He found himself lying in the pod, his exit sequence just finishing up. He got himself dressed and didn’t realize till halfway out of the door that he’d left his pod at 9:00 pm sharp. He’d only been in the player area for less than a minute, but he could have sworn he had been there for much longer. Now he had a real mystery to ask Kara about.

Alan checked his cell and saw a missed call from his brother and from his ex. He hadn’t left voicemail but saw a text to give him a call. He didn’t bother to listen to the one from his ex.

He called his brother up. Chatted for a few minutes, talked over the instructions, and even talked for a bit about his recent break-up. By the time he had gotten off the phone and into bed it had been close to midnight. In his new timeline, it had been the longest he’d spoken to his brother since he’d been a kid.

Lucky for him, his ex-girlfriend's admirers weren’t there to meet out any additional justice. He was glad to have a night off.

He pulled into the private lot again, the next morning, seeing the other lot even more full than the previous day. Walking up to the front desk he found Corbin finishing an explanation for a service to another member. Once he finished Corbin immediately met him. “Hello Sir, thank you for visiting us again today. How may I help?” He inquired politely.

“Good morning Corbin. It’s good to see you. I believe I have some guests waiting for me in one of the private meeting rooms.”

“Yes sir, they arrived only recently, Please follow me.”

They walked together where he found his family sitting around a table. He saw his parents, and sister sitting around a table. With them sat his brother, along with his, his sister in-law and their 2 year old son.

“Hi Son” His mother warmly greeted him and gave him a warm hug. “We’re all here just like you asked.”

“Thanks mom. Hey James. Hi Audrey, I’m glad that you brought Dillan too.” He warmly greeted his brother and sister-in-law. His brother stood taller than Alan, and looked a lot like his father. Tall with stern features. His sister-in-law on the other hand, was short, blond and with eyes sweet and sincere. He walked around giving his family members all hugs and sat down.

Alan began, “Well first things first. Corbin could you have them sign the forms.”

“Yes sir,” He began to walk to the family members and handing out forms. “These are 7 day reservation forms for permanent pod leases. There is no holding fee, as we do not have a waiting list as of yet. However, please be aware that if you fail to purchase the pod by the end of the 7 days, re-reserving will incur a substantial fee.”

“What’s he talking about son?” His Father inquired.

“It’s like he said Dad, there is no commitment for now, but there is a chance to purchase a first series pod.”

Corbin added, “We do have 2nd and 3rd series which will become available for permanent lease, however these are not of the same quality as the 1st series.”

“And how much are these ‘pods’ dear?” The calculative inquest came from Alan’s mother.

Before he could interject Corbin stated. “One Hundred and Fifty thousand dollars.” He said it confidently, as if it was quite the bargain. To bad Corbin nor his parents actually knew it was a real bargain.

“Son, we don't have that kind of money?!” His dad interjected.

“Oh, Mr. Alan has already informed me that he would be taking care of the purchase.”

His dad looked at him strangely and said, “For each of us?”

“Did he not tell you? Well he does often surprise me too. He cannot purchase more than 1 pod for himself. Thus he required your signatures indicating your ownership of the pods.” He finished handing out the paper and seeing the bewildered looks, tactful stated, “Perhaps this would be a good time for me to wait outside.” He looked to Alan.

As the door closed behind him it was his sister who blurted out the obvious questions to the stunned gathering. “How the Heck! Where did you get a million dollars?”

Looking at the confusion of his family he replied the best way he could. “Look I don’t have the $900,000 for the pods at the moment. It’s tied up in some investments, but I’m hoping that by the end of the week, it will be a liquid asset”

Looking around him, none of his family spoke. Each carried a wide eyed disbelief. Only his nephew was untouched by the remark. It was his father who broke the silence.

“Are you doing something illegal son?”

“No Dad, I’ve just had some opportunities and it’s worked out.” He felt like an idiot for not having foreseen the obvious reaction to the news. He still really couldn’t believe it. “Look, it's not like I have the money at the moment, I just have some great opportunities for the future, nothing illegal. If everything works out, our family will be the better for it.” He pleaded with them. Surprisingly his brother spoke up next.

His Mother was reading the document carefully before speaking up. “Actually dear, from what I could see of that parking lot, and news reports, our son may not have a bad idea. If he has the capital to get in now, these pods may be a worthwhile investment.” She then gave Alan a little wicked laugh, “Besides if our son wants to spoil us, I’m not going to be the one to stop him.”

It was James, who spoke next. “Dad, he was good enough to get us into this thing. Least we can do is trust him to see where it goes. I figure what’s there to lose.”

Between his mother’s prodding and brothers matter of fact matter all Alan’s father could do was slump his shoulders in defeat.

“All right,” he grumbled, “from what I’ve heard of this...this ‘game’, it may be the next big deal. But don’t expect me to cash out my retirement to buy, no excuse me, lease, one of these pods.”

“Not a problem Dad.” I quickly agreed “If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work and I’ll leave it at that.”

The papers were signed and Alan went out and handed them to Corbin. Returning back to his family he sat down and began the next steps. “All right, we’ve only a half hour before pods go online, so let me go through a few things. First everyone show me their rings.” 4 rings were produced. They were the basic 1 cubic yard ring. He hadn’t enough funds for James’s wife or son, but they could get one later. “All right I’m going to charge these so you can transfer material.” He held up each ring and charged each with 5 VEU from a few batteries he’d obtained in Kragga previously,

Unfortunately Alan, it had happened after his fight with Blueberry and his gang, and the energy transfer had been painful.

“Ok each of you will be able to transfer items to and from the ring. Additionally, these also act as a wallet of sorts.” He held each to his own ring and did a credit transfer to each of them. “I’ve given Mom and Dad 150 Credits each. James for you and your family, I put in 250. Alice, I’ve given you a hundred.” Alice tried not to pout at receiving the least amount.

“Alice 10 credits is about $50 Dollars U.S. So try not to be too disappointed” She immediately brightened up after hearing that.

After they slipped the rings back on. Alan had them practice transferring everything he had asked them to bring. Food, extra clothing, etc. He also had them bring a few items that he hoped they could barter with and some tools. “Look, you're going to a place which is very much real. I know the news outlets are skeptical about what this place is, that’s their job. But you need to know this is more than a game. Don’t spend your money on frivolous things, he looked pointedly at his sister. It’s why I had you pack food. Make you buy things that can help you with your character, profession or you think is valuable.”

“It sounds kind of thrilling, and scary.” It was the first words that Audrey, his sister-in-law had contributed to the conversation.

“Yeah, sorry. I guess I just don’t want you to lose this opportunity.”

“Then wouldn’t it be better if he just went to where you played?” She asked. “Why send us away to these other places?”

“There are some things that you ought to learn and discover for yourself. It’s part of the fun.” He tried to sound reassuring. “My hope is we’ll be able to play together soon anyway.”

“It seems each of us got different instructions.” Alice chimed in. “I mean we were all told to learn the basic language. But why the change for each of us. I mean, why not give us like, you know, the best character?”

James spoke up, “If it’s like any of the other games I’ve played, there is no ‘best character.’ We can all do really great things, especially if we focus on our talents.”

Alan added,“You can’t think of this as just a game sis. Just like in real life, you have to play to your strengths. My hope is that each of you can do that. Besides, I also tried to let you pick a lot of things on your own.” He really had. With a few exceptions he’d tried to let them pick things that they would like on their own.

“Yeah, but they’re all going to planets that sound like cool jobs, mine sounds kinda boring like a big monastery.” Alan couldn’t help but smile, if her future self had know what kind of opportunity he was giving her.

“Sis, I promise you, it will work out. I bet you are going to have a great time.”

“All right.” she grumphed.

There were no other questions, and his family walked back to the front. As they walked back his nephew, Dillan, held by his mother, turned around and waved with a grin on his face, his blond curly hair bouncing along. Alan smiled, waving in return. He was especially hopeful for him. He and Alice were too alike.

He walked back, thanking Corbin for his assistance before heading back to the pod. He had work to do.

****

Personal Modifier

Current

Available:

Description

Credit Balance:

0

Strength

(3/10)

135 LBS Bench

Items:

Basic Tools

Electronic Tools

Food Ration

4-Wheeler

Energy Pistol

Platinum 3lb

Copper 1 12oz lb

Silver 3 oz. (120credits)

8 gallons of gasoline

Speed

(3/10)

8 MPH Jog

Intelligence

(3/10)

100 IQ

(VE) Capacity

(4/8)

400 Unit Cap

150/400 VEU

(VE) Production

(5/8)

5 UPH

He half expected to talk to Kara but his transition to Kragga went uninterrupted. He found himself just inside the derelict ship. The workshop’s automated systems were non-functional. Looking for the source, he found the power source had been removed.

The crew had apparently stripped the VEU Battery Core. Alan hoped he could salvage one, or make it if necessary. The refinery did have a large VEU core. Up to 50 units,which he dumped into it. This could keep it running for some time, depending on the material. He pulled out the doors he had taken apart and placed them near the rear of the refinery. Long spindly arms and cutting tools began to pick up and pull apart the metals he had dropped. It would refine and melt them down to manageable ingots for future working.

Now however, he wanted to find out what was behind the locked door leading to the bridge. . Approaching the sealed door, he removed his cutting tool and began to slice through the thick alloy doors. Soon afterward the bolt holding the door in place was sliced through and the door opened slowly, only a small screeched indicated it had aged. Looking through the portal, only silence escaped the empty room. Cautiously. He stepped forward. His foot touching the eerily clean floor.

Screech!

A loud klaxon blared!

Before Alan could react, it stopped just as suddenly. Whimpering silent

Heart racing Alan held his hand to the frame of the door. It was in the moment when his shoulders began to relax that he heard the pounding of metal steps moving toward his direction. Gazing into the darkness, he saw two points of red light piercing the darkness. Growing closer and brighter. Reaching for his light, he shined it down the corridor, only to see the light reflect off the form of a large metalloid figure. Eyes burning. When their eyes met, the metal man paused, seeming to hesitate. It’s ancient processors struggling to try and evaluate what it was seeing. Then it’s eyes flared and it began to pick up speed. Crashing toward the open portal and Alan.

“Oh Crud!” Alan leaped back through the portal withdrawing the energy pistol, raising it up toward the charging figure.

Shots fired. A few struck, but most went wild in his panic. Not staying in one place, Alan scrambled down the corridor. The metal figure became more distinct as it drew near, and entered the lighted area Alan had set up to work. It was the profile of a droid, taking leaps and bounds, much faster than Alan could move. At the end of its right arm, 2 metal prongs jutted out, and a bolt of electricity buzzed. Making a quick decision, Alan ducked behind a corner and pulled out his cutting blade, knowing he couldn’t outrun the machine.

Lying low, he activated the cutter as the droid rounded the corner, barreling into Alan. Alan swept the cutting blade toward the droid's legs. In that moment two things happened, the Droid unimaginably swift, launched itself out of the blade's path, while simultaneously driving the electrified needles toward Alan.

Alan, only was able to barely adjust, redirected his blade to catch one of the legs just below the knee, while twisting to avoid the thrust of the droid. The blade seemed to pass easily through the metal leg. However the prongs, instead of catching him in his chest, drove instead toward his shoulder.

For an instance blinding pain raced through his body, before suddenly going numb as electricity began racing up his arm. It was only the droids forward momentum, it’s body flying past Alan, which dislodged the prongs, tearing small chunks of flesh. Alan collapsed to the ground, nearly blacking out, and dropping his weapons. He was somewhat grateful for the numbness in his limbs, as it masked the searing pain in his arm.

Disoriented by what was happening around him. He was only just able to put a trembling on the ground to prop drag himself to his knees when he heard the screech of metal.

The droid had managed to right itself from it’s fall, and began to limp its way toward Alan. It’s footless leg, dragging against the floor, sparks spraying from it’s woud. It’s eyes seemed to grow brighter as it began moving faster, adjusting to the broken leg.

Alan, in a panic, attempted to recover his blade but his hand wouldn’t grip the handle . “You rusty old junker!” Sitting up on his knees he clenched his fists, knowing he had only one option.

He focused the Verdant Energy coursing through his body to his hands. “Come at me!” The Droid eyes flared and launched itself at Alan on it’s good leg, electrode stretched forward in it’s hand.

The blue light drove toward Alan’s head to strike. It was at that moment Alan raised his arm forward to catch the fast moving arm. The droid, confident in its strength, did not avoid the grab. In that moment, Alan experienced hot searing pain to pass through his body wherever the energy went. It raced past his heart, lungs, arms and hands. Not even the lingering numbness of his body seemed to deaden the pain. Despite the desire to flinch and pull back, Alan held on.

The energy moved like a streak of fire to his palm. And the droid attempted to pull back from the unexpected energy source. However, Alan held on, his grip was firm. And what felt like minutes, but was only after the briefest of moments, the electric prongs and red eyes both flashed brightly before dying.