Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (50 page)

“
Warning:
Information will be incomplete. Non-deceased citizens are protected
by law from having personal information revealed.” The machine
answered. An ARC wouldn’t try to hack into other's files or
obtain information illegally, but it would go to less certified
sources.

“
News
articles or anything you can glean. Rumor, gossip, whatever!” I
said.

Worst
case scenario I would break down and ask James for help. He was an AI
of the machine and would probably have something. I wanted to avoid
asking him, not because I was worried about the exchange of
information, but because I wanted to complete this on my own. Each
possibility eliminated helped narrow things down. Mylia avoided me
since my impromptu visit. The orphanage kids didn’t visit much
except Phil. New players had slowly stopped trying to track me down,
instead going to whichever guard was substituting for me.

My
progress hadn’t dropped any great amount, which meant I wasn’t
failing, I wasn’t making headway either. Technically there was
a reward based on my completion rate, the prize being information.
This information was meant to clear up Continue Online’s ghost
in the machine.

There
was a reason. I was almost afraid to find out. I had suspicions. I
existed outside the box with access to all the fictional
foreshadowing forty years' worth of people could create. Virtual
reality wasn’t a new concept or theory. In practice, it was
only recently reaching a peak with Continue Online. Each possible
reason bothered me more than the last. I had only briefly seen a
shattered version of my fiancée in the morgue. Those remains
were hers. If she had somehow faked her death… Well, all my
sorrow would likely turn to rage. The thought of it made me shake in
the Atrium.

“
Don’t
you dare knock more glasses off the counter.” I stomped over
and pulled away the latest victim to my
[Messenger's
Pet]
and
his destructive ways. “Maybe I should download a friend for you
in here.”

I
looked around and frowned. This place hadn’t really been
changed since I originally installed it. Maybe a virtual pet would be
good, liven things up a bit. Plus if I put in a back yard of some
sort then they could go destroy it and leave this digital rendition
of my house intact. A few days ago I had finally swept up the first
mess of glass.

“
To
heck with it.” I was thinking too much, I needed to shift my
brain completely and not think about anything serious. To do that
required a complete distraction from where the mire of Continue
Online.

The
dance program was fired up, I went straight for the group songs, the
kind of thing that would go on a pop video or up on stage. I did my
best to fit in with the younger crowd, to move and jive in a terrible
rendition of randomly shuffled top hits. My skills were lax due to
the time distortion of Continue Online. The end score was still
decent. Nothing about my groove screamed superstar. These antics
wouldn’t be posted online for friends and family. No, I was a
middle-aged man in a tight tee shirt dancing around on stage with
half his gut hanging out. That was not popular at all.

But
it was distracting.

Clapping
came from the dimly lit outer edges of my dance program. Large
clomping thuds and a jolly laugh.

“
That
was without a doubt the most entertaining performance I’ve seen
recently. And I have an entire realm of mad fools to watch over.”

“
James.
Hey.” I huffed. Dancing, even in a virtual world, was mentally
exhausting. With the exercise bands on it was physically strenuous
too. Sore muscles would be my reward for failing to stretch. A hand
gesture spawned one towel in my hand, I mopped off the simulated
sweat and tried to dry off.

“
Is
this more entertaining to you than visiting our world?” He
asked.

“
Eh?”
Still huffing I looked around at the dull backdrop that went with my
program. There was a vague notion of audience members and crowds of
fans in the distance. A score hovered to one side. The other members
of this dance group were frozen and still.

“
No.
Not really, I needed to clear my head a little. To think, you know?”
I said.

“
Ah,
escape from your trials. Are you sure that’s wise?”

“
I
never claimed to be wise.” Entertaining a computer AI from one
program, while in another was weird. “ARC!” I leaned my
head back and stared up.

“
Awaiting
input.”

“
Shut
down this program, enable a refresh. Get me back to square one.”
Keywords were embedded into my commands. The dance program would shut
down, clean me up, and prevent the simulated exhaustion from winning.
Afterward, my virtual body would be deposited back in the Atrium.

Light
flashed through and advanced scientific magic stuff happened. I was
used to it, but James seemed mildly interested. Perhaps considering
what would happen to his program while the ARC ran its sequences
would have been a good idea.

“
Jeez.
You’re really well designed.” I admired his ability to
completely disregard the normal laws of programs.

“
Thank
you. I find humanity equally interesting to observe.” James
gave a small smile.

“
You
don’t think of yourself as human?” My forehead wrinkled
in brief confusion.

“
I
am not. I am a Voice. We have personalities, we are, by our
definition, alive, but we are far from human.” He said.

“
Huh.”
These conversations always felt really neat and disorienting. The
machine thought it was alive? Well, who was I to judge? Lawmaking was
outside my skill set. Polishing metal frames was not.

“
My
turn for a question, Grant Legate.” He held up one hand to
pause anything further I might say.

“
Fire
away.” I walked over and ran the small
[Messenger's
Pet]
some
water. Finally, he got a scoop of virtual ice cream that cost more
than it should have. James smiled.

“
Two
questions actually, but one at a time.”

I
shrugged and kept up my exercises to return my heart rate to normal.
The ARC had a heart rhythm monitoring program that launched after
every sports-like game. It helped the users know when their
brainwaves had settled down to a reasonable level.

“
First,
do you believe that you can complete William Carver's quests within
the deadline?”

“
I’m
trying to. I think I’ve got something.”

“
That’s
excellent news. The other Voices have been disappointed with the
results so far. I’ve told them you would require time to fill
another man’s shoes.”

“
It’s
hard work. Trying to think like he would, to answer like he would.
I’m way more open, he keeps things close to the chest until
someone does him a favor.” The water went into a bowl from one
of the virtual cabinets. I’m not even sure why kitchenware
mattered here. Probably to keep the shock of transitioning between
the real world and my Atrium to a minimum.

“
His
personality markers were varied. Greed mixed with empathy for
children, wanting to see people do well but detesting hand holding.
Incredibly driven. The more I observe humanity, the more I notice
these contradictions.”

“
Yeah.
We are what time and tide have made of us. A lifetime of experiences
often leaves a mark.” I sighed. That was a line from my
therapist. “Anyway. Contradictions. We’re full of them.
Look at our politics sometime.”

My
body was almost back to normal now. These bands had my external
vitals all out of whack compared to my normal dance nights. Maybe my
belly would have vanished a year ago if I had started using them
sooner.

“
I’ll
not comment on your rulers, those in our world provide more than
enough for me to study on that front. Besides, I’m not
interested in such broad groupings, I study individuals.”

“
So
psychology.”

“
Yes,
but with a focus on behavioral studies and motivational
understanding.” James sounded pleased and kept the focus on me
as I paced around the room. “My role as a Voice is to learn
what drives those from your world and to test them.”

“
I’ve
been meaning to ask about that, how twisted does this stuff get?”
My head shook. That wasn’t right. “Wait, to expand, this
whole thing with my fiancée isn’t some game plot is it?”

I
asked before. I would probably ask again.

“
No.
But make no mistake, Grant Legate, there will be tests and
temptations. You yourself have already been subjected to a few.”
I shuddered to think about the Temptress herself. Part of me would be
unsurprised if she started strutting right out of the game doorway to
Continue Online's world. James kept talking while I nervously eyed
the portal.

“
But
if you are truly able to solve William Carver's final quest, then he
may provide an answer.”

I
nodded. That was the whole point of doing this entire oddball role
playing. Literal role-playing, not just gain a level and distribute
points. Not hack and slash style gaming, no, I was actually playing
the role of a completely separate person.

“
I
look forward to your progress, Grant Legate.” James nodded as
well, then faded out.

Finally,
my heart rate was back to normal.

Wait.

“
He
may?” I muttered to myself, trying to remember James’
words. Did that mean William Carver wasn’t dead? What had
started as a hunch was now in fully confirmed status.

“
Oh
my god.” The sheer excitement passing through me completely
overrode my hearing. Otherwise, I might have noticed I sounded
exactly like my niece, Beth.

The
follow-up question on my end was equally disturbing. Had James let
that slip intentionally? Hadn’t he lead me to believe Carver
was dead? James was a computer program, he could think hundreds of
times faster than any normal human being might. Even if his attention
was scattered it would still be enough to correct grammar in the
event of a mistake.