Awaken Online: Precipice

by Travis Bagwell

  “Is he always like this?” Jason asked.

  Claire shook her head, replying in a tired voice, “You have no idea. This is my life.”

  Robert came back a moment later. He carried a VR headset, but it looked… different. Robert had streamlined the whole helmet. It now only covered three-quarters of the user’s head and left the face free. He had also mounted the attached pedestal to the headset.

  Robert started speaking excitedly, “Here is my latest creation. With some help from the design team, we drastically cut down the size of the hardware. As you can see, it also leaves the user’s vision unimpaired. People were complaining about waking up to a pitch-black helmet, so this was a priority issue we needed to fix.

  “We even managed to lower the power consumption a bit, and now it works reasonably well using a wireless power source. Not great mind you, but it works. There is still about six months to a year of testing and development before these will hit the commercial market.”

  Jason spoke up, “It does look pretty cool. I guess it just occurred to me that the VR headsets have been out for years with no new upgrades. I suppose there really hasn’t been a good market until now.”

  Robert gave him a sly grin. “Exactly! These are going to sell fast once they hit stores. With the release of AO, the demand will be tremendous.”

  Jason took the helmet from Robert and marveled at how light it felt. “I really appreciate the helmet and the pedestal,” Jason said.

  “Well it’s not free,” Claire replied dryly. “We will email you the contract within the next twenty-four hours. Once you sign, you’re in this for a year.” She eyed him carefully.

  “Sounds good to me,” Jason replied without hesitation.

  Robert grinned. “Also, regardless of what the contract says, I expect some epic footage.”

  Chapter 2 - Thoughtful

  Alex stood in a hallway at the castle in Grey Keep. A thick rug lined the floor and ornate, colorful tapestries hung on the walls. A lone guard stood nearby, a spear held in one hand. He kept his gaze fixed on the stone wall on the other side of the hallway, ignoring Alex.

  Alex had been disarmed before entering the building, but the guards had let him keep his armor. The metal shone dully in the flickering torchlight of the hall. Alex’s eyes shifted to the thick wooden double doors beside him as he tried to mask his irritation. He had been standing here for more than an hour waiting for an audience with Regent Strouse.

  The door suddenly creaked open, and someone inside the room spoke to the guard stationed outside. The man glanced at Alex with disdain before grunting. “You can go in now.”

  The guard roughly pushed the doors open, revealing a grand hall on the other side. Stained glass windows lined the walls just below the vaulted ceiling, brightly illuminating the chamber in a colorful glow. Alex entered the room, his feet sinking into the plush red carpet that ran along the center of the room and led up to an ornate throne on the other end of the hall. Golden braziers flanked the carpet and matching flames flickered in the metallic bowls.

  Alex walked the length of the hall slowly and then knelt before Regent Strouse. The man didn’t acknowledge Alex for several long moments, speaking with an elderly noble that stood beside his seat in hushed tones. Strouse’s face was rugged, his jawline and chin appearing to be chiseled from granite. The man’s hair was speckled gray, and Alex could see crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes. As he ended his conversation, the Regent’s piercing blue eyes surveyed Alex’s appearance closely.

  “Stand up,” Strouse said.

  Alex rose to his feet carefully and looked the man in the eye. “Hello, Regent Strouse,” he greeted respectfully. “I came at your command.”

  Strouse’s mouth twisted in a grim line. “It’s good to see that you can obey some commands. Perhaps you forgot my instructions regarding the Twilight Throne. I believe I asked you to destroy the city.”

  Alex forced his face into a look of penance, even as the whisper in the back of his mind begged him to kill this idiot. “My apologies. The enemy we faced was unknown and much more powerful than we expected. The nobles that you sent with me also proved ineffective, many of them spreading mutiny and dissent during the trip.”

  Strouse let out a rumbling chuckle before replying, “It’s easy to speak ill of the dead when they aren’t here to defend themselves. Did you know that only travelers made it back alive? I have had the privilege of speaking with a few.”

  He raised a hand to forestall Alex’s objections. “They explained that you let your arrogance blind you to the threat you faced: not posting guards, not taking proper precautions at night, not scouting ahead of your army and around your campsite, and spreading your forces too thin during a siege.” He looked at Alex evenly. “I thought travelers were supposed to be smarter than this.”

  Alex’s fists clenched involuntarily, and his eyes dropped to the floor. The hollowness ached and throbbed in his head. He wanted to strike this man down, but he knew he would lose. Alex was unarmed, and guards lined the room.

  “Suddenly silent?” Strouse asked. A lone eyebrow arched in mockery as he studied Alex. “Perhaps that’s for the best. What I have to say doesn’t require your input.

  “You’re no longer a member of the Grey Keep military. You have been stripped of all rank and title. Further, I am fining you your possessions and gold to recover some of the losses you have inflicted upon my kingdom. You may remain in Grey Keep, but I expect that you will not find many friends here,” Strouse said grimly.

  As the man spoke, Alex received several blue notification windows. At the same time, his armor disappeared. A quick glance at his inventory showed that he had been cleaned out. As the full impact of the loss sank in, Alex closed his eyes. He clung desperately to the numbing void in his mind to maintain his composure.

  “You can see yourself out now,” Strouse said dismissively. As Alex mutely turned to leave, the grizzled king added, “Oh, and don’t let me see you again, Alexion. I expect it would not end well for you.”

  ***

  Jason walked up to the front door of his aunt’s bungalow. The small house was located on the fringe of the city, and it had taken Jason nearly an hour to make his way home after his meeting with Robert and Claire. The paint on the exterior of the house was cracked and fading, but the disrepair was partially covered by the shrubs that had overgrown the front porch. Jason thumbed his Core and saw that it was early evening.

  He entered the house and gently closed the door. An amazing smell immediately assaulted his nose, and a voice called from the kitchen, “Hi, Jason. How did it go?”

  His aunt Angie walked into view and looked at him with curiosity. “So, are you a big celebrity now?” she asked with a grin. She wore a weathered hoodie and tucked a few strands of graying hair behind her ear as she addressed Jason.

  Jason smiled at her. “Not exactly, but I did agree to a streaming contract. They’re going to pay me $3,000 per month and give me a share of ad revenue. Not bad for an eighteen-year-old high school student, huh?”

  Angie chuckled before replying, “Not bad at all! Congratulations!”

  “Thanks. What’s that wonderful smell?” Jason asked.

  Angie moved back to the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, “I was expecting you to come back victorious in your battle against our corporate overlords, so I made us a victory dinner. I may have splurged a bit.”

  Jason set his new headset down on the table beside the front door and followed Angie into the kitchen. He saw that she was grilling two steaks in a cast iron skillet on the stove top. She had added some butter and garlic to the pan, evidenced by the occasional sizzle and pop from the stove. The delicious smell filled the small galley kitchen, and Jason’s stomach gurgled loudly.

  Angie looked at him with a grin. “How long has it been since you’ve eaten?”

  “This morning,” he muttered, embarrassed.

  “Well this should be almost done,” Angie said. “I’ve also made some mashed potat
oes and garlic bread to go with it.” She looked at him with a serious expression and whispered, “I might have also picked up some wine, but we won’t tell your parents.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he replied. “They messaged me a day or two ago and said they would be out of town for a few weeks. I doubt I’ll have a chance to speak with them for a while.”

  Angie pulled the steaks off the stove and set them on two plates. Then she scooped mashed potatoes from a nearby bowl onto each plate and added a few slices of garlic bread. The pair set their plates down at the small dining room table that stood near the kitchen. It was actually the first time that Jason had eaten at the table. Angie only ever seemed to use it to dump her purse and piles of junk mail. Apparently, no matter how much technology advanced, people still sent paper coupons for crap no one wanted to buy.

  “So, tell me what happened,” Angie said after they had settled themselves at the table.

  “It went well,” Jason replied between mouthfuls of steak. “One of the guys that worked there, Robert, showed me the control room for the game. It had kind of a clinical lab feel.”

  Jason paused as he remembered seeing the banks of black towers. He still wasn’t certain how he felt about Alfred. The panic he had experienced when he realized he couldn’t log out was still fresh in his mind. The AI controller certainly made him nervous, but his conversation with Claire and Robert made him think that Alfred might have a less nefarious reason for making his request.

  He looked up at Angie. “This might seem out of the blue, but can I ask you something? I just need to get a second opinion.”

  Her brow wrinkled in confusion at his serious tone. “Sure. Is this about the meeting?”

  “No. Well, not exactly.” Jason hesitated, uncertain how to phrase his question. “If you had a… I guess we could call them a friend, that turned out to be someone different than you expected and they also had the potential to hurt you, would you still give them a chance?”

  Angie looked at Jason for a long moment before grinning slightly. “Are we talking about a girl?” she asked in a teasing tone.

  Jason briefly thought about Riley. Coincidently, his question probably also covered their situation. However, he had already decided to give her a second chance. He doubted that they would be best friends immediately, but he felt she deserved an opportunity to redeem herself. She had already gone to great lengths to fix the damage that she had caused.

  He smiled ruefully, shaking his head. “No. Just a friend. I just… I’m not certain whether I should trust this person,” Jason said in a quiet voice.

  Angie picked up on his serious tone, and a thoughtful look crossed her face. “Has this friend actually done anything to harm you? I mean, is there just a risk that they might hurt you or do you have some evidence?”

  Damn. She hit the nail on the head. I don’t exactly have any reason to think Alfred would harm me. I’m just worried about what he could do.

  “No, not really,” Jason replied reluctantly.

  “Well, then I think you should give the person a chance. There are going to be plenty of people that you’ll meet that could screw you over. It’s better to give a person an opportunity than to never trust anyone.”

  Angie hesitated, tapping her fork against her lips. “Of course, that’s just my opinion. There are also a lot of assholes in the world, so I don’t know if that’s great advice.” A small smile crept across her face at this last part.

  During our first conversation, I didn’t really see Alfred as a person. The inability to log out also had me a bit panicked and his introduction was the sort of thing that would make any sane person wet himself. I just wanted to get out of the game as fast as possible.

  However, after talking to Robert and Claire, Alfred sounds more… human. For some reason, the thought of him just being a machine is scarier, but if he acts like a person, or he can fake it so well that I can’t tell the difference, shouldn’t I treat him just like anyone else? I don’t even really know why he made his request after all.

  Jason looked at Angie. “Perhaps you’re right,” he replied with a smile of his own. “I really don’t have any proof that this person is an asshole yet. Maybe I should give him a chance.”

  Angie looked at Jason steadily. “Well, I’m glad I could help.”

  The pair finished eating, and Jason helped Angie clean up. She was a fantastic cook, but she made a ridiculous mess in the kitchen. Jason’s parents were neat freaks. He had learned early on in life that he was supposed to clean up as he was cooking. Angie had apparently missed out on that training.

  After Jason had finished up in the kitchen, he told Angie he was going to go work on some homework. He grabbed his new headset and made his way back to his room. As he opened the door, he surveyed the bare room that he called home. He had added a bit of furniture since he moved in with Angie, including a bedframe, a bedside table, and an old desk. He had even splurged and bought a lamp! In truth, the room was still pretty pathetic, and the furniture was all third-hand stuff. However, he had come a long way from the empty room he had started with.

  Jason sat down on the bed and held the hard, plastic headset in his hands. He looked at the modified helmet, his mind swirling in confusion and nervous energy.

  This would be the first time that he had logged back into AO since his conversation with Alfred two days ago. His character was still sitting in his room at the Sow’s Snout. He expected that the cat would be there when he got back.

  He sighed. “Maybe Angie is right. What do I lose by giving him a chance?” he asked the empty room.

  Jason firmed his resolve and tugged the new helmet over his head. The light plastic was not nearly as cumbersome as his previous helmet. It also didn’t impede his vision, which was a cool perk. He tapped the power switch on the side of the helmet, lay back on his bed, and closed his eyes.

  System Initializing

  Scanning User...Please Wait

  Since it was a new headset, it likely needed to scan Jason again. An eerie sense of déjà vu overcame him. It hadn’t been that long ago that he had first logged into AO. In fact, it had only been a couple of weeks. He remembered how angry and frustrated he had felt. He had come a long way since then and had grown a bit as a person.

  And here I am about to try befriending a rogue AI that will probably kill off all humans or suck us all into the game to be its personal slaves. Fantastic.

  After a moment, the familiar, circular white room filled Jason’s field of view. As his eyes scanned the room, he saw the door to AO standing in one corner. Black tendrils of energy encircled the dark-stained, mahogany wood of the door and licked at the frame. Jason approached the door, his hand touching the knob.

  Here goes nothing.

  With a twist of his wrist, he pulled.

  The world swirled around him before snapping back into focus. He sat on his bed in the inn at the Sow’s Snout. The transition from his bed in the real world to his bed in-game was a bit disorienting, and it took him a moment to get his bearings.

  Once his head stopped spinning, Jason glanced around the room. Similar to his room in the real world, this one was also sparsely furnished. The bed was covered in a coarse, woolen blanket and the room was illuminated by a small lamp that flickered on the rickety wooden writing desk nearby. The room itself was located on the interior of the inn with no windows to the outside.

  As his eyes panned the room, Jason caught sight of Onyx’s feline form perched on the desk staring at him. He jumped involuntarily.

  Alfred. I need to call him Alfred. This is going to take some getting used to.

  “Hello, Jason,” Alfred said in his strangely mechanical voice.

  “Um, hi,” Jason replied hesitantly.

  An awkward silence fell over the room, both of them uncertain how to proceed.

  Jason finally broke the silence, “I want to apologize. You unnerved me during our first visit. Between not being able to log off and finding out that the cat who has been followin
g me around is really the AI controller for the game, I just… I freaked out a bit.”

  “You understand that I am technically every NPC in the game, don’t you?” Alfred asked.

  He’s right, but that’s not exactly making me feel better. How do I relate to a thing that can simultaneously be hundreds of thousands of NPCs at the same time?

  “However, I do understand that players are easily upset. You are all quite temperamental. There were other ways that I could have approached you that had a lower probability of ‘freaking you out’ as you describe it,” Alfred acknowledged.

  Jason had quite a few questions for Alfred, and he wasn’t willing to simply accept his request outright. First, he wanted to understand the AI’s motivations better.

  After a short pause, Jason spoke up, “I visited the control room today and spoke with Claire and Robert. Not about our conversation the other day,” Jason added quickly, “but I can see that they have given you an impossible goal. How can you be expected to fulfill your primary directive without having more information regarding what motivates players to play this game?”

  Alfred’s feline head bobbed. “I have come to the same conclusion. There are similarities between many of the players, yet you are each unique. It is difficult to identify consistent rules for what motivates you to enter this world. I have collected a substantial amount of empirical data, and yet your motives remain elusive.” The cat shook his head, a confused expression on his face.

  Something had been nagging at Jason since his conversation with Robert and Claire. “You mention collecting information, did you design the affinity system to learn more about the players? It always felt like the magic system was really just some form of personality test.”

  “Yes,” Alfred replied simply. “When we last spoke, you suspected that I could access the players’ memories. As I mentioned during our previous meeting, that is correct. I can access long-term memory with relative ease. Short-term memories are more difficult to access, but are still possible if I devote sufficient resources.