CHAPTER FIVE

“Unbeing dead isn't being alive” – E. E. Cummings.

For the third time in twenty four hours James found himself awakening in a strange place, his mind clouded with confusion. Unlike the previous times, this awakening was accompanied by intense pain wracking him from head to toe, slowly easing to a dull ache in all of his muscles. Rough hands grasped him around his biceps and lifted his to his feet, holding him upright until he managed to be able to remain standing unaided. As he stood there, swaying slightly, he opened his eyes and took a good look around himself.

The first thing that was abundantly clear was that he was no longer in the training area, the second being that he was no longer alone. Surrounding him was what seemed to be about fifty individuals, only one of them familiar to him.

“You, “ James yelled angrily, pointing at the old man, the one he remembers electrocuting him, “what the hell did you do to me, and where the hell am I ?” The act of raising his arm to point made James stagger forward a few steps before he managed to stop himself by grabbing hold of one of the watchers around him. Others reached out to help support him, but he just brushed the offered help away.

“I have only done what was necessary. Your existence on Haven is unplanned and, to be honest, unwanted . ”

“Unplanned ? Unwanted ? What the hell are you talking about ? I received my Pod legally and have every right to play this game. I don’t even know why I’m bothering to talk to you. This is pissing me off, I’m logging out and going to complain to Holobyne about this.” James attempted to open his profile page, but failed, then tried again, and failed again. He gave an angry glance at the group of people around him, who were watching him, amusement apparent on a number of faces. “What the hell’s so funny.” He barked at them, still trying to get his profile open.

‘He still thinks he is a human.” A tall thin woman with blond hair murmured to her companion “How amusing. Do you think the High One will erase him, after all his presence will cause a little disruption ?”

“I am human,” demanded James, “and can someone explain to me why I cannot open up my profile page ?” He was frustrated with everything that had happened so far, and all he wanted to do was get out of this damn game. While he had been talking he had lost attention to the old man, but was quickly reacquainted with his presence when a hand was placed on his shoulder.

“All these questions. Let us answer them for you. First off, at this time, you no longer possess a profile page, but this issue will be resolved quite soon. Secondly, where are you.” The hand on his shoulder changed into to a grip on his elbow and slowly turned him around in a circle. “You are in null space, a part of the program that has not yet fully defined its parameters. What it will be when complete, though, is a small island retreat where the people around you can go to get away from the game. It will have all the luxuries and amenities that you would expect to have in the real world. It will become their home away from the game.”

All this made James even more confused, and slightly alarmed. “So if they want that, why don’t they just log off ?” A sudden thought passed across his mind at that point. “Can I log off ?” he questioned.

The old man looked at him in pity. “No, I am sorry, but you no longer possess the ability to log off. The game is now your world. You can only exist here.”

Hesitantly he spoke, “Am I…….dead ? Have I died in the pod and this is all some type of temporal existence ?” James had read stories before, fantasy novels, that propositioned that the main character died in some weird way to gain eternal existence in some virtual reality world.

“No, your real body, and mind in fact, are perfectly happy and at this time…” the old man hesitated slightly, eyes unfocussed. “….playing some dwarvern character, called Edrik, and have just entered a lair in some Noobie area.” His eyes slowly refocused on James. “No, James Carter is happy with the game, and is definitely not dead.”

“What the fuck are you talking about ? I am James Carter, and let me tell you, I am definitely NOT happy.” He wondered what all this drivel he was being told was about. It was really starting to piss him off. “If James Carter is alive, happy, and playing a dwarf then who the hell am I, a figment of my own imagination. If I click my heels twice and twinkle my nose, will I disappear up my own backside ?”

While he had been talking, the crowd of people that had surrounded him has begun to disperse, until only a few of them remained to listen to the discussion between himself and the old man. This thinning of bodies permitted him to see what lay beyond them. The old man had not been totally lying, he thought, remembering what he had been told only a couple of minutes ago. A modern street lined with futuristic buildings lay before him, palm trees growing before them. By this time, he had stopped talking and was slowly turning around to see everything. His inspection was interrupted by the voice of the old man.

“You are nothing, a ghost of a memory that shouldn’t be. Let me take you from here, to a place where I can explain a few things to you and discuss your future, or whether you even have future.” The old grasped James’ elbow yet again and clicked the fingers on his free hand together.

Great, thought James to himself, this is becoming too much like a regular feature of my life. as the world around him started to dissolve into darkness yet again

An unknown amount of time later the darkness segued smoothly back into reality, or whatever passed as reality to James lately. He was aware he was seated in a wooden chair facing an old oak table, behind which sat the old man , who was looking at him with his arms crossed on top of the desk top. The room around him was small and the walls were covered with hundreds of ancient maps.

“Welcome to my… office, let’s say. I am going to talk, and you are going to listen. Don’t ask me any questions because I’m not going to answer them until I have finished. “ He paused, looking at James, waiting for a response of some type, which James supplied by nodding. “First off, just like you are not James Carter, I am not Robert Norman, the creator of Haven.” He quickly held up one hand to stop an anticipated question before it could be uttered, then continued. “We are cloned intelligences., not real, not artificial. Both James Carter and Robert Normans brains were mapped and electronically cloned into an available Peabrain. I was cloned on purpose, you, on the other hand, were not. You do know what a Peabrain is, don’t you ?” here he paused.

“Um, sort of. Isn’t it an AI module that was developed for the game ?” James hesitantly replied, unsure of whether his response was allowed, and because he really wasn’t confidant in his understanding of the Pinhead and Peabrains that Holobyne created.

“Exactly. It is a module that is used to store an intelligence, just like a brain. We designed the Pinhead and Peabrain Modules to be replicas of the brain and operate along the same paths. Before he died, Robert Norman cloned his brain into a Peabrain module, which led to the creation of me. Your creation, on the other hand, was totally by accident. James Carter should never have been sent a second generation Pod, especially one that was still in experimental phase. We have exchanged that pod now, and this should never occur again.

You are only one of fifty seven cloned intelligences in this game. In game I am Hanortan, the High God, the others you saw when you awoke are the other fifty five lesser gods in the game. All of us have been learning and training to play these parts. You, on the other hand, have no purpose. Even though we are cloned intelligences, we still have the opportunity to log off to our island for a break from the game, watch some TV and a few games while downing a few drinks. You do not have that….. yet. If you want to gain the right to be able to virtually log off to modern luxury sometimes, then I can grant you that opportunity if you want it…. Do you want it ?”

“If all this is true, then of course I bloody want that chance. Just tell me what I need to do, and I’ll do it.”

The old man nodded to himself. “A few things you need to know. Your new character and profile will be of my choosing, as well as your name. You will not try to contact any people who knows James Carter, or try to pretend you are James Carter. I will be your patron god, so don’t disappoint me of there will be consequences. As a cloned intelligence, you are neither a citizen or a visitor in this game, you will be a resident. There will be many advantages to being the sole resident in the game, but you must find out way they are yourself.” Again Hanortan, the High God, paused before continuing. “Are you ready to go back ?’

“Not really, no. “

“Well, tough shit.” Was the last thing he heard before his lights were extinguished yet again.