Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (18 page)

"Log
out."

“
Remote
feedback suspending. Logging out.” The ARC’s voice wasn’t
much better than Hal Pal’s. There were other options, other
vocal packages ranging from the mundane to all sorts of movie stars.
Money I didn’t feel like spending.

Things
faded away as the real world came to. First thing I did after
counting to sixty was to lift a leg to get to my foot. Sure enough it
was fine, but felt cramped. All five toes wiggled and the ankle
rolled just fine, slowly one way, then the other.

I
sat up completely and turned to get out of the ARC. Everything ached
already. A digital display on my watch advised me only thirty minutes
had passed out here. My body felt worn from an intense workout. Maybe
I should take the bands off before logging in again. Still. Once I
got past the pain and aches and bumps, this was pretty incredible.
James, and all the others in the cast, had been extremely responsive.
Even the creepy Jester was a work of art.

Now
that I stood outside of the ARC world it was easier to see what a
masterpiece this was. James had even said that these Voices were
visible from within the game world, so I wasn’t alone in
experiencing them. I needed more information, a better idea of what
to do and how to perform on the next few tests. Maybe I could get
more out of them. Maybe I could understand better what was happening.
Either way, things would improve by digging up something.

Snacks
first, then drudging through the online resources would follow.
Shortly, I found out exactly how worthless the internet was. More
redacted posts, deleted comments, removed and banned users. Entire
websites had closure splash pages. Search terms involving Continue
Online only resulted in a few hits and reviews.

I
scanned a couple of videos and came up empty. They had nothing of the
interface, nothing of skills or talents or traits. At least some of
it was easy enough to infer. There were categories; psychical,
mental, and social. Gaining a point in social, for Divine Attention,
was odd. Was that from picking up the small dragon and trying to save
it?

Clearly
deep thinking was beyond me. Asking James might work, but it was more
fun to dig up answers on my own. Besides, I had to keep myself
distracted somehow. Logging back into my ARC would put me in the game
again or in the dance program and I expected the computer to want
more time.

Those
NPCs were incredible. Voices. James was intensely lifelike. Had
artificial intelligence really come so far? Were my questions and
answers so common that they had scripted a resolution for each turn
of phrase?

Luckily
I wasn’t dumb enough to believe that the game was another
world. I had personally torn a few ARC machines into pieces. Not one
portion of it generated a portal to another dimension. Plus people
lay down in the silly machines for hours. Being in another world with
the brain alone was pure science fiction drivel.

Of
course, this was the land of the future. Flying cars were possible
but deemed a safety hazard. Most people zoomed along the ground or
cross-country in one of the speed tunnels. Twenty-five lanes of
insanely fast traffic could clear coast to coast in about an hour.
All the other local traffic and non-freight plebes used above ground
roadways. I had only ridden the cross country express tunnels once,
on the worst day of my life.

My
head banged against the front room table. The attempted web research
was interrupted by thoughts of the past. This was why I tried not to
focus on what had happened, tried not to let it hurt. To move on and
do my job. Stay in a happy place. One assignment after the other
until I was exhausted and could only lay down. It wasn’t that
no one else had suffered like I had. There were over a hundred other
passengers on that train with her. I had reacted poorly to the end
and took years to recover.

No.

Later.
I would think about this later, or not at all.

A
short message went to my friend's web page to see if he had any tips
for a newbie. His site had plenty of vague commentaries. After two
hours of food, failed research, and barely skirted self-loathing, I
logged back into the ARC.

“
Grant
Legate.” James was standing on his side of the doorway to my
Atrium. The silly, tiny dragon thing was sniffing around the pile of
broken glass and spilled creamer.

“
Hi,
James. Is the little guy trying to clean up its mess?” I had to
be cheery. Dwelling on the negative wasn’t the right way to go
for me.

“
Seems
so.”

“
That’s
a very realistic program,” I said.

“
Who’s
to say what’s real, Grant Legate?” He waved through the
doorway but never actually crossed the threshold. “You out
there, vanishing into a realm that I can neither see nor dare guess
at? Or us, here, living our entire spans of existence out in
something we understand?”

“
I
guess this seems more real to you than where I come from.”

“
It
does, but I asked you which is real.” The black man led us back
to the question.

“
I’m
not a philosopher, James. They’re both real enough to me. One’s
in here where I’m visiting.” I tried to smile. Telling a
computer program he wasn’t real sounded like a bad idea anyway.
“The other is out there. I can’t abandon that one because
I need to work for survival.” And bills, and food, and the
internet connection that let me hook up the ARC's internet. Even
without Continue, I needed online access for my dance program.

“
Fair
enough, Grant Legate.”

“
Is
there more than one of those little guys?” I pointed to the
dragon who was now carefully sweeping the cloth around.

“
Not
here between worlds, no,” James said.

“
Huh.”
Neat.

“
Why
are you so interested in one small creature when you have an entire
world you could explore?”

“
Mmmh.”
I crossed my arms and chewed a lip. Trust James to ask a question
that required more than three words to answer. Not that I minded,
like everything else, it was a welcome distraction.
“
It
was the first thing I saw when starting up Continue. I’m amazed
that he shattered glass that shouldn’t even be programmed to
come apart, much less broke into the creamer.”

“
And?”
He questioned.

“
I
dunno.” I forestalled James' huff for better information. “I
know there’s more, but it’s rude of me to say that I miss
my cat. I was trying to find a polite way of saying the little guy,
which I still don’t know if it’s male or female, reminds
me of my old cat.”

“
Hurrm.
Cat you say.” James looked thoughtful then brightened. “Here,
a question for you, and this one may be more than you wish to
answer.”

“
Fire
away. I’ve got nothing to hide.” Not even a good porn
stash. I couldn’t even contemplate those sorts of actions
without thinking of my fiancée. After a while, the urge went
away.

“
Would
you allow me to access the data from your world, regarding yourself?”

I
chewed my lip again.
“
Okay,
but I want to know more about the little guy in exchange. Something
worth whatever you learn about me.”

“
Thank
you, Grant Legate.” With that, James stepped through to my
Atrium, which was enough to make me gasp in surprise.

Only
a few programs were able to interact with a user’s home like
that. The small dragon thing was harmless enough, but a full-fledged
person from a game? That was crazy stuff. All hail our future robot
overlords. The takeover starts here, right in my Atrium. I almost
felt proud.

“
Should
we keep doing those tests? You said we had another nine to go.”
I asked.

“
Very
well. I’ll set you on your next task and come back here later.”

“
Huh.”
I shrugged. Perhaps worrying was beyond me when it came to
questionable actions of a computer character.

Then
again, it wasn’t computers that bothered me. They acted like
they were programmed to. Even an artificial intelligence wouldn’t
do something unless logic detailed it was the right way to go. Hal
Pal would tell James I was worth keeping around. James whistled at
the small dragon and we all went through the door into the lit up
room.

“
For
your next task, we’ve decided to go with dance. However, you
will not dance with your normal partner. You must choose a new one
for the course of one song.” He was distracted looking around
the Atrium. We turned to walk back into the game world of Continue
Online.

“
Choose
from who?”

“
The
other Voices, of course,” James said.

“
As
long as I get to pick, then.” I shrugged.

“
Of
course, why? Who do you think I would choose for you?”

“
That
Jester would be a good way to get a rise out of me.” There was
a clap of light and thunder as the Jester spun into the room. He
swung the Temptress around, looking more sinister with each passing
whirl.

“
I’ll
have you know.” He, she, it, I don’t know, the Jester was
certainly leading while it spoke in a nearly clacked tone. The
Temptress actually looked a mite uncomfortable. “I dance quite
divinely.” They spun around in a twirl of classical music
towards the other door.

During
the last moment, before they vanished into a wall, I could see the
Temptress smile and lick one elongated tooth. Her following wink was
the last image in my head for a few moments as they popped out.

“
So
strange,” I said.

“
Very
little is private here. Once you’re down on the world it’s
harder for us to keep track, like hiding a fish in the ocean. Here
though, you’re the only light for miles.”

“
No
others with an Ultimate Edition right now?” I clenched my eyes
and tried to remember that James didn’t view the game system in
the same manner I did.

“
There
have been others, many, but rarely are any two the same. And there’s
been less and less as time goes on.” He kept talking while I
returned to eyeing the landscape. These random Voice characters
popping up confused me.

“
Oh
right. That makes sense.”

“
So
who would you choose?” He asked with an eyebrow partway up in
question.

“
Out
of anyone from the book?” I asked. Near the start of the room
where we still stood was the pillar and bound book. It lay open and
waiting to be flipped through.

“
Of
course. Any of the Voices, whatever strikes your fancy.”

I
opted out of the Centaur. He might trip on his manhood, plus there
was the question of who leads or how to swing a horse's ass around.
That gave me only female options since I hadn’t practiced
following in any pair dance.