by Jeff Pollard
“And?”
“Well, I mean, if you know anything about orbital mechanics...It's kind of obvious,” Renee says.
“Come on Renee, you're not playing right,” Patrick says.
“Playing right!?”
“Yeah, we're supposed to play along, solve the puzzles, shoot the henchmen, discover clues, save the day,” Patrick says. “You're ruining the game.”
“It's not my fault they made the mystery so obvious,” Renee replies. They move forward in zero gravity, to the only door. It leads to a long dark tunnel, with two guards at the other end holding laser guns. “Oh no, what do we do now?” Renee asks sarcastically, pointing to an obvious power switch. Patrick sighs at her. She flips the switch, the guards in the corridor are cast in darkness. Renee and Patrick wait on the sides of the door for the guards to come looking for the problem. The guards enter, floating in zero-g. Renee and Patrick leap at them from behind. Patrick tries to yank away the laser gun from one guard. Renee simply uses her severed arm as a weapon, smashing the guard across the face with her shoulder bone. His laser gun tumbles away. The guard holds his bleeding face, droplets of blood float away. Renee pushes against a bulkhead, sending her toward the floating laser gun. She gets it, spins and fires a burst into the guard, instantly killing him, but the laser blasts go straight through him, scorching the wall and destroying a display panel. Alarm bells ring out. Patrick struggles with the other guard. Renee aims, but with all the tumbling, and the fact that the laser could go right through the bad guy and hit Patrick, it makes it an almost impossible shot.
Renee stabilizes herself against a bulkhead, taking careful aim and waiting for the right moment.
“Don't shoot,” Patrick says while struggling with the guard. Renee looks to the button that turned off their laser prison. She smacks the button. Patrick shoves the guard and he tumbles into the bars, cutting him into a hundred little pieces. “Alright,” Patrick says, “let's go get 'em.” He starts to head down the dark tunnel toward the front of the ship and more bad guys.
“Hold on a second,” Renee says.
“What?”
“Well, we have this laser gun, the engines are just behind us, so why not just fire toward the back of the ship, we could destroy the engines. With no impulse, the ship would be stranded in solar orbit, unable to slow down enough to crash into the sun. Then we'd probably be rescued, or maybe the bad guys come back and kill us, but either way, disable the engines and we stop them.”
“You want to just fire toward the rear of the ship?” Patrick asks.
“Yeah, why not?”
“Well, we haven't been prompted in any way to do that,” Patrick replies. “That's how games work, you know, they prime you, give you hints, you're not supposed to just-”
“Think for yourself and come up with a solution,” Renee finishes his sentence.
“We're supposed to fight our way forward, kill some bad guys, accumulate weapons, get some clues, then have some kind of boss battle,” Patrick says.
“I don't have time for all that, I'm just gonna give this a shot,” Renee says. She starts firing a solid beam into the rear bulkhead. The laser quickly eats through the wall, heading toward the rear of the ship. In a second, the laser starts reflecting back, piercing another hole in the same bulkhead from the other side, sending a laser coming back at them. Droplets of molten titanium float away, cooling into perfect spheres.
“See, you can't do that, it's shielded,” Patrick says.
“Oh it's shielded, to protect them from a glaring plot hole,” Renee mutters. “Alright, we'll do it your way.”
“Just pretend it's real, okay, act like this is really happening.”
“I am!”
“Drop the gun,” the evil villain demands. She's a woman with six breasts, three rows of two, like a dog, clad in leather. She holds Renee hostage with a small gun to her head. Patrick floats nearby, holding a laser gun. They are on the bridge of the ship. The six-boobed, ridiculous villain is backed up against the ship's controls. “Drop it or I shoot her,” she persists. Renee's severed arm floats free behind her. It feels its way along an instrument panel, toward the button that blows the hatch open.
“Don't do it,” Patrick says in his best action hero voice. “We can talk about this.” He starts aiming carefully, thinking about taking the difficult shot.
Renee closes her eyes, concentrating on her severed hand walking along the wall of instruments. It gets ahold of the lever. Renee looks over to see if she has the right control. She yanks the lever. The air is sucked out of the cabin, sending Renee and the villain tumbling toward the exit. Patrick isn't that close to the open door, and grabs on to a panel, holding on. Renee and the villain fly out the door, off into space. Patrick hits a button, sealing the door. He's now free to retake the ship, but he sighs, and shakes his head.
“Drop the gun,” the ridiculous villain demands.
“We won didn't we?” Renee asks, held hostage again.
“But you died,” Patrick replies.
“So?”
“If you die, then it's game over,” Patrick replies.
“That's stupid. We're trying to save the solar system, why do our lives even enter into the equation?” Renee asks.
“It's the goal, you know, save the day, get the girl,” Patrick says.
“Drop the gun!” The villain demands.
“Why is it that I'm the one that gets taken hostage?” Renee asks. “Why shouldn't it be you?”
“Drop the gun,” the villain demands.
“Just do what she says,” Patrick pleads, a gun held to his head. Renee takes careful aim with her laser gun. The villainess hides almost perfectly silhouetted behind Patrick, leaving Renee with no shot. She is patient. Renee fires a shot, it just singes the side of the villain's face. Renee remains patient, trying several times, but just clipping the villain.
“You're too late, in a few minutes, this anti-matter will crash into the sun,” the villain cackles.
Renee fires a burst, cutting Patrick and the villain in half at the neck, killing them both. Renee floats freely to the control panel behind their corpses, changing the ship's course and saving the day.
Renee and Patrick are transported, fully bodied again, to the game menu, floating in front of a model of the Somnomancer hurtling toward the sun. “You just don't get games,” Patrick mutters.
“What? I had fun,” Renee replies.
“You have to pretend it's real,” Patrick replies, “if you take it seriously, it's awesome, but if you just screw around, then it all feels stupid.”
“I did pretend it was real,” Renee says.
“So rather than trying to figure out a way to win and have us both actually survive, you'd just cut my head off and call it a win?”
“Yeah,” Renee replies. Patrick seems offended. “It's kill you and save ten billion people on Earth, or try really hard to save you but at an increased risk of the solar system exploding. It's pretty much a no-brainer. And while we're on the subject, how come I'm the one that gets taken hostage? Am I supposed to be your damsel to save? What the hell kind of games are you playing? And the six boobs, come on, what was that about?”
“Come on, let's go play something else,” Patrick says, irritated.
“Can't, I need to study,” Renee replies.
“You don't need to, you want to,” Patrick replies.
“Yeah, because I care about doing something that matters with my life,” Renee replies.
“And first-person shooters don't matter in any way,” Patrick replies snarkily. “You know I want to design games.”
“I know Patrick,” Renee replies quietly. “I didn't mean...I need to study. I'm just tired of these shooter games.”
“You just won't be happy until we play the game you wanna play,” Patrick says.
“I guess so,” Renee trails off.
“Can't we just stick to regular games? Why does it have to be...that?”
“Because we have to grow up, Patri
ck.”
16
“If it's okay with you, my student here is going to observe the whole process,” Dr. Graeme says.
“Sure,” the mother replies, unable to care about such a trivial matter. Dr. Graeme approaches the patient in the bed.
“Hello,” Dr. Graeme says, barely even looking at the twelve-year-old boy. His eyes stay mostly on his chart or on the instruments hooked to the patient. “I'm Dr. Graeme, you're going to be just fine.” Renee stares into the boys scared eyes. All her training, all the medical jargon had evaporated. All she saw was the terror in his eyes.
“Will I at least get a cool robot?” Bobby asks with a scratchy hopeful voice.
“Sure thing,” Dr. Graeme replies flatly, turning to the mother, he has paperwork for her to fill out. Renee moves right up next to the boy. She puts her hand on his hot forehead.
“That's so cold,” he says weakly.
“Metal skeletons tend to do that,” Renee replies. “Don't worry Bobby, you're in good hands. When you plug in to Solipsis, you'll have more fun than you've ever had in your life. Just think about playing real first-person video games, never again being in pain, never needing to be afraid, never being hungry, and living...forever. How's that sound?”
“Too good to be true,” Bobby replies.
“It's real.”
“Is it really worth it? Maybe I should just die and get it over with, before I lose my soul and become just some machine.”
“I don't know where you got that idea, but it's wrong. Let me tell you. This place is great.”
“Renee,” Dr. Graeme beckons.
“See you around,” Renee says to Bobby before following the doctor into the hallway.
“What are you doing?”
“Just trying to ease his mind,” Renee replies.
“You don't want to get close to these people,” Dr. Graeme says sternly. “I'm going to have this boy's life in my hands, literally. The less I know about him, the better. He needs to be just another patient to you, no different from those simulated patients. If you get too involved, you'll get too nervous, and you'll slip. Got it?”
“I guess,” Renee replies.
“Did you just roll your eyes at me?”
“No. Well, maybe.”
“This is serious.”
17
Renee and Patrick walk on clouds, hand-in-hand. They hop down to a lower cloud and find themselves in a secluded part of their very own sky. It's just the two of them and a picturesque heavenly view. This is a program within Solipsis. Just as some are used for advanced role playing games, others for training, this one is used to manipulate your senses in other ways. This cloud world manipulates your nerve endings to enhance the pleasurable feelings of physical stimuli.
“I don't know, are you sure you're ready?” Patrick asks. His avatar has been upgraded, very muscular.
“I'm definitely ready for this,” Renee says. They stand awkwardly a meter apart. Renee waits for Patrick to make a move, but he looks down at his feet.
“Did it start yet? I don't feel different,” he says. Renee rubs her fingertips across her neck and shudders.
“Oh, it's started,” Renee giggles. Patrick still makes no move. Renee walks to him, closing the distance in short brave steps. She kisses him on the cheek. He kisses back, but clearly Renee is taking the lead. Making out, she practically tackles him to the soft cloud, straddling him and tugging his shirt up.
“Wait, I'm not sure,” he meekly interrupts. Renee rips the shirt fabric open and puts her hands on his statue-like chest. “Can you stop for a half-second?” Renee grabs Patrick's hands and presses them to her enhanced breasts. While his avatar looks mature, the look in his eyes belong clearly to those of a scared boy. “I said stop!” He pushes Renee away from him. He scoots away from her, hugging his knees, eyes welling up with tears.
“You're never going to grow up are you?” Renee says, looking into his scared eyes. He's clearly upset by her remark. He jumps to his feet to leave. “Come on it's all imaginary!” Renee shouts.
Patrick turns back, face bright red, to reply “I'm not imaginary!”
“Virtual, simulated, imaginary, whatever,” Renee replies.
“I think we should just be imaginary friends,” Patrick says angrily and storms off, jumping to a nearby cloud and disappearing.
“Wait!” Renee shouts, running through a crowded street in downtown Solipsis. Impossible skyscrapers of glass and steel dominate the urban core. With no need for transit, thanks to televators, the city is more of a community space. The streets are filled with people. Street performers show off new skills, music, art pieces. Vendors peddle their virtual wares. Patrick runs through the crowd, away from Renee. She loses him, but then spots him ducking into an avatar shop.
Renee finds Patrick in an aisle of canine avatars. “Wait,” Renee says. Patrick ducks around the corner to the next aisle, filled with anthropomorphic reptiles. He stops running. “I'm sorry.” Patrick walks down the aisle, ignoring her. “What are you doing?”
“I'm looking for a new avatar.”
“Why,” Renee asks.
“I don't want to be a boy anymore,” Patrick replies. “What about this wolf?”
“I don't know, it looks pretty fierce,” Renee says quietly.
“I can be fierce,” Patrick says coldly. A salesman approaches. He's a fast-talker.
“If you want fierce, then you'd love the new Lycan-tek! They're designed by Trajan himself, very detailed! Only 600 credits.”
“No thanks,” Patrick says, “I'm not spending 600 credits.”
“And you'll feel the luxury of every single credit,” the salesman replies without missing a beat, “you get what you pay for after all. Plus, the latest designs offer much greater,” he nudges Renee, “sensitivity.”
“Screw off, ya creep,” Renee shoves him. Her hands go right through the hologram. “Whatever happened to spam filters?” Renee turns to Patrick, he stares at an avatar, not wanting to look at her. “So, are we...okay?”
Patrick doesn't respond, stares straight ahead. She doesn't want to repeat the question. He still says nothing and stands perfectly still. Then Renee notices that the store is very quiet. She steps out of the aisle and finds that everyone has frozen in place. Renee gasps then looks back to Patrick. He's frozen in place too. “Am I dead?” she thinks, “Am I having a stroke? Is this a Xenon Shock? What the hell!?”
She pushes on Patrick, “Wake up!” He moves rigidly like a mannequin. She pushes him harder and he falls down. “What the hell is going on?”
The Hologram salesman scrolls down the aisle to Patrick and tries to up-sell him on more content. Renee runs from the store and finds a Televator on the street. She gets in, closes the door, but is not greeted by a televator voice.
“Home!”
Nothing happens. It's dead. Renee walks down the street, amongst the frozen avatars, finding all televators are dead.
It's eerily quiet.
Then a thunderous crash echoes through the urban corridor. A giant creature, a behemoth, comes into view. It's a sixty-foot-tall humanoid figure with elephant-like skin. It comes down the street, smashing people like they're ants. Renee backs away, stunned. The behemoth spots her, the only person that can move, and starts running for her, bowling over dozens of people. Renee retreats into the avatar store. Renee finds Patrick on the floor. “Patrick! Come on Patrick, wake up!” She shakes him but he doesn't move. The behemoth crashes through the front of the store, spraying glass everywhere. It's much too tall to enter, and so it lays down, crawling and reaching into the store, knocking over shelves, bashing people out of the way.
“Patrick,” she says one last time as the giant hand swipes at her. She leaves him, sprinting out the back of the store.
Renee walks under the searing sun through the cobweb of suburbs branching out from the city. Frozen families stand like statues in their yards. Renee rubs her sunburned neck and looks up suspiciously at the blazing star in the sky. It seems to
have been overhead for hours, maybe it's frozen too. But it also seems brighter, turned up. Renee spots the glass observation dome coming up, she's nearly home. She finds Medved, frozen mid-stride in the yard. She hugs her frozen teddy bear. No response.
Renee sits down in the neatly trimmed grass, defeated. She looks around at her frozen world.
Will it stay like this forever?
“I think I got something in my eye,” Medved says. Looking around, Renee discovers the people have all unfrozen. However they haven't blinked in hours, their eyes are totally dry. “Was I asleep?” Medved asks.
“You were frozen in place, everyone was!”
“Like we were disconn-”
Medved stops cold as he spots a behemoth trudging by. It crushes a house and walks past, on its way to the city.
“What the hell is going on?” Renee asks.
“I don't know,” Medved says quietly. “Let's get out of here,” he says, running for the house. Renee follows. Medved jumps into the televator, discovering what Renee already knows. “It's not on.”
“What does that mean?” Renee asks.
“I think somebody has taken over Solipsis.”
“Who?”
“I don't know,” Medved says.
“Yes you do,” Gwen says from the top of the stairs.
“Mom!” Renee runs and hugs her. “Mom, what's happening?” Gwen and Medved exchange a look. “What aren't you telling me?” Medved doesn't want Renee to know the truth. “Where's dad, he'd know what to do,” Renee says, not willing to give up already.
“He was in surgery,” Medved says.
“Maybe he's fighting them in the real world,” Renee says hopefully.
“With the televators off, maybe he's just in limbo,” Medved replies, “by the looks of it, they've got everything under control.”
“So we're completely screwed, that's what you're telling me?” Renee asks. Gwen and Medved look to each other for any ideas. Nothing. The house starts to shutter, as if from an earthquake. Renee stumbles to a window and sees a behemoth coming their way. It's stomping down an entire row of houses, moving through them like they aren't even there. They rush down the stairs in an attempt to get out of the house before it is inevitably crushed. Medved practically carries Renee down the stairs, going very fast. Gwen follows behind. The giant's feet tear through the house, turning everything into shrapnel.