“How is this game helping to cure you?” I asked, and the group of elderly patients all started speaking at once. Their voices were an excited babble, and I could only pick out pieces of the spaghetti bowl of conversations.
“One at a time please,” a doctor raised his hand, and the patients quieted.
I noticed that one of the men hadn’t really spoken yet, and he sat at the edge of the couch farthest away from me. I tried to make eye contact with him, but as soon as he saw me look his way he turned his eyes down to his hand. There was something he was hiding in-between his fingers, and the man quickly put them to his sides.
“It’s made me whole,” Becca said. “It is like nothing I’ve ever played before. My body and mind felt so strong afterward.”
“Have you played Astafar Unlimited?” I smirked at her.
“Champ, I mean you no disrespect, but Astafar Unlimited is to Ohlavar Quest as riding a tricycle is to have sex with your soul mate.”
“Haha, so you are saying that I’m in for a treat when I try it?” I asked.
“You haven’t tried it, Champ?” Sam looked surprised, and the other patients also seemed shocked, except for the guy at the end.
“No, not yet. I was going to after lun--”
“What are you doing here talking to us? You gotta go play!” Sam’s eyes sparkled, and he clapped his hands together. The five other patients agreed with him, but I was keeping my eye on the man at the end, and he seemed to just be going through the motions.
He definitely didn’t want to be here.
“What do you think? Is it a great game?” I turned to the man.
“Sure Champ. It almost feels real, and I think about returning every second. My memory has come back, but my son passed away a few years ago, and I don’t have any other family. I feel like the NPCs in the game are the next closest thing. Do you know what I mean?”
“I can understand that, Jacob,” I said the man’s name as I saw his tag. “I’ve been playing Astafar Unlimited for so long; I think I know the names of every NPC and their dialogue tags.
“Oh, but Ohlavar Quest is different. It is--”
“Can you all talk about what you are planning to do tomorrow?” Zarra cut Jacob off with her question, but the man looked grateful for the interruption.
“I’m going to play some Ohlavar Quest after breakfast. Then do lunch, then my grandkids are coming to see me. Joshua is eight and Sue just turned four,” Becca’s eyes lit up with the kind of joy that someone with Alzheimer's couldn’t emulate.
A few other patients replied, but their stories were similar. They were all looking forward to playing the game, and then visiting with family at the end of the day.
“Are all your families local?” I asked them.
“Yes, Arnacript is paying for them to live nearby,” Casper said, and the patients nodded.
“I am going to take the Champ from you all now. We have to eat lunch and then he will be doing his first play of Ohlavar Quest.”
“Champ you are going to love it!” Sam said, and the rest of the patients nodded their heads.
Zarra, Casper, and I stood from the couch, and the patients all jumped to their feet so that they could give me a hug or shake my hand. Jacob was the last one to say his farewell, and when he shook my hand, I felt him press a piece of paper into my palm.
“Ahhh give me a hug!” I pulled the man in close and used the movement to put the message he had slipped me into my pocket without Zarra or Casper seeing me.
“Thank you Champ,” the man said as I pulled away from him. His eyes looked teary, but before I could ask him what was wrong, he turned from me and walked toward the piano player.
“We have a faculty cafeteria on the opposite side of this facility. Arnacript has a wonderful chef, and I believe you will find your lunch very enjoyable,” Casper said as he gestured for me to follow him back toward the hallway out of the common room.
“Sounds great. I am starving.”
“Our chef has been looking forward to preparing our meal. Although, he is a little upset that I only gave him a two-hours' notice. He’s of German descent, so you know how they are about timetables.” Zarra had walked up next to me and slipped her arm through mine.
“Ha, yeah. I’ve battled and worked with plenty of Germans. Hey, I could use a restroom break before we go to lunch. Is there one nearby?” I asked.
“Yes, there is one across the hallway,” Casper pointed to an unmarked doorway once we entered the corridor outside of the common room.
“Great, thank you. I’ll be right back.”
“We’ll wait for you here,” Zarra said. Her lips formed a sincere smile, and I noticed that she had a slight dimple on each of her cheeks. I didn’t think she could get any prettier, but the indents added a slight cuteness to her otherwise sultry beauty.
I ducked through the doorway and found myself in a shorter hall with a janitorial door and two more doors for the restrooms. I pushed through the men labeled one and into the tiled bathroom. The place had a sink, urinal, and stall. I didn’t see any cameras on the ceiling, but I went into the stall anyways.
I pulled down my pants and sat on the toilet liner before I reached into my pocket. My fingers connected with the folded up piece of paper, and I pulled it up to my lowered face so that I could read it between my legs. If there was a camera over the stall, the security people would think I was just squeezing out a really big log, and I gave a slight grunt to add to my acting.
They need you to complete the quest.
Don’t trust the purple eyes.
You can save them Champ.
Fast for power.
The writing was little more than a scrawl on the back of what looked to be a blank medication slip. I guessed that Jacob meant the Ohlavar Quest game. Or was it something else? A quest in the game? I could guess who he meant by the purple eyes, and yeah, I knew that I didn’t trust Zarra. Who was “them”? The patients at Arnacript? They had all seemed really happy, even Jacob had smiled when I asked him about his treatment and the game. The last line made even less sense. I understood that the velocity of a strike could equal power, and a lot of my martial arts training had worked in a nice balance of speed combined with strength. Why did an aged Alzheimer's patient want to give me fighting advice?
I read the four sentences a few more times and looked for some code in the way that the letters were written. I didn’t find one and then realized that it had been about five minutes since I had entered the bathroom. I took one last look at the note and tried to commit it to memory, and then I ripped it up into very tiny pieces, tossed it into the toilet bowl between my legs, and stood from the porcelain throne. A short flush later and the evidence was gone.
I washed my hands and then exited the bathroom. Casper and Zarra were waiting for me in the hallway, and I made sure I gave them my biggest smile.
“Sorry about the wait. Let’s do lunch,” I said as I held my arm out for Zarra to take again.
“Of course, we are so glad that the Champ is here,” the woman said, and I followed Casper to the cafeteria.
Chapter 4
“That was one of the best meals I can remember indulging in,” I said as I leaned back in the chair of Arnacript’s Treatment Wing Cafeteria and made a show of rubbing my abs.
I wouldn’t have really called it a cafeteria. The atmosphere, seating, waiters, and food made it feel like a one or two star Michelin restaurant. The sign above the place had indicated that it was a “Cafeteria” though, and I wondered if they did that to make it feel as if it was a workplace environment. They had served me Japanese style cuisine, and the miso soup had been so good that I’d asked for two bowls.
“Thank you for the compliment, Champ.” The chef was dressed in the full white uniform, including the puffy hat, and he bowed deeply after I spoke. He had a slight German accent, and I wondered if he had spent a lot of time in Japan to get the cuisine authentic.
“It is well deserved. I’ve had wonderful meals all ove
r the world. That was really exceptional.”
“Now you are flattering me. Thank you, Champ. Since you seem to be in such a good mood, would you mind signing this for my son?” The man pulled out a hand-sized picture of me from inside his white jacket. It looked like it was taken during the celebration of last year’s World Championships.
“Sure. What’s his name?” I asked as I took the picture. I didn’t have a pen on me, but Casper handed me one from his seat across the table.
“Jason. Thanks, Champ.”
“Thank you for the meal,” I said as I handed him the signed picture.
“How about I take a look at your game?” I said to Zarra.
“Oh, I thought you would never ask,” the woman purred from her seat next to me. I’d been able to fight my attraction to her during our meal, but my resolve was starting to crumble, and I wanted a chance to escape from the woman.
It wasn’t just that Zarra was pretty, or beautiful, or sultry. She was unbelievably charming, and once our meal had come to an end, I realized that the conversation at the table had been mostly about me. Well, me and the treatment of the Alzheimer's patients.
Zarra had explained that her game helped the patients by creating new neuro pathways in their brain as they played. It was kind of like learning a new language, or a new skill. The experiences of the game world helped their brains regain the youthful vigor the disease had destroyed. I had heard experts speak on the effectiveness of brain training and mental exercise before, but most believed that this was only helpful as a preventative measure and would do little more than delay the progression of decline once the disease had already taken hold. Zara's research and the experiences of her patients seemed to prove otherwise.
“We have the Ohlavar Quest VRIU ready for you in a private suite. Techs are standing by,” Casper said as he stood from the table with Zarra.
“VRIU?” I asked
“Virtual Reality Immersion Unit. You have never seen anything like this,” Zarra said as she led me out of the cafeteria.
“I’ve heard that before.”
“I know you have, but you are about to experience something that only a few have. Ohlavar is an amazing world,” Zarra said.
“Yep, yep, yep. Heard that too. Be ready for disappointment. I’ve broken many a game designer’s heart when I’ve told them that their baby was ugly.”
“It isn’t perfect; we have a lot of work to do on the interface. As I said before, it is in very early alpha phase. We would appreciate any feedback you could give us, but my goal is to have you work with us long term to develop something that can be both marketable as entertainment, as well as help cure mental illness.” The woman’s voice trailed off, and she turned away from me.
“Do you have family with Alzheimer's?” I asked the pretty woman. When we spoke to each other, it was as if Casper wasn’t even there.
“Yes, my grandmother. She passed a few years ago.”
“I see,” I said, and I felt my opinion of the young woman warm. It appeared that we were more similar than I had thought. This disease didn’t care if you were rich or poor.
“Here is your suite, Mr. Lennox,” Casper said as he opened a door with an ‘LL’ sign attached to the metal.
The three of us walked through the door and into the greenish-blue living room of the apartment.
It was a bit smaller than the penthouse of the hotel that I’d left a few hours ago, but it was probably five times the size of the tiny apartment in the Bronx that I had grown up in. The living room had a couch, TV projector and white wall, dining table with four chairs, coffee table, large kitchenette, fridge, dry bar, and a padded leather recliner chair. The furniture felt very contemporary, and I wondered if they had hired a designer to coordinate the pieces, teal paint, and artwork.
“Your bedroom is in there, along with the master bathroom,” Casper said as he pointed to the side room on the right. “Your luggage has already been placed on the bed, but they didn’t unpack it for you.”
“Thanks,” I said as I glanced into the room. My single suitcase sat atop a king sized canopy bed, and for a second I thought about asking Zarra to share the sheets with me tonight. Ugh. I needed to get her out of my blood.
“Through here is the lab room where the VRIU unit is kept. Let’s introduce you to the team,” Casper opened the door in the living room that was opposite my bedroom door, and gestured for me to enter.
I walked past the older man with Zarra, and almost skidded to a halt. The door that Casper had opened looked like wood from the side of my suite’s living room, but in reality, it was a four-inch thick piece of steel. I saw several locking mechanisms on the edges of the door jamb, and the holes on them dug deeply into the matching steel walls.
“Shit, you have some security here.” I pointed to the locking holes as I stepped through. It looked like bars could come out of the wall and then slide into the door to keep it sealed shut. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up again. I knew that megacorps often had extreme security measures, but this seemed a bit heavy handed for a hospital. Then again, if Zarra did have a working cure for Alzheimer's, it would be worth billions of dollars. I could understand why she would want to keep information, or patients, from spreading the word until their testing was done.
“As I mentioned earlier, we work with some younger patients that have extreme cases. We have to be able to quarantine areas until we can get someone to calm them down. I’m sure you’ve had that experience before? Where someone with Alzheimer's became violent because of a memory or because they were disorientated?” Zarra sighed as she spoke, and I nodded at her words.
My parents were sometimes violent when they didn’t believe that I was their son.
I tried to push the memories of my last visit with them out of my head but failed. My dad couldn’t remember me at all, but my mother only recalled me at five and she screamed at me not to force myself on her. She’d tried to claw at my face, but the orderlies had rushed into the visiting room and sedated her before she could do any damage. It was one of the worse visits, but that was how it tended to work with Alzheimer's. There were good days and bad ones.
But even good days could go sour in a few minutes when they suddenly lost their memories.
“Hello team, we’ve brought you, Mr. Lennox,” Casper said after he closed the door to my suite.
There were three other people in the room: two women and a man. The man was standing over a metal container that looked like a large coffin. I realized it was actually a small pool, and it was filled with a dark liquid that he appeared to be analyzing with some sort of prod device.
The two women were sitting behind a thick glass wall. One of them wore glasses, and I could see the light of a dozen computer screens reflect on the lenses she wore. Part of the glass wall was actually an open door, and as soon as they saw us, they shuffled out from behind their computer terminals with shy smiles.
“Hey Champ, My name is Ky Witta. I’m a VRIU service tech. I was just getting this baby ready for your first game experience.” The man had almost leapt in front of the two women so that he could introduce himself to me. He wore thick metal glasses, had a shaved head, and gave a firm, but sweaty, handshake.
“Nice to meet you,” I said as I returned his smile.
“Hello Leo, I’m Doctor Dimopoulos. I’ll be performing a short medical examination on you, and monitoring your vitals during your game session,” the first woman said. She was older, maybe in her fifties, and her olive skin combined with her curly brown hair made her Greek name fitting.
“Nice to meet you. Why do I need my vitals maintained during the game?” I raised an eyebrow and looked between Zarra and the doctor.
“It’s just our procedure for the first dozen times that someone logs into Ohlavar Quest through our VRIU. It is a new technology that we are still testing. If there is an equipment failure we want to ensure that no ocular damage occurs,” Dr. Dimopoulos spoke the words with practiced ease, and I wondered how many times she
had said them.
“Hi Leo, I’m Jennifer Green. I’m a software engineer. My job is to ensure that our AI is following scripted quests, and to pass the feedback onto our development team.” This was the girl who wore glasses. She had a cute face, blonde hair that was tied back in a tight bun, and she wore a gray tailored pencil skirt suit combination under her white lab coat.
“Nice to meet you,” I said as I shook her hand. “I’m probably going to be breaking Zarra and your hearts today.”
“Oh? Why?” I guessed that the blonde woman was my age; maybe a year or two younger, and she pushed up her glasses and scrunched her nose when she asked her question.
“Leo is convinced that our game is terrible.” Zarra smiled at us and let out a short laugh. “But I think he’s about to have a change of heart. Are you ready?”
“First I need to take his vitals,” the doc said as she pulled a stethoscope and digital tablet out of her coat. “Leo, can I have you sit on this stool over here?”
“Yep. No problem,” I said as I sat on the stool next to the strange coffin container.
“I’ll need a few more minutes to calibrate the VRIU juice.” Ky took a few steps back to his previous position and inserted the strange rod into the liquid.
“Juice?” I asked him as he stirred the inky liquid.
“It’s a Newtonian fluid, especially balanced to match body temperature and create resistance.” He looked up to me briefly when he spoke, and then he made a sharp jerking motion with the rod. Glanced at a display on the end of the handle, and then glanced at the glowing side panel of the large coffin container.
“Lean forward please,” the doc commanded. She lifted up my shirt and put the cold pad of the stethoscope against my back. “Breathe in deeply and exhale all the way.” I followed her instructions while I watched Ky make another few slashing motions with the submerged paddle.
Lion's Quest: Undefeated: A LitRPG Saga Page 6