Resurgence: The Rise of Resurgence Book 1 (3 page)

“What? No! You will be doing all of the Beta testing from the comforts of your own home in your RAC,” she responded.

“Wait. What do you mean, ‘my RAC?’ I can’t afford one of these things.”

“Oh, this part comes later in the orientation, but all of you will get your own RAC and a specialist to come to your home to retrofit your space to offset the electrical needs and temperature controls. Part of the bonus for full completion of your contract is getting to keep your RAC.”

I was flabbergasted. I couldn’t imagine a sweeter deal in my entire life. I kept looking for the loophole, the one thing that would make me want to walk away, but I couldn’t find it. I went over the instruments one more time before stripping down and getting into the RAC. The bed liner was soft and pliable, like a gel, and I was told it was full of millions of nano-sensors/emitters that would allow me to feel all over stimulation. Before disrobing, I was also shown where my fluid dispenser was for when I did need to hydrate.

I shut the lid for my RAC and immediately a prompt came up in front of me that said “Download Beginning….0%.” As I sat there the bar moved quickly from 0 to 100 and I was transported to a grey room with my other teammates. And when I say transported, think of when the Millennium Falcon goes into hyperdrive. The lines that form. That’s what it looked like right before I found myself in the grey room, wearing a simple grey jumpsuit. And most surprisingly, everyone else was there and they all looked like themselves.

Faces are difficult in the VR world. It’s one of the reasons that we use avatars. Avatars can be programmed to make certain faces and will look a certain way. But what I was seeing in front of me were my teammates and they were all telling each other to make faces. This alone could make AltCon a fortune. It was good luck that Victoria arrived soon after because two of the guys kept pinching each other all over their bodies and asking, “Seriously, you can feel that right?”

“Ok ladies and gentlemen, please calm down. I know it is a lot to take in the first time, but soon this will all be second nature, much like your own skin. Take a little time to move around the space and interact with each other. Please don’t touch another person without asking them first. In five minutes we will move on to the next part of the Orientation.”

Everyone flitted from one person to another, smiling, frowning, making funny faces and touching each other on the arms and hands. It was all so different from the usual VR setting and after five minutes in this environment I knew none of us would be turning this opportunity down. Victoria called a halt to everyone’s fun and began to give instructions for the next part of the orientation.

“There are eight people in this team. You are going to be broken up into two sub teams based on our calculations. I know we have six men and two women in this group, but we will not be splitting the ladies up between the men. We have in other cases, but our data has led us to make the following two sub teams, which we believe have the greatest hopes for success. The first sub team with our two esteemed ladies will be Gary, Timothy, Kaitlin, and Jennifer. That leaves, Alexander, Daniel, Jason, and Wayne for the other team. Split up and meet your teammates.”

We all walked around until we met our counterparts and began introducing ourselves. I learned that Daniel was Dan like I was Alex. Dan was the most laid back of the group. He seemed more like a pot head than a pod-head with a healthy dose of surfer, although we were hundreds of miles from an ocean. When I made the joke about Alexander being the guy from Macedonia, Dan’s only response was “Fuckin’ A man.” Wayne had a hint of crazy behind his eyes. Not bad crazy, but the kind of crazy you want if you ever think getting into a bar fight is a good idea and you only have one friend with you. That look in Wayne’s eyes is that kind of guy. Our final team member, Jason, was stoic. He just kept looking around and saying there was way too much grey, and that there needed to be something to offset it. I don’t know what the others thought of me, but I knew I had to question the “data” that thought putting the four of us together was a good idea.

After the meet and greets we took virtual seats and continued with the orientation. Victoria, still in her high-elf avatar, explained the time line before Beta would start. The company needed another six months to calibrate all of the RACs for each individual and set up each person’s home to receive the merchandise. AltCon also agreed to pay the extra electricity bill that would come from having the RAC and the cooling system installed. The rest of the orientation was mindless drivel, that didn’t have anything to do with the game itself. We learned about the different physical exams we would need to go through to make sure we were all healthy enough, but Victoria assured us this was to detect things like heart murmurs, not if someone didn’t exercise enough. There was a collective sigh around the room. Pod-heads aren’t known for getting out and hitting the weights. I was no exception.

Victoria also informed us that we would continue to meet up with our sub team regularly, and our eight-person team less so. All of us found this a bit odd, but Victoria assured us again this would make more sense once we entered the Beta and began getting assignments to help with the testing. Each meeting, scheduled by AltCon, would be compensated for monetarily. There was no reason to argue except that none of us really wanted to meet up with others. Introverts after all.

“Our day is coming to an end. We will ask all of you to log out in a moment here, get dressed, and meet with our legal team to sign the NDAs. You will then have one week to decide if you want to take part in the Beta for Resurgence. However,” and here her avatar smiled, “if you decide today that you don’t want to miss out on this opportunity, the same legal team will be here to finalize your paperwork and get everything started. Should you decide to join our team, you will receive an email in two weeks from your liaison and things will begin in earnest.”

We exited the RACs by activating a simple heads up display and pushing the log out button in front of us. After we all dressed, a line formed to sign the NDAs. Off to the side was another legal team set up at a different table. There were eight of them. Every one of us went over immediately after signing the NDA and signed up for the Beta. Not a one of the lawyers seemed surprised by this.

CHAPTER 4

August 1st, 2043

Over the next six months I met with the technicians from AltCon as well as physicians on their payroll. It was quickly ascertained that I was in good enough health to take part in the beta test. I didn’t think any of us would fail this portion of the exam unless there was some underlying health issue that wasn’t noticed at birth. With today’s advances in medicine it was doubtful that any of the others would have a heart defect that had been undetected for all of these years. Another thing I noted about all of the people from my group was that we were all in the same general age range. I’m 34. Dan is 32, Wayne 30, and Jason 30 as well. Based on my interaction with the other members of my team I didn’t think anyone else was north of 35 or less than 25. I didn’t think much of it though, since this was the ripe age for gamers and full time pod-heads.

I also passed the necessary psychological examinations. Most of these dealt with anxiety, paranoia, and claustrophobia. I didn’t have a problem with these either, which I guessed would also be the same for the others in my team. There was a smattering of other psychological tests as well, mostly dealing with association and susceptibility. I didn’t know if one could pass or fail that portion, but I know it didn’t stop me from continuing in the program.

I also met with my sub team regularly and the other members from the greater team on a less regular basis. AltCon had us doing numerous team building exercises. I was guessing it was their way of getting us to learn the strengths and weaknesses of our team. I learned quickly that in a group full of introverts, I tended to be the most commanding of us four. So I tended to take a leadership role, which none of the others seemed to want. The problem I noted quickly was that the group tended to do what I said without really questioning my reason for saying so. There was no real discussion between us. They just hopped to it. I realized this could be dangerous.

“Ok guys, here is the deal. I’m noticing that everyone here is as intelligent or more so than I am. Often I am not the smartest in this group. But you guys seem to turn to me when it comes time to make a decision and then just do whatever I think is best. This is not a good idea. I may be confident, or more confident than you guys, but I can bet that you likely have better solutions to these problems. So from now on before we make a decision we need to have a discussion. And stop rolling your eyes Dan. And Jason, yes you will be a part of the discussion.”

“Look Alex,” Jason said, “I’m just not a decision kind of guy.”

“Yeah man,” agreed Dan. “I mean if you need to know how to get Jiggy with it or something I can help, but otherwise I don’t know that I bring anything to the table.”

Dan had been saying odd things at every meeting and often used words whose meaning did not come close to what he thought they did. It was laughable at times and annoying during others. “I think we may be having an intervention here soon Dan.”

“What we intervenning?” he asked.

I just lowered my head. “You realize that dictionaries, en masse, commit suicide when you speak?”

That got a chuckle out of Jason and Wayne. Dan was nonplussed about the whole thing. “I’m just saying bro, you got this leadership thing. We follow your lead.”

It was about that time that one of the AltCon assistants approached our group to give us our next exercise. “Gentlemen, in this project we will have a set of Legos set up here on the desk. You will pick a leader from your group.” All eyes turned toward me. I just shook my head to say no.

“What else happens in this project?” Wayne asked.

“I’m afraid that the rules of this project state that the details may only be given out after the leader has been chosen,” the attendant responded.

Everyone looked around. I was shocked when Jason volunteered. “Fine, I’ll do it but I’m not happy about it. Just saying.”

The rules were then given out. The leader was to be entirely hands off. He could not leave his seat, nor touch any of the Legos. One of the team members would be entirely responsible for building the project and the other two were to act as the eyes. In the other room was a Lego model that the two remaining members would examine. They couldn’t bring anything with them into the room to look at the model. Only their eyes and their memory. Back at our table was paper to use to document what the others learned. Also, only one of them could go at a time.

“Ok guys, I have a really shitty memory, so I think it would be best if I do the building. I’m not saying I will, that is Jason’s choice,” I offered up to get the ball rolling.

Jason appeared fine with this and said, “before we do anything I want Dan and Wayne to go into the other room and look at what they see and come back and tell me.”

Wayne left first and was gone for about a minute. When he came back he looked really distraught. “It’s a castle, made out of Legos. But it isn’t symmetrical and there are windows but not on the same levels or in the same places on all sides. It’s really messed up. This could take forever.”

As soon as Wayne returned, Dan got up and went into the other room. Wayne had returned with urgency. Dan was sauntering. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, there was a time limit to get this project completed.

“Easy peasy brosef. Let me know when you want to start the build,” Dan said.

We all just stared at Dan. His mellow outlook on life, and his use of horrible English, had not changed. “Just like that?” Jason asked.

“Yeah dude, I have a photographic memory.”

Every one of us, to include the assistant monitoring us, had to pick their jaws up off the ground. “Dan, remember when I said how there were other skills we all had, and you didn’t think you brought anything to the table?”

“Yup.”

“Well a photographic memory is definitely something that you can bring to the table!” I almost yelled.

“Dude, I thought you meant like fighting and shit. I mean, I watch beaucoup kung-fu but I didn’t think that was relevant.”

I smacked my forehead. Repeatedly. “All right, let’s get to the build then.”

“No,” said Jason.

We all turned to look at him. It wasn’t a meek “no” either. He said it with some authority.

“Dan you walked around the castle?”

“Sure did,” Dan replied.

“And Wayne, you did the same?”

“Yeah Jay, I looked at it from all sides.”

“Please don’t call me Jay. The problem I see here is that we didn’t look at the whole thing. Only part of it.”

The three of us looked equally confused. With Dan’s photographic memory I figured this to be a cinch. I was missing something though, and my earlier discussion about others being involved came to the front of my mind. I wanted Jason to walk us through this.

“It’s like with art. Not art on a canvas although that counts sometimes too. But I mean like visual art. Like a sculpture. You can look it at it from all sides and note how different it looks from all of them. But when was the last time you got under a sculpture. Or over one and looked down?” Jason asked.

“The inside! I bet the inside of the castle is totally different! You guys didn’t look inside the castle?” I asked.

“Shit. Didn’t even think to. I’ll be right back,” Dan said as he hurriedly exited the room. Having been shown that he didn’t get it all in his first pass had put a little fire under Dan’s butt. This was good for him.

Dan returned thirty seconds later. “Good call Jayman!! The inside is way different and some of the pieces that I would have thought went on the walls wouldn’t have worked at all. What looks to be just a two by two piece is actually a two by four piece with the other four sticking out into the middle. And the inside is random too. If we had done it my way the first time, we would have had to break it all down and do it again.”