A sudden flash hits my eyes and I’m now standing in what appears to be a hanger. A bunch of text scrolls down before my eyes. I read through it quickly.

System Message: You have spawned into the tutorial, welcome to basic flight training. Here you will be taught the basics of space flight, you will be rewarded upon successful completion.

You have been offered a Mission!

Mission: Complete the “Basics of space flight tutorial”

Reward: +1 class level, Pilot’s starter package, 1,000 credits

Penalty for failure: N/A

Accept Mission Yes/No?

If I’m going to be doing something and there is a mission for it, I may as well get the extra benefit! Maximize my time spent and effort.

I think “yes”, the Yes highlights and vanishes.

System Message: You have accepted the mission Complete the “Basics of space flight tutorial”. Good luck pilot!

You have obtained basic flight suit

You have obtained basic side arm

Tutorial Message: You have been granted the basics to begin, please choose one of the ships in the hanger to begin your training.

After reading the prompts I look around the hanger. It’s fairly Spartan just a large open space with three blank slate grey walls and a fourth that by appearances leads out into space.

I am not the only one here though, others are popping into existence along the edges of the hangar. They are in various stages of what appears to be their own tutorials. In front of each person who spawns in are three ships, it looks like everyone has the same three. Some people are running up to them and looking around. From my left I hear a deafening roar, looking over I see one of the ships hover into the air wobbling as it lifts up. It starts listing to the side but still somehow manages to find its way out into space going sideways. I see why this class needs its own tutorial.

In front of me I see the same three ships. Remembering the skills, I just acquired I look at the ship nearest me, how do I use the Identify ability? I glance around my vision looking for some help, but I don’t actually see anything there.

Tutorial Message: Use your Identify ability to see the name of each ship. You can activate this ability by thinking about using it or speaking it aloud.

Thank you, system message that somehow was able, to read my thoughts. Now let’s give this a try. I look at the first ship near me and think “Identify”. Above the nearest ship its name appears above it in light grey letters. Apparently, it’s called “MK 1 Freighter” Neat! The ship looks like a box with the corners rounded down and slightly flattened. It’s about 30ft long and 20ft across, the entire front part of the ship has glass cockpit kind of reminiscent of a C-130s the way it wraps around the side. The back aft ends in a dove tail with the engines on either side of the ramp. The whole thing is a faded blue color with the standard black and yellow lines around anything that looks dangerous or moves.

I walk past ship number one and look at the middle one. I think “Identify” this one is called a “MK 1 Utility shuttle” It looks about the same but has a narrower body being only about 15ft across. Making up the difference it has stubby little wings reaching out maybe 10ft either side. On each wingtip is an engine nacelle, and under each wing are two pylons. The Pylons each have some sort of pod attached not sure what they are though. The ship is light grey color, and it too has the hazard markings around dangerous areas and mobile ones like the ramp.

Curious about the pods I look at one and activate Identify. The inner most pod shows up as “Civilian Grade Rail Gun Pod” and the outside pods are “Civilian Grade Rocket Launcher Pod”. Awesome! This ship has weapons, total upgrade to the Freighter. It does look like cargo space is being sacrificed but gaining weapons I can imagine is necessary in a game like this.

The last ship in the row Identifies as “Mk 1 Star Fighter”, whoever named these things was not very imaginative. But I guess these are just the training models. Hopefully the real ships out there are a bit more interesting.

This one looks completely different though. It has a narrow body only 5 feet across maybe, and about 20 feet long and a brilliant white color. The cockpit is like one from a fighter jet giving a better view around the pilot. It’s located near the front, right behind it sprout wings swept back at a sharp angle spanning a good 15 feet each. Why these spaceships have wings is a bit odd but whatever, I guess. The aft end of the ship splits into two vertical tails with the engines mounted below them. Each wing has four pylons with what looks like missiles on each. Under the chin of the ship are two guns and nestled between the engine nacelles are four bombs.

This ship looks absolutely awesome! If I was going to get attacked in any of these, I would definitely want to be in the Star Fighter. However, it appears to be limited to only combat. If I want to go out and explore it would be nice to be able to bring some loot back, and it would also be nice to be able to fight or at least have that option. I gazed lovingly at the Star fighter and with a sigh walk over to the shuttle.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

To me this one makes the most sense, little bit of combat, little bit of cargo. The jack of all trades as it were.

How do I get in this thing? I walk around to the back where I can tell there is a rear door, but I don’t see anything that yells “This opens the door.” I reach out my hand to touch the side of the hull. As soon as my fingertips graze the side, I get a prompt.

Tutorial Message: Would you like select this ship, please say yes or no.

“Yes, I want this one.”

Tutorial Message: The ownership of Mk 1 Utility Shuttle has been transferred to you for the duration of the tutorial. You may now gain access to the ship, enter, and sit in the pilot’s seat to continue.

Interesting.

Let’s get on with it then, I’m dying to see what space flight is like.

I still need to get into this thing though. Looking around the aft end I see a panel that was not there before. On the starboard side of the hull is a holographic display. In light blue letters it has a few options “Open Ramp, Close Ramp, Lock/Unlock Ramp.” I reach out and select Unlock just in case it was locked. Nothing happens, so I select “Open Ramp”. A clink-clonk and a hissing noise comes from the aft end and the ramp begins to open outwards.

I walk around the back as it deploys, and peek inside the ship. Inside it’s empty, on each side are a few rows of seats attached to the wall. They look fairly comfortable but probably not the best ride. In the middle of the deck are a slew of red lines, inside them it says “Cargo Area”. I step into the cargo area, and I notice it has a smell like ozone and disinfectant with a hint of oil and grease.

Amazing how detailed this VR game is and then it feels like my world comes crashing down on me.

I am in a game, none of this is real but it is my new reality. Can I even think of this as a game then? Should I act like I would in real life, I know from reading articles and the news that many people in games change their behaviors. No consequences or legal ramifications for their actions so they do horrible things because they can. Wonton killing, destruction, stealing, harassing people, trolling and just outright hatred for no reason. I wonder if that is the true nature of people then? Showing their real thoughts and ideas letting their ugly truths come to the surface. Taking the freedoms away from people who just want to do their own thing.

I stood there in the cargo bay staring at the floor, clenching my fists.

But since this is my new reality maybe I should or could do something about it, prevent those evils from being done to others. It may be a game to them, but to me it is my reality.

I shake myself out a bit, I must get through this first before I can worry about any of that.

At the back of the cargo area, or front of the ship is another door. A holo display floats off to the side of the door. I tap the open command and the door slides open into the wall or is it bulkhead I dunno. Ahead lies the cockpit, two chairs sit side by side with panels all over the place. Looks likes pictures you see of the space shuttle cockpit and is very intimidating.

I take a deep breath to settle my nerves. “Let’s do this.” I say out loud to no one.

Climbing into the pilot’s seat on the left side, I familiarize myself with the layout. There are three Multi-Function Display Screens or MFDS, a flight control stick, throttle, some sort of smooth bowl on the dash between the two seats. On my left side is another smaller looking smoothed out bowl. Looking at all this it’s not a wonder there are not many pilots compared to the other classes.

Tutorial Message: Welcome aboard your first spaceship. First thing that needs be done is turning on the ship. Since you are the owner of this ship specific displays and controls will only be available to you. When you obtain a ship in the main game you may give others access to these controls as you see fit.

So let us begin, first you must initiate battery power.

A switch on the panel glows a light blue color, I reach out and flip it.

The dashboard floods with lights and everything comes alive!

Tutorial Message: If you are wondering why, you saw the switch glow it is due to your Pilot Starship Basic, and Computer System Basic skills combining. If your skills are sufficient, they will guide you in the correct steps for operating ships.

Now continue following your skills prompts until you have completed the startup sequence.

As soon as I finished reading the last prompt another switch glows blue. I also notice in small blue letters floating above it “engine one start”.

Hold on, do the other switches and buttons have labels like that? I look at the battery switch and notice it too has the lettering. “Battery On/off” Oh nice so I can do this quicker if I actually learn this process and not rely on the skill.

I reach out to the engine one start and flip it over.

A muffled whine comes from outside, and I can feel a slight tremble through the ship.

One of the displays on the lower left MFDS flashes blue and shows a number slowly going up as a percentage, it settles at 10% before stopping.

A second switch glows blue, looking at it this one says, ‘engine two start”.

I flick that one over, and a second wave of whining and jumbling is felt through the ship.

On the same MFDS another percentage scrolls up to 10% and stabilizes.

My breath starts coming quicker, and my pulse starts hammering through my body. I’m starting a god damn spaceship! Not some little airplane a god’s honest spaceship!

Tutorial Message: You have completed the engine start sequence now follow the next prompts for the ship run up. You will see your skill displaying the desired operating parameters for each system.

A switch above me on the ceiling lights up, “Ship diagnostic display”.

Flipping it turns on a holographic representation of the ship on my left side where the small bowl is. It’s over all a bright green, however it has some unlit sections, the weapons pods, and various points around the ship. I’m not sure what they are but I’m hoping I will soon.

With a manic grin on my face, I start flipping through the rest of the sequences.

And it goes on for at least five minutes of toggling switches and watching readouts across the board. Turns out the bowl in the center is a holographic representation of the space around the ship, like a radar.

Tutorial Message: Congratulations, you have prepared the ship for flight. Next you will begin the undocking process. For this step you will be communicating with a traffic control center for this area. They will also be guiding you through the controls for space flight.

I let out a slow breath and place my trembling hands on the flight controls.