The Colosseum Pilot Episode

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Text copyright ©2022 Thomas Falconer Groce

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without expressed written consent of the author.

Edited by Hannah VanVells Ausbury

Cover Artwork & Design by Jeff Brown Graphics

I’d like to thank all friends and family for being nothing but supportive while I bury myself in solitude.

I’d like to thank Hannah Ausbury for doing an amazing job editing. She was nothing but professional and supportive.

I’d like to thank Jeff Brown for his artwork. looking at its completion has been my absolute favorite part of this process.

--

“The Evolution consoles have changed our way of life for the better. Everyone agrees. I’m curious about the origins. Can you please comment on how you came up with these miracles?”

“I did not invent the Evolution console alone, and the only reason we were able to create them was because our team came together with a single purpose. My friends and I were interested in virtual reality. We felt there was a potential opportunity because the answers to virtual reality at the time were solely focusing on the eyes and ears. We wanted to create a full-body experience. We headhunted Disney’s top roller coaster engineer, Aadesh Patel who attended top schools and trained under the best engineers Disney had to offer. He had ten years’ experience and we convinced him to join us. He believed in our vision. That was a huge turning point in Evolution. Without his experience, we may have run out of money without producing a product. Our future was more certain with him on board.

“To conceptualize the consoles, I rented out a log cabin in North Carolina, bought everyone plane tickets and rental cars, and hired three chefs to take eight-hour shifts so people could eat whenever they want. We brainstormed together with our laptops during the week, and relaxed on the weekends. We had creativity elevators delivered, if you catch my drift, for those of our team who were into that sort of thing. Even the chefs hung out sometimes when they were off their shifts. It was a carefree, purely creative environment. For a month, we did this. It was a great time. We’re actually going to do a similar retreat soon. I’m excited! Big things are coming. That I can promise you.”

“That’s cool—a bunch of gaming developers and a roller coaster engineer hanging out, eating good food, and changing the world. What gave you the thought of going to a roller coaster engineer in the first place? That was brilliant.”

“Thank you. That’s sweet of you to say. Our first concern and I believe the sole reason nobody has followed through with an idea like this is safety. When you are talking about entering a small container, even as comfortable as these consoles, it’s still a human body surrounded by quick-moving metal mechanics. It’s lethal if the engineering breaks down. It simply cannot be allowed to happen. Zero room for error. Zero. People need to trust the consoles, and if anyone ever got hurt, it would be the end of us. And yet theme parks had been operating safely for an amazing amount of time. They would know the most about the balance between safety and immersion. We paid a headhunter a hefty fee to find us an engineer. Someone who has been in the thick of it for a long time to at least hear us out, to see if our vision was possible. Aadesh is a huge part of the company, and he loves it with us.”

—Creator of Evolution, Max Angel, 2048

Chapter 1

Cypher—January 2060

Cypher was alone in Las Vegas’s best hospital, pacing nervously, getting more and more frustrated at each minute that came and went beyond the time scheduled. He looked like he hadn’t seen the sun in weeks. Thirty-three and shy of six feet, wearing a tight-fitting white, collared button-up shirt, jeans, and sunglasses turned up, resting on top of his bald head. Not the most cut guy in the Colosseum but stood out in an average crowd.

Cypher benefited from an extensive healthcare plan with athletic preference, a deal the Colosseum had made with State Farm. They had convinced the insurance company with money to work closely with the best hospital in Vegas. They gave priority to the Colosseum competitors. They had an entire team dedicated to them.

The hospital nutritionists collaborated with the hotel chefs to customize meal plans for each individual competitor, delivered to their suites or available in the cafeteria. The Colosseum treated their fighters like royalty. It was the life—except Cypher’s hands were becoming difficult to ignore.

Cypher had been waiting for fifteen minutes and was getting impatient. Ten years of medical school and he can’t be on time to an appointment. Impressive.

The doctor finally entered the room and Cypher’s pacing came to a stop. The doc had a grim look with a tablet in hand and a face that told Cypher he was sick of giving patients bad news. Can’t they train these dudes to have any sort of poker face?

“Hello, Cypher. I’m afraid it’s not great news. After examining your hands, listening to you describe the pain, and conferring with an online conference, we have come to the conclusion that you are experiencing early onset rheumatoid arthritis, which is more commonly referred to as RA. You are young for this, but we’re ninety-nine percent sure that is what you have.”Cypher’s head shook and his hands went up.

“Okay. So, what does that mean? Are you done? Am I supposed to know what that means? Did I go to ten years of medical school? Because I do not remember going to ten years of medical school. Is amnesia also a side effect?”

“Okay, okay. Sorry. It’s an autoimmune disorder that affects your joints. For some reason—and we do not know why—your own body is attacking your inner linings. Your joints are in an ongoing battle with your immune system.” Cypher continued to shake his head in disbelief.

“Well, that is unfortunate.” Fuck. “I eat well. I exercise. I don’t believe this. Why’s this happening to me? What’s the cause of roomatahh—whatever you said—the arthritis?” The doc took a step back.

“Cypher, I’d love to give you a reason, but the honest truth is nobody knows. We don’t know why your body, one day, decides it’s going to attack itself. Doctors are not God. We do not know everything. I’d love to give you a reason Cypher, but I can’t. I don’t know. Nobody does.”

“So, what’s going to happen to me now and in the future?” Cypher stopped shaking his head and glared at the doc with wide eyes and his hands up as if to suggest, well, WTF is about to happen to me?

The doc punched in a few things on his tablet until it displayed the progression of the autoimmune disease and handed it over to Cypher. It displayed an animation of the human body with red areas pulsating on all the joints. He read the description off to the right. Affects hands initially, eventually traveling to the wrists, knees, elbows, ankles, toes.

Cypher rested the tablet on the raised bed, moved over to the chair in the corner, and took a seat, lowering his head. Fuck.

“You’re going to be okay, Cypher. We’ve had experience treating this. We’ll start you with an injection of powerful anti-inflammatory drugs. Try to avoid foods that cause inflammation like egg whites and milk. Start supplementing collagen peptides, too. It will strengthen your joints. You need to do research yourself and start experimenting with what works for you. Be willing to adapt depending on what you feel. Some lifestyle advice—move around. I know it sounds backward, but it strengthens your muscles and gives your joints more stability. It will delay the progression of your disease. Keep moving. Take walks. Exercise your hands. These will all help your symptoms. Try to maximize your strength while limiting physical impact to your joints. Swimming is highly recommended—zero impact with a full body strength increase. I’ve already spoken with the Colosseum liaison. They are sectioning off a lane in one of the hotel pools as we speak for your personal use, reserved twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Cypher, the pool will help. I promise you. We did not tell them about your arthritis. We simply recommended it as a great exercise that would improve your performance in Evolution.”Cypher had his head down, shaking left to right.

“I didn’t think this was going to be a big deal. This is life-altering.” The doc was concerned, but he tried to put on a reassuring face.

“It'll be okay,” the doctor said. Cypher got up out of the corner chair and looked at him.

“Thanks for the tips. I’ll try swimming.”

“You don’t want any treatments before you go today?”

“Nah, not yet.”

Cypher didn’t know what to think. He was in shock. Other than not continuing to grow hair, his body had always held up until this point. He got up, still stunned, and left the doc’s office.