Axton was essentially forced to avoid using the pod for a time as data was compiled and a few modifications were installed. It was not as if he expected anything to ultimately come of all of this, but it would be a welcome surprise if something did. With little to do besides either waiting for the technicians to do their thing or diving down the existential rabbit hole again (which he was in no mood to do), Axton decided to kill time and check the news.

As one might remember, the news in Axton’s time was heavily controlled, but despite this, there were still nuggets of truth to be found, and the masses had long since built up a tradition of teaching their kids how to read between the lines and sift through the empty words to find the real messages hidden within. Of course, the media of the time knew this as well, and as this made more people more likely to tune in, they actively participated in this new ‘game’.

The media still lied and used outrage and artificially inflated stories and fake news, but within all of it were the hidden pieces of reality that were sprinkled like breadcrumbs along a dark and winding path through a dangerous forest. It was all that they could do to keep people entertained and engaged, and the last time the news tried to hide the truth it caused a major uproar (and they had gotten that response every other time they had tried that) so they had learned to hang on the edge of acceptability for both the masses and the true rulers of the world.

Axton watched the 24-7 news channel and began to piece together what had been hidden within the words and pictures on display. Playing dialogue slower, backward, or with different audio settings was one way to pick apart the hidden messages, and another was using some rather open programs to find hidden words, pictures, and audio inside individual broadcasts, reports, and articles. While not the best, Axton had been educated in cryptography and the like to the degree that he was able to find what he was looking for and began to put it all together.

Occasionally checking a few less strictly moderated forums for clues, Axton fit the last piece in place just under a day after he had begun. The news, the true news, was about what he had expected. Tens of thousands of pods were being recalled and Heavy Metal Dawn was on temporary lockdown as the rich and well-off panicked and tried to figure out how to avoid another revolt.

While the pods would not actually be taken, they would have to have inspectors come and alter each one individually, and the code of the game would need to be looked at. Already there were reports of people being mentally shattered to the point of no return after merely playing the game for a few real-world hours, and there were investigations being made into a certain underground ring of deviant children of the oligarchs.

Axton did not expect much to happen to this secret ring, but if the code was looked at and the pods were patched, then there was a better chance that this ring (which he assumed included Donovan among its numbers) would have a much harder time indulging in its twisted desires. There was no way of knowing if this was to be the case or not, but once again, one could hope.

…

A week had passed since he had decoded the hidden messages in the media, and Axton was now…

Still unable to enter the game.

Yes, until the whole of all the pods had been either looked at manually or been forcibly updated to remove the backdoor and until the game had been forcibly patched to remove its own backdoor, both the pod and the game were out of Axton’s reach. On the plus side, he still had access to the inventory of his in-game avatar and the in-game to real-world money/ real-world to in-game conversion system still worked. Despite the issues, people still wanted to play the game and use the pods, risks be damned. Axton was among those who were hesitant to reenter the game or the pod, but he did have faith in Thomas’ capabilities and the overall will of the oligarchs and UN to avoid another planet-wide revolt.

It was not that he trusted that the patch was being done in good faith, rather that he knew it was being implemented due to fear. Well, whatever would force them to rise to the occasion would work, right? Sometimes the fear of losing all of your power, wealth, and authority due to inaction is one of the greatest motivators for those who have everything to lose and little to gain.

Regardless, Axton still had a way to make money that didn’t revolve around him mooching off of Thomas. His inventory was still chock full of random bits and bobs from places, and while most of them wouldn’t sell for much, he did have one thing that would sell like hotcakes. All he needed was to contact Thomas and arrange for a few strings to be pulled. After all, loot and money are only the most basic resources in a video game. What could be considered just as valuable, if not more so, was information, and Axton had some rather desirable details that he could share.

He went to work on his little document as soon as he finished putting the loot up on the auction and began to type out the first part in what he hoped would be a series of short, less than 50 pages long articles. All he would need is for Thomas to put his mark on them and distribute them, and he could rake in the royalties until the info became commonplace.

What was this priceless info? Well, it was the only info Axton had regarding in-game mechanics that wouldn’t be removed immediately from the web or be buried and lost by the almighty Algorithm-sama. Yes, the arcane art of making custom War Suits, otherwise known as the ancient and forgotten mystical teachings of ‘Colored Shaped Peg goes in Similarly Colored and Similarly Shaped Slot’.

Hopefully, his next article would be more around things that were not something you would learn before going to kindergarten.