Does this give you an idea how much wealth has been accumulated by DSR? No? Alright, then do some basic arithmetic and times the number of beta testers by how much they are being paid. And that’s just paying the beta testers, not the rest of the staff.
Sheesh, probably need a building that large just to house the accountants.
We pull into a city parking garage next to the headquarters and park. Leaving our gear in the 4WD, we make our way across the street and towards the massive lobby of the building.
As we are waiting at the lights to cross the busy road, the clicking of expensive heels gets closer, and I look over at a pretty blonde who looks familiar in a grey business skirt and jacket. She brushes past me and onto the street while texting on her phone, absolutely oblivious to the world around her.
I frown at her for a split second before I hear the blaring horn of a bus. My eyes widening in surprise and my arm already outstretched, I just manage to snag the back of her jacket collar and yank her hard towards me. She trips and falls into me with a startled squeal. Her legs get tangled up in mine as I try to brace us against falling over, though without success since I fall flat on my back with her on top of me.
Instinctively my arms go around the lady in an attempt to keep myself as her cushion as I land on the ground. The blaring of the bus horn passes right where she was just standing, and it didn’t even look like it slowed at all. Bloody bus drivers. Well, the day wouldn’t have gone well for this lady if I hadn’t pulled her ass out of the frying pan.
I’m inhaling her perfume since it is stuffed up my nose and tickling me just enough to make me want to sneeze. Funnily enough, it smells like peach schnapps. Slowly snapping out of the hard fall and haze of perfume, I finally realise where my hands are squeezing her and quickly let go.
Fuzzy and Blake are there in a flash, helping the lady stand up while Anya and Lockie give me a hand up. The blonde is looking a little frazzled as she straightens her skirt and jacket while looking around with wide eyes.
Her gaze fixes on me and locks on as she gets in my personal space and looks up at me with thunderclouds in her eyes.
All of a sudden something changes in her face as she relaxes and flutters her eyelashes at me. “Oh my, now isn’t this a surprise? You’ve certainly changed since the last time I saw you.”
I’m not normally one to be all brain dumb around a pretty woman, but I was still rebooting from her nearly getting run over.
“Oh? You know Donald?” Blake pipes up with a grin, giving me a wink.
“Oh yes, we used to know each other intimately, didn’t we, Donald?” she whispers seductively while trailing a finger slowly down my shirt, her other hand sliding inside her jacket.
With the fog gone, I realise we do actually know each other. Her name is Vicky and she used to be my girlfriend a long time ago. We had been dating a couple of months, and I hadn’t even had the chance to introduce her to any of my friends before she just up and left one day without a word. I had gotten home with takeout and a movie to find all her stuff was gone. Poof, without a trace.
It’s not like she had moved in or anything, but you know how it is with new relationships. Various articles of clothing and such just get left behind every now and then, along with random things. I hadn’t seen or heard from her since.
“I’m not the same person I was back then, though I would love to be able to repay you for your heroic deed today,” Vicky says with a twinkle in her eye. “Maybe I was too hasty in the past. We should get together and catch up.”
Sliding her hand out of her jacket, Vicky pulls out a business card. Before I realise what she is doing, Vicky has a hold of my belt and slips her card down my pants before giving me a squeeze. “Give me a call sometime. I’ll be happy to fall on top of you again. Repeatedly.”
The lights make the ‘time to walk’ noise, and with one last pat and a quick peck on my lips, Vicky turns around like nothing happened and sways across the road. And here I am, just standing there shocked in the middle of the pavement, my mouth still open and a business card next to my junk.
When my brain finally catches up, I start to feel guilty that I didn’t stop that before it happened. I have a girlfriend, after all. Even if she isn’t always there, she is still my girlfriend and I love her.
“Dude!” Blake practically yells while throwing both hands in the air. “That was fricking awesome! With a capital A!”
“I have to admit.” Anya slowly shakes her head with a grin. “You had some super-fast reflexes to begin with, and then you went and seized up like it was your first time on a date. Jeez. You have been on a date, right? Wait, Rosie is real, right? Oh, wait, yeah, I have met her once or twice. You should hold onto that card in case you and Rosie don’t work out.”
As we are waiting for the light to change again, because we missed it the first time, Fuzzy gives me the eye. “You gonna keep that card?”
Sighing, I reach in and pull it out. The card is glossy black with just her first name and a mobile number. Guess that’s all you really need to get in contact with someone.
Shaking my head, I sigh again and frown. “Nope. I’d probably better tell her up front that I have a girlfriend now. I should have done it before she gave me her card. If Rosie finds it, I’m a goner.”
Mixed reactions come from my friends when I admit that. Lockie has a relieved or strangled look, I can’t tell which. It looks like he is fighting some inner battle and looks really weird.
Anya has turned indifferent, and Fuzzy nods seriously while Blake looks affronted.
“You mean to tell me Rosie would be pissed off just because you have a business card?” scoffs Blake.
“It doesn’t really look like a business card, Blake,” I reply. “You show me a girl who doesn’t mind random numbers in her fella’s pockets. I highly doubt there are many. Plus, she isn’t exactly a random.”
“What is the go with that anyway? You two go to school together or something? Because she looked like she knew you on a very personal level,” asks Blake.
“No, not school. But we actually dated for a few months quite a number of years ago. I didn’t even get the chance to introduce her to anyone before she just up and left. No idea why though.” I shrug. “Probably best to leave things the way they are and not rock the boat.”
“So she left you, huh?” Lockie murmurs.
The light takes forever, but eventually changes, and we walk across the road and enter the lobby through the massive double sliding glass doors. In fact, the entire face of the lobby is made of glass.
There has to be a good three stories of open space in the lobby. To the right there is a wide spiralling staircase, where Vicky and four others are walking up. It leads to an open mezzanine level with glass panes set in fancy metalwork. The mezzanine takes up all of the right-hand wall. I can see comfy lounges up there and also beneath, so they must be a waiting or relaxation area for guests or something like that.
Directly in front of me in the middle of the room is a circular reception desk and five very stunning receptionists of mixed genders sitting next to each other. There isn’t anyone currently at the reception desk, but there are several small groups of people around the room, holding tablets and chatting quietly to one another.
Behind the reception desk and to the left is a large opaque sliding glass door, and in front of it are two armed security guards. In front of them are two metal archways next to each other, which look like the ones they have at the airport for metal detection. Four more security are standing around those machines, and there are rope bollards creating a line in front of both.
A small line of people is already waiting their turn in front of the metal detectors.
DSR must be worried about other companies stealing their technology or something if they need to have armed guards and a level of security this high.
Still rubbernecking as we all take in the elegance and simplicity of the place, we walk over to the receptionists.
“Hi, how can
we help you today?” The brunette lady in the middle smiles.
“Well, my name is Donald Patterson, and these gents are Douglas Myers, Anya Sokolov, Blake Edwards and Lockie Rayne. We are beta testers for DSR2 and have come to complete our registration,” I reply, gesturing to each of the others in turn.
“Oh! That’s wonderful.” Little miss bubbly on the leftmost side smiles. She picks up five tablets from the stack next to her and places them on the counter.
“Please use these tablets to fill out all your details and sign our user agreements,” says the man next to her. “Most of the information should autofill once you type in your name and address, as it takes the information you provided when you created your initial account with DSR1. Just check to make sure everything is right, okay? When you are finished, you will be able to access the rest of the building and be directed by your tablet to your accommodation.”
The lady in the middle speaks up again. “Oh! And they are now your own personal tablets to use in conjunction with your beta testing. They will always be connected to the system as well as the internet in general, so as long as they are charged, you will be able to have twenty-four-hour instant access to any help features.”
Now that’s handy. Well, time to sort out my little issue of guilt before getting stuck into the paperwork.
“Let’s head upstairs to the lounges there. Looks like it will be less crowded,” I say as I head for the stairs. Like ripping a Band-Aid off, just get it over and done with quickly.
The others follow me, and when we reach the top of the stairs, we can see that there are only five groups of people up here, so there are still plenty of lounges available. There is a wide gap between the railing and most of the lounges.
I immediately see that Vicky and her group are leaning up against the railing, talking. It looks like they have already completed their information, as there is a small green light at the top of their tablets while ours are blinking red.
Vicky notices me as we get closer, and she grins while gesturing in my direction. One of the two males laughs while the other two ladies try to repress giggles. When I get close enough, she moves out in front of them with an exaggerated sway of her hips.
“Well, that was fast, Donald,” Vicky says alluringly as her eyes rake me up and down, briefly stopping below my belt before reaching my eyes. “Couldn’t wait to continue our conversation, hmm?”
With an apologetic look that I know is on my face, I reach into my pocket and pull out her card. I hand it back to her regretfully. “I apologise for the misunderstanding, Vicky, but I unfortunately can’t accept your card. I already have a girlfriend and wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea by waiting for a call that won’t be coming. Again, I’m sorry.”
Without meaning to cause it, the look on Vicky’s face is absolutely priceless. If, of course, I wasn’t taking this situation seriously. It’s like dumbfounded had a baby with incredulous and out came cold seething rage. Well, apparently, I’m quite tactless with women, as the next thing out of my mouth is a grunt and a bit of spittle as Vicky’s surprisingly strong, full-handed slap snaps my face to the side.
She then snatches her card out of my hand and proceeds to tear it to shreds with a murderous glare focused on me. One of her eyes twitches slightly before she storms past me and down the stairs.
That went well. Not as well as I’d hoped, but probably better than I expected.
“That was really cold, man. Really cold. I’d probably advise not meeting Vicky in a dark alley now,” says tall, dark and curly, the same guy who laughed as I was walking up.
He shakes his head as he follows Vicky. The other three members of her group trail after them, shooting daggers from their eyes the whole way.
“Woah, dude.” Blake blinks. “From zero to a hundred and back to zero within the space of ten minutes. You’re something else, mate, you really are.”
“You probably shouldn’t have done that, Donald,” Lockie says in a small voice with a sigh.
“Well, it needed to be done one way or the other. I would have wanted to know if someone I gave my number to was going to call or not,” I explain. “Especially in that situation.”
“Yeah, I get that, I do,” Lockie agrees but then shakes his head a little. “But you probably shouldn’t have done that to Vicky. I didn’t want to say anything before because I didn’t want any bad blood between us. I definitely would have said something if you had decided to keep the card though.”
“Said what exactly, Lockie?” asks Fuzzy.
“That Vicky is a vindictive bitch who only thinks about herself and is completely and utterly psychotic. I should know, I dated her briefly in high school. She quickly thought I was too boring, since I was just as attracted to the football team as to her. She thought it was because I like football too much, but we all know that’s not the real reason. Still, she forgot all about me and moved on. That’s not the bad part though,” Lockie states.
He then looks at me with a serious expression. “She became seriously attached to a guy called Bryce on the football team when he caught her from falling down some stairs. They dated for quite a few months before she saw him chatting to another girl in class, one he had a group assignment with. Well, she flipped, took the scissors from the teacher’s desk, and then stabbed him in the balls. Repeatedly. Bryce dead set lost a nut and has a seriously nasty scar. That was the last time I saw her till today, actually.”
We all turn to face the line at the security entrance, where Vicky and her group are already walking in. Fuzzy lets out a low whistle while Blake just shakes his head with his eyes wider than normal.
“Shi-it,” Anya drawls out, turning a little green before looking at Lockie. “Is it good or bad that she already grabbed Donald’s junk?”
“Probably bad. Very bad,” he replies before looking at me with a sickly smile. “Least you got to slightly sample the goods.”
“So, uh, who wants to fill out their forms, eh?” I ask, not really expecting an answer, as I dread my next interaction with Vicky. True psychopaths are scary because you would literally never know when they would blow their tops. Which is bad when there are things that could be used as a weapon within arm’s reach.
The dumb part is that I never even picked up on that aspect of her when I was with her. Good thing I didn’t do anything to piss her off before, though I suppose that’s changed now.
Am I scared of her? Hell yes. Only stupid people aren’t afraid of things that can hurt them. You aren’t brave when you are fearless, that’s stupidity. It’s standing firm while facing your fear that makes you brave.
Trying to tune everything else out of my head, I lean up against the railing and turn on my tablet. The screen immediately pops up with both ‘Log in’ and ‘Validate My Beta Account’. I choose the second option, and the beginning of a standard details form pops up with everything blank. I type in my full name, date of birth and my address, and suddenly all the boxes are autofilled, just like the receptionist fellow said they would be.
That makes it much easier than I thought it would be. Flicking through the rest of the information, I quickly reach the end. It had all my personal details correct, health, fitness, banking, governmental and everything in between. I create a username and password and tick all the necessary boxes of legalese, then press ‘Submit’.
The little blinking red light turns a solid green.
I quickly pull out my phone and open my bank account. My account balance shows $24,350. A grin transforms my face as I try to contain my excitement. Wahoo! This is so awesome! I find it easy to save a lot of money already, considering I haven’t done much outside of DSR1 that costs a lot of money for the better part of seven years.
Sure, I go out on dates with Rosie and hang out with the guys outside the game, but except for our camping trips, I don’t really spend a lot on frivolous things. Why spend lots of money on alcohol and partying when you can do it in-game without the hangover? There are still a lot of people who do, and that ke
pt me in a job as security for a nightclub for a long time.
Now I get to move on to something different. Hopefully when this beta ends, I may be able to snag a job within the company. Heck, I’d settle for being security here if the opportunity came up. So we need to really outshine everyone else.
“You guys all done yet?” I ask, still smiling. “I just finished and checked my account. Twenty grand is already transferred and available for use.”
“What?! Really?” exclaims Blake excitedly, bouncing around like a little kid on red cordial. “Best day ever!”
We all chuckle at Blake’s enthusiasm.
I turn around and gaze over the lobby absently as I wait. Quite a few more people have rocked up, and there is now a line in front of the receptionists.
The double doors opening gets my attention as a new group enters carrying small duffel bags. The first three are carrying all the luggage while the last two just waltz in like they own the place. Of course, it’s a chick latched onto a guy’s arm. Hmm, that chick looks remarkably like Rosie, actually.
WTF?!
I feel like the floor just dropped out from under me and I’ve fallen head first into a pool of ice water.
That is Rosie! Wait, hold up. She doesn’t even like the DSR headgear, so that can’t be her. It’s a bloody good-looking doppelganger though. Even as I think this, the feeling of euphoria from before is completely replaced with dread.
It’s not her. It’s not her.
The group has just reached the line for the security gates, so they must have already finished all the paperwork and then went to get their bags. While they wait in line, the blonde chick starts mashing faces with tall, blonde and chiselled whom she has been hanging off. Think Hercules and you would be right on the money. He looks familiar for some reason too.
I glance down at my phone and shoot off a quick text.
Hey, how is your road trip going? Have any good location selfies to send?
My heart grows heavy and sinks a little when the blonde chick pulls away from the guy and pulls out her phone from her bra. She types something quickly before shoving it back in there.
Dream Stream Reality: Publisher's Pack Books 1-2: (A LitRPG Adventure) Page 18