by Alex Knight
“Now, does anyone here know anything about the purpose of the Warden program?” The Governor asked, snapping Kaiden’s attention back to the present. “No one? Truly?” He shook his head. “Well, buckle up, then. It’s story time.”
The Governor smirked as the two dozen men stared at him with rapt attention.
“In-game credits in Nova have a real-world value. As such, any transactions that occur are taxable. Now, you’ve lived outside this prison. You know the great lengths our government goes to, the great lengths the Party goes to, in order to maintain this utopia of ours. Free social programs, basic income assistance, a home for every family – oh, and protection. Protection from fear-mongering terrorists, from chaos-loving rebels, and, of course, from lowly criminals.”
He chuckled.
“No offense, but criminals such as, well, yourselves. As you can imagine, it takes a good deal of money to support all of this. Seeing as Nova Online represents the world’s fourth largest GDP each year, you can imagine that’s a lot of money. That’s where the Warden program comes in.” He smiled from ear to ear, looking positively giddy.
Probably just excited to hear himself talk some more.
“The job of a warden is to keep Nova a safe place for players to game and trade. When the players trade, money changes hands. When money changes hands, taxes are paid. When taxes are paid, the Party gets funded. When the Party gets funded, our utopia stays strong and everyone is better off for it. And, lucky day, you all now have the chance to become an essential part of this cycle. You get the chance to be wardens.”
At the last line there were some grumbles from the guards stationed around the room.
“Now, now,” The Governor said, gesturing for quiet. “The Warden program was originally only for government employees. Only for good, hardworking folks like your guards here. But – and you'd all best thank your lucky stars for this – there’s simply too much work these days. The Party needs help. It has enough staff to fill the upper ranks – the officers, the commanders, the essential staff – but there’s a growing need for fodder. For worker drones. Simply put, for you.”
It was beginning to make sense. Kaiden’s heart quickened at the thought of it. It sounded like work, sure, but…better than being in an empty box all day.
“The other inmates here will have spare time to reminisce about their crimes. You lot, on the other hand, will be working. Hard and long. Day in and day out, you will be serving the general populace of Nova Online as a warden, and ensuring the players enjoy themselves and money keeps changing hands. In return, you all will learn how to become functioning members of society again, and you will significantly shorten your stay at my humble facility.” The Governor paused, then smiled at them. “How does that sound, gentlemen?”
There was silence for a moment, then one man mumbled his approval. Then another, and another, until the room echoed with a half-hearted cacophony of “okays” and “why nots?” Not an inspiring chorus, by any means, but a ‘yes’ all the same.
Kaiden didn’t join them. Not because he wasn’t excited – the thrumming of his heart slamming into the back of his ribcage was all too clear an indication that he was – but because he’d finally seen an opportunity to earn his freedom. Perhaps this Warden program was finally a way for him to get the guys in charge to listen to him. As a warden, it sounded like he’d be working with real government employees. People who could help. Kaiden would bide his time, earn a name for himself, impress his superiors and gain their trust. Then maybe they would listen to him, and consider re-opening his case.
It was barely a glimmer of hope, but it was enough. Perhaps he’d somehow be able to prove his innocence. He hadn’t killed Bernstein. Now, maybe, he had a way to show the Party they’d made a mistake. Maybe that wasn’t much, but staring down fifty years in state lockup, it was enough.
“It warms my heart to hear you’re all excited to join my little program,” The Governor said, waving the room back to quiet. “There’s just one little catch.”
Kaiden swallowed hard, along with several others.
“You’ve passed the psychological evaluation, qualifying you for the Warden program. But if you want to stay in the program, you have to earn your spot. You have to prove you’re good enough.”
Silence followed The Governor’s declaration. As if relishing the drama, he let slip a small smile.
“The test will be first thing tomorrow morning, gentlemen. Sleep well.”
Chapter Three
As it happened, Kaiden did not sleep well.
A guard’s voice had come across the loudspeaker announcing quiet hours, and shortly after, the roaring clamor of cell block G-1 had fallen silent. Moments later, the lights throughout the facility had faded, one by one, dimming until all that remained of them was a spectral image on Kaiden’s eyelids when he blinked.
Inmates were one to a cell, which made sense considering there was hardly room for more than Kaiden, his cot set into the wall, and a hole-in-the-floor toilet. Alone in his cell, in the quiet dark, he’d been left with only his thoughts. Not a happy fact, that.
The past few days had been...hectic, to put it lightly. In all actuality they’d been a complete and utter mess.
The whole ordeal had begun innocently enough. On his way home from work Kaiden had stopped to pick up groceries for Bernstein, as he did one or two times a week. Nothing exceptional about that. That was, until he’d found Bernstein’s front door broken and shattered and, a few steps inside, his body in the same state.
Kaiden would have vomited right then and there, but his adrenaline had kicked in. Bernstein’s corpse had yet to cool, which meant the murderer could’ve still been close by. For several long heartbeats Kaiden had stood frozen, groceries gripped in hand and thoughts swirling in his head as he tried to figure out what to do. Not that it mattered. The decision was made for him when the police stormed the house moments later. A baton had slammed into the back of Kaiden’s head, and the next thing he’d known, he was in a holding cell and the world thought him a murderer.
Not that that made any sort of sense. He’d had no reason to kill anyone, least of all Bernstein. From a logical standpoint, Bernstein paid Kaiden to run errands for him throughout the week. That was money Kaiden sorely needed. But beyond logic, from a purely emotional standpoint, killing Bernstein made even less sense. After all, he’d been his friend. Or the closest thing to a friend he’d had time for.
Kaiden’s coworkers had always ignored him, angry that he made them look bad by working so hard. Meanwhile, management refused to promote him based on his less than exemplary first semester departure from college. He’d needed a degree to be promoted, but money to get a degree. It’d been a vicious cycle. One Kaiden had seen few ways out of. Bernstein had been a way out of the cycle.
The money he’d paid Kaiden – far too much for the services rendered, certainly – meant that soon Kaiden would have saved enough to take online classes. He could have started working toward a degree again, and one day, a better job. That was the future Kaiden had imagined for himself. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. A step in the right direction. Instead, he lay in his cot, tossing and turning and all too aware that his future had been thoroughly flushed down the drain.
For the life of him, he couldn’t imagine who had killed Bernstein, or why. He’d been a quiet, peculiar old man. He didn’t bother anyone, or really leave his house, for that matter. He’d stayed inside, working away on his computer. Despite his age, Kaiden had shared a love of gaming with the old man.
Kaiden’s past as a gamer had appealed to Bernstein and the two of them had spent many a late night reminiscing about games whose servers had long been shut down. Or working on mind puzzles. Aside from gaming, that had seemed to be Bernstein’s favorite hobby. Loved a good puzzle, did that man. And he’d rope Kaiden into them, too, when he was stuck on one or needed a fresh perspective.
Considering his lack of any sort of life outside of work, Kaiden had appreciated his
time with the old man. It was, at the very least, social interaction that didn’t revolve around the monotony of his data entry day – and night – job. And he was good at the puzzles, too. A trait that Bernstein had encouraged. "The obvious answer is often a distraction," he’d loved to say when they were tackling a particularly challenging puzzle. "True answers are found when one digs deeper."
Kaiden didn’t know who had murdered Bernstein, or why, but alone in the dark of his cell, he resolved to find out. To do justice by the old man, first and foremost, but to clear his own name as well.
It would be a long and difficult process, he didn’t doubt. First, he’d have to gather the evidence to prove his innocence. Then he’d have to convince someone, anyone, to believe him. And then, with any luck, the courts would reevaluate his case. It would all start the next morning with passing The Governor’s test.
After a restless night, breakfast in prison had been…interesting. A hot, home-cooked meal of bacon and eggs, with a side dish of toast. Or that’s what Kaiden had pretended as he’d forced down an alarmingly warm glass of EazyMealz brand “nutrient-filled, low-fat” Cup-o’-Breakfast™.
Even now, a solid forty-five minutes later, the taste stuck to his tongue, hardening like concrete left to set. Kaiden did his best to swallow the remnants of ‘breakfast’ while The Governor introduced them to the Warden program wing of the prison.
“This is the warden ward,” he said with a chuckle. “The warden ward. It’s a play on...see what we did...never mind.” He waved irritably. “All Warden program business will be conducted in this facility.”
Whatever funding the government had set aside for the Warden program was obviously considerable. Everything in this wing of the prison was brand new, or darn near it. Kaiden was waved through a security scanner and even it must have been new, as the infuriating ding of its green check mark played in a slightly different tone.
“And here,” The Governor said, leading the group into a darkened space. “is what we like to call the pod farm.”
An army of egg-shaped full immersion virtual reality pods spanned the length and width of the room, which, as Kaiden realized, was an unknown distance. As far as he could see it was all low, red overhead lights and the silhouettes of VR pods. Air conditioning poured into the room from above with a constant whooshing, while the pods themselves vented hot air, no doubt from the strain of running the graphic powerhouse that was Nova Online.
These are powerful machines, Kaiden thought, admiring the technology. No lag or technical limitations to ruin their experience. Kaiden had seen Bernstein’s pod once, though it had been a much older model. Truly, these ones were top of the line.
“As you can see, some of the pods are already occupied. We keep wardens in-game and on watch all day, every day here.” Kaiden looked closer and noticed many of the pods were dimly lit from within. Just enough light trickled through the tinted glass of the pods to reveal the form of each occupant. They lay still, as if asleep.
“So we’re taking the test in the pods, then?” one of the inmates asked.
“Taking the test in the pods? Of course you are!” The Governor gestured to a section of unoccupied pods off to one side. “This batch is yours.” Silence followed his words as they stared at him. He stared right back.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Get in. The test has already started.”
Kaiden and the others burst into movement at that, rushing toward open pods and lying down inside.
“Last one to log in fails on general principle,” The Governor taunted, watching their panic.
Kaiden found an unoccupied pod and pulled himself into it. A shadow momentarily blocked out the lights above, and he noticed the brute from yesterday had selected the next pod over. He wasn’t getting in it, however. Instead, he stood fidgeting with his hands and staring at the pod. He was clearly nervous, and from his positioning, unclear how to enter the VR pod.
Kaiden felt himself frown. What, had the big man never seen a pod before? They’d been common now for years. Even non-gamers were somewhat familiar with them. Who was so out of touch they didn’t even know how to get into a VR pod?
His loss, Kaiden thought to himself. One less person in the test meant one less person to compete against. If he was going to prove his innocence, he needed all the advantages he could get. It was logical to let the big man flounder. It made sense. The reasoning was flawless. And yet, he couldn’t do it. Before he could stop himself, the words had left his mouth.
“You get in from the other side.”
The big man turned to look at him.
“Don’t look at me. Get into the pod!” Kaiden could hear the other pods closing now, could imagine the inmates logging in to the game. Every moment he spent helping this stranger was a moment more that he risked being the last to log in.
Now in the pod, the big man looked as confused as ever.
“Flip the switch by your right hand,” Kaiden shouted more than said, feeling himself drawing closer and closer to flunking out of the program.
“I’m not as dumb as I look,” the big man growled. Kaiden’s heart caught in his throat as the man shot him a glare that could have melted steel. “Sorry I didn’t waste my life playing games.” And with that, he flipped the switch and the glass casing of his pod slipped over to cover him.
Maybe I came on a bit too strong, Kaiden thought, mentally facepalming as he leaned back into his own pod. He’d just been trying to help – against his own better logic – and now he’d insulted the man. Great. Just what he needed.
His thoughts flashed back to the tattooed maniac who'd screamed at him the day before. Two enemies in just as many days. Things here were off to a great start.
“Tick tock.” The Governor’s voice echoed through the darkened room. Kaiden flicked the ignition switch for his pod. It closed around him and then the NextGen Games logo filled his vision. A moment later, it faded and was replaced by a line of text.
Welcome to Nova Online
The title screen faded out to white and then Kaiden found himself staring at a character creation screen. An image of himself, reproduced in the realistic graphics of Nova Online stood before him, looking around idly and shifting its weight from one foot to the other every couple of seconds.
My favorite part, Kaiden thought, taking in all the customization options. There were sliders for avatar height, weight, age, musculature, on and on. He took them all in, but even as he looked, the list just kept going. He even saw ‘Left and right nostril width’ at one point. Say one thing for Nova Online, say its character creation was robust. The choices seemed limitless. Except, Kaiden realized, they were all grayed out.
He tried to move the slider for character height. Nothing happened.
What gives?
Even his avatar name was already set to ‘Kaiden.’
So much for ‘Wrongly Accused Warden 67,’ he thought, trying to make light of the situation.
The character creation screen grayed out and a popup message appeared.
Character creation locked to warden account guidelines. Continue to game?
Well, that’s no fun. Kaiden clicked the ‘no’ option and the character creation screen reappeared.
It can’t be that easy, can it?
It wasn’t.
A moment later, the popup returned.
Character creation locked to warden account guidelines. Continue to game?
Kaiden almost clicked 'no' again simply out of spite, but he didn’t want to be the last into the game. Failing out of the program for being late seemed about the worst way to go.
Mumbling to himself, he clicked the ‘yes’ option.
The screen went white once more and Kaiden Moore entered Nova Online.
Chapter Four
It was safe to say NextGen Games had gone the extra mile in designing a fully immersive virtual reality experience for Nova Online. Some would say it was a mile too far. Kaiden couldn’t help but think there was some merit to that argument, consid
ering he was currently wiping a drill sergeant’s spit off his face. It was a strange nuance to include in the game’s design.
“Do you know what a line is, Private?”
Kaiden barely had a chance to take in the vast, metal-walled space surrounding him before the man had jumped down his throat. His ears were still ringing and the sergeant showed no sign of stopping. Seemed the man took his role-playing seriously. Perhaps he was an NPC.
“I said do you know what a line is, Private?”
“Yes, I know what a line is–”
“Then fall in before I fail you for wasting my time!” The sergeant cuffed him on the side of the head and Kaiden took off at a sprint toward a rapidly forming line of new recruits. Lucky for him, the pain setting in the game seemed to be at its lowest point, so there was no pain, only a feeling of impact. One less thing to worry about, I guess.
“Run! Run! Run! Move those legs!” The drill sergeant dogged him every step of the way, screaming loudly as Kaiden simultaneously marveled at the realism of Nova Online and shook the ringing from his ears. As he reached the line, a light flared to his left and the silhouette of a freshly spawning player materialized inside of it. The drill sergeant’s head snapped toward the sight like a wolfhound catching a scent, and then he was off, already inhaling for another round of head-splitting screaming.
As soon as he was gone, a line popped up into Kaiden’s view.
Location discovered: WCSS Anakoni