The next few days went pretty much the same as the last ones. Or at least they did in-game. I also started going back to work and handed in my resignation. Reggie and Donna had mixed feelings about seeing me go. They were a little upset that I was leaving but they were also proud of the fact that I had gotten a job as good as the one that Gransoft had offered me. They even said that they wouldn’t make me work the full two weeks of notice that I was required to give them since they actually had enough staff to cover my usual shifts and those staff members would appreciate the extra hours anyway. Instead they only had me working a few more days when they couldn’t get someone to cover my usual shift.

It also turned out that Julian and Sarah were going to be visiting the Gransoft Headquarters on the same day that I was, so we decided to meet up and go together. I was quite looking forward to seeing my friends in real life again. It had been quite a while since we had spent time together outside of games since they were normally so busy with work.

The last few days of working at the store and training in Soul Core Online passed quickly and the day that my visit to the Gransoft Headquarters rolled around.

“It’s too bad that you lost so much weight since you brought your suit Tyler,” Katy said as I attempted to adjust my suit jacket in the hopes of looking slightly less like a child wearing my father’s clothes but to no avail.

“It’ll just have to do,” I sighed. “It’s better than the clothes I normally wear anyway.”

“That’s true,” Katy agreed. “I’m connected to your CM now, so I’ll be able to accompany you while you’re there. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll even get the chance to see the crystal where my consciousness is stored.”

“That would be amazing,” I agreed as I strapped my CM to my wrist. “Well, I guess that it’s time to head out then.”

I had to walk several blocks to get on the train which would take us to within a block of the Gransoft Headquarters. As I walked down the street, I realized that my back was straighter than it normally was, and I was making eye contact with more people. It was only a small victory, but it was still more progress than I had made in years.

About an hour later I found myself outside the Gransoft Headquarters which was a massive skyrise building and I felt the normal nervousness that I felt when I was public begin to grow in me.

“What are you waiting for Tyler?” Katy’s voice asked me from my CM. “Let’s go.”

“Sure,” I nodded as I felt my confidence return. “Thanks Katy.”

“That’s no problem Tyler,” she replied cheerfully. “I know this is hard for you, but I believe that you can do this.”

“So do we, mate,” a voice said behind me, and I turned around to see a man with a wide smile being pushed along in a wheelchair by a tall brown-haired woman. “It’s good to see the real you again Tyler.”

“It’s good to see you too,” I exclaimed as I bent down to give first Julian a hug then Sarah. “You two look well.”

“We are dear,” Sarah agreed. “You look like you’ve lost even more weight though. Hopefully, that’ll be changing soon though. You always were a good cook.”

“That means a lot coming from you Sarah,” I chuckled. “Because as far as I’m concerned, you’re a much better cook than I could ever be.”

“Alright, let’s head on in,” Julian said with an excited grin on his face. “I’ve been looking forward to this.”

A smile crossed my face as I looked down at Julian. My friend had been caught in a horrifying motorcycle accident that had left him paralyzed from the waist down was in a couple of years before I had met him and his wife which was actually part of the reason that we had become firm friends. Even though he was confined to a wheelchair Julian had the same unflappable nature that he did in all the games that I had played with him. In fact, it was because of his disability that Julian usually played as a Tank. Before his car accident Julian had been a bit of an adrenaline junkie and he used games to replace that since doing the things that he used to do all but impossible.

I gently took the wheelchair from Sarah and together we started walking towards the large glass doors to the building. Katy had been unusually silent since Julian and Sarah had shown up which I was guessing was because she hadn’t been expecting Julian to be wheelchair bound but as it turned out I was incorrect.

“Welcome to the Gransoft Headquarters!” a holographic version of my AI greeted us as I pushed Julian through the door. “It’s a pleasure to meet in person. Or at least as close to in person as I can.”

“It’s good to see you too Katy!” Julian laughed. “I hope that you’ll understand if I don’t get up to greet you.”

“Of course,” Katy nodded. “And don’t worry I’ve already chosen the best route for us to take.”

“Thank you dear,” Sarah nodded. “That’s very helpful. Shall we get going? I believe we have appointments to meet.”

“Right,” Katy nodded before turning towards the receptionist who was watching the exchange with an amused expression on her face. “We’re going to head up now. Is that alright?”

“Sure,” the receptionist nodded. “I’ll let Liam know that you’re coming.”

“I didn’t realize that Liam would be meeting with us personally,” I mentioned.

“And you would normally be correct to think that,” she agreed with a polite smile. “But you’re a bit different Mr. Howard. You’re quite important to the future of the company and perhaps more importantly he’s quite intrigued by you. Which is why he decided to meet with all of you himself.”

“Well, this should be even more interesting than I expected then!” Julian laughed. “Now hurry up and push me. We have a meeting to get to.”

“Sure, let’s roll out then,” I agreed then laughed when Julian attempted to swat at me with one of his arms.

Gransoft Headquarters was an impressive building in many ways but perhaps the most impressive technological aspect of all were the holographic strips that ran along every single wall that allowed Katy to walk with them as they headed up to Liam’s office. There were even other AI’s accompanying several employees as they went about their own tasks.

Other than the technological aspects of the building another thing that we all took notice of was how happy everyone seemed to be. Even with everyone bustling from place to place they still took the time to smile at us as we passed. I was guessing that the AIs had something to do with this. I asked Katy about it and she told me that the Ais had taken over some of the more time consuming and stressful activities which allowed the people that they were working with to do the other parts of their jobs.

Much like with the players who had pre-ordered Soul Core Online everyone working here had an AI partner of their own which meant that they were able to get multiple times the amount of work done with much less stress and frustrations. Since the Ais were still computers in many ways they didn’t mind the work that was hard on humans, so everything seemed to work out well.

Eventually Katy stopped in front of a large wooden door.

“So, this is it,” she said as she turned to us with the same bright smile on her face that we had come to know and love over the past few weeks. “Liam is just beyond this door.”

“Thanks for guiding us dear,” Sarah said as she pushed the door open for us and we stepped through. On the other side of the door was a large room that looked like it was used for meetings. Liam stood up as we entered and walked over to meet us with a big smile on his face and his hand held out for us to shake which we all did before turning our attention to the other people who were present. To my surprise they were all Ais even the one that I recognized.

“It’s good to see you Carla,” I said to her as I took my seat. “I didn’t even realize that you were an AI.”

“You weren’t supposed to,” she replied with a light laugh. “It’s good to see you again as well Tyler.”

“You managed to get here safely I see,” one of the other Ais present asked Sarah as she sat down next to her. The AI had taken the form of a blonde woman who looked like she might be a couple of years younger than Sarah.

“Of course, we did,” Sarah laughed. “Tyler, this is my AI partner Petra.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Petra,” I nodded before turning my attention to the last AI who I was assuming was Julian’s partner.

Normally Julian and Sarah wouldn’t have AIs of their own since they hadn’t pre-ordered Soul Core Online but apparently Gransoft had hooked them up since they knew me. This did mean that the Ais didn’t have as much time to get to know my friends, but things had apparently worked out pretty well. The AI in question was a younger man with shockingly bright red hair and a smile that nearly matched the one on Julian’s face.

“Hi there Tyler,” the AI greeted me cheerfully. “Julian has told me a lot about you. I’m Gordy and as I’m sure you’ve already guessed I’m Julian’s AI partner.”

“Well then, now that we’ve all been introduced let’s get down to brass tacks,” Liam said as he sat back down. “I take it that you’ve all read the contracts that I sent you?”

“Yes, we had a lawyer that I work with take a look at them,” Sarah nodded.

“Excellent, do you have any questions?”

We spent the next half an hour going over the details of the contracts until everyone was satisfied. Sarah and Petra did most of the talking since Sarah worked with lawyers. I was fairly sure that Sarah had given a bunch of notes to Petra so that she could memorize them but, in the end, very little about the contracts was changed. Liam quickly agreed to add a specific part about Julian getting to see a specialist to see if they could fit him with cybernetics that could let him walk again which was a little surprising because of how expensive things like that were but he just shrugged it off.

“I really don’t mind,” Liam laughed. “Like I said earlier. I didn’t actually know that Julian was wheelchair bound but if I did then I would’ve already added it to the contract in advance. You might not know this but Gransoft’s parent company is the one that developed the cybernetic attachment that most hospitals use to treat paralyzed patients. My brother, the president of the company used to be paralyzed himself and our father invested millions of dollars in research to treat his condition. Even today my father runs a foundation that helps people pay for the treatment that they need. So, all I’ll be doing is having a chat with him and he’ll work out the rest. Besides it’ll be good press for the company to be seen helping our employees out like this.”

“Well then you have my thanks,” Julian nodded. “Your family seems quite impressive.”

“Indeed, they are,” Liam nodded. “I hope that people will say the same thing about me some day.”

“From what I’ve seen they probably already do,” I told him. “Your employees seem to be very happy working here and I now for a fact that we’re all grateful to you and the AIs for making Soul Core Online.”

“Well, I didn’t have much to do with that,” Liam shrugged. “That was all the AIs hard work.”

“That might be true Liam, but you were the one who came up with the idea for them to create a game so that they could learn more about people,” Carla pointed out. “This isn’t the first time that I’ve told you this either.”

“The boss has always been a little too humble for his own good!” Gordy laughed. “It’s one of his few failings.”

“How well do you know Liam?” I asked curiously as the man in question shifted uncomfortably.

“Both of us actually worked with him here before we were assigned to Sarah and Julian,” Petra explained. “Both of us were attached to pretty important departments. So, we saw him pretty often.”

“Is that okay?” I asked. “If you were so important wasn’t it a bad thing for Gransoft that you were given to Julian and Sarah?”

“That was our decision mate,” Gordy told me with a chuckle. “All of the AIs were given the opportunity to become partners with your friends, but it was only an opportunity. We only signed up to be chosen. It was Julian and Sarah who chose us.”

“And we’re grateful that you did,” Sarah nodded.

“And no, losing them didn’t really cause that many issues for us,” Carla added. “There are hundreds of AIs waiting to take the place of any of the others and teaching them what they need to know to fill just about any position isn’t very difficult.”

“That’s right,” Katy agreed. “I actually had a different job before becoming your partner as well Tyler. There weren’t as many AIs as possible to go around back then after all.”

“I didn’t know that what did you used to do?” I asked curiously. “And what did he call you because I was the one that gave you your name?”

“I was an assistant for one of the techs working on the prototype VR Rig called Kenneth. Kenneth just called me ‘kiddo’ since he knew that I was going to be assigned to a Player,” Katy replied, and I nodded in understanding. “In fact, that might be part of the reason that you’ll be getting one of those Rigs to test.”

“It is,” Liam agreed. “Kenneth insisted that your Tyler be one of the first people to try it out. He’s been asking about you by the way. You should probably go and visit him if you have time.”

“Oh yes, I’ve been meaning to ask about that actually,” Katy said. “Would we be able to go into the racks and have a look at my Core?”

“I don’t see why not,” Liam nodded. “Let Kenneth know that you have m permission and he’ll let you take a look around.”

“Thanks Liam!” Katy exclaimed happily. “Is there anything else that we need to go over everyone?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Sarah replied as she glanced at Petra who shook her head. “I think that we’re ready to finish the paperwork now.”

A few minutes later we had finished up with our meeting and bid farewell to Liam who was looking quite pleased with the outcome.

“So which way do we go to meet this Kenneth person? I asked Katy once we were outside the meeting room.

“Are you guys coming as well?” Katy asked Sarah who nodded in agreement. “Then follow me!”

Thankfully, it turned out that the lab where Kenneth was working was only a single floor down and Katy slipped through the door without even waiting for us to open it in her excitement drawing a surprised shout from the other side of the door.

“Crikey kiddo!”

“Hi Kenneth!” Katy laughed as I opened the door to see that a man that I was assuming was Kenneth had dropped a box of what looked like computer parts on the ground and was now trying to pick it all up. “Sorry for surprising you!”

“You never change,” the man chuckled. “So, what do I owe the pleasure of your company my dear?”

Despite the mess that Katy had caused Kenneth didn’t seem to be particularly phased. In fact, he still hadn’t noticed that we were here.

“I’m here visiting with my partner Tyler,” Katy explained happily. “He gave me the name Katy by the way.”

“Really?” Kenneth chuckled. “Well, I’d say that name suits you quite well kiddo!”

“Why aren’t you using it then?” Katy snapped back at him causing him to laugh in amusement.

“Because I’ve always called you kiddo so it would be weird for me to change now!”

“It’s good to see you too Kenneth,” Katy laughed. “Everyone this is Kenneth.”

We all introduced ourselves to Kenneth who was quite amused by the whole situation. Kenneth didn’t look quite like what I expected a lab tech to look. He was a tall, tanned man with blonde hair and actually seemed to be relatively fit.

“So, you’re the kiddo’s partner then huh?’ he asked as he held out a hand for me to shake. “It’s good to meet you. I remember when she first got assigned to you. She was really excited, and it looks like she’s even happier now than she used to be when I worked with her. Thanks for that.”

“No problem man,” I said as I shook his hand. “And I’d like to thank you for looking after Katy before she became my partner too.”

“Hey, that was no problem,” he nodded. “She was quite helpful. So helpful in fact that Liam got me my own AI partner.”

“Really?” Katy asked. “What are they like?”

“Lara’s nice, she’s new so she’s still not quite as good as you yet but she’ll get there,” Kenneth replied. “Anyway, I’m guessing that you guys are here to have a look at the new Rig that you’ll be getting?”

“That’s part of it yeah,” Katy nodded. “How’s she looking?”

“Pretty good,” Kenneth replied. “We’re still doing some work on the software which is what Lara’s doing right now but that should be done in a week or so.”

“Well, it sounds like I should start looking for a new place then,” I sighed. “Because moving the Rig that I have right now is going to be pretty difficult.”

“There are several places that I’ve already taken note of that you will be able to put a deposit down on when the signing bonus comes through,” Katy told me.

“Thanks Katy,” I nodded. “We’ll take a look at them when we get home.”

“Do you guys want to take a look at the Rig now then?” Kenneth asked and we all quickly agreed.

Kenneth led us to a smaller room just off the main lab where he was working. Inside it was a large egg-shaped device that was humming slightly. This device was obviously the same type of Rig that we were getting, and Kenneth immediately leapt into an explanation of its features. Like most top of the line Rigs this one had a limited life support system that allowed you to use it for multiple days at a time. Five days was the limit with the base model, but they had also made a model which could be used by people with severe medical conditions that had a much better life support system and could be used for weeks at a time.

It also had nearly five times the amount of memory than my Rig which was significant. That didn’t matter all that much to us since playing Soul Core Online was our job now, but it was still quite an impressive upgrade over even the best VR Rigs on the market right now.

“Gransoft will also be paying for the nutrient solution that the Rigs use,” Kenneth said. “Another thing to take note of is that it will take slightly longer to Log Out of the Rig itself for several reasons. It’s only thirty seconds which is shorter than other Rigs that use similar life support systems but it’s still notable.”

“Wow, this is way better than our Rigs,” Julian said as he rolled his wheelchair closer. “Can we take a look inside?”

“Of course,” Kenneth nodded as he pressed a couple of buttons on a small panel. “There’s not a lot to see though.”

Sure enough, the inside of the Rig looked pretty much what you would expect. Like most modern rigs it had gel padding inside and several devices on the roof. One of these devices was a more advanced version of the crown that every Rig had and would attach itself once you had gotten comfortable. The other devices would attach themselves after that and would take care of things like feeding the inhabitant with a nutrient solution and taking care of their waste.

“And how easy it this going to be for me to get into?” Julian asked.

“We will make sure that your Rig has an attachment that will allow you to get in and out of it by yourself,” Kenneth explained. “Sadly, it probably is a bit too difficult to you to get into this one.”

“That’s fine,” Julian nodded. “Just wanted to make sure.”

“Hey man, that’s no problem,” Kenneth said. “Is there anything else that you guys want to know, or shall we go and take a look at the stacks where we keep the AI Cores?”

“No, I think we’re good,” I said after looking around at Julian and Sarah.

“Alright then,” Kenneth nodded. “Follow me then.”

Kenneth led the way out of the lab and back down towards the lift. Once we were inside the fact Kenneth held his CM up to a panel in the lift. The lift started moving downwards until we passed the ground floor and entered a large basement area. This basement area looked like a scene from that old movie called The Matrix but brighter and less grimy looking. There were rows upon rows of what looked like massive servers with softly glowing crystals embedded in them. These crystals were the AI Cores that we were here to see.

When the lift came to a halt Kenneth stepped out and turned to Katy who was looking around like she had just come home.

“Hey kiddo can you point us in the direction of your crystal?” Kenneth asked.

“Sure,” Katy nodded. “I guess it’s my turn to lead the way then.”

True to her word Katy took the lead. I was very impressed with the holographic strips that Gransoft had set up all over the walls and ceiling. It was a little patchier in here though so Katy sort of seemed to teleport from place to place.

“Here we are,” she said as she finally came to a halt in front of one of the server banks. “My Core is the third one up.”

“Thanks kiddo, let me just get it down and we’ll take a quick look at it,” Kenneth said as he started typing something into the holographic keyboard that appeared over his CM. With a whirring sound the part of the server that housed Katy’s Core moved out and slowly made its way down to us. Once it was at about waist height the server opened up to reveal the Core.

Katy’s Core looked like a large, faintly glowing crystal ball that was slightly smaller than a human head. It was hard to believe that it was this eerily beautiful crystal that held all of Katy’s personality and processing power.

“Isn’t it beautiful,” Kenneth said quietly as he stared down at the crystal. “This one crystal would be worth billions of credits to one of our competitors but they’re actually surprisingly easy to make.”

“Really?” I asked. “And Liam is letting you just show us it?”

“Oh please,” Kenneth laughed. “We both know you’re not going to try anything and even if you did you wouldn’t be able to get out of here. The moment Katy’s Core came free of its housing the lift would lock down and gas would be pumped into the basement knocking us out so that our security can arrest you. It would take a pretty well-equipped team of people to break in and get one of these Cores out of here.”

“Damn, well that’s a good thing then,” I said before turning to Katy’s holographic form. “Thanks for showing us this.”

“That’s no problem I thought that you would find it interesting to see what I actually look like,” Katy replied but I shook my head in disagreement.

“No Katy, your Core is just your brain,” I told her firmly as I gestured at her holographic body. “This is the real you and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“Tyler’s right there, kiddo,” Kenneth nodded in agreement as the server closed up again and started making its way back up the server farm. “I still remember how proud you were when you first showed me the form that you had chosen. I hope that you continue to do so no matter what anyone else tells you.”

Katy nodded in agreement and Kenneth escorted us out of the basement.

“Well, it was nice meeting you,” Kenneth said as we stepped out of the elevator. “I hope that you continue to be friends with the kiddo and the other AIs.”

“Of course,” Julian laughed. “We haven’t known them for very long, but I think that we can all agree that they’ve made our lives a lot better.”

“That’s good,” Kenneth nodded. “I’ll be seeing you all again soon anyway. I’m the only one who knows how to install the prototype Rigs at the moment. By the way, we’ll need to put in some plumbing as well. It shouldn’t take too long to do that though. A day at most.”

“Yeah, we figured that would be the case,” Sarah nodded. “Don’t worry, we actually own our place so that won’t be a problem for us.”

“I guess that’s something that we’ll have to bring up with the owners when we start looking for a new apartment,” I sighed.

“Or we could actually buy a lace of our own,” katy pointed out. “Maybe we should talk with your parents about getting a loan?”

“Maybe,” I nodded. “It’s something to think about at least. Well, I guess that we’ll be seeing you guys tonight?”

“Yeah man,” Julian nodded. “I’m thinking that we should actually do some training ourselves.”

“That sounds good to me,” I agreed. “Alright, I’ll see you downstairs at the inn.”