Having had enough of his bouts of negativity, Alex went back into the Traveler’s Capsule. The mat black insides made it hard to distinguish where the chair was, but the material was soft enough to just sink in. Other than a button to close and open the capsule, it was entirely hand’s free.

Leaning back to be comfortable, he let the cover slowly descend and shroud him in darkness. One moment, he was sitting in the most expensive chair. The next, he was in his virtual menu that had access to most of his social media and some entertainment options.

Checking out some of the news, Alex wondered if anyone had broken the embargo relating to Death Galaxy. Unsurprisingly, other than rumors and speculation, no new information was being put out. No one with an actual job wanted to jeopardize their position for short term clicks.

Surprisingly, all the user-supported networks were also barren. Alex would have expected one loose-lipped individual to try to put even a little bit of information. It likely that someone had talked but Traveler’s Games was quick on the uptake and silencing any leak at a fast pace.

Of course, this casual perusing led Alex to come across related information concerning VR, Travelers Games., and the political discourse between new humans and old humans. Bored and in no hurry to get back to Death Galaxy just yet, he read up a couple of random articles.

Needless to say, the adult market was making a killing due to VR. So were the therapists getting paid to deal with sex addicts. Like most things in life, there were always unexpected consequences. Not that that was the only market raining in cash, but it was the biggest attention-grabbing topic Alex guessed.

Traveler's Games was being tight-lipped as always. Being a five-year-old company co-founded by James Tailwind and Dorothy Jameson, a new human and old human respectively, they garnered quite a lot of attention. Sure, both races intermingled on a daily basis, especially in a working environment. But you’d think a company that touted being a bridge between species, they have more to say to the media. Inversely, they retained a quiet and straightforward approach, only saying what they needed to when they needed to.

Speaking of relations, things weren’t getting any better on that end any time soon. Another diplomatic schism as people tried and failed to gain access to more new human tech. Inversely, new humans were trying and failing to gain access to grander political standing. Everyone was fully aware they were only allowing a slow trickle of their technology, and even then, it had advanced society a hundred years. Everyone also knew that old humans made most of the laws the stifled a number of actions new humans could take.

One side said that the technology they held was too dangerous. It was the express reason they had to leave their reality in the first place, so they didn’t want to endanger anyone else. The other stood firm that they couldn’t trust their new neighbors so easily, even though multiple generations had passed. People were still undecided if they wanted to trust a species entirely similar and wholly different.

Alex, being born on the fence, could see how dishonest people were being. Still human nature regardless of origin to be full of greed. Sure, there most definitely were people that believed what they were saying. Noble intentions aside, everyone wanted power on some level. Weather material or metaphorical.

Eventually, someone would break the camel’s back and it’ll be all over. It was without question nukes weren’t the worst thing humanity had invented for the last couple of years. It didn’t matter much to Alex himself if the world blew itself up. He didn’t expect to live that long.

His curiosity sated; Alex pulled up Death Galaxy’s interface. Neon text with the backdrop of a galaxy shaped in the form of a skull. Simple, but effective. Tapping the image, Alex logged back in. He’d only been gone a couple of minutes. Hopefully the NPC he woke up with would have some quests or something of interest to do. Nothing like driving away from an existential crisis by doing fetch quests right?

Simple and monotonous, just how Alex liked it.

413X woke up on the ground, a lizardman holding him and crying. Considering the blue pigmentation, it was easy to figure out who it was. There was also a grey-skinned man, a bladed weapon in his hand. Looking at the cut on the lizardman’s face and the yellow blood on the blade, gave a very dark implication about what was going on.

As always, Alex was a master of tact.

“Why the hell did I just walk into?”