Previously….Lily spun on her heel and peered at the person who called for her. Her heart was in her throat. Was she caught, talking about what happen that morning?
A pretty secretory stood with a clipboard over her forearm. Her blond hair was up in a high ponytail, tailing down her back. She stared at Lily with a pair of piecing brown eyes and raised an eyebrow. “Are you Lily Williamson or not?” she asked.
“I am,” Lily admitted with a nodded.
“Good,” the secretory snapped in a no-nonsense kind of tone, “You are being requested to come to the Project Floor.” She spun on her heel, “Follow me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Lily quickly said as she bent to grab her duffel bag and hurried after the secretory. Behind her, Lily could hear another secretory call out Julie’s name then a third secretory announce Charlie’s name. She waved at them. She hoped one day she would see them again, but she didn’t know if she would. She really hoped one day she would speak with them again and informed them of her adventures in this game she was about to do a deep drive into. They would in turn tell her about their adventures. However, she knew there was a chance it could be different. One of them possible wouldn’t log out of the game, ever again, once they go in.
Lily shook her head, trying to get rid of those thoughts. It was no use in thinking such thoughts. She assumed since they were also there, they signed the contract and they didn’t have a good enough lawyer to figure out a way out of it, they were stuck, just like she was. She was just have to make the best of it. She turned her attention to where the secretory was leading her - a series of sterile white hallways with gray doors leading to different rooms. Lily quickly became lost. She knew she wouldn’t be able to get out of the building without help. They approached an elevator and the secretory paused outside of it, pressed the up button and directed her attention to the clipboard.
Lily glanced over her shoulder. There wasn’t anyone else walking through the hallway. It was weird. One would think since it was a business building, there would be people running back and forth; heading to meetings, carrying papers, and whatever else they did in an office like setting. She considered asking the timed old question of where was everybody, but the elevator doors opened and the secretory stepped in. Lily followed a second behind her.
The secretory stood near the controls and punched the number 7. The elevator doors slid closed and the small room was filled with elevator music. Lily felt the elevator shift upward before she broke silence, asking, “So, when do I enter the game?”
“Everything will be explained to you when we reach the conference room,” The Secretory stated in a monotone voice. Lily blinked. It was a very Non-Playable Character tone.
“When we reach the conference room, will I be able to ask questions,” Lily asked, looking at the secretory.
“Everything will be explained to you when we reach the conference room,” The Secretory replied in the same monotone. Her facial expression didn’t change as she spoke.
Lily raised an eyebrow, looking at the secretory a bit more closely. The Secretory looked a little too perfect - flawless skin, hair styled to perfection, clothes trailered to her hourglass figure. Lily chewed on her lower lip, thinking about what she could ask next to finally figure out if the Secretory was an android - a robot that look like a human - or not. The question couldn’t be a simple question and had to be direct. It could be something Lily already knew. She thought back to the contract.
The contract did hold some interesting information about the game she was about to enter, but it was not enough to give all of the details. Maybe she could use that knowledge to gain more knowledge. From the contract, the game was supposed to have a lot of islands to explore and the players, in this case, Lily could chose which path to take - become a Pirate or enter the Naval Forces.
“From my understanding of the contract and what it told of the game,” Lily began, “I could be a pirate or became a apart of the Naval forces. What is the difference between them?”
“Everything will be explained to you when we reach the conference room,” The Secretary's voice didn’t change from the annoying monotone. Her facial expression didn’t change, but Lily thought she saw a bunch of wires in the Secretary's mouth when she opened her mouth to talk.
“Are you an Android?” Lily came out and asked.
“Yes, I am,” The Secretory finally looked at Lily, “I am known as 1K-26 or as Manager Kong likes to address me as Kalifa.”
Lily nodded, “I’m Lily.”
“I know,” Kalifa shot back. Her tone was monotone, but for some add reason, Lily felt there was an underline current of annoyance, directed at her.
Lily fell silent as she stepped away from Kalifa, riding the elevator trip in silence. She watched the numbers on the screen finally switched to 7 and felt the elevator stop. Her eyes flickered to the steel doors as they slid opened. Kalifa moved forward. Now, Lily was aware of her existence as an android, she could tell there was a slight unsteadiness in the female android’s stride.
It was amazing how far technology had come from the early days of her parents’ childhood to now. When her parents were alive, Lily was told of simple black and white TV of her grandparents, the TV channels were limited to 3 channels then the TV channels options grew during her parents’ lives to include streaming on the Internet, the HoloStars’ predecessor. Children were allowed to play outside until the streetlights came on and their parents trusted the neighbor enough where they didn’t have to worry about a stranger coming up and kidnapping their children. Lily had wanted to grow up in those times.
When she had made the comment about that, her mother had given her a sad smile and said, “Don’t think we didn’t have our own problems back then. We did have wars, people judging others based on the color of their skin, and folks mentally ill shooting up schools, but we did make the best of what we had of the time.” Her mother wrapped Lily up in a hug and held her tight. “In your lifetime, my precious daughter, you will be faced with the choice of stepping up and fighting for Freedom or going with what is safe, provides security, and makes you throw away your morals, values, and faith even though it will be disguised by layers of makeup, sweet promises, and clothes. It will be the hardest choice you will face in this world. You will have every reason not to step up and pay the price of Freedom. At the end of the day, you will make the choice and your father and I will support you, no matter what you choose, if we like it or not.”
At the time, Lily didn’t know what her mother had meant by that. Even now, walking through the hallways, she still didn’t understand, but the memory of that conversation was important. Kalifa came to a stop in front of a gray door and turned to Lily, stating, “Once you go through this door, you will be briefed on what to expect from your experience. Since you already have sign the contract, there is no turning back for you, Lily Williamson, unless you want to go to the Re-education Camps. Good Luck and Safe Travels.” Kalifa held out the clipboard to Lily.
Lily took the clipboard and Kalifa opened the door before the android walked away. Lily watched her leave. It was a weird interaction. It felt like Lily had a strange one sided conversation with a NPC, and now, they have filled their obligations for Lily’s ‘Quest’, they had walked away, going to their everyday lives and ignoring Lily. She glanced down at the Clipboard, half thinking there would be some sort of sign of Quest Completion and a reward of some kind. The paperwork on the clipboard was blank. She glanced up. She blinked. Kalifa was gone. The door beside her was the only door from what Lily could see in the hallway.
She sighed, shaking her head. She peered into the room beyond the door. It was a simple looking conference room with a long table and several chairs encircled it. She stepped through the doorway and spotted Michael Kong sitting at the end of the table. She took another step and the door slammed shut behind her. She jumped and spun. Her eyes widened.
“You have made the correct choice, Lily Williamson,” Michael Kong’s voice rang out from where he sat, “I was afraid the Re-education Team got a hold of you.”
Lily turned with a frown. She stared at Michael for a long moment, before she asked, “What do you mean?”
He sighed, looking up from his stack of papers in a folder, and settled a hard look on Lily before he answered, “You were on that list for Re-education.”
Her lips parted as her back snapped straightened. “How - how would you know that?” She wasn’t aware of such list. Of course, she had heard rumors of one, but to have it confirmed, that something else.
“Connections,” Michael replied, “Just like I know you signed the contract.” Lily’s hand tightened on the straps of her duffel bag. “Just like I know you won’t be able to go back that neighbor you lived in. Your house has already been filled by another person with a low social credit score and they have a certain amount of time to raise it before they, too, get selected for the Re-Education Camps unless they agree to do something important.” He lend back in his chair, looking at her. “However, you have another three hours before your personality has to be upload to the High Seas game and unfortunately, you were late this morning and we are behind schedule.” He stood up. “I will have to tell you everything while we move to the medical labs.” He walked to a door behind him, one Lily didn’t see. “Come on, Miss Williamson, we have to get a move on.”
“Yeah,” Lily walked after him.
“Now,” Michael led her down to the medical labs, “We usually handled this in a meeting, but your situation is different. You have to be upload into the game system by 2 pm or the Men in Black will take you to the nearest Re-education camp. My sources have informed me that your social credit score has been artificially lowered for some unknown reason and there are some reports, suggesting because your parents was involved the last uprising, you were being watched for any strange activities the official system didn’t like. Somehow you were placed on the list late last night for the morning raid, but since you agreed to the contract, you were spared unless we don’t get you uploaded.”
“Yeah,” Lily glanced over at him, “You said that once already.”
“I’m saying it again to stress it,” Michael said, “Once you get to the medical labs, you will be monitored by a team of nurses and other medical professionals. You will everything documented - your menstrual cycle, all of your vitals. You get blood work to see if you have early signs of a serious disease like cancer or diabetics. Your DNA will be added to our system and if you wish, you will have the option to have your eggs harvested and frozen for when you are done with the game.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“What if I died in game,” Lily asked.
“Then your eggs will be added to the national registrar and a surrogate will be assigned to eggs, a sperm donor will fertilize your eggs, and someone else will adopt your children,” Michael shrugged. “We have had numerous folks make the choice of not wanting to leave their game for a number of reasons.” Michael didn’t look at her in the eye when he said that. Lily frowned. She opened her mouth to ask, but Micheal went on, “Your DNA will help further understood why certain people will certain disease while others are immune to it.”
She knew what he was referring to. The last pandemic from a decade ago that forced everyone into their homes for a long period of time and millions had died from the disease with the mortality rate of 50%. It was around the same time as the Last Uprising for Freedom happened. She pushed those thoughts away.
“The Contract did explain to you what kind of benefits you will have,” Michael said, “If you have any fertilized eggs and they are carried to term, they will be taken care of by the money you will earn while you are in the game.” She nodded, remembering the contract did cover that. “You will life insurance which will be passed down to your kids in case you do die in game.” He walked to a door and opened before he walked through with Lily hot on his heels. “In roughly three months, you will be pulled out for mental health analyzes and every six months after that. We are trying to figure out what are the limitations for the human mind.” He paused as they went through another door. Lily glanced over her shoulder and blinked as the door seemed to vanish within the wall. “We have a contract with several different companies who wish to send volunteers’ personalities to far off planets once we have reached them and set up camps.”
It sounded like the company had a contract with the Department of Defense for the World Government and another space company. That was somewhat impressive, but scary at the same time. Either way, the company was making a good chuck of change.
“However,” Michael went on, “There are possibilities of reaching through the dimension barriers and see into the parallel dimensions.”
Lily stopped and blinked as she thought about that statement. She voiced, “Parallel worlds?”
“Yes,” Michael glanced over his shoulder, stopping and watching her reaction, “We have sent a few personalities to various parallel worlds, very similar to ours with a small differences. For example, a few of the parallel worlds we managed to locate, they have gamer hubs just like the VRMMORPGs we have.” He gave her a grin, “It is really exciting!”
“And since I signed the contract, saying I will do this job, I have to see this project through or be sent to the Re-education camp,” Lily stated. Her gut tightened with worry.
“That is correct,” he said, “We have managed to pull others for who have volunteer for projects like the one you are going to be performing back from their parallel worlds with 99% success rate.”
Lily chewed her lower lip, thinking about her choices. Go forward with this project or forced to attend a Re-education camp. It shouldn’t be hard decision she reasoned. The Re-education camps were designed to bring someone into line with what was acceptable for the non-elites of society, the various laws that had been pushed through the so called Senate of the World Government, and other questionable values, but this project wouldn’t change her personality, her thoughts, her values, her morals, and her faith.
“The Contract said,” she took a breath, thinking about to her conversation with the Kalifa android, “I will have the option of choosing what path I would like to take in this game called High Seas. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Michael nodded.
“Then why called it a game if you are trying to send volunteers to another world,” Lily asked. She couldn’t believed she had used the word volunteer when it didn’t feel like she was volunteering to do this project. There was a small spark of excitement, growing in her midsection, but not enough to say she was truly excited into going to another world, location a different dimension.
“It is easier to explain,” he shrugged, “Some people won’t get the concept of a parallel world, but they will get the concept of a gamer hub and what is VRMMORPG, so, that’s how we talk people into volunteering for our numerous projects.”
“So, The Living History Project is one of the projects you sent personalities to a parallel world,” Lily asked. She knew the Living History game series was unique because it had allowed people to experience life during a certain time period. If she remembered correctly, the Lost Colony of Roanoke was the first game in the series, but the company had explore different time periods and managed to find some interesting discoveries.
The fifth installment of the game series, Ice Age Living, discovered the fact humanity had been around a lot longer then previously thought, living along side with many different races like Elves, Halflings, Dwarves, and other mythical creatures who lived in the realm of fantasy. However, toward the end of the Ice Age, there was a huge world wide flood which wiped out majority of the fantasy creatures, leaving humanity behind as survivors, telling tales of mythical creatures by the word of mouth. This story, over time, became known as the Great Flood and eventfully, in Christianity and some other religions as Noah’s Flood.
“Yes, every single installment of that series,” Michael sighed, “We have made so many new discoveries that most of the science community tried to debunk them, but failed when they went to the places and found the remains.” He glanced down the hall, “It is has been a very interesting time to be alive.” He turned to Lily.
“What else can you tell me of High Seas,” she questioned. She didn’t want to go into the unknown without any knowledge.
“High Seas is called that because it is a world made up with islands,” Michael started to walk again and this time, Lily followed him. She hoped her decision wouldn’t come back and bit her in the ass one day. “Majority of these islands have their own ecosystem and are ruled by Monarchies who answer to a much larger World Government.”
“Like our own?” Lily didn’t want to live under the thumb of another too powerful world government.
“From what we can tell, yes.” The response came.
“Damn,” Lily muttered. She was hoping to avoid a world government in general, considering her own experience. She briefly wondered what it would be like living under a Monarchy or at least a much smaller form of government. She heard him chuckle. “What else can you tell me about this new world I will be living in until you guys decide to pull me out?”
“Since the World is majority water, their world government is naval, and they have a lot of bases around their world,” Micheal explained, “And from what we have been able to gather, they appeared to be less technological advance then us in some ways, but they do have the gamer hubs. You will be the first person we send there and hopefully, you won’t be the last, so in a way, you will be also tasked in gathering as much information as possible while you are there. Your personality, as we decided to call it, will be monitored the entire time so we can better understand this new parallel world.” He stopped by a gray steel door and pulled out a ID card. “We have arrived at our medical labs.”
He waved the ID card in front of a scanner and the doors opened. Lily gasped and she stared at the large lab. She watched as scientists swarm around the room like ants until a scientist approach them and Micheal explained who she was then that was the last time she saw Micheal. What she experienced next was nothing more then a whirlwind. She didn’t know how much time had passed as she went through various tests and questionnaires before she finally ended up, standing naked as the day she was born in front of a VR pod, half listening to the nurse explaining what she will be doing to Lily. It was a simple process and Lily had stepped into the pod, laid down before the VR pod lid closed on her, putting her body in a coma like sleep. She didn’t even realized what had happened to her until a large red lined box appeared in the center of her vision.
Lily turned her head to the left then to the right. The box moved with her. She noticed it had a blinking cursor beside a single word - Name. She sighed. Of course, it was asking for a name. She remembered from the contract, they had advised on choosing another name and cited their birth names had power they shouldn’t be keen on giving out. She had been thinking about it at the back of her mind since she had read that part of the contract. She had chosen out a few different ones. Each of them held a different meaning to her. She could go with her mother’s name, Rose, but it didn’t feel right. Natasha had popped into her mind a few times, but it was a name she had associated with an infamous assassin and she didn’t know if she could live up to that.
Annja was another good strong name. She had gotten that name from a book series about a reincarnated Joan of Arc, solving various mysterious her mentors had a hand in while they tried to keep living forever. She smirked when she thought her situation. The name Annja fit her situation prefect since her personality had been transported to a new world.
She turned her attention back to the box and thought to add the name Annja to it. She watched as the name was typed out and the box changed to a confirmation box. She mentally said ‘yes’. She blinked and saw the box transformed into the basic character information box of any normal RPG:
Name: Annja
Race: Human
Level: 1
Description: Human are the most prolific in the Known World, given their fertility and the range of capable partners. They have a wide range of abilities and only limited by the limitations they put on themselves, thus they have the limitless ability. They don’t have any benefits to stats when they level up because their limitless ability. Another downside to having the Limitless ability, they may eventually run into a skill cap greater then the other races of the world and may have trouble learning new skills at higher levels.
Humanity is a Tier 1 common being. There are more Tiers are available when the Human reaches the required level to unlock those Tiers.
Profession: Not high enough level to have a profession
Health: 100
Mana: 100
Stamina: 100
Constitution: 10
Wisdom: 10
Intelligence: 10
Endurance: 10
Dexterity: 10
Agility: 10
Luck: 10
Charisma: 10
Skills: None
Marks: None
Abilities:
Limitless - A Race Based Ability
Secondary Characteristics- Unknown - - Locked-
The woman formerly known as Lily stared in surprise as she read over the status page. It was simple and straight forward. Hell, she was even surprised it had explained what the Limitless ability was in the race description. She took note of the fact the race description also said ‘races’ and wondered what kind of other races were there in this new world. Her musing were erupted as she felt like she was dumped into something cold.
Annja snapped her eyes open and stared at her blue color surroundings. She tried to take a breath and tasted salt water on her tongue. Her eyes widened and she slapped a hand over her mouth and nose as she realized she was in salt water. She kicked her legs back and forth as she headed upward. She tilted her head back and saw a large yellow circle shinning down. She broke the surface and sucked in a deep breath before she started to cough. Her throat burnt as she hacked up the mouthful of salt water she had unknowingly breathed in. She pushed her red hair out of her face and peered around as she kicked her legs back and forth, staying afloat.
She had been dumped in a large body of water. Michael did warn her, saying this parallel world was made of mainly water. She slowly spun in a circle, looking at the horizon. In the far distance, Annja could make out an island, behind her. She couldn’t tell how far away it was, but it was far enough away where she figured it would take the rest of the day to get there. She silently cursed. They couldn’t have dumped her closer to the island. She sighed. Something hit her shoulder and she glanced over to see it was a large piece of board. She grabbed it, pulled in front of her and placed it under her chest, causing her to raise several more inches out of the water.
“Well, at least I don’t have to worry about drowning as long as this doesn’t break,” Annja spoke out loud. She swam toward the island.