Bitz: Error

Days in Game: Error

“Mia, can you hear me?” asked a soft voice. “We don’t have much time. You need to open your eyes.”

The voice cut across the darkness I had embraced. I needed to get up, I couldn’t stay here.

“We need to get her to the shuttle, she has less than 30 minutes till launch,” said a familiar male voice. Greg, it was Greg. The shuttle. The shuttle!

My eyes snapped open, and then quickly closed. Bright lights were blinding and momentarily painful. I was sitting upright, strapped to a chair. I flexed my hands. I could feel the straps across my chest and wrists.

“Here, drink this.”

Something touched my lips, and I took a sip. Cold fresh water filled my mouth, and I took another sip before she pulled the straw away. I blinked a few times and, eventually, my eyes adjusted to the lights. I opened them fully. Dr. Abigail studied me. “Did it work?” I asked, but as I spoke her name popped up above her head. Dr. Abigail, Implant specialist. I turned toward a sound on my right and Greg stood there with a concerned look on his face. His name also appeared. Greg, medical intern.

“You tell me, what can you see?”

“Your names.”

“That’s a start.” She flashed a light into my eyes.

“Woah,” I tried to hold up my hand, but it didn’t move. “Too much.”

She ignored my comment. “It should be slowly adding things in.” She unstrapped my left wrist and then grabbed the strap on my chest.

“I mean, as soon as she touches down she is going to be slammed,” said Greg. He moved to free my right wrist.

“Slammed?” I asked.

“Information overload,” replied Greg. Yet, at the same time, that response appeared in the corner of my vision. The words floated in the air. When I glanced at them, another screen popped up with even more information on information overload. The sudden appearance caused me to jerk.

“How do I close this?!”

“Think about closing it,” said Dr Abigail softly. She glared over at Greg. “Please be helpful. I changed the settings for a slow introduction. It will help.”

“It will be helpful if I get her to the shuttle.” He checked something. “She has twenty minutes.”

I focused on closing the screen of additional info and it snapped shut. “Wait, I only have twenty minutes to get to the shuttle?” A timer popped up on my screen.

“There, you can have the timer,” said Greg.

“How did you add the timer?”

“We are both friends in your contacts platform,” answered Abigail. “You will need to change your settling later for what access your friends and contacts have. For now, I gave us both complete access.”

Panic filled me. They had access to what? The timer in the corner of my vision mocked me. It kept ticking down by the second. Eighteen minutes to go.

“Your heart rate is spiking,” murmured the Dr. “Take a deep breath. In and out.” I couldn’t help but listen to her instructions. My lungs filled with air and then I slowly breathed out.

“How do I get to the shuttle?” A map appeared in the bottom right with the room and a dotted line leading out of the door.

“We will get you there. First, you need to change into your gear. You can’t bring anything with you. Remember the terms and conditions?” asked Dr Abigail. “Can you stand up for me?”

I shrugged and braced myself on the armrests before popping to my feet. The room only spun a little before stopping. “I think I’m okay.”

“Good,” said Greg. He held out a folded jumpsuit. “You also have boots to wear as well.” He pointed next to the chair.

I took the jumpsuit from him and he headed behind a privacy screen that dropped from the ceiling.

“Do you need help?” asked the Dr.

I shook my head and regretted it. The room spun again but quickly stopped. “I got this,” I muttered, at least half to convince myself.

Once I answered, she joined him behind the screen. The jumpsuit was a basic black uniform with a zipper down the front. Folded inside the clothing was underwear and a bra. I pulled off my ratty sneakers and socks. Then ditched my dirty pants. My underwear were falling apart and new clothing was a win. The feeling of new clean clothing made me smile. The boots even fit my feet.

“She will be fine,” said Dr Abigail.

“But where did she come from?” asked Greg.

“Does it really matter? She signed the agreement and is headed into Revivium.”

“But don’t you want to know?”

“We can’t know everything we want.”

“I can hear you guys…” I muttered.

“Are you dressed?” asked Dr. Abigail.

The counter was down to thirteen minutes and ten seconds. “Yes.” The screen rose in the air but the two came around the side instead of waiting.

“You will need to head to the shuttle on your own. Remember, you promised you would take it easy your first week. Stay in the beginner town for at least a few days. Rest in the inn and eat some food. You need calories. We had an intravenous line going while you were under but you are still skin and bone,” her voice paused when Greg set a hand on her arm.

“You can do this,” he said. “Good luck, and unlock your future.”

I smiled at the slogan. It was on all the ads for Revivium. “Thank you for all of this. I won’t let you down.”

Greg’s look was unreadable, and Dr Abigail just gave me a small smile. The seconds continued to tick, and I headed to the door. It opened for me and the map pointed me to my right. I followed the glowing line on the map. My eyes flickered all around as I walked and various signs would light up with additional information. I passed by the sign-in booths and kept going. It was weird, some places that didn’t look like they had signs at all in the physical world had whole windows of information in my virtual vision, and some of the physical signs had nothing in the virtual space.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

My pace increased a bit when the timer reached ten minutes, yet the line on the map was much shorter and the doorway was in sight. As I approached, the door slid open and a ramp led down to another door that was still closed. I quickly headed down the walkway and the far door slid open. Inside, five chairs lined the walls of the shuttle, and four were occupied. Three on the right and one on the left. All four glanced at me and names popped up above their heads. Blaze, Art, Rascal, Branch.

“You coming in?” asked the one on the left, Branch.

I paused at the sight of all the messages.

“You waited until the last minute, that's for sure,” said another. This one had Blaze over his head, followed by Revivium Player.

I darted to the available seat on the left and sat down. “Yeah, well, I had to hit up tech support.” The room just included the chairs on the two sides. The door faced the row of chairs and then a metal wall. Nothing else was in the room and the only text boxes were above people's heads.

“Ah, me too,” said Art. They also had Revivium Player listed after their name. “But now my arm is as good as new. Now, I just gotta get out of the game with enough Bitz to pay my passage here.”

The guy sitting on my left chuckled. He was older than the rest of us, by at least five years if not a little more. He had some dark facial hair and piercing blue eyes. “I’m in it to get what I can and then get back to my family,” said Branch. Again, he had the Revivium Player tag.

“Aren’t you a little old to be heading in?” asked Blaze.

He snorted. “Older, smarter, and stronger. I work in the mines. Make decent money,” he said. “But this will let my kids be debt free. I have a stronger reason to get out of there. They are three and five.”

The countdown in the corner of my screen flashed, then vanished.

“The shuttle door is now closing,” said a female voice over the loudspeaker. The door snapped shut. “We will begin our descent to Revivium. We will take this time to review the rules.” A screen popped up in my eyesight and the shuttle moved.

Rule One: Once you leave Revivium, you cannot return

Rule Two: Do not harm a non-combatant non-player character (NPC)

Rule Three: Bitz cannot be stolen or looted from a player

Rule Four: No outside items or technology allowed

Rule Five: If you have in-game debt or an open quest, you cannot leave

Please see the terms and conditions for the rest of the agreement.

These rules are now in effect. You can now access the game manual from your screen. Good luck and may you unlock your future.

“What’s your plan for in-game?” asked Blaze.

Art answered first. “I am heading straight for the games. Gotta level up a few times and then I’ll bet on myself. Keep it nice and simple.”

“Not me,” interrupted Branch, “I want to find a nice guard position. Do some quests to gain experience and then just save as much Bitz as I can. None of the gladiator stuff. Too risky.”

Someone chuckled, but I was trying to figure out where the game manual was or how to access my contacts. A screen popped up at the thought, with tabs across the top: Messages, Contacts, Character Sheet, and Inventory. Everything was grayed out.

“What about you Mia?”

“What?” I frantically closed everything, and all eyes were on me. A small headache was forming behind my eyes.

“What’s your plan?” asked Blaze.

“No idea. Probably lie low in the beginning area for a while.”

They all shot me confused looks, except for Branch, who nodded.

Blaze scoffed. “No one checks out the newb area anymore. You can’t really earn any Bitz there.”

I shrugged.

The shuttle jumped and everyone went quiet.

“We will land in one minute,” said the overhead voice. The shuttle shuddered again once more then stopped. The door snapped open. “Welcome to Revivium. Please exit the shuttle.”

#

Bright light streamed in from the open door and I smelled something that I couldn’t put words to. Fear trickled down my spine. Everyone stood up and filed out of the shuttle. I waited until I was the last one in line to exit. Taking a deep breath, I stepped out into the sunshine.

A white line glowed on the dirt a few feet ahead of me. Next to that was a wooden sign sticking out of the ground, which I didn’t look at yet. Blaze, Art, and Rascal headed off down the pathway that was before us, bypassing an opening in a wooden fence. Branch turned off the main path to his right and vanished behind some trees.

The shuttle beeped behind me and I jumped forward crossing the white line. My hand reached out to touch the sign as several window boxes popped up covering my vision. The beeping increased, echoing through my head as my headache ramped up in full gear. Dust rose as the shuttle took off back into the air. I covered my eyes and coughed as dust engulfed me.

Buttons asking if I accept appeared, and I frantically closed the boxes any way that I could. The throbbing pain behind my eyes increased, and I clutched at my head in panic. Remembering Dr. Abigail, I took a deep breath in and then out. Then again. My panic slowly decreased, and the pain lessened as I cleared the windows from my vision. Small alert signs lined the right side of my vision above the map, but I ignored them.

I’d promised to find an inn and rest. The mini-map had a picture of a bed on it, and I rushed down the trail, intent on finding it. The air still smelled strange, and the sky was literally blue. Fluffy clouds dotted the air like a picture book from when I was a kid. Trees lined the path, and a wooden fence was along my right side. The opening that Branch had come down had a sign tacked to the tree on the right. Haven, it read. More words appeared above the sign. Beginner Village, then a button for more info.

I clicked on it, ignoring the headache as best as I could.

Haven is the starting point for most players. Get your bearings, accept some quests, and learn how this new world works. Food and Lodging are free in this area until level five.

Free food?! I started walking again after closing the window. More trees lined the path with dark green leaves. Each of the trunks were wider than I could probably wrap my arms around. The trees stopped, and the area opened up into a wide dirt plaza. Several wooden buildings lined the plaza. Each had signs that made my head throb even worse. The picture of a bed was to my right, and I headed directly there.

Then I noticed the white dots moving around my map. One approached the square, and it was a person. A little girl skipping in a green dress. She saw me and waved her hand in the air. I hesitantly lifted my hand and waved back. She had dark brown hair and eyes but she didn’t head my way. My focus went back to the inn as I crossed the square. More white dots were walking around in various directions, but I ignored them.

Another pop-up appeared over the door saying this was the inn. Again my headache throbbed, and I pushed open the door. Inside, the space was brightly lit with several real glass windows and a counter that ran along the left side.

An older gentleman with a bushy beard smiled at me. Over his head, James, Innkeeper appeared. “Welcome, you must be a new player.” His eyes gave away the fact that he was an artificial human. They were just a little too bright of a color. It made sense that most people here would be artificial. It was their home.

“I am, can I get a room?”

“It’s a little early for one,” his eyes studied me in concern. I knew that look. He was scanning me. “You don’t look so good.”

“Headache from the shuttle ride. Just need some rest.” I tried to keep my expression calm.

He nodded and grabbed a key from behind the counter. “Here you go, room three. It's up the stairs and on your right. We have music in the plaza most nights. If you want a heated bath, that's five Bitz, but your room is free till level five. We have simple fare, but the good food is over at the tavern. Again, the simple meal is covered. Any alcohol you need to pay for.”

I held out my hand for the key. “Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.” He set the key into my hand. A pop-up over the key appeared Key to Room 3, Haven Inn.

I gave him a nod, but tears crept to the edges of my eyes as I plodded to the stairs. My hands shook by the time I got to the top, and I spotted the door at the far end. The door was wooden and a bright blue color. The door clicked as I approached, not needing me to even put the key in. I swung it open to a small room with a bed, a window, and a small dresser on one side. Small, but clean.

After closing the door behind me, I yanked my boots off and stumbled into the bed. Sleep quickly overtook me.