Chapter 13

My head ached and my vision became suddenly blurry as script flashed by on my interface. After a couple of minutes it stopped and suddenly the words UPDATE COMPLETED flashed red and then my interface cleared. Checking the log I observed that there were several changes. First I saw that I was now capable of reading and writing Martian. I also was for all practical purposes considered a Martian by any AIs on the station. I received a couple of achievements as well as 5 levels. Very interesting stuff, apparently I had been in the game continuously longer than any other player. Also, I had managed to take over an alien space station while I was unconscious.

Clearly, something was not right, perhaps I had been in the game too long, I needed to log out and rest, develop a plan and make it happen. I hit the log out and waited but nothing happened. Something was wrong and I was starting to feel a deep foreboding, the damn log out would not work. I opened the interface and hit the button to send a message to a GM. Nothing, it was grayed out. WTF is happening. Taking a breath I stopped thinking for a moment and tried to calm myself. Looking around I saw that I was in a medical canister, pushing up the lid swung over and I could see that I was in a dim room, the familiar shape of 2B was in the corner watching an old show. An old earth show, what the hell had happened while I had been out.?

“2B,” I called out, “What the hell has happened, and what are you watching, shit is that an old Steven Seagal movie? Man, he is not even fat in this one. What the heck, what is happening here.” I stared at the droid as he turned to face me, waiting for an explanation, for something to tell me what has happened. I was not disappointed as 2B began to speak.

“Duke, it is good to see that you have healed and are now awake. I can see that you have many questions, and I will attempt to answer them while explaining what has been happening. First, you have been in the med unit for a long time. Four years and a few days. Unfortunately, when we tried to repair you and heal your body there were complications. We could not successfully heal your body, it was damaged to badly and our tech was developed to heal Martians, not Human Cyborgs. In the end, we had to combine Human and Martian DNA to be able to help you. For all practical purposes, you are now considered a Martian on this space station and all of the remaining droids and AIs.”

“Furthermore we discovered that your cerebral processing unit was damaged about 3 weeks into the repairs. It was shutting down and there was nothing that we could do to stop it. In the end, it was decided to clone the software and ram along with all memories and replace everything with Martian tech. 2B stopped at this point and then said, “I can see that your functions are fluctuating, do you want me to continue?”

Looking at the droid I nodded and climbed out of the pod then seeing a bench I walked over to it and sat down. Nodding at 2B I told him to continue as I opened access to the forums and the net. The first thing I did was double check the date. The second thing I did was swear. It had not been 4 years it had been 8, the Martian year was twice as long as the earth year. My calendar was displaying the Martian date and time. Well, this just sucks I have been in the game for 8 years, all my plans had been mothballed. I also had to find out what was happening with me, my body, my home, my life. A few seconds were all that it took, and the news was not good. I was dead. Dead, what the hell. I sure did not feel dead. In fact, now that the update had completed and I had some time to let it sink in I had to say that I felt great. My mind was much sharper than it had been and physically I felt like I could lift a tank and throw it. Suddenly I focused on what 2B had just said. “Repeat what you just said,” I asked.

2B immediately began to speak again, “We have replaced all the main processing units with Quantum processors, it is a substantial upgrade over your previous hardware. Also, we replaced your skeletal and muscular systems with upgraded hardware, all of it military Martian tech. You are now much more durable along with being stronger and faster. You are still you but just better. We combined our military computer software with your CC software, I think you will be pleased with the result.”

I nodded, that explained a lot of what had happened, but I still had questions, I knew why I could not log out as there was nothing to log out too. The question of why I could not contact a GM still remained. I continued to listen to as 2B explained that as the last living martian on the space station I was automatically elevated to the position of commander. A few questions later and I finally knew enough to have my curiosity satisfied. I fell silent as I thought of all that I had learned, putting it all together in my head my theory was that the game's AI had determined that without a link to my body I was considered an NPC. The difference was that I was fully self-determined, I was not following a planned script like all NPCs did.

This could lead to some interesting developments. I still had to escape from the time warp the space station was in and then determine what had happened to Noa and everything else. Also, it was apparent that I was in shock over the fact that I was dead. Nothing else could explain why I felt so peaceful. Granted I was ready to collapse once I had read the news but now I felt calm. It was something I would have to deal with later. In the meantime, I had to get to the central command sphere of the station and bring it back online and then bring the station back to the solar system.

“2B, how many spheres are between us and command central and what kind of forces do we have available, I am sure that there are more ashoes waiting to block us? I have roughly a couple of years to get there and reactivate everything.”

“There are 29 spheres between us and command central in the most direct route. Of them, we have lost contact with 21 spheres which leads us to believe that enemy droids have entrenched themselves within those spheres. Currently, there are 5 combat droids available along with a few worker and repair droids, I am the only med droid left.”

This is getting better and better I thought. “Alright, what about weapons and armor what do we have? Those damn ashoes are tough and hit like a mule. It won’t be a cakewalk. We need something strong enough to take them out fast sphere by sphere so we can keep moving. My BB gun and the Merrifield were not going to cut it, I needed something better.”

2B paused for a moment and then said, “I am sending you a list of all the inventory we can access unfortunately weapons were stored in the storage units on the other side of command central. What you see is what you get, and you can take that to the bank.”

What, that line was from the Seagal movie that 2B had been watching, where the hell did he get access to that movie. “2B, where did you get access to that movie, and why are you talking like that? I mean it is a little strange watching you a Martian droid trapped in a space station cut off from the universe quoting lines from a 20’s century movie.” I was beginning to feel a little surreal as I waited for his response, my guess was that when they had cloned my memories they had done a little exploring. Turns out I was right, 2B spoke at great length of all the movies, music and gaming I had done. He even mentioned that human sex was identical to Martian sex. When he finally stopped talking I stood up and asked, “Where are my weapons?”

I was actually stunned to learn that they had built the Merrifield into my left arm and the palm of my left hand would shoot the energy out. They had done the same thing with the Winchester-Crossman, it was now built into my right arm, to reload I would have to swallow the BB’s. 2B assured me that it was harmless and the only way to reload the weapon. He began to go on about me being a modern Iron Man when I held up my hand to silence him.

“No more movies or videos, 2B. Not even a rerun. Got it.” My voice was flat and I was not going to accept any answer than yes sir. “Also I want all recordings of my memory totally deleted, no copies. If they would ever fall into the wrong hands it would be the end of me. I also want you to send me the complete schematics of the station. I spent the next few hours going over all the available information on the station and what had happened, once I was finished reviewing all the material I stood up and began to walk, I knew where I was now and had a running map displaying my area and if I choose to enlarge it, the entire station. The route to command central was marked with a blue line, and the spheres with ashoes were glowing red.

No doubt it would be a challenge, with only 5 combat droids we would have to use stealth to defeat the enemy. A toe to toe slugging match would cost me, and I could not afford to lose any droids. As I walked into the next sphere I was taken aback by the beauty of it. It was nighttime and a moon was visible on the horizon. It may have been a computer simulation but with the mist rising from the stream the meandered through the trees it looked damn real. It was a far cry from the bleakness of space where everything was cold and empty. A minuscule world that held a beauty that no one but me had seen in a long time.

I sat by the stream and watched the moon shining its light into the sphere. An illusion but so realistic, knowing that nothing was outside of the station did not stop one from believing that the moon was there. After several minutes I sat up and began to walk back to where I had left 2B, the little droid had grown on me and I felt like talking to him. I needed to know where the emergency spacesuits were and also to meet my combat droids. I had an idea that could considerably shorten the time it would take to get to command central.

Entering the room I had left 2B at I called out to him, “2B show me where the combat droids are, it is the time we met and began to discuss tactics.” With 2B leading, we went into the next sphere which was set up as an armory training area. I observed the combat droids there were similar to the ashoe I had defeated, long cylindrical bodies with tracks, they had a variety of antennae and weapons exposed.They were a dusty gray color and looked fully functional. As we walked over they all formed a half circle in front of me.

“Alright, I want your names and status please,”I said. The first one on the right spoke, “I am the combat droid 34t2 and am fully operational with a full load out.”

I nodded and spoke, “You will be known as Canadian. Next please.” I spent the next several minutes naming the droids after several popular beers. I had Corona, Bud, Coors, and Pilsner along with Canadian. They were all fully deployable and ready for action.

As we walked over to a holographic display of the station 2B spoke, “Duke, I am confused, why did you rename the combat droids. You have a perfect memory and would have no problem remembering the designation of each droid? Why did you rename them?”

Glancing over at the med droid I smiled and said, “They remind me of beer cans. Plus I like real names and I like beer. For the foreseeable future, I am stuck here and I am trying to make sure that I can have some enjoyment in this life. If something as simple as naming a droid can help me I will do it.” We approached the display and I began to concentrate on the task with all the droids arranged in a circle around me. “Our goal is to gain access to command central and to reactivate the stations AI, in order to achieve this we have 21 spheres with ashoes entrenched, In order to pass through the spheres we will have to destroy the enemy, we can’t risk them regrouping behind our back and attacking from the rear. The only other option I can think of is to leave the confines of the station and bypass the ashoes then enter the station at command central or as close as we can get, I am looking for suggestions here.”

There was silence for a moment then Canadian spoke up, “The plan has merit if we can bypass all the spheres and access the station which should be feasible. The initial attack was centered on command central and the enemy breached the station in three locations, here, here and here. Once they entered the station they attempted to enter command central sphere, they failed as it is armored and went into defensive mode, suffice to say they did not get an entry. Asa result of their failure they began to spread out through the spheres fighting and destroying as much as the station as they could. We can expect some resistance as I am sure that several ashoes were left in the three spheres joining command central. If we can take them out quickly we can focus on entering command central and then once in we concentrate on activating the AI, regain control of the station and then portal back to normal space.”

I nodded, it was my plan and would save a lot of fighting. “Alright what do we need to do to make this happen? I will need a suit and weapons as well as a way to travel on the outside of the station. What do we have?” Several minutes later I was shown a suit that could be fabricated with our resources. It had 2 shoulders mounted weapons, one looked like a Gatling gun and the other was a missile pod containing 10 close combat missiles. The suit had built in thrusters and contained two handheld weapons in the leg holsters as well as an energy blade strapped to my back. I also had what looked like a rifle which I would be holding. All in all, it was bad ass and would provide armor and protection with its built-in energy shield. The suits simple AI would merge with my combat computer providing me with advanced scanning and command features.

Nodding I looked at the droids and said, “Alright let's get this made and then begin the operation, codenamed Checkmate.” I turned around and began to walk around the sphere looking at the different areas that had been set up for combat training when suddenly there was a flash of light and a spiral appeared on the other side of the sphere. It began to spin and then disappeared with a flash leaving behind a woman. My droids had gone into stealth mode and vanished from view. I thought of doing the same but wanted to know what the hell was happening.

Walking over to the woman I nodded at her as she smiled at me and then spoke, “Duke, I am so pleased to meet you, when I was informed that your account had become active again it caused quite a stir among the GMs. You had been missing from the game for a long time, and we were not expecting to see you again.”

“Why was that?” I asked, “Because I am dead?” holding up my hands I waved them at her, “I don’t think I am dead, I don’t look dead and don’t feel dead. So why don’t you tell me what is happening here, how can my body be dead out of the game and yet here I am alive?” I watched her as I spoke and saw that my words had hit her hard. She had swallowed and then nodded at me as she walked closer to me.

“First let me say that I am apologizing from the corporation and that this should never have happened. It was all a series of incidents that began to join together, with the end result having you trapped here for 8 earth years in a coma. Unfortunately, the game cubes were not designed to sustain an individual for that length of time. Your cube sent out an emergency signal, but all efforts to revive you failed after being on life support for a year the courts made the decision to turn off the power. We fought them as your case had been linked to the media but did not win. In the end, you died and were cremated. The resulting publicity of your case caused laws to be changed, and it has become a lot safer to be in the game now.”

Interrupting her I asked, “So how am I still alive, once my body died why did I not lose my consciousness, I mean I am still me, I have all my memories intact and I know who I am. How could this happen?

I observed her as I waited for her reply and was not surprised to hear what she said. “Duke, the fact that you're alive still is amazing and our best analysts have been studying it. What they have come up with it fascinating in itself. First, your discovery of the Russian station and then having the AI Noa transfer your consciousness into a cyborg was both incredible and something that we had not thought possible. The software and coding for that were already but it was placed for an upcoming gaming event that had nothing to do with making a person into a cyborg. They were supposed to be AIs, not persons. However, once it happened we decided to let you continue on, after all, your game is your game and you can play it any way you like.” “

“So that is how this happened, interesting, also please tell me what is your name?” I asked.

“That is a part of it and my name is Chantia,” she replied. The second link in this chain is your discovery of the Martians and the conflict between the two indigenous species on Mars. once again that was coded into the game for the next expansion but somehow you managed to be at the right place at the right time to start the conflict and begin the story arc. We were very surprised to see that it was you that started everything. At this time we were not aware that the Martians could teach abilities to humans, I mean the code is self-learning which is why all the NPCs are so lifelike, but still, it surprised us. Humans were not supposed to access other races abilities.”

I nodded that was logical, I guess I was lucky to receive Ak’amai the ability to access the spirit realm. “So then what, I received the Martian talent and then?” I waited for Chantia to continue, the truth was I was interested in her story of my survival.

Chantia smiled at Duke and continued, “After receiving your Martian ability we observed that you were in a state of conflict and had come under attack several times. We followed up on that and determined that it was still in the boundaries of acceptable gameplay, the pirate Ong Bai wants you dead and you had made plans to go after him. Perfectly acceptable and normal, your decision to become a Privateer was well thought out. Once you were kidnapped by the pirates and thrown in the cell we, unfortunately, did not keep you under direct observation as we are pretty busy. The plan was to observe your interactions with Ong Bai once he arrived, but somehow you escaped.”

I noted the Chantia was looking somewhat perplexed at this point and was not surprised when she asked me to explain how I had escaped and ended up here. “Later, I want to hear the rest of what you have to say,” I said.

“Very well,” she began, “Let's continue. “You somehow ended up here in a closed instance, one that was designed to be a raid for high-level players in the next expansion. We did not realize where you were, we could not track you as you were not longer on any of the main servers but rather here. We tried for about three weeks to locate you and then we received the signal that you Gamecube sent out that you were dying. Unfortunately once you expired the signal disappeared and we had to acknowledge our failure. You could imagine our surprise when the tracking software activated and informed us that you were back in the game. It had been left on searching for you all this time, someone forgot to turn it off. It had a priority signal and once it went off we were shocked. It had been years, after all, it was thought at first that it was a bug but after running diagnostics we determined that you were back in the game. We just had to find you.”

Nodding I said, “Well you managed and now here you are, so please continue.”

“Once we realized you were back we began to search, this time we included all the zones and special instances within the game. Once we located you here I was selected and sent to updated and discuss your options, so here I am. But getting back to how you are here, once we located you we reviewed all the files. Again, you managed to surprise us, by having the Martian droids rebuild your body with advanced Martian tech and then copy your consciousness over to a quantum CPU was a stroke of genius. In the game, you are now the most advanced cyborg ever created. The combination of Martian and Earth tech was a surprise. The fact that you were powered down for almost 8 years while being rebuilt was why we could not find you, and it was the fact that you had been replicated in a hybrid cyborg was what kept you alive. At least that is what the analysts believe. Just an incredible series of related events. Something that should have never happened. Yet the end result is here you are.”

I was thinking of all she had said, and I was suddenly feeling nervous. I was dead in the real world and only had what could be called a digitized life here. The GMs controlled all aspects of the game and it would make sense if I just disappeared, the publicity of my being alive in the game would have a huge affect worldwide in the real world. I subvocalized and had Coors and Corona taken positions slightly off to the side of Chantia. I was not sure if we could take her down but I was not going to go peacefully. This was my life now, the only one I had. Fuck her and the other GMs. Thinking these things in an incredible burst of speed, thank you quantum computing, I smiled at Chantia and asked, “So what is next. What happens to me now?”

At my words, Chantia smiled and said, “Now we are at a crossroads, the entire board has become involved, the general consensus it to make you go away, we don’t need the legal repercussions that are guaranteed to occur. However, the chairman of the board thinks that this is an opportunity for the company. The fact that you are you and are alive in the game makes you unique. We would like to monitor you and see how you progress if you remain you fully human at the core we believe that others may be willing to undergo digitization. Really we are talking eternity here for you and any others that follow you. Our legal department is already hard at work we have managed to change the law regarding death as defined by consciousness. As long as you are you, you are still legally alive in the real world. Congratulations, your death was reported prematurely.”

“Holy crap, I am not legally dead?” I asked in stunned amazement.

“No, not anymore, with your permission we will file the needed paperwork to restore your legal standing. However there is a cost, we want you to work for the company, we need to evaluate you and how you are doing, if we offer digitization services we want to make sure people won’t go insane or suffer other issues. What do you think? The alternative is this we leave you alone in the game but monitor you like crazy, everything you do will be recorded and analyzed. Also, we will not continue with our legal endeavors to bring you back to life. Taken your time and think about it, I will wait.”

My thought raced at the speed of light, really what choice did I have, I needed to be alive legally for the protection it would give me and as for the rest, what had happened to me had opened a door and considering the millions of rich old people that could live forever it was going to happen. I could be part of it or be cast off once my usefulness had run its course. I would have to see this through and get the best deal I could if I had eternity I might as well make the most of it.

“Chantia, let’s talk.” This was going to be interesting, I thought.