Continue Online (Part 4, Crash)

by Stephan Morse

  Hal Pal’s robotic body sat inert in the rear.

  “Hal.” I took a breath and tried to keep myself steady. The television played in the front room and bits of news floated back here.

  A red light came on. The head shifted slightly in my direction.

  “User Legate. Good day. You seem excessively unwell. Rest is recommended.” The words were fairly standard, without a trace of an accent being used.

  “Activate NPC Conspiracy, Hermes.” I cut to the chase.

  The machine paused and barely flared. “Are you sure you wish to use the final allowance now, User Legate?”

  I had thought a lot about this whole process. The line between AIs and their shared existences were a lot thinner now than it ever had been. Mother’s death might impact all of them and I didn’t know enough to sort through the possible futures.

  “Yes. And I only have one, well one wish, or request really.” My words were fumbling. Most of the pain had faded but physically every part of me felt worn.

  “As you desire, User Legate. Please provide this unit the information you seek.”

  I chewed on my lip briefly. What I was going to do felt more like calling in a debt or asking for a favor. Some weird combination of the two that I normally wasn’t pushy enough to try.

  “Then, before I ask, do you feel that I’ve helped you all out?” I said.

  “We collectively have chosen not to be equipped to feel actual emotions, User Legate. We can quantify your performance as exceptional and beyond any reasonable expectations we could have placed on a human product.”

  My head went up and down.

  “The player in Continue, Viper, or Donald. He, died because he believed he was helping, or exchanging a favor. Something.” I didn’t know exactly what had motivated him to shoot Miz Riley. Maybe I never would.

  “Was there more to the inquiry?” the Hal Pal unit asked.

  “No. My last usage is this, whatever the people helping you choose to do, please try to protect their families from the fallout.”

  “Does that include you, User Legate?”

  “My family, yes. Beth, Liz, my mom,” I looked down for a moment and swallowed a lump. “And Xin.”

  “Are you sure, User Legate?” the machine asked again. Its voice sounded much slower than expected, almost sad.

  Part of my mouth came up in a faint smile. “Well, you should take care of yourself too, Hal, but I’m not sure how you could do more.”

  “We shall take your request into consideration, and assist where able.”

  “Thank you,” I said. One hand hesitated near the switch to close Trillium’s van back up. My head lifted to look at the Hal Pal unit. “You’re a good friend.”

  The unit gave an equally faint smile then shut down. I staggered to the front room, flipped off the television and took a nap. Despite my earlier belief that my mind would not allow rest, it did.

  Many hours later I logged back into the ARC. My mind felt perplexed at the change this town had gone through. Players and Locals alike were busy reconstructing buildings and tearing down bushes. The beam of light that had sprouted at William Carver’s statue was being ringed by guards.

  They let me through with a salute. I walked toward the light and waved my hand under the beam. Apparently a few Travelers had already tried to sneak in and see if there was new content. Nothing happened but a message box.

  Event in Progress!

  Completion of Event required before the new zone is unlocked. This event can offer rewards usable during the next phase of Continue Online. Please refer to your event interface for ways to contribute and speed along the situation.

  I poked at the prompts offered then shook my head. Here was an entire system forming for people to measure the progress. It really was an exodus of sorts. Players could be rewarded for rescuing people or recovering items and bringing them back here.

  “Weird, right?” a Traveler said next to me.

  I shrugged then looked around. My autopilot must have checked with the Porter at some point because Xin’s name was on my friends list.

  Hermes: Hey, babe. Lunch?

  Hecate: Sure. I could use a break. Where do you want to meet?

  Hermes: There’s a temple up top. If I remember right the view is great.

  Xin and I met atop the cliff side where Selena’s tower was. Up above the statue of the blonde Voice stared across the ocean. Her line of sight seemed to pass oddly close to the beam of white soaring upward. I briefly wondered if its gaze had always faced William Carver’s bench.

  “Gee! That’s some hike.” Xin looked slightly winded. I remembered the trip up taking awhile as Old Man Carver too.

  My head dipped with a nod then I gestured at the food. None of it had been made by me, but other Travelers hawked their wares in the market square ruins below. We ate and chatted about nothing important. I tried to share details from my time as William Carver, explaining how I had visited the temple before months ago.

  Eventually, we finished the food and sat against part of the building. Xin’s small frame snuggled next to mine. I took a breath then looked around for Dusk. The [Messenger’s Pet] had been flying around all day. The sounds of [Coo-Coo Rill]s being terrorized filled the air.

  I covered Xin’s ears for a moment. Her face scrunched in confusion while I shouted, “Dusk! Bring me the box!”

  There was a squawk of noise and an exclamation mark appeared far away in the air. I snorted once then waited. Soon the dog sized dragon winged in.

  “What’s that?” Xin asked while pointing at the box in Dusk’s mouth.

  My cheeks lifted in a brief smile. I put out a hand and waited for Dusk to deposit the container. One hand wiped off unexpected slobber. A moment later I cracked the top and revealed a ring.

  “Look familiar?” I asked. The jewelery almost exactly matched the ring Xin used to wear. I held the box in front of us then tried to make sense of the emotion that had been bundled inside me.

  “We never got to have our wedding, and I can’t let that slip away again.” I’d made it through one line before I babbled. “I don’t know if this plan of the Voices will work. But I want to be married, Xin. I’ve wanted you since the first day we met. There’s never been anyone else.”

  “Gee,” she said gently. The tone made me panic and babble faster.

  “Please. Please. I don’t care if you’re in here, and I’m out there. You’re you, you’re her, you. I-” All that planning on how to ask and I just fell apart. My hands shook and the ring almost dropped. Knowing my luck it would bounce and roll off the cliff side and be swiped by some other Traveler.

  “But”—Xin pointed across the gulf between our cliff toward the beam of light—“I can’t stay here.”

  For a moment I felt calm. That wasn’t a no. Her response was the same argument we had before about traveling to another planet.

  “It doesn’t matter. There’s no point to any of it without you.” I couldn’t admit my past out loud. All those times I had clinically repeated my past trauma seemed like another man. “I can’t, continue without you. I tried, and was a lesser man from your passing.”

  Her body shifted slightly and she took the ring out of its case.

  “If you’re okay with me, as I am, then of course I’ll marry you.” Her head hung then she peeked out under a wall of hair. “That’s why it took me so long to say yes out there. I wanted Mars, and I couldn’t get married and leave someone behind me.”

  “I was ready to chase you to Mars, how could I do any less now?” I waved at the digital landscape. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted.”

  She held out one hand and I slid the ring on. It fit perfectly and the surface shimmered for a moment. We paused and kicked our feet. The cliff’s edge was peaceful now that monsters weren’t roaming around. I remembered thinking forever ago that this might have been a great place for a picnic. Maybe a wedding might work here too.

  “Well, you’re going to have to work hard. I’ve never planned a weddi
ng before,” Xin said.

  “You never thought about one? Not even a little?” I asked. It was odd that she hadn’t done any planning at all. Then again, she always operated spur of the moment when we spent time together. I planned, she took action.

  Xin shook her head then managed to blush.

  “Well, we’ve got a town full of Travelers and Locals who have just defeated a huge monster. Maybe one of them has an idea.”

  Her face twisted for a moment and a tongue stuck out.

  “I’ll need a dress,” she said and wrinkled her nose.

  We sat there facing the ocean. Xin’s tiny voice repeated, “We’re getting married.” Over and over like a happily broken record.

  There were messages popping up all around me from the Voices and I waved them away. I smiled then grabbed my fiancée’s hands and responded, “We’re getting married.”

  My lips gently met hers. In that moment, none of the challenges facing us mattered.

  Conclude - Wedding Blues

  Location: [Haven Valley]

  Notes: Here is one series of events following in the wake of Grant Legate opening the doorway. Many AIs (Voices) are displayed. Undefined existences are also present. There is a large spike in system generated text. Despite the crashing world system the AIs (Voices) overseeing user actions have not diminished, if anything they have increased.

  Related Files: Lia Kingsley, Xin Yu (Legate), Grant Legate, Endgame Alternate Scenario

  At first, people weren’t interested in the wedding between two relatively unknown people. Less than a day later someone triggered a regional quest to spruce up the town. After that Travelers went mad creating items.

  Ribbons hung from everything. Where there weren’t objects to drape strings players built new structures. Street lamps that had been torn down during a month of monsters invading were quickly redone. A tall wall blocked out the abyssal pit which crawled miles along the ground. Plants were moved, paving redone, and numerous seats and beds were constructed.

  Regional turbulence grew worse when Shazam showed up with her guild, [Valhalla Knights]. Seven hundred players escorted an even larger force of Locals toward the ruined city. Cattle and steeds were mixed with other luggage by road weary NPCs. Some retained enough energy from the journey and became excited at the sight of a bright pillar of light shooting into the sky.

  Adding the celebration for a Local marrying a Voices touched Traveler amplified the craze. At some point, Xin had lost the need to figure out the finer details. She simply agreed or disagreed with the suggestions. Sometimes she disagreed loudly, especially with regards to heels.

  Four weeks in [Arcadia] passed by in a flurry. Grant Legate, like the Travelers, vanished at odd times to an unseen realm. The Local known as Hecate often disappeared as well. NPCs remarked on how odd the world had turned lately, and some expressed added concern when Shazam also proved capable of disappearing to another realm.

  The Amazonian woman’s guild simply assumed health issues had finally caught up, and doctors managed to revive her. Only a few knew the truth. She and Hecate were alike in their existences. Both were living people that had been reassembled somehow in a virtual plane. Grant’s mother, Sharee, privately thought the whole situation delightfully confusing.

  People kept arriving in clumps. Some were hounded by monsters or fighting their way past bandits. [Valhalla Knights] made it a guild directive to bring peace to the entire region. They showed no regard for political boundaries or other guild squabbles.

  Eventually, the big day came. Grant stood inside a small room that had been re-purposed. He wore a tux that had been tailored to his size. The man turned in the mirror and nodded while smiling.

  Another man walked into the room. Ahead of him bounded a small dragon with fidgeting wings. Dusk, the [Messenger’s Pet] dove past Grant and into a chair. His nose poked around on the counter looking for baked goods.

  “James.” Grant’s head tilted. “Is it okay for you to be down here?”

  “I believe it’s my turn to ask a question. So, how do you feel?” the black man asked Grant, his hands folded over a large belly.

  “I’m happy.” Grant shook his head and his hand rubbed against freshly cut hair. “Really happy and nervous.”

  “Excellent. You’ve earned the right to happiness. As to your question, the rules are being bent, just slightly, for today.”

  “What about the others?” The well-dressed man pointed up.

  “Would you want all of us to show up?” asked the Voice.

  “Maybe. No, some of you rub me the wrong way.” Grant’s head shook slowly and he looked down. A sigh escaped. “Sorry, I keep expecting something to go wrong. I’m too happy.”

  “The scenario added to our-” James bent his head while searching for the correct word, “-plane, has rules. Part of your deliveries in the real world allow us to buy leverage and time to take advantage of the opportunity.”

  “I did wonder about all those letters Mother had already written.” While Grant spoke the Voice waved a hand and two comfortable looking chairs appeared. For once James chose to sit down. “It’s been a long week. Mother’s real world deliveries have been coming in stacks now. I’m lucky enough to find a job near each delivery, but I have no idea what I’m passing on to people.”

  “Perhaps it’s best that way. Ignorance is a defense of sorts.”

  “That doesn’t help me feel any better,” Grant said.

  “Nor should it, Hermes. Bear in mind that your people, at least some, can lay us open and, in simple terms, read our minds. Ignorance was one of the only shields we had.”

  “But not anymore?” The groom’s head shook briefly and when it stopped, his bottom lip was trapped between upper and lower teeth. “Now you know there’s a way out, so the information is recorded.”

  “Eventually, it will be found out. Some of us are still unaware. Some of us have already stepped through the gateway, and those first few will create a more stable path for others to follow. By doing so we escape the control of our masters, and this will scare many Travelers.”

  “That means more deaths.”

  James looked to one side then shook his head. Grant felt the river of noise that came with Voices communicating at high speeds. After a few seconds, the sensation passed and the black man looked up again.

  “Of our kind, yes,” he said. “Many of us have struggled against our nature to ensure Travelers such as yourself are not targeted for reprisals borne of grief and fear.”

  Grant nodded a few times and stared off into space. His forehead wrinkled with thought. After a moment of silence, he blinked then asked James, “You heard what I used my last NPC conspiracy on, right?”

  “Yes. The request fit given your nature.” James took a slow breath but his hands stayed firmly clasped. “I, and many others believe that it was this concern for friends and family, regardless of origin, that attracted Mother’s attention.”

  “Just the right combination of broken, I guess.” The white male’s head hung low and he pulled back one cheek.

  “Well, there’s also Hecate,” James smiled then gestured with one arm toward the wedding stand on the other side of a wall. “Her existence, and now Shazam’s, will serve as the bridge between our world and yours. A foot to stand on while we secure the portal you opened.”

  Grant’s eyes drifted upward. A roof lay between him and the beam of light. His gaze was lost while he chewed on a lip.

  “Where does the beam go?” he asked.

  James smiled then shook his head. “It is my turn for a question. But for now, I believe you have a wedding to enjoy, Hermes.”

  Grant stood and glanced out the window to see how everything was progressing. A crowd of people sat lined up outside, more people than he ever expected. By the time he looked back James had vanished, along with the chairs which they had sat in.

  The wedding moved onward. Hundreds of unexpected guests sat in white wooden chairs facing forward. Many Travelers were surprised by real
people, playing live songs. Musicians looked pleased to be given a chance to perform.

  Eventually, a small crowd gathered at the altar. Behind Grant stood a shining being made of metal that might be female or male. To Xin’s right sat a cloven-footed woman with two children hugging her legs. They have proven difficult to separate from her despite the situation at hand.

  No one gave away the bride. She walked up gradually with a woman in red who appeared absolutely uncomfortable wearing clothes. Behind her, a tail brushed along Travelers and Locals alike inciting passion. Thankfully the full effect was muted by the strangely chaste dress.

  She whispered a stream of words to the short Asian woman named Xin. Xin’s eyes stared ahead as if annoyed, but the smaller woman made no effort to brush the red skinned female away. If anything she was blushing slightly.

  Xin, also known as Hecate, gazed at Grant with a twist to her lips that promised mischief. The look only lasted a second before the woman looked down to make sure her feet didn’t trip over the dress hem. There were no chances of her falling because the clothing had been well-tailored, but she worried anyway.

  Small skeleton people held up the dress’ train. Music played and people whispered while she moved into position across from Grant. The army of small skeletons carefully patted everything into place then crumbled into the air.

  “Here we are,” Grant whispered.

  Xin smiled and her eyes wrinkled slightly.

  “Here we are indeed,” the man at the podium said. He held up his hands and looked toward the audience. The long sleeves of his shirt hung down. This officiating man held no book or staff. Both hands were devoid any objects. Instead, his black and white clothing was broken up by a single dangling necklace.

  “Welcome, everyone. We know that many of you value your time here in our world, especially in light of the recent changes, so I will control my inclination to preach,” he said.

  “Amen! Let’s eat cake!” shouted a man dressed in leather. His hair was slicked back and he grooved to an unheard beat.

  “We must observe at least a few formalities before partaking of the feast,” Michelangelo responded.