Amidst the anxiety and insecurity, a bitter spark of anger began to glow within Ethan’s heart. He wasn’t a failure. It wasn’t his fault the system was so broken. Everyone was expecting too much from him. How was he supposed to get a job and become productive in such a corrupt system? Everything was so stacked against him that struggling against it was pointless! Even climbing the Tower of Ascension was just a stupid game he was using to distract himself from the truth. He was less than nothing in the grand scheme of things, just another waste of flesh in a dumping ground masquerading as a neighborhood. Even if he took the job his uncle had offered him, he would simply be a different type of garbage, a slightly more successful strain of parasite. He should just give up on life…
Without warning, a cold shiver slithered its way down Ethan’s spine. Startled, he looked up as prickly goose bumps rose on his skin. Why was he suddenly so cold? Ignoring the scum, Ethan bit his lip as he scanned his surroundings. Something felt wrong. The shop seemed darker to him. The light coming in through the windows was dimmer, and the air seemed almost hazy. It was like he could sense someone watching him, but none of the customers were looking his way. Ethan shivered again nervously. Was he afraid? Of what?
As the forbidding feeling within him grew stronger, Ethan saw an unexpected flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. He quickly glanced at a table in the darkest corner of the shop. At first, he saw nothing odd, but then the table’s shadow shifted and began to stretch. Disturbingly familiar terror shot through Ethan. The lighting hadn’t changed, but the shadow was definitely moving toward him. Frozen in shock, he watched as the shadow took on a shape he recognized. It was the creature from the shadow room in Worldshift. It had found him.
Pure terror propelled Ethan to his feet. What was it doing here, in the real world? It couldn’t be! There was a loud clang as he knocked his chair over and then he shot out of the shop as fast as he could. Despite the impossibility, his mind was screaming that he was in danger.
“What’s that loser’s problem?” the woman in the tracksuit asked her companion as Ethan ran through the door.
Bursting into the sunlight, Ethan felt his unnatural terror recede somewhat. He was now more clear-headed, but he kept running for a minute anyway if only to get away from the people who had seen his reaction to the shadow. When he did stop, he breathed deeply to catch his breath and carefully scanned his surroundings for any sign of the shadow creature, but all he saw were more grey townhouses and empty streets. The feeling of being watched had also disappeared, but Ethan still felt spooked. What had just happened? There was no way a monster from Worldshift could be out in the real world. He must have imagined the entire experience. Was he having some sort of mental breakdown?
No, that couldn’t be true, but it had seemed so real. He had seen the shadow with his own eyes, and he had felt its presence in an undeniable way. Deep down, Ethan knew that what had just happened to him hadn’t been a mere figment of his imagination. No way.
“Something must be going on with the game’s programming,” Ethan mused aloud as he walked home.
That was more than possible. Ethan reached up to rub the bump on the back of his neck. Part of the software for Worldshift was running inside his implant after all. He also knew from experience the Tower of Ascension program was interacting with his implant in unusual ways. The designers had even warned him about it when he’d first entered the tower. Was the shadow some sort of mental bug? Had seeing the creature in game caused it to leave some sort of mental impression on him?
Ugh, he didn’t need more craziness in his life right now. Being dragged into a police interrogation room had been more than enough excitement to last him basically forever. Maybe it was time to start avoiding the real world completely. It had become dangerous lately.
Scowling, Ethan pulled out his personal device and searched the internet for anyone having similar experiences as him. He didn’t find anything, not even a hint, although it didn’t mean much. Not only could his condition be unique, but the players were under a rather strict non-disclosure agreement that should prevent them from talking about such things publicly. Even Ethan hesitated to post anything about the shadow online, lest he get sued by Tekko or people start thinking he was batshit crazy. It was even possible Tekko knew about the shadow’s dangerous behavior. It might be why they’d made him sign a non-disclosure agreement and why they had sent a lawyer to prevent the police from questioning him. Was it possible Tekko was his enemy here?
Ethan needed to do something. It obviously wasn’t a good idea to ignore what had just happened. Well, there was nothing stopping him from talking to other players while online. Relieved, Ethan nodded in satisfaction. Yeah, that was what he would do. He’d ask Lily first.
Feeling better now that he had a plan, Ethan decided to log back onto Worldshift immediately upon getting home. Hopefully, his allies would be online.
A few minutes went by as Ethan hurried home via the sidewalk. At first he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, just deserted neighborhoods, but then he noticed a grey van parked in front of a townhouse. As he watched, two men in grey uniforms and caps emerged from the vehicle and unloaded a trolley of some sort from the back of the van. Curious, Ethan stopped to watch as the men entered one of the apartments. They looked like delivery men of some sort, but were those breathing masks on their hips? Also, their trolley was empty. Were they picking something up? No, no one used real people to deliver and pick things up these days, let alone two men in a van. Drone vehicles could do it all for much cheaper.
One of the men in grey stepped back outside and noticed Ethan staring. His white breathing mask was now covering the lower part of his face, which gave him a sinister air. The man glared hostilely at Ethan, as if to tell him to move on, so Ethan hurried away down the sidewalk again. This was none of his business, and he really didn’t need more problems. His life was already messed up enough without getting involved with some creepy men in a van.
When the van was out of sight behind him, Ethan slowed his pace and considered what he’d just seen. Had they been thieves? No, they’d been way too brazen. Everything they’d done had undoubtedly been captured on multiple cameras. Despite how creepy the men had been, they were obviously not doing anything illegal. They’d almost seemed like some sort of cleanup crew, but what could they be cleaning up? Ethan had no idea. Maybe these were government agents of some sort. Could they be watching him… No, he was being paranoid. It obviously had nothing to do with him.
Once he was back home, Ethan tried to put everything in the real out of his mind. Carl the lawyer had told him he didn’t need to worry about the Bureau of Economic Harmony, so he shouldn’t.
Fear continued to weigh on Ethan though. It was difficult to stay calm when you knew a powerful government organization was out to get you. All he could do was try to ignore it, so he quickly pulled on his VR headset. A moment later, he was logging back onto Worldshift. The real world had suddenly become a rather dangerous and creepy place for Ethan. Its sudden transformation was quite shocking, but now Ethan just wanted to escape back online. It was where the answers would be, and he was powerless to change the real anyway. He was just one unemployed guy without any real connections. The corporations and the government—both national and global, since it wasn’t like there was any difference between them—would simply destroy him if he ever questioned them. They controlled everything.
CHAPTER 18
ENQUIRY
After logging back on to Worldshift, Ethan discovered Michael had left him a message. It asked Ethan to meet with the rest of the team at the first possible moment. Thus, Ethan immediately hurried to the designated rendezvous, which was at the entrance to a temple in an isolated part of the city where the streets were cramped and very few people were around. It was nice to have clear simple goals.
“You’re late,” Jude huffed. “Why are you making us wait for you?”
“Ah, sorry. You wouldn’t believe the last couple of day
s I’ve had to deal with. It’s been crazy,” Ethan said as he eyed her. Had she told someone about the data key and gotten him picked up by the Bureau of Economic Harmony? Was she a government informant? Out of all his teammates, Ethan trusted Jude the least.
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get down to business,” Michael said as Kyle gave Ethan a friendly grin. “We have a lot to discuss.”
Lily nodded in agreement. “I’ve been talking to many the Aknii. To get to the next floor, we need to find some sort of temple. It’s apparently out in the forest, but it moves around a lot. The Aknii don’t really keep track of it either, since only players—or pilgrims as they call us—ever try to reach it.”
“Yes, apparently more than a few players have already found it and moved on,” Michael said. “But others have ended up losing their way in the trees and have been eliminated by either local monsters or other players. There are no Aknii guards around to enforce order out in the forest.”
Jude chuckled. “Well, it wasn’t like the designers were going to make this easy for us.”
Ethan had to agree with her about that, even if she was probably a government informant and a traitor. Should he confront her or denounce her to the others? No, he needed to investigate on his own and find proof first. Unproven allegations would just mess up their teamwork.
“So we need to go out into the forest? Sweet. I bet there’s piles of loot out there,” Kyle remarked happily.
Lily looked less excited. “From what I’ve heard, the forest is quite dangerous, as in full of monsters and traps. We do need to go out there, but we should be careful and smart about it. There are guides among the Aknii whom we can hire to show us around, even if they can’t take us right to the temple.”
“That sounds like a prudent idea,” Michael told her.
Ethan didn’t disagree, but there was other stuff he wanted to talk about before they headed into the forest or split up. “Before we do anything, I want to ask you all about what you think of the Tower of Ascension event so far.”
“Huh, what do you mean?” Kyle replied as he turned to look at Ethan.
Ethan shrugged as casually as he could. “I mean, it’s not exactly what you were expecting, is it? We’ve seen a lot of weird stuff since we started. Take this city for instance. It’s full of crazy smart NPCs. Tekko must be using some super advanced technology to create them. There was also the shadow everyone encountered when they first entered the tower. What was the point of putting players through that?
Michael hesitated and then nodded. “The messages from Victor Crown on those data keys also hint that there is more going on here than meets the eye. As the owner of the keys, you might have special insight. What do you think they mean?”
“I have no idea. At first, I thought he was just jerking us around, but now I’m really not so sure,” Ethan answered. “Victor runs Tekko, and I think it’s obvious they’ve put some questionable technology into this event. That’s a big risk to take for no reason.”
Kyle looked anxious. “You’re talking about technology that goes against the proscriptions.”
Michael glanced his way and frowned subtly, but he didn’t say anything. His face remained mostly neutral.
“Screw the government,” Jude announced bitterly. “They don’t care about anything but their money. They collude with the corporations to keep most of society’s riches to themselves.”
A startled expression appeared on Ethan’s face as he glanced her way. This was a surprise. Even in game, that was a brave thing to say, also stupid. They never knew who was listening. It also wasn’t what he’d expected from her. With all her preaching against selfishness, she sounded like a member of a harmony organization.
Jude saw Ethan’s reaction and huffed sourly. “What? You thought I was one of those harmony suck-ups?”
“You may have said some things that reminded me of them,” Ethan replied with a nervous shrug. He hadn’t expected her to confront him about this directly.
“Well, I did hang around with them in college for a while,” Jude explained reluctantly. “They said some of the right things, but it soon became obvious they were just unthinking tools of the system. I wanted to change things and actually help people. They were just pretending to care as a means to control people and keep things the same. The solution to every problem was the same, even more harmony. How stupid. It was pathetic how they claimed to be rebels and protesters as they took corporate and government money. Fraking puppets.”
“I just avoided them,” Ethan said. He felt like he had to say something. Was Jude an informant? Ethan wasn’t so sure now. This spy craft stuff was hard.
“Do you think we’ll get in trouble for playing this game and not reporting anything?” Kyle asked with obvious nervousness.
Michael finally spoke up. “No, I don’t think we have to worry about that. There are far too many people playing to punish them all, and all we have is speculation. None of us have seen proof of anything yet. The security bureaus can be harsh and indiscriminate, but they don’t arrest people on mass for suspicions—if for no other reason than the paperwork being atrocious.”
“That’s good to hear,” Kyle replied with obvious relief.
“So what do you honestly think about this city and the tech involved in making it?” Ethan asked the kid. Now that he was more relaxed, he may let something slip.
Kyle looked thoughtful. “Well, the occupants of this city can’t be real AIs that think for themselves like people. Back before the proscriptions, many people tried to do that, and they all failed. The AIs went mad. They are probably very advanced slave intelligences that simply mimic self-awareness through incredibly complex programming. It’s still very impressive though. It seems to me they must have used other slave intelligences to create all these ones, since there is no way programmers made each individual in this city.”
Lily was frowning as if she disagreed. “I’m not convinced that the occupants of this city are simple slave intelligences.”
“Then what are they?” Kyle asked as he gave her a curious look.
“All the old experimental AIs that went insane were true self-aware programs designed to be able to edit their own programming. What if the Aknii are simulations of people, software mimicking flesh, with all real people’s strengths and weaknesses. Since they aren’t even aware they’re programming and can’t edit themselves, the Aknii wouldn’t go insane like those AIs.”
Kyle looked surprised. “Theoretically, that might be possible, but it’s still pretty far out there. My explanation is much simpler and much more likely.”
“You sure know a lot about this stuff,” Jude remarked.
Lily just shrugged, but Kyle replied. “I play a lot of VR games, like a lot, and it helps to know the basics of how they are designed and work. I’ve always been fascinated by AIs and NPCs. As a gamer, the only reason I can compete with them is because they’re purposely limited. Artificial intelligences are far more capable than people.”
“Slave intelligences aren’t comparable with people,” Ethan interjected. “They’re just machines. It’s like saying a tractor is stronger than a person.”
“Yeah, you’re not wrong. True AIs would be different since they are self-aware, but they don’t exist,” Kyle said. He sounded more than a little disappointed.
Ethan had just learned some interesting facts about his teammates and some interesting theories about the tower, but those weren’t his real goals. The shadow’s appearance in the real still troubled him deeply.
“You haven’t given your own opinion. What do you think about the tower and the shadow?” Ethan asked Jude.
“I don’t know what to think. I’m not much of a computer person, so I don’t know exactly what technology is illegal or not,” she replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
Ethan grimaced. “Well, I know it’s super illegal to mess with people’s heads using their implant, and that’s without a doubt exactly what the shadow creature did.”
; “It would certainly be a huge violation of the proscriptions, but I don’t see how Tekko would benefit,” Michael remarked. “If they were going to influence people using illegal technology, I imagine they have the resources to alter your personality without you even knowing. Why would they mess around with a creepy shadow?”
“I don’t know, but they have definitely done something,” Ethan replied before hesitating for a second. “I could swear I saw the shadow when I was out in the real.”
“And you didn’t just imagine it?” Jude asked him in a skeptical tone.
“No, it was more than a glimpse. I could feel it, just like in the dark room. It was cold and hungry.”
Lily gave Ethan a concerned look. “I think I may have had a similar experience, although it only lasted a moment. I was depressed, but when I cleared my head and focused on getting things done, it disappeared. Try that if you see it again.”
“Um, sure. It couldn’t hurt I guess.”
“I’m sure you can beat anything if you really try,” Lily replied with a confident smile. Ethan couldn’t help but smile back at her.
“Or, maybe you should go to a hospital,” Kyle suggested dryly, which caused Jude to grin.
Michael shook his head. “I doubt any medical facilities would have the faintest clue about what to do about illegal technology that causes people to see evil shadows.”
“Then we need to climb the tower. Either we’ll find the answer in the game or we can ask Tekko after we win. They’ll have to answer our questions then,” Lily said.
Ethan wasn’t completely happy with her answer, but Lily had a good point, and no one had any better ideas. Thus, they all decided to move on and proceed with their explorations.
Worldshift- Virtual Revolution Page 20