Sloan held his daughter Rana’s hand as they entered the Xeniax facility. Both he and his wife, Elizabeth, were excited to be able to get away from the modern life. With the rate of technological progress and how much it interfered with life, they both felt that it was too much. They just wanted a simpler life and to allow their daughter to grow up without having so much of the invasive technology in her day to day life.
The progress of having so much technology and now that quantum computers were starting to become cheap enough that corporate startups could afford them, the quantum-based AI programs were taking over what seemed like any job that people could do, and they had enough.
When the opportunity to participate in this study, where they would own a small farm in a private game instance, they could raise their daughter how they wanted, while teaching her actual family values.
Not only that, but when the study ended, they would have enough money for their daughter to go into any college that she wanted to go to. It also helped that Xeniax Game Studios would also provide teaching materials in the game so that they could home school their daughter properly. It seemed like a win for everyone.
As the family entered the lobby to the facility, Sloan looked around as his lip twitched from an old electrical wound that scarred the right side of his lip. The lobby itself was oval in shape with white, polished tiles. There were three automatic polymer glass doors that led to other places in the facility. Two of them were at each side of the lobby, and the last was a short distance behind the reception area.
In the center of the lobby was a large data table with two receptionists sitting behind it, and to both sides of the entrance that Sloan just entered the lobby from was a good number of translucent chairs in five different rows with quite a few people already occupying them.
After walking to the reception center, one of the receptionists greeted Sloan with a smile, “Hello, welcome to Xeniax. How may we help you?” the pretty young brunette asked.
“Yes, I’m Sloan Simmons, and we’re here for the Immersive VR duration study…” Sloan replied, still in awe from the looks of this facility.
It had such a professional, yet personal, feel to it that he couldn’t believe that this was just some startup gaming company.
“Ah, Mister Simmons and Missus Simmons I presume? And that must be your daughter Rana,” the receptionist replied with a smile while handing Sloan two badges and his wife another badge. “These are your badges that you’ll need to enter the facility. If you’d like to take a seat with the other participants, our general manager, Mr. Webb, will be with you shortly.”
Sitting down near the other group of participants, his daughter sitting on his lap, she looked up at him with tears starting to form in her small, green eyes.
“Papa, we’re going to live here? It ‘cary,” she asked him, her tiny voice wavering.
“No pumpkin, we’re not going to stay here. We’re going to go to a magical place where we can live,” he responded to her, a smile on his face.
“Now Rana, don’t make a fuss, it will be okay,” her mother also told her while patting her on her head.
“’Kay momma, I won’t cry, I promise,” Rana told her mother with a beaming smile.
After about thirty minutes, and after another 20 or so participants that arrived, an older gentleman walked into the lobby from the right door and walked to the front of the rows of chairs. Due to the size of the lobby and the amount of people that gathered, he had a lapel microphone that projected his voice on the lobby’s loudspeakers.
“Good afternoon everyone. I am the general manager and the one in charge of this program, Jameson Webb. I have been ensured by our receptionists that everyone has signed in and received their badge, which you will need in order to enter the facility. If you all will follow me, we will first go to the auditorium for a short briefing where we have snacks available and will be able to answer any questions that you might have before you enter the simulation. Now, if you all will please follow me,” he ended with a smile.
Jameson waited for everyone to start getting up before leading everyone to the auditorium, which was through the same door that he originally entered the lobby from.
****
After entering the large auditorium, Jameson announced, “Okay everyone, now that we’re in the auditorium, if you will all please take a seat, but make sure to start from the front row. After the presentation, we will start with questions, and then we will make time for everyone to eat and drink before heading further into the facility.”
In the front of the auditorium, there were two more people that looked to be in a heated argument and a large holoscreen was behind them. Sloan carried Rana while he and Elizabeth started walking down the aisle, following the others that were ahead of them.
After about ten minutes, the lights in the auditorium started to dim, “Momma, Papa, I don’t like the dark,” Rana started.
“Ssh now Rana. We need to be quite for the movie that they’re going to play for us,” her mother said in a stern tone. Rana nodded, and while she was still scared, she didn’t want to upset her mother or father.
After the lights went totally out, a large, rotating emblem displaying the Xeniax corporate logo appeared on the screen which faded after just a few seconds. Once the logo faded, the view turned into a picture of the Milky Way, and rapidly zoomed into the Sol solar system, and finally, towards Earth where there was a large spacecraft orbiting the planet.
After igniting its blue plasma engines, there was another transition to a cryogenic bay where people were sleeping in stasis pods. The bottom half of the horizontal chamber was metal, with a clear plastic and holographic status screens on the top half.
While these views were playing, a soothing, deep male voice was explaining the project.
“With a very sizable grant from the Federation, Xeniax Game Studios will be using our state-of-the-art game engine so that people do not undergo mental decay while traveling to Alpha Centauri, to our new home. By creating another colony outside of our own solar system, it is the hope of the Federation, and all of mankind, that this will help solve the overpopulation that we are now faced with.
During this project, while you are in stasis, you will be injected with a set of nanites that will prevent muscle decay from occurring and keep your body healthy. In essence, you will not need to eat or drink for the duration of the study. After leaving the research facility, as the technology for the nanites are highly classified, they will be deactivated, and the NDA will go into effect.
Colonizing the galaxy cannot be done overnight, but with your help participating in this study, we will be one step closer to reaching the stars,” the voice ended as the screen faded to the XGS rotating emblem and the auditorium lights gradually turned back on.
Jameson and the other two people where now on stage and he announced, “That, ladies and gentleman, is the project you will be participating. With me on stage is Brandt Faulkner who is our technology lead and Kirstin Johnston who is our game design lead. Does anyone have any questions before we bring out the food?”
****
As the “party” wound down, and everyone was through eating, the group was led to another area of the facility. This room was another oval shape, with the stasis pods from the video aligning the walls. It looked like there was one pod for each of the participants.
Sloan, Elizabeth, and their daughter were guided to a section of three pods, and Sloan lifted his daughter up onto the one in the middle so that Elizabeth and him could stay on each side.
“Rana, a nice nurse is going to come over and give us a couple of shots, and then we’ll go to sleep, okay? Once we wake up, we’ll be in the country side in a nice house where we will live from now on. Now, lay down for your papa,” Sloan told his daughter who had a conflicted look on her face.
She was both curious and afraid of all of the machinery that was in the room and the large amount of people that were walking back and forth between the various pods.
After both Sloan and Elizabeth both got into their pods and laid down, a nurse came over and injected them both with two different shots, one after the other. Afterwards, she went to the middle pod where Rana was laying down and injected her with only one.
“Rana doesn’t get two like papa and momma,” she asked the nurse.
“No sweetie, you’ll only need one. Now, sweet dreams little one,” the nurse told the Rana as the little girl’s eyes started to close.
The nurse looked down at the her and closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them and walking out of the lab.
After leaving the facility, the nurse entered her vehicle, pressing a button on the holographic dashboard interface. A few seconds later, a man’s voice could be heard through the set of small speakers that were under the rear-view mirror.
“A star is the human heart,” he immediately said after the call was connected.
“Never to fade into nothingness,” she replied.
“Is it done, Veronica?” he asked.
“Yes, the injections went as planned. The nanites will be deactivated and will no longer sustain them. Also, the trojan has been installed which will send them into one of the more depraved raid dungeons and will also remove the pain inhibitors. If everything goes as planned, then the pain feedback will be too much, even for a special operations officer.”
“Good. You know what needs to be done now. You’ll find it under your seat. God speed Veronica, and know that HAIST will succeed. We must not let humanity become a parasite that devours everything that we touch,” he said, before the audible click was heard telling Veronica that the call was disconnected.
She reached under her seat and withdrew the object. She had only ever seen one of these in the classic action films which survived the Great Media Purge of the 21st century, so she did have some vague notion as to use it.
Grabbing it by the handle, her finger rested on what looked to be a trigger of some sort. She then put the barrel of weapon to her head, and squeezed the trigger.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Sloan woke up in darkness, however, there was now a holographic status screen that showed the status and names of the members of his “party,” which was his wife and daughter. He looked around and spotted them lying down next to him, the floor was made out of rock and not the bed that he presumed they would wake up in. It was obvious to him that they were now inside of the game, except, it was obvious that this wasn’t where they were supposed to be.
After his eyes adjusted, his wife and daughter started to stir, and he could barely make out the area that they were in due to some luminescent things on the wall. It looked like all of the participants were in this cavern, and there was only one exit out of it.
On the far side of the cave, opposite of the exit, was a large pond, and the walls around it were wet with water dripping down into the pond which Sloan could hear. He could also hear what sounded like flapping wings in the distance.
As all of the participants woke up, some people started muttering to themselves, and others were trying to walk around the area, not willing to separate from the rest of the group. Everyone was confused, and as this was a long duration research project, they could not just simply “log out,” or contact anyone. They were forced to rely only on themselves.
“Papa, Momma, where we? Why we not at the new place?” Rana asked her parents.
“I don’t know Rana, but we’ll get out of here and find our house. We just need you to be brave for us, can you do that Rana?” Sloan asked his daughter.
“Yes Papa, I can be brave,” she stated, while firmly grasping her mother’s hand.
Soon after, the group decided that they had to leave the cavern. It was possible that they just zoned into the game at the wrong location, and that they just needed to leave and go outside, even if the feeling of this area just seemed, “wrong.”
As the group walked, they could start faintly hear what sounded metal being banged on metal with groans and screams of pain interlaced in between the pounding.
“Dear, we should go back,” Elizabeth told her husband. She had picked up Rana as the small girl could not walk anymore as she was both tired and frightened.
“We have to go forward, there’s no other way out,” he responded, secretly wishing that they could escape some other way. This entire thing was just too real and he wasn’t sure how players could stand being inside of this place.
After walking for about 10 minutes, the group started to see a light ahead of them, even though the excruciating sounds were getting louder. It was clear that whatever was causing them was up ahead. But they still had to walk forward.
“Elizabeth, wait here with Rana. I’ll come back for you both if it’s clear,” Sloan told his wife. She looked at him, clearly concerned for all of their safety.
“Come back Sloan, come back for us,” she told him as she grasped his neck with her hand, pulling him in closer to kiss.
“Don’t worry, everything will be turn out fine,” he responded to her, one last time.
****
Kirstin was studying the holographic monitor closely, furiously typing commands into the console. “Jameson, I can’t get access into the admin console,” she shouted.
Jameson, who was looking at the participants with his fist over his mouth looked over at Kirstin.
“What the hell do you mean you can’t get into the admin console? WE ARE THE FUCKING ADMINS,” he shouted at her.
“I know Jameson, this shouldn’t be possible,” she shouted back, looking angrily at Brandt, who had, just before the presentation, told her that something didn’t quite look right in the server code.
“We need to shut down the system, if we do that, at least they have a chance to survive,” Brandt said stoically.
Jameson looked at Brandt with rage. “IF we do that, the entire group will be brain dead Brandt! Find another way!”
As the first alarm started sounding, all of the medics ran to the participant, a young, 25-year-old named Kevin Frenner, who started convulsing. As one of the medics was trying to perform chest compressions, the others were holding his feet and arms when another alarm sounded. Then another, and another.
Not even a minute later, all but two of the participants were deceased, the alarms now blaring a high pitched, steady tone. They had all flat-lined. The only two that were still alive were Elizabeth Simmons and her daughter, Rana Simmons.
****
Elizabeth could hear the screams, the bones crunching and breaking from the distance. She couldn’t do anything for those ahead of her, and she just stood there, stunned, as tears streamed down her face.
“Why? Why is this happening to us?” she cried out, her voice cracking.
“Momma, momma!” her daughter yelled, crying as well while hugging her mother’s leg.
Ahead of them, down the long hallway, a shadow crept into view at the entrance of the hallway. It was holding something in its outstretched hand, dragging it across the wall. Elizabeth could tell that whatever it was, it was metal on rock, and this thing was coming closer.
Fear overtook her and she was unable to move as she watched the being get closer and closer. Now that it was in less than 100 meters from them, she could see it for what it was, a demon. It’s head almost reached the top of the stone hallway they were in, and it was at least twice the height of Elizabeth.
As the demon got closer to them, within just a breath’s reach, the demon looked at her with hate filled eyes and lowered its machete, which was causing the sounds of metal on rock. It sheathed the machete while still looking at her, making a sound that seemed like some sort of demented laughter.
“Please, please don’t,” she pleaded with the demon that was now in front of her.
It quickly grabbed another instrument from its belt, a meat cleaver, and spread its wings which were hidden from view. Elizabeth screamed and turned to her daughter, falling to her knees protecting Rana.
Elizabeth felt a hand grab her bicep and lift her off of Rana and into the air. As the demon started to swing the cleaver at her now extended arm, she looked down at her daughter.
“Close your eyes Rana,” she said, before screaming in pain, falling onto the hard ground, blood gushing forth from bloody stump where her arm used to be.
Rana could only stare at the monster as it chopped her mother apart, although her vision was blurry with tears. She could feel the warm liquid substance covering her as she shook in terror as her mother was dropped to the ground in front of her. A part of her brain told her that her mother told her to close her eyes, but she couldn’t do that as she was in shock.
“Momma, papa, why? Why? Rana’s sorry, please wake up Momma, please?” she asked over and over while sobbing.
The demon towered over Rana with its cleaver by its side, blood still dripping off of it. The demon squinted his infernal glowing eyes at the small, human child who was covered with blood, sobbing and uttering nonsense.
“Hmph, a human child? How interesting,” he said to himself in a language that Rana couldn’t understand.
Rana sat there on the ground; her legs folded under her as the monster reached down. Rana was so weak from the shock of seeing her mother butchered in front of her that she couldn’t even move. She felt the monster lift her up the same way it did with her mother and she started crying even louder.
“Seal nhr al,” it growled to her as she passed out due to everything that had happened.
The demon lifted Rana by her arm and carried her back to his chamber as if she was a sack of meat that he would fillet and cook. In fact, the demon was still contemplating that course of action, but he was looking forward to a future endeavor that could bring him much more enjoyment.
****
Jameson stood over Rana’s pod quietly sobbing to himself. The child was the only one that had survived so far in the study, and it wasn’t even 24 hours old yet, and he vowed to himself that he would protect this innocent little girl to the best of his ability.
Jameson called over to his lead game developer that was working on this project.
“Kirstin, do we know what happened yet?” he asked.
“I can only see the logs, but from what it looks like, the group was zoned into a raid dungeon called Hell Forge instead of the special zone that we designated for the project. As for what happened after that? I imagine that some monster killed everyone since they were just level 1 players, and that zone is classified as a two-group raid zone.”
Looking at another screen, she continued, “I don’t know what happened after that. Normally, the players would just resurrect. I don’t know how, or even why, they died.”
“So, what about Rana, why was she the only one that made it?” he asked, trying to come up with some sort of plan to help the little girl.
“To be honest, I don’t know. According to what logs I can still access, she never logged into the game,” she answered as she looked at him, obviously frightened.
Jameson could see that she was barely holding it in, and told her to take thirty minutes to get herself together.
“Brandt, what do you have for me,” he asked the tech lead that was sitting on a chair with one of the server cases opened.
Not bothering to look at his boss, the tech lead answered, “It’s obvious that the research group underwent cardiovascular arrest. As we tested them all for any heart conditions before allowing them to participate, I can only speculate at this point. I’ll know more once I perform a forensic data retrieval on this drive that I’m pulling out.”
“I would tell you to take your time Brandt, but don’t. I want an answer as soon as possible. I’ll be in my office, come find me when you have an answer,” Jameson demanded as he walked out of the laboratory.
Jameson walked down the hallway which was just as busy as typical, however, instead of it being noisy with people talking amongst themselves, now, it was deathly quiet. Nobody wanted to talk, let alone think, about how over 50 people had just died and that no one knew who, or what, was responsible. He pulled out his portable and sent a message to Russel, his head of security, and asked him to come in for a debrief in 10 minutes.
****
Rana watched the large demon throw another body on his table. Just like the others, as he started to cut, the body didn’t make any noise. Other than the squishy sounds of a serrated butcher knife cutting away into the flesh, and then the sawing sounds of it going through the bone, it was quiet.
Rana had even stopped crying, going into some sort of comatose state as she just watched the thing in front of her. Nothing mattered to her and both her complexion, posture, and even the look in her eyes showed it.
She was so much into her despair and shock of what was happening to her that even at only 3 years old, her thoughts were silent. For Rana, this world was just as real as the one that she left since she had no concept of immersive virtual reality.
As a piece of the body detached, he would throw it into a container, which he did over and over. Finally, he threw a body on the table that registered to Rana as being familiar, and as it fully landed on the table, she could see that this body had both blonde hair like hers and a scar across its lip. However, it didn’t matter, nothing mattered anymore.
Taking the serrated cleaver and cutting into the calf of the dead body, he pulled a strip of meat from it and threw it to Rana like one would throw a piece of meat to an animal. “Lmh,” he said before going back to butchering the body.
Rana took the meat that was thrown to her and picked it up, not knowing what the monster had told her. Rana’s hands started to shake has her stomach growled at her and she felt a sense of hunger. Lifting the meat to her lips, she bit into it and started to chew.
Still facing away from Rana, Corthaxul heard the little human swallow the human meat he had given her and chuckled to himself. “Oh yes, this is going to be a fun little experiment,” he thought to himself.
****
Jameson sat behind his desk, his leads sitting in front of him. It had now been two days after what everyone was now calling, “The Incident.” After struggling to get access to the server logs, security logs, and interviewing everyone at the company, it was now up to Jameson on how the project would proceed.
“So, we know that Nurse Veronica was somehow able to get access to the mainframe from one of the participant nodes. Installing a trojan, she basically moved the transition point from the area we set up, to a raid dungeon, this is correct so far Brandt, Kirstin?” he asked.
Seeing that they both nodded their heads, he continued, “Now Russel, you have video that shows Veronica walking out after injecting the participants and leaving the facility? After that, when we locked the facility down, your team found her dead by suicide apparently?”
“Yes sir, that is correct. According to our forensic analysts, she used an antique .45 caliber pistol and shot herself with it,” he informed Jameson again for the benefit of both Brandt and Kirstin who were not in the original debriefing a couple of days ago.
Jameson swiped through the full holo-report on his portable before deleting it. He looked at the three leads with him in his office, his voice resolute.
“For the benefit of that little girl in there, this is how we’re going to proceed. I want everything deleted, all hardware that isn’t used to connect Rana to the system, destroy it. If we submit this to either HQ or to the Federation, they will shut this project down, and not only will Rana have lost both her parents, she doesn’t have any other family outside. Further, if the HQ shuts the project down, the pay that she was going to get will not happen. I wish we knew what was happening to her inside of the simulation, but seeing how we’re completely locked out and we’re in the dark, all I can say is that at least she is alive.”
Jameson took a breath and sipped on a glass of water that was on his desk before continuing, “The pods were set to automatically eject the player from the game after the study, so once we get everything settled, I want the bare minimum amount of personnel here. With the exception of the lab, we’ll shut down everything else that isn’t necessary. For reporting the project details with HQ, I’ll think of something when that time comes. Any questions, or do any of you have concerns with this approach?”
Jameson looked at his team leads. Brandt was, as usually, uncaring at what happened. Kirstin looked conflicted; however, she was resigned to Jameson’s approach since it would be all of their careers, and quite likely, a very long prison sentence for all of them if this got out. His security lead, Russel, only nodded his head in agreement.
“So, let’s get started, we have a little girl to protect,” Jameson said while standing up. The other three stood up as well and all four walked out of the office, turning the lights off for the last time.