I entered the phone booth-sized tube protruding out of the concrete that was the Information Kiosk and scanned my identifying barcode. There was a chime, the glowing red light turned white, and the small screen flickered on, just as before.

Welcome to The Commons. What information would you like to access?

Where to begin?

I want to know more about my Statistics menu.

The Statistics menu is a user interface for Volunteers representing five categories of functional program performance relevant to your role in removing invasive entities from The Collective.

And only Volunteers have them? Not Citizens?

That is correct. Citizens are neither required nor expected to participate in the removal of invasive entities.

So the five categories are Attack, Defense, Ability, Movement, and Processing. Each category has a combined score, but the combined score is composed of the scores in the subcategories.

That is correct.

And each category has subcategories.

That is correct.

I brought up my menu for reference as I spoke.

Please explain how Strength and Accuracy impact my ‘functional program performance’ in carrying out my role as a Volunteer.

Strength, beyond the obvious meaning and general applicability of the word, modifies your ability to use melee weapons.

Accuracy, beyond the obvious meaning and general applicability of the word, modifies your ability to use ranged weapons.

Are there other types of weapons besides those two?

In addition to melee and ranged, there are also thrown weapons and traps / deployable items that can be used to assist in the removal of invasive entities. Thrown weapons are modified by both Strength and Accuracy, while traps / deployable items are modified by a Processing statistic and a Movement statistic, with the relevant modifiers specific to the item.

I had only the basic push dagger, a strictly melee weapon modified by Strength. A very small, and short range weapon at that.

I think I am beginning to understand. Please explain Essence and Resistance.

Essence is the measurement of the durability of your True Self (™) within The Collective. Once Essence is depleted, your True Self (™) suffers deresolution and deletion and must be reloaded at a Restoration Point.

Resistance is the measurement of the buffer or defense against Essence depletion caused by invasive entities or other obstacles.

I understood that Essence represented my life or health in this place, and Resistance was an extra layer of protection or durability. Another thought occurred to me.

During a recent bounty–uh, Task assignment, I received a status ailment from an invasive entity. Would that have been prevented if I had higher Resistance?

I do not have enough data to speculate. Both Resistance and Probability are factors in preventing various forms of data corruption.

Hmmm. Then explain Adeptness and Energy to me.

Adeptness, beyond the obvious meaning and general applicability of the word, modifies your ability to harness and use special skills as they relate to your role as Volunteer.

Energy is a related resource that powers the use of those special skills. Without Energy, certain special skills will not be functional until Energy is restored.

Do I have any special skills?

You currently do not have any special skills.

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

Explain Speed and Agility to me, and skip the part about the obvious meaning of the word and all that. Just tell me how it helps me carry out my ‘function’ or ‘role.’

Speed modifies how quickly you can move your True Self (™) through the environment.

Agility modifies your reflexes during the removal of invasive entities and other activities, as well as the range and type of motion of your True Self (™).

And as previously explained, either of these Movement subcategories may modify your use of traps or deployable items, depending on the item.

I recalled how Camel, despite his apparent hunchback and limping gait, was able to move much faster than me as we evacuated the Red Light district. I only had a value of 20 assigned to Speed.

Now Processing. Explain all those subcategories as they relate to my role as Volunteer.

Perception relates to the interpreting of sensory information in order to comprehend the environment.

Persuasion relates to the ability to influence others to believe or do something - to move by argument, entreaty, or expostulation to a belief, position, or course of action.

Protocol relates to higher cognitive functions such as knowledge, intelligence, logic, and prescience.

Probability relates to the measurement of the likelihood of an event to occur, on a scale from impossibility to certainty.

The descriptions for this section were a little vague for my liking, but I was beginning to grasp the bigger picture. We Volunteers had one primary function above all else - to rid this Metaverse of invasive entities. The user interface of the Statistics menu was therefore entirely geared toward measuring and tracking our ability to do so.

Citizens, not that I had ever met one, had no need for such an interface or statistical categories within this System. We Volunteers were a different breed.

I checked through my submenus to see what else I should inquire about. There were Weapons, Armor, and Accessories (of which I had none). I moved on to my Inventory submenu.

Ah. What about Cards? What are Cards and Fragments?

Invasive entities will sometimes leave behind Data Cards upon removal from The Collective. These Data Cards contain code foreign to the System that can be used to better understand the nature of these invasive entities and/or improve a Volunteer’s ability to engage in removal.

Fragments are individual pieces of Data Cards. Once enough Fragments have been collected, a complete Data Card can be reformed through the process of Data Forging.

I recalled that a location existed in The Commons called the Data Forge. I looked again at my Inventory.

[INVENTORY

* CARDS

* FRAGMENTS

* * {common} Hellhound 4/10]

Okay. What about Materials? During my last Task Assignment, I collected three ‘common’ fern flowers.

Materials are resources collected from invasive flora. Materials contain code foreign to the System but can be combined with System materials through the process of Data Forging to create functional items.

How would I know what to do with these materials? What even is a fern flower?

I am unable to help with that, as I am only a virtual assistant assigned to assist Volunteers at The Commons Information Kiosk. Volunteers often use the Archives to research invasive entities and materials, as well as other relevant data points.

Archives. I see.

I noticed that a line of Volunteers was starting to form outside. Others eager to use the Information Kiosk for whatever reason. I needed to wrap this up.

One last question, for now. What are Crystals? I have ten Crystals listed under my Economy submenu.

Crystals are variable residual resources left behind upon removal of invasive fauna. They can be thought of as similar to cryptographic hash functions that operate according to Schrodinger’s conceptualization of paradoxical quantum superposition.

Uhhhh. Can you explain that in practical terms?

Crystals are the fuel used in the process of Data Forging and are required for multiple tasks such as generating new Value for your statistical subcategories, creating functional items from materials, forging complete Data Cards from fragments, fusing special skills onto weapons and armor, transmutation, and more.

Transmutation? My head was starting to swim again. Information overload.

A gaunt man dressed like a 1970s London punk rocker banged the flat of his hand impatiently on the outside of the kiosk’s transparent door.

“Hurry it up, you gloopy nazz!”

I pulled up the mini map of The Commons on the kiosk’s small screen, looking at the various relevant landmarks. I did my best to commit the details to memory and shoved my way back out to the street, standing under the never-ending night sky.

I had a slightly better grasp of the System we Volunteers had to operate within. And I had several options of what to do next.

-> I could visit the Archives and try to learn more about this mysterious world and my purpose within it, as well as the invasive entities and even the fern flower materials in my possession.

-> I could visit the shopping district (the Armory and the Supply Depot) and spend some of the hard-earned Crypt burning a hole in my metaphorical pocket.

-> I could visit the Data Forge and see if I could put these 10 Crystals to use in strengthening some of my Statistical categories.

-> Also, I could visit the Restoration Point to back up my data before some nasty monster bites my head off or I drown in another pink-hued flash flood.