For about a second everything died down and I was again enveloped by complete darkness. My anticipation had grown to the barely containable going through all these prompts.

Scanning user and user data files to estimate physical statistics distribution and initial skill assignment.

The message blinked a few times before being replaced with my starting character overview:

Name

Malcolm Solo

Callsign

n/a

Faction Allegiance

Free Worlds Alliance

Current Scenarios

Quirt Starting Scenario

Personal Statistics

Strength

3

Raw physical strength

Constitution

3

Endurance, Resistance to damage

Intelligence

5

Complex problem solving skill, Logic, Comprehension

Charisma

5

Attractiveness to others

Perception

5

Awareness through senses

Willpower

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

4

Ability to make decisions and override impulses

Memory

5

Ability to recall information and experiences

Implants and Enhancements 1/7

Neural Link

Gen 7

Allows direct neural interaction and learning

Skills

Small Arms

4 / 100

Piloting

2 / 100

Coordination

3 / 100

Team work

3 / 100

You may redistribute your starting stats if you so choose. Current ratio is 1:1.

This program tried to be funny. Not only did the computer think of me as weak but pretty, I also had enough intelligence and memory to remembered that fact pretty well. As for the skills I wasn’t sure what my mileage on them would be.

At least I had Small Arms, Coordination and Teamwork. These skill seemed useful for self-preservation and any future exploits in the game. I assumed that the skill list would grow over time. Piloting was also included but then again I assumed that every player received this skill considering this was a space game.

Thinking about it… I could see where these skills might have been influenced by my real and gaming life. I was decently fit but my last 8 years of gaming hadn’t done anything to keep my physical strength of my constitution up. Who would go to the gym if you could be as strong as you wanted in the games you played. Intelligence, Charisma, Perception and Memory seemed to be where the game thought I was okay but then again, I am sure that the stats could go way higher. Lower Willpower didn’t come much as a surprise either. There was not one diet in existence that I actually stuck to.

My skills seemed to also stem from my time as a cop and my gaming accomplishments. I remember that I came in 3rd place in a dogfighting tournament of “Planes of World War 2”. Maybe that was where my piloting skill came actually from. Whatever, speculation didn’t get me anywhere. The question was, did I want to redistribute my stat points? 1:1 ratio meant that I could decrease one and increase another at the same rate.

In my gaming experience it didn’t pay to be a middle of the road Jack of all trades. It made starting easier but later this became a hindrance because stats that weren’t needed took up points. Plus the conversion ratio normally worked against you too. For example up to 10 you needed one stat point to increase strength by one point but between 10 and 20 you might need 2 points to get a +1 increase.

The fact that I just got offered to up a stat as high as I wanted for a 1:1 conversion seemed too good to be true. On the other hand, I had no clue how much each stat would impact my game, what skills would check them and how often I needed them. So sticking every point into Endurance would probably make me pretty tough and I could run a triathlon and probably win if I could still figure out where the finish line was with Intelligence 0.

I weighed all these thoughts for a few moments and then decided against a redistribution. Let me do what the game suggested and be me. Then we go from there. I actually wanted to play this for fun and not for work. Min-Maxing or getting the maximum return with the minimum investment was great in normal gaming scenarios but it also often pigeonholed people into certain play styles and that was no fun. Let me be my own man. Or my own space-cowboy-pirate-cyborg for that matter.

“Stats and Skills accepted, no changes required.”

Loading Starting Scenario

.

.

.

Generating Character Storyline

.

.

.

Character Insertion Complete

The blackness became once more absolute. Then slowly it faded. At the same time the disembodied feeling subsided. Suddenly a bright flash and I could feel again.