The Present
Chapter 1
Project Phoenix Day 2038-10-09-18
Jack ran across the Beetlejuice Desert, with war hounds gaining on him. The tactical display inside his helmet told him his cargo ship was 626 meters away and closing.
He regretted going for the loot crate. His AI, whom Jack named Alfred and gave a posh London accent, warned against it, but the purple items inside made it too valuable to resist. Jack owed a fuck-ton of yuan and thought it would be a quick pay day.
The crate had been a trap. An obvious one too, but not for a noob like him.
His visor read out was 499 meters. Jack spared a moment to glance behind him as he pumped his legs with all his might, trying to dig deep and propel himself forward. The closest war hound was 85 meters away. He wouldn’t make it to his ship in time. At least not while carrying the box [purple: battle suit of hydration].
With a tear in his eye and pain in his gut Jack lobbed the [purple: battle suit of hydration] over his shoulder. He looked back at the cargo ship, 383 meters away. Hitting the booster on his suit he felt the icy liquid flood his veins. His whole body went numb in seconds, but his speed shot from 25 KPH to a staggering 70 KPH.
Within 30 seconds Jack made it inside his cramped cargo ship with the hatch door sealed behind him. He stood in the tiny loading section of his ship and took a deep breath. It was hard to relax in a space too small for him to stand properly, much less stretch his arms out. The front of the ship consisted of a one man pilot seat surrounded by a 180 degree control panel. A dome of translucent material gave the impression of being in a snow globe as he flew. The ship had never been intended for long voyages, but Jack was poor and had to make do.
The back two thirds of the ship, was the whole reason Jack took on massive debt to buy it. A cargo hold capable of storing enough junk to pay off his ship in 7 maybe 10 runs, but he’d never come close to filling his hold, yet. He’d already made his first three runs with no problem. Paid off his daily marker debt plus extra towards the principal.
A built in AI known as OCD (Organized Cargo Deployment), made the ship worth every yuan. Typically Jack would be placing gear and other knick-knacks he found into a section about the size of a typical doorway, where OCD would then store it automatically into his cargo hold. However, this time he came up empty handed. The day had been a bust.
“Alfred” Jack thought.
Alfred responded via telepathy directly into Jack’s mind, and visually by displaying on Jack’s visor. “Yes, Sir?”
“Display ship specs.”
Fuel - 65.9%
Engines - 85.5%
Hull - 99.9% and dropping
Shields - 12.1%
“Stop.”
With the shields down to 12% he should charge them, but it would be at the expense of his fuel. The charging would likely drop the fuel level under the 25% mark. A tough choice to make, in the best of times. He could return to his station, and face not having enough yuan to pay his debt for the day. Or, he could move his ship to a new spot in the desert and hope he got lucky. He had enough yuan to refuel and repair his engines, but if he didn’t pay his daily debt, he would need to get extra lucky tomorrow. The contract allowed Jack to miss two daily payments in a row. The third counted as a default, and no matter how much he’d paid towards the ship it would be confiscated along with everything inside.
He thought of the cargo crate laying in the sand outside his ship. There was no telling what the armor would have done, because the game gave equipment generic names. Once it’s equipped for the first time it becomes 100% unique. No two pieces of equipment were exactly the same. They each had their own little variation, and that’s what kept the players of Project Phoenix moving forward. Everyone kept their eyes peeled for new and better equipment, especially the rumored colorless equipment.
The purple level equipment would have covered his daily payment of 1,750 yuan no problem, probably two or even three. The market always fluctuated.
“Alfred, show me my debt.”
Micro Cargo Ship - ¥134,181 CNY / $19,593.36 USD
Daily Interest Rate - 1.05%
Daily Payment - ¥1,750 CNY
Days to pay off - 157
Jack couldn’t risk losing his ship. He’d paid too much and the Federal Security Bureau had him by the balls!
Chapter 2
Project Phoenix Day 2038-10-09-19
The planet Jack was on sat in a Quadruple system, orbiting a pair of stars, which in turn orbited by a second star pair. In short, it was hot as hell from the constant sunlight. If not for the protection of his suit, Jack would have died. He’d spent the dead time charging his shields, waiting for the war-hounds to lose interest and leave.
There were four banging on the ship’s hull. The armor had dropped from 99% to 97% over the course of 8 hours. He desperately needed yuan to pay down his ship and rest. With his fuel at 21% he had to choose. Either jump and pray there was loot to be had; or head back to the station and face not having enough yuan to pay.
Jack pussied out and chose the safe route. He plugged in the coordinates for his station and engaged his engines. After a 10 second warm up he activated the thrusters and was pressed into the pilot chair while the ship accelerated from 0 KPH to over 36,000 KPH.
Thrusters unexpectedly kicked off, and the ship was coasting over the planet in a degrading orbit. Jack pressed the phase two thruster burn, but all hell broke loose. His console flashed red, and a display popped up inside his visor.
Fuel - 12.4%
Engines - 26% and dropping
Hull - 76%
Shields - 99.9%
“Alfred. What the fuck?” Jack yelled.
“Sorry, Sir. We hit a micro-meteor while exiting the planet’s atmosphere. It punctured the hull and hit engine one and two. They blew out when you tried to fire the rear thrusters.”
“Tell me some fucking good news!” Jack thought.
“We’re on an escape trajectory from the planet.”
“Good, so we won’t crash and burn and die.”
“Exactly, sir.”
“Can we still make a spacial rift to get back to the station for repairs?”
“Odds are high, sir. Engine three is intact, but it requires between 12.3-12.5% of your fuel to work. There’s roughly a 15% chance of failure.”
Jack’s luck had been shit lately. He wouldn’t have been in this mess in the first place, if his first rift hadn’t brought him to this shit hole of a system. He was either due for a break or doomed to fail at this point.
“Are there any gas giants in this system?”
“Three, sir.”
“Any chance of repairing engine two enough to point us in the direction of one?”
There was about a two second delay. “It’s possible, sir. We have an emergency repair kit that’s fully stocked, but you’ve never done a repair before.”
“Let’s assume I can. How long would it take to reach the closest gas giant?”
“At current speeds, approximately 660 days.”
Jack’s face contorted into a scowl and he held back a scream. For Project Phoenix being the most advanced simulation humanity had ever made, the AI’s players had to interact with were mind numbingly stupid. “Okay. Assume engine two is repaired how long will it take to reach the closest gas giant?”
After another second or two delay. “Travel time would be approximately 5 day, 21 hours, and 8 minutes.”
That would never work either. Jack was only 3 days ahead of his loan. Even if he got there, the loan would default, which was worse than blowing up.
Jack cleared his throat. “Alfred, engage FTL!”
The Past
Chapter 3
September 30th, 2038
Jack was sitting at his work
desk, but swiveled away from his screen talking to Steve. “I don’t get it though. What’s the point?”
Steve threw his hands up.
They’d discussed Project Phoenix all week, but Jack didn’t understand. He’d never been a huge fan of video games, and never tried role playing game. Project Phoenix was different though, becoming a global phenomenon. Yet, no one knew who made it. It made headlines in the news for the first time six months earlier, and maintained a steady growth from a few million players to over a billion as of recent reports.
Steve took a deep breath and tried again. “Look. There’s no objective in the game. It’s whatever you want to do. Everyone plays differently. But the real point is Project Phoenix uses the new VRX 2.8 software.” k'12
“That’s what we use for meetings right?” Jack asked.
They worked for an accounting firm that handled companies around the world. The company was one of the first to adopt the approach of tiny offices and VR to collaborate, rather than have massive offices in sky risers. It had saved them an estimated 130 million dollars, worldwide, in the first year, and that was after the cost of all the VRX equipment. After that they were able to convince their clients to make the same switches.
“Yeah, they updated last month.” Steve said. “You know how we can smell the ocean now?”
“Yes.”
“Well, the game’s the same way. There’s literally no difference between you and me sitting here and the game. You can feel, taste, and smell everything!. It’s great!”
Jack laughed. “I guess most people use the game to fuck strangers.”
Steve grinned. “We’ll, yeah. There’s organized prostitution in the game, but you’re missing the point. You can literally fly in space. And not just to mars. You can fly to other solar systems and explore planets!”
“Yeah, but how much is it?”
“That’s the best part. It’s free to play. You just buy what you want, or you can sell enough in game shit and never spend a dollar of your own money.”
“So just the cost of the VRX then?” Jack asked.
“Yeah, and you have to buy the newest. None of the models before the 2.8 work.”
“I don’t know man. I’ll think about it.”
Steve threw his hands up at Jack and spun back around muttering something that sounded like hopeless.
Chapter 4
October 4th, 2038
“Did you buy a system yet?” Steve asked.
“No. I was busy this weekend.” Jack lied.
“You think you were busy? I raided a ship, killed their captain, and fuck the hottest chick there. And that was just my Saturday night. You’ve got to fucking buy one!”
The lights in the building when out, and Jack’s VR monitor died.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked.
Men yelling cut Stecve off. “Get on the floor or you will be shot!”
Jack couldn’t see anything. The office didn’t have windows just floor to ceiling VR monitors, and they were all out.
Someone kicked Jack in the ribs, and a knee pressed into his back between his shoulder blades.
“Hands behind your back!”
Jack complied and his hands were zipped tied behind him. At first he thought, “Plastic?” Then it dawned on him what was happening.
“No!” he screamed. “No, I didn’t do anything! Please.”
A mask was shoved over his face and he felt the pressure at the base of his skull as it clamped down on him, creating an airtight seal. A gas slowly filled his lungs while two people dragged him along by his arms; his feet wouldn’t move. He couldn’t see or hear anything, aside from the low humming of the mask.
♦ ♦ ♦
The mask was removed and Jack gasped for air. The light blinded him. He attempted to rub his eyes, but his arms were strapped into a chair.
“Jack Randolph Davis, you’ve been found guilty of sedition and sentenced to forced labor.”
“What? No. I’ve never. I voted for the fucking party. I’ve been a supporter since day one.”
His eyes focused and he could see the man sitting across the metal table from him. Black suit, white shirt, black tie, and extra short buzz cut hair; a G-man.
“Look. I swear I didn’t do anything. There must be some kind of mistake.”
“Do you know a Steven Connor?” asked the G-man.
“You mean Steve? Yeah, I work with him.”
“Let the record show, that convict 6.1432.2.1 has admitted to his crime willingly. Recommend lighter sentence.”
“What crime?”
A holographic display popped up across the table to Jack’s left. It displayed a photo of him and several lines of text, but he couldn’t read any of it. The G-Man clicked an icon under Jack’s photo, and a new window showed three images: a shovel, a broom, and chair. The G-man clicked the chair.
“You’re lucky.” The G-man said. “Most convicts expire within six months at the labor camps.”
Jack tried to protest, explain his innocence, beg for mercy, but the G-man wouldn’t respond. He walked behind Jack and put the mask back on him. Jack tried to squirm away, but it was no use.
Chapter 5
October 5th, 2038
The lights were blinding again, but this time Jack’ arms weren’t strapped to a chair. When his eyes adjusted, the mahogany four-poster bed he laid on came into view; the focal point of an obnoxiously large bedroom. A matching couch, with spiral arms, in the middle of the room faced a VR screen showing a grassy meadow. Had he awoken in a Shakespearean play?
He spun his feet off the bed and stood up as a woman walked in from the door to his left.
“Hello Jack. I’m April, it’s nice to meet you.”
She walked forward and offered Jack her hand.
He shook it more out of shock than politeness. “Where am I?”
“These are your new quarters. Come with me I’ll explain.”
She led him through the bedroom door and down a long hall which opened onto a raised walkway. They were on the second floor of an extravagantly large mansion.
Jack was in awe at the size and ornate trappings of the place. The walkway continued to the other half of the mansion, but they took exquisitely carved stairs down to a grand entryway on the main floor. Another left led to a door under the stairs, and they descended another set of stairs.
At the bottom in the basement was a massive glass chamber with a chair, like nothing Jack had seen.
“This is your new office.” April said. “Have you ever heard of Project Phoenix?”
“A little.”
“Have you ever been in?”
“No.”
“Your job is now the game.”
She lead him over to the chair and helped him get comfortable, showing him how to adjust every lever. Everything from his head cushion to his heel support was adjustable. While he spent twenty minutes achieving weightlessness. April prepared the hardware.
She held up a white helmet that looked like a motorcycle helmet, minus the back. “This is the beta VR 3.0”
Jack had seen the 2.0 double the size of the 1.0, but he didn’t think they’d go even larger.
“Lay back and get comfortable.”
“I’m not sure about this.”
April gave him a look of disappointment. “We’d been doing so well. If I need to I can call him an FSB officer, but I told them you’d be happy to try out Project Phoenix. It’s a fun game,” her voice dropped an octave. “And it beats the hell out of a labor camp. No?”
Jack nodded.
She adjusted the helmet onto his head. “Say activate Project Phoenix. It should all be ready to go.”
“Activate Project Phoenix.”
♦ ♦ ♦
A display showed
Project Phoenix Day 2038-10-05-15
Jack stood in the middle of a white room. It was bright, but the light didn’t come from one direction it radiated out from everywhere. His body wasn’t leaving a shadow but there was weight
in his legs so he had to be standing.
An image of a middle aged white man, wearing a blue suit projected in front of Jack. The image hovered in his line of sight regardless of where he turned his head.
“I’m your AI, and fully customizable. Appearance, voice, and method of interface are all changeable.” He sounded stuffy like a news reporter.
“Disable visual.” Jack said.
The image of the AI disappeared. “Would you like to enable telepathic link?”
“Yes.”
“Please select one way or two way.”
[One Way] [Two Way] popped up inside Jack’s visor. He looked at [Two Way] and blinked. [One Way] would have prevented the AI from reading Jack’s thoughts.
“You can now think or speak your commands at any time.” The words displayed as a text box on his visor as the AI spoke. “Please choose a name you would like to refer to me as, or say AI to leave as AI.”
Jack paced the white room. Not being able to notice his movement aside from his legs lifting and extending in front of him, distracted him for a few minutes. He was in the middle of jumping from point to point.
“Please choose a name you would like to refer to me as, or say AI to leave as AI.”
It came to him. “Alfred.”
“You have chosen Alfred as the name for your AI?”
[Confirm] [Decline]
Jack blinked on [Confirm].
“Alfred?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Change your voice to English.”
“English has already been selected as the default Language would you like to change it?”
[Confirm] [Decline]
Jack blinked on [Decline].
“Change your accent to English.”
A large list of options popped up on his visor, one of which was [Posh], he blinked on it.
“This is an example of a Posh accent. Do you like it?”
[Confirm] [Decline]
Jack blinked on [Confirm].
The tutorial continued on, and on, and on.
“Alfred display time.”
“There is no time, sir. Did you mean Display Day?”
“Display Day.”
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