Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (35 page)

“
Angry?”
I volunteered.

“
Voices,
yes.” Peg managed to walk over to the rack and snag a weapon
for me while never taking her eye off the new student. There was a
reason she ran this place.

“
She’s
got no style. No coordination.”

“
Lots
of energy.” I said.

“
For
now. Wait until I start putting her through the basic course. She’ll
either run screaming back to you for a new life choice, or be ready
to move on.” Peg spit on the ground in disgust.

“
She
may go home.” And never log into Continue again.

“
I
doubt it. Some vanish for a few days, weeks even, but eventually I
see them all again.”

“
This
world has much to offer that theirs doesn’t.”

“
Like
what? Maybe you can explain it in a better way than they do. Voices
above, the stuff they talk about sounds like a dream.”

“
Remind
me how to swing this first.”

“
Fine.
Voices know you shouldn’t need a reminder. You taught my
brother.” Both hands uncrossed and went to her hips. Peg's head
tilted as she studied my old form top to bottom.

“
Humor
me.”

“
Alright.
Your balance is still solid, how are your hips?” She stared at
them.

“
Women
keep asking me about my hips.” I managed to keep a passive
face.

“
Them’s
the breaks of a retired hero.” Peg laughed happily. “More
than one lady lifted her skirt in hopes of birthing a legend.”

“
Even
you, Peg?”

“
Voices
no, I hold a 'look but don’t touch' policy most days. I’ve
seen them all at the start. Half of them show up in our world with a
spare head up their asses. Can’t get that image out of my
head.”

I
laughed and held the much lighter sword.

“
There.
You haven’t completely lost the touch. Your balance is a bit
different than what I remember. I imagine age is catching up with
you.”

“
And
my hips.” No points lost there either. Was Carver a witty
person? Or was my progress bar in limbo while my attempted change of
pace was judged by the Voices?

“
Everything
starts from the core. Hips go, everything goes.” Peg said. Her
arms were lifting mine a bit higher and adjusting the swords tip.

“
Swing
again.”

I
did, trying to get everything in concert.

“
Rusty,
but better than I expected. Again.”

So
it went for another ten whacks against the target dummy. What little
practice I had resulted from my time in the room of trials. There was
no moment in my past where I had secretly taken a martial art or
joined a kendo team. I knew nothing about weapons beyond what
television and video games had shown me.

Peg
kept adjusting my movements a tiny bit here and there. She stood near
the dummy and told me what to aim for, which way to swing the blade.
If my actions were odd to her, she was kind enough not to mention it.

“
What’s
this, the blind leading the blind?”

“
Voices,”
Peg said that word a lot. Maybe it was the closest she allowed
herself to a real curse word.

“
William
has forgotten more about being a hero than you’ll ever be able
to reach with your attitude.”

“
Then
what’s he doing there? If he’s so great.” The new
player was digging her staff into the dirt. Twisting it back and
forth as small curls of earth were displaced by force.

“
He’s
more than…”

“
Don’t
answer her, Peg.” I cut the instructor off. “She hasn’t
earned it.”

“
Earned?
Who are you to say if I’ve earned something or not?”

“
Who
am I?” I was winded and needed to set down the new sword
anyway. “Who are you? You show up in this world and start
demanding like you’re something here.”

“
Shut
up, you old geezer.”

“
Well
played. An insult for a question. Peg, why don’t you show her
the proper way to beat up a straw man.”

“
Let’s
do that! Will you be okay, William?”

“
I’ll
pace myself, Peg.” My head dipped in a slow nod and both eyes
stayed on the sword's tip.

I
had to give points to Peg. She managed to herd off the new player
with the skills of an expert. The instructor shouted, taunted, and
called the other woman a failure who wouldn’t be able to defend
herself. That set the player into fits. Her fury was vented upon the
straw figure. There we sat, each of us hitting different dummies. I
kept a vague eye towards my progress bar, which hadn’t changed
one way or the other over the last thirty minutes.

Peg
switched between us for another hour while ‘reminding’ me
how to move and stand. Old Man Carver's body could take maybe five
minutes of weak standing mixed with occasional strikes. Waiting for
my stamina to refill took another four minutes which I spent watching
the new player or talking to Peg. Two apple-like fruits were enough
to refill the old man's satiety bar.

It
felt weird to go from real life, where I worked on ARCs and was
driven around in a van, to this much slower existence. With all the
information pop-ups and reviews, there was still an excessive amount
of downtime. The time compression made everything feel like living
really long weekends.

I
enjoyed my situation, though. When not thinking about the ghost in
the machine that acted like my fiancée or James' actions. The
large black Voice hadn’t crossed my mind recently. I had no
idea how to contact him unless he had a statue somewhere like Selena
did.

Saying
inappropriate things at a lifelike carving was very attention
getting. I’m glad the real world didn’t work that way.
Imagining rows of people in pews getting
[Divine Attention]
for each prayer made me smile.

William's
arms weren’t going to last much longer, even with resting. It
felt good. She gave instructions, tips, and ideas on where to swing.
Even under the guise of a refresher, it had given me a lot to think
about. Maybe I would download one of those ARC combat programs. The
additional help couldn’t hurt and would make me feel less like
a complete newbie.

After
I started the game as myself and could build real skills. William
Carver's skills were locked as is. Honestly, my sad performance
should be dragging down his ratings.

“
How
can you keep swinging like that? How? I’m exhausted.”

“
Practice,”
I said calmly.

“
Yeah
right. I bet you were designed that way.” She even managed to
work past her cotton mouth to spit on the ground in disgust. Then she
looked kind of pleased.

“
Happy?”

“
I’ve
never done that before.” There was a faint sense of wonder in
her tone. Down went my practice sword yet again.

“
That’s
the point, isn’t it? Here you can learn and do new things. Yet,
you belittle everyone who might help.” I intended to take
advantage of it myself. Sitting on a bench for another three weeks
would be dreadfully boring.

“
You
have no right to talk to me like that.”

“
You
came to our world, Traveler.” Everyone thought William Carver
was an NPC, I had to act like one. Words like ARC, or Continue, or
other real world concepts would blow his cover.

“
You’re
a program. Why can’t you give me what I want? It’d be so
much quicker.”

“
Are
things so simple in your world? Do you survive without trading for
anything?” My question, of course, was clearly a trap. People
had to work for money, spend money to gain things. Continue Online
and its entire world was much the same.

“
My
husband works if that’s what you’re asking.”

“
Then
you understand, food costs coin, services cost coin or a trade. We
can’t give you what you want without an exchange or the whole
system would fall apart.” I sighed. It took me a bit to adapt
myself. Continue's world was extremely realistic regarding give and
take.

Pop-up
boxes with information had been the only item between me and complete
immersion. Maybe I would turn them off some days to feel like I was
on a vacation. The beach here was one step away from Waikiki in
Hawaii, at least the way the beach used to be decades ago.

“
If
you want skills, you have to learn them. Peg is one of the best
nearby in showing Travelers like you the basics.” I stumbled
back to the weapon rack and put the light sword back. One shoulder
had started throbbing more than usual. Bending over to pick up the
cane was nearly impossible.

“
Why
does that matter?” The wide hipped woman said.

“
Why
are you here? If you don’t want to fight, don’t. Learn a
trade, or don’t.”

“
You’re
not making sense. You shouldn’t be demanding that I learn
something.”

“
Then
don’t.”

“
You
don’t care?” Her voice tilted up and the staff in her
hand shook from her budding anger.

“
Nope.”
Carver’s synchronization bar dropped a few points on that one.
William did care about new players. “Let’s just say that
neither I, nor any of the other people here, will force you to do
much of anything.” There, I recovered a point and managed to
use the word nor in a real sentence.

“
That
doesn’t make sense.”

“
You
chose to come here. Now figure out what you want from us, and what
you’re willing to pay to learn. Nearly everyone is willing to
help you if you earn it.”

“
I
thought quests were a simple go here, do this. Every other game I’ve
played is like that, starter zones are a basic area to learn the
ropes. Things should be easy.” The new player sounded so
flustered. She wasn’t the first either.

“
But
you’re all making this too hard.” Then she asked the same
question that had been plaguing me since the first moment I had
opened the gift wrapped package in my Atrium.

“
What
kind of game is this?”

“
It’s
no game. To us, it’s very real and very serious.” I
repeated James’ words in the trial room a week ago. Over a week
in-game I had become more invested than expected. I wasn’t even
surprised to see my progress jump up five percent.