Re-edited on Nov 5th, 2015.

Author’s Forward: Sorry if the intro is a bit long, so if you skip to the next chapter I wont hold it against you. It ties in to other works I intend to write later. Most of this story takes place in full VR. While their bodies are preserved, their minds are connected to the Network.

I stopped writing for a few years ago and it took it’s toll me. As I get back into things, I’ll endeavor to craft a professional story. I may go back and edit some to improve flow and readability. Feedback, suggestions and reviews are welcome.

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After working a double shift top side, Darin found he was hesitant to rejoin the sleepers. The last two years had been busy, lonely and painfully dull. More than a thousand other crew were on duty with him, but he’d met only a few. The sheer size of the ship was to blame. The Long Shot, was a massive colony ship. As part of the Exodus fleet she carried over 5 million souls between the stars. Most of her passengers were “sleeping” soundly in Bio-stasis. Their bodies would barely feel the passing of time, aging perhaps a year or so for every century of voyage. But their minds, their minds were an entirely different story.

While their bodies slept, stowed away like common freight, their minds stayed connected to the ships Net. Free from most physical constraints they lived in a virtual city, one full of homes, gardens, pets, impossible buildings and the like. In the Net they were not constrained by the slow sensory of the body. Time passed faster there, keeping pace with the dream like state of its occupants. Darin had only been away from it for two years, but to his friends a decade had passed. Being occupied most of the time, and living at different speeds had cost him most of his old friends. His contacts list had dwindled to a pittance, as one by one people left him in the past. You might think that family members would always be there, but his sister had been one of the first to delete him. She’d been celebrating her virtual birthdays, and he’d missed it once. It surprised him when it happened, but it hadn’t hurt him much. Even if she was his only blood relative on board, she was still a bitch, so he didn’t consider it much a loss.

“Please enter the pod. No overtime will be paid for delays in return to stasis” The computer reminded him. He sighed again, and eyed the pod with a shudder. The pods were engineering and medical marvels, but did they have to look like a metal sarcophagus? But hesitation would do him no good, every minute he spent here was another five he lost on the Net. “If there is a problem with the pod, please notify technical support immediately. If you were considering an additional shift, your paper work should have been filed a week ago. If you would like-”

“Okay,” he responded, “but whoever programmed you to nag people, they did their job too well.” Well enough, to take a short hike out an airlock.

“Query not recognized. If you require-”

“Entering now.” He stated, before the AI could pester him again. With that he stepped into the standing pod, turned around and leaned back into the padding. He took one last breath of ships air before the lid closed. Instead of comforting him it only saddened him. On the colony, the air had smelled of moist earth and gardens. On the ship there was nothing, the filtration system worked too well. The last breath he may take for a few hundred years, and it tasted canned.

“Please breath softly and relax,” it instructed. Warm, semi-transparent goo started seeping into the pod. Where it touched him, his skin seemed to crawl before going numb. “The Bio-gel is your friend, it will protect your body and prevent the ravages of time.” A display appeared in front of him, all systems showed green. As the chamber tilted back, he once again suspected the display was only meant to distract him. His fingers started to twitch when the gel touched them. And a wave of sensations crawled up his spine, as the chemicals and nano machines went to work.

“In a few minutes you will be fully submerged. Do not worry the gel is perfectly safe to breath in.” The AI told him. Yes, it was technically true, but it tended to sugar coat things. It always neglected to mention that what goes in, must come out when you wake up. Gods, was that part foul. Darin was about to say something when his implant began to tickle the back of his skull. When the gel reached his face, he closed his eyes and drifted into darkness.

* * * * *

Once the darkness passed, Darin found himself looking down at his own pod from a lens. His black hair made a lazy halo around him. All life signs showed green, and the chamber had filled properly. He found himself regretting that he hadn’t shaved this morning, but that was a minor detail. He checked off the safety list and confirmed himself ready for the Net.

* * * * *

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Darin found himself at home, in his virtual apartment. “Is this really my home, or my home away from home?” He asked. Nothing had changed in the last two, no make that ten years. It was still as just as humble(drab) as he had left it. No artificial scents, no extra textures, no vivid colors or exotic meshes, put simply: no frills. But frills cost, and in the Net there was only a single type of currency, computer rations or as they were commonly called: Cores.

No matter how large a ship is, short of an overhaul, it’s processing systems are limited from the time of it’s creation. Survival is a priority, thus a ships systems always came first. A massive amount of resources were reserved against future needs and emergencies. A small portion of what remains was divided up into Cores. Cores were allotted as allowance to the passengers and increased shares where granted to those who served.

Games have become immensely popular on the Net. When living in virtual reality, the more Cores that are being used on a game the more real the experience. This made MMOs and other multi-player games extremely popular. The more players that contribute Cores the the server, the more lifelike the experience. The competition for players become fierce, as each world lived or died by a supply of Cores.

Darin took a moment to pull up his personal account. Running a double shift had paid off well. He couldn’t help but smile at when he saw his allotment had doubled to ten cores. But his joy was short lived, as he looked at his contacts list next. Only a few people still listed him as a friend. Before his shift he had over a hundred friends and contacts, gaming with them regularly. Damn…

“Start message dictation.” he instructed. A text box opened on his wall, awaiting his next words. “Hey all, I’m sorry I’ve been away so long. It was only a double shift topside, but I understand how much longer that is down here. I’d like to catch up with everyone. A virtual bar on my cores is an option. A game to catch up for lost time would be fine to. I wouldn’t mind playing on a good game server either. Sadly, I am a bit out of the loop these days. So feel free to let me know what’s popular. Thanks again, Darin. End dictation.”

“Whom would you like to address the message to?”

“My remaining friends list. Notify me when they respond” Darin said. So what if most people had deleted him. A few good friends were worth a horde of strangers anyway.

“Message sent to all six recipients,” the bland voice informed him. Six? Weren’t there more a moment ago. A glance at his contact list confirmed it. “Response received, and another.”

“Display all responses” Darin instructed. A moment later several text boxes opened.

System Error: Send message failed, target Mailbox is full.Auto Reply: Gone topside for more Cores, see you in 4.5 Net years.How did you even get on my list?

Never mind...Blocked!Who the hell are you again? Never mind. Get lost.

“Well, shit.” Was all Darin managed to say. His contacts list now showed 4…3…now 2 contacts remaining. He wondered if he should just delete the rest and start over, but that would be petty. Beside that, he couldn’t bring himself to delete someone for going topside. With a sigh, he slumped back into his sofa. “Show me a list of popular games. Narrow it to games that show player count growth in the last 4 months”

A list of servers came to life on his wall. There was no rhyme or reason to them. And most of them were poorly described at best. Just then, another box opened beside it.

Hey man, haven’t seen you in years. I honestly forgot about you while you were topside. If you are still looking for a game, check out “Dreams of a Forgotten World.”

They opened up about a year ago and are still growing. Magic, myths, legends, races, playable intelligent creatures…hell some things can even fly. It’s a lot of fun and the world is huge.

Maybe I’ll run into you there. -Dervish

“Being able to fly? That does sound interesting. System, display information on ‘Dreams of a Forgotten World’ as well as their website.” Darin spent the rest of the evening reading up on the game. The more he read, the deeper the hook was set. The game was based off an assortment of old earth myths and legends. Dragons and Beasts, Elves and Dwarfs, Wizards and Swordsmen. It sounded amazing, though he couldn’t quite figure out if the chain mail bikini references were a running joke…