to listen to quite yet,” Michelle said. “He purchased the correct attributes, though. Soon the little voice that talks to itself, detailing life’s observations, feelings and thoughts will start to mature and the crowds
of fans will begin to tune in to listen.”

  Brandon nodded. Self-narration was part of the programming built into all avatars. Earthlings rarely gave much thought to why they constantly talked to themselves, but it served a crucial purpose for the Game audience. Anyone watching or Firsting the players received a clear, concise dialogue of what was going on in the player’s head. Game viewing had exploded in popularity when the self-narration add-on had been implemented.

  “So, not much to report then?” Brandon asked.

  Michelle shook her head. “The first few years are always pretty boring. The excitement will start for us and the fans when he is nine. He bought maturity, so he should start self-narrating early for the fans. He will turn nine tomorrow at 2 PM our time.”

  Brandon nodded and stood up. “Then I will see you all tomorrow at 2 PM.”

  He was at the door when he stopped and turned around to ask one final question. “What about Alexandra Montoyas? Where has she turned up in the Game?”

  Michelle held out her hand and one of the women at the table hurried forward with a tablet. Scanning it quickly, she looked back towards Brandon. “Her avatar's name is Danielle Benton. She’s in the United States, sir, a couple states away from the Canadian border. She is six years old, and as far as we can observe, living a very normal life.”