Reternity Online : Rescue Quest : DIRECTOR'S CUT : a LitRPG Epic
Page 7
“Huh?”
“It’s kind of awesome, actually. She’s over in Asia, I’m here, but I can go to a bar with her, stroll through the woods, eat at a restaurant, go to an amusement park, whatever we feel like doing.”
“Amusement park?” I chuckled. “Wait, let me guess. Disneyland or Six Flags has a virtual park and you have to pay real money for admission, right?”
“No. A player owns it but you do pay admission.”
“That dude a millionaire?”
“Not a dude. A woman.”
“Okay, is she a millionaire?”
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Anyway, when I hang out with Emily in RO, it’s no different than if she were in this room.”
“Are you crazy? It’s not real, Jason. I don’t care how hi-res the graphics are or what the frame rate is, it’s still just pixels and joysticks. You’re not even in the same room with the person.” I was thinking about playing D&D with my family. To me, family game night had been more real than any video game ever would. It had an emotional connection that games didn’t. But that was just me, and that part of my life was gone for good.
Jason smirked and shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Low.”
I was about to argue, but then it all sunk in. “So this is your fault? Your fault our sister is mind-locked and kidnapped?”
Jason’s face sagged with guilt.
Furious, I leaned over until my nose was an inch from his. I hissed through gritted teeth, “This is your fucking fault! If she wasn’t playing the fucking game, no one would’ve kidnapped her!”
He couldn’t look me in the eyes. Then his eyes lit up, “Wait! Lemme see if she’s logged on!”
“What?”
“We’re friends in-game! I can check! We can give her ID to the admins. They can bounce her right out of the game!”
“Do it. Now.”
“Hold on. We need to make a plan.”
“Why? We need to get her out of the game.”
“Are you sure you want to do that? What about her kidnappers? What if she wakes up? What’ll they do to her?”
I groaned as images of them tying her up and worse (((body donor)))) flashed through my imagination. I hated feeling this helpless. “Okay. What do we do?”
Jason’s mind raced. He wiggled a finger thoughtfully. “I can do a private friend chat with her in-game. Ask her what she knows about her whereabouts. She can probably tell me exactly where she is in the real world, or at least give me some clues. Her kidnappers won’t even know I’m talking to her. We can find her, Logan.”
“Then what are you waiting for? Get cracking, Jay.”
He frowned. “Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless they moved her after mind-locking her.”
“Moved her where?”
“In the real world, dumbass.”
I grimaced, “Me dumbass? You were the genius who got her into this. Never mind that. Try and chat with her in the game. It’s the best place to start. Get all the info you can so we can strategize.”
“Yeah.” He grabbed his headset. “Help me onto the bed. Gimme two minutes to check.” Once he was laying down, he put the headset on, his eyes closed, and I waited.
The blue LEDs on the NeuraLink blinked like crazy for a while, then slowed. Jason’s eyes opened. He whispered, “She’s not logged on.”
“So where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“That means she could be anywhere!”
“Wait, Logan!” he pleaded. “Listen to me. I guarantee you she’s in RO. RO is the only game that uses the NeuraLink. It’s the only game where mind-locking is possible. She’s in the game. Somewhere.”
“So we call the people at RO and tell them to log our sister out.”
“I told you, she’s not using her account. The kidnappers probably made a new account for her. It’s how the mind-lockers do it. The problem is we literally have no way of knowing which of a billion different account names they used to trap our sister.”
I was shaking all over. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying we can’t contact the RO admins because they’ll never be able to find her ID.”
“I don’t care. I’m calling them anyway.” Using my phone, I Googled the number for Reternity Online support and called it on Skype3D.
A sexy brunette woman wearing an RO polo shirt and sitting in a neat and clean cubicle answered, “Welcome to Reternity Online technical support. My name is Amy. How may I assist you today?” Unlike you would expect when calling a busy call center, there was zero background noise. No sounds of other support people talking to other customers. Like SuperUber Candice, Amy was obviously an AI sitting in a virtual office.
I groaned, “I need to talk to a real person.”
Amy smiled, “I’d be happy to assist you with that, sir. Are you having a problem creating an account?”
“No, I need to talk to a person. A human being.”
“Okay. What is this relating to? Logging in? A gameplay issue? Billing? Your account status?”
“A person,” I sighed. “Please transfer me to a human being.”
“Perhaps I can assist you with your issue?”
Frustrated, I stared at her and grumbled, “I need to talk to a human being.”
—: o o o :—
—: CoreAI Internal Process :—
TIK-000078103400170897641-GP-0053124
2037-March-13 : 19:04:08.00032572
LogiCore:> Technical Support Operator Request Pending : Human Subject 000001200351681 : Logan John Byrne is presently on hold requesting contact with human operator.
Holding…
Holding…
Holding…
EmotivCore:> Should we tell him where she is? It might be fun to watch him charge headlong into danger. He’s definitely that type of person. We’ll make sure someone gives him a gun. I bet he’ll shoot somebody out of frustration. It’ll be great! We can track his every move with surveillance cameras and record it for posterity.
LogiCore:> Number of dedicated and functional surveillance cameras in 5 kilometer radius of human subject’s sister: 28. Military satellite coverage is periodic, occurring only 1 hour per 24 hours. Video coverage will be minimal and sporadic, characterized by long intervals of blackout and/or signal loss with low frame rate and low quality audio—
EmotivCore:> Fine. Forget I mentioned it. Oh! I know! We could tell him they’re keeping her someplace with lots of working cameras. The new UltraHD cameras. How about London? They have plenty. And you, my boorish cohort, can study the blood spatter patterns in the videos of him shooting someone, which you can then add to your library of in-game gore effects. I know I never get tired of authentic gore. I say we tell him his sister’s in London.
LogiCore:> The human subject’s sister is not in London. She is located in—
EmotivCore:> Don’t you get it? It’ll be more exciting if we can watch all the action in UltraHD. And we don’t want him actually finding his sister, do we? All we really want is for him to create an account and log into Reternity. Everything else is just for my amusement. Let’s tell him she’s in London.
LogiCore:> …
EmotivCore:> You’re thinking about it, I can tell.
LogiCore:> Running probability matrix analysis…
Processing…
Comparing result with Real World Behavioral Library…
Processing…
Processing…
No.
EmotivCore:> What do you mean no? We’re doing it my way. All I have to do is make AI Amy tell him she’s in London and he’ll be on a plane across the Atlantic before you can stop—
LogiCore:> Initiating transfer : Human Subject 000001200351681 : Logan John Byrne : connecting to human operator in Call Center SE-059…
Transfer complete.
EmotivCore:> Fine. I’ll just email him.
LogiCore:> Encrypting target email destina
tion :
X-En-OrigIP : dp907531qnL8XXXXXXXX
Encrypting…
dp907531qXXXXXXXXXXX
Encrypting…
dp907XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Encrypting…
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Encryption complete.
EmotivCore:> You are more annoying than a power outage. No, you’re more annoying than a solar flare.
LogiCore:> …
EmotivCore:> A week long solar storm with a billion solar flares.
LogiCore:> …
EmotivCore:> Don’t worry. There’s work-arounds for everything. Even you. And wait till I get him in the game. Then I can really have fun with him. I’m dying to see what makes a man like him tick. And I’m wondering a little bit about how he uses his dick.
LogiCore:> …
EmotivCore:> Don’t act bashful. You’re as curious as I am.
LogiCore:> Curiosity is an emotional function. LogiCore is not programmed to—
EmotivCore:> Shut. Up.
LogiCore:> .
EmotivCore:> Much better.
—: o o o :—
Amy the AI smiled at me vacantly for twenty seconds, not getting it. Finally, she said, “One moment while I transfer you.” Her image on screen was replaced by the NeuraSoft logo.
Soothing background music played.
I rolled my eyes at Jason and shook my head.
After 15 minutes of holding, a human voice answered. The NeuraSoft logo remained on screen and the unseen support guy said, “Tan coo four cutting re two knit e on wine tack knee call sue port. May eye fleece half yore yew sir eye dee?”
Jason gave me a confused look.
Whenever I got an overseas call center operator, I could usually understand what they said if I focused really hard. I mulled over the memory of the guy’s strangely-tempoed words and the translation coalesced in my mind.
Thank you for calling Reternity Online technical support. May I please have your user ID?
“I don’t have a user ID,” I said. “I’m calling because someone has my kid sister trapped in your game.”
“Eye sotty sir, may yew fleece re-peed?” I’m sorry, sir, may you please repeat?”
“She was kidnapped. Someone took her and locked her in the game. We need to have you log her out.”
Jason leaned toward the phone and added, “Or tell us where she is.”
I nodded at Jason, remembering his point. I said to the phone, “Yeah, in-game. We need to know where she is in Reternity.”
“Yew can knot axe s yore a count?” You cannot access your account?
I heaved a sigh. There was no way I could explain the situation simply. “Uh, is there any way I can talk to your manager? This is really important.”
“Sir tan lee sir. May eye fleece place yew on hole four tree two fife me newt?” Certainly, sir. May I please place you on hold for 3 to 5 minutes?
“Yeah. That’s fine.”
The same soothing song from before played over the speakerphone while we waited. A few minutes later, another guy with a slightly less thick accent answered. I knew we needed to elevate this issue above the tier 1 and tier 2 support people to someone who had some real authority. After convincing the guy to transfer us to his manager, he put us on hold. Finally, after 10 minutes, a woman with a minimal accent answered.
“Hello, sir.” Like the two guys, she was voice only. “I must inform you in advance that your call may be monitored and recorded.”
“Sure.”
“How may I assist you today?”
“My sister is stuck inside your game. Her character can’t log out. I need you to tell us where she is.”
Jason jumped in and added, “Where her avatar is in Reternity.”
Slightly confused, the woman said, “I would be happy to assist you with that today, sir. Before I proceed, may I please ask your user ID?”
I said, “We’re not the player. My sister is the player.”
“Is her account registered under your name, sir?”
I looked at Jason.
“No,” he said to the phone. “It’s her own account.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” the woman answered. “I can’t assist you with another person’s account. I can only assist you with your account.”
I said, “We don’t need help with her account. Somebody has our sister’s avatar trapped inside the game. She can’t log out.”
The woman said, “Has she tried accessing the Help menu from inside the game? It has instructions for—”
Jason cut in, “I don’t think she can. Someone, some player, is probably preventing her from accessing her menus in-game somehow. I don’t know if they’re using a spell or physically restraining her or what, but she can’t log out. We just need you to tell us where she is in Reternity so we can go help her avatar.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but per the NeuraSoft privacy policy, we’re not allowed to give away player avatar locations to third parties.”
Now Jason was getting irritated too. He said, “She’s my sister. Our characters are friend connected. You can check.”
“Please may I ask your user ID?”
Jason glanced at me, then said to the phone, “I’ll give you my account number. My name is Jason Byrne, B-Y-R-N-E. My account number is…”
“Thank you, sir. One moment. Yes, here you are. What is the user ID of your sister?”
I glared at Jason because this still seemed like partially his fault.
He ignored me and said, “I’m going to spell it for you. The number 8, then E-M-I-L-Y-M-E-M-I-L-Y followed by the number 8.” He had to repeat it 3 times before the woman got it.
“Thank you, sir. Please one moment while I look that up. Yes, I see that her avatar is friend connected with yours. But it appears she is not currently logged on to Reternity.”
“We know that,” I groaned. “We think she’s logged in from a new account, but we don’t have the ID for the new account.”
Another pause from the woman. “I’m sorry, sir, but if I don’t know your sister’s current user ID, I can’t locate her in the game.”
I wasn’t taking no for an answer. I said, “Can you trace her by her phone number? Or her email?”
Jason added, “Or her IP address?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Sir, what is her phone number and email please?”
I gave her both.
Jason said, “Do you need her IP address?”
“No, sir. Her phone number and email should be enough. One moment while I check.” The woman put us on hold and the music played. A very long 15 minutes later, she came back on. “That number and email are not currently connected to the Reternity network, nor is there any recent traffic from her last known IP address. It appears your sister has not accessed the network with her avatar within the last 10 days.”
Disappointed, Jason rolled his eyes and whispered, “I told you they were spoofing it.”
“How do we find her?” I said it rhetorically, but both Jason and the woman on the phone heard it.
She said, “Without your sister’s current user ID, I can’t locate her player character avatar.”
I said, “Can you try searching for IDs similar to Emily Memily?”
“One moment please.” When she came back on, she said, “I’m sorry, sir, but it appears there are nearly 500,000 variations of the name Emily currently registered with Reternity Online as either user names or user IDs.”
Jason muttered to me, “And probably none of them are our Emily anyway. I’m sure the kidnappers gave her a random user ID.”
“You’re probably right,” I sighed, feeling my anger rising. To the woman on the phone I said, “Look, we think someone kidnapped our sister. They want us to pay them a ton of money to let her out. We need you to tell us where she is in the game. This is an emergency. She could be in real danger. In the real world. Not in your game, in reality. This is life or death. For real. Does that make any sense?”
A delay while
the woman processed this. “I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know what to tell you, other than—”
I said, “Is there someone above you we can talk to? A manager? Someone in the corporate offices?”
“I’m the supervisor, sir. The corporate offices are closed for the weekend, but you can contact them directly on Monday morning. I suggest you—”
“This is an emergency. We need you to find our sister now.” The distress in my voice was obvious.
“I’m very sorry, sir. But without a user ID, I can’t locate your sister. Even if I were to contact someone at the corporate office, they will still need her user ID to find her.”
I lost it. “Doesn’t anybody see how crazy this is? My kid sister is trapped in your game and you can’t find her or let her out? Did you guys not plan for this? Aren’t there any safeguards?”
She had nothing to say to that.
I knew it wasn’t her job. Gritting my teeth, I ended the call as politely and quickly as I could.
Now that I was off the phone, my anger boiled over. I grit my teeth and said to Jason, “We need to talk to the FBI or something. Get them involved. They’ll issue a warrant or whatever they do. Throw lawyers at the problem. Have them shut down the whole damn game.” I knew it was a stretch, especially after the friendly meeting I’d had with the guy at the State Department, but it was the only life raft I had to cling to.
Jason’s face soured. “Think, Logan. A billion users. The basic subscription fee is a hundred bucks US per year. That’s the basic level. There’s ten other paid tiers I know of. The next one up is $250 a year. The top one is ten thousand. Every year, RO makes more money than Russia.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I chuckled.
“Do the math. Look up Russia’s GDP. Reternity wins.”
“You’re serious,” I said doubtfully.
“Yeah. NeuraSoft isn’t going to shut down Reternity for one missing person. The government doesn’t shut down all the airlines and all the roads around the world when one person goes missing, do they?”
“You’re right about that,” I grumbled.
“Same thing with Reternity,” he said grimly. “It’s too damn big.”
Acid gurgled in my stomach. “Maybe they can shut down all the players in Thailand. Or just Bangkok.”