They watched riveted as a fireball leapt into the early morning sky, the background reporter's voice telling viewers he implied he knew what happened. An old-fashioned large lorry packed with explosives driven past security before it exploded against the building's west side.
The side where the main server cores were, John added over the reporter. They parked over the underground location. Company experts now spoke over the scene saying the lorry had not only carried explosives but a home-made EMP (electro magnetic pulse) machine, which fired three seconds before the lorry exploded. (The scene then cut to the news studio)
The sombre newscaster, Francis Goodread spoke with the head of Square Projekt Quality Red, SPQR.
"We are sorry for your loss, of personnel and facilities. Do you have a list of any missing staff beyond the three we mentioned earlier?" asked Francis. Kenneth Stinson, the CEO of SPQR spoke via a vid-feed link from his London ancestral home, Chiswick House. As the vid-feed camera panned to the side, Cain caught the sight of a person in a mirror.
"Yes, after extensive searches by the Paris police and our own security staff, we have listed another five staff members as missing. I will look their families in the eye, apologising for our failure in taking care of them.
"That is the company's way, my way. Our largest concern is the damage inflicted to our three quantum servers. They held the profiles of over twelve thousand online players, Beta testers, waiting for the launch of Forsaken. The police believe the attack was to stop the launch, much like the attack tonight in London, where some Luddite group tried the same on the quantum servers we have here.
"We as a company are thankful they did not reach the London servers as they hold much of the other seventy-nine thousand players waiting for the launch. We will not stop the launch, they will delay it by another hour for security concerns, Forsaken goes live at eleven o'clock EC time, that is (looking at his watch) two hours from now," Kenneth said.
The camera panned back to the studio where Francis was dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief, catching his breath he asked.
"What has happened to those twelve thousand people held on the Paris servers? Is what someone has informed us true they are now in a persistent negative state?"
"Our technicians and lawyers are looking into this as we speak. The company will take utmost care while we try to bring back their profiles. If, when we recover the profiles, then the players will wake; not aware of the time passing."
A phone rings behind Kenneth Stinson, he ends the vid-feed to Global EC News, before the feed ends the same person appears in the mirror again. John turned the monitor off. Cain held up a hand before he spoke out loud so they all may listen to what he asked of Enoch.
"Enoch, Rahab could you access that vid-feed camera, on the off chance Global EC News are still connected to it? While you do that, can you pull the section of the vid-feed back, where the camera pans and we can see a man in a mirror, it happens twice. Should you find the sections usable, could you compile an e-fit? Merge the two images, we can view the results," Cain asked.
"Those twelve thousand are those playing Forsaken in the Earth 2027 zone, not counting the NPCs. Those profiles, are they lost? The people gone so easy, so dead?" Daphne said.
"It is unlikely, they have multiple copies, but SPQR could say there is no backup of their profiles. I would not expect them to take that route, we have time to discover their true location," Cain said.
"Once found we can take steps to protect those profiles, can't we?" said Toni.
The monitor came on in split screen mode, on the left was a poor quality image of the person in the mirror. An enhanced image replaced it, revealing Jason White. The screen on the right was still blank, it flickered showing the room Kenneth Stinson used for the vid-feed. In the distance in a doorway stood Kenneth and Jason talking. Jason was pointing a finger at Kenneth, but there was no sound.
The image stopped being shown, replaced by a view of a large room with several PODs all in a line. It continued to broadcast the quiet room, the PODs all humming, their lights flickering.
They watched, first in fascination, later in horror as a man and a woman in white lab coats entered the room. They walked to the third POD, opened the lid and hauled the female out, still covered in Nanogel, dropping her on the floor; her body twitching. The woman produced a hypodermic gun, shooting the female in the neck.
With the female shot, the white coated workers grabbed the female's feet, pulled her over to the side of the room, off camera. Four seconds later they heard the recognisable sound of a handgun being fired, twice, followed by grunting and the clanging shut of a metal door.
They heard the female speaking off camera before they walked back into view she said. "I hope there are more of these PvP players in the Earth zone? Sixteen, disposed of in three hours, sixteen brain dead gamers. Do you think we could receive a bonus? This is all extra non-contracted work."
Walking out of the camera view through the only door, they could hear the female still talking as they walked away. The door swung too, leaving the room empty of workers while silence ruled again.
{We can access this camera vid-feed all the time now,} said Enoch. {We also know where to find the PODs. Rahab recovered the name of the female who killed the other woman. What do you want to do? Toni wants to make a little journey, visit that female lab technician and leave her some lead.}
Direct Action Planned
:Enoch, can we manage what Toni will ask in the time left before we embrace the PODs?: Cain asked.
{Working on what Kenneth Stinson says is true, two hours and fifteen minutes. The woman who killed the female player lives twenty-five miles away, she and her colleague still work. They hide the PODs facility beneath the British Film Industry IMAX museum, on Charley Chaplin Walk.
{From the camera feeds, they guard the facility using four armed security guards during the day and one at night. There are five other technicians at the POD facility, between them they have disposed of eighty-three players in the preceding hours. Running a check on their servers, there are another four hundred PODs, not including the deceased, in that facility. Some of them are playing Forsaken, others are testers in other traditional PvP games,} Enoch said.
"Toni, Enoch tells me the female is still working. I'm sure Rahab told you the same. Should we go kill everyone, it's easily done, then what? Who takes over the PODs, who runs the facility? We're unable to go in and only kill the female and her colleague, we'd have to eliminate everyone. Will you be fine living with what we've done? Even if they do deserve to die," Cain said.
"Let us imagine John says we can we use the XJS, Daphne can drive. We'll get equipped, drive there, rush around kill everyone not in a POD. Pray we manage that without any alarms being activated by us or triggered by the staff. Rush within the speed limits back here, driving past the sites of two of the downed helicopters. Drive through Rotherhithe to access the safe house. Estimate the mission time, please Enoch?" Cain said. Enoch communicated over the speakers.
"Should Daphne keep within the speed limits the time is traffic dependent, fifteen to twenty minutes there. An estimate of thirty minutes clearing out the hidden facility with a return journey crossing the Thames thirty minutes. Add to that twenty minutes to get ready and forty minutes to tidy up on your return. You will need between two hours and fifteen to two hours and twenty minutes."
"You're not fair," said Toni through her crying on Cain's shoulder, "We can't go kill everyone there, even though they deserve to pay for what we witnessed. Was this Forsaken, sure wipe the lot out PODs included, but this is real life, the reality is we can't run with our passions and walk away feeling clean.
"Life is not a game, although I would like to pay that white coated bitch a visit," Toni replied. "But I want her to pay for the callous way she dispatched the player. Courts will determine responsibility, so someone can have justice for those dead players. We believe Jason is behind their deaths, he needs catching and justice served."
[I
've hacked their server sweety. Those players being dispatched were brain dead. They were still playing when the game server shut-down, although warned not to. Brain dead, a result of being unsuccessful in following system-wide prompts. Calm your heart, Cain will take care of the woman, he will protect your heart at the sake of his own,] Rahab said.
:He will, should I let him though? He'd do anything for me, even something so distasteful as killing another human in cold blood. Perhaps I can consider a suitable punishment, she's doing her job. Argh I hate this moral dilemma. How come Cain is right in this? I feel helpless, and powerless yet I want to do something.: Toni gave Cain a hug then wiped her nose, he gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Sorry Daphne, once your AI is active you will find loads of things about your own feelings sometimes though you don't want to learn them," said Toni.
Cain told them they had two hours before they needed to POD up, which he assumed was funny and laughed at his own joke. He told them why he felt it was funny and laughed again, they humoured him.
"So, any fresh ideas on getting down from the amphitheatre? Absences of visible stairs, elevators nor escalators, what possible way down is there?" asked Daphne.
"Do you see they used the amphitheatre? It has to be part of the game code. Perhaps we missed something perhaps a plaque, giving us a side quest like the Jamie Hawke plaques. Perhaps the pillar thing Bethany and Lesley found? It could be patently obvious when we take another look, the pillar opens a hidden doorway to a slide so we can get off the mountain," Toni said laughing.
"I wondered about PET, we never searched it before, there could be something inside that will help. Besides PET we could try descending the mountain, we all have ropes in our backpacks, that could be another option. I am throwing this out there, how about making para gliders from the clothing we took from the storage chest?" Cain said. Daphne grabbed his hand and squeezing it, she said,
"Stop reaching, it isn't all on your shoulders, we all need to work this one out together," Cain slumped a little in his chair, giving Daphne a return squeeze.
{Before you ask I don't recognise Egyptian hieroglyphics nor ancient Greek writing... Rahab will learn about the Greek writing I am looking up hieroglyphics now... done. I am checking your memories to see if you looked at the notes... no, nor did Toni according to Rahab. We together consider revisiting the pillar offers the best way off the mountain. Unless you want to jump?
{Several old style RPG games and board games use instant transport pillars between key important places. I cannot envisage the pillar accessing the transport point, there is nothing there. One and a half hours to POD up. I got the joke, it wasn't funny, please learn not to repeat the same mistake, POD up, seriously. You could run your jokes past me first. Now to your old special ops crew POD up would be funny,} Enoch said.
Cain stood from his seat then took the virtual marker, in red and capital letters wrote in a new cloud. Find all POD hosting facilities. Under another bullet point added, ensure they prosecute staff for carrying out the work in killing players. In Enoch and Rahab's cloud he wrote, copy all vid-feed recordings of staff carrying out the disposal of bodies. Identify all staff, with work records, payments and home addresses.
Cain, Daphne and Toni tidied the mess they made, cleaned the shower and sunken bath. Had a pillow fight of sorts, where Daphne and Toni beat Cain into submission, then they spent ten minutes fooling around on the bed. Where Cain and Toni affirmed their love for each other before turning on Daphne, who had several ticklish zones.
Once they made the bed and then proceeded to their PODs, ready to sink into a POD full of Nanogel. Immersed it would boot them back into the Forsaken zone of ancient Greece 337 BC, sleeping in their PET.
Cain folded his clothes placed them on the table and stood waiting for Toni and Daphne. Giving each other hugs and kisses before they seated themselves in their PODs. Toni reached behind her head and attached the PODs connector to her NL port, doing the same as Cain and Daphne. Next, she attached the face mask, with its automated feeding tube.
This was their second time getting ready to play Forsaken, Toni could not remember the Nanogel temperature from the last time, as the POD filled, Nanogel covering her body. A gentle warmth spread first across her body then the outside of her face, the breathing mask she wore letting her see the darkness creep in as the Nanogel covered her head, immersing her.
Chapter 10
Conditions of Service
Cain awoke to a nice feeling suffusing his penis, cracking his eyes he noticed the top of a head moving up and down, feeling the swirling of a tongue around his glans. While a hand from another of his DreamBabes, held his balls as she began gently squeezing and pulling them. Toni stirred on his shoulder, looked at the head going up and down on Cain's penis.
She leant over Cain, kissing him, then gasped into his mouth as Lesley began licking her vagina from behind, occasionally lapping her tongue against Toni's clit, making Toni shudder. A hand sneaked between Sophie’s legs a finger slipping between her wet lips, curling and rubbing her G spot. Daphne worked up Cain’s chest alternated between kissing Toni and Cain, while they caressed her breasts.
Toni placed a hand on Lesley’s head forcing her against her vagina, her clit singing from the attention, Lesley gave. Cain knew he could not hold on much longer, suddenly the beautiful blow job stopped, Sophie’s head lifted from his penis as she pushed up from the bed then straddled his hips, a smile on her face.
Leaning forward Bethany let go of Cain‘s balls to guide his hard erect penis, covered in Sophie's saliva into the waiting moist vagina. Feeling Cain's penis part her lips, Sophie lowered herself down gradually until she could go no further, she enjoyed the feeling of being full with Cain's hard penis inside her.
Toni took Sophie’s right nipple between her teeth, Daphne took Sophie’s left nipple likewise as Sophie moved up and down gradually getting faster. Bethany kissed Cain while she fingered Daphne at the same time, she noticed how easy it was to slide three of her long slender fingers into Daphne’s vagina; while her thumb circled her clit.
Toni was the first to come, Lesley kept switching from long slow licks to sucking and nibbling her clit with her teeth, while randomly inserted either one, two or three fingers into her vagina. Toni shuddered against Lesley’s tongue and the two fingers in her wet vagina, Lesley kept fingering Toni as her vagina tightened on the two fingers.
Daphne released Sophie’s nipple, crying out as an orgasm flowed through her as Bethany’s fingers stroked her G-spot to distraction and thumb circled her clit. Sophie came riding hard, up and down as fast as she could, enjoying the feel of Cain’s penis filling her vagina, she collapsed against Cain after she came.
Sophie rolled off him, then Bethany and Lesley took turns licking and sucking Cain’s penis. Bethany took hold of Cain’s penis and worked her hand up and down, getting faster and faster while Lesley took Cain’s head into her mouth. Unable to hold on any longer Cain came, his cum filled Lesley’s mouth as she carried on sucking him. She stopped after Cain finished, licking her lips after she let the penis go.
"Now that was a way and a half to wake up back in the game. Morning sisters, morning Cain," said Toni.
A system message popped up on all their Head-Up Displays HUDs, curtailing their conversations. The message informed players not only was the game opened to more players from around the world, SPQR, Square Projekt Quality Red, made several in-game enhancements. Players had to read and accept these new conditions of play before they could continue in the game.
The notice said players had
within an hour of waking up in the game, or logging in to the new build to read or scroll through the new conditions, before the accept button becomes active. If a player fails to click the accept button with the hour the player's account will be frozen for two hours.
A player whose account was frozen will get a second chance of accepting the new conditions of service. Failure to accept on the second login the said player will no longer be able to access the game, their account will be frozen. No refunds would be payable per the old conditions of service.
:So, Enoch what is there to worry about these conditions?: asked Cain. He left the message open for Enoch to access. Toni was doing the same with Rahab, they both had faraway looks on their faces. Daphne, Sophie, Bethany and Lesley waited and Daphne told them about being rescued and Cain getting shot three times in the real world.
[There’s one problem with the Limited Warranty disclaimer. SPQR have a hidden paragraph beneath the last line regarding requiring further advice. They have sneakily used a small size eight font, coloured the same as the background.
[It says, should players playing the game, Forsaken, cause faults, either hardware or software, in their equipment. Primarily their POD, then such said equipment shall become property of SPQR; along with any attached devices and or extraneous equipment. The player, should if damaged become the property of said company who will harvest their body for saleable organs. But don’t worry nothing will go wrong. SPQR – JW] Rahab said.
{There is one issue I have found, but there is nothing we can do about the paragraph in the Limited warranty section. I suggest you accept and sign the terms and conditions, so we can see what changes there are to the game,} Enoch said.
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