Chapter 1 - Rememberance

David stumbled into the bathroom as his head began to throb so hard that his vision began to blur. He placed his virtual reality headset on the counter and flung open the doors to a large medicine cabinet in the corner, revealing a keypad and a screen that simply read “Enter 4 Digit Passcode”. David began to cough heavily, specks of blood ejecting from his mouth onto his hand. Still coughing, he quickly punched in his passcode, ‘1337’ of course, causing the safe inside his medicine cabinet to unlock. He flew open the door revealing a single syringe filled with a bright blue liquid with the word ‘IOLAUS’ stamped in bold black letters on the side. He immediately grabbed the syringe and shoved it into the side of his neck and injected the entirety of the blue liquid into his bloodstream. In an instant David’s coughing began to subside and a few seconds later his headache went from a pounding throb to a dull ache, and a few seconds after that was gone completely. He walked over to the sink and washed the bright red blood from his hands, then grabbed the VR headset off the counter and exited the bathroom.

Now able to regain his senses, David could hear a voice emitting from his headset.

“DAVID?! You there man? I thought FOR SURE we had him that time and then you just stopped fighting. These repair bills aren’t cheap!” the voice shouted.

David walked across his room and grabbed a glass of water already sitting on the desk near the VR Machine that was wirelessly connected to his headset. The VR machine emitted a bright green light, indicating it was powered on and ‘Active’. The machine, called the Hermes, had released just five years ago by the world’s largest technology conglomerate Moirai Technologies. It was the single most exciting technology advancement for video games in a long time. The Hermes featured truly high definition graphics and extremely accurate interpretations of movements and actions to create the most realistic virtual reality experience by far. Perhaps even more importantly, it connected to Moirai Technologies servers via their own private worldwide wireless network. This meant no lag and a 99.99% connection uptime other than their brief fifteen minute weekly mandatory maintenance that would automatically disable the Hermes and its headset to deploy any necessary updates.

David took a large gulp of the water, sat the glass back on the desk, and put the VR headset on.

You have been killed by Kalyxius.

Would you like to revive at the nearest graveyard?

YES                   NO

He tapped a button on the right side of the headset that toggled the built-in microphone back on.

“Hey Drex, sorry man. Had another Hydra fit…” David explained.

“Ah damn man, you alright? Do you have any meds for it?” Drex echoed out of the headset.

David and Drex had been gaming together for half a dozen years now, primarily in Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMORPG’s). Unfortunately, they lived almost 4,000 miles apart and never had the opportunity to meet each other in person. Since last year they had been playing the hit new MMORPG ‘Lands of Kaulm’ together. Lands of Kaulm was the first MMORPG to make full use of the Hermes to allow most of the game world to be streamed seemlessly in realtime 24/7 to those who either couldn’t afford a Hermes, or simply didn’t have the time to play a MMO, but had the time to watch others do so. It was the perfect game for David and Drex as it focused heavily on a two-person ‘bonding’ system that allowed you to get stronger and unlock new skills and combos by slaying enemies with the same person. Since its release, they had bounced around in the top five rankings of Lands of Kaulm’s leaderboard based on boss progression. They had never reach the #1 spot, though, as it seemed to be permanently occupied by two Japanese gamers, Hiro and Villen. You couldn’t help but give them credit for the obvious name choices.

“I had one IOLAUS left, thankfully. I swear the attacks are getting worse…” David responded.

“I’ve been lucky, haven’t had an attack in a couple weeks. The headaches get bad here and there, but I haven’t had to take much IOLAUS since my last Hydra examination. If you need an extra--” Drex began to offer, before being interrupted.

“Shit!” David said panicking, “Hermes, what’s my local time?”

It is currently 3:12 PM local time.

“Sorry Drex, but I have to head out. Thanks for the reminder, my Hydra exam is in less than an hour! We’ll get Kalyxius down tonight my man I promise.”

“All good! Let me know how it goes!”

David powered off his Hermes, removed his headset, and walked back into the bathroom. He quickly stripped down and jumped into the shower.

“Shower On,” he demanded.

“Accessing Local Clean Water Storage,” a speaker in the bathroom responded.

A few seconds later a small stream of water began to trickle out of the showerhead.

Four years ago astronomers detected a mysterious object soaring through space between Mars and Earth. Every calculation by all of the world’s best equipped to anticipate the projected path of the object indicated it would miss Earth by about 10,000 miles. The object, estimated to be nearly two miles wide, was projected to be so close to Earth that everyone would be able to look up in the sky and see it soar through the sky, but not nearly close enough to have any worry as far as it colliding with the planet. So, on March 14th, 2072, seemingly the whole world stood outside and gazed up at the sky as the object neared Earth.

But their projections were wrong.

The object got bigger and bigger in the sky before erupting into flames and spewing small debris in all directions. The smaller debris slammed into various cities across the world, causing structural damage and fatalities . That paled in comparison, however, to what happened with the large object itself. It slammed into the Pacific Ocean at nearly 70,000 miles per hour, exploding an impact crater 30 miles wide on the ocean floor, and created tsunami’s as high as 300 feet that swallowed coastal cities. An estimated twenty percent of the world’s population died that day due to the various smaller debris impact zones and the massive tsunamis. This event would later be referenced as ‘Incursion Day’, with the reasoning that the randomness of outer space was to blame for the “attack against Earth”.

The next day experts quickly tried to rationalize the objects sudden change of direction. Another object hidden behind it that struck it and changed its path or a massive solar flare with enough projective force to disrupt a two mile wide objects projected course...none of it sounded possible. In the immediate aftermath of the event, experts claimed “we were lucky” and that “a direct land hit could have wiped out an entire continent”.

In the next several months the world had realized the worst had yet to come. The large object from space decimated the Earth’s ozone layer, increasing the amount of ultraviolet light that reached the surface from the sun. Just a half an hour out in the sun during a hot summer day could cause intense sunburn. The number of people with skin cancer and cataracts skyrocketed. To make matters worse, much the world’s vegetation was destroyed and a special kind of greenhouse had to be used to facilitate plant life, making food even harder to find. The lack of an ozone layer also caused a drastic drop in the population of plankton in our oceans, making clean and safe drinking and bathing water an extremely rare and expensive commodity.

David finished his brief shower and quickly put on his clothes. Fortunately, it was January, so he did not have to wear his special UV-Resistant clothing. He grabbed his cell phone off the desk by the door as he stepped out into the sunlight.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

David glanced at the clock on his cell phone: 3:31 PM.

“There’s no way I can make it to the Hydra clinic in half an hour on foot, “he muttered to himself. “I guess I’m traveling by capsule.”

Just months before Incursion Day, Moirai Technologies released a new systematic transit system powered by an advanced fuel source they had created by exploiting water with nuclear fission. The fuel, called Hydrofission, powered a small capsule in an underground network of tubing that would propel at speeds as high as 3,000 miles per hour.

The closest capsule station was four blocks away, so David dashed down the sidewalk towards the station.

When he arrived at the station, he was disappointed to notice a pretty sizable line at all four of the kiosks for purchasing a capsule ticket. He checked his cell phone for the time: 3:40 PM. The “capsule voyage” as David liked to call it would take less than a minute to get to the capsule station nearest the Hydra clinic, but the time to stand in line to get a ticket and wait for his designated capsule would be cutting it close. While typically cutting it close for an appointment wasn’t a big deal for David, Hydra examinations were another matter. These mandatory appointments required you to be on time. If 4:01 PM hit and he wasn’t signed in for his examination, his exam would automatically be cancelled and he would be automatically charged a hefty fee for the ‘cancellation’. The fee, while tedious, wasn’t the bigger concern. Hydra Clinic’s were extremely outnumbered by the amount of people requiring a Hydra examination. It could take as long as three months before David could be rescheduled for the exam, which meant three months without medicine.

“Oh well...nothing I can do about it,” David thought to himself. “Actually, I’ll call Sarah and see if I can get some wiggle room!”

Sarah was a childhood friend of David’s. Her family and his had lived next door to each other, and often participated in vacations and trips together. To say they were close would be an understatement; Sarah was like a sister to him. Four years ago, they became even closer. Their parents were both away on vacation in Long Beach, California on Incursion Day. David and Sarah both missed out on the vacation as they were finishing their final exams for high school that week. Neither of them could ever had known that them missing that vacation would end up saving their lives. Sadly, the same could not be said for their parents.

David punched in Sarah’s phone number on his cell phone while he stood in line behind Kiosk # 3 in the capsule station.

RING! - RING! - RING! -RING!

“Hey, you’ve reached Sarah with Moirai Technologies. I’m probably busy trying to save the world or something, so leave a quick message and I’ll get around to it as soon as I can! Priorities! Beep!”

David hung up and tucked his cell phone back into his pocket. “No sense in leaving a voicemail, “he thought to himself. “It would more than likely be too late before she got around to listening to it and responding.”

After a few moments David was second in line at his kiosk. He pulled out his phone for a quick time check: 3:47 PM. The man in front of him grabbed finished his transaction, grabbed his capsule ticket, and slid out of the way. David quickly stepped up to the kiosk.

“Welcome to the Albany Central Capsule Station. Please enter your credits card,” the speaker on the kiosk requested.

Moirai Technologies and their technology had become a part of everyone’s everyday life, so they created a special card that you could purchase credits on to use to pay for anything with their name on it. Most employers would even allow your pay to be automatically disbursed onto your credits card. It was essentially the new dollar.

David reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. His credits card was conveniently located in the front so he took it out and slid it into the kiosk.

“Hello David,” the kiosk greeted him. “Are you headed to your Hydra examination scheduled for four o’clock PM?”

A big green button labeled ‘Yes’ appeared on the left of the screen of the kiosk, and a big red button labeled ‘No’ on the right. David quickly tapped the green button.

“Great, David! Your registered Hydra clinic is located two blocks from the Glenmont capsule station. A capsule ticket from this station to the Glenmont capsule station is...two hundred and seventeen credits. Your estimated travel time via capsule is...forty seconds. Your estimated wait time for the next available capsule is...fifteen minutes. It doesn’t sound like you will make it to the clinic in time! Would you like to purchase expedited capsule retrieval to push your capsule to the front of the queue for just five hundred credits more?”

“Five hundred more?!” David shouted at the inanimate kiosk. “That’s over double the cost of my transit alone!”

David paused for a second, assessing the situation. The current dollar to credit ratio was 10 credits per dollar, meaning the transit cost was about $22, but the ‘expedited capsule retrieval’ would cost an extra $50 on top. After pondering the situation, David came to the conclusion that he had no option. He once again tapped the green button on the kiosk screen.

“Your purchase is being confirmed...Confirmation complete. Your credits card has been debited seven hundred and seventeen credits. Please remove your credits card and collect your capsule ticket from the ticket dispenser under the screen. Safe travels and thank you for traveling via Moirai Technologies innovative capsule technology!” the kiosk instructed.

David collected his capsule ticket and credits card, placing the card back into his wallet. He checked his cell phone again for the time: 3:51 PM. He dashed towards the capsule retrieval zone and inserted his capsule ticket into a machine against the wall. The screen on the machine lit up showing the path the capsule would take on the transit system to get from David’s current location, Albany, to his target destination, Glenmont. Under the map on the screen was a flashing ticker that stated ‘Estimated Transit: Forty Seconds - Capsule # 7’. Behind David were a dozen doors, each labelled one through twelve, all currently with a red light illuminated above them. A few seconds later the light above the door labeled seven began flashing green and the door opened automatically, revealing an elevator.  David stepped into the elevator and pressed the only button inside that simply said ‘Proceed to Capsule’.

The elevator door closed automatically and the elevator began to descend. David looked at the walls of the elevator which were littered with various Moirai Technologies advertisements. The first was an image of a man with a big smile swiping his credits card at a grocery store. The text read “Introducing Moirai Technologies payment solutions. Make your customers happy.”

David looked at the smiling man in the image and said aloud, “Who in the hell is that happy to be swiping their credits card?”

The other advertisement caught David’s attention. It was a man standing outside of a building with a Moirai Technologies sign, removing his UV resistant jacket. He held a newspaper that was dated April 2155. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue and in it was a futuristic looking hovercraft. The text read “We’ll find the cure for Hydra eventually. Why not take a nap until then? Introducing Moirai Technologies new stasis technology. Call 1-888-MST-ASIS for details.”

“What the hell?” David blurted aloud. “Stasis technology?”

David thought of the prospect of no more Hydra. No more severe headaches...no more bleeding from orifices...no more IOLAUS injections. He thought back to the time before Incursion Day.

The world was...easier...back then when there was no Hydra. It took several months for doctors and scientists to realize that the uninvited space rock that slammed into the ocean brought with it a deadly disease. First people started complaining of headaches and coughing up blood. Doctors wrote the symptoms off as congestion of the sinuses and inflammation of the nasal passages due to all the debris kicked into the air by the impact.

Once the entire world seemed to have these symptoms, Moirai Technologies formed a new division designated to diagnosing the cause of the symptoms and eventually treating it. Eventually, they deployed what they thought to be a cure. Weeks later, however, those who received the cure started developing new fatal symptoms in mass numbers. Paralysis, Pulmonary Fibrosis, Multiple Organ Dysfunction and eventually comas and death.

The media began calling the disease Hydra due to its likeness to the greek mythological many-headed serpent. Cutting off a head, or in other words treating a symptom, often caused two more heads, or symptoms, to appear. Moirai Technologies shifted their focus from finding a cure to researching a form of treatment that would negate and slow the growth and evolution of Hydra. After six months of research, they released their solution, IOLAUS.

The damage from Hydra had already decimated over sixty percent of the world population that had survived Incursion Day. In an effort to stop the seemingly rapid approach of humanity’s extinction, the world government passed a law requiring everyone to visit a Hydra clinic--created specifically for the treatment of Hydra--every six months for a Hydra exam. The examination would determine the current stage of Hydra that had infected a person’s body and prescribe the proper IOLAUS injections to treat the disease until the next exam.

The elevator screeched to a halt and the elevator door opened up. In front of David was a white ball-shaped capsule. The door to the capsule was open. A message echoed from the capsule.

“Hello, David! This capsule is scheduled to take you to the Glenmont capsule station. The current time is 3:53 PM. You will reach your destination by 3:55 PM. Please enter the capsule to begin your transit.”

David heaved a heavy sigh and crawled into the capsule.