The Gam3

As Alan got out of the van he could barely contain his excitement. Today was the day.

He’d finally get a chance to play the Game!

It seemed like such a sudden turn of events. Just a month ago he'd been a college sophomore living on ramen but now he was moments from playing an intergalactic video game that spanned the entire universe.

It had all started when the aliens “invaded” around six months ago. Unlike what most people were expecting, they hadn’t killed everyone off or taken over the planet, in fact, all they did was arrange some trade agreements and treaties or something like that with the leaders of the various governments on earth. They had even played a public service announcement on all major TV stations/the internet explaining what was happening and how everything was going to go from there.

It went along the lines of you are not alone, we come in peace, in fact the whole universe is peaceful. You know that whole evolution thing? Well, it turns out that actually humans evolved from the fallout of some huge intergalactic war in the past, meaning a lot of planets are covered in humanoids because they were placed there by “asteroids” which were actually planned bio weapons that would ensure humanoids would evolve on the planet. Humanoids were the result of one side of the war, meant to be soldiers as the war went on. Or something like that.

Alan had fast forwarded through the online announcement, reading synopses online. It was something like fifteen hours long, boring narration that no one could really confirm or deny as being true.

Anyways, with the coming of the aliens and whatnot, technology had rapidly outpaced anything humans could really match. The computer science degree that Alan had been pursuing? Useless.

It turned out that there were artificial intelligence programs that could program much faster and more efficiently than any human. They could also do pretty much any other white collar job.

That sort of flipped things on their head. Suddenly, it was the physical laborers, blue collar workers that were less likely to be replaced, since an actual physical robot to do work was more expensive than just paying some laborer. Software and everything that was or could be automated was soon developed and implemented by these machine intelligences, creating a large problem with the labor markets and how society was running as a whole.

As a result of all this, the world was quickly turning into a different place. That didn’t really matter to Alan though, that was all in the back of his mind. What mattered to him was the Game. When his school had shut down for a semester to reevaluate their curriculum in the light of “new circumstances” Alan could care less. It just gave him more free time.

When he returned home and his parents demanded he find a job however, he started caring a bit more. When, after a bit of research, he discovered that the fastest growing, best paying, most sought after job was playing a virtual reality massively multiplayer online game his mind almost exploded. (Whatever the aliens “online” was.)

Alan supposed he should have paid a bit more attention to the news, yet he had been highly engrossed in a few projects that had arisen from the new alien technology. He’d been actively involved in a new role playing game that literally evolved as you progressed with a never ending storyline as well as developing his own AI that would play games for him, maybe even the Game.

The Game, as it was called, was apparently a big deal to every sentient race within the universe. The three major powers that were trading with earth, the Blues, the Empire and the Republic, as they were nicknamed on the internet, all sold goods and traded for the game’s online currency, credits. In fact, credits were their preferred currency, the only currency some traders would accept.

As a result, it seemed as though every major company, government and group with any sort of power on earth had quickly started hiring gamers, people who would play the Game professionally and give part of their dividends to their employers. Even the various government and private militaries were actively recruiting masses of people to play the Game. Alan assumed this was to pay for more expensive weapons or some other alien technology.

All of this had been like a dream come true for Alan, who had been an avid gamer since he’d received his first console. The only problem was that in order to play the game you needed a gaming capsule, which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase, thousands more in monthly upkeep, and required some sort of advanced internet connection. Hence, the only way for most people to play was get hired by a company or government, as individuals couldn't afford to purchase and set up the gaming pods.

As a result, millions were applying for these gaming positions. Alan had just been one more applicant, with just a shred of hope to be chosen. But here he was, about to start his own adventure.

Alan shivered a bit, it was cold out despite it being in the middle of May. Of course, he might also be cold because he was only wearing a simple Pac-man t-shirt and blue jeans. It had been in the 70's in LA, where he'd just flown in from.

Alan looked around, absolutely giddy with excitement. Surrounding him were the hills of San Francisco, the hustle and bustle of the city.  Before him was the building that he would be staying in for at least the next month, a giant, steel cube structure that looked like a large apartment complex.

It was of modern design, which meant it was influenced by aliens, with smooth, grey edges and a metallic look.

A middle aged Asian man, one of three men standing in front of the building walked up to Alan. They all wore grey uniforms with the Omnitech Industries logo, a giant steel pylon getting struck by lightning amidst a light grey background.

“Greetings, sir, my name is Kevin. Are you part of the new initiates? Could you please give me your name and a form of ID?”

A bit startled at being called sir, Alan nodded, and handed over his driving license, replying, “Uh, yeah! I’m Alan Greyling.”

Kevin nodded as he checked the name on a handheld device that looked similar to a Smartphone. The aliens may possess technology light-years ahead of everyone else, but in the 6-month period since they’d arrived human technology hadn’t changed shape too much.

Kevin waved over one of his colleagues, asking him to help him take all of Alan’s belongings up to his room. They began to unload the van. Instead of packing a number of clothes or everyday items like you might expect, the items that took up a large portion of the van were a number of computer hardware devices.

“So then, I take it this is your AI then,” Kevin said.

“Yup, built her myself. Honestly, Eve there is the reason I made it here,” Alan responded, nodding at all the pieces as they were loaded onto two different dollies. He still felt a bit strange thinking of the AI he’d built as a her, yet she could easily pass the Turing test, much to his surprise.

“Oh, and how’s that?”

“Well, honestly I had no idea Icewolf was working here or was so successful until Eve found out for me. I asked Eve to try to find a company that might hire me as a Gamer, and she directed me to him. I used to raid with him in an old MMORPG, we were guild mates, I was actually one of the top ranking DPS.”

“Ah, I see. Yes, from what I know Icewolf is quite successful within the Game. I see now, you’re his ward, then. You don’t match the typical Omnitech gamer profile. Now, if you’ll follow me, we’ll take you to your capsule room.”

Wondering what Kevin meant by typical profile, Alan followed him as they entered the building. The reception room matched a high class hotel, albeit more secure. Within, the building had the same modern, metallic look as outside, with metal and dark leather furnishing. The reception desk doubled as a security desk, and Alan got a bunch of forms to fill out. Mostly health waivers or something it seemed.

As they checked him in, he looked at the few other people sitting on black leather couches in the lobby area. It was clear they were all in shape, and they all had serious looks in their eyes.

When Alan met one person’s eyes, they nodded at him, then went back to… staring at the entrance? Also, was one of their eyes mechanical?

They were all dressed in the same light grey Omnitech jumpsuits. Everyone looked like they were serious athletes rather than the nerdy gamers Alan had been expecting. Alan felt rather out of place in jeans and a t-shirt.

Once he had signed a few more forms, Alan was given a keycard. Kevin guided him through a security checkpoint, which separated the lobby from the rest of the building. Alan was asked to state his name aloud, then go through some sort of metal detector, although Alan wasn’t asked to remove his watch or phone or anything, which he thought was strange. Kevin just told him it was alien technology.

After all of the hardware that made up Eve had been scanned as well, and they had everything through the checkpoint, Kevin offered a tour of the building.

“Actually, if we could just go straight to my room, that would be great. I’d like to get everything set up.”

Alan could still barely contain his excitement, he was wondering what virtual reality would be like. He wanted to play the Game more than anything else.

“Very well,” Kevin said as they entered the elevator, pressing a button for the 30th floor, the penthouse suite. “I’ll just give you a brief overview then. There are a state of the art gym, kitchen and medical facility, accompanied by a chef and doctor. The medical facility which is in the basement consists of a few alien contraptions, which I've been assured can heal nearly any ailment.

Fortunately they have not needed to be used yet, but rest assured we’re prepared. The gym is also in the basement, while the kitchen and laundry facilities are on the fifteenth floor. As you’ll be in the penthouse suite, you have your own kitchen. You will share the room with Icewolf, as well as four others. One of them is also starting today, I believe.”

Alan thanked Kevin as he watched the floor number rise. A few seconds later, and he’d finally see the game capsule he’d spend the next month he’d be in. Omnitech had let him know in the general introduction email that the tutorial would take a month, although it would only be a week real time.

That was the other thing, the Game also literally gave you more time, as each second that passed in the Game was actually only about a quarter of a second in real life. Where some people might be a bit hesitant to spend a week in a machine that would have complete control of their bodies, Alan was giddy with excitement.

When the doors finally opened, Alan entered the sort of penthouse suite that he imagined a Bond villain or rich executive to own. Before him was a grey wall that split off in two directions, with large clear glass windows on either end showing off a spectacular view of the city.

As he rounded the right corner, the space opened up into one large room that took up the entire top floor of the building, with a kitchen in one corner, two capsules on either side of the room, and one larger capsule on the opposite side of a large column in the center. The column was adorned with a series of computer monitors and screens displaying various bits of information and online news outlets, including what looked like an alien one. At least, it wasn't any language Alan recognized.

Everything was immaculately clean, and there were a few paintings along the walls, some of which Alan was pretty sure he’d seen before. Which was saying something, since Alan knew next to nothing about art.

There were two people in the room, a lean gaunt looking middle-aged Caucasian man on a computer with sandy brown hair and clear blue eyes and a pretty Asian girl that looked to be about Alan’s age sitting on a black couch, texting someone on her cell phone. The former was Icewolf, who was wearing the same light grey jumpsuit as the people in the lobby had been wearing. Unlike them, however, his had some sort of insignia upon it, a spaceship of some sort.

Alan almost hadn't recognized Icewolf at first, as it appeared he’d lost quite a bit of weight and become quite fit in the two or so years since Alan had last seen a picture of him. He was looking a bit haggard, however. The girl was wearing some sort of dark navy blue robe that looked to Alan like some sort of martial arts robe. Alan thought it might be called a hakama, or something like that, but that was just what he remembered from watching too much anime. To his surprise, there was also a long sheathed sword next to her.

As Alan entered the room, Icewolf looked up, and with a feral grin, leapt up out of his chair and swept Alan into a hug, seemingly quite healthy unlike his appearance. He was definitely quite strong, and Alan weakly hugged him back, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Alan did have slight personal space issues, and wasn't totally comfortable hugging his parents, let alone someone he’d only known online. Come to think of it though, he was pretty sure he’d told Icewolf about this at one point or another.

“Hey, Adampwnage, nice to see ya in the flesh! How are you doing? Was the trip alright? Everything seem up to your standards?”

“Hi, Icewolf. Yeah, everything was great, this place is amazing! Also, um, just call me Alan. Adampwnage was just the stupid username I thought would be cool in high school, going by Adam instead of Alan because my mom didn't want me using my real name.”

Although, if he was being honest, Alan still did have some degree of attachment to the username, and it may have been why he named his AI Eve. After all, couldn't AI’s be the temptation to humanity that lead them to their doom? Humans had begun to put AI’s in charge of almost everything in society after the code for a basic, learning AI was leaked by some student researcher. That had been how Alan had been able to start developing Eve, as well.

“Alright, well then, Alan, this here is Kitana, who is also starting the Game today.”

She looked up at Alan, said hello and nodded, then went back to her phone. Alan nodded back feebly.

Icewolf started updating Alan with how his life had been going. He was still happily married  to Trinity, who Alan had introduced Icewolf to in the MMO they were playing. This was probably a large part of why Icewolf was helping Alan so much. As they were talking, Kevin and the other worker brought all of Alan’s belongings next to the large capsule in the middle of the room, on the opposite side of the column, unloading the various boxes.

“Wait, is that capsule mine?” Alan asked, as he rounded the concrete column at the center of the room to examine the capsule more closely.

It was a smooth metallic grey oval about 10 feet long resting on a large black, rectangular… docking bay, like for a phone, just much larger. Attached to the docking bay were all sorts of wires and tubes, some of which were nearly an inch in diameter that lead into the walls and floor, off to who knows where.

The Capsule also looked different from the others, as it was slightly larger, a darker shade of grey and had some sort of black box attachment that the others didn't, although one of the other capsules was a metallic navy blue, rather than grey. The black box was attached to some sort of miniature satellite dish, as well as to all of the screens at the center of the room, and had a series of Ethernet cords running off of it. All in all, the capsule reminded Alan of a sensory deprivation tank more than anything else.

“Yup, it’s brand new, just came off of a Blue’s spaceship a week or two ago. Got it for a steal. You probably notice that it looks a bit different than the others. Well, as you mentioned to me the AI you’d made and how useful it was, I reckoned you’d be using it in game. This version of a capsule is apparently especially meant for people who are planning on using AI assistance within the game, as least according to the Haxlard I spoke with.”

The Haxlards were the Blues, an alien species that like their name suggested had a blue skin tone. Otherwise, they were humanoid, and looked vaguely human, at least their arms and skin did. They all wore headgear of some sort, masking their heads. They were on average taller and didn't have any hair. They had an empire of some sorts, consisting of around 50 planets that contained life. Earth, apparently, was within the sphere of space that they controlled.

“Alright, cool! Although, will this cost more?” Alan asked nervously.

“Just a bit more, around 10 million dollars-“

“10 MILLION dollars!?” Alan exclaimed.

Icewolf just grinned, and said, “Don’t worry about it. If you do well in the game, you’ll make that much within a year of in-game time easily. You’re my ward, remember? And like I told you, you won’t be beholden to Omnitech or any other company, you’ll just need to pay off your debt to me, 10% of whatever you earn after the tutorial, until you pay me back.

Even the worst gamers are making tens of thousands of dollars a month. And I have a feeling you’ll be one of the better ones. Also, if it turns out you suck and never fully pay me back, don’t sweat it, I’m actually quite rich now and can absorb the loss. Think of it as an investment, by me.”

“Except, 10 million dollars? I thought a basic capsule only cost a few hundred thousand dollars…” Alan responded.

“Hey, like I said, its brand new, and specifically tailored for certain styles of play. It’s a rank B capsule! You know the AI in charge of the entirety of the US military is only rank B, right? And we only got that by selling a ton of resources.”

“Uh, rank B?” Alan asked.

“What? Didn't you read the manual I had sent you?” Icewolf asked questioningly as he scratched his head.

“Well, I had Eve read it fully, I just sort of browsed and read the parts that were interesting…” Alan admitted. “Like, it was over 2000 pages long and read like a textbook. I figured the tutorial would cover all of it, and more. It is like a month long, right?”

Icewolf grimaced, and said, “Not exactly… Look I can’t talk about the tutorial now, but I guess it should be okay if your AI has it all. Anyways, about ranks. You’d know if you read the manual that the Game simply uses ranks instead of levels most of the time, the lowest rank being G, then F, E, D and so forth. The highest rank that I’m aware of is S, a rank above A. You will be given a rank after the tutorial, and every skill and item has a rank. The Game’s ranking system is so handy that real life items are ranked according to the same system, like capsules or spaceships get ranks."

"After the rank, there will be a number, from around two billion to one. As you get stronger or the equipment is improved, that number will decrease, until you eventually rank up. A lower number is better than a higher one. If you neglect a skill or an item’s durability drops, that number can and will increase, although I've never heard of something lowering an entire rank due to inattention."

"Now, as I just said the lowest rank is G, however honestly G is just slightly above average, and things can just be unranked. For example, in terms of strength, your average human would be unranked, someone that works out semi-regularly would probably be in the low G rank, and an Olympic weight lifter would be mid E rank, maybe.”

“Wait, really, that low?” Alan asked.

“Yup, there are some pretty crazy, over powered species, items and abilities within the Game. But don’t worry, there are ways of becoming just as strong as almost anything else. So, like I was saying, this capsule here is B rank. It’s probably one of the best capsules in the nation, and trust me when I say that will give you an edge.” Icewolf responded.

“Okay, now it’s starting to sound too good to be true…” Alan said doubtfully.

“Don’t worry, it was through a connection that I had. It seemed like the captain wanted to sell it on this planet, and I don’t think there were any other buyers. When I said I got it for a bargain, I meant it, the original price was hundreds of millions. He probably tried various militaries at first, but got turned down.” Icewolf answered, assuring Alan.

“Alright, well then, thanks a lot! I guess I should probably set up Eve then so she can be transferred over. I did read through that portion of the manual.” Alan said.

Icewolf nodded, and then went back to his desk. “Let me know if you need any help,” he glanced down at his watch, “You’ll be allowed to start playing the game in a few more hours, let me know if you need any help. You should also handle whatever real life stuff you need to, since you’ll be in the Game for the next week.”

Alan thanked Icewolf again, then set about putting Eve back together. Eve was really the program on the computer that he was setting up, but he still thought of the computer as Eve now, since she controlled everything once he turned the computer on. He’d ended up using a bunch of linked together hard drives and CPU’s to try to accommodate Eve’s growing need for memory to properly function.

Botnets, Alan had decided, weren’t the answer, as they were illegal and increasingly found and shut down due to new technology. Although, to be honest he didn't really know anything about them either. He'd gone on a few seedy websites and IRC channels, before the aliens had invaded, but never actively done anything illegal online other than maybe pirating a few games and movies.

New technology had allowed Alan to find petabyte hard drives and terabyte RAM disks cheaply, as well as motherboards that could hand multiple hard drives and CPU’s. (If you considered a few thousand dollars cheap.) He’d mostly set everything up by looking it up online, and wasn’t even sure everything had been working properly in his room, but Eve had run, which was good enough for him. Sure, he’d spent most of his savings from his summer jobs, but he also had a hopefully bad ass AI.

Eve had been created to play video games, specifically a real time strategy game that Alan had been particularly invested in. As soon as he learned about the AI program that the aliens used, Alan knew he wanted an AI of his own. Sort of like a pet, just better, since it could actually be useful. The AI program allowed you to “teach” a basic AI about whatever you wanted, although as it grew it would require more and more memory.

Alan had introduced Eve to basic games, then had gradually moved on to games of increasing difficulty. Some, which were just timing, had been trivial for Eve, but others that required strategy were harder to teach. Eventually Alan had just left Eve on 24/7 playing tons of different games, leaving her to figure out how to win. It seemed like it had worked out well, as far as Alan could tell. Now, if he gave Eve a goal, she’d figure out a way to quickly and efficiently solve the problem, like the problem was in a game.

Unfortunately, she tended to be rather straightforward with her approach, finding the fastest way possible to finish the game, rather than taking the time to enjoy it or gather collectables unless he listed that as a goal. Well, he'd be able to control and give her clear directions once he was in the game.

An hour or so later, Alan had finally booted up Eve, and connected her to the capsule using a USB adapter Icewolf had found for him. Alan put his hand on a metal sensor plate on the front of the capsule, which Icewolf had said was programmed to him.

"Um, Activate Console." That was the command in the manual Icewolf had given him.

"Greetings, Adampwnage," a soft, mechanical female voice said, coming from the capsule. Alan glanced over at Icewolf, who was watching. Icewolf just shrugged.

"A rank D AI program  designated 'Eve' wishes to connect to your capsule. Accept? Only one agent may assist you in the Game." Kitana, who up until now had been oblivious to anything bur her phone looked up at this.

"Um, accept."

"Loading program now... program loaded. AI 'Eve' wishes for full access within the Capsule and game, accept? The AI will still of course be required to follow your directions." Icewolf nodded at Alan.

"Um, accept."

" You may enter the Game in 13 minutes, 23 seconds."

"Ok, uh, great," Alan said, removing his hand from the capsule.

He walked over to Icewolf.

"Full access? What was the about?"

Icewolf shrugged. "Probably just the ability to use all the hardware in the capsule and the ability to monitor the Game. There are a few people that use AI in the company and they were hindered until they enabled that. Anyways, you heard capsule, only about 10 minutes left, do whatever things you need to before you're in the Game for a week. You'll have about 24 hours to get used to the Game before the Tutorial begins."

Alan called his parents, letting them know he'd made it alright, and was about to start playing, promising his mother he'd call the instance he got out a week from now. A minute before they were allowed to enter the Game Kitana stood up, picked up the sword, walked over to Alan, and bowed.

"Hello, sorry for not fully introducing myself earlier. I was texting goodbye to my parents. My father is an important businessman and it is rare he has time to talk to me, even through text. Good luck in the Game, we may even run into each other."

"Uh, yeah, good luck, have fun." Alan replied a bit shakily. Kitana cut quite the figure in the uniform with the sword. She had fierce brown eyes and as Alan looked closer a few scars on her  face. Unlike every other girl he'd ever known, it didn't look like she was wearing any makeup. Handsome leapt to his mind before pretty.

"Heh, you guys will need more than luck to do well. It'll take plenty of hard work too, but remember, it's just a game!" Icewolf commented.

"Alright," Alan said, walking up to his capsule, which was displaying a countdown.

"You may now enter." The capsule opened, revealing  a few feet of silvery liquid. Alan looked over to Icewolf for reassurance this is what the inside was supposed to look like.

"What are you waiting for? Get in already. And remember, it's just a game!"

Taking a deep breath, Alan climbed in and submerged himself into the liquid, which sort of felt like fluid gelatin. The lid closed over him, placing him in complete darkness. Panicking, Alan began thrashing, sure he was going to drown to death. This was some cruel joke, a way for aliens to harvest gullible, unintelligent humans. Yet, to his surprise, when he opened his mouth he realized he could somehow breathe this liquid. Alan took a few deep breaths, then, slowly, faded into unconsciousness...

Author's Note:

The Gam3: Opening Moves is now out on Amazon! It covers all the chapters up until Moving. While I'm leaving these chapters here up on RoyalRoadl please note that the book contains additional scenes, is better edited, and some plot details have been changed. I try to note differences in my posts/comments, but I may have missed some.