PROLOGUE [PART ONE]

The 'Real' World

202X

There was a woman with big promises and big dreams across from me. The interviewer. She worked for a corporation. A big one, but not the sort people knew about, not unless you paid much attention to political donations or megacorp mergers. Even this company was only interviewing me on behalf of a much smaller one they owned.

She’d said her name, but I’d been too busy worrying about the clamminess of my hands amidst a handshake. The interviewer wore a suit. A fancy, expensive one. Well, I assumed the worth. I liked suits. People looked great in suits, once you got past the part where it was a glorified status check. Still, I thought being here was worth it alone just for the pretty lady in a suit, even if many inherent assumptions I laid upon her reduced the appeal. She did little to put me at ease, remaining serious and matter-of-fact, with never more but the occasional faint smile offered up. I tried to latch on to those brief instances.

“We’ve created a world beyond anything else in the video game industry,” she continued to speak, seeming to recite from a script verbatim. I’d blanked out for a moment. Anxiousness giving away to drifting thoughts. Thoughts about suits. Would I need to invest in a suit? I hoped this wasn’t that sort of place. “A world we’re hoping to build upon through multiple potential avenues. Film, television, amusement parks.” A lot of people were saying that these days, and it was increasingly less impressive the bigger the funds behind the corporation. The more funds they had, the more the priorities were skewed, the more it was about ensuring the profits more than justified the initial investment. The delivery never lived up to the ideals. But they had no need to learn of my skepticism, sometimes a personal sense of honor has to give way to necessity. “The A.I. we’re utilizing is beyond anything that’s been brought to market.” I noted her repetitiveness. Whoever had written her script hadn’t done it with much care. “It’s learned from global human history, countless fictional worlds from literature, film, and the gaming industry at large. But we recognize that the human touch, as much as there has been in the construction of our A.I., is necessary for the organic growth and believability of our world. We believe you can play an important part in that development.”

I hadn’t applied for the job thinking I would get it. It was a passive effort. My savings were running on empty, and I still had bills to pay, people to take care of, a cat that expected food and litter, and hobbies that needed funding to stave away the hopelessness of existence in the 21st century. So, a series of half-hearted job applications went out. And this one, for some reason, bit. People always said it was never a bad idea to apply for a job you’re hardly qualified for. Hardly anyone in jobs of any worth were genuinely qualified for them. You could tell if you spent a second watching any news ticker, or a careful browse through your doomscrolling application of choice. Nevertheless, maybe this company’s lackadaisical approach to hiring was the first sign I should’ve heeded. In my defense, I consider myself to be a natural skeptic. But the desperation of my current situation was hard to rebel against. And that’s how they get you, isn’t it?

I was critical of the company. I was critical of most companies. And it wasn’t some false sense of protagonism that brought me into this room. I hardly was confident in the power of one man to change a whole corrupt organization, but they weren’t manufacturing drones for some war in a country I couldn’t even picture, as far as I knew, so it could hardly be as bad as the alternatives. There is no ethical consumption in capitalism, I tried to remind myself, though there was the natural fear that repeating that mantra too much would lead to a certain measure of complacency. I’d make up for it, some way or another. Sufficient donations, or something. I always said I’d start volunteering when I was settled. Whatever settled meant. Maybe it meant getting a steady soulless job?

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I tried to smile, and meet the woman’s eyes. Prove that I could be sociable - hireable. That’s what they liked in interviews. Someone who could smile and look you in the eyes. But her intense gaze made both smiling and looking into her eyes a terrifying prospect. Still, I resisted the urge to look away, for the most part.

“The job description wasn’t very clear on what I’d be doing?” Interviewers also liked questions, I’d learned. So when there was a lull in conversation, it was a good idea to chip in a question.

“By design. You’ve signed an NDA, so we’ll be upfront as much as is possible on what your role will be here. But that possibility remains rather limited. I’ll warn you that this may seem a bit absurd, or unbelievable. As I said, we’re doing something unprecedented and when you’re doing something unprecedented, you may occasionally come across the thin line between moral and immoral.” Oh, it wasn’t good when they admitted that during an interview. “And that line is not only thin, but wavering and changing.” I started getting the feeling she was no longer simply sticking to a script.

I kept smiling, though it was hard. I was afraid about what would come next. I didn’t want to hear something so horrific I’d feel too guilty keeping it to myself. The universe hadn’t built me up for the mental effort of violating an NDA. I hoped she was being dramatic in describing that thin line. But then, as I met her eyes once more, I realized that she probably had a better chance than most to convince me to brush aside my morals. A lady in a suit could do that. That was, of course, until my morals guilt-tripped me into folding within myself.

“We’ve done a great deal of research on every candidate we’ve brought in for an interview. I’m not simply referring to the application you submitted, but you’ll recall you allowed us to probe into your past for security reasons. Fortunately, you had a substantial digital footprint, and we were able to learn a lot about you.”

Here’s to hoping the anti-tracking browsers I used for… particular purposes… had done their job. I couldn’t tell if I should be embarrassed or not by the impassive look on her face.

“At the moment, we have a one hundred percent success rate in selecting our interviewees. Not a single interviewee has rejected our offer thus far, and not a single interviewee has not been given the offer. This is all to instill you with a bit of confidence. The nature of this interview is less a matter of whether we’re willing to employ you, or if you’re good enough for what we need you to do. You don’t need to impress us. You’ve already done that.”

And yet, every word she said left me feeling a bit clammier.

There was no question, and barely enough time to insert one, before she pressed on. “We’ve invented a new technology, beyond just the A.I. we’ve used to construct our universe. The next level of virtual reality - of simulation. The term full dive may give you a picture of what we’ve made, and that may be the most accurate summation of what it is we’re doing. But even this new technology has certain limitations. There’s nevertheless a disconnect between your body in our physical world, and the body in the virtual world, a gap that will take time to breach. We have developed a solution to this issue. Thus, the need is two-folds. Firstly, it’s a matter of ensuring the technology works. This is part of your responsibilities. Secondly, we want to use this technology to complete the final stage in ensuring that this is the most well-actualized world to have ever been constructed.”

“You want me to be a tester then? I thought the job would be a bit more-”

“Let’s focus on the second part for the moment, and we’ll go back to the first need afterwards. We’ve developed the foundations of a fictional universe, largely generated by our advanced A.I.. We view this alternate universe as having vast potential, one to match the most lucrative franchises in the world. We’re confident in nearly every aspect of the world we’ve built. But the fact remains that as much faith as we have in our A.I., this universe needs that human touch to guide it.” She smiled, held it for once. “You’re not merely a tester. You will shape our creation. You will be employed as a god in this world.”