Chapter 1: Release

“We are greatly sorry for having to do this, but in light of your recent… Acquisitions… we are going to have to let you go.” A business man says hiding his smile behind his hands.

“But sir, I’ve made this company so much money over the last year, there’s no way you can just fire me because I was slightly lucky!” I slam my hands on the table in front of me.

“Well then. I’ve heard the CEO’s son is in need of a VR pod. I’m sure your promotion through multiple ranks would be… assured.”

“There’s no way any of this can be legal.” I sigh as my head hits the desk.

“Oh, I assure you Phillip.” The man lowers his hands and shows an evil smile, “We don’t need it to be legal when good bribes are floating around.”

---Later that day---

“Ah, now I am unemployed.” I lay down on my bed and sigh.

Well, it could be worse, I could have to pay for this house still. I look at the ceiling looming above me. Not that this place is worth much. My father’s father owned this place and gave me a good offer on it so he could retire to a nice old folk’s home.

I was grateful, but this place is a mess, the floor is breaking in a couple places. Any inspector that came in to this place would faint with how many violations there are. A lawyer would shoot me straight in the face to get the money from claims of injured people that visit this place…

At least it’s mine though. I only have to pay for utilities, and even that’s pretty cheap, a total of three hundred dollars a month for gas, water, electricity and internet. The worst offender is internet. Seriously, why is there a limit on usage!? Why do you torture me so!?

I grab my phone and realize that it’s another bill too, but I can switch to a cheaper plan, it’s not like I used it for much. A phone call with my family every now and then, a few texts with some friends. I mostly use the internet for communicating with my friends.

Ah, that’s not the point, I need to check how much money I have. I open up my banking app and put in three different passwords. Security has become really strict nowadays, I wonder what it was like for people with only one or two passwords to get in to things.

I sigh as I see the balance, then gasp as I realize I’ve read it wrong.

Remaining balance: $400 001.23

Do I… cry? How long has that been in there!? I quickly check my transaction history and look at it carefully. Ha! Found you!

1/22/2078 12:35pm Anonymous Deposit: $301 263, Note: Amount may change due to fees and various other charges.

An Anonymous Deposit from today? An hour ago!? That explains… Absolutely nothing!? Why do I only have more questions? I sigh as I lean back in my bed. My head hits my soft pillow and air slowly releases from it, creating a quiet hissing noise.

I’m startled by my phone suddenly vibrating in my hand. I should turn the ringer back on… wait! Answer the call!

“Hello, Phillip Tethers speaking. How may I help you?” I answer my phone with a frown, it was an unknown number, so either a prank call, or some telemarketer. I am polite anyways though.

“I’m so glad I was able to get a hold of you, Phillip.” The voice sounds relieved.

“Okay, may I ask who this is?” I ask questioningly but politely.

“Ah, silly me, forgetting to introduce myself. I am the Chief Executive Officer of Inter Corporation.”

“Oh, the company I was just fired from.” I say with a bitter tone. “What do you want, to kick me while I’m down, threaten my family so you can get your son a VR pod?”

“No, no, no. You’re misunderstanding my intentions. Your attitude is understandable though.”

“Go on.” I say with a not too impressed tone to my voice.

“You see, my underling, the trash that he was, is now in prison on about… how many was it?” I hear someone in the background mumble something, “Yes, he is serving twenty life sentences in prison for his many, many crimes.”

“Why does this matter to me?”

“He was the one that tried to force you to give your VR pod to my son, which by the way, is only two years old, so he wouldn’t even be able to go near it yet. Can’t have the bugger being too spoiled, now can we?”

“I see.” I think in my head, ‘Ha, serves that bastard right, getting thrown under his own bus.’

“I just wanted to formally apologize. He was completely in the wrong, and believe it or not, he didn’t actually have the power to fire you, or the thirty other people he’s reported that had just stopped showing up to work.”

“Wow… that’s incredible. How was he not found before?”

“We have no idea, we are actually looking in to it. If you wanted to help, you could write something up about what he did and where he was during the year and send it to my email and we’d greatly appreciate it.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“You probably won’t. But that doesn’t matter, that wasn’t the purpose of this call. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but there was a large sum of money deposited in to your bank account roughly an hour ago, or so I’m told. Anyways, that isn’t apology money. That is one percent of the money you have made my company since your hiring. That is money you were supposed to be given, but instead was pocketed by Mr. Asshole.”

“A fitting name, but should someone of your status really talk about a worker that way?”

“What do I care? I own this company, and according to graphs and the data I collect, this company isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. However, that was one of the reasons we were able to catch him. He miss stepped by taking so much money directly from the system.”

“Good riddance. Well, that’s my opinion on it anyways.”

“I agree with you Phillip. Now then, you have received your money and my apology. Is there anything else you would like? I’m guessing it’s not going to be a job at my company.”

“With all due respect sir, I respectfully decline to work for you company at this point in time.” I bow my head even though there is no one in front of me… I felt awkward.

“Of course. There’s no problem with that. I’ll have you officially removed from the employees list so that it doesn’t cause any issues.” I hear him sigh on his end of the line, “But if you ever feel like working for us again, please email me your resume personally with the keywords ‘Phillip Tethers Re-hire’ in the subject line. I’d be glad to hire you again considering how much money you have made my company.”

“Thank you sir.”

“No need to be so formal. Just call me Simon. I look forward to seeing you working for me in the future.”

“I make no promises.” I sigh and smile a little, “Thank you for making things right, Simon.”

“No problem. I really have a big mess to clean up. I have roughly thirty more people to call and compensate. You were the first, because I gave you the largest amount of money and the transaction came through as anonymous in your account. Everyone else’s went through properly saying it was my company giving them money.”

“I can see why you called me first then. Thank you and good luck with the other people.”

“Yeah. Have a good day Phillip, I hope you can work for me again soon.”

“Don’t count on it. Have a good day.” I hang up my phone and relax on my bed.

If I eat small-ish meals and continue my current lifestyle. My total cost to live per month would be roughly five hundred dollars. I can live comfortably for… over 60 years…

I think I’m going to go to sleep… wake up from this crazy dream. There is no way any of this is reality.

---Morning---

“It was reality!” I shout while looking at my bank account balance in the morning. So much money… should I give some to my parents… no. I know they helped me through school, but I like my hard earned money… even though all I did was guide a few businesses to their demise under the guise of business deals.

I sigh as I make myself a half decent breakfast.

You know. Maybe I should splurge a little. Get some nicer clothes, maybe a car instead of a transit pass. Nah, transit gets me to where I need to go, I just need to plan ahead a little more. I could maybe get a relationship…

Pfft! Ha, ha! Like I’d lock myself down with someone at this point in time. I think I might celebrate a little tonight though. I grab my phone and start dialing.

“Hey mom. It’s been a while. I have good news and bad news.” I say this as someone picks up the phone.

“Mom’s not here right now, it’s your dad instead.” My dad talks happily through the phone.

“Oh, you’re alive old man?”

“I’m not that old… am I!?” I hear my dad set the phone down and start flailing around in the distance I hear him repeat, ‘I’m not that old, right?’ I laugh a little as someone else picks up the phone.

“Hey Phillip, you really should stop teasing your father like that. Just because he’s old, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have feelings.” My mother picks up the phone and tries to talk to me seriously.

“Hey mom, so I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. Which do you want first?”

“I already heard on the news that you won a VR pod. Your father and I have already pre-ordered ours. So there goes your good news. Let’s hear the bad news.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. I thought you were better than that mother. Of course I knew you knew that already. I have more good news. But since you want the bad news first. I was fired from my job.”

“What!? How? Didn’t you make them a lot of money!?”

“It’s complicated… but you see. There was this guy that scammed me and wanted my VR pod so he could raise hiis rank in the company, so he threatened me, and the company gave me the money they rightfully owed me, and I suspect a bit as a bonus.”

“That scumbag! Who gave you your money back?”

“The CEO personally called me to apologize for his underling's mistakes. I appreciated it greatly. Anyways, the good news is that I wanted to take you and Dad out for dinner, since I just got a large amount of money and I can spend it however I want.”

“Um, sorry, we are a little busy, we are actually going away for a business trip. Our flight is later tonight. I’m really sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. We can always do it another time, it’s not like my money is going anywhere.” I smile a little and sigh as I say my pleasantries and hang up the phone.

I guess it’s just me… and the internet.

Only one more month, then we get our first taste of something that is boasting nearly one hundred percent immersion. A VRMMO. Very few people could be more excited than I am!

Just one more month and the wait will be over! An advanced AI like no one has ever seen. A world so vast that you need a petabyte to store it all on a hard drive. And almost no need for internet at all. It’s amazing that they boast so little usage on the internet. I don’t believe that it only uses one megabyte a day, there’s no way.

Ah, I guess I’ll treat myself to dinner.

I went out to a bar after getting a nice dinner at a fast food restaurant, and got woefully drunk. I made it home with the help of a taxi driver, and when I woke up the next morning… let’s just say this.

I regret everything.