“Mark, we’re logging out now,” Trish says.
“That’s fine,” the project manager replies. “Please write up a report of your in game experience, especially any lags in the motions of your weapon and personal movement during your fight with Wesley. Also, please note any discomfort in using the new equipment,” he adds quickly before they log out of the server.
“Yes sir!” the two girls reply in unison and log off, leaving the two men behind.
“They seem kind of young to be full time employees,” Wesley remarks, hoping that Mark will talk about the two players a bit. The company comes across as rather secretive to the retiree, who has had plenty of experience with being kept in the dark by his higher-ups back in the military. However, Mark seems to be genial and more willing to share information with company insiders, and it appears that the manager has begun to view Wesley as one of them. Wesley smiles to encourage the EDE employee to talk.
“Yes, they are,” the manager chuckles. “They’re both teenagers located in China," he reveals. "They are interns; no make that externs since they work through a virtual office in Shanghai, China, rather than at our company headquarters here in Seattle, Washington,” Mark corrects himself. “They are currently attending a Chinese university, and getting school credit for assisting us for several hours each week. The Asian market for Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (‘MMORPGs’) is huge, and Richard views this market as a critical area of growth for our company,” Mark expounds a bit on the company's strategy for expansion.
“Is that why WoE is having an oriental expansion, in order to attract Asian players to the game?” Wesley speculates.
Mark shakes his head. “Not particularly. WoE is the world’s first Virtual Reality based MMORPG, and this in itself will attract gamers from Asia, not just China but also South Korea and other countries in the Southeast Asia region. The oriental expansion is meant to introduce a wider variety of new weapons, armor, equipment, spells, and yes monsters and campaigns for our players to explore,” he explains. “Think of it from a business perspective. In order for a company to grow, it could either get new customers for existing products, or new products for existing customers, or both,” he continues his impromptu lecture.
“I’m assuming that the revenue from the sales of the expansion will be plowed back into the company for development of further expansions?” Wesley asks pointedly.
Mark shrugs at the question. “I’m not on the Board of Directors at the company. So I can’t tell you how the company will spend its sales revenue from the expansion. But I would assume that will be the case.”
The ex-Marine nods. “Fair enough,” he says. “Anyway, I should get going myself. I have some errands to run.”
Mark nods in return. “I appreciate your assistance.”
“Don’t mention it. Ciao!” Wesley says. A moment later, he logs off the server, and his avatar winks out of existence.
Mark turns to look at the dirty looking man sitting under a tree nearby. He appears to be a drunk and asleep. At a distance, the man appears to be a Non-Player Character ("NPC"), but Mark knows the truth is anything but that. The man has disheveled, long hair, and an empty tankard is on the ground beside him. “What do you think, sir?” the project manager asks with great politeness.
The drunkard raises his head, and makes eye contact with the project manager. The man has sharp looking dark brown eyes that reflect keen intelligence-and something more. “Put up with him as long as Wesley and his Strangers continue to prove useful to the company,” the man replies curtly. He sighs inwardly. The problem with getting assistance from outsiders is that often times they are simply too nosy for their own good. Why should they be concerned with how the sales revenue will be spent by my company?
The CEO shakes his head. At least the four of them have not leaked any details of the upcoming expansion, or post pictures of the redesigned virtual reality equipment on social media. So I’ll give them that, he thinks begrudgingly, or else I can use the leak as cause to terminate the consulting agreement and kick the four of them out the door. Either way I win, he smiles smugly to himself. In any case, I have to be careful in limiting personal contact with Wesley; he's the charismatic, natural born leader type who can sway others to his point of view. if Wesley disagrees with my decisions and turns rebellious, he will create problems for the company. Continue to keep him at a distance, and let intermediaries deal with Wesley directly.
“Yes, Richard,” the employee acknowledges the order, oblivious to his employer's concerns.
Chapter 2 – A Retired Life
As Wesley McMillan pulls the virtual reality head gear off his head, he feels a hot breath on his left cheek. Blinking his eyes, he sees that his wife, Melissa, is kissing his face. He feels a sudden rush of euphoria as a life time of love with this wonderful woman pours into his heart. “What’s that for?” Wesley asks gently as the petite woman sits in his laps, while he is still seated at his computer desk.
“Oh I don’t know,” the woman, in her late fifties but still radiant with life, stares her dark brown eyes into his blue eyes. A gentle smile begins to creep into her light brown face, which has been marred by the passage of time. She leans her head into his neck, feeling the weight of her beloved husband’s rugged chin resting comfortably on top of her skull.
“I’m sorry,” Wesley begins to apologize when he realizes that she is feeling lonely.
“Shush!” Melissa puts a finger on his lips to cut off the apology. She had been worried about her husband, and how he would spend his time once he retired from the military. If Wesley is playing a fantasy game, then he isn’t visiting dating websites and cheating on her. So she is willing to let him indulge on his new found hobby, at least for a little while, if it allows her marriage to stay intact. However, this doesn’t mean that she will let him forget what he has. . .
Wesley wraps his arm around his wife, enjoying the warmth of their still strong, healthy bodies. God, she’s more than I deserve, he thinks guiltily.
“Are you still playing the game?” Melissa asks.
“You mean World of Eternia? Yes, I am,” Wesley replies with surprise at the question. His wife usually allows Wesley some degree of privacy; she prefers not to pry into his affairs. “Why would you think I was playing something else?” he asks.
“Well, for one thing, your equipment is different from before. Also, the times you’re logged in has changed from last year,” the wife points out. Even though she doesn’t talk about it, Melissa still keeps tabs on him when he’s in the house.
“It’s that obvious?” the husband grins.
Melissa reaches up with her right hand, and pinches her husband’s left cheek. She feels the rough skin, and bristles of his day old facial hair, brown colored with a small smattering of gray.
“All right, all right,” Wesley gives up. Where do I begin, he ponders for a moment as he thinks back to the campaign that The Strangers had participated in last year. “Do you remember last year, when I was logged into the game for almost an entire day?” he asks.
“Sure,” the wife replies. How could she forget? Wesley was logged in for a good ten hours that one time. She became worried when he skipped dinner, and seriously considered pulling the plug to turn off the computer. Instead, Melissa decided to sit next to him, and waited until he logged off to demand an explanation from him.
However, Wesley was too exhausted when he finally took the virtual reality equipment off his head. He just slept in his chair, and she couldn’t get anything out of him. Whenever she brought it up afterwards, her husband just said it was “confidential” and never talked about it.
“Last year, my player party received an invitation from the game developers behind World of Eternia to participate in a special campaign to celebrate their one year anniversary. It took us a long time, but we did end up finishing the campaign,” the husband explains.
“So what did you win?” Melissa asks point blank. What matters to her most is the pri
ze involved, rather than his exploits in a game that she knows nothing about.
Wesley grins at the question. “A one year consultant contract,” he answers quickly, anticipating her reaction.
“Huh?” she says in befuddlement. What the heck is he doing?
“The campaign was an elaborate job interview by EDE,” the husband explains patiently. “The developers were seeking players to help them with both game and hardware development.”
“So that’s why you have new stuff attached to the computer?” Melissa asks.
“Yup,” Wesley says nonchalantly while eying the visor on the table along with the gloves, the thin arms sleeves, and slippers. “The company gave me new virtual reality equipment for beta testing. It’s supposed to be lighter and improves motion detection. This is not available on the market. And we had to sign confidentiality agreements. That’s why there aren’t any posts on social media of this new visor, for example. Middle management at EDE actually wanted me to use this equipment at their offices in Seattle, Washington. But R&D argued that the equipment needs field testing in a normal player environment, rather than at a research lab. The CEO finally stepped in and approved allowing my access to their 2.0 VR hardware outside of their company’s facilities.”
The virtual reality gear is definitely lighter than the old equipment, and more importantly, wireless. He is no longer required to sit close to the desktop computer to play the game. In fact, Wesley could see new applications for this 2.0 VR hardware, particularly in sports like golf, surfing, and boxing. He is old enough to remember playing Mike Tyson’s Punchout on the original Nintendo Entertainment System console, and he would be interested in playing a virtual reality version of this game. I should bring this up with Mark, he reminds himself. At least the project manager is more open to suggestions and new player ideas, compared to Richard, he notes.
“So how much are they paying you?” the wife asks, not at all shy about the topic of compensation. Their house could use a new roof, and the front yard could use a little bit of sprucing too if there is any money left over.
“You mean money?” he asks, knowing exactly what she has in mind. “Nothing,” the husband replies sheepishly. Wesley knows that nothing gets his wife as excited as talking about making money and spending money.
Melissa pokes him in the ribs, with a slight frown on her face.
“Hold on,” he adds quickly. “The company is giving us small ownership interests in exchange. Each party member is getting one tenth of one percent share in the company,” he throws out.
“And what are the odds that this game developer of yours will turn into a billion dollars company like a Google or Apple?” Melissa asks, as doubt takes hold in her tone of voice.
“Slim,” he readily concedes. Wesley is not a finance guy like Lucious, who was the lone holdout briefly when the owner of the company made the consulting offer to The Strangers. “Still, the potential is there for Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc. to be bought out by a larger gaming company or even a tech giant like a Facebook or Amazon. In that case, my stake should be worth quite a bit of dole,” Wesley notes.
“I hope your shares will help pay for a new roof,” the wife says gruffly.
“Me too,” the husband replies as he gently strokes her dark, chestnut hair.
Chapter 3 – Workaholic
Thud! The heavy stack of papers makes a loud noise on the desk. “Here you go, Luke,” the female intern says with a cheerful voice and a mischievous grin, as if the pretty college senior needs to announce the obvious to the unfortunate recipient sitting behind the desk.
“Thank you Jennifer,” Lucious Trevis replies with a genteel tone of voice, hiding his mild annoyance at her. She’s enjoying this too much, he thinks while his eyes remain glued to the spreadsheet on his computer screen. To be honest, he doesn’t know which annoys him more – her use of the name “Luke” rather than his given name “Lucious,” or her mischievous nature. Either way, he does not see her as a proper fit with the serious company culture, and Lucious will emphasize this point in his evaluation of this college intern with the human resources department.
Jennifer Woosley turns away from his desk without comment. Why does Luke hate me, she wonders silently as the intern tries to put some distance away from Luke’s desk, while desperately holding back her tears. She’s been spending the entire semester trying to get this cute looking guy to open up, but Luke has been downright frosty. Even though he’s a bit on the short side, at around five foot two inches tall, Luke is young and handsome looking with a robust bronze colored, smooth looking skin, thick dark brown hair, and matching eyes. He’s easily the hottest guy in the office, by far! When he looks at her, he seems to burn with an intensity that simply makes her swoon!
Jennifer finally makes it to the rest room, and quickly turns on the faucet to splash some cold water on her face, even though it ruins her mascara. How could she flirt with Luke if he absolutely refuses to socialize with Jennifer? Even worse, she has a feeling that Luke will give her poor grades in his evaluation of her work once the internship ends. Jennifer pulls her head up to look in the mirror, and sees Ellen Mateo, the office manager!
The middle-aged woman is dressed conservatively, in a dark brown lady’s jacket and matching pants, comfortable red colored ballerina flats, with a creamy colored blouse with the top button unbuttoned. Her long sandy hair is bundled and neatly pinned to the back of her head. “What’s the matter, Jennifer?” Ellen asks while giving the college intern a reassuring hug.
The twenty year old shakes her head, while wiping her tears.
“It’s Lucious, right?” the manager asks. She knows Jennifer has a crush on him; it’s obvious to everyone in the office. While it IS against office policy for co-workers to date, Ellen wishes that Lucious would lighten up a little and treat the impressionable, young intern nicer. “I’ll have a talk with him, don’t worry,” she says with warm reassurance to the young woman.
“No!” Jennifer quickly replies while pulling her head up to stare at the office manager. “I just need to learn to be more professional at work, like him,” she explains. I don’t want to get Luke in trouble, she thinks.
Ellen smiles warmly, understanding exactly what the intern is thinking. “Look, I’m just an office manager. I’m not Lucious’ boss. He doesn’t report to me. I’m just going to tell him to lighten up a little,” she says. Ellen sees the intern open her mouth to defend him, and quickly raises a hand in front of the intern's face to stop the younger woman from speaking out. “I’m not the only one in the office who thinks he needs to lighten up. He’s a cold fish to everyone, and no one really knows what he does after work. He’s really aloft and keeps to himself. Lucious is not fitting in well with this office, even though he's been here two years already. I’m going to use you as an excuse to talk about his attitude. That’s all,” the office manager explains.
Jennifer sighs. “I can’t talk you out of it?” the college intern asks with resignation as she slowly sways her head from side to side.
“Nope,” Ellen grins as she washes her hands.
“Fine,” the intern sighs, and starts reapplying her makeup around her eyes.
The office manager grabs some paper towels to dry her hands. As she pulls on the door handle, she says without looking back, “Don’t take too long.” Ellen leaves the rest room without waiting for a reply from Jennifer. The door closes gently behind her.
Ellen walks briskly, making a beeline straight for Lucious’ desk. “Hey there, got a moment? We need to talk,” she says.
Lucious looks up and peers at Ellen through his designer glasses. What is it now, he groans silently. Unfortunately, he can’t simply blow off the office manager. While Lucious reports to Derek Mills, his immediate supervisor, Ellen is a twenty year employee in the company who has personal ties with upper management, including his boss. She started out as a personal secretary, and moved up the ranks in the support staff. If Lucious makes Ellen unhappy, his boss will hear
about it. Lucious pulls off his glasses. “What can I do for you?” he asks calmly.
“I bumped into Jennifer in the ladies room, and she was crying. Do you know anything about that?” Ellen asks bluntly.
Lucious’ eyebrows shoot straight up. “Um, no. Should I?” he asks in befuddlement while his mind races to his last encounter with the intern when she dropped the stack of research papers on his desk.
Ellen crosses her arms and looks at him sternly. “You are aware that she likes you, right?”
Lucious adjusts his collar uncomfortably without answering the question.
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then,” the middle-aged woman replies tartly at his non-answer. “While I’m not suggesting that you should go out with her or anything, you could act a little nicer to Jennifer. She is a girl, you know,” the office manager reminds him.
Lucious raises his hands in the air with his palms facing the ceiling, and shrugs helplessly. What am I, an ogre? He resists the temptation to retort with a sarcastic remark to the older woman. “I’m sort of seeing someone right now, and I just didn’t want to lead Jennifer on,” he tries to explain his predicament with exasperation.
Ellen smiles at the revelation. It’s actually the first time the guy has talked about his personal life. The office manager savors her little victory for a quick moment, and turns her game face back on. “I understand that you’re uncomfortable with being somebody’s crush. But at the same time, you need to be more professional in how you handle these interpersonal issues. You’re not a robot, right?” she smiles.
World of Eternia: The Complete Collection Page 17