I came to in my pod, feeling the last bit of liquid as it drained down past my feet. The top popped open, and I could barely see two indistinct grey blobs come into my view. “Wa. Water.” I managed to croak through the pain in my throat and parched mouth.
“Easy Marty, we will get to that in a second. I’m Dr. Kay. You no doubt are feeling some throat pain from the extensive time under tubing. That is normal, and we have given you some mild pain killers to help with that. We will give you some water, please just little sips for now through the straw.” I felt a thin tube pressing against my lips, and managed to suck a little bit of blessedly cold liquid before it was taken away again.
After a few minutes of recovery time, I tried to get up only to find my arms shaking like a bowl full of Jello. “Um, Doc? Having some problems here.”
“Yes, sorry, I was about to explain that. Well, the immersion pods are great at keeping muscle tone going, so you don’t have to worry about atrophy. What we have found is that there is a temporary loss of fine motor control. Over the next week, you will get some intensive therapy, but everyone has recovered from this.”
“Ok, that’s good. Think you can help me out then? I’m supposed to have a meeting with the higher ups soon?”
“Yes. We can definitely get you ready for that.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
A half hour later, I was heading up an elevator while sitting in a wheelchair and relaxing in an incredibly comfortable fluffy robe. We entered a meeting room, where there was a large U shaped table full of people in power suits.
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“Greetings Marty, I’m Glen Matthews, CEO of Arctic Storm, and I want to thank you for kicking off a wonderful series of world events.” He said, coming around and shaking my hand. “Now, I want to offer you a few things. First, we are going to bump you into the top level of beta testers for pay, and we are also offering you a streaming option. We will go through and professionally edit your adventures, releasing them once a week. Are you okay with that?”
“Sure? I haven’t really thought about that, but can I ask that we don’t put anything out there where I am currently located? I’m sure I just earned a lot of players’ ire, and they would love nothing more than to hunt me down and kill me several times over.”
“Sure. We have plenty of footage so far for at least a month’s worth I believe?” He asked, looking at one of the other execs. They nodded, and he continued, “Great. Now, on to your evolution. Almost two years ago now, we had added the divine tier objects in a patch, but never announced it. There were five objects hidden in the world, and the option for creating others based on incredibly rare circumstances. Well, after a while, when nobody found any, we lost track of them and the development department forgot there was another tier of things waiting to be unlocked. So while you are going through your week of physical therapy, our developers will be working their butts off to finish a patch with your new evolution. I’m sorry you are going to have to miss the world events you just kickstarted, but I have assurances that your eventual evolution will more than make up for what you are missing. Is that ok with you?”
“Yes, sir. It sounds fine. Besides, I already managed to obtain some of the collection materials for the global quest. Is it going to run past the week deadline?”
“Originally no, but I don’t see why we can’t extend it for a few days past. Any objections?” He said, looking at everyone gathered at the table. When nobody did, he said, “Well. That settles it. We are good to go, and you will get a chance to turn in the quest reward as well. Thank you for all your hard work Marty.” He said, shaking my hand once again. The attendant in charge of my wheelchair turned me around, and we headed back down to start my physical therapy.