Chapter one
Waking up
Slowly the fog lifted and my memory began to return, I had been driving back from the Imagine Dragons concert with my girl Lilly, it had been a great show and we were a little buzzed on the music. I had just turned onto the interstate and then the oncoming lights had crossed the lane divider. The lights, they were blinding and suddenly all I heard was a loud noise and then nothing. As I remembered this I suddenly felt a chill wind blow cross my neck.
I tried to move and realized I had no control of my body, in fact, I could not even feel my body. Trying to not panic I attempted to call out, but again nothing. Taking a moment to calm myself and bring my center back into balance I thought everything through. Closing my eyes I took a minute and then acknowledged I was probably in a hospital, most likely a quad unable to move. I could see but that was the limit of what I could do. Except to wait.
It may have only been a minute or it may have been hours, but suddenly the area in front of me brightened and I could make out the figure of a man, he was glowing as if the light was coming from within him. I swallowed and tried to speak, but I could still do nothing. As the figure came closer I saw that he was tall and well-muscled, like a bodybuilder but not as massive. He looked at me and smiled and then spoke.
“Hello Dale, I hope you are comfortable, now that we have stabilized you we want to discuss what will happen before we proceed, alright?”
I nodded and listened as he continued to speak. “You probably have many questions but please let me explain the basics and then if you have anything else you want to be answered we can address those issues.” “First, I deeply regret to inform you of this but you are dead. It was a head-on collision caused by a drunk driver. There were no survivors. As to how you are here, remember when you started your summer job at Biotech labs, you decided to donate your body to science. Well, science accepted and here you are.”
I stared at him feeling numb, as numb as I could feel without having any physical feelings. His words did not give me any clarity if I was dead how could I be here. This did not make sense and I somehow must have projected my feelings of puzzlement and confusion.
The man spoke again after giving me a moment to process what he had said. “Your brain was salvaged and then cryogenically frozen to be used in the future when technology had advanced sufficiently to be able to restore your cognitive abilities. Initially the idea was to make a cyborg body to host your brain, but unfortunately, those technologies are only available to the military. We could have built you a tank like body but those are only used to explore space and to terraform Mars. That is still an option to consider once everything has been explained.”
To terraform Mars did not sound too bad but being stuck in a mechanized vehicle did not appeal to me, I wanted to walk and run to be a normal person again.
“The other option to consider, the man continued, is to enter into the virtual world of Tarsas, where you would have a body and be much as you were. Virtual reality is what the future has become, with an estimated 92 percent of the world's population lives the digital lifestyle, and why not, look at me I am a man but more than just human. Who would not want to have the perfect body and perfect health, as well as adventure, goals, and dreams? In the VR you can become everything you want from a Warlord to a Miner. A Hero or a Rogue. Align yourself with the Light or the Dark or be the gray of Neutral.”
“Now you probably have some questions like why we would do this, after all, it must have a cost, right? There is a cost involved and depending on what you choose you will have to pay us back, or we may have to pay you. Let me explain. I represent Tempest the largest company in the world that produces VR games and hardware. We have contracts with the military and the government, in fact, we are the what runs the new world. A large part of the economy of this world is now Virtual and that is where you come in, if you decide to live virtually we will sign a contract with you, half of all your earnings will be deducted automatically to the company. Any gear that you don't use will have to be sold and the proceeds split between us and you until your debt is paid.”
The ingame currency is what you are familiar with 100 coppers make a silver 100 silvers makes a gold 100 gold make a platinum. The cost of bringing you back and implanting you within the game is 100 platinum. We estimate it will take 5 years of game time to pay it back. You can make extra payments or even pay out the full amount if you come into a large amount of money. It does happen occasionally. Once you are in the game and have paid off your debt you are a free agent, and for all practical purposes, you will be immortal. Time in the game is compressed it is basically 10 to 1. On week real time is 10 weeks game time. You cannot die within the game, you will respawn, each death cause wear and tear on your gear, eventually, it will need to be repaired or replaced. The Level cap is currently set to 350 with a handful of players who have hit 300. As you level it gets harder and you must earn more XP to get to the next level.”
“The game is a fantasy setting with some science fiction elements, there are Gods and demagogues, religions and belief systems, everything in the game impacts how you develop as a character. The rest is pretty self-explanatory and you can access the forums within the game. This game is made to challenge a person but it is fun. PVP is allowed if you flag yourself or travel to a PVP tournament. You will have multiple classes and races to choose from.”
“The other option I had mentioned is the Mars mission. Basically, you will be put into a tin can and sent to Mars, where you will perform work necessary to terraform Mars into a human habitat. For 1 week of work, you will earn 1 week of time playing Tarsas, which equals 10 weeks ingame time. Also, we will be paying you for your work on Mars with ingame currency, it works out to 50 gold a week with a starting bonus of 250 gold. The transmissions streams are instantaneous and there is no lag. Either option is a good deal, the Mars option can be lonely but you will be in communication with the other workers on Mars in real time. Now, do you have any questions?”
With a wave of his hand I could now speak, so taking in a deep breath or at least that is what it felt like I asked, “No survivors from the crash?” I watched his face and I could see the compassion there when he answered, “I am sorry, the girl with you died instantly and the drunk driver who hit you died within minutes of the medical personnel arriving.”
I felt numb, we had planned on a future and now it was gone. It seemed like just yesterday but I was sure a lot of time had passed. “How long has it been, from when the accident happened?”
“It has been 125 years,” was his reply. “Much has changed in the time you were, asleep shall we say.”
Asleep, I thought, I was not asleep I was dead, how the hell did they bring me back, and that was my next question.
By thawing your brain and hooking up the connections to the main computer we initiated the uplink protocol and then dumped a massive burst of timed and controlled electricity into your brain. This caused all the electrical connections to fire in a sequence which was uploaded as it happened. This allowed us to build and map a software program that is you in every detail. You will now never forget anything; your memory will stay sharp and you will have total recall. Your computing power is on par with the latest in quantification computing. You are a state of the art being.
So, I was a computer program, it could be worse I could have been coded to be a garbage disposal unit. “Am I a legally recognized member of society or am I property? I would rather be dead than be a slave.”
“You are not a slave, and yes you are recognized as a human being, in fact in the game no one will be able to tell the difference between what you are and what they are. You do have rights and we will honor them, I have given you a lot to think about, I am going to leave you in a room where you can acclimatize yourself and read up on the new world. Call for me when you are ready. My name is Hermes and I am one of the Gods in Tarsas as well as being an employee of Tempest. We will talk later. Then with a wave of his hands, I was in a large room, the walls were full of bookcases and the desk was full of newspapers. A large bed was in the room along with a doorway that led to the bathroom. Perhaps the most important thing was I had my body again.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
I raised my hands and looked at my arms they were realistic in detail right down to the little arm hairs, pinching myself brought a smile to my face as I felt the pinch. I was wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans, with white runners on. I lifted my shirt and looked, I had the 6 pack abs that I had worked hard to develop. Seeing a mirror, I walked over to it and looked at myself, no doubt about it it was me, I was leaner and perhaps my muscles were slightly more developed but it was me.
Letting out a sigh I walked over to the desk and sat down, then grabbing the first paper from the stack I began to read. I noticed that I was reading tremendously fast, about a page a second and I had total recall of what I was reading. In half an hour I was done with the papers and started on the books, first history, then geology, then science than business. The books were a cross between being a university text and being general reading, only the hard science and engineering books were what I would call technical. I read until I had finished everything in the room, the passage of time had no meaning, and the knowledge I was absorbing left me with a feeling of satisfaction. I had always loved learning new things and that part of me was still a part of who I was. About halfway through my reading, a meal had appeared on the desk, two kinds of frosted beer, a rare New York strip and a Caesar salad. With cheesecake for dessert. It was like I had ordered in from the Keg restaurant. The taste was better than I had ever had. Clearly, the digital chefs had tweaked the pleasure centers where food was concerned.
After I was done with all the reading I laid down on the bed and observed a prompt,
Would you like to sleep?
I accepted the prompt and was sleeping before I could wonder how it all worked. I woke up to an alarm, which faded as soon as I opened my eyes, I was instantly alert, no stretching or cold shower needed. I swung my legs over the bed and made my way to the bathroom, where another prompt appeared in front of my eyes.
Would you like to enable bodily functions?
I thought no and watched the prompt disappear, not having to go to the bathroom ever was just bonus to me. I washed my face in the sink and noted that there was no toothbrush or mouthwash. Coughing into my hand I noted my breath was fresh and had a hint of mint. Needing to brush my teeth was another think gone and a good thing too. It was a pain in the ass and after 60 years you still had a good chance of gum disease and losing your teeth. This was much better. I made my way back to the desk and sat down and thought, I had a choice to make, I could enter the game under contract as a serf to Tempest or I could enter it as a paid employee. The basic difference was time, I could work for a week on Mars then spend ten weeks in the game with money in my pocket or just live in the game and start from scratch.
I needed more information than Hermes had given me but he had said that forums were available in the game. Thinking of the forums brought up another prompt which asked me if I wanted to read the forums. I started to read the screen that had appeared before me and began to learn of the game. It became apparent that it was huge, the land mass alone had never been fully explored, there were sections of the game that no one had ever made it to. The game itself was like a combination of the popular games of my time, WOW, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls with a hint of Duke Nukem and Starcraft. New players would start in the Noob areas where they could progress from level 1 to 10. Everyone started with basic grey gear, with the unusual white or green item occasionally dropping from defeated mobs. White gear was gear with slightly better base stats, green gear and above had better base stats and bonus stats.
The gear went up from grey, white, green, blue, purple and orange with hints of red gear being available. To improve your gear players could run instance sometimes called dungeons or enter into open world scenarios. Progression seemed equal either way. Players could also join guilds and align themselves with temples and Gods and the nobility. Most players were at least level 10 before they would join a guild. Then there were some players who preferred to solo the game and it could be done. After a long time of reading, I finally closed the forums having an idea of how I would like to play.
I had forever to play, so to just join the game and be in debt did not appeal to me, also I had always been interested in the red planet. The idea of actually being there on the Mars was something that appealed to me at a deep level. Also having a few gold to start within the game would not hurt. I would be able to rent a place and not be under pressure to make sure I had my money for rent or food. Having made up my mind I called out to Hermes.
“Hello, Dale.” Hermes had appeared as soon as I spoke his name. “Have you had time to consider your options?”
“Hi Hermes,” I replied. “Yes, I have thought about everything and reviewed the forums as well as read everything that was here, by the way, thank you for leaving me this reading material. I have decided that I want to work on Mars and play the game in my off time. I think it suits my personality to not start a new venture while being in debt. I prefer to make my own way, such as it is.”
Hermes nodded and smiled then said, “I agree and for every week you work you will be in the game for two and a half months of play time. That is a good deal. Here is what is going to happen now, your code will be transmitted to the Mars orbital station and downloaded into a work drone, from there you and a cache of supplies will be dropped down to Mars where you will construct a simple base, think of it like a garage workshop. This will provide shelter from any of the dust storms that can occur. All the knowledge you will need to do the job will be uploaded to your memory. It is really a simple operation; the station will send you coordinates to travel to. There you will set up deep drill water collectors and plant genetically engineered plants. The collectors will deliver the moisture to the plants on a regular basis. Once that is done you move to the next site if a storm is observed you will be directed back to your base camp shop.”
I nodded it all seemed clear, Hermes looked at me with a smile and asked if I was ready. Giving the room a last look around I nodded and said, “I am.” With that I simply disappeared and then suddenly my consciousness came back. I was in another room this time with a female wearing a lab jacket. Looking at me she said, “Another one, I hope you last longer than your predecessors. Alright, I am going to ask you a few questions and I want you to answer them truthfully.”
The next hour was spent on the woman asking deeply personal questions, some of which seemed logical but others were confusing at best. Things like did I find anime females attractive, or did I think of myself as a survivalist. Eventually, the questions were done and the woman looked up from her tablet and said, “I guess you are mentally stable enough, off you go.”
Once again I was gone and then I was not. I was now in control of my body a 4-ton tank-like big machine. I immediately began to follow the protocol as outlined in front of me. Clearly, the info download had worked and I now knew how to operate my new body. I fired up the reactor and initialized a system check on all my systems and subsystems. A couple of things were slightly out of alignment but I had a limited self-repair subsystem and three small repair drones.
I would land on Mars and then construct the shop, then start the self-repairs before I headed out on my first mission. Suddenly I received a low band message, “Argyle 1 are you ready for deployment. Giving a quick affirmative I was suddenly launched from a tube on the orbital station and began to descend to Mars. I was in a casing, a metallic tube that had thrusters to change the angle of attack as I approached Mars atmosphere. After being bumped around as the atmosphere heated and then slowed the can I was in the wings deployed. They were a parasail design that allowed steerage and could be used to rapidly bleed off speed.
The time passed quickly and with only the occasional radio contact from the orbital station, I was soon on the ground. Once I landed the parasails were releases and the container split down the middle. I raised my periscope which held a number of cameras and sensors and looked around. A low range of hills was off in the distance and that would be my first destination. My base camp would be set up at the bottom of those hills in a small valley. Engaging my drive, I set the GPS and then began a full sensor sweep as I trundled towards my destination.
The landscape was harsh, dry and dusty. The wind blew constantly gusting up to 40 kilometers, I was traveling at half speed doing a steady 15 kilometers an hour. The beauty of the landscape was in its utter desolation and the fact that it was empty. The closet man-made object was at least two thousand kilometers from me, I was alone.
Suddenly I heard over the radio, “Hey noob, come in noob this is Plantman, I repeat hey noob come in noob.”
I listened to the radio as the message repeated itself several times before I answered. “Argyle 1 here, are you calling me Plantman?”
“Of course, I am calling you Noob, who else do you think I would be calling, you still a little brain-dead boy? They not fully thaw you out before they zapped you?”
I could tell that this guy was going to be getting on my nerves metaphorically speaking and I wanted to stop this nowhere discussion before it went nowhere. “Plantman what do you want? I don’t feel like engaging in meaningless chat with you so say what you have to and let's end this.”
There was silence for a moment and then Plantman radioed me back, “Alright boy lets cut to the quick. In a week you are going to log into Tarsas and when you do you will contact me and then hand over all your gold.”
I listened in surprise as he continued to threaten me if I did not comply and when I had heard enough of his crap I said, “That is not going to happen Plantman, not now, not ever. In fact, I don't want to have to listen to you on the radio here either. So, shut it and don't bug me.” I was immediately inundated with more threats and curses, really this guy was beginning to annoy me. I pulled up the entertainment option and selected the 1980’s then went to the music folder. Initiating a search, I quickly found the artist I was looking for and made a constantly repeating song loop. I then programmed my radio to start sending it to Plantman. Hope the dude likes Rick Astley- Never gonna give you up.
I then turned down my radio as I was not interested in listening to Plantman anymore. I continued to roll towards the base camp with my sensors bringing me images of Mars that I could never have dreamed of. It was damn cool.