Dan Foster was confused. Why was his name listed as a local Wi-Fi connection - a "secure" one at that. No other names were on the list - just his household WiFi and the next door neighbors, as usual. Further, his name had maxed out bars, while even his house one only had 3 of 5. Turning away from his laptop, he tried his smartphone and saw the same result - so it was really there, not some strange computer glitch. Ok, if he could monitor the signal on the phone, he should be able to walk around, watch the bars, and get some clue where the source was coming from.
Dan got up, slipped on his shoes and coat, and headed for the door - watching the bars on the phone. He went outside, walked around the house - no change. He started off down the street. After 2 blocks, he gave up - the 5 bars had never wavered. Unless someone had planted something on his clothes or was tailing him with a stealth drone, this didn't make any sense.
Back home, he decided to try connecting to it. He knew it wouldn't work, since it was a secure connection, but at least it would show if the thing was active or just some kind of ID signal. It came up with a password prompt, of course, and he just put in "password" to get the test over with. Instead, it instantly came up "connected" - what the F??
So he started Mozilla to see if it really worked. A page came up - Install Dan Foster software? (Y/N) Ok, this was getting crazy! It had to be some kind of malware attack. So he just hit Restart on his laptop to stop anything from going further. He'd wait until his roommate got home and see if it came up for him as well. Meanwhile, he'd research it on the internet using his normal home network.
Logging in and bringing the browser to Yahoo News, the headline read "Massive Global Virus Attack" and the story said to avoid using any unknown connections of any kind. Strangely, there were few details. So he tried to go to YouTube to find updates - but the site was down. As he shortly found out, so was all other social media, including the comments section on Yahoo. Most non-interactive sites still worked, but there was nothing helpful he could find. Same on the TV - just generic warnings against connecting with the internet until the "unknown virus situation was resolved".
Just then, his roommate Mark walked in, fuming at his phone. "They just shut down instant messaging!" he growled. Dan hadn't thought of trying that. Turned out Mark had been setting up a night out with his latest gf when the app just stopped functioning. His calls didn't go through either. Dan told him to look at the WiFi. "What are you doing naming a WiFi link after me?" Mark asked, anger starting to form in his eyes. "It wasn't me!" Dan told him, and showed him his phone's list with his name on it. "Looks like it's all of us."
Inspiration hit Dan just then, and he had his phone look for Hidden Networks - and there it was "Mark Carter". He had Mark do the same, and "Dan Foster" showed up on his list. He told Mark to stay put and walked to the far end of the house - and "Mark Carter" quickly dropped off to a single bar. They quickly found it was actually THEM, their bodies, that had somehow become WiFi links. Going back to the laptop, Dan tried to log in to "Mark Carter" using "password", but the password was rejected. He told Mark what had happened earlier, so Mark tried logging in himself - and it worked, even though he just used the same generic "password" that Dan had just tried. Dan guessed that people just had automatic access to themselves. But there was no way this could just be a virus - something big was happening. It was time to "install Dan Foster software" and see if he could figure out what.
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Dan quickly got back to the install option, while Mark fired up his desktop to try the same. The download speed seemed insanely fast, and soon he was looking at a "Dan Foster" application icon. Clicking on it, he was greeted with a fireworks splash page "Congratulations on activating your personal Status account" "You have been awarded 25 improvement points for activation, and 5 bonus points for being in the 1st 2% of Earth clients to do so." "Would you like to take the basic tutorial, or proceed to the main menu?"
Dan selected the tutorial.
"Welcome! The purpose of the Status system is just that - to determine the status of Earth Humans. What is it you WANT to become, and how will you interact with others. The more Humans that select a given path, the more options Earth will have for that path - but the more vulnerable you will be to all other pathways. You will each be given the option of any of 10 common pathways best suited to you as an individual. You may choose one, or Name a pathway for yourself, but you will have few options as you progress if you do so - abilities will be assigned according to your actual behavior."
"You begin the Status system with your currently measured mental and physical abilities, and any conditions or impairments you may have acquired in your previous life. Improvement points can improve these qualities or repair any defects. You may select privacy settings of Extrovert, Public, Anon, or Hidden. These can be changed for a cost based on your current level of Renown. Extrovert allows full viewership access at all times, and can often lead to sponsorship income or popularity-based improvement points. Public allows viewers to view any public activity, but allows for personal activity and personal spaces blackout - this setting still allows good income and popularity. Anon allows public viewing only within view of Public or Extrovert members, but still allows full System and Administrator viewing at the same level as "Public". Hidden members forgo all sponsorship and popularity, and cannot get Achievements due to being hidden from those entities that grant them. Hidden members interact with the System only when logged in or when interacting with non-hidden members."
"There will be no outside interactions, other than the System itself, allowed on Earth for 1 lunar cycle, to allow humans to adapt. Humans will have to discover for themselves ways to earn and use improvement points. Not all methods are applicable for all Humans. Intent matters - unless you are a Hidden."
"Proceed?"