Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (9 page)

“
So
Second Player will pick up nearly everything in-game. I tend to play
in a partial immersion mode so most of the extra stuff like Guild
chat and whispers are minimal.” She explained as one arm waved
around. Beth was flicking through screens and pressing options that
said off and on, though I didn't have enough time to read them all.

“
There
are guilds?” I asked. “And you can chat with them from
anywhere?”

“
Sure,”
She said.

“
That
seems to counter this realism claim.”

“
You
can play with everything off if you want, and guess at your stats and
health. There are all sorts of features. Pain levels, skill assists,
even uhhh…” My niece's voice drifted off.

“
What’s
uhh…” I joked.

“
Let’s
just say some of the features are very real, and more than slightly
adult.”

“
Say
no more. Uncle Grant can do without you explaining how real
interpersonal actions can get.” Never did I want to deal with
that sort of issue. I remember when my sister had called me up and
nearly broke down trying to handle it. Skinned knees and school
projects were child’s play compared to the sex talk.

“
Some
guys are, uhh…”

“
Beth.”
I really didn't want to hear her go on about this particular subject.

“
Sorry.”
She apologized.

“
Even
if I wanted to do that sort of thing,” and I hadn’t tried
more than once since my fiancée “I wouldn’t look
for it in a game. So that aspect doesn’t interest me.”

“
Alright.
I only mention it because some players dress really provocatively.”

“
Why,
Beth, I’m proud that you know such a complex word,” I
said.

She
laughed. I smiled. We were back on comfortable ground. It made sense
why she tried to warn me, though. If everything was as high in
realism like her character in the mirror then that aspect would
certainly have a lot of attention. Not only among teenage males. I
tried to keep my sigh quiet.

“
I’ll
head in. I think I left myself on autopilot in the city.”

“
Auto
what it?”

Beth
had wandered over to the Continue Online game. She picked up the book
sized representation from its shelf and tossed it at a wall which
activated the software. What had once been a smooth piece of digital
plaster was now a doorway. That was actually a lot more interesting
looking than how I loaded my simple dance program.

“
Autopilot.
It’s a log off feature. It allows your character to keep
interacting with Arcadia while you’re out.”

“
Why
would that matter?” I asked.

“
You
get little bonuses, reputation, plus for people who have school, like
me, or work, like you, we can’t be online all day every day.
Though some people are crazy about it. You get more points personally
than autopilot will give you.” She said all that as if talking
to herself while in a virtual world. Sometimes the ARC device made
things seem really odd.

“
That’s
new,” I said.

“
Yep!”
She put up one hand on the doorway and pressed heavily into the wall.
“Display in-game.” The side of the wall lit up and showed
a small character sitting on a park bench. It wore the same clothes
Beth had on now. Beth on the bench held a series of strings being
woven together.

“
Huh?”

“
The
computer AI will try to get your avatar to a neutral point once
you’re logged into the Atrium. That way there’s not any
confusion.” My niece answered.

That
didn’t clear up my confusion. I made a few noises and kept
watching. This was a wealth of information that wasn’t on any
website I had seen. Experiencing it first hand, Second Headset, was
useful. Even if I didn’t get a copy of Continue Online from
work, I might pick up a copy later.

“
Ready?”

“
Sure.
This stuff is useful, but I haven’t seen the actual game.”
I said.

“
Right.”
She leapt through the doorway and the ground fell away. Below, a
globe similar to Earth rapidly approached.

“
Whoa.
Whoa. WOOooooh.” I did not like the free fall feeling. My heart
rate sped up. Both hands clenched in panic and tried to reassure
myself that the bedroom floor was still present.

“
Gets
you racing doesn’t it?” Beth yelled against the wind,
miles up as the ground grew closer and closer.

“
Don’t
panic!” Images of impending doom drove across my brain. Choices
ranged from burning up in the atmosphere, landing and becoming a pile
of mush, or a belly flop to end all belly flops. We got closer. Beth
was looking around for me, adjusting the in game vision. She looked
over to the ocean.

“
Look
at that! You see it?” She shouted. The wind whipped by and
ruffled her clothes. “I keep telling my friends there’s
something in the water out there! It’s huge!”

Her
vision was over a giant ocean in between continents. For a moment, it
looked like giant waves surged out of nowhere. A portion of water was
darker than the others and almost seemed to crawl.

“
That’s…”

“
It’s
awesome! I’ll get the skills to go out there before the end of
college!” She shouted with a confidence only teenagers could
feel.

I
was going to say frightening.

“
Look
up there!”

Beth
flipped around in the falling air while I was busy watching the
approaching ground out of the game's peripherals. She seemed
oblivious to my fears of falling from such a height.

“
Is
that?” I honed in on the giant object floating up above.

“
A
moon? Yep! Like the colonies! I bet we can explore it too! There’s
an entire guild dedicated to reaching it!” That was admittedly
neater than a giant whatever that was in the ocean.

“
Does
it always take this long to get into the game?” I took a few
deep breaths to steady myself. There was carpet beneath my fingers
and dresser in the way of my feet. At least that's what I felt.
Visually everything felt insane with Beth's dive from the heavens.

“
Nope!
We’re doing a longer log in for you!” She shouted. The
air changed. Sounds were different. Beth stayed laying backwards and
refused to turn around. I actually liked the moon, it was far more
calming than an approaching planet.

“
Can
you do this every time?” A moon without buildings on it seemed
almost innocent. It reminded me of childhood. I had taken the natural
moon for granted.

“
Yep!
Well, I can, it's from a trait!” Her shouts were muffled by the
wind.

I
might be sold already.

“
Landddinnnggg!”
The last drop felt like hitting the softest, fluffiest bed ever
known. Beth’s blinking caused pauses in our visual connection.
I blinked a few times myself and took steadying breaths.
“Huh.
Rope.” She said.

Multiple
messages popped into view. Beth looked at them one by one. Status
updates on her time in autopilot.

Losses Resource: 7 Gold, 8 Silver, 54 Copper

“
What
the?” These messages were very out of place. Floating like a
modern hologram in a fantasy world. I knew it was fantasy because of
the commercial and few videos online. If that wasn’t a clue,
the tip of a sword on Beth’s waist or people walking around old
houses on cobblestone roads might be a clue.

“
Sorry,
they’re basic looking compared to everything else. I can’t
keep the game world separate without something obvious.” My
niece said.

I
nodded. The rest of the world was so visually stunning that these
notification windows felt out of place. Almost like laughing in the
face of realism.

“
There’s
other interface methods. One of my friends from high school has all
of his pop up on a scroll he carries around. He’s super into
the realism aspect and pretends he can only look at his stats once a
week.” Beth was chewing at a lip. It was the same action my
sister and I performed.

“
That’s…”

“
Neat?
You always say neat.” She responded.

“
If
you say so, munchkin.” My tone sounded resigned. Neat was a
word that came out of me a lot.

“
Uncle
Grant…”

“
What
else is there? Are those event notices? Like you did something while
offline?” I asked.

“
Yeah.
The autopilot records what kind of player you are and acts
accordingly. Here’s a funny one.” Beth swung our combined
vision over to one of the notices floating nearby.

“
Beth.”
I tried not to sound too worried at what had been displayed. Funny
wasn’t the right word to describe those words.

“
Son
of a bitch!” She swore as if remembering something.

“
Should
we talk about that event notice?”

“
What?
No, I missed the choir recital. It’s not that serious. I could
have gained a lot of points towards my singing abilities.”
There had been a skills window and another one with points going
towards various character statistics. I barely saw an [Endurance]
bonus go up little before she shoved it away.