“Good girl,” Karen broke eye contact to look back at Marysue. “Now we just jump through the hoops and then boom, back to Alpha World.”
“Yes,” the excitement in Fluff’s voice was plain, causing Karen to smile.
Chapter Three
Seamus smiled at David through the glass dividing them in the visiting room. “It’s good to see you David. How’s Kaylee doing?”
“She’s at home,” David replied with a strained smile. His face was creased with new lines from all the stress he had endured over the last year. “I was surprised at how fast your trial went.”
“I waived a lot of procedures to make things easier on the system,” Seamus replied. “Has Kaylee started catching back up on her school work? Has she drawn anything?” Seamus’ voice faltered as David’s smile vanished, replaced with a grimace of pain. “She hasn’t written back to me, David. Does she hate me?” Seamus finally asked after a moment of silence.
David looked down, shaking his head, his voice filled with grief, “She doesn’t hate you, Seamus. She would never hate you, you know that.”
“Then why doesn’t she write me?” Seamus’ voice cracked. “I just want to communicate with her. I killed the guy who hurt her, is she ashamed of me for doing that? Just tell me why?”
David got to his feet, tears streaming down his face, “I’m sorry, my friend. I can’t.” He fled the room leaving Seamus looking at the empty seat where his friend had just been.
“Why?” Seamus asked the air, his own tears falling.
Tears still fell from Seamus’s eyes, but now he was seated across from Victoria. She looked at him with concern. “Seamus, are you okay?” she asked, leaning forward in the chair across from him.
He scrubbed at his eyes as he choked back the remembered grief. His hands shook with anger and sorrow as he tried to control his own emotions. He hit the desk hard and hissed at the pain as he struggled to control himself. After a few minutes, he finally had control of himself again. “I don’t want to remember that again, okay, Vicky? That still hurts to recall. It was the second time he came to see me. He never came again.”
Victoria nodded, “I’m sorry for causing you pain today, Seamus. After all, today should be a happy one. Your guildmates are going to be joining you tomorrow.”
Seamus closed his eyes for a few moments as he finally got his mind centered. When he opened them again he had achieved a small bit of peace, “Yeah, it should be fun. I wonder how they’re doing with recruiting others?”
“Would you like to see?” Victoria asked.
“Can I?”
Victoria snapped her fingers and a series of screens appeared behind her on the wall. The view was two people setting t-shirts out on a couple of tables in a massive lobby. “There are the two early birds, Gerald and Marysue. The shirts look rather nice.”
“Yeah,” Seamus chuckled as he watched them. His eyes flickered to a new person who was crossing to the duo from an elevator. “Alvin?”
“Correct,” Victoria replied as she watched Seamus watch the screens. “You probably didn’t know that he’s been the public face of Alpha World since its earliest days. He still hates losing at chess, though.” The words held a hint of humor.
“So, you still play chess with him?” Seamus asked as he watched Gerald and Alvin talk.
“Every morning when he gets to work, and each night before he leaves. He refuses to give up. It is rather charming in a way.”
“Yeah, he always did hate it when he was out-maneuvered. Pretty much his only flaw that I knew of. How has he been?”
“Busy. He’s shouldered a lot of work over the last two years. He was one of the major driving forces behind Alpha World being released to the public.” Her voice held a touch of pride for her friend, “He has been very pleasant to work with.”
“Who’s the art director?” Seamus asked as he watched the next person show up a bit later.
“Why?” Victoria asked, her head canted to one side.
“I wonder who should be thanked for getting Fluff on board with the team.”
Victoria chuckled, “Ah, a married man asking about another woman. Luckily for you Stacia doesn’t feel jealousy.”
“Tell me about it. She keeps trying to get me to form a harem,” Seamus sighed. “She might be a little sex crazed, but I love her all the same.”
Victoria’s voice shifted, her tone becoming serious. “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
Seamus sat bolt upright, his eyes going to Victoria’s, “What?”
“Since the large-scale long term tests have gotten up and running faster than anticipated, some of the conditions of your participation will be changing. We won’t be getting together every month.” She looked away from him, radiating contrition.
“I’m being pulled from Alpha World?” Seamus felt his heart start to pound, fearful that he was going to lose another person he loved. In his mind’s eye, he saw Kaylee in the hospital bed, her face turned away from him. It shifted to Stacia on a bed crying alone over the fact he was gone.
Victoria stared into his eyes intently, watching his reactions, “No. Originally, you were to be removed from immersion once a month so that we could test your physical and mental condition over the course of long-term immersion. With the changes to our testing program, that is no longer necessary. You will still visit me any time the game servers are taken off-line, though.”
He released the breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding in a long exhalation. “You fucking scared me, Vicky,” Seamus said, looking away from her. “Why did you build it up like that?”
“I wanted to see how you reacted to the idea of a loved one being taken from you,” Victoria replied, a touch of remorse in her voice. “I do apologize, I am still gathering data on your mental condition.”
“Why do you always push me like this? Do you hate me or something?” Seamus asked after a moment of silence.
“No. I am fascinated by you, actually. Alvin told me about you shortly after your case hit the news. He followed the trial every day, even when he worked. He still feels bad about the way you were treated. We would talk about you every morning and evening when we played chess. You did something I can’t fully understand. Revenge is a powerful emotion that seems to be able to sway people more than most others.”
Seamus looked at the screens as more people began to trickle into the lobby. “Justice,” he said softly, “all I wanted was justice. I knew he wouldn’t get real justice, not with the system of laws we have in place, so I gave him the justice he deserved. Maybe I was wrong to do what I did, but I will not apologize for it and I would do it all over again.”
“Alvin made it possible for me to study the human psyche after we started talking about you. I took all the necessary courses to become a psychiatrist. I actually was able to get diplomas from a couple of universities, from online classes of course. When you were chosen for the preliminary long-term immersion test, it was decided that I would be your contact. And that brings us to here and now. Have you enjoyed Alpha World?”
“Vicky, it’s truly amazing” Seamus replied watching the screens. “It’s so lifelike. The AIs are able to emulate life to such a degree that it’s impossible to tell the difference. You guys could easily set up virtual worlds where life matters. A game world so real, it could surpass what we experience now. One character and only one life unless someone can resurrect you, where every player and NPC alike are constrained by the same rules. Make sure everything can be learned, which means a crafting system so people can just hammer iron all day if they want. Or maybe they want to weave a tapestry so poignant that it gets them elevated to a king’s court.”