When I started to regain consciousness, the first thing I noted was the bright light. Which made it impossible for me to open my eyes, unless I wanted to feel a lot of pain. My head was pounding. As I became more aware of myself and my surroundings, I noticed I was sitting in a hard chair. Moving slightly, since I did not want to jostle my head too much, told me that I was restrained somehow. It felt like a strap across my forehead, my chest, several on my arms and a couple on my legs.
“Good, you’re finally awake,” a gruff male voice said.
“What’s going on?” I asked, but my words were slurred, so I was not sure that’s actually what I said.
“You’ve been placed under arrest,” the same voice said, but had moved closer and to the side.
Trying to turn my head in the direction, I asked as panic started to rise, “What for?”
“Hacking or conspiracy to hack Perennial Entertainment,” the reply came, immediately alleviating the panic. Next thing I heard was a click, and some of the brightness of the light vanished. Cracking an eye opened, I could make out a few details. The room I was in was grey. Floor, ceiling and walls were different shades of grey. I was staring directly into a large reflective mirror. Like something out of an old police movie or something.
Whether it was one-way or just a regular one, I could not tell. There was a table between me and the mirror. On the table there were a mug, a metal coffee pot and a device I recognized with more than a little dread. After joining Dawnguard I was regularly tested by such devices. It was a memory scanner. It had a sophisticated AI that used the same technology as the immersion pods. It read your memories when you answered, and determined if it was the truth or not.
The more complex question you asked, the harder it was to get an accurate read, it was best to stick to yes or no questions. At the moment it was turned off. Looking down at myself, I saw that I was strapped to a large chair, and I reckoned that a helmet had been placed on my head. It was not so much a helmet as it was a diadem of sorts. Nevertheless, the first immersion tech had used helmets, so the terminology had stuck around since then.
‘This is bad, I’m so screwed,’ was the only thing going through my mind. The man who had been speaking stepped into view. He was dressed in the black uniform of a Security Officer, from the Bureau of Internal Security. The red balaclava obscured who he was.
“I’ve the warrant here,” he said and projected it holographically for all of two seconds, making me unable to read it.
“I wou—I would like to see that again,” I stammered, nerves getting to me.
“Let the record reflect that I've shown the suspect the warrant already,” the man stated loudly, he then turned the memory scanner in such a way that its display did not reflect in the mirror, “Suspect Damian Pryce, a judge has issued a warrant that allows me to violate your right of privacy.”
“I want a lawyer,” I said with a high pitch. Failing spectacularly at remaining calm.
“A lawyer is not provided in acts of treason.”
“Treason?” I squeaked.
“Yes, you’re under suspicion of hacking Perennial Entertainment, which is solely owned by Ken Master, the Chairman of the Corporate Congress. Any act against his person or company can be classified as treason.”
“I didn’t do anything like that!” I insisted frustrated.
“Time will tell, which is why the memory scanner is here,” he said and then reached for the device, “Let the record reflect that I’ve turned on the memory scanner.”
The machine lit up. The display would show how many questions the interrogator was allowed to ask with verification. While the authorities could obtain warrants to scan memories, it usually allowed a limited number of questions. However, if they were trying to make a treason case against me, the number was probably very high.
‘Did I reveal too much information? Did someone overhear my conversations with the others?’ I thought frantically, ‘The gaming system should not allow any employee to listen in on my conversation. Not unless someone reported the conversation, the privacy segment of the EULA covers that.’
I was so lost in my thoughts that I had missed his question. When he slapped the table hard, it brought me out of my mindspin. He glared at me for a moment before growling, “I asked a question. Answer yes or no, did you hack or participate in the planning of a hack on Perennial Entertainment?”
“No,” I stated clearly. I knew it was the truth. The memory scanner beeped, making the officer look down.
When he looked back up, he asked his next question, “Did someone give you access to illegally obtained information?”
“No,” I said once more. The machine beeped again. This time the officer spent longer time looking down. I was looking around, looking for a way to escape, or someone to help me. Anything really, I just wanted to get out of the predicament I found myself in. It was then that I caught sight of the reflection in the metal of the coffee pot. The reflection was of the display the machine created, and I saw that the number displayed was either a 3 or an 8. It was blurry, so I was not really sure.
“Have any employee of Perennial given you information about the game?” was the next question. My first instinct was to answer “No!”, but then I thought better of it. If the number was three and not eight, I might be able to get him to waste a question or two and bring this to an end. Even if the number was eight, it would still be a win.
“Yes,” I replied and thought about Victor Salis, the employee of Perennial who had provided me with the information of how the Exchange worked.
“Good,” the officer chuckled for a few seconds. I could practically hear the triumph in his tone. He leaned forward blocking me from spotting what the number on the scanner said, and asked eagerly, “Who has provided you with information?”
“I can’t, please,” I tried to fake panic, well not so much fake, but bring it back. Since my distraction worked, I had started to feel a bit more in control. Biting my tongue hard enough to bring tears to my eyes, I whispered, “I’m not sure I’m allowed to tell you.”
“Give me a name!” the officer slammed the table with the flat of his hands, as he stood up, trying to intimidate me.
He was intimidating, and I was starting to ponder the genius of playing charades with him. However, as they said in the old days; “in for a penny, in for a pound”. Trying to look a way, I answered him in what I hoped was a subservient tone, “Victor Salis.”
The machine beeped once more, and this time there were no doubt, the reflected number was a 1. I tried to keep up the act, but I must have failed. Because suddenly he was in front of me, grabbing my chin. Staring me straight in the eyes, he asked menacingly, “Why’re you smiling?”
Reckoning the jig was up, I gave him a toothy smile, “You want me to answer that and use the last of the questions the warrant grants?”
He recoiled as if I had slapped him. He turned around, seeming to search for something. I could not say for sure if he spotted the reflection in the coffee pot, but his posture stiffened. Turning back to me, “You think you’re clever, but no need to answer that. I’ve you admitting to receiving insider information, with the withdrawal earlier that makes it conspiracy to embezzle.”
He walked out of my field of vision. When I heard the door open, I shouted, “Don’t you want to know what he told me? Whoever paid for the bogus warrant probably wants to know.”
The door closed and angry footsteps approached. The officer was back and when he stopped in front of me, he leaned in real close, like almost nose to nose close. Snarling he stated loudly, “The warrant was legit, based on a reliable confidential source.”
“The kind that comes with a nice stack of credits for your account?” I baited. It was a bad idea, but if he left like this, he could actually hold me until trial. I needed to provoke him to do something illegal, like hitting me, or I needed him to ask about what information Victor provided me. It was the only two options I could see that would have me walking out of there.
“I see what you’re doing,” the officer stood back up, “But it’s not going to work. I’m not going to hit you, no matter how much you insinuate I’ve done something illegal.”
‘Damnit, damnit,’ I thought as he started walking away again. Out loud I said, “But you still got that one question left, your second employer will want to know what I was told. Think about how they could use that. Think about the extra credits they would pay you for that tidbit of information.”
The door had opened while I was talking, and when I finished it closed again. I almost felt like asking if anyone was there. Listening for a few seconds, I heard nothing but my own breathing. I tried to hang my head in defeat, but the damn strap across my forehead would not allow it.
After almost a minute of silence, it turned out my hearing was not that great. The officer scared me, when he asked, “Okay, what information did Victor Salis reveal to you? And I want everything.”
A smile tugged at the edges of my mouth, threatening to transform into a wide triumphant smile. With a clear and even voice, I retold the conversation with Victor Salis in as great detail as possible, as well as the circumstances for it, and ended it with, “That’s the only time I met him. It’s all he told me, I swear.”
It took a few seconds, but finally the memory scanner beeped. The silence following it was deafening. The thud of my heartbeat sounded louder than ever before, every breath I took seemed unnaturally loud.
The roar of anger announced the second he realized he had been played, for a moment I thought I heard the hiss of the door opening, but then my chair was tipped to the side. Landing on the floor with my shoulder first, I was just glad my head was strapped in, otherwise it would have bounced off the concrete floor. Again.
The officer stood looming over me, his eyes threatening murder. His lifted one leg as if he was about to stomp my head in, and I admit I felt my bladder loosen a bit. Though I had been killed once, the thought of physical pain scared me. Even the muted pain of the game was bad.
Just as the foot started it descent, it was ripped away with a startled scream of pain from the officer. Blinking uncomprehendingly, and unable to see where the officer ended up, I could only listen. I was unable to even look in the mirror. It sounded like a lot of running boots entered the room behind me.
“Let go of me, freak!” the officer screamed.
“Let him down or we’ll open fire,” several voices shouted.
Then a voice I recognized said, “Stand down Officers.”
It was the voice of Ken Masters, the CEO of Perennial security. A cacophony of whispers started, all along the lines of, “What’s the Chairman doing here? Even if it’s just a hologram.”
“Chairman Masters,” an authoritative voice spoke up, with a hint of subservience in it, “What can the Bureau of Internal Security do for you today?”
“Major—” there was a pause as if Masters was looking up some information, “Daniels. Your officer kidnapped a guest of my hotel from one of my cars. An—”
“I had a warrant,” my interrogator protested loudly. I heard several deep thuds as if someone was hitting metal, “What the hell is this thing, get it away from me!”
“A warrant involving alleged crimes against my company, despite the fact that we provided the judge and the officer with assurances that no one had hacked our servers,” Masters continued in an even voice, “Despite our protests the interrogation of an injured innocent man was carried out, but my security android intervened when the officer exceeded his perimeter and started torturing—”
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“I wasn’t torturin—” the officer tried to interrupt.
“Shut up Finley,” Major Daniels growled, “Chairman Masters, if you could’ve your uhm— android release my officer. I promise that the young man will be on his way in just a moment.”
“See that it happens, or I’ll find a reason to look into cutting the budget for BIS,” Masters said, which was promptly followed by someone hitting the floor. Someone grabbed the chair I was in and lifted it and my considerable weight seemingly without any strain. A moment later the straps was released, leaving me free to stand up. Which I did a bit shakily, almost collapsing, but a pair of strong hands caught me. Looking up I saw the android chauffeur was the one to help me.
“Thanks,” I muttered. On unsteady legs with the android supporting me, we moved past what seemed like a sea of black uniformed security officers, most without the red balaclava, and SecuriBots. We entered an elevator, which took us to a parking deck. At that point I had found the strength to walk on my own once more.
When we approached the car, the door opened and Ainsley was out of it in a flash. Stopping in front of me, she looked me over before answering, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” was the only answer I could muster. I felt drained. Both emotionally and physically.
“What happened?”
“Someone falsely accus—”
“You of hacking Perennial, yeah it’s already in the news,” Sarah interrupted as she joined us outside of the car.
“Shit,” I muttered, before looking at both of them, “Can we talk about this back at the hotel?”
Both of them looked at me, before finally saying, “Fine.”
When we had settled into the roomy exterior of the hovercar, with the girls on one side of the car, and me the other, we all let out gasps of shock, when a hologram appeared in the empty seat next to me. It was Ken Masters.
He was an old man, well over a hundred years old, and despite the best medical treatment, he looked old. Not a hundred plus years old, but old nonetheless. He gave a greeting nodded, and said, “Good morning, sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to extend my apologies to you all. They had a legal warrant, so we could not stop them. Even if it’s made on a false accusation.”
Being apologized to by what was basically the most important man in the world left me flabbergasted. Silence reigned for almost half a minute before he continued, “We’re releasing a statement stating that the accusation was false, without any merit and made by a competitor. Nevertheless, you should expect some blowback. People will believe what they want to.”
“Thanks,” I stammered.
“You’re welcome Mr. Pryce. Your name has come up quite a lot lately,” the old man grinned.
“Uhm, okay?” I ventured hesitantly, not knowing how to reply.
“A survey amongst new users have shown that almost ten thousand people have joined because of your interview,” Masters chuckled, “And then of course the whole First Recognized Guild debacle.”
“Ugh, probably the reason why this happened,” I groaned without thinking.
“You’re more than likely correct. I quite liked your interview, and applaud what you’re trying to do with Blue Lotus,” he said, before looking at Sarah, “And Miss Edwards, may I congratulate you on being outside that horrid place. I wish more of the Corporate Congress had joined me against the Initiative.”
Sarah blushed and mumbled a “thank you”, before we all lapsed into silence. For a minute, no one said anything. Then Masters turned to look at me, “This coming from someone who tried and failed, know that changing the world, even if it’s just the small part that’s around you, is an almost insurmountable task. Especially if you try to do it alone.”
With that the hologram winked out, and we were left alone in the car. The rest of the ride was done in silence.
----------------------------------------
I was standing in the corner of my room, staring uncomfortably at the five original guild members. As soon as we had gotten back, they had cornered me, demanding an explanation. We had gone into my room, which could not accommodate all of us comfortably. They were standing shoulder to shoulder. Or in Kira’s case, shoulder to hip.
Edward was the first to speak up, it seemed he had broken his normal real world reticent and shy personality for this confrontation. A confrontation I knew was coming, had not expected it to happen like this though. Demanding an answer, he practically shouted, “What the fuck did you do?”
Liam added, “The news said you were arrested, what’s going on?”
“It’s because of the things you know, right?” Kira asked.
Raising my voice, I almost had to shout to talk over them, “Guys, stop it. Let me try and answer one question at the time.”
“Fine, I’ll go first. Were you arrested for hacking?” Edward growled.
“No.”
“He was not arrested, he was brought in on suspicion of hacking,” Ainsley pointed out.
“That’s the same as arrested,” Liam countered.
“Someone with money to bribe a judge and a Security Officer is pissed at me, and made up lies about me,” I said with a loud sigh towards the end.
“Who did you piss off?” Masuro asked.
“Probably one of the big guilds,” I shrugged, though I knew it was most likely Dawnguard. It was the sort of underhanded thing Aragoth and Marcus had done a lot, not this specific move, but something similar.
“That’s vague, like all your excuses,” Edward grumbled, “I call bullshit. I’ve been looking up information. Most beta testers doesn’t know what you’ve divulged. If you didn’t hack the company, how do you know all that you know?”
“Yeah, and why did you refer to the Initiative as being put in coffins before everyone else started calling it that,” Ainsley added.
“Fine, give me a moment,” I groaned and slipped into the small toilet. With a press of a button the sink and mirror slid out of the wall, ready to be used. Staring at my reflection I tried to come up with what lie to tell them. Secret beta-tester? No. That one would not work, Edward had researched the other beta-testers and their knowledge.
Maybe I could pass myself off as an employee of Ken Masters. He did just get me out of jam, and we talked. Ainsley was a witness to that. Could claim that it was a lowkey effort to get people out of the coffins and be gainfully employed.
The more I thought about it, the more certain I became that was the way to go. Thinking about the conversation with Masters, made my think about the last thing he said. Trying to convince myself, I thought, ‘But I’m not doing it alone, I got the guild.’
‘You are alone in this, if you keep lying to them,’ another part of me argued.
‘They won’t believe me,’ the first part argued.
‘Not if you keep lying to them.’
‘But claiming to be killed in the future and the wake up in the past is just too weird, they’ll never believe it.’
‘Oh really? And they’ll believe that the richest man hires a former teacher, with no gaming history, to start pulling people out of the coffins, when he could just hire them all.’
‘I—’ I was running out of arguments. I already knew why Masters did not just hire everyone, if he did that he would lessen the revenue of his business to the point of bankruptcy. If he did that he would lose how many percentages of the votes he had in the Corporate Congress. Then he could not try to get the Initiative closed down in ten years. At least that was the explanation given in an interview shortly before his death.
“Argh,” I screamed silently through clenched teeth. I was struggling with what to do. If I kept lying I would never stop lying. And I was bad at it, as their little intervention showed. I would have to keep being vague, and argue about how to do things the entire time.
On the other hand if I told the truth, they would think me insane. There was nothing I could do to prove my story. Many events were already starting to change. I was not worried about them telling anyone how they thought I was. The contracts they had signed would cover me.
I felt that if I kept lying I would have a high degree of losing them, but the same was true about telling the truth. It was maybe even higher. Hammering my head against the mirror a few times did not help. After ten minutes of agonizing over my decision, I finally left the toilet.
“About time,” Masuro yawned as I exited.
“Okay, you wanted the truth, I’ll give you the truth,” I said, “I’m going to have to insist on invoking the NDAs included in the contracts. I know you won’t believe me, but here goes.”
Taking a deep breath, “I died. Not like died at some point and was brought back to life. But in the future. To be precise, six ye—”
“Shut up,” Liam shouted, “Do you think we’re fools?”
“No, I don’t. And I’m sorry I’ve been lying to you, but I didn’t think you would believe the truth. I’m trying to give it to you now,” I said without any emotion.
“Let’s at least hear the entire lie, already sounds like fiction,” Masuro grumbled.
“Six years from now, I was killed. When I woke up it was in the past. A couple of days before I called all of you.”
“Right, so you can tell us the lottery numbers?” Liam scoffed.
“Can you remember last week’s numbers?” I countered.
“Uhm, no.”
“No, I can’t either. And no I can’t tell you what you’re going to say. This never happened before. I didn’t start to play Carn Online until it had been released for over three months, when the real purpose of the game was revealed.”
“Real purpose?” Ainsley asked.
“This is the first step of Ken Masters’ last will and testament,” I said and then launched into an explanation of the Challenges, both the major and minor.
Edward said after I finished explaining, “Let’s say that it’s the truth, who wins the first, was it fifteen percent?”
“Dawnguard, and I need them to win again,” I answered.
“Why?” both Edward and Ainsley asked.
“Because otherwise I won’t have a chance of changing the outcome of the future we’re heading towards.”
“And that future is that a bunch of gamers becomes part of the Corporate Congress?” Masuro asked, and then added with a scoff, “Can’t be worse than the bunch of fat bastards already there.”
“No, it won’t be gamers. But Silvertech.”
“But you just said Dawnguard won, and you want them to win again,” Ainsley pointed out.
“Yes. Let me just explain this, without any interruptions,” I said and waited for them to agree to keep silent for the moment. Taking a deep breath to settle myself, I continued my explanation, “I was part of Dawnguard, actually part of the upper echelons. But I didn’t know anything about a secret deal Aragoth, their leader, had made with Silvertech. It stated that at the time that Dawnguard controlled fifty one percent of the votes or the last game ended, they would hand over all voting rights to Silvertech.
“I found out, and that’s why I was killed. But the reason why I need Dawnguard to win the first game is that the deal isn’t signed until then. It might be handing over the enemy the first victory, but it’ll give me time to build up a resistance. And I know about the deal, and I can get access to it, so I can reveal it and pull away the tapestry they hide behind.”
“Sounds like bad fiction,” Masuro shook his head, and then demanded, “Prove it.”
“I can’t,” I shook my head. I knew this had been coming. I had been wracking my head to find something that I could use to prove it.
“You really want us to believe this far out story?” Ainsley asked me, seeming to search for something in my eyes and face.
“I hope you will. I can only provide you information. But most of it could have been obtained by hacking or being an insider, or whatever explanation you come up with. It’ll be almost three months before the Challenges are announced, but even that you could find another logical explanation for,” I felt tears welling up. It was frustrating baring your soul like that, and not have anyone believe you.
“Can’t you mention some event that might happen sooner?” Kira asked, she was the only one not looking with doubt at me.
“When you finish the fiftieth run in the Sewer Dungeon, you’ll be granted access to a new dungeon, which is some dwarven ruins underneath Blackport,” I tried.
“You could know that be—” Edward started.
“Because I hacked their servers or work for them. I know,” I interrupted.
“Is there really nothing?” Kira prodded.
“There’s one thing, but I think I’ve changed that outcome already.”
“What is it?”
“HannahVixen committed suicide shortly after the game was released, reasons unknown. But I remember the last broadcast she made was the live one of Dawnguard becoming the first recognized guild in the game,” I said and then shrugged, “But that’s already changed.”
“Seriously, you can’t remember anything specific?” Liam mocked.
“Can you remember precisely what happened six years ago? This is six years in the past for me, a past that is changing just by the fact that you five are not in the coffins, and I’m not sitting in my apartment looking for work,” I growled, letting out all the frustration I felt at this situation.
“Just say that you’re telling us the truth, what are you trying to do?” Kira obviously tried to steer the conversation in another direction.
“What I’ve always stated, get people out of the coffins. Use those people to win the second and third Challenge. Maybe try and get some of the minor winners to support the cause, which is abolishing the Initiative,” I said.
“Just entertaining the idea this is true, how do we know that you’re not out to become wealthy because of our labour?” Edward asked.
“Because of the contract,” it was not me who answered, but Ainsley, “It actually makes sense why Damian structured it so he could not receive more money than what the rest of us got. Also the clause about why he controls one hundred percent of the voting rights of Blue Lotus. But every member of the guild will have an equal say in any other company owned or partially owned by Blue Lotus.”
“So you believe me?” I asked her.
“I’m entertaining the thought, but I’m saying it’s far more likely that your delusions are making bad decisions for you,” Ainsley said.
The discussion lasted another hour, rehashing the same arguments over and over again, by the time we were done, it was almost time for our physical training. I tried to opt out, but Kira insisted I had better show up, or she would tell everyone.
Laying down in the pod, without closing the lid, I fretted over the decision I had made. I had not been delusional enough to think I could convince them easily. However, it only seemed like Kira was giving me the benefit of the doubt, while the four others had reluctantly given me three months to find some way to prove it.