Author’s Note: There is some swearing in this chapter. This chapter deals with military soldiers in a casual setting so there is no way around it. I (honestly) apologize in advance if this does not suit your sensibilities.

Game Capsule D-1410092184

Setup CompleteDo you want to begin registration?ConfirmDecline

‘No turning back now,’ Bradley thought, trying desperately to ignore the sensory deprivation he felt in this White Abyss. Apart from the window before him, only the endless expanse of white nothingness existed in this space. Despite this being the second time entering the Game Capsule, he had yet to get past the registration screen. On his first attempt, his lack of preparation caused him to leave. He would not leave this time.

‘Confirm.’

As he thought the command, the window transformed.

Current Username:Bradley CooperDo you want to change this Username?ConfirmChange

‘Well if this is going to effectively be my life for the next five years, there no reason not to use my real name,’ Bradley figured, grinning to himself. ‘Imagine if everyone I worked with called me by some lame 1337 name like xXx_420blazeit_xXx or AdamPwnage. I’d never be able to live it down. Confirm.’

Implant SelectionAs a [human (Earth)], you are allowed one mechanical and one biological implant.Special Condition:As a candidate specially selected by the Administrators, one additional mechanical or biological implant may be selected.SelectSkip

‘So is this “special condition” what everyone was talking about?’ Bradley thought, recalling his reason for being here. For some reason or another, the Administrators chose him as “ideal” for the Game. ‘It makes me wonder exactly what the requirements are for their decision. From what I learned from the rest of the candidates, it seems like it was effectively chosen at random.’

Reminded again of the feelings—or lack of feelings—around him from the White Abyss, he quickly got back to task; not wanting to spend a second longer there than necessary. Looking at this new window, he noticed that a grid of choices accompanied the usual simple display. Each section of the scrolling grid listed an “Implant” followed by a description explaining what it did.

‘Okay, so what exactly are these implants?’ he thought, ‘…oh right! The Doctor said something about this…uh…System: What is an implant?’

As he thought the question, another window appeared next to the others:

Query – “What is an implant?”Definition – Implant:A Mechanical device (Mechanical Implant) or biological procedure (Biological Implant) which augments a Player’s abilities. Causes physiological change.

‘It worked!’ he thought, giving himself a mental pat-on-the-back for remembering the command. ‘As for that answer, I suppose that seems obvious. Oh well, it isn’t as if the Game is going to actually change my body in real life. That would be crazy! They would warn me about that. No, if I’m going to be here for the long haul, I need to choose carefully. I always did love character customization screens…’

Looking over the list, he quickly realized that everything listed came in ranks. Asking the System, it replied:

Query – “What is a rank?”Definition – Rank:The method of ordering within in the Game for a given category. Such categories such as: Experience, Combat Prowess, Ability Proficiency, Item Quality etc. This rank is ordered first by the letters [S,A,B,C,D,E,F,G] or unranked, with “S” being the highest and “unranked” being the lowest. Each of these letters are further sub-ordered from the numbers 1 to 2,147,483,647 (2^31 – 1). Should a particular category contain more than 17,179,869,184 ranked elements, more than one element can occupy a given rank.

Although Bradley had no concept of how these implants measured against things in his day-to-day life, it at least gave him a means to compare one implant to another.

From the list in front of him, he eventually concluded that—with the options provided to him at this time—the biological implants were unquestionably bad. Any semi-useful one required several prerequisites and would effectively cause him to cease being human. Others were covered in jargon such as ‘caloric intake’ or ‘psionic fulcrum’ that their descriptions went completely over Bradley’s head. For example:

Biological Implant: Superior Strength[p=left]Greatly improves strength by increasing the density, flexibility, and durability of muscle. ‘Jab’ punches can pierce 28cm of rolled steel and muscles can withstand physical projectile impact energies under 100 Joules per millimeter squared. Requires regular muscle activity to maintain this level of strength.

Increases daily caloric intake by 2482.17cal and requires increases in all vitamin intake, especially protein.[/p]Prerequisites:Biological Implant: Cardiovascular System [Rank B or higher]

Biological Implant: Skeletal System [Rank B or higher]

Biological Implant: Gastrointestinal System [Rank C or higher]Includes:Biological Implant: Muscular System [Rank A]

Biological Implant: Cardiovascular System [Rank B][p=left]Improves the heart and its capacity to carry blood and nutrients throughout the body. Required for biological implants that require a higher or more rapid influx of nutrients.

Increases daily caloric intake by 3941.96 cal and requires increases in all vitamin intake, especially iron.[/p]Prerequisites:Biological Implant: Gastrointestinal System [Rank D or higher]

Biological Implant: Skeletal System [Rank B][p=left]Improves the body’s ability to withstand external forces. Required for implants that expose the body to higher thresholds of blunt-force trauma or weight-handling ability.

Increases daily caloric intake by 1412.83 cal and requires increases in all vitamin intake, especially calcium and Vitamin D.[/p]Prerequisites:Biological Implant: Gastrointestinal System [Rank E or higher]

Biological Implant: Gastrointestinal System [Rank C][p=left]Improves the body’s ability to absorb and deliver nutrients from food and beverages to the rest of the body. Required for most bodily implants that require an increase in caloric and vitamin intake beyond the body’s current limits.[/p]Prerequisites:None

Bradley tried to think through these various combinations, but found himself quickly confused. ‘Urgh,’ he thought to himself, ‘I’ll be at this all day if I try to pick-and-choose two biological implants that work together… and I don’t want to even think about some of the single-implant options like…’

Biological Implant: Exclusive Bipedal --> Quadrupedal[p=left]Transforms the upper limbs into non-manipulative locomotive appendages, adjusting the arrangement of organs and the musculoskeletal system accordingly. Greatly increases locomotion but removes the ability for limbs to manipulate objects with precision.[/p]Prerequisites:None

‘…Not only is it completely useless, but I can only imagine how messed up that would feel.’ He shuddered…or at least he tried, but without a body it could not be done in the White Abyss. Trying to avoid a panic attack again, he focused hard on the list.

Eventually he found a useful one:

Biological Implant: General Status EnhancerProvides a boost of 20 points to all attributes.

Increases daily caloric requirements by 421.68 cal as well as increasing all vitamin requirements.Prerequisites:None

‘Well there aren’t any obvious drawbacks except for eating more food—which is more of an upside than a downside—but the benefits are pretty vague. When I asked the system what attributes were it just said the usual ‘Strength, Dexterity etc.’ but didn’t give me any indication what the points meant. Still, it’s better than nothing.’

Not wanting to waste any more time, he selected it and moved on to the Mechanical Implants. Unlike the biological ones, many of these implants did not require any prerequisites, but instead focused on specific functions. These either required some sort of battery pack or external device to remain functional. Being a Computer Engineer, one implant jumped out at Bradley over all the others:

Mechanical Implant: Human-Computer Interface [Rank D][p=left]Allows direct cognitive access to a computer system via wireless communication, allowing the brain to issue commands directly to the device. Can only guarantee proper interfacing with devices of equal or lower rank.

Has a peak energy consumption of 477.713 Watts, peak data rate of 4,294,967,296 bits per second and maximum range of 9.216 Miles.[/p]Prerequisites:Cybernetic Interface Chip [Rank D or higher]

Mechanical Implant: Cybernetic Interface Chip [Rank D][p=left]Connected directly to the brain, when interfaced directly with a computer, implant, or memory module, this chip converts thought into the intended electromagnetic input expected by a wide variety of compatible devices. Higher ranks improve the data rate, allowable energy consumption, number of devices, and provides higher levels of security.

Allows 3 compatible devices, peak energy consumption of 551.168 Watts and a peak data rate of 68,719,476,736 bits per second.[/p]Prerequisites:None

Although there were many other useful implants including cybernetic optics and robotic limbs, the idea that Bradley could wirelessly program a computer or read a webpage at the speed of thought was almost too good to be true. He suspected that those things might be impossible, but the other implants sounded even more unbelievable so he remained optimistic. Bradley wanted to select higher rank implants, but these were the only ones whose prerequisites he could afford.

With the three implants selected, he worried that he might have made a mistake and forever regret his choice. When he asked the System, however, he found that he could change these choices at any time until “Level 100”. He felt pretty stupid for not figuring that out earlier as this meant he spent longer than necessary in the White Abyss. He concluded the Abyss must be effecting his mind. Without a reason to remain uncertain, he confirmed his choices without hesitation.

As he did so, the White Abyss thankfully faded again to black.

??????

Bradley’s eyes cracked open to find himself under a blue sky and beneath a tree’s canopy.

“I can feel!” he exclaimed, pumping his fists into the air as he remained laying down. He reveled in the feeling of grass and air on his skin. The feelings were so good, in fact, that he teared up slightly and rolled around in spite of himself. These distractions even caused him to accidentally dismiss a Game Window before he could read it. He wondered briefly about what it could have been before dismissing it as something in his eye.

As he sat up, he found himself in some sort of park. A tall, uniform, grey, five-storey structure surrounded the grassy area, making him conclude that—rather than a park—it was more of a very large courtyard. Looking around, he saw a smaller two-storey building standing about one hundred feet away in the center of the courtyard. Despite the enclosed nature of the space, it showed signs of neglect with long grass coming out of the concrete pathways and various weeds springing forth unchecked.

‘How the heck did I get here?’ he thought, stretching his stiff body and brushing himself off of dirt. ‘I wonder if I passed out in the Capsule and that Doctor left me out here as a prank or something. Considering that wherever the facility is located is 10 hours from Dallas, it is possible I could be somewhere more ‘green’ but for some reason I expected something resembling Area 51’s ‘desert wilderness’.’

Now standing, he found his body was in far better shape than what he remembered it. While Bradley could not remember having any health problems, he also spent years of driving to work and sitting at a computer desk which left him physically unfit. Now though, he felt as if he was still in his peak condition during high school cross country. It was truly an amazing experience, but he had absolutely no idea how it had happened.

‘Could that have something to do with the Capsule?’ he thought, ‘Maybe that is why the Doctor wanted those scans.’

Having thought through the situation, Bradley headed over to the building in the center of the courtyard for some answers; its conspicuous placement attracting his attention. Upon arriving, he found the doors of the building propped open and a soldier stood next to it, leaning on the wall. The guard carried a full complement of combat gear, similar to the ones he saw in the hander upon arriving at the “Facility”. Unlike those soldiers though, he wore a more ragged woodland camouflage outfit. A few smaller areas on the uniform were patched with off-colour fabric which surprisingly did not hinder the cloth’s camouflage.

“Hey, you,” the soldier declared, waving at Bradley as he stepped off from against the wall, “your Bradley Cooper, right?”

“Huh? Do I know you?” Bradley questioned.

“Obviously not, but I’m guessing you’re the last of the new Players,” the guard stated. “As for the name, I can see it written over your head.” He emphasized that point by gesturing to the empty space over his own head.

Looking up and down at Bradley approvingly, he added, “I’m glad you at least didn’t get one of those stupid bionic arm implants like half the other jarheads here. A lot of good those do when you’re crushing your guns by squeezing them too hard and have to relearn all your muscle-memory from scratch. They’re great soldiers and get the job done, but thinking isn’t their strong suit… I guess that’s why the Feds pay me the big bucks. Heh.”

“What are you talking about?” Bradley asked, a confused expression on his face. He even waved his hand over his head to check for his name, despite the impossibility.

“Uh, you did see the implant screen before coming here, right?” the soldier replied with a confused expression of his own. “You’ll definitely need them before you start your Tutorial. In any case, my ‘Mark 11b Ocular Implant’ allows me to see things you normally can’t… like certain System information.”

“Huh? Why are you talking about implants like-” Bradley stopped himself as his eyes went wide. “I-I’m in the Game?”

“Wait, you didn’t…” the soldier got out before almost taking a knee to let out a deep belly laugh. “For fuck’s sake, how the hell did you miss that little detail?!”

He laughed for a good couple more seconds before finally trailing off, wiping a tear from his eye and saying, “Jesus Christ, haven’t laughed like that in a while. Didn’t you read the window message? How the hell did you think you found yourself in the middle of the goddamn Pentagon’s Center Courtyard?!”

“It’s just so… real,” Bradley replied, again feeling the sensations around him. He looked at his hand for a moment, experimentally opening and closing it into a fist and quickly flexing his fingers. ‘I honestly can’t tell the difference!’ he concluded. Bending down, he rubbed a little dirt between his hands. Identical to what one would expect in real life, the thousands of individual granules felt powdery and coarse against his skin. ‘This really is new and amazing technology! To handle this level of simulation in real-time, the computer processing it must be running in the exaFLOP range at least… and that would just be for my perspective, yet alone the hundreds of people using it right now!’

“Wait, this is the Pentagon?!” Bradley remarked rhetorically, finally catching everything the soldier said. Looking around again, he only now noticed that the building surrounding the courtyard did—in fact—meet at five points.

“Okay, this isn’t funny,” the soldier observed, looking at Bradley gravely. “I know the higher ups are asking a lot, but that doesn’t excuse this kind of bullshit.” He sighed and rolled his eyes, “Well, I guess I should be glad you’re at least registered as an ‘Employee’ or you would have started in the middle of nowhere! Jesus, the shit I have to put up with…”

The guard quickly ran into the building he had been leaning against and came out carrying a set of grey camouflaged army fatigues. They came with a hat, socks and boots. He assumed they must have been told of his sizes from the physical he had with the Doctor earlier.

“I’m going to need you changed into this ACU ASAP and head over to the south end of the courtyard over there,” he said, pointing behind Bradley towards one of the five entrances. “The Tutorial starts whether you’re ready or not and I’d prefer if all you civvies could at least be on the same page about it. Christ…”

Earth Coalition Quest[/td4][td2]Lieutenant Winslow of the Earth Coalition wants you to get changed into your uniform before attending an orientation at the Pentagon Center Courtyard – South Entrance.Item(s) Provided:United States Army Combat Uniform (ACU) - Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP)Quest Difficulty:UnrankedSuccess Condition(s):Arrive at the entrance wearing the uniform.Failure Condition(s):20 minutes has expired.Quest Reward(s):In-Game Orientation

“Woah, so this really is a game after all… and I’m guessing your name is Lieutenant Winslow?” Bradley asked.

“Yeah,” the Lieutenant replied, thrusting the uniform into his hands, “First Lieutenant James Winslow of the US Marine Corps.”

“Right, thanks,” Bradley replied as he took the uniform. “Wait, what is this ‘Earth Coalition’ thing?”

“Oh that,” the Lieutenant groaned. “That is one helluva clusterfuck is what that is. Basically the Haxlard, you at least know about them right?” Bradley nodded his head, “Well the Haxlard want to make a trade agreement with us. Something like alien tech for our raw materials.”

“Sounds amazing!” Bradley proclaimed unconsciously. Thinking about the sophisticated technology that must have gone into the Game Capsule, he could imagine all sorts of benefits in other fields. ‘If the aliens could afford on entertainment like this Game, they must have even better technology for industrial use.’

“Yeah it is, too good of a deal to pass up,” Lieutenant Winslow agreed, “there was just one catch: they would only speak to people representing all of humanity. At first, the US—which were the first to talk to them—just brought together our NATO allies into the meeting, but then China and Russia found out somehow. In the end, to speed up the process, they joined the NATO alliance and ‘BRICS’ association—otherwise known as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South American association—together, forming the illustrious Earth Coalition…”

“Why even bother?” Bradley questioned, “Don’t we already have the United Nations?”

“I’m guessing you don’t pay attention to global politics too much,” the Lieutenant replied, rolling his eyes. “Well after all this shit started happening, I took a very healthy appreciation for the subject. It also helped that I majored in International Studies during my time at VMI. I mean, it’s true that if we had fifteen years to deliberate everything, then the UN would be good enough, but that was only formed for two reasons: to prevent World War III and to reduce global violence overall. I suppose we’re only killing ourselves by the millions instead of tens of millions so I suppose they aren’t doing a half-bad job…

“Anyway, aliens and world-changing trade agreements are about as far outside of the UN mandate as you can get. I imagine that once the trade agreements have all gone through and we finally get around to announcing the aliens’ presence though, then the UN will be great in making sure people don’t flip their shit. Until then, we needed a political organization that had the power to negotiate without leaking the news to the press and causing a shitstorm.”

“Right…” Bradley trailed off.

“Anyway, I’ve wasted enough time with this. Daylight’s burning and you have a ‘quest’ to do! Get to it!” the Lieutenant yelled before marching off in the direction of the southern entrance.

Conklyn’s Flowers, Pentagon Central Courtyard, Washington, DC, the Game

Bradley discovered that the central building housed a simple food court and flower store. It surprised him that the center of such a symbol of military power would have something so mundane at the center. Despite its former function, Bradley could clearly see it no longer served that purpose now. Dead flowers, broken pots and overturned furniture lay scattered on the floor and several discolored spaces on the walls betrayed the positions of furniture that no longer existed there. Bradley could not figure out why the place looked so ruined. Being a game, he concluded that the soldiers must have searched and took anything valuable they could find.

‘After all, why not?’ Bradley thought, ‘There’s no victim and it isn’t like taking a virtual copy of something is actually theft.’

Using the storage closet in the back, he changed into the uniform and put his old clothes into one of the shop’s bags. Checking himself in a small, cracked mirror on a shelf, he actually found that he looked like a soldier thanks to the square cap hiding most of his hair. Giving a smart salute and chuckled to himself before stowing the hat in the bag. ‘I feel like I’d offend somebody wearing this,’ he thought, ‘I guess I’m a government contractor now, but I sure as hell am not a soldier.’

Walking out of the store, he quickly stashed the $200 dollars in cash from the register into his pocket. ‘If the soldiers can do it, I can too,’ he thought to himself. Exiting the building, he jogged—bag in hand—towards the southern entrance.

When he arrived, he found that all the other five candidates were already lined up in front of the Lieutenant. Thinking of the number of reasons for being late, he silently stood next to Patricia, the accountant, and placed his bag down next to him. As he did so, a window appeared:

Earth Coalition Quest – Completed!You changed into your uniform before attending the orientation at the Pentagon Center Courtyard – South Entrance within the time period!Quest Reward:In-Game Orientation

Bradley rolled his eyes at that. ‘I hope all that all of these ‘quests’ aren’t like that,’ he sighed, ‘it would be really stupid if I was congratulated every time I go to the bathroom too.’

“Well now that everyone has finally arrived,” the Lieutenant declared, staring pointedly at Bradley, “we can begin.”

Clearing his throat, he began by saying, “Alright, without further ado, first thing’s first. This world: it is a duplicate of the one we just came from.”

“We can tell that already,” Alex, the psychologist, stated.

“Yes, I concede that seeing yourself in the middle of a full-scale Pentagon would make that pretty obvious,” the Lieutenant continued, “but there are a few caveats. This isn’t an exact duplicate, thankfully.”

“What do you mean?” Patricia asked.

“Well imagine if everything was identical: every blade of grass, every brick, every piece of paper was the same.”

“Yeah, that would be an impossible technical challenge,” Bradley observed.

“No, it’s clearly possible,” the Lieutenant stated, shaking his head, “in fact, the aliens appeared to do exactly that. We don’t know how, but they did. You can’t see from within the confines of this little courtyard, but every single building, brick and road sign of every city we’ve come across has been recreated in perfect detail, and that’s eyewitness testimony from people who lived in those cities. If I could somehow take pictures and bring them into the Real World, I bet even the rust on the mailboxes would be accurate. But think about other things.”

It took a few moments, but Garry Woods was the first to catch onto the context. “Classified documents,” he eventually got out, his eyes wide.

“Exactly!” the Lieutenant replied. “Imagine if a Chinese spy got into the Game and travelled here to the Pentagon. If it was an exact copy, then they would have access to every piece of military intelligence we have. Thousands of operatives and soldiers around the world would be at risk and in the worst case, the whole world could destabilize from the subsequent intelligence arms race. If it was just undercover agents, we could get them out at great expense, but we aren’t just talking about that. We’re also talking about missile silo locations, chemical weapon formulas and schematics for Weapons of Mass Destruction too.”

“No way,” Patricia let out, “this Game is way more serious than I thought!”

“So did the government, at least initially,” the Lieutenant agreed. “The moment we realized that the Game was a duplicate of real life, we immediately brought our best soldiers in to burn or otherwise destroy any classified documents we could find. That’s partially why we established our headquarters here in the Pentagon. What we found, though, as that there weren’t any documents to find in the first place.”

“What, did somebody already get to them?” Bradley asked.

“No that’s not what I mean,” the Lieutenant shook his head, “rather, we believe those files never found their way into the Game at all. Like I said earlier, the Game isn’t an exact duplicate. Many things are the same, and yet many things are different too. US currency and CD covers are exactly the same, but photo albums in the homes we searched are just filled with blank paper. Same goes for computers too, they just log into a default ‘home screen’. No government access, no classified documents, not even emails. No personalized information of any kind.”

“Wait,” Garry, the programmer, interrupted, “if they actually copied the documents—they put all this stuff in the Game after all, they would have ta copy ‘em—then that means they’ve got all this classified stuff stored somewhere, right?”

The Lieutenant nodded gravely, “That’s the idea. We have no way of knowing if that’s true or not, but I for one think it’s pretty likely considering what else they can do. I wouldn’t want to get into a fight with them, that’s for sure. So don’t do anything that might piss them off.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone let that sink in.

“So are there any NPCs?” Garry asked, trying to break the suddenly serious mood. Bradley had learned the programmer had played a lot of MMORPGs in the past just as he had himself, so it didn’t come to his surprise that he would be asking RPG-related questions. “There ain’t no duplicates of us ‘round here, right?”

“Non-Player Characters?” the Lieutenant asked rhetorically, “Well, there is still wildlife around so technically there are, but there are no ‘doppelgangers’ or any other humans except the Players that came here in the Game Capsules. Even the Administrators—who will be conducting your Tutorial—are Players, or so I’m told. They just have extra privileges.

“The good news is that this means we won’t have any problems ‘surviving’. Although this virtual Earth has been deserted for what appears to be a whole year—and so the Supermarkets are full of spoiled food—there are still plenty of canned goods to take and eat. We’ve also spent the last few weeks driving tanker trucks to siphon gas from various gas stations in the area, so we have a large enough supply to run the Pentagon’s backup Diesel generators indefinitely. Oh, and just a reminder, money is effectively worthless here. Even if you find any money, just ignore it. The US sure as hell isn’t going to honor ‘virtual money’ so they are basically just pretty pieces of paper.”

“Hehe, yeah of course,” Bradley chuckled, reminding himself to throw out the money he got from the gift shop as soon as he could.

“Wait, we need to eat in here?! But why?” Farida, the architect, asked. “Is that why we’re wearing these army uniforms? We need to help out in scavenging for supplies?”

“You definitely need to eat. Don’t know how it works, but it actually will satisfy you in the Real World as well. It probably has something to do with that gel that covers you,” Lieutenant Winslow replied. “Anyway while you may not feel hungry at the moment, you will. As for those uniforms… You’re just wearing them now to ‘break them in’ before your Tutorial. I’ll explain it all of that tomorrow. Although it would be nice if you could help with the scavenging, I’d rather you do what you do best. There aren’t many of us around so whatever you are good at in the Real World, you are probably best at here.”

“So is that our goal?” Maria, the Biologist, asked, “All of us working together to establish this Virtual Earth’s infrastructure and make sure we all can live here indefinitely?”

“Well, we actually don’t have any mandate or even any Rules of Engagement at the moment,” the Lieutenant shrugged, “we only started this project because the Enforcers told us to and the government decided to play ball. With those fucking death-ships orbiting around the planet like Swords of Damocles over all our heads, we didn’t want to antagonize them at all if we could avoid it. We only started taking the Game seriously when we found out there was a ‘perfect’ copy of the world to avoid National Security issues. Now that we’ve secured most of the really important military bases, the Game is more or less a way for us to quickly train soldiers. After all, when you die in the game you only lose a few ‘levels’ and Game-given abilities. Anything you learn stays with you. That the Game world runs four times faster than the real one also certainly helps.”

““What?!”” the six of them exclaimed.

“Oh so that riles you up,” the Lieutenant laughs. “Yeah, let me guess, you signed up to play the game 9 hours a day at $60/hour, right? Well, that’s actually 36 hours in-Game time. So in reality, you’re really only getting $15 an hour.”

A few of the candidates only sighed in defeat—having figured there was a catch somewhere—while others looked furious at having been conned.

“Now settle down,” the Lieutenant placated them, “that isn’t actually a bad deal. Think about it. Your body is only aging at one-quarter speed right now and we really don’t have any clear goals at the moment. That means you can effectively do what you want four times as long and you’ll get paid for it!”

That seemed to settle most of them down with only minor grumblings.

“Hey Lieutenant,” Bradley asked, “you were talking about ‘levels’ and ‘abilities’ before. Is this game really an RPG like that?” He found himself surprisingly eager to learn about what this Game actually entailed.

“Rocket-Prop-,” the Sergeant began to say before he realized what the context was. “Oh right, Role-Playing Game. It would probably be better to show you. Just think ‘System: Status’.”

Status WindowName:Bradley CooperSpecies:Human (Earth)Level:4Experience:0/1000Class:UndeterminedAlignment:Neutral[/tr]Age:26Gender:MaleRenown:0Notoriety:0----Regenerative Attributes----Health:95/95Health Regen:21.55/hrPsionic Energy:1/1Psionic Regen:0.82/hrShield Energy:N/AShield Regen:N/AStamina:85/85Stamina Regen:812.09/hr----Attributes----Strength:??+20Agility:??+20Intelligence:??+20Willpower:??+20Charisma:??+20Perception:??+20Endurance:??+20Luck:??+20----Resistances----Physical:??Mental:??Psionic:??----Career----Titles:NoneOccupation:Earth Coalition – Civilian Employee – RecruitCurrent Quest:Arrive for Pre-Tutorial and Practice----Currency----Currently Held:0 CreditsCurrently Owed:0 CreditsMarks:0P, 0D, 0GAbility Points:0----Faction Standings----Earth Coalition:EmployeeHaxlards:Neutral*Administrators:Privileged*

“Woah, that’s… awfully game-y,” Bradley muttered, trying to wrap his head around the idea that this RPG-esque screen actually somehow reflected the world around him. “It still feels weird thinking I’m in a game when everything is so real,” he concluded with a shrug.

“Speaking of realism,” Maria noted, “how do these values actually work? Wouldn’t things such as ‘health’ rely on hundreds of situation-dependant variables? Not only that, but these regeneration fields-”

“You’re right,” the Lieutenant smiled approvingly, “you can’t trust these values completely, they’re just approximate. We had a whole team of our computer guys sit down with that alien ambassador at the base and worked all this out with the Administrators when we started having trouble. They called it a ‘Patch’ or whatever and they uploaded the data into our pods. Basically this ‘Status Window’ converts a bunch of vague Game concepts into ones that are easier to understand. Trust me, it’s a lot better than what was there originally.

“It isn’t perfect, but it’s a great way to at least track your progress. Also, some of those numbers actually come directly from the Game: Strength, Intelligence, Stamina etc are all attributes you can raise when you ‘level up’ similar to any regular game you guys might have played. Like I said, don’t rely on them but rather figure out your limits on your own. If your stamina is below 10% it will feel as though you’re actually going to die of exhaustion, and obviously if you cut your hand off or something, no amount of ‘health regen’ is going to fix it.”

“What?!” Patricia cut into the conversation in a panic, “stuff like that can actually happen?! So you’re saying if we get hurt, it’s actually permanent like real life?!”

“No, no, I didn’t mean it like that,” Lieutenant Winslow denied, “if you log out and log back in again, all your injuries are gone.”

“Then why can’t we just do that in the middle of a fight?” Garry asked, although everyone knew that it couldn’t be that easy.

“The Administrator will probably explain this,” the Lieutenant began, “but you can’t just log out at any time. There are a lot of other rules, but the most important one is that if any combat abilities have been used against you in the past 4 hours or so, then you have to wait for almost 2 minutes in-game while completely paralyzed before logging out. You won’t even know it’s happening, but it is. If at any point you are attacked, the log-out stops immediately, but the paralysis remains. Unfortunately there isn’t a way to just click a button and kill yourself to log out either. We’re working on finding cyanide tablets so if you find yourself in a really bad situation… well you get the idea.”

The candidates all looked very grim at that. Realizing who he was talking to, he quickly added, “Oh, right, well you don’t need to worry! You can’t actually die here. One of the soldiers, Ramirez, ‘died’ from a surprise bear attack a few weeks ago, but he came back as good as new. It hurts a bit, but your memories of the event are usually pretty hazy so you probably won’t remember it.”

“Oh, okay,” Patricia replied softly. Although she was freaked out by all the death talk, she was also partially relieved that she wouldn’t have to live in agony for hours if she accidently broke her legs or something and there wasn’t anyone around.

“So what is with those question marks and asterisks?” Bradley asked, hoping to bring the topic back to the Status Window.

“Oh yeah, those,” the Lieutenant muttered, as if hearing about it for the first time. “The question marks will clear up after the Tutorial. The Game just doesn’t know enough about you; that’s what the Tutorial is apparently for. As for those asterisks, they tell you that there’s more information than just a straightforward answer.”

“Then what is this psionic-” Alex Cheng, the Psychologist, started to say before he was cut off by the Lieutenant.

“Just ignore that. If you checked the biological implant list long enough, you probably saw some things that give you what are called ‘psionic abilities’. From what I can tell, ‘Psionics’ are the Game’s version of ‘magic.’ Don’t ask me how it works, I’m sure it’s just game logic. Either way, if you got an implant with it, I’m going to force you to get something else. The only ‘magic powers’ you could get are crappy floating balls of light and stuff like that and it takes forever to get the hang of it. Same thing for ‘Shield Energy’. Apparently aliens actually do have force-fields, but just like the Psionics, you should only go for those once your past level 100 at least. If you get it right now, you’ll barely be able to defend against a punch, let alone a bullet. Besides, there aren’t things you civvies shouldn’t be worrying about that kind of thing anyway. Just focus on what you’re good at.”

At that moment, he snapped his fingers. “Actually, it’s probably a good idea to go over your implants and make sure you picked the right choices before you head off to the Tutorial. Meanwhile, why don’t you guys explore the Status Window a bit? Just give the command. For example, System: Status: Attributes: Intelligence will give you details on your intelligence stat.”

Games like MMORPGs and tabletop games that Bradley played during his high school days all contained similar concepts, so he felt more than familiar with what these various “Attributes” likely meant. Instead, he focused on the stats with asterisks for their additional information.

‘Okay then, I think the first one would be System: Status: Faction Standings: Haxard.’

Just as he finished the thought, the relevant window appeared:

Haxard Faction StandingStanding:NeutralHaving no connections with the Haxard in the Game, their relationship with you extends from their relationship with your employer instead.*Due to the instability of the Earth Coalition Faction and their ongoing negotiations with the Haxlard, Haxlard neutrality with you is a tentative one. Your standing with them could change to ‘ally’ or ‘enemy’ without warning.

‘Well that’s… unsettling,’ Bradley thought nervously, ‘though then again, they said that they can’t attack us in the real world right? Besides, we have that 5 year grace period so we’ll be fine even if negotiations fail… I hope. Anyway, the next one is… System: Status: Faction Standing: Administrator.’

Administrator Faction StandingStanding:PrivilegedHaving been chosen directly by the administrators, you have been given privileged rights to certain benefits. These privileges last until the species [human (Earth)] establishes themselves in the universal community or are otherwise revoked by an Administrator.*PrivilegesIncreased Growth:Ability and attribute growth occurs 5% faster.Reduced Death Penalty:Ability, attribute and level penalties associated with dying have been reduced by 70%.Implant Advantage:One additional Mechanical or Biological Implant for free selection in addition to those allowed by your race.Infant Species:As a member of a species (human (Earth)) without any players over level 1000, you cannot be attacked by Players over level 1000.Infant Faction:As a member of a faction founded on a recently discovered planet (Earth), you cannot be attacked by factions not founded on your planet for a period of:

[5 years, 2 months, 14 days, 12 hours, 8 minutes, 52 seconds]

‘Well that sounds a little better… well except for that 70% reduction in death penalties,’ he thought, ‘Will I really die that much that I need something like that? Anyway, I guess the Doctor was right, the Administrators are looking out for us… I hope.’ Bradley sighed and shook his head. ‘I seem to be doing a lot of hoping lately-’

“Alright Bradley, you’re the last one,” the Lieutenant said, moving to stand in front of Bradley. “Can you show me your implants? Just think ‘System: Share – Lieutenant Winslow: Implant Window.”

“Sure,” Bradley replied, thinking the command. As he did so, a new window appeared. Unlike the previous ones, however, this one was green and indicated that it was being shared with the Lieutenant:

[table=green]Sharing – Lieutenant Winslow[/table]

[table=green]Implant List----Biological Implants----Implant Name:Implant Rank:Implant Proficiency:General Status EnhancerDN/AProvides a boost of 20 points to all attributes.----Mechanical Implants----Implant Name:Implant Rank:Implant Proficiency:Human-Computer InterfaceDUnusedAllows direct cognitive access to a computer system via wireless communication, allowing the brain to issue commands directly to the device. Can only guarantee a proper interface with devices of equal or lower rank.Implant Name:Implant Rank:Implant Proficiency:Cybernetic Interface ChipDUnusedConnected directly to the brain, when interfaced directly with a computer, implant, or memory module, this chip converts thought into the intended electromagnetic input expected by the device. Higher ranks improve the data rate, allowable frequency range, and provide higher levels of security.[/table]

“Huh, interesting choices,” the Lieutenant observed, spending a few moments critiquing the screen. “I’m guessing you’re good with computers?”

“I’m a Computer Engineer, sir,” Bradley confirmed before adding, “I figured I’d play up my strengths, though I haven’t quite figured out how these implants work yet.”

“Well you should probably figure it before your Tutorial,” the Lieutenant suggested, “there should be a couple computers inside if you want to try it out.”

“Aren’t you worried about me using Pentagon computers?” Bradley asked in surprise.

“Didn’t I tell you? All compromising info is gone. Trust me, my boys were really invested in double and triple-checking to make sure there was nothing on those computers for…reasons. All that’s left is ‘regular’ software like Microsoft Office and crap like that. As long as you don’t blow something up, I couldn’t care less what you do with those computers. Most of them are basically power-wasting paperweights until we can get the internet working... and seeing how that would require practically reconstructing the entire nation’s power and telecommunications grid, I don’t see that happening any time soon.”

“Alright, I’ll get right on it,” Bradley confirmed, “although where do I go to sleep… and do I even need to sleep here?”

“You definitely do,” the Lieutenant replied, “your brain is working four times as fast but the machine can’t perform miracles. As for your room, you can find it in the second-floor offices. We printed your name onto the door so you can’t miss it.”

“Oh and before you leave,” the Lieutenant said as the candidates were about to head inside. Turning to address all the candidates. “Your Tutorial is scheduled for 9:30am tomorrow morning. You can spend the rest of the day getting a feel for your implants and getting used to the world, but I want you all right here washed, fed and dressed right at this spot an hour early for some practice.”

Earth Coalition Quest[td2]Lieutenant Winslow of the Earth Coalition wants you ready (washed, dressed and having eaten breakfast) at the Pentagon Center Courtyard – Southern Entrance by 8:30am tomorrow for pre-Tutorial practice.[/td4]Item(s) Provided:None.Quest Difficulty:UnrankedSuccess Condition(s):Arrive ready and on time.Failure Condition(s):Do not arrive ready and on time.Quest Reward(s):Pre-Tutorial Orientation and Practice

The Lieutenant stared at each of them closely. “You will need to work as a team if you want to make it out of the Tutorial alive.”