Resurgence: The Rise of Resurgence Book 1 (2 page)

All I could concentrate on was the word stipend. This was a dream come true. I would maximize my time all right. While my future competitors were toiling away in other games, I would be getting paid to create an unfair advantage. In all of my wildest fantasies, I could not have devised a better scenario. However, I did not want Katherine reading into my body language and discerning my motivations for wanting to be a part of the Beta. Although, as smart as she appeared, I am sure she already figured it out. Instead I went back to the art.

“I think you are missing out then. Our reactions to things are always a culmination of everything in our environment. By having the art there you could have seen where I needed a crutch or where I was comfortable as myself answering the question,” I said.

Katherine gave another one of her thoughtful pauses and said, “You know Alex, I really think you are going to enjoy the Beta.”

“Which reminds me Ms. O’Malley, we keep saying ‘the Beta.’ Does the game have a name yet?”

This was the last time I saw Katherine. Her smile never wavered. She just nodded her head and said, “Resurgence.”

CHAPTER 3

January 27th 2043

Katherine never did tell me how long I would have to wait, or when the Beta for Resurgence was supposed to begin. I did ask. Her response was to explain how fluid these things are; both the process for the Beta and getting a system up and running for something the size of Resurgence. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to receive a call ten days later from the company, AltCon, telling me my Beta request had been accepted and I was ready to begin the next phase of preparation for the Beta testing. I was to meet with the team and my counterparts the next day at 10am. Being an early riser, I knew I would be pleasantly caffeinated and ready for the day ahead.

I arrived to the AltCon building fifteen minutes before 10am and was met by a representative in the main lobby. The building was massive, easily topping 75 stories. AltCon had been the leader in virtual online gaming for several years and it seemed business was good. The lobby was an open atrium design easily topping five stories up. You know business is good when you can waste five stories worth of space just to have that “open feel.” What could have been done up as gaudy was instead subdued, and I found myself admiring the space.

The gentleman who approached me had a clipboard in hand and my picture attached to the folder on top of the clipboard. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how he knew which person I was. “Good Morning Mr. Stanton, and welcome to AltCon. I take it you found the building with no difficulties?”

“It’s hard to miss. And it’s just Alex. Am I the first one to arrive?”

“Yes Alex, you beat the rest of the team here, but I expect them to arrive soon. My name is Dylan Banks. I will be advising and assisting you through the process should you determine today that you would indeed like to take part in our project.”

“I appreciate it Mr. Banks, and I am sure I will have a multitude of questions once all of this becomes clearer. Any chance I could use the restroom before we get started? I’ve been known to down a pot of coffee or two in the morning and I don’t particularly want to have to sprint out of the first meeting for a nature run.”

“Please Alex, call me Dylan. We will be spending a lot of time together and there is no need to stand on pretense. There is a bathroom just down this way that you can use. Just follow me,” he said as he led the way down the side hallway, toward what I only imagined was where the elevators for the building were also kept. “And I like that we already have one thing in common. If I don’t pour liquid caffeine down my gullet in the morning, I’m no better than a zombie. If there is a particular brand of Joe you like, I can make sure it is provided on the premises while you are here.”

Looking at Dylan I could tell two things. The first was that he was more than just an assistant. I would put dollars to donuts that Dylan had a degree in psychology and was using elementary, but effective, techniques to build a bond between us. The second thing I knew is that if Dylan didn’t drink coffee, and if he drank the same swill I did, he would be bouncing off the wall. No one who actually drinks the stuff would call it anything other than coffee. I was looking forward to the entertainment I would be provided watching how Dylan craftily avoided all of my offers in the future to “grab a cup of Joe.” And if you are wondering about how I know about psychology? Well I did mention that second year of college earlier. That was the “I want to be a psychologist” year. There were many more.

After using the facilities, which it turned out were around the corner and just out of sight of the front entrance, we proceeded to the elevators located nearby. The placement of the elevators and bathroom made me feel that the building didn’t have a closed door policy, but it didn’t want tourists inside either. Stepping into the elevator, I looked up as I awaited our voyage into the air. So it was a bit of a shock to my system when the elevator started going down. And it went down for several floors.

“Didn’t even know this building had basement floors,” I said to Dylan.

“Well the equipment we are using is newer than what you are used to, and the climate controls necessary for the number of units negated using the upper floors. Don’t worry Alex, the area is safe. I’m guessing you aren’t claustrophobic, what with wearing a pod for hours on end each day.”

The elevator stopped and I smiled and responded, “Wasn’t when I got here. I’ll let you know at the end of the day.”

Dylan chuckled at my joke as we walked into a large open area. I expected to see cubicles and offices. But none of that was here. This was a workshop, plain and simple. And what I saw wasn’t computing at all. There were rows of what looked like coffins set up on the floor. There had to be at least a hundred of them. The only other thing in the room was a set of chairs, a podium, and a holo-projector sitting on the podium.

“Dylan…. remember how you told me not to worry. Well what I am seeing here, buddy, is causing me to worry.”

Dylan laughed again and there was no malice in the sound. It honestly put me a little at ease. I was expecting him to begin cackling like some old school Bond villain. He could see the concern in my eyes though, and his empathy kicked in. Definitely psychology degree.

“I understand Alex, we don’t tell people what to expect because what we are designing here is state of the art and next generation. Yours’s is not the first group to come through here and there will be two more groups after you. After you sit down with your colleagues and hear the presentation, I promise you,” waving his arm out over the large open area “all of this will make total and complete sense.”

“How about we just get me some coffee, and then we can go from there.”

* * *

True to form, Dylan avoided my offer for coffee. His excuse was indeed well played, using my own reason for turning me down; he didn’t want to have to leave and use the bathroom in the middle of the presentation. I was impressed.

The rest of the group showed up and all in all there were eight of us. I don’t know if you have ever seen eight introverts, when no one knows each other, standing around a room. But I can tell you it is a sight to behold. No one can entertain themselves better than an introvert. Period. It was for this reason that before the session began, we were all forced to introduce ourselves to the other members of our “team.”

I forgot everyone’s name soon after they said it, and made the mental note to meet everyone again to solidify who they were. But before I could begin the rounds again, the holo-projector turned on and an avatar appeared. I say avatar because it was obvious this individual was not real. Mostly because they were an elf. A high-elf to be exact. Anyone who has ever seen those old Lord of the Rings or Hobbit movies, can tell you what a high-elf looks like, but for the 1 percent out there that haven’t, they are tall, light skinned people. Usually with blonde or white hair, and are always amazingly attractive. And of course, they have pointy elf ears. That’s usually what gives it away.

“Good Morning and welcome to AltCon. Please take a seat, all of you,” the avatar said.

We all began milling around and looking for where to sit. As you can guess, we introverts quickly came up with how to divide the seats so that there was maximum distance between all of us. The avatar spoke during our sauntering toward the chairs, “hurry now, we have a long day and we mustn’t waste precious time.” As soon as the last butt was in the chair, the avatar began again.

“I realize you must think this to be a pre-recorded message. That after certain amounts of time I will just move on to the next topic. That is not the case. My name is Victoria and I am being projected from within Resurgence, to you. This is me in the game.” The explanation sounded plausible, but life like constructs from within virtual reality were often more pixilated and twitchy. Victoria was smooth and you would have thought she were real if you couldn’t make out a bit of the details of the wall behind her translucent form. So I was guessing she was still pre-recorded.

“Mr. Stanton, would you like a cup holder for your coffee?”

On second thought, yeah, she’s real.

“Thank you Victoria, but I’m good with holding it. The temperature is a bit arctic down here and I am using the cup to keep my hands warm.”

Victoria gave a good chuckle and continued, “Yes, the temperature is a bit south of what you are used to above ground. The reason is those containers you see behind you. During your initial interviews you were told that our new AI and means for bringing the game to the consumer is why we wanted discreet testers. Behind you are the new means. Say hello to the very first fully immersive virtual pods.”

Every head turned. And almost as if choreographed, every one of us began to get out of our chairs toward the pods. Victoria laughed again and said, “Stay seated. There will be ample time to check out the new pods. It’s the same reaction with every group.” We all sat back down and were now way more interested in what Victoria had to say.

As I mentioned earlier, pod-heads were forced to wear tactile augmentation devices like gloves, boots, or suits in order to experience the sense of feeling. The suits were so packed with electronics that heat transfer was always a problem. Many people died of heat stroke due to staying too long in a virt-suit. But a self-contained pod could work. The issue was cost. However, AltCon had the type of money for R&D and production to make it possible. I wasn’t glancing over at a pipe dream in some guy’s garage. This was likely the real deal.

Over the next hour Victoria explained our contract, with a lengthy discussion about the Non-Disclosure Agreement we would be signing before leaving the room. Even if we chose not to take part in the Beta testing, we would be required to sign the NDA. However, the look on everyone’s face told me that no one would be leaving until they got the opportunity to test out the new pods. Additional time was spent detailing the salary we would each be receiving, and I could tell that everyone was happy with this arrangement as well. Truthfully, we all just wanted to get into one of the VRACs (Virtual Reality Augmentation Container), or what Victoria simply called “the RACs.”

“For the next portion of the session here, a technician will take you over and hook you up to the RAC. We will meet in a VR space and you will be able to see the next level of VR technology that we are bringing to bear to use on this game. Please go with your technician now.”

My technician led me over to my RAC and opened the lid. She showed me all of the controls from the outside, explaining how to load the game you want to play. At this point in time there were only two programs that could be accessed; Orientation and Resurgence Beta. She also showed me the internal controls, indicating the emergency release on the left side and the cancel download switch on the right. During the explanation, others were bringing over folded screens that were being set up around each person’s VRAC. The reason for this became obvious after only a few minutes when I realized that I would not be able to use the RAC while wearing all of my clothes.

“Look, I’m just going to say this. I get the reason for no clothes. But what about when I need to, you know, go number 1?” I asked the attendant.

“Oh you definitely aren’t the first to ask that question!” she said. “It’s all very simple. The VRAC is a self-cleaning, self-sanitizing system with an internal waste removal system. The bottom line is, you can just pee till your heart is content and you never have to worry about it. Now for the other thing, you know, number 2, we don’t have anything in place for that. And that would likely require some sort of connection to your body in order to process that. So we would have to insert a...”

“I get it! I gotta get out for the 2!” I stopped her from continuing.

“Right. In that case you would simply log out and exit the pod and then log back in when all is done. Additionally, the RAC will monitor your hydration levels and provide fluids when necessary. Your RAC will be calibrated specifically to your body, so it will know how to optimize the level of hydration in your body so you don’t need to go all that often. Our tests have run eight hour stints on a subject without having to urinate once during that time and exiting the pod at a perfect level of hydration and ph. Finally, nutrients will be provided through the hydration system to make certain you aren’t suffering from hunger either. You will still need to eat, and this is why we don’t recommend staying in the virtual environment for longer than eight hours.”

“What will happen after eight hours?”

“Nothing will happen after eight hours. But after 12 hours you will be given a notification of the dangerous situation you are putting yourself in, and after 16 hours your RAC will shut down. No matter what. And it won’t start back up for another 24 hours.”

This was all good information to know since many a gamer was known to spend more than 16 hours in the virtual world if they were in the middle of something they deemed to be important enough.

“So I will always have the same RAC when I return on site for the testing?” I asked.