"Huh," was all our commander said as she stood in the doorway. Zaya was similarly awestruck when she reached the opening. I soon found out why.
Inside the building was a large open space that had several doors mounted on the wall to the right and on the far end. To the left was a lounge area, then a kitchen and dining section. In the middle was a large pool of clear water that was illuminated from below the floor level to shine blue. The ceiling had to be at least five meters high and there were no visible steps to a second floor.
"Is this are starting point or our home?" Zaya asked.
Memphis, who was the last to believe that we were in the game, said, "She did say that we would find our new home nearby."
We stood there thoroughly confused for a while as we studied our surroundings. Memphis was the first one to try a door in the right. It also opened on a hinge.
“It’s a bedroom,” she revealed.
Zaya turned to study my reaction from close by. She was nearly as tall as me. The confusion I saw in her eyes was unsettling. Naturally, my eyes averted, downward this time. That’s when I noticed a small circle in the middle of the Orange Dragons logo on her t-shirt.
She flinched when I put one finger forward, directly between the two small mounds that were her breasts. The invisible armor on my fingertip contacted the circle and I watched in shock as the button depressed from the pressure.
Zaya’s new suit retracted to reveal her real body underneath in the skin-tight clothing that we all wore when we stepped into that strange round room that now looked like a space pod from the outside.
How could that happen if we were in the game?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The kitchen drawers and cabinets were stocked with enough food to last us for at least a week. Some drawers were refrigerated and held a wide variety of fruit and vegetables that grew on the planet of Athlios. Most types were too expensive for regular people on the station to acquire. I personally had never tasted more than half of them.
There were two sofas and two chairs in the lounge area. Four chairs at the dining table. And four bedrooms, none of which were assigned to individual team members. Two bathrooms with sink, toilet and shower. Those were positioned in between bedrooms to have three access doors. One from the main room and one from each bedroom.
"Boone and I will share a bathroom," Memphis declared. That was to be expected. It would be too weird to do so with either of the other two.
"Yeah," Zaya responded. "I don't need him peeking in on me in the shower."
"I'm sure the doors lock," Rhese told us as she fiddled with the round knobs that were unique to planet living. It was truly strange to find them anywhere on the station.
We all had exited our game suits and stored them in an area specifically designed for them. It was right beside the exercise area that had all the equipment with which we were familiar. Workouts might not be mandatory anymore, but they were still advisable.
"I still don't understand this," Rhese told us. "How can we be in our new home and in the game at the same time?"
"We're not in the game, apparently," Zaya replied.
"Then how do you explain the way this place is made? And exiting the round room like it was some kind of space pod. And the wall around us. And the sky. Did you see the stars in the night sky?"
"Ceiling decorations," Zaya mumbled, not sounding so sure. “Maybe everything that we can’t reach to physically touch is a simulation. A three-dimensional image. Just like that tube extending up into the sky.”
"Why would they waste all this space on this building and the surrounding area?" Rhese asked. “Where is this place located on the station? How can all of this area be dedicated to just us?”
"We're special?" Zaya offered. "We did get selected for the new league, just one of four teams to do so out of twenty. And we were kind of like celebrities before."
Memphis seemed to be settling in with the new home more than the rest of us. "They did say that it would be luxurious."
“They didn’t exaggerate there,” said Zaya.
A rumble then shook the building. "Oh no, not again," we all mumbled. But the vibration was feint compared to before. I suddenly realized what was causing it. The others trailed behind me as I exited our new home and circled back around to pod in the tube where we had just come from. It was gone.
Not quite, gone. Not yet. It was getting smaller and smaller to our eyes as it flew up the wide tube into the sky.
"What just happened?" Memphis asked me, looking confused. Seeing the scared expression that the rest of us had, she also started to get worried.
The sound of voices coming from inside our new home called to us. We sprinted back inside hoping to find someone that would explain what was going on. And we did. Only it wasn't a real person.
The dining room table had lit up just like the table in our old social community room. A voice was inviting us to touch the screen to begin a welcome message. A new logo that I had never seen before was spinning slowly in the center of the wait screen. It was a four-sided pyramid shape with poles in each corner. The word Athlio-Dome rotated with it.
Rhese touched the screen to begin the presentation. The logo enlarged to show more detail as it spun. The poles in the corners were actually tubes that went high into the sky. My stomach sank when I saw that.
"Welcome to Athlio-Dome," a voice inside the table spoke. "Your new home. Everything that you need will be provided for you. Weekly shipments from the station will be received through the tube the same way that you arrived."
"From the station?" Zaya asked in horror.
"Your home is part of a dome that has been constructed on the surface of Athlios. You will share this huge habitat with three other teams, all positioned in the corners of the structure. The area between will be your new battleground. That is where you will play all your games from here on. It is vitally important that you wear your customized armor at all times when you leave your home."
"We're on the planet?" Memphis asked with tears in her eyes. She plopped down on a dining chair like she no longer had the energy to stand. Slowly the rest of us all took a seat as well.
"More details will be provided for you over the next couple days. In the meantime, get comfortable with your luxury accommodations. It should be noted that you will always be visible to viewers when in the main room of your home, or outside of it. Your privacy will be respected in your quarters and the washrooms, of course."
"We're on a live feed all the time?" Rhese asked.
The screen continued with a tour of the house that was now ours. There was no opportunity to ask questions. I suddenly missed Philia even more than my parents or sister.
The bright blue water in the middle of the main room was for submersing our bodies, surprisingly. I had never seen anything like it in all my life. Imagine having so much spare water that you could fill a sunken room with it. Then putting your body in it!
A video played showing someone powering themselves through the water by swinging their arms and kicking their legs. The voice called the activity swimming.
"Your first game will be tomorrow," the table eventually told us after the tour. "The details that you received previously are accurate. More information will be provided before the game as needed. It is vitally important that you come to terms with your new lives quickly. I know that some information has been withheld from you since your acceptance into the Athlio-Dome League. This revelation can be shocking and hard to process. So, let me be perfectly clear."
There was a lengthy pause as we all stared at the screen. Whether it was for viewer effect or to get our minds ready, I wasn't sure.
"You will no longer be hooked up to a computer to play your games. You will be participating directly in each mission. Your real bodies, not avatars. Your armor will protect you to a great degree. But it is not impenetrable. Play each game like your lives depend on it."
Would we die for real if we died in the game? Is that what we were being told?
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"You will receive upgrades in the form of weapons, armor and enhancements that can give you an advantage in the game. Though your skill points did not carry over to Athlio-Dome, you will still be able to level up in some ways. More of those details will be given soon."
"I think I'm going to be sick," Rhese said as she clenched her arms around her stomach.
"Me, too," Memphis said, her face going quite pale like she had caught a virus.
My stomach had been threatening to release their contents ever since we went weightless in the pod. It was a real space pod! We had descended from the station to the planet without even knowing it. How crazy was that?
"I think," Zaya said, not looking nearly distraught as the rest of us. "I'd like to try that swimming pool."
Chapter Thirty
"How deep is it?" I asked as I stood at the edge of the basin full of clear water. The bottom was light blue with a steady pattern made with geometrical shapes. Very subtle, almost unnoticeable. A line of blue light bulbs had been embedded around the perimeter just above the surface, shining into the liquid.
"Based on these steps," Zaya answered. "I should be able to keep my head above the water standing up."
On the end closest to the kitchen there were seven steps descending into the pool. The first was just below the surface, not more than two hand's width lower than the floor around it. My teammate placed her long narrow foot on that first step tentatively.
"It's warm," she claimed with a smile.
"Warm like what?" I asked. "Like heated food? Like a blanket?"
"No," Zaya laughed. Then grinning, she said, "Warm like my body. Do you know how warm my body is?"
"I know how warm Memphis' is," I answered. I wasn't going to let her keep teasing me all the time. My girl was still seated at the table with Rhese. I had assumed they would both come over to the pool when Zaya did. When they didn't, I was tempted to go back. But that would make we look weak and silly.
"Good for you," she said, still smiling. "What do you think? Should I take my clothes off to get in?"
Zaya pulled on the fabric until it bared her right shoulder. I stiffened instinctively. I couldn't help it. When she let it go back and laughed, I knew that I wasn't up to the challenge of fighting her off just yet.
"Relax," she whispered as she turned to put her other foot on the second step. That placed part of her clothed leg in the water. "I'm just joking, Boone. You don't have to be so scared of me."
"I'm not so sure," I muttered without thinking.
She laughed again as she continued into the pool, submersing her thighs, then her hips, then her tight flat belly. There appeared to be no effect on the material that she was wearing. The same jumpsuit that we all still had on. When she turned back in my direction, she leaned on the edge of the pool with her elbows and stared up at me with dreamy eyes.
"I like you, Boone," she said in a soft voice, too low for Memphis to overhear. "I thought that you and I could be good friends, you know?"
"We can be friends," I told her. "Just friends, though."
The way she ran her eyes over my body told me that maybe she was just playing with me. Getting closer to her could reap me a whole lot of trouble. But this was the great Zaya, the Orange Dragon Warrior Queen. That is what some guys called her.
"Maybe we should change out of these clothes," Memphis said as she walked up and looked me over disapprovingly. "Boone, let check to see if they have anything for us to wear in our rooms."
I accepted her hand and did my best not to look back at Zaya in the pool. In our quarters we did find several clothing outfits. More than enough to last us a week, even changing twice a day after workouts. Most were loose fitting and comfortable. I was happy to get out of my skin-tight coveralls.
Memphis did the same and said that she would meet me in the kitchen to get something to eat. With the nausea finally subsiding, hunger was quickly taking its place.
When I opened my door to the main room, Rhese was standing by the edge of the pool. She immediately raised her hand in my direction causing me to halt.
"Don't come in here, Boone!" she cried out. At her feet was a small pile of something dark. Just a little darker than what Rhese was wearing. It was Zaya's jumper. She had removed it while she was in the water. I could see her face just above the edge of the pool, grinning evilly.
"Boone! Bring me some body soap!" Zaya said to me.
Then Memphis stepped into view and made like she was going to kick her teammate in the face. "Zaya! Will you please stop!"
"Stop what?" Zaya replied as she stepped back from the edge. Her naked body was below the watery surface but coming into view. The effect was like a blurry image. "You should join me, girl. We could all use a bath after what we've been through, don't you think?"
"What is a bath?" Memphis asked, distracted from Zaya's flirtation with me.
"It's like a shower," Rhese told her. "Only by submerging yourself in water. The rich people take baths."
"That's us now, ladies," Zaya shouted, sounding way to happy for the situation. The pool was evidently having a mellowing effect on her. Perhaps that was why rich people liked being in water.
"Okay," Rhese said in her commanding voice. "You two, back to Boone's room. Kiss, hug, whatever you two do together. Zaya, out of the pool. Get dressed."
Zaya made her way toward the steps, following her team captain’s command without hesitation.
"Not yet!" Rhese screamed at her. "We'll all meet in the kitchen for a team dinner in ten minutes. Memphis, please close Boone's door so Zaya can go to her room."
Memphis was more than happy to oblige. Her jealous sad face greeted me when she turned around after releasing the doorknob. I was already tired of this game that these two girls were playing with me. Our current circumstances made it even worse. So, I ignored the look and pulled my girl into my arms. I intended to give her a kiss on the forehead, but she raised her heels at the last moment to receive my affection on her lips instead.
One kiss led to another. Then we were on my bed, holding each other tight. Our mouths awkward in their attempt to keep up with each other. Then I remembered something the welcome message had said to us.
"Wait, they said there were no cameras in the bedrooms, right?"
"Why, Boone?" she asked, getting the pouty look about her. "Do you not want people to see us together."
"No," I replied eagerly, and with complete honesty. "I'm so proud to have you as my girlfriend that I want the whole station of people to see us."
Once again, I managed to say the right thing at the right time. Memphis' face beamed as she dove into the next kiss. Maybe there was a chance that I could be good at this after all. I had become good at gaming in Skotopia exceptionally fast. Why couldn't I do the same thing at making Memphis happy.
Thank you for reading Gamer 1. I very much hope that you enjoyed it. Please refer to the Amazon page for the next book in the series and to leave a nice review. As an independent author it is challenging to find new readers. I appreciate any assistance you can provide in that regard.
I am on Goodreads, BookBub, and Facebook. Follow me on those for regular updates. Also, my website http://www.rodzillabraun.com is a great source of information. Sign up for the monthly newsletter while you are there. All my books are available on Amazon, so my author page there has everything that I have ever published. https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B013YWMRA6
More books by Rodzil LaBraun
Science Fiction
New Earth Trilogy
Gamer Series
Urban Fantasy
(these are my early works)
Swift of Spirit
Silver Silhouette
Harem Adventure
(for adult readers only!)
Dystopian Girls Series
Dirty Girls Series
Island Girls Trilogy
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Gamer 1 - Skotopia: A Gamelit novel for science fiction action fans Page 18