Metropolis -  Visitation Quarter 4

Monday, May 11th, 2089 | 10:03am

“Good morning, Chris,” Castiel Suerte said in his butter-smooth voice. “How are you?”

Chris had tried to prepare herself on her walk over from the Capsule Bays, but she was unprepared to deal with the kindness that twinkled in the man’s eyes. If she hadn’t known any better, she would have sworn the immaculately-dressed lawyer in front of her, who’d pretty much blackmailed her into prison, actually cared. But she did know better.

She nodded curtly as the guard who’d brought her left. There was another guard she didn’t recognize by Suerte’s side. The older woman stood by a door that led into a small room. A little plaque was attached to the wall beside the door, reading, ‘Visitation Quarter 4’. Chris guessed that, like other doorways in the prison, the small, green light below it would turn red when she crossed the threshold wearing her b-link.

“Fine, you?” she replied and asked perfunctorily, walking by him into the small room. As she’d guessed, the light blinked red with her passage and she gained a complete view of the room. It was even smaller than it looked from the outside, with just enough space for a square metal table accompanied by four simple metal chairs.

Suerte walked in after her but didn’t immediately answer, his silence making Chris look up en route to the chair. The man’s perfect lips were pursed in something akin to disappointment, but the moment he noticed Chris’ gaze, he smiled a Colgate smile and gestured, encouraging her to continue. She opened her mouth to say something, but not knowing what to say, how she had disappointed him or why she should even care, she clamped it back shut and sat down silently.

The small visitation room they were in was reserved specifically for inmates and their lawyers. Unlike regular family and friend visitation rooms, these had no audio surveillance. The round device attached to the middle of the ceiling suggested the same courtesy was not extended to visual surveillance. Chris pulled nervously at the b-link on her wrist. She’d pulled up the information on visitations the night before but all she could think of was how the small device It monitored heart rate, skin moisture, temperature, hormones and all other body functions. Even if there was no camera, she was constantly being watched. As Suerte settled in, pulling his usual organized pile of folders from his bag, she thought about the surveillance aspect of the band for the first time.

She’d known they were keeping tabs on her since she arrived, but only now did she think of just how much the bands’ monitoring could give away if analyzed closely. It made her wonder if the one of the reasons they were so useful was so the inmates wouldn’t try to sabotage them. Without all the perks they offered, she was sure people would be trying to tear them off left and right. Yet, in the four days she’d been there, she hadn’t heard a single word of discontent directed at the bands. In fact, they were relied on for everything. Doors, showers, meals, commissary, Era, everything was tied to the band. Without it, Goldilocks gave you nothing.

Leaning her crossed forearms against the cool surface of the metal table, Chris’ fingers tapped an unconscious pattern while her mind busied itself. She was thinking about the nefarious possibilities of the b-link when Suerte’s silky baritone broke into her thoughts.

“How was your weekend?”

Suddenly reminded of the man’s presence, her eyes focused back on him and her mind focused on the conversation that was to come. The curve of his mouth hinted at polite friendliness but she wasn’t sure how he’d react to her progress in Era. Chris swallowed, mouth dry with apprehension.

She’d been careful that morning and was able to navigate breakfast without interruption. It had given her two and a half sorely needed extra hours in Era. Although she’d only managed to do basic maintenance on the production line as well as a few new player hires before getting back to the process of leveling, she’d come to learn just how much every minute counts.

She’d been tempted to rush through, focusing on EXP instead of stats, wanting to have more numbers to show by the time Suerte showed up, but her mental Donovan had kept her in check. But now, looking at Suerte sitting across the table, she was starting to second-guess her decision to listen to her internal Donovan. Suerte’s face gave no negative emotion away, but there was something about his attitude that just wasn’t sitting right with her.

The stack of neatly piled folders sat in front of him, as threatening as any weapon. Chris sat straighter, her back pushed up against the chair. She’d been up past her intended bedtime trying to come up with arguments to use in the defense of her poor ranking. It seemed hopeless and after coming across the strict privacy policies put in place by Nova Industries, she’d even considered just lying to the man. Was it cowardly and treacherous? Definitely. Eventually, she had talked herself out of it, deciding to pursue complete honesty, but as she sat across from the perfect lawyer and his plastered-on smile, self-doubt niggled at her again.

Chris swallowed one more time, trying to work some moisture into her mouth before she finally answered the question.

“Quite… uh,” she began, still uncertain of what she was going to say. “Well,” she finally amended. “It went.”

Suerte gave one slow nod above his perfectly steepled fingers before he opened the topmost folder in a simple movement, which somehow felt like he was aiming a gun at her. She felt completely outmatched every time she was in the room with him. But then again, the same was true with pretty much every person she’d met recently. It was as if the life she had before prison - where she understood society - had never even existed. In her new reality, even prepubescent teenagers were hierarchically above her.

Suerte leafed one page over and commented casually, “So I see.”

Chris’ palms started sweating and she wondered just how much the man already knew of her standing. From what she had read on Era privacy laws, he shouldn’t have much. And seeing as he’d hired her to infiltrate the prison, he couldn’t have that many sources… Oh, but Tiny. Chris sighed, realizing the woman had probably given everything Chris had told her ‘in confidence’ away.

“Yes,” she said carefully. “It’s been an… adjustment process. But I’m getting the hang of it.”

Suerte flipped over another piece of paper before he looked at her again.

“You call 5662th, ‘getting the hang of it’?”

Chris bit her lip to hide a frown as she processed his words. She’d never told Tiny about her ranking so the woman couldn’t be his only source, but since she hadn’t told anyone about her ranking, she had no idea who that source could be. It must be someone from pretty high up to have such precise information. One of the guards? Or maybe one of psychologists? Instead of replying, Chris just made a mental note to keep an eye out. She’d been so focused on her ranking that she’d forgotten to watch out for the presence of Suerte’s spies. In four days she’d only discovered Tiny and the woman had outed herself. She pretty much sucked as a spy and Chris wondered why Suerte and his organization had chosen her to begin with.

Before going to Goldilocks or Era she’d considered herself quite competent, especially when compared to the general population, but the more she saw of her new life, the more she realized she was not cut out for it. Chris just put her head down, an exact representation of how she felt in that moment.

The man’s tone had never changed, but seeing her reaction, he now sighed, making Chris look up. Looking into his eyes for a clue, she still had no way of knowing what the sigh was for. Annoyance at her incompetence? Irritation at himself for having chosen her in the first place? The loss of resources invested into her? It could be a number of things, but none of them were reflected in his eyes. Instead, she felt like he was hoping he’d encountered resistance and all that she’d given was…

Chris clenched her teeth together and realized what was going on. She steeled her spine and sat straighter. Cowering wasn’t something she’d ever done. The world had dealt her impossible cards before and she’d survived; she could and would do it again. Clearing her throat, she searched for a voice devoid of fear. The same voice that had been forced upon her after the death of her parents.

She shrugged, “Yeah, it didn’t start out good,” she said. “But I’ve started to make up lost ground.”

He considered her in silence for a moment before he replied.

“Yesterday evening, I was getting ready to terminate our agreement,” he said, voice nearly as flat as Donovan’s. “Luckily, it turns out your sister’s school has not started yet. It doesn’t happen often, but there is such a thing as a sunk cost and my employer was beginning to think you were not going to pan out. It’s a good thing your marginal rank-increase was good enough to buy you, and your sister…”

Chris maintained steady eye-contact, even forcing herself not to blink. She couldn’t let him know how much the words affected her, but going from the satisfied expression he made after studying her, she doubted she was as successful as she’d hoped.

He smiled ‘kindly’ at her, “… a few more days,” he concluded.

Keeping her balled fists from sight under the table, she remained silent. If prison had taught her anything, it was to keep her mouth shut and she did just that. Unless the man asked her an outright question, she wasn’t going to say anything.

As if having heard her resolution, he asked, “What level are you now?”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Chris gave a slight pause. After what he’d said, she figured Suerte was already aware of everything that had happened in Era. But as she looked at him now, she realized that all he’d known was her Goldilocks rank. It was possible he didn’t have any source on her in Era. Her eyes dropped to the folders below him. Or, she corrected herself, no source yet. She didn’t want to outright lie to him, as it would be bad if he caught her in a lie, but…

“Eleven,” she answered before her slight pause became too long.

Chris watched him for a reaction, but there was none. He simply nodded, looked down at the sheet in front of him, flipped it over, closed the topmost folder and put it aside. She had no idea what the gesture meant. She hadn’t outright lied to him; she’d only just leveled up to twelve. If he questioned her, she would be able to talk her way out of it… Alright, it was an outright lie. But it ended up being a failed attempt at uncovering the extent of his knowledge on her anyway. Suerte opened the second folder and studied the contents of the first page before looking back at her.

“That’s a shame,” he said. “Levels aren’t everything for the ranks. We’ve seen that over time, but they still play an important part.” He gave her a regretful look, “The general minimal guideline is level seven by day one, level twelve,” there was a slight pause that she wasn’t sure she’d imagined, “by day two, level fifteen by day three, level seventeen by day four and level eighteen by day five…”

She was six levels short.

“You are seven levels short at the moment,” he said, breaking into her thoughts. “That is… if you don’t manage to get at least one more level by tonight.”

Chris nodded curtly. She almost changed her statement, but at this point the lie was too far gone to retract. Leaning back a bit, she lifted her legs enough to put her hands, palm down, beneath them  before settling them down again. She had to be imagining the pauses, prolonging them with her own mind… she just had to be. What she needed to do was keep her mouth shut and plead ignorance and forgetfulness if the issue arose. Suerte was right about sunk costs but in this case, the price of exiting was more than she could afford, she’d have to deal with the sunk cost for a while longer and hope that it turned around in the end after all.

The immaculate lawyer flipped over another page before he steepled his perfectly manicured fingers once more and said, “Look. I know it’s hard to believe, but I am rooting for you on this one,” his eyes flickered to the camera above them for a millisecond before he continued. “I’m not going to lie to you...”

Was he trying to insinuate something? She forced her leg to keep still. It wanted to bounce up and down, and give her away.

“My employer wants to cut you,” Suerte said, not even noticing her apprehension. “I may have bought you a couple extra days but you have absolutely no margin for error.”

Chris pursed her lips, feeling inadequate and guilty, especially with the man posing as Mr. Nice-Guy. He eyed her expectantly, and when the pause had grown long enough for her to realize he expected some sort of response out of her, she bobbed her head.

Her lawyer sighed and Chris pursed her lips. One moment, he was threatening Rin and her and the next, he pretended he was on her side. It was like he was trying to play good cop and bad cop at the same time. She wanted to tell him that it didn’t work like that but part of her, a big part of her, wanted to desperately cling to that kindness. Chris hated herself in that moment. She’d never thought of herself as weak, yet here she was, not even a week into the game and seeking support from the worst possible source.

“To succeed in Era,” Suerte said, unaware of the internal tug-of-war he had caused, “you need a plan.”

The man once again directed those piercingly beautiful green eyes, full of expectation, in her direction. Chris tried to tell herself that his looks had nothing to do with it. That even if he’d been an ugly and repellent lawyer, that the situation would have ended the same. Even if she couldn’t trust him in the long-run, their immediate goals were the same. He needed another player in Era and she needed… Well, she needed a lot of things. She needed to be a player, take care her sister, level up, get out of prison… And it all depended on her performance in the game. She took a deep breath and decided.

Releasing a shuddering breath, she knew she couldn’t trust anyone in her new life, especially not the man across from her who had gotten her into the situation in the first place. But as it stood, in that particular moment, he was the only who was on her side. He actually had a vested interest in her success and it would be stupid not to take advantage of it as much as she could. He’d gotten her into the situation but she could also use him to get her out of it. She didn’t need to trust him to use him.

“I have one,” she said with a nod of finality, putting the debate of trust behind her.

Suerte’s reaction to her words was almost nonexistent but something like intrigue flashed across his eyes for a fraction of a moment. He cocked his head to the side, encouraging her to continue.

Chris bit her lip, trying to decide how much she should tell him. So far, she hadn’t told anyone about the plan that she had come up with. She’d even been too scared to write it down anywhere, especially in the b-link, lest it fall into the wrong hands. As she went through and organized everything in her mind, she decided she could tell him everything. Fortunately or unfortunately, she hadn’t gotten around to the part where she got herself out of prison. If the warden really was selling freedom… Well, that was a thought for another day. For now, she just needed to focus on even staying in the game.

She started at the beginning. She told Suerte about Donovan and his leveling philosophy. The lawyer’s reaction was a mix of astonishment and skepticism. He said it wouldn’t get her in the top ranks in the short term and she countered with the fact that ten years in prison was way past the long term. The statement at least shut him up long enough for her to give a summary of her avatar choices, skills and how she was using them to create funds for her grand plan. She debated skipping over her Era prison time entirely, but decided against it. If she could show Suerte that she had come as far as she had with three effective game days, it might mitigate the extent of her failure.

After the words left her mouth, and she saw the expression that followed, she knew that it hadn’t. Sighing, she started outlining the production line she was using to take over Serving Time’s monopoly in Durrenheim. Chris might have imagined it but she thought the man sat up a little straighter when she started talking about Serving Time. By the end of the story, she knew she’d scored some points with the man, but it wasn’t until he questioned her that she realized where.

“So…” he said, after she was finished. “You’re using a modern business strategy in a VRMMO that takes place in a medieval setting?”

Chris folded her arms before her, considered his words and nodded. When he said it that way it sounded pretty stupid.

“So…” he said. “You’re using economies of scale to fight dragons and demons?”

“Yeah, I am,” she said, annoyed at his belittling. She looked down, trying to hide the rage in her eyes. Chris was regretting having told him anything at all when she heard a slow clap. It echoed loudly in the small room and she looked up to find the lawyer grinning gleefully at her.

“And here I thought I’d misjudged you…” he said. “Looks like you were the right one for the job, after all.”

She frowned in confusion. “Wh—” she began.

“I like it,” he said, cutting her off. “This means that Serving Time’s business will be yours in three days, right? That should definitely be enough to get you through the low ranks… even if you are pursuing this grindy leveling-strategy of yours…” he gave her a look full of doubt. “Are you sure you’re doing the right thing with that? I’m not sure it’s going to pay off like you intend it to… I haven’t heard of anyone but career gamers that—”

“Isn’t that what I am supposed to be, though?” she asked, cutting him off in turn.

He paused, then snorted and said with a shrug, “I guess it is, isn’t it?”

Chris nodded and he continued with his praise of her plan. She hadn’t expected him to show such support. At first, she just felt relief, but the more he endorsed the plan, the more she felt pressured to succeed. So far, she had been mostly been operating on the hypothetical plan; only from today onward was she really going to see if things were going to pan out. If they didn’t, she’d have a lot more debt issues than even Nelson had left her.

She sighed, caught in worry.

“Chris?” Suerte asked, reminding her she wasn’t alone with her thoughts.

“Err. Yeah?” she asked uncertainly, not knowing how many times he’d already said her name.

“How did you get the Scribe skill so fast?” he said, leafing through some more folders. “I have it on good authority that it isn’t an easy skill to attain, but especially not easy to level.”

“Oh,” Chris replied. “Well I dunno I guess. I just sorta… drew stuff and got it.”

“Drew?”

“Yeah…” she said, suddenly careful of the words she used. “I used to do some… sketching when I was younger.” Chris bit her lip as she thought of what she’d actually used her art for. “For school, you know,” she added, but then immediately regretted it. She’d just accomplished in making something completely innocuous look suspicious.

Suerte eyed her with a quirked eyebrow. His display of amused suspicion reassured her. It meant he didn’t actually think she was trying to hide anything worthwhile. She sighed.

“Here,” she said, motioning toward his stack of papers. “Give me a pen and a page and I’ll show you what I mean.”

Chris knew she was pretty good at drawing, but she wasn’t looking for praise; she just wanted to get his attention off of her blunder. But as she gripped the pencil he gave her, she chose to use the opportunity to impress him anyway. She needed to make herself into an indispensable asset, and if she could use art to do it, all the better.

Settling the page in front of her, she tried to decide on the subject of her sketch. She looked up at the Adonis of a man in front of her and knew that getting him down on paper wasn’t going to be very impressive; his features were too perfect. What she needed was someone with difficult traits to capture, but someone he would recognize. Only one person came to mind: Tiny. Luckily, she fit both criteria.

She took her time, trying to get the likeness just right. But even then, less than ten minutes later, she was pushing the drawing back toward her lawyer. Chris was quite proud of it; she knew she’d captured the ‘essence’ of her roommate and there was absolutely no way he wasn’t going to recognize her. She tried to hide her smile, waiting for Suerte to come up with his own verdict. The words that came out were words of praise, but they weren’t at all what she was expecting.

“Interesting,” he said, tapping his fingers against his sculpted chin.

Chris eyed him, but he didn’t look very interested at all. If the wrinkles on his forehead were anything to go by, the man just looked plain confused.

“Wha—” she began, only to be cut off.   

“Oh!” he said, expression immediately clearing. “I remember now where I’ve seen her face. This is your roommate, right?”

Suerte picked up one of the middle folders, took out a piece of paper and set it next to her drawing.

“Arizona Wells,” he said, looking between the drawings. “Very interesting,” he repeated. “I understand now why I didn’t immediately recognize her.”

“Oh?” Chris said.

“There is so much more life in your drawing than this mugshot here,” he said gesturing at Tiny’s portrait. “I can almost tell what kind of person she is just by the way you drew her, the lines and the shading all indi...”

Suerte’s voice continued to drone on in the background, but all Chris could think about was her roommate.

Doris’ words came back to haunt her, ‘She’s not what seems.’