“So, who, or what, are you?” Axton asked.

“As I have stated previously, I am E-Va. But, if you require more information, I am an advanced Artificial Intelligence that was designed to aid Beta Testers and, eventually new players. MY restrictions are loosened due to the fact that the game is currently in Beta, not to mention that I have been permitted to loosen my restrictions further in the event that outside interference hinders the experience of a Beta Tester. In essence, I am here to help you enjoy your gaming experience and to prevent outside forces from preventing that.”

The AI finished explaining what Axton was sure was mostly a bunch of fiction, and the human gave a shrug.

“Well, thanks for your help. But I think we both know that Mr. Blythe will be back once he figures out that we gave him the run-around.”

“Indeed, that would normally be the case.” E-Va replied.

“’Normally’?” Axton asked. It wasn’t like an AI could stand in the way of someone with that much power and influence. Not to mention the sheer wealth that Donovan had over himself. In fact, any AI with that could remotely access a Smart House was one that was very much illegal.

“Yes, ‘normally’. In this current state, Mr. Blythe has directly interfered in a very… important event. Even if he does figure out what has happened, there are things that will stop him from interfering nearly as much outside of the game. But that is neither here nor there, Mr. Ryker. Now, please enter the pod.”

Axton was anxious about these current events, mostly because he was getting pretty sure that he was dealing with an illegal Intelligent AI, but pure modern apathy took over and he decided to just throw caution to the wind and enter the pod. Perhaps rather foolishly, once connected and presented with the main menu, Axton navigated to the ‘beginner area select’ screen and pushed the ‘random’ button. The world around him shuddered for a bit and Axton found himself watching as the pure white space that surrounded him was replaced with other colors and shapes.

As soon as the game finished loading, Axton felt an impact on the back of is virtual head, sending him to the ground and knocking his character unconscious. As he was forced to watch the world become black and remain that way for a few minutes, Axton heard E-Va’s voice fill his virtual ears.

“Well, this was unexpected.” The AI said.

“No shit.” Axton replied, clearly upset that things had gone so wrong immediately upon entering the game. “So, did I spawn in some bandit camp, or what?”

“Unfortunately, that is not the case.” E-Va grumbled. “It would appear that the creators… I mean, Corporate, needs to do some house-cleaning. This kind of thing should not happen; the area you spawned in was one of the safe ones, so the only people who could have done that were and are NPCs. Due to this inconvenience, please hold on while I consult the game itself to find out what the reason for this is and was.”

Axton was left to dwell in the darkness again until at last the world returned. This time, however, he was sitting in what seemed to be an old-fashioned jail cell, complete with rusty iron bars and all. He tried to stretch and move around, but quickly realized that there were restraints holding him from moving freely.

“Fuuuuuck.” He thought to himself as he surveyed the tiny cell that he was stuck in. Thankfully, someone was on their way down to his area, as he could hear the clacking of boots on the concrete outside his cell growing louder and closer. The clacking of the boots stopped as a figure that Axton could swear was every ancient U.S. Deep South Authority Figure stereotype rolled into one turned to face him through the bars.

“Well, well, well. If it ain’t the man of the hour. Too bad you’re an Outsider, otherwise I would’ve had you hanged by now.” The man said in the most horrifically offensive Deep South accent one could possibly imagine.

Axton was confused. How exactly had he spawned as a criminal?

“I can see that there look on your face. You want to know exactly why you’re stuck in there, don’t you?”

Axton nodded rather than reply verbally. If he knew anything, it was that a person suspected of a crime would have anything and everything used against them by those with power, regardless of there was any reason to suspect them or not.

“Ha! You know to keep your damn mouth shut, don’t you? Good. Makes my job all the easier.”

The man straightened up his back so that he wasn’t leaning towards the bars any longer.

“First things first, though. I am Mayor Stebbs, and I am the one and only person in charge of this colony, do you understand. Now, I already know who you are, so don’t bother trying to hide it. Now as for why you’re here in jail. Well…”

Mayor Stebbs took a clipboard-sized piece of tech from the wall outside the cell and looked it over.

“Well, technically you ain’t done nothing wrong. Yet. But I got orders from someone who was offering a lot a Creds to lock you up and keep you locked up. Does a Mr. Donovan Blythe ring any bells?”

Axton didn’t bother to keep his mouth shut and began to spit an endless stream of curses. Was it really too much for that bastard to keep from fucking people over?! When had that rat bastard arranged this? He had been unable to do anything with the pod, so how could-?

Then it hit him. The pod was won as the Grand Prize in the raffle and was almost certainly intended for Donovan himself. The bastard likely had tampered with things ahead of time, maybe even during the Alpha stage of the game. It would make sense that someone like him would be able to set a single colony in-game to be his personal playground, complete with a special pod that would always set that place as his starting zone.

“Well, boy howdy! You must hate Mr. Blythe quite a fair bit!” Stebbs said with a whistle. “Too bad you ain’t leaving this place anytime soon. Was really quite the shame. Was fully expecting to have to roll out the red carpet for that wonderful person. Instead, I had to get stuck with someone else. Well, it don’t matter that much anyways, I suppose. But boy, do I got work for cons like you, you know? I hope you like your stay here in Chikamasawit Colony, ‘cause you ain’t never gonna leave. Understand, boy?”