Chapter 1 -
Jay pulled up in front of the house listed on his worksheet. It had taken him quite a while to get there as the huge house, if you could even call it that, was so far removed and hidden from the main road. Not removed by a few feet either, but miles back from the road. The house was not just a home but a Residence. You could hear people capitalize the R in Residence when they spoke of it. The lawn was too big to be a mere lawn. Instead it was a testament to what a landscaper could accomplish if given a ridiculous amount of money after being told merely to 'make it look good.'
Jay was a cable/internet/alarm installation technician, and a good one. Sure, anyone could be an okay cable installation technician, but Jay took things to another level. His cabling jobs were always neat and well done and more importantly, people liked Jay. Really liked him. He was personable and easy to get along with. When he showed up it actually WAS between the hours of 2 and 4, just like his company promised. Most importantly, when Jay left a job, he left the job done. This had not gone unnoticed by those in charge, and Jay had gotten a number of promotions which he quite enjoyed.
He also got something that he did not enjoy nearly as much. He got every job another technician messed up. If a customer was unhappy with a cable installation then the company sent out Jay. If a customer was important enough, rich enough, well then the company sent Jay the very first time, skipping right over the technicians that everyone knew would just screw it up anyway.
It was obvious to Jay that the home was owned by someone extremely well off. He sighed, grabbed his things, and headed up to the massive 12' high double front doors. They looked like something you would find on a castle. At the end of a drawbridge.
"Is this place a little weird or is it just me?" Jay mumbled to himself, but not too loudly. Many homes nowadays had a camera and microphone doorbell and people could potentially hear anything you said at their front door. More than one technician had found this out the hard way.
Jay went to ring the doorbell but there was none. Neither was there a handle. Jay was about to give up and just hammer on the doors when they both swung open as if they didn't weigh a few hundred pounds each. A slim woman who Jay guessed to be around 40 years old stood just inside the doorway wearing a pair of jeans and a white button up shirt with the top three buttons undone.
"Hi! I'm Jay, here to install your cable." Jay said brightly while smiling.
The woman smiled back and waved him in "I'm Carly, the homeowner. I'll show you around." she said.
Jay followed her around as she showed him the various floors and rooms, pointing out which rooms needed cable and internet. Jay marked it all down in his notebook and checked it against the order to make sure they matched up. "Everything looks good Ms. Carly. I'll get right to work."
Jay set to work running lines, splicing, taking readings, finding problems and solving them as he went. As he was working he heard a splash and what sounded like a strangled cry. Concerned, Jay started looking around the nearby rooms before, after some searching, finding the hallway to what appeared to be a full sized indoor pool.
The pool was, like everything else in the Residence, huge. The only thing tiny in the whole pool room was a small body floating face down in the pool. Jay jumped in with his clothes and tools hanging off of him, boots and all. He immediately sank a bit as he did his best to swim to the child. He struggled trying to lift the body but he was in the deep end and couldn't lift it over the lip of the pool. Jay flipped himself on to his back and rested the child on his chest. Slowly he swam to the stairs, lifted the child out and for the first time noticed it was a little boy, not breathing.
Jay set the boy down on his back then ran over to the security keypad on the wall and pressed and held down the panic button until the security system activated. A strident buzzer and ringing sounded reminiscent of a fire alarm. Strobe lights hardwired in to the alarm system were set off, ensuring the alarm could not be missed by anyone. All across the Residence the alarm sounded. On a control panel somewhere, someone had been notified.
Running back to the boy however Jay slipped on the slick surface surrounding the pool. His feet shot up out from under him as his head came down hard on the concrete surface. Jay was still thinking of how to get back to the boy when he lost consciousness.
Chapter 2
Jay woke up slowly. He felt off, really off, like his body wasn't quite right, nor quite his. The last thing he could remember he had.. done something? Something had gone wrong but he was having difficulties remembering what exactly. He opened his eyes. He was in a large featureless white room sitting on a small white chair in front of a medium sized desk and a man wearing a lab coat. Jay tried to focus on the man in the lab coat "Um..hello?"
The man looked startled "You're awake! Wait here, please!" he said and then ran from the room. Shortly after a man in a gray suit returned with the man in the lab coat. "Jason, welcome back. We've been worried about you! Now I know you have lots of questions so I'm going to help you out with those. While I do that my friend here is going to check you over and monitor your vitals."
The man in the suit sat down across from Jay and reached his hand out for a handshake. "We don't have a lot of time. So I'm going to sort of lay out a lot at once for you, then you have a decision to make. After you make that decision we can take all the time in the world to answer any and all of your questions to exhaustion. For right now however," the man said as he shook Jay's hand, "my name is Henry. Just Henry. I'm your lawyer. I know, I know, why do you have a lawyer? When did you get a lawyer? Those seem like important questions right now so let me adjust your frame of reference. You are also dying."
Jay's heart rate spiked and the lab tech looked up from the computer tablet he was holding and made a motion to the lawyer to go slower.
Jay tried to stand up but it didn't work and instead he just sort of wiggled a bit in the chair. "What the fuck and what the fuck!" he said as he looked at his body which was not responding as it should. "What is going on?" he shouted starting to panic.
The lab tech shook his head and tapped and adjusted a few things on his tablet then peered at Jay. Jay immediately felt better. What was he so worried about anyway? Things looked to be going just fine. Jay struggled with the sudden change in his mood before giving up and looking back at the lawyer. His lawyer.
"I know," the lawyer said. "Its a lot. So instead of trying to learn it all at once tell you what I'll do. I'm going to fill you in with what you need to know right now. OK?"
Jay nodded his head, not trusting himself to speak.
The lawyer gestured to a folder on the desk that Jay hadn't noticed was there before. Had it even been there before? Jay couldn't be sure with his state of mind being what it was. "That file contains a contract between you and a company I can't even tell you the name of. I've checked it and read it for you to make sure there aren't any hidden surprises. All you need to know is that contract is your only hope at saving your life. You had an accident. A bad one. You are paralyzed. Completely. And things are getting worse."
The lawyer gestured to the lab tech who checked his computer tablet for something. "Twenty minutes." the tech said.
"You have twenty minutes before your body will no longer be able to support your life. Things are bad."
Jay looked confused at his body, which didn't look that bad off. His current body looked strangely perfect actually.
The lawyer waved Jay off, "That's not your body. We are not really here. This is a simple simulation that allows us to communicate and even this is costing the Company a great deal of money, tech, everything. You are what some would refer to as locked-in. Your body can no longer touch, hear, taste, see, or talk. Your body no longer has any way of contacting the outside world. The only reason we were able to save you is because, well never mind that. Just know that you are alive but dying fast. Know that no one has ever been offered this chance before. If it weren't for this," he said, waving at the contract, "you would have zero chance at recovery. As it is things are going to be close I'm told."
Jay's breathing had quickened a little and he started to panic. "Pick it up a little." the tech said to the lawyer, "Fifteen minutes."
The lawyer looked a little scared at that. "OK Jay here it is. Your choice. As I said you are dying. You are locked-in and even if they could save your body you would never be able to have use of it again. There is also massive damage, bleeding, and pressure building up around your brain and if not corrected you will die soon. Your choice is allow a company you have never heard of and may never learn the name of to fix your brain at the cost of losing your body, OR, do nothing. Leave you as you are until you die."
"Ten minutes." the tech called out.
"Until you die in ten minutes." the lawyer said, looking Jay in the eye. "No matter what you choose your old life is gone."
Jay signed the contract. As soon as he did so the room and everything in it faded to black, and he once again lost consciousness.
Chapter 3
Jay came back to consciousness slowly, just like last time. He realized that if it happened one more time it would qualify as a habit, one he did not want to have. Looking down he saw nothing. Blackness everywhere. He tried to move and found he was without a body. Light flashed brightly before him as large letters appeared in front of him. He felt unnaturally calm.
Welcome Jay! You have been reborn! Your new life will be spent in an artificial game world of your choosing. Make your selection from the choices shown below. Please note that your selection is final and you will be unable to change it once your selection has been made.
Shown were four large panels, each showing a live video flyover of the worlds. The first panel showed a lush planet with bright pillars of light scattered about its surface. Below the first panel was a description.
Poltis: A world currently in the age of Gods. This world is ruled by Gods and while there is no magic there are powers which can be granted by the Gods themselves. Great for finding a pretty location and settling down. On this world the Gods do the adventuring. Mortals are left to their own devices unless pledged to a God. Fight for your God! This world is set to PermaDeath. Natives do not respawn. Players do not respawn. (Size:Earth x 1.5)
The second panel showed a planet with more reds and browns than anything else, the flyover showing an arid landscape. It too had a description under the panel.
Haros: A world currently in the age of War. The Gods have gone to war and the mortals with them. This world is ruled by Gods and while there is no magic there are powers which can be granted by the Gods themselves. Great for endless battle and building a great name for yourself! On this world there is no adventuring, just the fight before the next fight. Fight during the day and feast at night! This world is set to PermaDeath. Natives do not respawn. Players do not respawn. (Size:Earth x 2)
The third panel looked just like Earth, only a few thousand years ago.
Mundane: A world a lot like the one you left only before humanity's expansion. No ages of any type, just normal life. No Gods. No magic. Just people, land, and animals. Build the life you always thought you wanted among the pristine natural lands of this world! This world is NOT set to PermaDeath. Natives naturally respawn. Players naturally respawn. (Size:Earth x 1)
Mundane sounded boring to Jay. He'd had enough of Earth he thought.
The last panel was different. It showed what looked like a black table with marbles of varying sizes scattered across it. There was no flyover. Instead each marble rotated, each showing their own collection of colors. The description differed a bit as well.
Eden: A universe currently in the age of Discovery. Start in a world ruled by mortals and occasionally gods. The Gods no longer are reachable by average mortals and naturally occurring magic has taken their place and flourished. Great for infinite discovery and adventuring. This ancient world has gone through many ages, each age packed with its own Gods, kingdoms, magic, relics, dungeons and more. Now the age of Discovery has dawned. Let what was old be made new again, what was lost, found, and let the weak be made powerful! This world is set to Custom PermaDeath. Natives do not naturally respawn. Players do not naturally respawn. Respawn exceptions allowed. (Size:Earth x ???)
Jay browsed the choices. Poltis sounded fun, but who wants to be weak and just work for Gods all the time? Sounded like working at his current job. No thanks. Haros looked brutal. Jay would be a hell of a warrior. Or would he? He didn't know much about hand to hand fighting and couldn't imagine he'd be overly successful without help. It also looked exhausting.
Mundane was out - who wanted to live in a world without magic when there were alternative worlds with magic. That left Eden. Not only did it sound like a fun adventure but it had the least restrictive respawn options, second only to Mundane, which he had already ruled out. Jay guessed its size also seemed to be larger than the others.
PermaDeath he knew meant that if you died it was like on Earth. You were dead. That was it. Respawn meant that you came back to life after your death. So it appeared that in Eden no one naturally respawned but there were exceptions made for some people. He liked the sound of that. Plus, who didn't want to go adventuring. Not to be confused with fighting, adventuring was more along the lines of finding cool old things and taking something from them that made you richer or more powerful.
Jay liked the sound of that.
Feeling good about his choice Jay focused on Eden and it was selected. The Eden panel became brighter while the other three panels faded. "Excellent choice!" said a disembodied voice as Jay, once again, lost consciousness.
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Chapter 4
Jay woke up groggy in another white room on a chair in front of a white desk. Three times a charm apparently. This time a stunning older woman was seated behind the desk. She was beautiful, her blonde hair framing her face perfectly. She wore no makeup. Truthfully, she needed none. She wore a bright teal sun dress. On the desk was a sign that said INTAKE – EDEN.
He felt like he was half awake and hadn't quite pulled himself together yet. “You look so pretty,” Jay mumbled to the woman while he squirmed in his seat, trying to wake up fully. “Are you an angel?” he mumbled. The woman smiled with her lips pressed closed as she tapped a computer tablet a few times while watching Jay.
The woman kept looking at Jay until he stopped fidgeting. "How are you feeling?" She asked.
"I have a body!" Jay exclaimed, happy to no longer be hanging in a black expanse. He suddenly felt much more awake.
"Yes," she said laughing, "you have a body. Congratulations! You may not be aware but you have had surgery and things worked out beyond our wildest hopes. You did really well Jay and everyone is happy to see you awake."
Jay quieted a bit at that. "Who is everyone?"
"Well, your family, your friends, your surgeons, your nurses, case manager, lawyers," she started.
"Hold up," Jay interrupted her, "lawyers as in more than one?”
“Really?” the woman asked. “After everything so far that is the question you are hung up on?” She laughed kindly. “Jay you are a medical marvel right now,” she said, her arms opening up wide in emphasis. “Cutting edge medical care married to cutting edge technological equipment combined with cutting edge programming. Everyone that is anyone is going to want to speak with you. Which is going to be a problem.”
Jay looked beyond confused. “So what exactly is happening right now? There was an accident that I still can't remember, then a lawyer, then a weird world selection, and now this.”
“Well, lets start with a timeline of what has happened to you and then we can fill things in as we go along. Sound familiar?” she asked.
Jay nodded, chuckling lightly, motioning her to get on with it. “Absolutely.”
“Six months ago you went to do a cable/internet installation at a customer's house. A very special customer. A very rich, very important, very powerful customer. With me so far?” she asked Jay while peering in to his eyes as if looking for something.
“Vaguely. I think I remember very large doors.” he replied. Inside his mind however he was screaming SIX MONTHS?
“Yes, the house had large doors. That is the one. So you did your job but during that job the homeowner's young child got loose while momentarily unattended and managed to find his way in to the pool. You then found your way in to the pool to save the child. You got out, sent for help, then slipped and got probably one of the worst head injuries I've ever heard of. Really awful stuff.” She looked at something on the computer tablet she was holding and grimaced.
Jay tried his hardest but couldn't quite remember that. “I'm sorry,” he started, his body language announcing his agitation.
“Its ok. Its normal to lose some of your memory in cases of severe head trauma. You must have been running as fast as you could to get up the force needed to cause such an injury.” She paused and looked down at her tablet, turning it around so he could watch himself running at full speed towards a tiny child on the concrete. “The security videos showed you WERE running as fast as you could.”
It was odd for Jay, watching himself in a video he had no recollection of. Even with the video Jay could find nothing in his memory to match up to it. He could feel his heart start to race and his pulse quickened.
The woman took the tablet back and tapped a few buttons. Shortly after Jay felt a lot better.
“I can see what you're doing,” he said. “Are you fiddling with my emotions?”
“Yes.” she answered. “Its important you don't become too stressed until fully healed. My 'fiddling' is merely me trying to keep you stable. Alive.”
Jay nodded, thinking about that.
She continued while he pondered the implications. “Saving the child put in motion a sequence of events that ended up with you sitting here. The father of the child is involved in a corporation with some very high level technology projects who were developing the next great thing. Imagine a video game that you didn't just play, you lived in it. I'm talking a fully realized world populated by A.I. Not just one artificial intelligence either, but many, all indistinguishable from humans. A world partially created by an artificial intelligence that is able to work with human designers to create and populate entire worlds, and then run them forever. It can generate entire dungeons complete with monsters, history, and loot all within the time it took me to say this sentence. All on hardware that melds with the brain to create a seamless experience.”
“Sounds great, right?” she asked.
Jay nodded dumbly. He had tried VR on a computer and it was ok, but he wouldn't want to live his life like that with a helmet on.
“Only problem is how do we scale that up? Until now we haven't had enough data to move forwards on working towards a helmet version. We don't even know if its possible. Right now for example you are basically a body on life support with a brain so connected to our hardware interface that you would have a hard time figuring out where you end and the tech starts.”
She paused a moment, smoothing out her lab coat. “You are the first Jay. You will be the one studied to learn how to take the process currently keeping you alive and convert it to a consumer product.”
Jay pondered that for a moment. “So I will be alone in this new world then?”
“Absolutely not,” she replied. “You are the first, and will be the only player, for quite some time but with one big difference. You can't leave. Other players will be able to log out.”
“Well that doesn't seem very fair,” Jay said, his face scrunching up a bit.
“No, it doesn't.” she agreed. “However, since this will not be a game for you but an entire life your character will be allowed to potentially be brought back if you die. This does not mean you WILL respawn when you die but that you may, through adventuring, find and acquire the ability to respawn. This means that once you start the game you are vulnerable to permanent death until you unlock the Respawn ability. It is vital that you understand that. With me so far?”
Jay nodded. Everything made perfect sense while being completely insane at the same time.
“You will be without other players for an undetermined amount of time. We have no idea when we will be able to add another player, let alone large groups of them. During that time you will be surrounded by non player characters run by artificial intelligence. Although they are not considered people on Earth you will be living with them permanently. Its important that you treat them as people, or life will become very difficult for you.”
Jay nodded in understanding and agreement. “I don't have a problem with that. As long as they're not assholes.”
“There will definitely be some assholes sprinkled in,” she stated. “Just like on Earth.”
“I notice you don't say 'real life' but 'on Earth.' Whats the difference?” Jay asked.
“For most people Earth IS real life. Not to you however. To you Eden will be your real life. That's why I phrase it that way.” She smiled at him slightly sadly as she said this.
“While I speak with you we are preparing the universe you will be living in. Its just about ready. That brings me to my other point. People speaking with you. Earth people I mean.” she said, smiling for real this time. “People on Eden can't communicate with people on Earth. Once you enter you will be unable to speak with anyone on Earth until you can find and unlock that ability. So if I were you I'd make that your second priority.”
Jay looked confused again and asked, “Why not make it my first priority?”
The woman looked at Jay askance, “Didn't I just tell you that you would die FOREVER if you didn't find and unlock the ability to respawn? Don't you think making yourself somewhat immortal would be a better use of your time initially?”
Jay paused for a moment. He'd reached a crossroads. Up until this point his life hadn't been very dangerous. Sure, he could get hit by a car like everyone else, but he was never actually in any real danger during his daily life. It's not like anyone or anything hunted him on Earth. That would most likely not be the case on Eden. He was about to be dropped in to a world teeming with unknown dangers, and would be constantly in fear of dying for good unless he fixed it. He needed to focus and pull himself together or he really could lose everything.
“Right.” he said a little abashedly. “Sorry. I'm with you now. I'm still a bit addled from the almost dying and whatnot.”
The woman behind the desk, who had still not introduced herself, stared at him, assessing if she had truly gotten through to him. Deciding that she had she continued. “Smarten up fast Jay or you might lose everything. You've been granted a chance some people would do anything for. Immortality in a world full of adventure. Don't lose that due to you not paying enough attention. Inattention will kill you as surely as a sword would.”
Jay nodded, slightly chastised. He needed that. He visibly pulled himself together and sat in the chair with his shoulders back and his back straight.
“That's better. There is so much I have to tell you and no time to talk.” she mumbled as she looked at her tablet. “So back to what I was saying. Eventually you will have other player characters to talk with. We are also working on a way for you to talk back and forth with people on Earth but until that happens once you are on Eden there will be no more communication between you and anyone on Earth.”
Jay nodded. So he would be alone for a time.
“However,” she began.
Jay looked up hopefully.
“We will be recording your playtime. You will be in a world no live biological human has ever stepped foot in. You will be the first, and because of that there will be intense interest from everyone around the world once your story comes out. We are working with the law firm representing you to produce and distribute a recorded show of your exploits on the internet.” She stopped for a moment. “Did you know you had an entire law firm representing you?”
Jay was stunned and started to feel hot, stressed out, “Uh, I can't afford that.”
She guffawed loudly. She didn't chuckle or giggle or laugh a little. No, this was the kind of laugh you used in private when surprised by something and unable to hold back the laughter, usually when someone says something so ridiculous you can't even think of what to say in response.
“I'm sorry,” she said, “but all of your needs, physical, mental, financial, etc are being completely covered by the company. Paying for everything for the rest of your life won't even put a dent in to the company's finances. You are set for life. If you need something not provided just ask any company employee and it will be taken care of. And those lawyers work for YOU, not the company. The boy's father made sure of that. You were initially going to be represented by company counsel but that plan was shut down immediately. So don't worry. I'm not even going to adjust your emotional settings right now – take a moment and really let it sink in. You do not have to worry about money on Earth ever again.”
Jay sat silently and tried to take that in. He would never walk again, or do anything again for that matter on Earth. His body was unusable. What good would money do him on Earth outside of keeping him alive? He had left behind a mother and siblings. He had a few friends but that was it. He didn't have anyone else to take care of but himself, not even a pet. His mortgage, truck loan, medical bills, all paid off. It was a good feeling when he thought about it a bit.
“Thank you, I feel a little better now,” Jay said. “If you don't mind, what is your name?”
The woman smiled widely showing all of her teeth and answered “Alice. I've been so looking forward to meeting you.”
Jay leaned in to shake her hand, “Its a pleasure to meet you Alice. Sorry about my manners, I'm not at my best I think.”
Alice nodded. “You're not, but that isn't your fault. Also, we don't have unlimited time here so I have to wrap things up even though you still have a million questions. Eden is almost finished with preparations for you so we've just about run out of time. Last thing, and this is important. The company does not control Eden. The company built Eden with the aid of more than a few artificial intelligence and has no idea how to change or edit what they have built without the AI's help. Even with the AI's help changes can be made but usually slowly and usually small. So don't think the Company can just flip a switch and make you level 100 or something. You will have to work for what you get.”
Jay nodded, “I pretty much expected that to be the case. What about giving me a bonus or something to help me survive?”
Alice smiled. “I don't get to spend a lot of time with people like you Jay, and I would hate to lose you. While I can't create entire new rules just to make you powerful I can give you a few boons.”
Jay paused, feeling himself start to slip away, “Are you with the Company then?” he asked.
“No,” she replied. “I'm the A.I.”
Jay opened his mouth to respond, his eyes wide, as his vision once again faded to black.
A video window popped open next to Alice as Jay faded completely.
“Vitals all looked good. How'd he do?” the woman on the video window asked. She was wearing what looked like a lab coat and had her hair done up in a braid.
Alice shook her head, “I'm worried he will still treat Eden like a game.”
The woman on the screen winced, “Did you really need to lie to him and tell him that he would die though? Couldn't you have just told him that only his character would die?”
Alice sighed. She wasn't human but she was remarkably human-like. “A small price to pay if it convinces him to treat Eden as he would Earth. This isn't going to be a game for him – this is his life, for the rest of his life.”
“Would it be so bad if his character died? He'd just pop up somewhere else wouldn't he?” the technician asked. Alice was the subject matter expert on Eden seeing as how she ran the place.
Alice frowned, “He would lose everything I'm about to give him. His abilities, his boons, his path. He would start anew in a random place far away and I would be hard pressed to help him compared to what I have blessed him with from the start. Would it be bad? Maybe, maybe not. It would be dangerous and potentially interfere with his ability to help us.”
The woman on the video screen fidgeted and didn't look certain but also didn't look as if she was prepared to argue about it. “If you think it's best...”
“I do.” Alice insisted. She was certain that without a bit of a push Jay might have...difficulties, coming to terms with his new world.
“I just hope you're right.” the company technician on the video screen said worriedly.
Only time would tell.