Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (56 page)

“
Heh.”
Continue was fun and frustrating. Even this strange unorthodox way of
playing had value. It was a hobby that didn’t involve
self-torture. That last thought came out entirely too moody, I needed
some music.

I
fired up something with a swing to it and bobbed around my front
room. Moving hurt more than a normal day, but less than Carver's
standard fair. These exercise bracelets were doing a number on me. My
abs ached in places they wouldn’t normally care about.

“
ARC!”
I was in another room, but the device would hear me. There was a
repeater and projector in this room. Trillium employees had access to
all the neat toys.

“
Awaiting
Input.”

“
Fire
up some reviews of the EXR-Sevens. And the user’s manual,
whatever section that explains if I need to take them off or not.”

“
Searching.
Data retrieved. Displaying.” The projection ball in the top of
my front room took over one of the walls with an image.

“
Visual
only.” I cut off the ARC’s automatic playback of the
text. My music was more important. Reading and jiving at the same
time was second nature. Even if moving made me wince from sore
muscles.

According
to the information, my EXR-Sevens could just stay on. Trillium had
configured the things to recharge using wireless signals. That was
super neat, but not new. My watch operated on the same thing. Heck,
this technology had been in the works decades ago. The real kicker
was how EXR-Sevens measured biometric data for an entire body
adjustment program.

I
guess the ARC wasn’t merely a pretty box with games and porn.
No. This machine measured a person's current status, their responses,
and progressed differently for everyone. Some of the reviews went on
to suggest a superhuman software that would automatically adjust your
body over time. People hoped soon to plug in and be the hulk a few
years later with no effort required.

Turned
out the EXR-Seven wasn’t a cure all. The body needed a
resistance of some sort to build mass, but the bands succeeded at
burning calories and weight loss. Combine it with a diet and the jump
was still very good. It was a shame, but humanity hadn’t
invented a perfect method for body image. It was still a matter of
exercise right and eat clean.

Trillium
forced people to play physical programs of some sort to keep the
EXR-Seven functioning. According to the user's manual, they would
shut off if you slept all day or watched movies in the ARC. Not a
complete freebie, but still, useful. My niece Beth did manage to keep
herself in shape. I glanced over a couple of other advertisements and
even saw the official one from Trillium. It played like a late night
infomercial.

“
Before
EXR-Seven I was a complete butterball, now all the ladies want me!”
The vocals overrode my music and annoyed me. I waved at the mute
option and stared downward.

“
Soon.”
I patted my gut and gave a chuckle.

“
Bah.
Maybe I should eat better too.” Nonsense, food was good! Though
I bet there were programs that could offer me tasty alternatives at
my normal food stops.

An
alarm cut the music out.

“
Oh!”
I set the coffee cup into my sink and shuffled eagerly to the ARC.
Morning was approaching in Carver land! I had a full day of trying to
figure out penning memos with a quill.

Quickly
I washed my face and cleaned up a bit. This next haul inside Continue
would be at least four hours of real-world time or a day inside.
More, if this dungeon was a longer adventure.

Darkness
preceded my transition to William Carver's body.

“
Yo,
Grant Legate. Just the man I was hoping to see.” The words
sounded vaguely like every frat boy in existence from my college
years.

“
Mh?”
I spun, looked down at myself, back up, and back down in confusion.
Then my eyes traveled around the room. Finally, it dawned on me that
this was not William Carver's body, but my own.

“
Oh.
Here again.” This was the trial room, or Voice playground, or
space between. I would figure out a neat name one day.

“
You’re
the Traveler that’s taking care of my man Wild Willy.”

“
That’s
new.” One eyebrow went up. The voice was vaguely familiar. I
squinted into the blackness of this place trying to pick out which
Voice was talking.

“
Leeroy?”
I guessed.

“
In
the flesh.”

“
Or
not. I need a light.”

“
Oh.
Right. Humans.”

“
Let
there be light!” Leeroy, at least I think it was Leeroy,
shouted and darkness receded. The adjustment was interestingly
painless. Sure enough, the giant hulk of a man with his broadsword
stood nearby. Under him was the carcass of some great hairy beast.

“
Are
there races that can see in the dark?”

“
Vampires.
It’s sweet if you’re in to the whole blood sucking thing.
Good fighters when they’re not Travelers dressing up in drab
clothes. There’s two of them and they constantly try to out
whine each other. Can’t wait til we get some more.”

“
Oh.
There’s a Voice for vampires?”

“
There’s
a Voice for everything. We got one for talking Mushrooms. But you
mean Jean.” Maybe Leeroy was high on something. Maybe he was
prone to mood swings. Maybe he really was a college frat boy. The way
he talked about a woman so nonchalantly was amazing.

“
Jean?”

Leeroy
thumbed over his shoulder.

“
You’re
not really mah type, sugar.” Oh look, the woman with a robe of
red flowing liquid. The first time I had seen her was with a spinning
Jester. I shuddered for a moment in expectation but was thankfully
let down.

“
Vampire?”
I pointed at the fading image of a pale skinned brunette.

“
Of
a sort.” She smiled, waved, and faded out.

“
Are
all the women here so…”

“
Intense?
Negative.” Leeroy shrugged. “Got personalities. Initia’s
got a mouth on her. I’d follow her anywhere, greatest, plot,
ever.” Leeroy didn’t mean plot. Not with that twist on
his tone. Giant hands going up in the air to clutch at his chest was
also a giveaway.

“
So.
How can I help you Leeroy?” My tone switched to full customer
service mode. This wasn't a random interaction between people, this
had all the air of a business meeting. With a college going meat
head. There were worse clients.

“
My
man Wild Willy, you’re doing good by him.” He gave me an
exaggerated thumbs up and looked like he was a step away from
demanding a high five.

“
I’m
trying. It’s been hard.”

“
No
joke. Balance is a bitch. Got him all feebed.” Something swung
into being behind his head. A cross? No, something giant and wearing
heels while stomping downward. That was the biggest leg I had ever
seen. I flinched as it collided with the back of Leeroy’s form.

“
See!
You’re a total buzzkill! Now my man Grant Legate’s seen
it! I got a witness!” Leeroy was shaking his fist upwards
towards the sky. Thundering sounded in the distance.

“
You
too, Selena!”

I
felt keeping my playful commentary to a minimum was good. James
hadn’t shown up to defend me so he might be elsewhere. Plus
none of this had really been directed towards me. I got the feeling
Leeroy pissed more people off than he helped.

“
Did
you want to talk about William?” After all, Leeroy had
intercepted my login process. There had bee no interruption during my
last few returns to Continue. This space between was rare.

“
Yeah.
Wild Willy.”

“
Yeah,”
I said.

“
Anyway.
Tonight, I guess you’re doing this place, the whole Maze thing
right?”

“
That’s
the plan.”

“
Good,
good. Here’s the deal. You go in there, you’re in for a
trip. I and the others,” Leeroy thumbed to the blackness behind
him. “are doing what we can to make it epic. Failing epicosity,
it’ll catch my man Wild Willy right here.” He thumped his
chest and managed to look a bit sad.

“
So
he’s still alive.”

“
Course
he is. A few steps shy of being a vegetable, but he’s in there
with you.” Leeroy’s arm came across the gulf, impossibly
large and poked the side of my noggin. ”That last heart attack
turned him into a drooler.”

I
rubbed at my head while mourning my health bar's dip. A single,
half-hearted poke from this Voice had knocked off a quarter of my
game life.

“
I’ll
do my best.”

“
Good
man, good. It needs a human touch. We could play something out, but
it wouldn’t be the same. I, well me and the others, we like
what you’re doing for us.”

“
Thanks.”
This was strangely like talking to former bosses. There was an entire
catalog of thoughts going through my mind that couldn’t be said
out loud.

“
Anyway,
tonight, if you get through the maze at the end, it’ll be too
much for those plebs you picked up.” Leeroy frowned down at me.
The man was too big compared to normal sized folks.

“
This
place is that dangerous?”

“
It’s
not only for them. Not yet. This one’s for Wild Willy. We put
together something special like. Pulled a few strings to make it
work.”

“
Leeroy,
don’t give away too much, we need his actions to be as honest
as possible.” James appeared nearby with a slight frown. I
nodded and kept eye contact with Leeroy.

“
That’s
fine. I was going to do my best anyway.” Both my hands went up
in a gentle stop motion.

“
Don’t
be afraid in there, man. I know you’re not like Wild Willy, he
had the kind of stones that are rare in both worlds.” Leeroy
grasped at his genitals with one hand and jiggled them around.
“You’re gonna have to reach down deep.”

“
Okay.”
Now I was really unsure. I was trying to stick to this WWCD
mentality. Learning inside and out how the man performed.

“
Don’t
worry, Grant Legate. Everything will work out.” James said from
the side. Next to Leeroy the black man looked almost harmless. I did
remember that James had somehow gotten me tied up in webbing and
chased by giant spiders.