Wait? I only have 15 minutes left? Icewolf said I’d have almost a day to get used to the virtual world!
Based upon my data, you woke up with 2 hours, 17 minutes, 23 seconds, 34 milliseconds, 20 microseconds, 8 nanoseconds…
Stop. You don’t need to tell me that with precision to the nanosecond. If it won’t make any obvious change to my decisions or help me in some way, you don’t need to tell me observations or facts with that sort of detail.
All right.
Alan had figured out that Eve was, unfortunately and fortunately, a program, which meant he had to think commands precisely, defining things in such a way that she understood. It was like making macros in other games he’d played.
Wondering what had happened to all his time, Alan asked Eve, What should I expect when the countdown goes to zero?
Based upon the games I have played, you will be either teleported to a starting zone or a series of challenges will begin.
Challenges, right… which means I should get supplies.
Running over to the larger farmhouse, Alan tried opening the door.
Locked. No luck.
Alan sprinted over to the other house. The entrance was only a sliding glass screen door. Picking up a large rock from the garden, Alan threw it at the door with all his might.
The rock bounced off the door, creating a dent, but not shattering it like Alan had hoped. He looked at the clock. There were ten minutes left.
Then Eve pointed out, The door isn’t locked.
Alan was almost sure he could hear some derision in her voice, but that was impossible, she was just a machine. Although, exactly what a machine was capable of was quickly becoming unclear.
He ran up to the door. He tugged on it and it slid open.
Almost face palming, Alan entered, looking around. To his right was a small kitchen, while there were an open living room and dining table to his left. He could see a few closed doors down a short corridor.
Hoping to find a weapon, Alan ran into the other rooms, opening closets and bedside drawers. The only thing he found other than clothes, books, house supplies and board games was a dark green compound bow with arrows. He had no idea how to use the bow but figured it might come in handy.
As there was a minute left, Alan ran into the kitchen, picking up the largest knife he saw, a six-inch cutting knife.
When Alan tried opening the inventory button, there wasn’t a bag or slots where he could deposit items. Instead, a simple list of everything he was wearing and carrying appeared.
Figuring that there wasn’t a built in inventory system to store things like in most games, Alan grabbed a green backpack in one of the closets, putting the arrows he’d found in it, gripping the bow in one hand and the kitchen knife in the other.
Alan watched the countdown.
0:00:03…
0:00:02…
0:00:01…
Chapter 2
A message popped up in front of Alan, startling him a bit:
Welcome to the Game! As you logged in for the first time from Earth, the United World Government would like to give you a presentation before you begin the Tutorial.
Accept and proceed to US spaceport.
Decline and begin Tutorial.
Alan thought for a second, then motioned at the Accept button in front of him. Whatever the presentation was, it was probably important.
Nothing happened.
Accept, Alan sent, remembering Eve was responding to his thoughts.
He’d briefly considered enabling the ability to push buttons he saw with his hands, but figured it would probably lead to misclicks.
There was a slight disorientation, shortly followed by a sudden blinding light.
Alan closed his eyes. When he opened them he found himself standing in a cylindrical, mechanical tube, the glass in front of him sliding open.
Directly in front of him was a Caucasian male American soldier in full military gear, motioning him forward. As Alan stepped shakily out of the chamber, he looked to his left and right; he could see there was an entire row of the teleportation chambers, or whatever they were, with people stepping out into the open all around him.
As the soldier eyed Alan warily, Alan remembered the bow and knife he was holding in his hands.
“Wait, sorry, I thought there might be a survival challenge or something. So I grabbed what I found where I started when I logged in. Umm… do you have anything that might hold this knife? Actually, you can have it, and the bow and arrows.”
Alan thrust his hands forward, holding both the knife and bow out. It wasn’t like he was going to be able to do anything with them, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to go walking around carrying a kitchen knife. People would think he was crazy.
The soldier stared at him blankly for a second.
“Okay. Wait here for a moment, player.”
The soldier took the bow and knife, then started walking over to a small station of soldiers set up near the exit.
Alan glanced around, trying to get a better sense of his surroundings. It looked like they were in an airplane hangar of some sort, upwards of two hundred feet long and a hundred feet wide. There were maybe fifty chambers with players emerging out of them. In front of each chamber was a soldier holding an assault rifle. Everyone was being directed to the exit at the far end of the hangar.
Trying to see if he could spot anyone he recognized, Alan looked around at the emerging players. Most of them were muscular, with a no-nonsense gruffness, and wore a uniform representing the company that hired them. These were not the nerdy gamers Alan had been expecting. Alan felt rather out of place in his jeans and t-shirt.
The majority also carried guns. Maybe Alan should have held onto the knife.
Still, there were a few people casually dressed like Alan, as well as people in more colorful clothing.
A pair who passed by Alan stood out, a knight and wizard. The knight wore a full set of armor and carried a sword and shield. He made a few loud clinking noises as he walked by Alan. The wizard was wearing a blue robe and a blue pointy hat, both stylized with a few silver lines in a simple pattern, making wild gestures as he walked.
Alan heard a brief part of their conversation:
“… some random place in the countryside. I spent half the day trying to get used to this bloody armor. Did you know that plate mail can really ride up your…”
Then, Alan saw the soldier who had taken his knife and bow returning, carrying something in his hands.
The soldier walked up to him, handing over a knife in a sheath.
“Here player, put this in your pocket. It’s a basic combat knife, not even ranked, my CO thought it might be useful though. Now, please follow everyone else to the auditorium.”
“All right, thanks,” Alan said, pocketing the knife.
“Remember, stab them with the pointy end!” The soldier said in a joking manner.
Alan nodded, trying to smile in a friendly way. He didn’t want to piss off someone holding a fully automatic weapon.
Alan followed everyone else out of the hangar, still intimidated by all the weaponry being carried about. He had to walk through some sort of metal detector to exit the building. Nobody asked Alan to empty his pockets. In fact, almost no weapons were confiscated other than a few fragmentation grenades a mercenary had brought with them. Alan wondered what they were scanning for.
Emerging from the building, Alan saw that he was surrounded by at least twenty more hangars that had people streaming out of them. There were literally thousands of people heading towards a large white tent. Groups of soldiers of varying nationalities milled about, urging people that were lagging behind onwards.
Eve, where are we? Alan asked as he continued walking forwards.