The Player Blackout

by Lucas Flint

  Equipment: Ice Man Costume [Powers: 2/5], Energy Cannon [Left Arm]

  Health: 25

  Stamina: 15

  Strength: 25

  Defense: 17

  Charisma: 5

  Intelligence: 11

  Agility: 18

  Evasion: 6

  Accuracy: 15

  Dexterity: 17

  Energy: 30

  Luck: 2

  HERO STATS

  Courage: 10

  Justice: 11

  Trust: 6

  Fame: 11

  Willpower: 9

  I scratched my chin. Figuring out the best way to distribute my SPs was always a challenge, but I thought back to my recent battle with Omega Burst. The only reason I had survived, much less won, that battle was thanks to Freezing Touch, which had somehow managed to freeze his whole body. How that worked, I still didn’t quite understand, but given how he also nearly broke out of it, I suspected that leveling up Freezing Touch would benefit me in the long run, perhaps allowing its Freezing effect to last longer.

  So I dumped all four of my Power Powers into Freezing Touch. That didn’t allow it to level up—I would need another 6 PP before I could do that—but it was almost halfway to Level 2 and I was interested in seeing how much stronger it would get upon leveling up. My other Powers and Skills were good as they were, although I made a mental note to use Scan more often in order to get it to Level 3 so I could see all the same information Funky could.

  Looking over my Stat distribution, I decided that I needed to invest more SPs into my Health and Energy. With the acquisition of Omega Burst’s Energy Cannon, it was becoming clearer to me that my play style was going to be fairly Energy-dependent. I understood this was unusual for the Fighter class that I belonged to, but given my situation, I didn’t think I counted as an especially ‘usual’ player.

  So I dumped half of my SPs into Health and the other half into Energy and then looked at my character sheet again:

  Secret Identity: Winter

  Real Identity: Nyle Ash Maxwell

  Level: 13

  EXP: 300/3,200 (2,900 EXP to the next level)

  Available Stat Points: 0

  Available Power Points: 0

  Alignment: Hero

  Class: Fighter

  Reputation: Budding Hero

  Powers: Super Strength [Level 2],, Ice Beam [Level 2. Next Level: 10 PP], Freezing Touch [Level 1. Next Level: 6 PP], Hero Sense [Level 1]

  Skills: Scan [Level 2], Dodge [Level 1], Perception [Level 1]

  Equipment: Ice Man Costume [Powers: 2/5], Energy Cannon [Left Arm]

  Health: 29

  Stamina: 15

  Strength: 25

  Defense: 17

  Charisma: 5

  Intelligence: 11

  Agility: 18

  Evasion: 6

  Accuracy: 15

  Dexterity: 17

  Energy: 34

  Luck: 2

  HERO STATS

  Courage: 10

  Justice: 11

  Trust: 6

  Fame: 11

  Willpower: 9

  I felt like my Stats were still far too low to pose a real challenge to Dark Kosmos, but maybe I would level up some more during the inevitable dungeon battles that awaited us. Besides, I wasn’t on my own. I had the entirety of Team Winter on my side, plus three Sidekicks. Working together, I felt like we might just be able to do this, assuming we didn’t all die together, that is.

  That was when I heard a familiar ping in my ears, which was the sound I heard whenever I got a new message in my inbox. Puzzled at who could have possibly contacted me, I opened my inbox and came to a complete stop in the middle of the staircase when I saw who the sender was:

  The message’s sender was Charles ‘Chuck’ Omar and the subject line read ‘WINTER, ARE YOU THERE?’

  Without another thought, I opened the message and read it in its entirety:

  Winter-

  This is Charles Omar, your Department of Virtual Reality agent. Ever since the Blackout, SI Games and the Department of VR have been working overtime to reestablish communication channels between the real world and Capes Online, particularly with the Project Second Life participants like yourself. If you received this message, please reply as soon as possible. We need to talk.

  I hit the reply button and wrote this message:

  I got your message, Chuck. Not sure we can talk right now, because I’m in the middle of something. Perhaps later after I defeat Dark Kosmos.

  A second after I sent the message, I got another reply from Chuck, this one even more frantic than the last:

  Dark Kosmos is exactly why we need to talk now. Can you find a private room or someplace where we can talk? Our in-game cameras aren’t working, but our computers inform us that you’re traveling with three other players.

  I bit my lower lip. We really had no time to talk, but it sounded like Chuck had found out something about Dark Kosmos that I needed to know. Besides, this was the first communication we’d had with the real world in what felt like forever, even though it had yet to be a day in-game. It would be worth talking to Chuck even if all I did was tell him what happened since the ‘Blackout,’ as he was apparently calling Dark Kosmos’ takeover.

  So I sent Chuck a message informing him that I would find a room for us to talk, but as soon as I hit the send button, I heard Cy say behind me, “Boss? Are you okay?”

  Startled, I looked around and realized that the entirety of Team Winter was looking at me with a mixture of worry and confusion in their eyes. Especially Funky, whose eyes darted back and forth briefly as if to ensure that we had not walked into some sort of trap.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said slowly. “I just got a message from someone in the real world, though.”

  “You what?” said Dillo, whirling around to face me entirely. “Who? How? Dark Kosmos shut down all communication with the outside world. How—”

  “I don’t know how, but I do know it’s someone I know,” I said vaguely, recalling Chuck’s warnings against revealing the Department of VR’s role in the game. “They want to talk, but for various reasons, I can’t talk to them out here. I need a private room, but don’t worry. I’ll be okay.”

  “There’s a room over here,” said Recover. She stood on the other side of the staircase/hallway, poking her head into what appeared to be an empty room. “Looks like a storage closet or something.” She pulled her head out of the closet and looked over her shoulder at me. “We’ll be out here, but if you need help, just let us know, okay?”

  I nodded and went into the storage closet before anyone could react. Closing the door behind me, I was plunged into darkness, at least until I flipped on a switch and found myself surrounded by brooms, mops, buckets, and cleaning supplies. It was a fairly cramped space, not helped by the smell of cleaning chemicals like bleach that filled my nostrils, but given how I couldn’t hear anyone on the outside, I assumed the door was thicker than it looked.

  That was when I noticed I got another message from Chuck, which I opened and read:

  Good to know. Your Help button is still disabled, so I can’t manifest in-game like that, but the SI Games developers created this link which will allow me to enter the game if you click it. Rather archaic, but right now archaic is about the level of technology we have access to after the Blackout. Click the link as soon as you find a private place to talk.

  The link below the message was a long, incomprehensible line of letters and numbers that made me feel sick just looking at it, but I clicked it anyway.

  As soon as I did, Chuck appeared before me like he always did, but he looked worse than before. He no longer wore his sunglasses, allowing me to see thick bags hanging underneath his dark eyes, while his suit was ragged and his tie slightly crooked like he’d been sleeping in his suit. His normally perfectly-kept beard appeared wilder than usual and even his skin seemed to be tinged with a hint of gray. Even stranger, his avatar was slightly transparent, as if he was unable to full
y manifest in the game world.

  “Whoa,” I said, staring at Chuck in shock. “You look like you haven’t slept in forever.”

  “I have gotten exactly one hour, twenty-one minutes, and thirty-two and a half seconds of sleep since the Blackout started,” said Chuck. His voice was slow and slightly slurred, like he had also been drinking. “Normally, I get a full eight hours of sleep, but when the Blackout started, each and every Department agent has been working overtime to fix this mess. The President even issued a declaration of National Emergency once he got the information, as have heads of state all over the world. Let’s just say that the amount of stress I am under is similar to what the mythological Greek god Atlas must feel when he carries the whole world on his shoulders and leave it at that.”

  “It’s that bad?” I said.

  “Of course it’s that bad!” Chuck snapped, his cool demeanor suddenly dropping. He ran a hand through his unkempt beard. “When the Blackout happened, SI Games assured the public it was just a glitch that would be resolved momentarily, but then Dark Kosmos made his pronouncement and now people are in full-fledged panic. VR Arcades are being mobbed by the loved ones of Capes Online prisoners, tons of people are threatening to sue both SI Games and the federal government, and oh, did I forgot to mention the President’s daughter is one of the prisoners?”

  My eyes widened in shock. “The President’s daughter is here?”

  “Yes!” said Chuck. “Plus the sons and daughters of dozens of other heads of state all over the world, and the children of many celebrities and corporate executives. There are even rumors that the Pope is trapped. The Pope. Did you know the Pope even plays video games?”

  “I didn’t,” I said, slowly backing away from Chuck. Although I didn’t think he could touch me, I found his mania scary, given how he was normally the epitome of cool. “But I guess even the Pope needs to have fun every once and a while.”

  “That’s not the point,” said Chuck. “It’s even worse with the knowledge that all connection between the outside world and Capes Online have been severed by Dark Kosmos. The only reason we’re even talking is because SI Games’ developers found a small crack that they were able to slip me through. Even then, it’s only a matter of time before Dark Kosmos becomes aware of my presence and cuts off our connection. That’s why we should not waste any time.”

  Ah. That explained why Chuck’s avatar looked transparent, as well as the graphical glitches I noticed in his voice whenever he started shouting. “Well, it sounds to me like things have gone to hell back on Earth.”

  “Oh, it will get much, much worse before it gets better,” said Chuck, shaking his head. “Anyway, what has happened in-game since we last talked? You mentioned that you and some other players are trying to stop Dark Kosmos. What steps are you taking to achieve that goal exactly?”

  I gave Chuck a brief rundown on what had happened since the Blackout. Chuck would interrupt every now and then to ask a question to clarify a part of the story he didn’t understand, but overall he was a surprisingly good listener. I guess he wasn’t as tired as he seemed.

  “And so now we’re the only players in the game that are actively trying to kill Dark Kosmos,” I finished. “Pretty much every other player in the game is after me, although I don’t think they’ll be able to get me now that I’m in Dark Kosmos’ Hideout.”

  Chuck stroked his beard, practically tugging on it like his anxiety was getting the best of him. “I can’t say this is unexpected. I suspected that some players would attempt to take advantage of the situation to indulge in their baser instincts, but I didn’t think it would get that bad. The psychological damage that so many players will be experiencing afterward will make PTSD look tame.”

  I almost said ‘Assuming we defeat Dark Kosmos and free everyone,’ but caught myself at the last minute because I realized that comment wasn’t exactly helpful.

  So I said, “I know. That’s why we need to stop Dark Kosmos. Is there any way you can help us with that?”

  “Unfortunately, I cannot,” said Chuck with an apologetic shrug. “Trust me, I would love nothing more than to help you stop Dark Kosmos, but even just talking to you is a Herculean task on par with designing the game itself. In my current form, I am completely unable to interact with the game world in any way, shape or form.”

  I cursed under my breath, but said aloud, “Not a big deal. My Team and I will deal with him and—”

  “But that’s just the thing,” said Chuck. “Dark Kosmos cannot be beaten.”

  I stared at Chuck. “What? Of course he can be beaten. He might be incredibly powerful, but he’s still just another NPC in the game.”

  Chuck, however, shook his head. “It’s not that simple. You see, Dark Kosmos isn’t just an NPC, like you seem to think. There is a reason I needed to contact you and tell you what SI Games told me about Dark Kosmos.”

  I frowned. “And what did SI Games tell you about Dark Kosmos that is so important?”

  Chuck hesitated as if he wasn’t sure if he should say anything, but then he said, in a much calmer tone than before, “Dark Kosmos is a person.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  “Dark Kosmos is a person?” I said, staring at Chuck in confusion. “What the heck does that mean? Are you telling me he’s actually a player?”

  Chuck shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Not exactly. It’s difficult to explain, but Dark Kosmos is actually a prototype for true digital life.”

  “Digital life?” I repeated. “What do you mean?”

  Chuck bit his lower lip. “You have interacted with the NPCs in-game, I assume. You’ve seen how lifelike they are, how they act very much like real human beings.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, they are pretty lifelike. But I’m not fooled. I know they’re just glorified ones and zeroes. They’re not real people.”

  “True,” said Chuck, “but Dark Kosmos is different. He was—is—meant to serve as a prototype for a new form of digital life. AIs that aren’t simply highly-advanced computer programs, but actual living beings, with their own free will, in their own right.”

  “Is this another secretive government program I should know about?” I asked. “Or is SI Games doing this?”

  “It’s another part of Project Second Life,” said Chuck. He looked at me in the eyes. “The aim of Project Second Life isn’t just to provide the dead with another shot at life. Its true aim, in part, is to make Capes Online nearly as real as real life, down to the last detail. That mission is a long ways off from being accomplished—if it ever truly can be—but part of the steps necessary to achieve that goal is to create NPCs that aren’t NPCs, but real people just like you and me.”

  “But Dark Kosmos identifies as an NPC,” I said. “He’s trapped us all in-game to punish us for what we did to his fellow NPCs.”

  “My guess is that’s Dark Kosmos’ way of swaying the game’s NPCs over to his side,” said Chuck. “From what Dark Kosmos’ designers have told me, he is supposed to be a very cunning liar and manipulator. And based on what you told me about the two Universal Missions he offered players, I can see that they were correct.”

  “Why would SI Games start with a Villain for their prototype?” I said in disbelief. “Especially one as powerful and evil as Dark Kosmos?”

  “They have actually made several digital life prototypes, but Dark Kosmos was the only one who has become active and freed from their control,” said Chuck with a shrug. “And there’s a reason even for that: Someone hacked the game and unleashed Dark Kosmos on the world.”

  “Do you mean another player?” I asked.

  “No, probably not a player,” said Chuck. “All evidence so far points to it being either an SI Games developer or possibly a Department of VR agent.”

  “Hold on,” I said. “Didn’t you say that you were going to investigate a leaker within the Department? How is that going?”

  “I was just about to bring that up myself,” said Chuck. “So far, the evidence we’ve collected sugg
ests that the leaker and the hacker are the same person.”

  “Do you have any suspects in your Department yet?” I said. “Anyone at all?”

  “A few,” said Chuck vaguely, “but the investigation has been halted due to the Blackout. Even so, I haven’t forgotten about it and I intend to ask Director Johnson if I can continue it. If I can prove that the leaker and the hacker are the same person, then it may be that we can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.”

  “I hope so,” I said, rubbing the back of my head. “And how long did you say the Blackout has been happening?”

  “Two days,” said Chuck, holding up two fingers. “How long has it been in-game?”

  “Less than a day,” I said. “Why?”

  “That is odd,” said Chuck. “I know time in-game works differently than time in the real world, but it seems to me that things are moving much more slowly in-game than in real life. I wonder if Dark Kosmos …”

  Chuck let that thought die, but I understood. The implications of Dark Kosmos having control over Capes Online’s time dilation effect was … terrifying, perhaps even more terrifying than the knowledge that he had locked all players into the game. That just made stopping Dark Kosmos all the more important.

  “Has anyone died in real life yet?” I asked.

  “Not that I am aware of,” said Chuck. “I’ve heard rumors that older players in China and Russia have started to die, but getting accurate information from the Chinese and Russians on their own people is about as easy as you expect. No one has died in America yet, but it won’t be long before the first death reports start circulating through the Internet. Once that happens, it will surely be the end not just for Capes Online, but Project Second Life as well.”

  “Are you sure about that?” I asked. “What will happen to me and the other Project Second Life participants if Project Second Life is shut down?”

  Chuck did not immediately answer. When he did, his gaze was averted and he chose his words very carefully. “I do not know. Only Director Johnson knows, and he lives and dies by the principle that knowledge should only be given on a need-to-know basis.”

  I scowled but understood Chuck’s situation. From what it sounded like, Chuck did not have a particularly high standing in the Department, which meant that he probably couldn’t just go up and demand Director Johnson tell him everything he wanted to know. Even so, I wished I knew what would happen to us if the Project was shut down.