The rest of Robert’s evening was spent studying his programming class materials and getting ready for a test he had the following week. The material wasn’t difficult for him, but his perfectionist nature demanded that he knew it by heart. Good thing he had an excellent memory and was genuinely interested in computer science.

At about eleven, his data band chimed, letting him know that Sam wanted to talk. He’d meet him in ten minutes inside the Nexus. Robert wondered what his friend needed at such a late hour. He decided he had looked over the same material long enough and would probably try and find a new game to play since his favorite MMORPG title Excel had recently moved to a subscription model. It was perhaps for the best considering many of the people he knew on the Nexus had moved on to other games a few weeks ago when the announcement was made. Luckily for him, he had prepared and never kept much of his loot or items in storage.

Many players made extra credits by selling in-game credits and items on the trading platforms. While he’d gotten nothing truly spectacular when playing, he consistently got useful things that people would pay for. It wasn’t much, but he could make an additional thousand dollars a month on the markets.

Robert laid on his bed and slipped his gear over his head. Unlike games of the past, the newest VR gear was a synaptic interface, not a high definition video screen inside a helmet. This eliminated the need for feedback suits and other devices. This way, a person could just slip into the Nexus, and it felt real. Your brain, not some piece of equipment generated all the sounds, sights, smells, and tastes.

Another benefit of the synaptic system was the ability to dilate time. When you were in the Nexus, every hour in the game was the equivalent of fifteen minutes in the real world. A four to one dilation was the maximum approved due to most people’s brains not being able to process the massive amount of data at a higher speed. This meant that Robert could spend eight hours in-game and still get a full night’s sleep.

The moment Robert closed his eyes, the system loaded. Robert loved the entry graphics for the Nexus. It was like coming out of a wormhole, moving at insane speeds and then appearing in the Nexus central plaza closest to your last save point.

Robert’s appearance in the Nexus was very close to his appearance in the real world. He was still six feet tall, but in the Nexus he could fill himself out a little more. In the real world, Robert would probably best described as gangly. In the Nexus, he had an athletic appearance.

The Nexus was set up like a collection of very logical and massive cities large enough for millions of people at each location. You could move between cities using gates, or you could explore the void between in spaceships. Unfortunately for Robert, ships were costly, and only wealthy individuals or corporations had them. They also didn’t really make moving from city to city any faster, so they were mostly a novelty. There were rumors of opening territories in the Nexus that have yet to be explored, but as far as he knew, those were just rumors.

Looking around the plaza, Robert spotted Sam by the side of a terminal, tapping away at the interface. Unlike Robert, Sam’s appearance in the Nexus was drastically different from his real-world appearance. Sam was in an accident as a child which left him without the use of his legs. While it was possible to reconnect nerves and other miracles of modern medicine, it still cost a lot of money. Sam’s parents just didn’t have enough to do it. This left Sam in a wheelchair. Sam was pasty and short in real life. He worked out regularly, so he was not skinny, but the lower part of his body was undeveloped compared to his upper body. In the Nexus, Sam was a little shorter than Robert with well-defined muscles. He wasn’t a tank or anything, but he looked intimidating, especially with his battle gear.

“Hey, Sam. What’s up? You said it was important.”

Sam wiped something out of the interface and turned to greet Robert. “Hey Rob, yeah, I have some big news. You know how I was signed up for that tournament today?”

“Yeah, the one put on by Nova.”

Smiling, Sam asked, “Yeah, that’s it. Did you get the chance to see the results?”

“No, sorry, man. I had to work all day and then take mom to her PT. I just got done studying for a test on Monday. How’d you do?”

Sam turned back to the terminal and hit a few buttons, which popped up a display showing Sam’s battle avatar standing on top of a terribly gaudy podium. “I won.”

“That’s incredible! I know you were anxious about that one, considering all you had to do to qualify. So, where does that put you in the rankings?”

He replied with a proud grin, “I’m now in the top five for The Champions League.”

Robert reached out and gave Sam a big pat on the shoulder. “Wow, that’s really incredible. A few more wins and you could actually win the entire thing.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Rob. I have a chance, but the competition is tough. That’s not why I asked you to meet me, though. I have a surprise.” He finished with a mysterious grin on his face.

Genuinely curious, he asked, “What surprise? There’s more good news?”

Waving his hand in front of his face, four golden tickets appeared in Sam’s hand. “How would you like a free pass into Elysium Online?”

Robert just stood there, staring for a moment, not really grasping what his friend said. “Uh, what are you talking about? Passes to Elysium are limited release.”

“You’re correct. They are a limited release, but I also won four passes as a bonus in the tournament. You know how I feel about MMORPG games, but who could pass up these.” He finishes by fanning himself with the tickets.

“But you could make a fortune by selling those. Why offer one to me?”

Sam frowned slightly and said, “Rob, you can be a little dense sometimes. You’re my friend, and I know how much you wanted in on this release. We’ve lived in the same freakin’ building most of our lives, and you’re the only IRL friend I really have. Juno’s nice, but she’s your friend.” He paused for a moment and then continued, “So, do you want one?”

Robert couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Of course, I want one!” He blurted out.

Sam laughed out loud in response and handed one ticket over. “I thought you would.”

Robert asked, “I know it’s a lot to ask, but would you be willing to give one to Juno? I think we’d make a great team in the game.”

Sam smiled and put a hand on Robert’s shoulder. “Yes, your girlfriend can have one too.”

Blushing, Robert said, “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Yeah, whatever. Do you want to tell her the good news, or do you want me to?”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to.”

Sam passed a second ticket to Robert and said, “Ok, I have a few things I need to do now. I just wanted to let you know about this. I’m going to try to unload this extra ticket and get in a few practice matches before bed.”

“That sounds good. I’m going to log into Excel for a bit and clean house. Some die-hards are still in there that are opting in for the subscription level, and I think I can make some credits by selling the rest of my stuff.”

Sam said, “Ok, it’s a week until launch, so we have a little time to prepare. I’ll see you later.”

With his last words, Sam turned and stepped through a gate that had appeared, probably leading to Battle City. That was the city where the majority of high-level combat game players set up shop. Sam was a part of a guild there that gave him access to training facilities and trainers.

Robert looked around for a little, letting his elated feeling sink in and then pulled up a terminal to contact Juno. The terminals in-game were like floating touch screens that were completely customizable by the user. Sam’s terminal was all dark with images of fighting and easy access to things he would need in a fighting environment. This helped him react faster when in-game. Robert’s terminal was a little more generalized. It focused on displaying character stats and inventory items to create easy access to spells, potions, and equipment he would use in Excel.

He scrolled through the tabs and found his communications panel to call Juno. Her user name was highlighted green, so she was online. She was probably still in class or something. Juno was a student at the University of California Berkeley, just like Robert, but she focused on chemistry and psychology. Robert clicked on Juno’s user name and pulled up a message box, letting her know that he was online and wanted to meet up in Excel when she was finished.

He didn’t wait for a response and used his terminal to pull up a gateway to Excel before stepping through.