The Greystone Chronicles: Book One: Io Online

by Dave Willmarth

  Sasha made her ‘it’s icky’ face again. So did Melanie and Lainey.

  “But it can remove dead skin cells, sweat, discarded hairs, all the waste products a body produces. One of our techs even programmed the nanobots to shave him when he stuck his face in the gel. Smooth as a baby’s bottom,” Richard laughed at the amazed and slightly disgusted looks around him.

  “We call him buttface now,” Melanie added helpfully. “Well, I do, anyway.”

  Richard sighed, continuing. “The bots in the gel are programmed to encapsulate any waste it encounters, thus effectively quarantining it as it moves toward the disposal and filtration tanks in the base, there.” He pointed at the 2-foot tall rectangular base holding up the pod. “The gel is filtered to remove all the waste, then cleaned and returned for use in the pod. The waste itself is dumped into a chemical decomposition tank where it quickly breaks down and is stored. The whole pod will have to be serviced about once a month, to empty the tank, change out the filters, check all the programming and mechanical parts. And to provide more nutrient paste. It even has a battery backup that will continue to run the pod for up to a week if the power goes out.”

  “Nutrient paste?” Lainey raised her hand while asking, as if she were back in school.

  “Yes. It’s a paste filled with all the necessary protein, minerals, vitamins, and liquid to keep an active body healthy. It’s highly digestible and designed to be as close as possible to 100% consumed by the body so that it produces very little waste. When you’re in the pod, you wear a sensor net on your head, which stays above the level of the gel, and a mouthpiece with a feeding tube that ensures you can ingest the paste and breathe. There are several redundant medical sensors located throughout the pod that monitor your body’s vitals, movements, chemical levels, and a hundred other things. In the case of an emergency it can even take appropriate action; everything from simply opening the hatch and shutting down, to providing electroshock to restart a heart that has stopped. In the event of a seizure, for example, the gel can increase its density preventing convulsing limbs from impacting the side of the pod.”

  This is amazing! And he did all of this for me? I feel bad now, all those times I resented him working late. I have to find a way to make it up to him. Alexander thought.

  Richard was just finishing his tutorial. “We’re still working on it, but the next generation will be able to provide chemical injections when medically necessary. To force a body to sleep, for example, when someone tries to do a 48 hour marathon session and it begins to damage their health. Or a mild tranquilizer if a body is having a panic attack. But that’s still a few years and a lot of government approvals away.”

  “Dad…” Alexander tried to find the words. “I can’t believe you’ve accomplished all of this. I had no idea… I mean, how… the amount of work this must have involved. I can’t even imagine. I’m so proud of you. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, son. You were my motivation behind this work. You’ve worked so hard every day just to keep going. How could I do any less?” Richard put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “But this isn’t just for you anymore. With this tech, and the drug approvals, we can help thousands of people. Maybe millions!”

  “When can we try it out!” Sasha seemed to have gotten over the ickiness factor and was ready to jump in. Alexander shared her eagerness.

  “Well, we have a couple more guests coming. They should be here any minute. And I wanted to check with you both on a few things first. Let’s head into the meeting room and talk.” The group filed into the adjacent meeting room, minus Melanie. She headed back out to the corridor, presumably to greet their other guests. The meeting room was just a closed off corner of the lab with a long conference table, a holo-projector, and a dozen or so comfortable chairs. Sasha and Lainey sat on either side of Alexander, while Richard sat across from them, a pensive look on his face. He looked as if he wasn’t sure where to begin.

  Chapter Six

  The End of an Era

  “Alexander, Sasha. The other guests I’ve invited here today are your friends from the game. Brick and Max.” He went silent there, giving them time to digest and react. He knew the friends had never met in person, and strongly suspected that was Alexander’s doing. To keep them from knowing about his condition. To keep them from pitying him or treating him differently.

  Alexander was stunned. Brick and Max. Here? NOW? Why are they here? Do they know about me? Why would dad do this?!

  Sasha recovered from the surprise much more quickly. She’d obviously had the same thoughts as Alexander. “Why are they here? What have you told them about Alexander?” She sounded almost angry with Richard.

  Richard reached across the table and put his hand on top of his son’s. “They’ve been told nothing about you. And they won’t be, if you don’t want them to be. They’ve been told they are here because they’ve won a prize. Which they have. They’ll each be given a prototype pod, installed in their homes if they like. Or installed in a nearby facility that they can go to when they want to play. They’ll also be upgraded to elite accounts, which grant some benefits that we’ll get into later. And this last part is completely up to you Alexander. If you approve, they will each be offered a one year contract as beta testers for the pods. It will involve progressively longer immersion periods, beginning with a couple days, then a week, two weeks, a month, and so on. They will be given a salary, along with potential bonuses based on performance. They will also be offered corporate housing. Nothing fancy, but room enough for them to have pods at home, if that is their preference.”

  Letting go of his son’s hand, Richard watched his face as Alexander thought through what he’d just heard. Leaving his son to think for a few moments, he turned to Sasha.

  “Sasha, I’m making the same offer to you as of right now. It may mean postponing your studies. So I want you to think it over carefully. I won’t accept a ‘yes’ from you right now. And I’m afraid your current apartment doesn’t have the infrastructure to support operation of an immersion pod, so you’d need to either move to corporate housing, or have your pod set up in one of our facilities. You could even live and work here in the compound if you like. Or, if it wouldn’t annoy Alexander too terribly, you could have one of the suites in our guest house at home.” They both looked to Alexander, who was still pretty zoned out. He mumbled something and scratched his head.

  “He says yes to the guest house thing,” Lainey translated.

  Richard looked back to Sasha. “This is a real job. It will involve a lot of medical testing, and require you to make in depth reports about your experiences both in game and out. The salary is $150,000 for the year. Again, with the potential for bonuses. If you choose to move, we will of course provide movers and cover the expenses, as well as any necessary payments to your landlord. In addition, I personally contacted the dean at your school. If you wish it, you can continue your studies virtually. To accommodate long immersion periods we will set up a virtual classroom that you can attend when you’re immersed but not playing the game or sleeping. Like I said, take some time and think.”

  Richard then looked over to Lainey. “Lainey, I’m going to make you a slightly different offer. You already have a suite at the house. We can have a pod installed there by morning. You are already a salaried employee, but I will double your salary if you choose to accept this offer. I’ll require you to be online when Alexander’s online. You’ll be observing him as well as reporting on your own experiences like Sasha. When he’s offline, I expect you to be there to look after him just as you have been. I’m afraid this will require that you live in the house. If you’d like to keep your apartment, we’ll cover those expenses for the year. Think carefully,” Richard smiled widely at her, and winked. “This would mean spending nearly every waking hour, every day, with my son. If you choose to decline, there will be no negative repercussions. You’ll continue on exactly as you have been, watching over his pod while he’s immersed, and dealing with his complaints whe
n he’s not! You’re family now, and as far as I’m concerned you always will be.”

  “Thank you Richard. I’ll take some time and think about it. Do you need to know by tomorrow?” Lainey asked.

  “Well, for reasons I haven’t gotten to yet, it would be better if you start the same time as the kids if you’re going in-game. But it’ll take a day or two to get them situated, so you have that much time to think it over. I’ll have a pod installed in your suite anyway. If you decide not to take the offer, we can remove it again. Or you can use it to explore the game on your own if you like. Acceptable?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  “Alexander…” Richard looked back to his son, who still wasn’t really paying attention. “What are you thinking, son?”

  Right. Good question. What AM I thinking? I need to get a grip here. It’s just Brick and Max. They’re friends. Why am I panicking? He took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. Hands gripping the arms tightly.

  “I’m… trying to digest all of this, dad. You’ve given me a lot of information to process in the last half hour. And to be frank, you’ve really put me on the spot with Brick and Max. I’ve never told them about you. Or about me. Or really much of anything about my real life, other than that Sasha and I are friends. I don’t know if I’m ready to share all my issues with them, or whether they’d want to know. I’m guessing they’re already here in the building somewhere? I wish you’d given me more of a heads-up so I could think this through!”

  “As I said, son,” Richard began, keeping his tone as soothing as possible, “this is 100% up to you. They are up in the lobby right now, being entertained by Melanie and Bethany the receptionist. They are in separate rooms and have not even met each other yet. They’ve not been told who you are, or why they’re here except that they’ve won a prize. If you don’t want to meet them, or share any info with them, then Melanie will take them to the 4th dungeon. She’ll show them the pods they’ve won, offer them their elite memberships, the choice to have the pods installed at home or in one of our facilities, and leave it at that, or additionally offer them the beta jobs if you so choose. Or she can bring them down here, and we’ll follow your lead on how much they are told. This situation is entirely in your control. I brought them here to reward them for their friendship to you, and to offer you an opportunity you might not take on your own. Take a minute and think it over. Ask me questions if you have them.” Alexander took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Then another. His pre-fight ritual. Clearing his mind.

  “Can I say something?” Sasha asked.

  “Of course, Sasha” Richard responded.

  Sasha smiled at him and said, “No offense, pop, but I was asking Alexander, not you.”

  Richard laughed out loud, slightly embarrassed. “My apologies.”

  Alexander looked at Sasha and nodded.

  “See, the thing is this. They sort of already know, Alex. I mean, they don’t KNOW know … but they have some guesses. You aren’t exactly mister professional espionage guy, and your poker face sucks! There have been lots of hints here and there. They’ve been sort of indirectly asking me about you for more than a year. I’ve told them if you want them to know more than they do, you’ll tell them yourself. They’ve respected that, but they know SOMEthing is wrong. And as far as I can tell, they haven’t treated you any different because of it.” She leaned toward him and give him a brief hug, followed by a slap to the back of his head. “Get out of yer damn head already! I know I don’t actually get a vote, but I’ve known you since you were learning not to pick your nose in public, so I’m just gonna say you should bring them down here and tell them everything. Besides, can you really say you don’t wanna see the look on their faces when they hear about all of this stuff?”

  Alexander actually smiled at that. “Yeah. Brick’s gonna shit himself. Maybe literally. I really wouldn’t want to miss that.

  C’mon stupid. Just do it. What’s holding me back? What am I afraid of? Besides, if dad is right, I need to get used to the idea that I might be around a lot longer than I expected. In the immortal words of Brick... well, shit.

  “What do you think I should do, dad? And don’t give me any, ‘it’s your choice’. I know it is. I’m not asking you to choose for me. Just your opinion.”

  Richard looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he said “You asked me a little while ago why I didn’t tell you sooner about the drug and the pod. In my mind, I had a very good reason. Yet it bothered me not to tell you. I was tempted many times. I had faith in my reasoning; I believed I was doing it for your own good. It was an immense relief to be able to tell you today. I suspect it has been a little bit hard on you, keeping things from your friends. I can see it has created some awkwardness for Sasha, and probably for them. So I would ask you: how much does it bother you not to tell them? And how good is your reason?”

  Alexander’s jaw hung open for a moment. Surprised by his father’s simple yet profound answer. “That… that actually was really helpful. Thank you dad,” he said. He then turned in his chair and looked at Lainey. “Lainey, dad is right. You ARE family. Sasha, as usual, didn’t hesitate to insert her opinion…” Sasha snorted behind him, “and you heard what dad said. I’d like to hear your opinion as well.”

  Lainey leaned in to hug Alexander tightly, and didn’t let go. “I love you too, kiddo. And I’ll always be here for you, no matter what I decide to do with your dad’s offer. I totally understand why you’ve held back for so long. For half your life you’ve expected to die sooner than later. You’ve been sensitive about how people treat you, and rightly so. I’ve had similar feelings myself. I’ve cried myself to sleep after tucking you in, terrified of having to survive the loss of my sweet boy, and worried that I might slip and let you see that fear. The amount of hope your father has given us today… well I can’t even begin to describe it. Except to say that I feel SO much lighter. And I love everyone in the entire world right now! So maybe I’m not thinking so clearly at the moment. But I would say to you that this feels like a day for new beginnings.” She let him go and sat back in her chair. Tears of joy rolling down her cheeks.

  Well, shit.

  “Thank you. All of you.” Alexander put his elbows on the table and addressed his father in as calm a voice as he could. “Dad, I’d like to do two things. First, I’d like Sasha to text Brick and Max, tell them there’s an opportunity for us all to meet in person, and ask them if they’re interested. I’ll leave the wording up to her, as scary as that sounds.” He looked to Sasha expecting an assault of some kind, but she was sniffling over Lainey’s answer, and just nodded her head and pulled out her phone. “If they want to meet, then I’d ask you to have Melanie to give us a couple minutes to get our shit together, and bring them down here. If they don’t want to meet…”

  “Of course they want to meet us. Stupid,” Sasha was obviously recovering. “If they don’t want to meet, then I would ask that Melanie make them the job offers while they’re here. But leave it to me to tell them who we are.”

  “As you wish,” Richard nodded his head. “I’m proud of you, son. That’s a big step.”

  Sasha phone buzzed just then. “Max says, and I quote. ‘Hell yeah!’.” Everyone smiled at that. They all sat quietly then, awaiting Brick’s reply. It seemed he was thinking it over.

  After about a minute, Richard’s phone buzzed. He looked at it, then began to laugh quite loudly. “It seems,” he said when he had gathered himself, “that Brick got a text, and immediately began storming around the building demanding to know where you are. Melanie is with him, and wants to know if she should call security.”

  As they all smiled, Heimdall’s voice came across the room’s sound system. “Sir. There’s a large man acting erratically in the southeast tower lobby. Should I have one of my men deal with him?”

  Before Richard could answer, Alexander spoke up. “No! It’s okay Heimdall, he’s a friend of mine. You can call him Brick. Can you patch my voice through to the lobby please
?”

  “Of course, Alexander. You are connected” Heimdall replied.

  They could hear Brick’s loud voice calling for Alexander, and several distressed voices trying to calm him. Alexander was picturing Brick’s dwarf avatar stomping around destroying the lobby. He coughed into his hand, then smiled. “Hey, Brick. Can you hear me, buddy? It’s Alexander.” He paused to listen.

  There was a sudden silence, then Brick’s unmistakable voice. “Alexander? You’re here too? Is Sasha here? You sound like that Heimdall dude. Friggin’ guy scared the shit out of me when the car pulled up at the gate. Where are you?”

  “I’m downstairs in a meeting room, buddy. And yes, Sasha’s here with me. I’m talking to you through Heimdall’s intercom system. He’s the building’s AI. Max is on his way to you, if he’s not already there. Then Melanie will bring you both down here. So I’ll see you in a few minutes, okay?”

  “Yeah. Max just walked in. He’s as ugly as his toon. Melanie’s pretty hot, though.”

  Max’s voice drifted in “I heard that!”

  Brick snorted. “I’m gonna go say hi. See you in a few.”