Glass and more glass. The only thing Christian could see was glass. The doors, windows, decoratives like flower pots, heck! Even the flooring was done by the glass.

Christian looked at the lady beside her. With heavy eyelids threatening to force her sleep, Anne was also leaning against a glass window. He feared that she would turn to glass as well.

"She is really intolerant to jetlags." Christian could understand her unruly behavior. It was understandable. They had been waiting in the lobby for 30 minutes now, and the glassy view of the waiting hall wasn't even the least bit interesting.

He stared at the lobby above, hoping someone would come and call them in the meeting they had been summoned for. The 38-year-old guy was fed up with staring at the glass windows and cabins all around. I wouldn't mind if they call us by a system announcement or send the Director himself, but if it takes another minute, I will break all the glasses making it a sight to behold. Despite his anger, he wouldn’t do anything either way. He was a data analyst, not a delinquent.

Could it be the COSMIC RESEARCH CENTER'S(CRC) staff sensed it as they had sent a lady in a black suit at that particular moment?

"Sorry for the delay, Mr. Christian and Mrs. Anne. I am Vona. I'll be taking you to the conference hall." Vona said, nodding her head slightly in an apologetic manner.

In no time, they entered a conference hall. The room had a table going down the room's length and 30 chairs arranged around it, but only 3 people were sitting. While Christian observed them, 7 more Researchers entered the hall from the other side. Some in pairs, some alone, while each of them had an escort with them.

All of the nine candidates who had been summoned from all around the world scrutinized each other.

“This is going to be something big,” Anne muttered in a low voice. She recognized exactly each one of their identities. They were all the best, either data analysts or data scientists in the world.

“Don’t tell me a meteorite is going to hit Rearth as well!” Christian exclaimed a little too loud. His behavior aside, the word he spoke scared the hell out of the analysts in front. Their eyes went wide, and they looked at the director of CRC sitting among the three people.

“Mr. Christain, there is no way to know if another Sling-Shot is on its way towards Rearth with half the speed of light.” The director said while coughing in embarrassment and shedding light on the humans’ helplessness against cosmic strength.

Sling-Shot was a meteorite that hit planet Kiton 50 years ago and wiped out half the human race there. Yes! Humans had achieved the feat of making two of the planets inhabitable in their home planet’s vicinity a thousand years ago.

Kiton and Juma had their civilization and steady growth, but 5 decades ago, Sling-Shot happened.

“Sorry.” Christian duly apologized for his behavior.

The Director nodded in acceptance and said, “Dear all, please sit. Mr. Tasha will brief you on the contents of the meeting.”

The escorts left the room once everybody found themselves a seat, and Tasha started the presentation, “We have requested all of your presence here because we are planning a new project.”

He flicked his hand like a magician, and holograms appeared, rendering a scene in front of them. Monsters were roaming around, humans with battle gear fighting them. Buildings from the ancient era lined to form a city and many more things which could not be spotted in the 36th century. Everyone looked confused. For some, it seemed like a scene taken out of a game, and others knew it was the case as they had experienced it.

“Yes, it is a scene taken out from Ulteria, a VMMORPG. We have also offered to purchase the game, but they have refused.”

“Director Dom, what purpose for CRC needs the assistance of a VMMORPG.” One of the candidates expressed.

“The reason is the same as it always has been,” The Director lied through his teeth, “It is to select apt individuals to recruit and research its general-purpose AI. Despite their refusal for our offer, the developers at Eighth-Gen organization, have agreed for CRC to conduct open research on Ulteria’s NPCs AI without divulging their engines’ details explicitly.”

“So what part does CRC want us to play in this?” Anne spoke after listening to a long conversation. She wasn't sleepy anymore. No matter how she speculated, she couldn’t understand CRC’s management to call all these data analysts here.

“As you might have heard, Ulteria is different from its other rival games. The game is all good and well, but they have messed things up by not implementing a ranking list for keeping players in-game progression unhindered along with their identities.”

Realization dawned on every analyst as they understood the meaning of their presence here. Their expression turned sour. It was really offensive to call them here for this purpose.

Anne took the lead as she spoke, “There are unofficial ranking sites. Why don't the CRC pick individuals from there?” Her words were cold.

“As you know, their work is decent, but CRC wants the best individuals to recruit. It will help grow Rearth space research to reach new horizons.” The director said, not sure whether he had ever lied this much in his whole life in only a day.

Trying to convince them by inducing patriotism was futile, “Let me put this straight, Director Dom. You want us to put our network on analyzing individuals playing Ulteria and make a scoreboard for their growth. Wouldn’t we be divulging their personal info that way?”

They were the best analysts on Rearth. Why would they want to waste their time on some game analyzing its player and uncovering what the developers didn’t wanna expose?

“You will not be held responsible, as CRC will hire all of you under a three-year contract with a salary of 2 billion credits per month.” The director said, and the words went past his audience’s ears without registering in their comprehension.

He pressed a button, and all of them received a contract for the job.

“If you agree, then please sign the contract.” He said, highly expectant that they would refuse.

The result was everyone stayed still. Did CRC just offer a job without testing an individuals’ capabilities?

They went through the content on their personal devices and came to one conclusion, This is a dream. Christain and Anne were the first to sign the contract after reading it. They would think about it later. None of the other analysts argued anything and left after sending a digitally signed copy of the contract to the director.

“Oh, dear! Who would’ve thought I’d be lying this much in a day.” The director said.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we would’ve presented them with the contract first?” The assistant director spoke for the first time.

“Maybe. It’s always the hindsight.”

“And what about the truth?”

“Do you want to send the two and a half worlds in an uproar by telling them that?”

***

Distant from the dealings of the real worlds and Ulteria events, Trino woke up from sleep in the cave.