CONVULSIVE ACTIONS

“This is a first.” Sam Kline, lead developer of Space Opera, wiped his mouth and stroked his chin.

Henry Andle, co-owner of Space Opera, chuckled. “And I thought we did some stupid crap when we were in college.” Henry was cheery as he spoke.

“Nothing like this,” Kline answered. He rubbed the back of his neck, just below the collar of his royal blue polo shirt.

The were in Team Bloop’s ready room. Jasmine Lens, project director for the Costa Brava scenario and this college tournament, was the third corporate person there. Sitting or standing, all of the main members of Team Bloop- the ones who weren’t in the game, were watching.

Janet, second in command of Team Bloop, asked simply “so what can we do?”

“Good question, what can you do?”

Janet looked to Billy as she spoke. “We don’t think we can fix Mark’s VR capsule.”

“Really?”

Janet looked to Billy. Billy answered. “His capsule’s server is FUBAR. The data points to a cascade of problems.” He glanced at the corporate people, but then at the ground. “The newest issue is there now appears to be corruption in the capsule software now and it’s, well, the VR pod is FUBAR too.” He looked up at the corporate people again, his voice was hopeful. “Give me a few hours to work on it and maybe, but it may also be scrap. I won’t know until I crack everything open and I can’t do that yet.” He looked accusingly at Janet.

There were nods all around. The news wasn’t a surprise to anybody. In the corner Dahlia shifted her feet, but kept her eyes staring at the ground. The small movement was enough for one or two people to turn and look at her. Dahlia didn’t look up- she was too horrified about her part in the accident.

Janet ticked off an option on her fingers. “We could replace Mark’s entire VR system. It would take some time, maybe an hour.”

“Are you proposing to use a stage two capsule?” Jasmine asked. There was a planned capsule switch for the teams. The corporation wanted to see how adaptable the VR systems and teams really were. In the real world, updates and upgrades happened, so they may as well happen here too.

Janet nodded, “yes, we would need to use a stage two capsule.”

“You would need to take him out of the game?” Henry Andle asked.

“Yeah,” Kline said, “nobody would be able to do a capsule switch out without taking the character out of the game. The person has to physically move to a different capsule.”

Jasmine picked up on the problem immediately. “By the rules of this competition, Mark or any character, who comes out of the game, except in designated breaks, in this scenario is dead and disqualified.”

Andle sighed. He looked as unhappy as Dahlia. “We can’t just kill him,” Andle said. Gis enthusiastic words gave hope. “Too popular, people out there love him.” He gestured to the monitor wall. “We are getting beaucoup attention.”

Team Bloop looked puzzled.

“The viewership of this competition has gone...through...the...roof.” He got more excited as he talked. I mean astronomical ratings. Everybody wants to see this, ev-er-y-body” Andle explained. “And your team is the top view at the moment. But team Powerder Puff Gs is a close second.” Kline scratched his head as Ande kept talking. “PepMotion and Gold Rush are three and four. I think that is just spill over though. But your team is number one.”

“Why?” BK asked. Momma Robin turned to shush him.

Andle waved his hand slightly. “It’s OK. It turns out Mark is a celebrity. Minor Celebrity anyway. The real celebrity is Gracie-Lynn.”

“Gracie-Lynn? The woman who is famous for being famous?”

“You got it!”

There was head shaking and muttering from the Team Bloop people. Slightly louder than they probably intended one said, “it’s not fair. she’s not changing the world.”

“Whether you think she is the GOAT or the stupidest thing ever doesn’t really matter. She’s gorgeous, she’s a minor train wreck. Men drool over her and teen girls want to be her.” His usually excited upbeat voice got a little uncertainty in it. “Mark was dating her or married to her or something, I don’t know. All I know is that anything having to do with her is big news.” Andle was excited again, the Team Bloop people not so much.

Andle continued, “Mark, the ex-something, being in love with an NPC who might be a computer program is entertaining. Love triangles are always entertaining.” Andle’s eyes were blazing with excitement. “Seeing Gracie-Lynn’s ex dating an AI? That’s real entertainment.” His gaze panned the room. “And people being entertained means more game subscriptions. And more game subscriptions means more...”

“But the rules Henry,” Kline interrupted. “If they take him out for any reason….”

“What about medical reasons?” Momma Robin asked hopefully.

Jasmine answered, “Right now, if you take him out for ANY reason, his character dies.”

“What if we didn’t take him out?” Kline was speaking to himself. “What if we left him where he is until the end of the scenario and then tell the teams its time to do the upgrade and capsule switch.”

“Can we do that?” Andle asked, “You’re always telling me what we can’t do. Will it wreck the story line?”

The members of Team Bloop just watched as the company people debated.

Forgotten in the corner, two camera people were recording everything. One of them stayed focused on the company people. The other was getting B-Roll shots- everything from Dahlia looking miserable to BK’s puzzled look. He got shots of monitors and displays, even extra shots of the game monitor that showed Mark convulsing in the corridor. One of his favourite shots was Trevon sitting alone and dejected on the floor of the server room. He had a tablet in his hands, but the cameraman doubted he was actually seeing anything on the screen.

Although everybody was listening to the discussion, Andle still raised his voice to include everyone in the room. “So, that’s what we’ll do. Leave Mark in situ until this mission is over and then we do the update switch over.”

Jasmine fixed Janet with a glare. “The only thing keeping you from being disqualified totally is a quirk of popular opinion.”

“Fickle popular opinion,” Kline added, “if you get my drift.” There were nods from the Team Bloop people.

“And none of this is broadcast or released or talked about or leaked unless Henry, Jasmine or I approve it,” Kline was looking at Craig. Craig was one of the reporters covering the tournament. He was a college kid who might be in over his head.

“NOBODY breathes a word of this to anybody until we say so,” This was directed to the members of Team Bloop. “Got it?”

Team Bloop gave nods. “Not good enough, I want to hear you say it. DO you understand, not a word of this to anybody?”

There was a chorus of “yes” and “I understand.”

“And permission to speak about this may never come. You might take this secret to the grave.” Everybody nodded.

“Uh,” BK started to speak, but Momma Robin nudged him and spoke up herself.

“One more request.” Nobody, except maybe BK had any idea what she was asking for. “Can we do anything to ease Mark’s situation?”

“Is he still awake? And being electrocuted?” Craig was incredulous.

“Are you kidding?” Andle asked.

Janet answered guiltily, “we, um, didn’t want to break any rules, so we did nothing.”

Andle looked at the game monitor. Then he looked at his smart watch. “For the last 30 minutes he’s been getting shocked?”

Janet nodded.

“Is he alive?”

“Alive and conscious,” said Momma Robin, “according to the health telemetry.” Her voice got pleading, “we have to do something.” Her eyes went to the game monitor. Everybody’s eyes went there. Every few seconds, Mark twitched uncontrollably.

Janet chimed in, “Sometimes the electricity makes the suit twitch.” Kline and Jasmine looked at her. Janet continued. “Sometimes it makes him twitch.”

Andle was transfixed looking at the screen. “And he feels everything?”

BK turned up the volume on the game monitor. Based on the sounds Mark was making, nobody doubted that Mark could feel it.