Bitz: Error
Days in Game: Error
My thumb hovered over the sign now section, then I pressed it down on the screen. The moment felt heavy. “Please look directly ahead for the eye scan.” I straightened up to look into the camera and the screen in front of me. My image flickered once and then a message popped up. Congratulations! You are now a participant in Revivium. Welcome to the game! Let’s get you connected to the network. A soft beeping sound filled the room, then stopped. We are having some trouble connecting with your implant. A support person will be with you momentarily. Good luck! The screen flicked to a logo of Revivium rotating in the air.
It was hard to get air into my lungs, but I forced myself to relax. Of course they couldn’t connect to my implant. I didn’t have one. Heck, I wouldn’t be here otherwise. Deep breath in, then out. The room was small. If I reached out, I could touch each wall without extending my hands. After the long voyage to this space station, I was ready to begin. I needed to get out of small boxes. The ride all the way here was in a bunk almost as small as this. Heck, I couldn’t sit up all the way in my bunk. It had been cramped, but more importantly, cheap.
The door behind me slid open. “Please exit the signing booth,” said a soft neutral voice. A man in a white jumpsuit smiled at me as I exited. “We had a problem connecting with your implant. Please follow me to the medical bay where we will have a technician help with any updates or corrections.”
I nodded and didn’t bother correcting him. He was just doing his job. He gave me a nod and then started walking down the hallway. “Are you excited to get planet-side?” asked the guy.
I tried to hide the shock from my face. He’d spoken to me. “I mean, kinda. It was a long trip here,” I answered. No one spoke to me unless they had to. As soon as they realized I didn’t have an implant, they treated me like shit. Then again, he probably assumed I had one, and it was just having some problem.
He didn’t turn around at my voice but kept moving down the hallway. “I know this season will be interesting. You are cutting it a little close, with only one two more days before they close the entrance.”
“This was the only shuttle I could get,” I answered. “I’d have loved to be here sooner.”
“It’s the last shuttle,” he shook his head. “Normally we would get one more but so many people arrived in the first couple of days. Our numbers are up this season and it should be fun.”
“I think it depends on your definition of fun.”
Now he turned to look at me over his shoulder as he walked. That’s when I noticed his eyes. They glowed like they were back-lit keys on a keyboard. Not that people used those much anymore. Their eyes always gave them away, the artificial humans. “The survival rate of players has only increased over the last couple of years. The trend has been to ‘get in and get out’ as they say.”
“You still can die.” I didn’t argue, my goal was to get in, save enough Bitz and then get out. It was the safest plan.
“And yet you signed up. My people live on Revivium and survive just fine.” He paused outside a closed door. “This is the medical center.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Good luck in the games.” He tapped a button, and the door opened to a white metal room with chairs off to one side. Another doorway was on the far side.
“Thanks, I need it.”
His eyes narrowed, and I knew what he was doing. He was running a scan over me. I quickly stepped past him. Surprise crossed over his face as I entered the room. I headed for one of the white chairs. Yet, rather than leaving, he followed me inside. “You don’t have an implant.” His voice hung in the air like all the times I’d heard it before. “All people under the age of 22 are required to have implants.” Great, someone who quoted the law.
“Keyword being under.”
“I’m surprised you made it this far without one,” interrupted a fresh voice. This time female.
I turned toward the doorway on the far side. The woman was dressed in a white lab coat with a label. “My name is Doctor Abigail.” Her eyes were off, another artificial human. I wasn’t going to complain. This was the closest I had been to a real medical professional that I could remember. Who cares if they were created and not born. Then again, some people cared way too much. “You must be Mia. I requested your file as soon as they logged the error after signing the contract.”
“That’s me, Mia Lark.”
“Come into my office, and we can discuss getting you an implant.”
“You don’t have time for that,” said the guy. “The last shuttle goes down in two days. Didn’t we hit the numbers?”
Panic filled me. I had to get down to Revivium, this was my only shot. I’d literally spent my last cred getting here. My voice came tumbling out, “Per the agreement, I get an implant and an entry into the games.”
He opened his mouth, but the Doctor glared at him. “She is correct. I have the agreement right here. We need to abide by it.” The doctor continued into her office, which looked more like an operating room. Bright light streamed down from overhead and a white chair with a head and footrest was in the center. “Take a seat Mia,” she pointed at the chair. The wall to the right flickered, then lit up. As soon as I took a seat, a picture of me appeared. It was larger than the real me was, but you could see everything from the dirty jeans I had on to the tear in the long sleeve shirt on one of my shoulders. The deep blue of the tank top underneath was clear to see. The clothes were all I owned at this point.
“She won’t have enough recovery time,” he said.
I interrupted, “You know I am right here…”
He glared at me. He was not my favorite person in the room at that moment. I got ready to argue with him when the doctor spoke.
“Greg, I will go over the risks with her.”
“Abigail…”
“Doctor Abigail, Greg.” Woah, she wasn’t dealing with his nonsense, either. The doctor motioned to me as she hit several things in the air that I couldn’t see. “Mia, I don’t have a medical history for you. Have you had any work done?” I hesitated, and she continued. “I need you to be completely honest with me, I want you to succeed.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“I haven’t ever been to a doctor before. I assume I got the required shots right after I was born or I couldn’t have gone to school.” Everyone got a shot with various vaccines when they were born, but I couldn’t confirm that. A compartment opened up on the wall closest to the doctor and she pulled out something that looked like a stylus, but it had a sharp needle at one end.
“I need to take a sample,” she approached, showing me the item. “I am going to prick your finger with this. It will hurt but it will take a few drops of blood then analyze them.”
I held up my left pointer finger since it wasn’t my dominant hand. She moved my hand down to the armrest and jabbed my finger. It stung, but I didn’t move. The pain wasn’t bad. Better than getting tossed around on my bunk during a solar flare. Those bruises took a few days to heal.
Dr. Abigail waited a few moments then withdrew it. A chart showed up on the wall and Greg turned his attention to it. “She shows no antibodies, how is she still alive?”
“It happens,” answered the doctor, reading the report. I didn’t understand the language, so I ignored it. “Alright, you have no drugs in your system, or nanobots, which was my concern.”
“Drugs are expensive, same for health care.” I huffed. “Look at me, I can’t afford anything like that.”
“Do you have any objections to nanobots?” she asked.
“Heck no, most people wouldn’t be alive without them. Plus, I think it was in the terms and conditions they would inject me with them,” I replied.
The doctor chuckled. “Most people don’t actually read those.”
“I know I have a 60% chance of making it out of Revivium alive. I am going to read the fine print.”
“It’s closer to 70% these days, higher if you don’t enter the gladiator ring,” said Greg. “What do you know about the games?”
“Just cause I don’t have an implant doesn’t make me stupid.” My voice rose. “I’ve watched and read everything I could get my hands on.” The library with its cracked screen readers had been a lifeline. Especially once I graduated from my education requirements.
“Enough - we need to get moving if you want to make it down on time before the cutoff,” said the doctor.
I nodded.
“To get into the games, you need an implant. It will connect you to the network, and provide a UI. In addition, you need a dosage of nanobots to stabilize you after the surgery. It isn’t without risks.” She stepped closer. “Normally someone who gets an implant is put into a coma for 48 hours or longer, then woken up and introduced to the changes over the course of a week.”
“But, I have 48 hours until my boots need to be on the ground.” Panic rose inside me. This had to work. “What do you recommend?”
“I’ll keep you under as long as possible. I’ll change the settings to run a slow introduction automatically. You will hit the ground on the last shuttle, then you must try to take it easy.” She paused, her bright eyes staring into mine. Her voice came out stricter, “Don’t go rushing off into battle. Find an inn, pay the fee, and crash for a couple of days. Whatever you do, don’t get hit in the head for the first week. Can you do that for me?”
“I can.” This was really going to happen. I was getting an implant and, more importantly, a chance.
“Good, I am going to put you under now. Lean back in the chair.” Dr. Abigail pulled strap's out from behind the chair that went across my chest. Then ones for my legs and arms. The chair leaned back and my feet rose in the air until I was laying flat. The bright lights shone down on me. “Alright Mia, I’ll see you when you wake.” Something pricked my arm, and the edges started going dark. “Greg, get an implant out of storage.”
“Wait, you can’t mean to give her one of ours?” he asked. That was the last thing I heard before I was out.
#
The cred stick was in Matt’s hand, outstretched toward me. My fingers snapped out and snagged the stick. He chuckled.
“If you need more money you can always get up on stage,” he added. His dark eyes traced over my face and then dipped lower.
I let cool indifference settle over my features. “Cleaning is my jam. I’d just fumble on stage.”
He shrugged. “Up to you, but several other Luddites have asked for work this week. Your pay’s gonna drop.”
Ice formed in my chest. I hated that word. “Drop?”
“Yeah,” he snickered. “I got two offers, half of what I am paying you, to clean up before we open. So it's dropping. A couple of regulars have asked about new girls and you’re right up their alley.”
If my pay was cut in half I couldn’t pay my rent or feed myself for the week. Matt knew that. The trap had sprung, surrounding me like claws digging into what I was willing to do to be able to eat. As is, I was skin and bone. Even on stage, I wouldn’t make much more than I made now. Especially once I bought some skippy clothing and paid the stage fee. The only way you made money on stage was by someone wanting to take you into the back room. In the back, you could make bank, if you were willing to do the work. The ice shattered in my chest and my stomach jumped.
“I’ll let you know,” I said, quickly turning away.
“It will be worth your while. I don’t need an answer now.”
The music spiked as the lights surrounding the club flickered. Even now I felt dirty. I headed directly to the back of the room and the staff exit. First I had to pass through the dressing room. Several folks were already getting ready. Most I ignored, but one caught my attention. Brittany smiled at me as I approached, but it fizzled out as she studied my face.
“Mia, you good?” she asked.
I leaned in for a quick hug. “He wants me on stage,” I whispered as I pulled her tight.
Her eyes widened then narrowed. She knew. It was a trap she had fallen for, but at least she had some security. Help from the bouncer was available at the shortest notice for her. For me, with no implant or connection, I would be at the client's mercy unless someone checked on me. That was a no-go. “He said some regulars would eat me right up.”
Her face paled. Brittany stayed at the club since she had her own group of regulars that visited each week. She said you got used to it and several were pretty nice to her. Generous in their gifts of creds. Given how many times she had fed me, it made sense. Yet, building up a regular client base took time, and until then you had to deal with some real slime. None of the other dancers were paying attention to us but Brittany glanced around. She grabbed her purse and yanked me into the bathroom, locking the door behind us.
“You can’t come back to the club,” she whispered.
“What? I’ll just clean at half the price until I find something new,” my voice trailed off as she dug around in her purse, pulling out a cred stick from a pocket. “I’m not taking that.”
“Yes, you are,” she pressed it into my hand. “Cleaners who don’t end up dancing, vanish.” She shivered. “Matt hadn’t said anything about you dancing, so I figured you were good for some reason. He must have been feeling out his options.”
Before getting this job, I’d had several offers from other places to dance. But I stayed away, sticking to manual labor. The only reason I tried this place was it seemed more upscale. Yet, unease filled me at her words. “He must have found out,” I tapped the side of my head. If I wasn’t making Matt money dancing, there were other ways to get a payout from me. None of them good. I shivered.
“Take the creds and go.” Brittany hesitated. “One of my regulars offered to pay off my debt. He wants me to live with him. I’m gonna take it.”
My mouth dropped in shock. An offer like that was too good to be true. I knew Brittany was in debt up to her eyeballs and it was going to take several years to even get close to paying it off. It's why she liked the money from the backroom. She could be free so much sooner. “For real?”
“For real,” she said. “I’ll miss you.”
I pulled her in for a big hug. The types of clients from here would want her to cut all ties with this place. I’d more than likely never see her again. “I’ll miss you.”
Someone knocked on the door. “Brittany, you have a client here!”
Brittany pulled away. “That’s gonna be him. I gotta go, and so do you.” She opened the door and headed back to her locker. I went for the narrow hallway then the employee exit out the back alley. Outside, neon lights several stories above lit up the area in a dim glow. I quickly yanked my hoodie up and walked out into the night.