Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (51 page)

No,
James had specifically said that for a reason. I would have to go out
like a hero while guiding new players. Ideas spun through my mind and
slowly a final plan came together. Hopefully, this would be fitting
for William if he was watching out there somewhere. Second to that
was meeting the Voices' desired level of approval.

According
to the vitals monitor, real life had started to exert some demands.
Food, restroom, bathroom. Today was Saturday. I had all day tomorrow
to try and finish out this quest.

“
ARC!”
I felt happy, now there were ideas in my brain. This quest wasn’t
for me, it wasn’t for a computer's version of William Carver,
it was a show for the player himself. I didn’t need their
approval, I needed his. If there was one skill I was good at, it was
working within people’s expectations.

“
Awaiting
input.” The machine said.

“
Log
me out!”

Session
Fourteen - Worse than Cats!

“
You.
You’re helping me.” I said to one of the many players
stuck in town for their tutorial period. Four weeks in a city where
they couldn’t escape. Not unlike what I was doing by pretending
to be William Carver.

“
Huh?”
He responded.

“
I
need you to come with me.” The player even got a pop-up box.
His system message should say something about improved relations with
Old Man Carver and a chain quest.

“
Mister
Carver?”

“
Come
on. Let’s go.” I banged on the side of my chariot. Phil
was at the helm. Even with my bad eyesight and I could see the
orphan's eyes roll. Moments later our cart, still in day one of
testing, started into action down the path to my designated meeting
spot. Phil had been skeptical this contraption would even work, but
it did, and well.

The
reward for inventing this device and putting it to use was even
better. In a few weeks, after the other orders went through, the
orphanage would have an entire chain of bicycles. Kids and bikes went
together well even in fantasy land. I spent almost an hour this
morning trying to explain how to pop a wheelie to the brash youth,
but so far the concept was lost. These things did weigh a bit more
than standard bicycles.

In
one of the crossroads of town, there were three other players
waiting.

“
What
the hell is this about?” The most vocal one was the wide-hipped
woman who had been beating a straw man for Peg. Her words were loud
enough to carry across the street.

“
I
don’t know. I’m sure Mister Carver has a good reason.”
The quiet younger female had been my first player, the trash picker.

“
He
better.” A younger male voice whispered through, this was my
cow mooing would-be assassin.

“
He
god damn well better or I’ll kick his sorry old computer ass.”
The angry wide hipped woman had her arms crossed and looked even more
pissed than usual.

“
Good,
you're all still here,” I said.

“
What
are we doing here?” Our new player asked.

“
Awesome
Jr. you’re the last one. Hopefully, this will be enough.”
There was a certain amount of phrasing required to get this out
without forfeiting too many points. Sounding grumpy helped.

“
Good
lord. This is your latest pick?” Wide hip was a player named
HotPants, which was hilarious to me, but her name paled compared to
the other boy. She wore mail gear and had adopted a strange motif of
red and blonde.

The
boy dressed in all black leather with two daggers tried to look
aloft, but his eyebrows were twitching in annoyance. He went by
Shadow, and couldn’t be more stereotypical in his look or
method of acting. It would take a good year or two in-game for him to
really pull off the intimidating over the top anime persona he wanted
to be.

SweetPea
was the younger woman. She was soft spoken and overly polite. A
knitted hoodie was pulled down over one eye and long brown hair
bunched up.

“
Uhhh..”
Awesome Jr. mumbled.

“
Hi,
Adam,” SweetPea said with a faint smile.

“
Oh.
Is this your crush, Awesome?” I asked.

“
Awesome's
my father. I mean wait, no! She’s a friend.” SweetPea was
probably blushing too under that bundle she used to keep covered up.
Kids today.

“
Hah!”
HotPants took time out of her normally angry attitude to laugh at the
two children. My remark had lost me a point but was worth needling
Awesome Jr. about.

“
Good.
Let's try this again.” I exclaimed.

“
That
other boy ran away as soon as he read the quest,” Shadow
grumbled almost as well as Carver.

“
He
was a wuss,” HotPants exclaimed. She was busy eyeing everything
nearby. The last two weeks in-game had turned her already angry
personality into one that seemed to look for pots to break.

“
We
don’t know that.”

“
How
do you do that whisper thing.” The older woman was poking her
staff at Shadow with a raised eyebrow.

“
What?”
Shadow asked while pushing at the Bo’s end.

“
The
‘I’ma big scary boy’ voice. Like Batman.”

“
It’s
not Batman.” The cow moo quest survivor said.

“
You
do kind of sound like Batman.” SweetPea responded before
pulling her hood down again.

This
was worse than herding cats. I activated a few of Old Man Carver's
skills in order to talk over the crowd.
[Intimidating Voice]
and
[Aura of Strength]
had reductions due to an
[Old Age]
de-buff. It was sufficient to cut them off.

“
Enough!”

“
Yes
sir, Mister Carver, Sir!” Awesome Jr. was gazing off into the
distance after performing an immediate solute. I blinked at him, the
poor kid hadn’t even been talking. HotPants was outright
laughing. SweetPea looked embarrassed. Even Shadow had face-palmed.

“
Anyway.
One of you explain. I’m tired of trying.” I grumbled and
ground my cane against the stone dirt.

“
Can
I go first? I want to get some more practice with this contraption
while you all yack away like old hens.” Phil was chomping to be
off and see what he could do with his new toy.

“
Yes,
Phil.” The cheeky young boy was far too eager to test out this
bike tour for money prospect. “Don’t try to sell that!”

“
I
know! Deal's a deal's a deal, you old geezer!” The boy even
jingled a bell I had installed. “I'll be back later!”

“
Brat,”
I muttered while grinding the cane. Phil had already vanished around
some buildings.

“
You
made him a bike?” HotPants asked.

“
Who
knew, right? I wish I’d thought of it.” Shadow responded
with a gravelly voice.

“
Nah,
if NPCs figure it out, players won’t get anywhere near the same
rewards.”

I
was really starting to go crazy. Dealing with people in real life was
one thing. As Hal Pal’s companion, I enjoyed a certain level of
visibility. These jerks thought I was an NPC and talked right over my
head. When Continue saw fit to give me my own character, first thing
would be hunting these players down and punching them in the face. At
least Awesome Jr. was confused enough to not join in the banter. He
was also the newest to this overall group. The others had hours of
time while I had tried to find a fourth.

“
Are
you going to explain or not?” The game read my increased heart
rate while marking the irritation with a status update.

“
He
looks unhappy.” SweetPea was too quietly demure for my tastes.

“
So
how are you doing, Melissa?” SweetPea or Melissa frowned at
Awesome Jr. for his casual usage of her name in a video game world.
At least I assumed that was the reason for her frown.

“
Melissa’s
a better name than SweetPea, you should own that.” HotPants
threw one arm over the younger girl.

“
Guys
the NPC is going to fail us all on the quest if someone doesn’t
explain it.” For once I was grateful to Shadow, even if I had
made him moo at a cow. Somehow the boy had fallen in with a Mercenary
recruiting post. He already had a contract for employment once his
introductory period was over.

“
Fine!
The robot here wants us to escort him through a Dungeon tonight.”

“
There’s
a Dungeon in town?” Awesome Jr. tried to catch up with HotPants
abrupt explanation.

“
Right?
This place is crazy. My son says there’s always a few nearby,
but the ones in town are typically event only.”

“
You
have a son?” Shadow sounded as confused as I felt. HotPants
didn’t seem like the mother type.

“
Little
jerk doesn’t call often enough. He lives with his bastard
father.” HotPants scowled. Her staff spun around and she
started swinging at nothing. It was the same action I had seen her
practice in the yard with Peg Hall. The motion was almost hypnotic.

“
I
hate him. Hate. Hate.”

SweetPea
slid away from the sudden violence.

“
And?”
Awesome Jr. watched HotPants with a bit of worry on his face but
managed not to step away. Unlike Shadow who seemed almost eager to
jump into the path. Was the kid a battle junkie? Was such a thing
real? In the virtual world, it was very likely. Slight pain was
nothing compared to the thrill of competition. There were entire
Internet video feeds dedicated to people competing in ARC's spawned
environments. Voices help me, players were clearly all crazy.

“
It’s
called the Maze of Midnight, which only opens at, you guessed it,
midnight. I asked my friends who started here, they never heard of
it.” Shadow while bobbing his head in time with HotPants swing.

“
Are
you willing to help escort me to the end?” I cut to the point.

“
Uhhh…sure,
Mister Carver.” Awesome Jr. was reading a pop-up box that had
suddenly appeared. “But I don’t know if any of us are any
good yet.”

“
I’m
sure I can carry you,” Shadow said.

“
Carver
said we need four people.”

“
What
skills do you have?”