Clarence slammed his glass of alcohol against the table. “Can’na ‘lieve it. Can’na ‘lieve it!” He pouted, staring angrily across the table at Narissa.

Narissa massaged her temples, looking as if she were about to explode. “You know, we’d be able to have a lot better of conversation if you hadn’t DRUNK YOURSELF SHITFACED,” Narissa shouted the last few words.

Clarence drew his head back, aggrieved. “I’na, I’na shit-faced. I only drane, drank, a-a ‘ittle. Us’ a coupl’ gasses… glasses,” Clarence’s eyes unfocused for a brief second, before his head thunked down onto the table of the bar. The other three people at the table watched for a second before a snore sounding more like the rumble of a jet engine than something coming out of a human erupted out of Clarence.

Narissa turned to glare at Rune. “You just had to bring it up, didn’t you? Clarence can go on about that for days if you’re not careful.” Narissa shook her fist at Rune. “Days, goddamnit. We’re so fuckin’ lucky he fell asleep.” She leaned back, slumping into her chair, moaning piteously. “I can’t listen to that shit.” With that, she picked up and gulped down the last of her bottle, slamming it down on the table next to another, already empty bottle.

Rune shrugged, smiling abashedly, and spoke. “Oops.”

Narissa sat back up in her chair and gave him a smile, seeming to sober up. “All is forgiven. Though kid, I gotta warn you, some people can really get passionate about that whole reality versus video game thing. There are a few factions of synths that just go around killin’ people, blowing up merchants, and busting stations, just for Shimmer. Don’t fall in with them.” She pointed at Rune as if giving him a warning, a dangerous look on her face.

The other person at the table, Miraj, took that moment to speak up. “That’s not to say all people who believe this is just a game are evil, however. Clarence, per say, thinks that this all a game but I as someone who is not a synth know that he values me as a companion just as much he would someone he thinks is ‘real’”

Rune recoiled a little. “Wait a minute. You’re not, like, a synth? You’re an NP—a real person? I thought…” Rune trailed off, glancing at Narissa.

Narissa gave him a look that told him he'd been an asshole. “No, dummy, just because he’s not a synth doesn’t mean he’s lesser or anything. Were you less of a person back in the 22nd century just because you weren’t a synth then?” Rune frowned and shook his head. “Well, Miraj isn’t either. And just because he’s not a synth doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any sort of stuff to upgrade with Shimmer.”

Rune quirked an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued. “What? I thought Shimmer was just for levels. You can upgrade other things?”

Narissa smirked, knowing she’d caught his interest. “You’ll be a weapons nerd just like us, soon enough. There’s all sorts of cool shit that you can upgrade with nano. A bunch of different guns hit harder, fire farther, faster, or more accurately with some Shimmer gelling up their systems. Most cybernetic systems operate more effectively and efficiently with Shimmer managing the flow of electrons to and fro. And pretty much all AI except for maybe the super old ones can be upgraded with Shimmer to be smarter or more powerful.”

Narissa looked like she was going to continue ranting on about all the cool stuff you could do with Shimmer, but Miraj broke in. “For me, I’ve got a cybernetic implant in my skull and a synthetic arm.” For demonstration, Miraj raised one arm, brushing aside the black fold of his cloak before placing it on the table where it split in half to reveal an assortment of devices. Rune’s eyes lit up in wonder, and Miraj let out of a brief smile before snapping his arm closed and returning it underneath his cloak. “You can get something similar if you want, kid.”

Rune eyes eagerly flickered back and forth between the two other occupants of the table, entreating them to tell him how, but Narissa just groaned and shook her head. “There he goes, trying to sell another new arrival on bionics and cybernetics.”

Miraj shot her an aggrieved look. “Bionics are great!”

Narissa just rolled her eyes at him before turning to address Rune. “Yeah, Bionics are pretty cool, but this is definitely one of those times where you should treat everything like a game, and not like the real world.”

Rune frowned at her. “What do you mean?”

Narissa snorted. “Okay, look, kid, you know how in classic RPGs you had a tank, mage, healer, rogue, and a warrior as a typical team?” Rune nodded. “Well, in here, it’s the same damn thing, and especially for us synths. With the whole level system and the ability to customize and improve our traits, it’s really easy to become really good at a specific job. Let’s say you wanna become a pro gamer for some reason. Then you might wanna dump all your points into Acuity and Reflex, to buff up your reaction time and critical thinking. Or maybe you wanna be a pirate hunter for the UIS. Then you’re gonna want to put a lot of points into Constitution, a few into Vitality, and a few in Reflex and Agility.”

Rune frowned. “But wait, that doesn’t really explain why I wouldn’t want to get cybernetics or bionics.”

Narissa rolled her eyes. “C’mon dude, I was getting there!” She took another sip out of a third bottle of alcohol. Rune wasn’t really sure where it had come from. He glanced down at his drink. He wasn’t even halfway through his first. “So anyway, it’s not so much that you don’t want to get cybernetics or bionics, it’s that sometimes they’re a great idea, and others they just suck.” Rune was still frowning in incomprehension. Narissa sighed. “Think about it. Let’s say you wanna be a starfighter pilot, but you,” she gestured to Miraj, “like Miraj here, decide to get a bionic arm with a ton of cool gadgetry in it. But now you have a problem. You see, even for all the tech improvements of the 27th century, your bionic arm ain’t gonna be quite as fast or sensitive as a real one unless you get a really fuckin’ expensive one, and then you might as well have bought a cheap one and upgraded it with Shimmer.”

Narissa paused to take another drink before continuing. “And that’s Shimmer you could’ve invested in either Reflex, Agility, or Acuity, all of which could’ve made you a better pilot, as opposed to waste a shitton of GC on cool stuff that’s pretty much all useless to you as you’ll never use it in the cockpit of a starfighter.” She leaned back, confident in having proven her point but continuing anyways, “and that much gear and Shimmer is gonna cost you a pretty penny. Decent cybernetic implants with a safe operation? Couple hundred thousand GCs. The Shimmer to upgrade it into something highly functional? Maybe only a hundred-k, maybe a hundred fifty. Admittedly not too much for a galactic highborn. But we’re not highborns, just a bunch of UIS reintegrated synths. We work normal jobs, and make money like the rest of the rockpounders down here on Terrassis. A few hundred thousand GC is a few years of pay in most lines of work. That’s gonna put you way behind, and you’d be much better served to put that money into something that’s actually gonna help you.”

On the side, Miraj was nodding. “Now, you may think that my implants may be too costly to be worth it, but,” Miraj gestured around the table at Narissa, himself, and Clarence, “we’re a bunch of ERD-TSTs, or Extraplanetary Rapid Deployment Tactical Strike Troops.” Miraj shrugged. “That’s just fancy lingo for a bunch of space mercenaries who board and engage pirates on their ships in, uh, ‘hostile takeovers’. It’s a hard job, and we need top of the line weaponry to get the job done.” Miraj hefted his arm, putting it on display for Rune to see. “Case in point.”

Rune held up his hands. “Slow down, slow down, you’re getting a little fast for me here. We jumped from customizing myself for a job to taking on space pirates. Let’s get back to the job thing here. How do I even figure that out? Is there some sort of special program for synths? How—where do I even start?” He glanced between Miraj and Narissa, seeking answers.

Narissa spoke up first, slightly abashedly. “Well, that’s a big part of what I wanted to talk to you about. Me and my group are members of a society called the Brighter Future for Sentience, or BFS for short.” Narissa flicked her fingers, and a holographic pamphlet slid through the air halfway across the table towards Rune.

Meanwhile, Paine spoke to Rune in his head. Would you like to accept Narissa’s document? No encryptions or potential for viruses or malware detected.

Rune spoke back to Paine in his head. Yes, accept it.

Narissa smiled when she saw the pamphlet disappear. “That’s just some information on what the BFS does and what opportunities it provides for its members.” Narissa shrugged. “Now, I’m no fanatic, but I know good when I see it. The BFS does a whole lot of good for interstellar communities that tend to not get a whole lot of aid from the UIS or other governments. Cheap rates for hiring mercs to take down pirates or escort merchants, initiatives to increase public safety, lower homelessness, and discourage criminal activity in young spacers, equal education for all…” Rune’s eyes glinted at that last one. Narissa didn’t notice, however, the subtle shifts in Rune’s expression lost in the darkness of the bar. She leaned forward as if trying to be more convincing.

“What I’m really aiming at, is that the BFS tries to provide equal educational opportunities at reasonable rates for sentients of all intelligence levels and… forms of existence.” Narissa smiled at Rune. “That includes synths. No matter how much money you don’t have, the BFS will front the bill and put you through schooling. The deal, though, is that you’ll have to register with the BFS and pay a five percent tithe on all profits for fifty years after you’re done, or till you’ve paid one and a half times what it took to put you through schooling. Then that money will be used to put another kid through schooling, with the rest going to other projects or getting used to keep things running.” Narissa flashed a winsome smile. “Sounds great, right?”

Rune had to admit, despite his skepticism, it did sound pretty great. Rune had always wanted to continue his education, and if this was his chance he’d jump on it. Before he signed anything, though, he wanted to do some research, and figure out what all his options were. He gave her a gracious smile. “I really appreciate your offer, but I need some time to think, and I always wanna do some research.” Rune rubbed his eyes. “I’m also tired as all fuck. Give me some time to think, and I’ll meet up with you guys here tomorrow at the same place, let’s say… uh,” Rune frowned, glancing up at the pair. “How do we tell time around here?”

Narissa smiled at him. “It’s just measured in earth hours. The station rotates many times more than that in a day, and if we were measuring days by rotations, well,” she scoffed, “that would be a lot of days. Anyways, you can just ask your PAAI for the time, it’ll tell you. How about tomorrow night, 8:00?”

Rune smiled, gratefully. “Sounds great.”

Narissa smiled warmly at him, leaning across the table to put her hand on his. Rest well. And take your time making the decision. If you need another day to think, just message me on my PAAI.” Narissa waved her hand, and a hologram of a number slid through the air towards Rune.

Paine spoke to Rune in his head. Would you like to accept Narissa’s PAAI G-Web address and add it to my database?

Rune mentally confirmed. Yeah, add it.

With that done, Narissa and Miraj both stood up from the table. Miraj spoke for the two. “We’ve got an early appointment on the docks tomorrow, so we should really be getting going now. It was nice meeting you Rune.” Miraj held out his hand for shaking.

Rune smiled and took it before responding. “Likewise.”

With that, Narissa and Miraj both took one of Clarence’s arms before beginning the long, slow, stumbly process of exiting the bar. Rune watched them go, clutching his drink as he sipped down the last of the bitter liquid out of some sort of twisted obligation. He didn’t drink, anyway.

He sat there, afterward, stewing in the darkness. He had a lot to think about, and some important decisions to make. Maybe tonight he’d make a special exception. A couple hours and a couple drinks later, Rune was slightly poorer, slightly drunker, and extremely exhausted, and so beat a hasty retreat to his hotel room.

~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Rune woke up with a groan and a mild hangover. As he was throwing off the sheets and rolling out of bed, a voice spoke up. It was his nightstand.

The synthetic voice spoke in a very clearly inhuman voice. “Your in-suite personal monitor has noticed elevated levels of ethanol passing through your system. Would you like medication to alleviate potential symptoms for 30 GCs?”

Rune’s narrowed, bleary eyes glared at the steel box before he frowned and shrugged. Why not? It was the future, shouldn’t be unreasonable for a hangover cure to have been invented. 30 GCs wasn’t all that much anyways. Rune waved his hand in dismissal. “Sure, give me whatever.”

A robotic arm with a tray attached to the end extended from the nightstand, raising up to be right in front of Rune. On top of the tray sat a large blue capsule. “Here is the medication. Place it in your mouth, chew, then swallow.”

Rune popped the blue orb into his mouth before chewing thoughtfully. The texture was strange and goopy, somewhere halfway between that of a steamed bun and rice pudding. A slightly sweet taste that he couldn’t quite place had been infused into the medication. Nodding slightly, Rune decided that it wasn’t altogether that bad.

Rune rose up out of his bed while glancing around before wrinkling his brow and speaking into the air to see if his nightstand couldn’t help him more. “Yo nightstand robot, where is the bathroom, and how do I take a shower. Why is there only one door? Where’s all the shit that a hotel is supposed to have?”

A light on his nightstand flashed. “Potential command recognized. Convert from Bedroom functionality to Bathroom functionality. Would Guest Rune like to confirm this command?”

Rune frowned, slightly confused. He decided to roll with it. “Yeah… I would.”

With a slight rumble and hiss, the bed, sofa, carpet, and several electrical appliances sank into the walls before a shower, stone tiled floors, a toilet, and a sink sprouted up from the floor. Rune watched these developments in groggy amazement.

After everything had assembled, Rune found himself in a rather nice bathroom, with stone tiled floors, a pristine ceramic toilet and sink, and an elegant glass shower. Rune had quite literally never seen anything quite so nice except for in the movies. After a couple minutes spent poking things in amazement, verifying that they were real, Rune finally got into the shower, and after wrestling with the heating knob for a couple minutes, finally figured out how to make the water hot. It wasn’t till he was stepping in that he realized that his hangover was gone.

As the scalding hot water ran through his hair and down his body, Rune laughed. He had finally made it. Whether this was the future or a video game, it was a bright place, full of untold opportunities. Here, he could finally be the man he wanted to be. As guilty as it made him, all his siblings were gone and he’d been cleared of that responsibility. And he could finally get an education that would leave him well qualified for a job.

After finishing his ablutions, toweling down, and exiting the shower, Rune decided it was time to finally get to work. Despite his excitement, Rune wasn’t going to launch himself into it like an idiot and sign the contract without fully figuring out what he was getting himself into. He’d already done that once when he’d spent two years and thousands of dollars grinding ranks in a video game all for nothing.

He wouldn’t do that again or dig himself into a hole he couldn’t get out of. Rune knew he needed to do some research on his options. His first task was getting to a computer, however. Now that he considered it, though, he didn’t really know whether there even was an internet and if computers were still a thing or not. He was stuck in a quandary for a couple seconds before he realized: he could just ask Paine.

Hey, Paine, how do access the internet or whatever they have nowadays?

Paine’s response came quickly. Nowadays, people use the galactiweb, or G-Web for short. You can access the G-Web in any manner that you’d like, mentally compose an image of what you’d prefer and I’ll form a hologram based on your intent. Otherwise, you can find a store that will sell you physical devices, and purchase one from there.

Rune frowned. He’d prefer something physical, but considering he bared had enough money to spend a few nights in the hotel he probably didn’t have enough money to buy whatever passed for a computer nowadays. And besides, if it came down to personal comfort over utility, Rune would have to choose utility.

Alright, Rune thought to Paine, project me a computer.

Paine immediately responded. First restructure the room back to being a normal hotel room, and I’ll project your keyboard onto a desk so you can type while you use the computer.

After a brief session of shouting at the room, it shifted back into the original hotel room format that it had been in. Rune parked himself at the desk and a computer took shape.

The screen was standard Windows 120, complete with customization features and basic apps. The keyboard below contained only the keys Rune could remember that he needed. He quickly began typing, first investigating into the BFS finding pretty much all glowing praises he expected with the exception of a minor scandal or two. Apparently, if he was going to be going back to school it would be at the uninspiringly named Terrassis Educational Facility, or TEF for short. Education had apparently changed dramatically since Rune had been put through school. Schooling was no longer mandatory, however, any and all people under the age of fourteen would be given the opportunity to be put through UIS regulated general education. People over fourteen and under thirty could apply for a second round of “applied education,” in which they would be able to select a series of tailored courses to either help them find a career or excel in one if chosen. On paper, it sounded exactly like what Rune had always wanted. Job training.

Rune got Paine to pull up the agreement that Narissa had sent him and after reading it over and confirming its legitimacy with his Paine he signed it.

Done with that, Rune now had a few hours left to blow before he needed to meet up with Narissa. Curious as to what had happened with humanity over the several hundred years that had supposedly elapsed since he entered the VC system. Unsurprisingly, the answer was a lot. Too much, in fact, for Rune to be able to cover anything other than the most basic outlines of history.

It seemed that after he'd entered the VC program, the world had quickly gone to shit. The UFOH had maintained relative peace up until it was somehow leaked that the VC program had been shut down and all those who would have been inducted into the program were essentially being killed.

The VC program which had been heralded as the world’s salvation had been rendered infeasible, and with its passing so had the people’s hope for a better future. In 2183, eleven years after the VC system fell through the AP finally overstepped their bounds and occupied land owned by another country, sparking world war three. Billions died, both on the battlefield and to the megaton nuclear warheads that obliterated 75% of all major cities on earth.

So began the first wave of colonization. Humanity, already possessing minor colonies on other planets, flocked out of the radioactive ruins of Earth for better prospects on the distant planets of our solar system, traveling primarily to Venus, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Unsurprisingly enough, this was yet another precursor to another war. Earth corporations and governments who had funded the majority of the colonization soon came to collect their debts. Venus complied, but the outer three planets defaulted on their debts, banding together to form the Coalition of Sovereign Planets, or CSP. Earth began building a space armada in reaction to their insubordination, and the CSP followed suit, the two sides engaging in a massive cold war.

Tension ran high through the Sol system until roughly fifty years later the two sides clashed over an asteroid which already had Fringers—slang term for CSP citizens—living on it but was owned by Earth. Earth sent some ships and took the citizens hostage, and the CSP responded by sending some of their own ships to monitor the situation. Then, something went horribly wrong. One of the Earth cruisers had a hardware malfunction and exploded. Another one of the ships left unnamed by history, fired a shot. War broke out. History was made.

Thirteen years of bloody fighting ensued. As far as wars went, however, the fighting wasn’t that bad. While millions died, the numbers were nothing compared to the billions lost in the third world war. The war ultimately culminated in a massive decisive engagement over Mars, wherein the debris of destroyed ships came crashing down to the neutral colony and killed hundreds of thousands. The two sides, guilty over their needless destruction, would ultimately sign the Mars Accords, fusing the two governments back together. For fourteen years the Sol system would suffer through an uneasy peace. Then a genius invention would usher in the second wave of expansion.

In 2325, Marcus Heinburgen would construct the first truly functional Alcubierre Warp Drive, capable of sending ships across the galaxy at speeds far faster than that of light. In 2344, the design would be reliable enough for humanity to start sending its first colony ships out to distant stars once thought unreachable.

When reading about the second wave, Rune pretty much guessed what would happen based on what had happened pretty much every time a government had started making far distant colonies just as in the first wave. He wasn’t disappointed.

Very much following in the footsteps of the CSP, 29 of the 59 colonies banded together to form the UIS and declared their independence.

This, surprisingly, wasn’t actually too much of an issue. The 31 non-UIS systems banded together into the Core Systems Coalition or CSC, but after a couple minor skirmishes, ultimately decided it wasn’t worth a massive space war and millions dead to bring the colonists back. The Sol War hadn't been too long ago and no-one was eager for more. No, the real issue came afterward.

See, the issue wasn’t quite resolved because the second wave hadn’t quite finished. As more and more colonies that the CSC had started trickled back, more and more of them defected to join the UIS. By 2485 the UIS had ballooned to encompass 79 systems, while the CSC had a mere 52. When the CSC decided to forcibly coerce a system into joining them the UIS responded with an armed fleet of their own, the conflict in the system ultimately setting off the deadliest conflict humanity would ever experience.

Tens of billions died. Twelve planets were obliterated. Even a sun died. Poor choices had been made by both sides. Humanity had turned its knowledge of science and matter manipulation to destruction to achieve horrifying results. After the termination of a system and loss of billions of souls, the CSC and UIS finally saw their folly. To ensure that such a catastrophic misuse of weapon technology could never occur again, the two sides signed a treaty banning all unauthorized “higher technology” research and ensured that any "higher technology" research that was engaged in would be joint.

After the culmination of the End War, the two sides set their sights back on expansion, allotting certain sectors of space to one another and incorporating all systems within those areas. Between the end of the End War in 2506 and current, the UIS would first break into Endless Stars Alliance or ESA over an ideological split, soon followed by a similar split from the CSC of the Marcerian Empire of the Stars, comprised of a small set of powerful corporations. Years of relative peace had passed and, well, now Rune was here.

After finishing catching up on history, or the backstory of the game, depending on who you might ask, Rune asked Paine for the time and quickly got the response that it was 7:13, and that he still had a little more than three-quarters an hour to waste. After nearly ten or so minutes of half-hearted research into what schooling would be like, Rune closed his digital computer before moving over and flopping down into his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

He had a lot to think about. Was it all real, or was it all a game? The history, the G-Web, Terrassis, Miraj, everything seemed real enough to Rune. War upon wars, till humanity had reached current day. Seemed more or less like what he’d expect. But then again, AI and VR in the 22nd century were top of the line. Who knew what a fully autonomous AI could do if it wanted to build a truly living, breathing world? What if he was just alone on his patch of realistic looking pixels in some sort of strange fantasy world the AI had dreamt up for him?

Rune furrowed his eyebrows as he let loose a long sigh. He wondered what had happened to his family after he left. Had hundreds of years and generations left them complete strangers and him an umpteenth great-grandpa? Had they all been obliterated in one of the many wars that had rocked the galaxy? Or were they still just on earth some couple hundred miles below him living their lives out while he tricked himself into believing that they were all gone?

Rune had no answers, but he was pretty sure he had a headache now. Rune lay still and silent ensconced in his sheets as his mind warred with itself. Rune wasn’t really sure whether he wanted it to be a game or not. On one hand, he wanted to a second chance at life. He wanted a new playing field, a second chance to rise to the top. But to leave behind his family, trading everything for a game? If it was a game, was it even worth it? Did it being real make it suddenly worth it?

Rune was starting to question the very nature of thought itself when all of a sudden an alert from Paine thundered into his mind.

Rune, the time is 7:50, you have ten minutes till your meeting with Narissa.

Rune jolted up in bed, sitting straight up. He thought a message to Paine as he rolled out of bed. Alright Paine, thanks for the warning.

Paine quickly responded. Only doing my duty.

Rune quickly checked to make sure that he had everything on him when he realized his phone and wallet were no longer items he needed to keep track of. A slightly sad smile on his face, Rune pushed the door open before he left down the hall, walking towards the bar.

This was his chance. Real or not, he’d take hold of it as firmly as he could.