by Waiting for the Machines to Fall Asleep- The Best New Science Fiction from Sweden (retail) (epub)
– What just happened?
– Someone's found it!
– Found what?
– The Deus Console.
– Who? Player 9?
– No, I'm still ... argh!
Scouring the halls, tunnels, chambers and mansions, she cleansed the tournament world of players with a wall of blue fire.
To the applause of her net-link audience Player 1 disconnected from the game trembling and dripping with sweat. Her head was aching. She felt faint. Her Body-Status-Display showed low blood sugar, high pulse and elevated blood pressure. But she'd done it – she was the Champion and destined to be Club Secretary!"
Extract taken from Norsborg General Gaming Club promotional audio brochure.
Norsborg Gaming Club Open Chat Channel – 8 December 7.37pm
PLAYER 3: Hi, U R new on here Rn't U? Club member?
NOOB: New here. Not member.
PLAYER 3: U shld join, can B lot of fun.
NOOB: OK, mayB. Have U had good day?
PLAYER 3: No. Work = dull. Not much happening IRL. As usual.
NOOB: No? Plenty if you believe the news.
PLAYER 3: Don't often follow bulletins tbh.
NOOB: Y?
PLAYER 3: C'mon, no point. Did U C main hub this morning? Full of l8test crazy conspiracy theory. Total BS.
NOOB: Hah. They just get worse. Did U hear about Govt security trying 2 infiltrate PVCs? Ministers afraid they're full of subversives.
PLAYER 3: No. Missed that. PVCs, do U mean Private Virtual Communities? Like gaming clubs?
NOOB: What's Ur real name?
PLAYER 3: I'm Player 3.
NOOB: Not a real name.
PLAYER 3: Club moniker. No names on here. Channel's multi-encrypted for a reason, surely U understand that ... unless U really R a Noob?
NOOB: Just wondering if U were real. Heard lots about how clever investigative probe-minds R nowadays.
PLAYER 3: Haha! U think me = Probe Mind? We don't use names in the Club. Use Club Seeding instead. Secretary won last year = Player 1, me 2nd runner up, = Player 3.
NOOB: Impressive.
PLAYER 3: Nope. But this year I'm going 2 win.
NOOB: Y U want 2?
PLAYER 3: RU serious? Winner = Club Secretary for 12 months. Full perks = able to quit my day job (at last). Go fulltime.
NOOB: Hmm, I spose.
PLAYER 3: Blimey, Y are you on this channel if U don't like games?
NOOB: Bit lonely.
PLAYER3: Oh. U2.
NOOB: If I join what will my name B?
PLAYER 3: Player X. Unseeded Players = Player X during 1st year.
NOOB: So is spending UR whole life in virtual land, really so gr8t?
PLAYER 3: There R real-life benefits, U know. I'm global top 5% gamer, but in real world low-budget. Bad results. My kid has medical condition, needs treatments – implants. Club Secretary = many advantages and connections.
NOOB: Illegal connections?
PLAYER 3: Course not.
NOOB: R U sure?
PLAYER 3: Look, need to go. Nice chatting. Will U B here again 2morrow?
NOOB: MayB.
PLAYER 3 log 08 December
Dear log, I met somebody new on the Open Channel tonight. Asked odd questions, but it was nice having somebody real to talk with ... things have been lonely since Zrian left. Called themselves Noob. Didn't understand why I'd want to win the championship – sheesh, some people!
Only one round left now and three still in: Player 1, Player 2 and myself. The other two are good, but I'm younger. I have my determination.
Norsborg Gaming Club Open Chat Channel – 9 December 6.51pm
PLAYER 3: Hi, how's U today?
NOOB: Yep, fine. U?
PLAYER 3: OK.
NOOB: Gonna tell me more about games?
PLAYER 3: Sure.
NOOB: I heard something about sense-sets before. Whatz that?
PLAYER 3: Most games are virtual, yeah? Hardware connects with us directly + uses our full sensory range to create game environment. It exists in the Club Mind + in our heads 2 via connection.
NOOB: So when U play UR really seeing unreal sights, hearing unreal sounds?
PLAYER 3: Mostly. But there R other types of game 2. Any sort allowed in principal, but virtual-world = most common.
NOOB: Interesting. Didn't know.
PLAYER: What's allowed depends on UR Club charter. Ours = old club. So old charter. Includes all different games, even monopoly. XD
NOOB: Riiiight. You told me yesterday you were defo gonna win this year. How R U gonna do it? Other players must B better than U, right?
PLAYER 3: Lot depends on actual game. Top 10 Club seeds R all brill gamers, multi skill-sets etc. But not even greatest gamers master every category.
NOOB: Oh. So mayB if game is bad for U, U'll mess up? Do you know what style final will B?
PLAYER 3: No. Secretary told me this year is gonna B different.
NOOB: How?
PLAYER 3: She doesn't know yet. They've gone and bought new Club Mind. Given it the job of designing finale.
NOOB: Mind? Like a probe mind you mean?
PLAYER 3: Sort of. Minds = MINDS. U know about them? R U tech trained?
NOOB: Nope.
PLAYER 3: Manageable, Intelligent, Neural, Design, Systems. Programmable command units, cell-based, synth made. Intelligent apps. One application = design and run games.
NOOB: Okay. Is that good thing?
PLAYER 3: Don't know. This one = top end model. Ex-military sim + training system.
NOOB: Ex-military? Sounds dangerous.
PLAYER 3: Probably been factory reconditioned + adapted to civil safety standards.
NOOB: OK. What do U think about it?
PLAYER 3: Dunno. Call me Luddite (or worse, conservative), but don't really like Minds. They've come long way, but bugs and glitches still happen.
NOOB: Hahaha – "or worse, a conservative"? Look out for Govt. probes, Player 3!
PLAYER 3: I'm serious. I was a Mind sub-unit designer then they automated my level of production.
NOOB: What happened?
PLAYER 3: Usual story: design went fully automatic, me and few million others got laid off.
NOOB: Okay, I get it – down with Minds!
PLAYER 3: No, not really. Newer Minds = very sophisticated. Some do v. important work.
NOOB: But?
PLAYER 3: But most customization done manually at sub-system level = mistakes are made.
NOOB: And?
PLAYER 3: And I don't really like this tournament plan much.
PLAYER 3 log 10 December
Dear Log,
Had coffee with the Secretary today. She told me what the Mind had so far let on about the finale: the game is going to be physical, nothing abstract or network – real space, real sense, full body presence, though possibly with some fantastical elements. Wonder what that means?
Real space is unusual, but actually fine with me. I wonder what skill-sets though? I need to know, because I have to get practicing if I'm going to win. Sam's been really poorly again.
Secretary's always nice to me, but there was something about her that bothered me a bit today. I mean she was friendly and everything, but ... I can't quite put my finger on it. Was she holding something back?
I drank too much coffee and was so focused on what she had to say that afterwards I came over a bit funny, like I almost blacked out for a moment. Only I'm not sure I actually did.
Ran some medi-tests on myself when I got home and everything was fine.
Got to stay well for the game.
PLAYER 3 log 11 December
Dear Log,
Haven't been able to connect with my friend Noob for a couple of days. Guess we weren't really friends.
Dreamt a lot last night. Can't remember any details, but I don't think they were good. Left me feeling low, like a shadow was over me all day. Sam's sick which doesn't help. She needed a couple of extra dosages. Her m
edicines aren't going to last this month.
Some official game details came up this morning on the Club Bulletin Channel, straight from the Mind. Game title is 2-sense. Definitely real space, it says, but we're apparently going to be modified or restricted in some way and there'll be a pre-game medical. Beyond that nothing else is yet known. No mention of anything fantastical either.
Wonder how the other two are feeling. Secretary was fine yesterday, confident as always. I'm getting pretty edgy. Why don't they just publish the full details? The game is only a few weeks away now. Maybe not-knowing is part of it. That would be a bit over-subtle though, wouldn't it?
PLAYER 3 log 12 December
Okay, got all the details at last. It's to be a sort of gladiatorial event. Elimination; search and destroy. Tag with electro-stunners. It sounds pretty basic, but there's a catch – we're only allowed two operational senses each. And we can't choose which. They're somehow going to be allotted randomly.
This is a really weird idea and by the way, where's the skill?!!
Apparently the arena is randomly generated from a pre-set number of possible parameters too. If it's all down to random chance, there is no skill.
That's disgraceful for a championship finale! See what happens when you leave game design to an unproven Mind?
I'm going to complain.
PLAYER 3 log 13 December
Spoke to the Club Secretary today. There is skill involved. We get two senses each, then we have a fortnight to learn to use those senses to the best effect in various virtual training environments. The arena itself will be randomly generated but in such a way that at least one of the senses we each receive will be of use to us. So we get a couple of weeks to become proficient "electro-stunner fighters" using our allotted senses ...
Well, I suppose so, but I still don't like it. And what senses? Imagine if I get smell or taste as my only viable sense, what am I supposed to do, sniff or lick my way around the arena in search of the other two players? That's stupid. I think I need to take this up with the Secretary again, see if we can do something.
PLAYER 3 log 14 December
Secretary says I'm overreacting, that the Mind is one of the most sophisticated ever made, that for all we know the game might already have started. I asked her what the hell that was supposed to mean, but she didn't answer. Instead she assured me that it will be possible for each of us to win regardless of which senses we're allotted.
But how can she be certain of that? She'd need privileged information and that's strictly prohibited.
If they're going to let a Mind take sole responsibility for game design it should be one with a proven track record as a game system. Nobody knows what this Mind is capable of.
And I have to be sure.
Sam was worse today.
PLAYER 3 log 14 December
Can't sleep. I keep thinking about the game. I'm so concerned that the Mind is messing things up. But the only way of being absolutely certain would be to have a peek inside at what it's actually up to. I could do that, I've got the skills. Risky though. I'd have to manipulate the logs and other records or my intervention would come to light.
If I could get in as Administrator I might be able to have a look, wipe my footprints and then reset Administrator Access so that nobody else can get in after me. If I did that the only way for somebody else to enter the system would be by means of a full default-reformat. Only the manufacturer can perform those and there's an added advantage, in a full default-reformat everything that's ever happened in the Mind is erased because the system is reset to absolute zero.
Hmmm. But if anything went wrong, discovery would mean more than just disqualification. I'd be expelled from the Club without references, and if that happened no other club would touch me.
No, it's too risky.
But I keep wondering – what if the game is faulty? All I want is a fair chance at advancement ... and to help Sam.
The sense draw is in two days. I guess I could wait and see what I get.
PLAYER 3 log 15 December
Situation's really getting to me. Bad dreams last night. Club Secretary kept banging on my apartment door telling me to wake up. Felt so real I actually got up to check. Then just after I went back to sleep the same thing happened again, only this time it was Player 2.
PLAYER 3 log 16 December
I got sight and taste. Sight I'm okay with, given certain preconditions it will prove useful, but taste? Exactly what I was afraid of. What do I do if the arena turns out to be dark? I asked the Secretary about night vision goggles, sonar enhancements etc. but we're not allowed equipment like that. This really won't do. I have to know more about what to expect or else how can I prepare? And what about the others? What did they get? Turns out we're not allowed to find that out either, at least not until the event itself. Very convenient!
There's something fundamentally flawed about this whole thing, not to mention suspicious. I mean, think about it: there are three players each getting two senses, but there are only five senses ... how does that work? Does one of us only get one sense? Or are there doubles, so that maybe both me and another gamer get taste?
Neither scenario is fair. Depending on the nature of the arena one player might get an arbitrary advantage over the other two or perhaps be at a severe disadvantage. I made this point to the Secretary of course, but she just smiled at me and shook her head.
It wasn't a nice smile.
Objections noted, she said recording my comments in the Club log. Then: No action taken. She actually hinted that all this uncertainty might be part of the game. I asked her how she knew that but she just gave me another nasty, crooked smile.
She seemed pretty happy after the draw, I wonder what senses she was allotted. She's won three years in a row and as Club Secretary she's the one who ordered the new Mind.
What if she's cheating?
PLAYER 3 log 20 December
I did it. Can't believe I had the nerve, but I actually did it – I broke into the Club Mind! It was easy too, but now I'm even more troubled, though not so much about the game itself.
I waited behind at the Club premises until everyone had gone and found all of the Administrator details on an old-time data-pass in the Secretary's room. It wasn't even bio-coded, anyone could use it! You'd think in this day and age that even a child would have more sense than that. Our Secretary might be a champion gamer, but in matters of data security she doesn't have a clue.
So I went in as Mind-Admin using her pass and even though I don't feel good about cheating, I certainly did the right thing.
I discovered three very important and disturbing facts:
1. Somebody else has definitely been in there manipulating the Mind i.e. cheating. And I think there can only be one person – the Secretary.
2. The game is NOT real world as the Secretary claimed – it's completely virtual and allows for any kind of physics-defying tools or abilities in-game. Apparently we were to be connected up under the auspices of the pre-game medical examination. One minute we'd be laid out on a bed awaiting test results, the next we'd be physically sedated and mentally connected to our in-game avatars.
3. Most shocking – the virtual stun guns have been set for deadly force! That means a hit from the in-game electro-stunner would manifest as a fatal electric shock via the linkup interface, killing the real world player instantly. In plain speak: murder!
I have so many questions, so many doubts. I can't believe she was planning to kill us. Why? What would she gain from it and how would she explain it away? Would she try blaming our deaths on a faulty Mind? Does winning really mean that much to her? I wonder if it could ever mean that much to me. I don't think so, not even for Sam.
I ought to contact the police, but Minds can be destroyed even without Administrator access. If she knows I'm onto her she might choose that course. Even supposing the Mind survives it will be hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she is the author of the game's deadly parameters.
> Going public brings other potential disadvantages with it too. If I report my findings everyone will know that I looked into the Mind; in effect that
I cheated. And if the Secretary is acquitted I'll be facing expulsion and dishonor.
I'm going to sleep on it.
PLAYER 3 log 21 December
Strange night. Lots of dreams. The Secretary was in them and Player 2. I kept waking up, but I couldn't remember anything else. One thing though, I do feel much better today. After seeing what she's been up to I guess I understand her comment about the game already having started. I've made up my mind I'm going to play her at her own game.
I'll go back into the Mind today and make a few little changes of my own.
PLAYER 3 log 21 December
Done it and there's no way anybody will be able to find out either!
Couldn't discover what senses the other players got, the info has been wiped. Too bad, but thanks to what I've just done that doesn't matter.
Remember I said the arena was going to be randomly generated on the morning of the contest? Lies. It was already fully realized with some very specific attributes; no doubt to favor one player's senses over the others – I wonder whose? Madam Secretary perhaps?
There were twisting passageways connecting vast empty spaces, zero illumination, intense high-volume white noise, and an overwhelming odor of necrosis throughout – there's no way I could have hoped to move around and find the other two in such an environment!