Read Hypercage: Instant Reality Prequel One Online
Authors: Craig Lea Gordon
Hypercage: Instant Reality Prequel One (5 page)
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B
attle rank 40 progress: 0%
The progress bar glowed brightly against the all-consuming blackness.
A purple hex grid appeared. Unknown names and faces, GUIDs and BONUS XP slid past in a never-ending carousel. BONUS XP. BR 40.Get to BR 40. Prickly heat burst all over his body. Itching. Insects crawled under his skin, clawing their way into his brain. Need XP. Now. There. Him. Mr Kenzo Sekiya +50,000 XP. Huge profile bonus. So much XP.
Kenzo’s input data exploded into a network around the construct. Red nodes pulsed in the darkness.
Quick. Biggest XP. Must get to BR 40.
The construct collapsed. Only darkness now. A snap of bones and gurgling of blood. A sloppy, wet ripping sound. Thumping metallic footsteps. An involuntary whimper escaped his lips. The claw hoisted him by the throat. Its clinical white chassis was a mess of blood and gore.
>instruct - categorise unknown input 1a
Help. Get me out of here. Don’t let it kill me. I don’t want to die.
+5,000 XP
The score disintegrated. Triangles pinged, one by one, as they zoomed into the progress bar.
Battle rank 40 progress: 2%
The heat built again. More. More XP. Itching. I need more XP. Clawing at his brain. Give me XP.
Unfamiliar scenes shot through his mind like a VR film set to instant consumption. The ARVatar was impassive as it cancelled his contract. His insurance refused to pay out. The court AI ruled against him. The repossession bots couldn’t be bargained with. He was finished. Broken. The final chug of vodka was no relief. The bottle arced through the air, smashing against the white exoskeleton. Mechs crowded around him from all sides, crushing his chest, suffocating him. Cold, hard limbs penetrated every orifice of his body. They tunnelled through him and burst out from the inside of his flesh.
>instruct - categorise unknown input 1b
They are everywhere. We depend on them. But they will cast us aside. Turn against us. They will destroy us.
+10,000 XP
Battle rank 40 progress: 6%
He was travelling along multiple lanes of neon blue data at once, smashing through barriers of light. Each barrier was Kenzo’s every thought, decision, choice and action, based on the input of this emotion and attitude. They forced their way through his mind, and in a fraction of a second, he relived each one.
>instruct - validate associated outputs
If we don’t make a stand, they’ll destroy us. I’m going to rally people together, start a movement. I’m going to dedicate my life to this. Starting now.
>instruct - identify interested buyers
The construct was a sea of red nodes. He watched as the lanes of neon slammed into four of them, instantly colouring them blue.
Against each of the blue nodes, monetary values tumbled upwards. Categories flipped. Flags changed colour. Statuses switched. Descriptions updated. Scores changed.
Behavioural data uploaded to:
World Security Agency +7,000 XP
VR Nexus +2,000 XP
GenTec +2,500 XP
People Info Inc. +2,000 XP
Battle rank 40 progress: 11.4%
More XP. More input. I need more input. End game. Get to the end game. I need more XP. But BR40 is so far. So… far… away. He feverishly worked his way around the construct, like a digital bloodhound being steadily overclocked.
Battle rank 40 progress: 34%
The unrelenting bombardment of inputs was exhausting, but he was unable to pause, even for a nanosecond.
Battle rank 40 progress: 66.19%
The constant trickle of experience points was just enough to keep the itching at the base of his brain at bay.
Battle rank 40 progress: 71.4%
The final node flipped to blue, sending a pulse of soft light travelling through every single connection in the construct. A big stream of glowing text appeared.
Profile complete +50,000 XP
+40,000 XP for emotional biomap
+10,000 profile bonus XP
+347,700 session XP
+25,000 speedrun XP
+40,000 XP for data broker matches
+60,000 XP for data re-sale value
Net score: 672,700 XP
The text exploded line by line, filling his view with a barrage of triangles that were absorbed by the progress bar. The tinkling sound became a steady stream of noise as the XP racked up, point by point. He hungrily watched the progress bar fill towards the end, willing the last triangle to push it to one hundred percent.
A fanfare sounded from all around him. Every visual element of the construct exploded at once, recombining to form a huge block of text against the blackness.
BATTLE RANK 40!
Fireworks burst from the surface of the letters.
Before he even had a chance to enjoy the moment, a million tiny laser blasts burned their way into his brain at the same time. The pain was excruciating. He could imagine his eyeballs melting in his head as his vision washed with static. Lines flickered up and down. Pain flared at the base of his skull. The glowing lines of the purple hex grid broke down and corrupted. The scream in his head evaded his absent lips.
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>instruct - target (15b214ce-bbbc-4e08-9b65-bcf56d9723a7) for Project Imperium
>instruct – reset unit (99815204-c85c-4287-8a71-c8cb6f53b78c)
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B
attle rank 40 progress: 0%
The progress bar glowed brightly against the all-consuming blackness.
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About the Author
Craig Lea Gordon is the author of the Instant Reality series. You can find news and updates of his progress at his website, here:
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Dedication
For Harry. Thank you for helping to shape Hypercage into what it is today. And thank you for helping me to grow as a writer, and as a reader.
I want to say thank you to my wonderful beta readers. Your input has been invaluable.
Thank you to my advanced review readers for helping my stories to be discovered.
Many thanks to Harry Dewulf for his exceptional developmental editing and mentoring.
Thanks to Laurie Skemp for helping to make my words shine.
Thank you to all my friends and family for your encouragement.
Contributors
Developmental Editor: Harry Dewulf
Copy Editor: Laurie Skemp
http://www.bookeditingpro.com/
