The first week of July 2035 had turned out to be the worst one thus far of my twenty-seven years of life… It started when I lost my job as a project manager at a software company when they folded, the owners claiming they were bankrupt while they all took off overseas with a shit load of money that supposedly didn’t exist.

Then I got home early to find my girlfriend of three years screaming and moaning underneath the man who was supposed to be just a friend. I walked in to them going at it like wild animals and froze in non-comprehension for a few moments before a crashing sound brought them to notice my presence. That sound had happened to be my fist going through the wall next to the door. Really, I hadn’t even consciously known I did it until after the fact, but the sudden light ache in my knuckles told me that it was indeed my hand buried within the plaster of the light green colored wall.

I left the house in a fog immediately after my initial outburst, not able to trust myself to contain my anger at the situation in the least. My car was older, an almost outdated electric car that had served me well for several years now, but the vehicle was trustworthy and I engaged the manual drive on the machine just to keep my hands from shaking over much as I wove through the city while still in a mild daze.

That was when I found out just how fragile those older model cars were as a semi had a brake failure and plowed through a red light right into the rear side of my car. The explosion of sound consisted of shattering glass, screeching steel and quite a few thumps as I was sent on an acrobatic tumble while trapped within a ton and a half of death trap.

Perhaps some would say I was lucky that day to have survived at all, let alone able to walk away from such a wreck on my own power… But I wasn’t of the mind at that time as I stood off to the side and watched as other people came scrambling over to check on myself and the driver of the semi-truck. I didn’t walk away totally unharmed, several cuts dripped crimson tears to the pavement and I knew I would be in a world of pain once the adrenaline of the situation wore off. Ah, there it was… Ouch.

The rest of the weekend had gone by in a blur as I made trips to the hospital, lawyer, my apartment to collect my things, over to a motel to get away from that bitch Janet, and several more little stops here and there to wrap up that chapter in my life. Thankfully I had never gotten to the point of sharing financial accounts with my ex to a high degree and my money was all safe from tampering with a simple call to my bank to cancel all access to the accounts by the secondary authorized name.

I woke up Monday morning at the normal six am and looked about the motel room in confusion before collapsing back onto the pillow as the events of the past several days filtered into my sleep addled brain and the reality of my situation flooded back into my mind.

Lying in bed, I stared at the ceiling and thought over what needed to be done next. First thing on my list was to find a new apartment for myself, and preferably on the other side of town to be safe. Second thing was definitely a new job. I had plenty of money in the bank to last for a few months, worst case scenario, but I liked having that buffer for emergencies and draining that all down would only lead to me being in a worse position than I was.

With a sigh, I got out of bed to shower and ready myself for the day. The hot water helped greatly to get my head on straight, nothing like the steaming spray of a shower to soothe away the pain of aches and bruises that covered my body.

Once I stepped out of the shower I checked the mirror and frowned at the sight of my own face in the mirror. Slight black color lined the bottom of my gray eyes emphasizing the horrible quality of sleep I had gotten the last few days. Three days growth of beard covered my jaw and neck, making me look like a vagabond. My black hair, already due for a trim before the previous weeks’ fiasco, stood in random directions from the vigorous toweling I had given it to dry off and added to the effect of making me look like I was at the at the end of my ropes.

I wasn’t exactly bad looking when cleaned up… Strong square jaw, high cheekbones and a sharp nose gave me a handsome look when coupled with a defined and toned body. Not that I was overly muscular, but I spent enough time at the gym to make sure I was in good shape and it showed with a sculpted physique right down to my six pack abs.

Now I just looked like I spent a week stranded on a deserted island.

With a sigh, I smacked my hands to my face to draw myself out of the depths of misery. No, I wouldn’t let this series of events start me on a spiral of destruction!

“Right… Change of plans. First I need to get a shave and haircut!” Decision made, I dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a long sleeved black shirt with a simple pair of sneakers to complete my outfit. My suitcase didn’t have much in terms of casual clothes, as I tended to work more often than not. Most of my wardrobe was button down shirts and nice pants to wear to the office with a selection of ties to wrap the ensemble together.

As soon as I finished dressing, the sound of ringing filled the air as my pers-com trilled out an incoming call. The watch-like personal communicator had replaced cell phones over a decade ago and made people’s lives so much easier. They handled everything from identification to bank account access to phone calls and internet browsing. All in a simple band that fit on the wrist and displayed their info in an AR screen that popped up over the device.

I slipped the band onto my left wrist and held my arm up in front of me as the light blue display popped into view once the pers-com recognized my DNA and allowed me access to the device. The small box showed that I had an incoming call from Alex, one of my few remaining friends. I poked at the accept button and the image of his sharply featured face popped up in a larger screen for the video call.

“Dale! I just heard about what happened last week man. Why the hell didn’t you call me and let me know what was going on?!” The volume of his voice pulsed out from the speaker of my pers-com and echoed throughout the small room I was standing in, the anger of his tone apparent to go along with the harsh scowl he was giving me.

“Hey Alex. Sorry, been in a bit of a funk and had a lot going on with all of this shit honestly.” I brushed a hand through my hair to put it into a presentable style to appear in public. “I was just heading out to get cleaned up and figure out where I am going to live for the foreseeable future…”

“Yeah, I guess that is understandable.” His face softened some as he merely frowned at my appearance. “I have to say though… You look like shit.” His thin lips turned into a small smile at the friendly jab at what I already knew. “Tell you what, don’t get too far into a new pad yet and meet me for lunch after you hit a barber. I know you have plenty of free time for now, and I want to toss something by you that might just be a solution to your problems.”

I had to raise a brow at that. Alex wasn’t one to toss out a line like that without having something to back it up with and I was instantly curious. “Oh yeah? Don’t hold out on me man, spill the details!”

With a shake of his head, Alex grinned. “Doesn’t work that way Dale. Get yourself straightened out and meet me at Driskal’s for twelve-thirty. Lunch is on me and I will give you details then and there. Trust me man, this actually might be just the thing you need right now…” His face turned off to the side as the muffled sounds of another person were heard. “Yeah, I got it. Give me a minute to wrap this up and I will handle it.” Turning back to me, Alex gave a stern look. “Hey, I need to run. Lunch. Driskal’s. Twelve-thirty. Don’t be late!”

The image of my friend winked out, replaced by a flashing screen showing ‘Call Terminated’ on the AR screen before me. Alex was a busy guy, being high up on the totem pole in a company that ran a huge virtual reality project that was out on the market. I didn’t know much about the details of his job or his company, but I had heard him mention that it was getting pretty big among the gaming community.

I hadn’t played any kind of game in a long time now, adult life taking over as soon as I was done with college and leaving me little time for trivial things like games. It was sad really, as I had made several good friends over the years in the gaming community that I had since lost contact with when I graduated and got a full time job. With a shake of my head, I banished my worries and thoughts over Alex for the moment and headed out to take care of my appearance.

* * * * *

It had just turned twelve-twenty when I got out of the cab outside of Driskal’s and swiped my pers-com over the payment reader. The restaurant was of a higher end type that normally had some kind of soft jazz band or string ensemble playing during dinner hours, but for lunch they carried a bit more casual crowd most days. Great food as well, if a bit pricey.

The front of the building was a wall of tinted glass that reflected the sight of the street and myself back at me, and I was looking a hell of a lot better now that I had made it to a barber for a shave and a haircut. Looking at myself now, I was much more presentable with a smooth jaw and fashionably styled hair to once more make me acceptable to face the world confidently.

As soon as I walked through the main doors, I was greeted by a man in a nice suit standing at a host podium with a smile. “Welcome sir. Do you have a reservation or shall I mark you down for a table?”

I nodded back to the gentleman and gave a smile in return to his own. “Good afternoon. I am meeting someone here, but I am a few minutes early I think.”

“Very good sir. What is the name of your associate so I can see if he has already arrived and found a seat?” The host glanced down at his chart, looking over the names of parties already seated.

“I believe it will be under an Alex Chapman. If he isn’t here yet, please put me down for a table if you would.” I flicked my wrist up to bring an AR screen open to display the time and check if Alex had messaged me. Twelve twenty-two on the clock, but no messages outside of one from my lawyer stating that the company owning the truck that hit me was happy to quickly settle the lawsuit quietly so as to avoid any bad publicity. Score one for me!

“Ahh yes, here we are. Mr. Chapman has already arrived and is seated over this way. If you would please follow me, I will take you directly sir.” He motioned with a sweep of his arm in the direction, then started off with one more smile at me. Such an affable fellow.

“Thank you.” I followed behind him as he weaved his way through the tables scattered throughout the large open dining room towards where I could see Alex sitting at a table in the corner. My friend was looking down at an AR screen in front of him as I approached and didn’t notice me at first.

Alex was a good looking guy with light Asian features of sharp lines and dusky skin, straight black hair, and intense eyes so dark in color they were nearly black as well. His personality was definitely more positive than his looks made him appear however, and we had been friends since high school.

The host paused and pulled my chair out for me before motioning me to sit with a small nod of his head. “Here you are sir. Enjoy your meal.” With that, the man turned and proceeded back to his podium to await the next guest to the establishment.

Alex raised his head and greeted me with a grin. “Dale, early as always! Please, sit and check out the menu. I said lunch is on me, and I mean it. Order whatever you want, this is going on the business card so don’t hold back.” He held out a hand over the table towards me as he spoke.

Taking his hand, I shook it with a firm grip and returned his smile. It had been several weeks since I had seen Alex in person as life seemed to always conspire against me socializing with many of my friends outside of work. “Oh you know me, I hate being late!” I sat down and did as he suggested, taking a peek at the menu. “Business card huh? Got a promotion again Alex?” I asked with a chuckle.

“Hmm… Well I guess you could say that. More like a side shift to a new department a couple months back. It is in part why I asked you to come out today, and why you being free of commitments is such a good thing for me at the moment.” He stopped and chewed on his lip as he dismissed his AR screen to look at me contemplatively. “But let that wait for a few until we order. For now, how are you holding up?”

I shrugged and instantly decided on what to order. I had been to this place many times before and knew their menu fairly well without having to study the options over much. “I am doing as well as can be expected I guess… Taking care of the stupid little things after what all happened has taken up a surprising amount of time actually and has kept my mind mostly occupied.”

“I am glad to hear it, my friend.” He glanced off to the side and smiled, seeing a pretty waitress approaching the table. “Ah, it looks like our drinks have arrived. Perfect timing! I ordered the first round already. Hope you still drink the same as you used to.”

Alex smirked as I looked up to see a young woman in her early twenties with a knock out figure setting a rum and coke before each of us with a smile. “Here you are gentlemen. Are you ready to order or shall I come back in a few minutes?” She had wonderful blue eyes on top of a lovely face and I had to smile back at her.

“Well, I know I am ready. Alex? You go first if you are all set.” With a few short exchanges, we placed our orders with the woman and she nodded and headed off to put the ticket in to the kitchens. With that out of the way, I turned back to Alex and sipped my drink with a sigh. “Ahhh, this is much needed.” I set the glass back down and then raised a brow at my friend. “Now, what did you need to talk to me about?”

“Ah, well… Ahem. First, I will need you to sign this before we get into the actual discussion. Not my call mind you, but our lawyers are anal about these damn things and I will have my head cut off if I don’t get this done first…” He brought his pers-com up and opened an AR window in front of himself. Sweeping through a few menus, he finally found what he was looking for and flicked his finger to send the file to my own device with a chime on my wrist.

Pulling up the new notification, I saw it was a semi long form with the company name of Dumadine Technology titled at the top and followed up with several lines of disclaimers and warnings… Really all in all a standard NDA it seemed. Apparently, this was a legit meeting and Alex was looking to bring me in on something. “Hmm… Alright, seems to be in order.” I pressed my thumb to my pers-com and the fingerprint appeared on the document next to my prerecorded signature before I sent the form back to Alex again. “There you go. Now spill, what is this about?”

Alex checked the signature quick to confirm and then spent a moment sending it off to the legal department for filing and recording before answering me. “Well to start, what do you know about the company I am working for Dale?” He lifted his own drink and took a sip as he watched me carefully.

I tilted my head slightly in thought, trying to recall all I had heard from both Alex and the news. Dumadine Technology, or DT for short, really was a big company and had their hands in several pots that I knew of so I went with that to see where this was heading. “Well, I know that you guys cover a broad range of fields from military to medical to entertainment. DT put out the latest model of VR headsets a few years ago too, which are used for several applications that I know of and are top of the line. Beyond that, I am not entirely sure honestly. My old job focused more on pers-com and AR software than anything relating to the VR field.”

“Yes, all that is true enough. We have made several breakthroughs over the last couple years and are ready to move on to the next phase of VR technology. That’s why I needed the NDA… What I am going to be bringing up here is still sensitive information and the company doesn’t want it getting out just yet. All of that will be coming to light soon enough though, and that is what I want you for.” He paused and smiled at me with a pleased expression. “Have you used any of the VR tech that is out at the moment?”

I shrugged my shoulders a bit in response before replying. “Not a lot recently. You know I was big on it back in the day with all of the gaming we used to do, but since I graduated college I haven’t had much call to put my headset back on much other than for a few meetings that my company made me attend.”

Alex glanced about us to make sure there was nobody close by before deciding we were private enough to speak again. “Well your gaming past is exactly why I thought you might be perfect for this job that I have open right now. You were what, ranked eighth in the world in that MMO you played?”

“Fifth, actually.” I smirked, remembering those days where I spent countless hours logged into a simple game. “And thirteenth in the RTS one as well. Not that those credentials hold much credibility in the world now…”

“Actually, they are the exact things that have made this meeting possible. You see, I am working on a project now for a new game that will be put out onto the market in a few weeks and the company has determined that we need a few people to be pioneers into this digital world to lay the tracks and bring some publicity.” He trailed off as he noticed the waitress bringing a tray with our food over for us.

The woman set our plates in front of us carefully and glanced at our still mostly full drinks. “Here you go gentlemen. Do you need anything else at the moment?” Seeing us both shake our heads, she smiled and nodded. “Right then, enjoy and I will be back in a few to check up on you!” She turned and headed off once more as both Alex and I picked up our forks and started in on the meals.

I had to admit to myself that I was kind of curious as to where Alex was going with this, and decided to ask a few questions. “Okay, from all I have ever heard DT doesn’t make video games. They only make the hardware to sell off and let other people deal with the software aspect of it all for the most part. I know that some software is involved with the actual units themselves, but I thought most of it was outsourced to other companies to maximize profits on that front?”

Alex took a sip of his drink to wash down the mouthful of food he was working on before he responded. “Yes, well… Pretty much that is true, however this project is a bit different. We have made another breakthrough on tech once again, and this game is the first and only software for the new unit.” He grinned at me and watched my face to catch my reaction before he went on. “This game is going to be using full dive technology! Actually being able to be in the game and perform all of the actions as if you are truly there!”

My fork had stopped half way to my mouth at his announcement, the implications of what he was saying making me freeze as I tried to fully comprehend it. I had to lower my fork back to the plate before I dropped it completely, then opened my mouth a couple times before finding my voice. “Wait… Are you serious? We used to talk about that all the time when we were younger and how awesome that would be! How did you guys manage to do this?”

He laughed quietly at me and shook his head. “Even with that NDA I can’t go into the details. The information is way too restricted to spread around, but I guarantee that this is one hundred percent legitimate and fully functional with months of testing already put into it. The units will be sold with the game and is expected to totally revolutionize the gaming and entertainment industry, not to mention the potential applications in several other fields from education to military. What we are worried about now with this situation is the draw for consumers to actually spend the money to buy our product. It won’t be a cheap sum we are talking about after all, and Dumadine wants some hardcore gamers to be the first ones into the game in order to make some good headlines and incorporate some real player feedback to add into the advertising.”

“Holy shit man… That is incredible.” I leaned back in my chair and took another sip of my drink before I spoke again. “I don’t see how I can really help you out here though. I don’t exactly have a ton of money set aside to buy one of these units, and I need to worry about finding a place to live as well as a new job too…” I trailed off, my little speech left open for Alex to get to the point of calling me out and signing a NDA. My curiosity was certainly piqued, and Alex damn well knew it.

“Oh, that is simple enough Dale. See, I am here to offer you one of those positions of full time gamer and endorser of our product.” Alex gave me a predatory grin, knowing I was going to have a damn hard time of turning an offer like this down. “Thanks to your history of gaming, and no small part of having yours truly as a best friend, Dumadine Technology wants to offer you a job!”