New Beginning (part 1)

The first of what should be my longest running story! Paul Freed, Creator of the woulds most used devise since the internet, helps a friend back onto his feet... but good guys get hurt, and bad.

2014 July 3rd

  It's been a little over a year since my release from Pharmakon city’s mental asylum back in 2013 and today I get the honor of picking up a friend I made there. He had seemed well put together compared to most and he was really intelligent. He was a linguist and a scholar of mathematics; He was also a military scientist before the military sent him here for making plans that could do damage to the human race in general. It took a lot for him to admit that to me and I could see the pain in his eyes. I could tell he knew he needed the help he was getting here.

  The two of us talked for hours about the ideas running threw our dulled minds -dulled by the regular medication we were given that is- of what we could do together or on our own. He was fascinated when I mentioned I was the man behind Free Life, "The great writer and creator, Paul Freed" as many put it. Really I was just a guy with an idea who got lucky. Gaizka had me talking about it a lot of the time since he had never used one himself, though he had heard of it. He was disappointed when I told him I didn't know how we made such tech; that just wasn't my area. But I could tell him all about the functions and how it seemed to work. I did also mention it was the reason I was in that asylum as well. I explained that Free Life was made so realistic, you couldn't tell the difference between real life and the game thanks to a super genius we came across who, incidentally caused a forest to spring up out of the middle of a city in a single day. If you looked at it now you would think its been there for a couple millennia resting on top of an ancient civilization similar to our own.

  Back to Free Life though; Because Free Life is such a realistic virtual reality, If you stay in it to long you will start to confuse it with reality and eventually think that it is reality. The project team nicknamed this mental break "Matrix Disorder" because it reminded them of Neo from the movie "The Matrix" who thought the life he lived was real when in reality he was simply plugged into a machine and dreaming it all.

  Soon after learning these dangerous effects, we installed a program that kicked the player after six hours. The human mind could handle a max of seven to ten hours we concluded with testing but to be safe six was better.

  Because Guy, Gaizka that is, was so intrigued I decided that when he finally got released I'd give him one as a present. 

  I took the early flight out of my home town Sunset City over to Vancouver and from there, to Pharmakon City. When we landed I went and rented a moped, went into town and grabbed a late breakfast. When I finished, I headed to the asylum.

  I slowed down as I made it up the long driveway as I looked around me at the rows of trees and clean cut grass surrounding the looming white building dotted with barred windows. Ivy was creeping along the east wall to the right well patients walked about closer by the main building. A few staff members stood watching over them well another couple walked with some who needed more attention. 

  Nothing had changed, not even the calm, quiet tension hanging loosely around the place.

  When I finally made it up to the small parking lot, I was greeted by the director of the facility herself. She was a strong, plain, and sharp woman.

  "Hello Dr. Audrey, How are you this morning?"

  "I've had better mornings... But its always good when a patient is well enough to leave so not to bad. Its also nice to see you again. Have you readjusted well?"

  "Yeah. I'm a bit awkward about using Free Life now but there's really nothing I can do about that I don't think; Besides, its certainly not something I want to abandon."

  "I imagine so. It is your creation after all and its hardest to let go of the things you make with your own hands... Probably doesn't help that its become a huge thing in human culture either."

  I sniffed a laugh and nodded in agreement.

  "Well then, you aren't hear to stand around talking with me, and I imagine you don't want to hang around any longer then you have to, lets go collect Dr. Mendoza." She finished with a smile.

  "After you ma'am" I replied politely with a small smile.

  In a few short minutes we made it up to Guy's room. He was already packed and sitting at the end of his bed with a book, waiting patiently. He still had the same sickly look about him from our last meeting; something I doubt will ever pass, a clean shaven head, and grey-blue eyes.

  "Hey, man!"I said as I entered the room.

  Guy looked up and gave a large toothy smile, put down what he was reading, and stood up to give me a hug. His thin arms reached around and his thick, strong hands patted my back. "It's great to see you again my friend!" He replied in his mild French-Spanish sort of accent. "Even better that you've come to spring me from this place."

  "Indeed." I said grinning "Got all your things?"

  "Yes, yes. All packed... Not that there is much to pack."

  "Excellent, lets jump this ship then, shall we?"

  "Indeed we shall." Guy replied in an undertone well leaning in closer. 

  He then quickly snatched up his book and stuffed it into his bag. Dr. Audrey lead us over to her office to sign some papers and such, then Guy and I were off. We eventually stopped for lunch around one and I asked him what he planned on doing when he got back to Quebec City.

  "Well... The military won't be letting me back and I know they won't make it easy to get a job in a civilian lab, not that I won't try anyway... I suppose I'll have to look around for a more average job eventually though. I envy you a little; your job is of your own making. No one can remove you from it besides yourself... and death, that is."

  I hummed a laugh. "Maybe but there is always a chance, however slim, that Free Life will Collapse or my books stop selling... Or both. The only guaranty in life I know of is that death will always come.

  "Speaking of Free Life, You could get a job working at home for us. There are a number of things you could do like monitoring the connected world and watch for hackers, trouble makers, or other dangers. Free Life also needs constant updating and maintenance. There is also many in game jobs for Free Life. A number of company's also have jobs in Free Life to increase productivity due to the rate that time flows at... Ah! But before I get o into this talk, I'm trying to offer you a job. Nearly went into a happy little tangent." I explained.

  Guy seemed unsure of what to say, he simply stared at me trying to make sense of what I was saying until finally he said "you... Want to hire me?"

  "Yeah, why wouldn't I? You're clearly capable, your a friend in need of a job, and I trust you."

  "Well I'd love to... But I don't have the money to even buy a Free Life system and I'm not familiar with it other then what you've told me about it."

  "No need to worry," I told him as I turned to my own bag and pulled out a helmet similar to the one from Star Wars that Luke wore well practicing with a lightsaber only more sleek and black. "This is a Free Life system." I said setting it down on the table. They do come in a number of colours and you can either get or make designs for them online but that's not really important. What is important is that this one is yours. As a side note, all employees would get one free of charge if they didn't already have one but lets not denote the sentiment to much. This is all yours no matter what you say."

  Guy went from eyeing the system to looking at me. "Really?"

  "Yeah really, welcome back to the free world!"

  "Thank you so much for this... You secure an apartment back home for me, you come pick me up and treat me to lunch, and you're flying me home... And now even.... You truly are to good of a man... I would normally tell you that you likely have a defect in your brain to be such a good person but that would spoil the moment, I'm sure."

  "you think I have a brain defect?"

  "Ah... Oops, anyway, how can I ever thank you?"

  "Well first you can tell me if you would like a job working for Free Life so I can look for something for you, second, you could promise not to do anything diabolical" I said in a cheeky tone."

 He excepted my offer and explained that he would like to work on further developments in Free Life. I told him it was a done deal then and would give him a call once everything was ready. All his work he could do from home in the system but now and again he'd have to fly for a meeting at the IRL headquarters; and if he needed, we could set up a small lab for him to work near his apartment; He jumped for that.

 After giving him the run down on how to work Free Life it was time to get him to his flight. Guy seemed happy and content for the moment and I was eager to get him hooked up with his job.

 At the airport, I hugged the fragile figure well his powerful hands clasped together over my back for a second and we said good bye once more but not for the last time... It wouldn't be the last for what seemed like a vary long time in fact.

 * * *

 In only three months, my good friend Guy got quite settled into his home and job. In that short time, he made advancements to our systems that Brain hadn't yet looked over to see what he could improve. Guy seemed happy and alive. In the second month, there was a meeting at HQ for the lead techs and the department leaders -plus me- to discuss all the stuff needed discussing and approving; it was all very dull for the most part. I enjoyed the promotional ideas and such mostly. You see, we didn't really have any need to promote Free Life. If an object could rule the world, Free Life had a crown on and a scepter in hand. What we promoted was activities outside of the virtual world to keep people healthy and sane. Guy, new to the table, was one of the first with an idea. He had come up with a design for a vitals monitor. Why and how does this and promoting IRL activities correspond? Well, the starting model of the monitor appeared to be like a tenser bandage of sorts. The one modeled went around ones middle with a secondary component that went around the wrist. The two bands monitored your basic vitals and your physical activities. It was meant to be fine tuned enough to sense anything from when you started lifting weights to picking up a book and starting to read. The monitor would wirelessly send this information to ones Free Life profile where the data would be converted into points which in turn could be exchanged for the online currency or could be saved to win prizes like a cruise or a live concert. A lot of people at the table seemed to like the idea; Brian most of all jumped at the idea and offered a hand in the development of the product, which pleased Guy. It also pleased me a lot to see my two friends excited about keeping the world a healthy place and about working together. 

 It wasn't more then a week before they had a high grade prototype, and now today we're already far enough along to start promoting this new Free Life accessory. That's what you get when you hire genius's -particularly when one of the two is know to have created technology that lead to the growth of a forest in the middle of a city with the largest, thickest trees seen in a couple hundred years. Honestly, it looks like the oldest forest on earth when really its just sprung up in 2012. That's a story for another time though.

 Anyway, its now mid-November, Guys idea is being advertised all over and we already have ten pre-consumer models out for critics and YouTubers to review. Everyone is pumped up... But not all for the same reason. 

 This morning, I woke up to a phone call. I groaned about it as I rolled over and grabbed my cellphone. The number belonged to Brian; I glanced at the time and decided that it was perfectly acceptable to ignore him for now and call him back later... It was only seven in the morning and I normally sleep till eight at least. I put my cell down and waited for it to stop ringing before closing my eyes. Unfortunately for me, it went off again right away. When it startled me into opening my eyes back up again, I cried out with annoyance, sat up and answered the damn thing. Mornings suck.

 "What are you calling me so early for?!" I growled.

 "Its important, Paul, have you talked with Gaizka recently?"

 "Three days ago, why?" Still with a displeased tone.

 "He's gone missing..."

 I was silent for a minute, thinking about what Brian just said and decided I heard wrong, but in a more patient voice, I asked "you said missing?"

 "Yes."

 "What do you mean missing? Missing notes? The next meeting?"

 "No, I mean, when I called him, his landlord answered. He said that 'Dr. Gaizka packed a few things, sold everything else off, and moved out. He also said that there was a pill bottle left in the middle of the living room when he was looking around for possible damage. It was still full"

 "When did he leave?!"

 "Apparently yesterday evening. He had called this morning at 6:30 to let the landlord know he had everything cleared out and he had left already. The landlord explained he had gone to the apartment to see for himself and found it as I explained. The landline was still hooked to the wall which I happened to call well he was looking about. I think Gaizka planed it out to happen, he wanted me to know and he knows I'd tell you. I haven't known him long but I know him well enough to know he's that methodical."

 "Brian, you need to look over all the information on the vital monitor right now, check that nothing looks out of the ordinary, check that its properly... Uh, safe, that no one other then Free Life can receive information from it."

 "You think he might have done something to it?"

 "You said the pill bottle was full?"

 "Yes..."

 "Then I'm saying its very possible that he's done something with it or he's going to be using it for something... Guy isn't just changing places and just hasn't told us about it, he's not taken his medication since he got out."

 "You think he's plotting something similar to what got him sent to Pharmakon asylum in the first place, don't you?" he asked with little questioning in his tone.

 "As sad as it is, I knew that there was a chance of it happening... I just wanted to believe in him. I thought he understood why his past mistakes were wrong..."

 "You can't be blamed for wanting to trust a friend. I'll get on checking over the monitors tech and programming."

 "I'll call into headquarters and tell them to watch for calls from Guy or for him entering Free Life, or anything else. Let me know when you're done." I finished.

 "Understood, I'll call you again in a couple of hours."

 "Right, bye."

 "Bye."

So I made my call, making Guy the most watched for person in the company. Once that was done I went out on my porch to sulk. I wanted to regret hiring Guy at the moment, but Brian was right, I just wanted to be a good friend and trust.... None the less, I at least regretted not being more cautious. 

 In the middle of my mopping, as I sat in my hammock and looking out over the grass leading to a large pond and further on to the start of the forest my property was backed up onto, I heard the door behind me gently close and then a pair of arms started to slink over my shoulders. They didn't belong to the person I wished they did. 

 I mumbled "knock it off... I'm not in the mood for your goofing around."

 "Ouch, your so mean,you know I'm not just playing."

 "And you know that I don't see you that way but you keep at it like its a game... I don't have the energy one way or the other today though."

 "What's got you so down in the dumps Mr. Freed?" She said as she came around from behind and sat down beside me, instantly smushed hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder against me because of the hammock. She decided to put her head on my shoulder well she was at it.

 This young girl is named Anna Green. She's 18, has shoulder length hair the colour of sand and deep brown eyes that reminded me of the earth and its vastness. She was slender and nearly a head shorter then me -I'm 6 feet on the dot. Shes an energetic and mischievous person but also caring, helpful, outspoken, childish, stubborn, and brave. She started med-school last week with a little help from me who paid for most of, if not all the fees -it was all of the fees, including school books. In return she promised to come by every day to cook for me. I told her she didn't have to; I had lots of money I didn't need and she was a good friend who need a little help to reach her goal. Still she wanted to and I couldn't stop her... Unless a changed the locks on the doors, but that would be a pain and I'd have to get new keys cut. She had a key to my place as well as two other friends.

 "I'm 'in the dumps' because a friend of mine has up and disappeared... And I fear they're up to something dangerous"

 "Who?"

 "Guy"

 "What guy?"

 "No, Guy, you know? Gaizka?"

 "Oh! The French guy from the asylum that you hung out with there"

 "He's from Bilbao, Basque... I think somewhere around the border of Spain and France. I don't think he considers himself French."

 "Either way... Why do you think he's up to something bad?"

 "He hasn't taken his medicine since he got out and he was in Pharmakon Asylum because he tried to make something that would have erased us form the face of the earth. He's an environmentalist and he fears we'll kill not only ourselves off but the rest of all living matter on earth as well. When he was a military scientist he decided the best thing he could do was try and eradicate the human race -sacrifice humans to protect the world, rather then let humans commit suicide and take everything else with them. He started creating a bio-weapon that specifically targeted humans threw genetic markers. He was planning to use the agent to poison our food and water. If it infected an animal other then us, it would only lay dormant until a person ate it. It would pass threw generations of the animals even. 

 "It was rather genius and would have been cool... If it wasn't for the fact that he was actually trying to make it. If his assistant hadn't found out, he thinks he'd have finished it within another week or so."

 "You mean.. We were that close to doomsday? And you made friends with the grim reaper himself?!"

 "He's not the grim reaper, hes just sick... And is one of the top minds of our age rivaling Brian and Senta"

 "Wow, that's..."

 "Scary? I know... But I thought he was better so I trusted him."

 "I... Well, everyone makes mistakes some big some small but they happen. It will never be your fault for whatever he does now. You set him up for the right reasons. Remember that. Its his fault for abusing you kindness; speaking of which, I still need to get started. Dinners going to slow cook for the whole day. Just try to relax okay?"

 "Yeah..."

 With that she went back inside, less gentle with closing the door behind her now that she wasn't trying to be sneaky. I pulled myself together as best I could and followed her in to have something to eat. The depressed feeling was going to hang over me for a while yet.

 Once I got past my self loathing and frustration, I got myself thinking about what Guy could be up to. In the past months he's had full access to Free Life's programs and coding, he was in on up coming projects in game and out, and he had access to all related information. He could also access anonymous user information; nothing specific about anyone, but general collected information like how often people played, how they played. What communities and areas in the world where friendlier then others, which are healthier, smarter. All the information was based on the over all of the world down to any one specific town.

 That's what he had access to in terms of information... But I couldn't see how any of it would help his goals. I was sure they hadn't changed. The most he could do is sell the coding to hackers and other companies, at least from what I could understand...

 If he's going to be aiming to wipe out humanity again... I could assume he's definitely going to sell info, or already has been, to get so funding prepared.

 When the phone rang again I was surprised to see a text from Soren Andrews,

 "Paul, we have an emergency! Free Life is experiencing some... Weird things. I've let our tech support know but we need you in game to help keep things under control."

 "Why? What's happening?"

 "Well... Certain people are acting strangely. Violent and random behavior, giving out private information, personal thoughts, information about their jobs that isn't, and/or shouldn't be public knowledge. A lot of it sounded like nonsense until some of our own started spilling the beans about anything and everything. The behavior only targets certain groups and only for a short time, then it jumps to another. People are having issues logging out as well. People are asked to go to certain locations and then give a minimum of twenty credits to an NPC. We don't know where the money is going or how this is even working... Once the transaction is done you get kicked from the system."

 "Have you tried a system wide kick?" I questioned.

 "It seems to be down..."

 "Okay, how about the Hunter program?"

 Soren hesitated a moment before replying "No... we haven't considered that option yet; shooting into a crowd isn't going to do much when its world wide and aside from that pointing guns at people, Free Life or not, won't go over well."

 "Do you have any other ideas then?" I quickly demanded, "Discomfort or world wide social melt down? If what you say is true, people really telling everything they can about what they shouldn't -words can be more effective then a nuke. The after effects could scar the world and send us into another world war or even the collapse of civilization. It might sound nuts but think about it; public leaders and company owners outing themselves on anything and everything! It might sound good at first but people will riot, and violently. When that happens people will start looting, fighting, killing... We need to do something and this is what we got to run with right now. 

 " Get everyone you can prepped and ready, I'll unlock the Hunter program from here, once its unlocked, give it out and get them in the field. I'm going to get Brian working on an alternate weapon to use."

 "Alright but make it quick and then come join us."

 "Got it."

 I made for my computer and pulled out the Hunter program from an encrypted file on a USB stick and sent it to Soren. (The Hunter program was a hardcore program made specifically to fight hackers before they claimed the USA, when they ran wild. It was made to track them in the real world so they could be properly charged. The hacker would be shot, in game, with a bullet coded with the program. Once the bullet hit its mark the information is sent the Anti-Hacker Force, AHF for short, which operates as an in game police force that I founded when hackers became a problem. Once the information is sent to HQ it will then relayed to the nearest authorities to said hacker in the real world. The hacker that was shot would be made static, basically paralyzed and unable to leave the game until we either broke the static, or their six hours had ended. Only field agent could use the program, and even then, special permissions were required from me or another head of the group.) As I did that, I called Brian and explained the situation. 

 "Tech support already called me about the issue. It seems Guy set up a program to kick up some chaos and swindle money... I don't understand why he's taking so little, only five bucks Canadian... On top of that, there are more secretive way's to collect...

 "Anyway, he implanted the bulk of it, the program that is, into the AMC the system that connects an avatars actions to a persons mind. Normally the system allows people to control the avatar with their mind without having to think about it anymore then one would think about walking down the street in real life. What Guy has done is make the avatar take control from the person though; The actions are scripted and soon enough they'll be predictable. As for the blabber mouthing, its a little more complex but... it would appear that the program is coercing people to remember things they feel shouldn't be talked about and whatever the person is forced to think of is said. They aren't actually speaking, not willingly, the system is reading their minds in an alternate fashion then what I programmed it to do and then forcing the avatar to say it."

 "Great, you can explain that to the public well I make the formal apology after this!"

 I paused and sighed, then apologized and continued with "Is their anything you can do about this right now? Or, maybe even yesterday? Times kinda short."

 "No, not at the drop of a dime, that would be hard, even for me."

 "Can you make a Hunter weapon then?"

 "What kind?"

 "Preferably something that could hit everyone at once..."

 "Your taking a bomb?!" Brian exclaimed "that's... Hunter wasn't meant to work like that... There could be complications"

 "Then adapt the program, do whatever you need to, we need everyone kicked before we start seeing some vocal A-bombs dropping around the world!"

 "I can try extracting the piece of code for kicking specifically, it'll be crude and a bit of a knock to the head for everyone... But I could use it for a new world wide kick program."

 "Excellent, do that then, I need to go in and help attempt to subdue the issue." I spit out before hanging up on him. No polite good-bye for him, gotta rush!

 I picked up a helmet reminiscent of the one Luke Skywalker wore well trying to learn to fight with a lightsaber on the Millennium Falcon, only it was sleek and dark green with silver designs and a small '13' on the back just above the neck -it was a custom design. I took it over to the couch, flopped down and strapped it on. This helmet was a Free Life system. All the light and sound was blocked out and it fit comfortably. I activated the system by pulling it on, it scanned my eyes to determine who I was so it could open my account -the system itself was interchangeable, when the system reads your eye's it takes info from the Free Life database and tried to match retina scans. If it didn't find a match it would offer to make an account for you. Their were other methods used for login which could be selected on the website but this is the one I chose to use.

 I opened my virtual eyes and was now standing in a pure white room. After watching the wall in front of me quickly flicker, I saw the menu appear. There were pictures of three different avatars. One was an incognito avatar, another was my AHF avatar, and the final was identical to the real me -average height and build, auburn hair and blue eyes with a soft expression. I felt that I looked pretty plain. The AHF avatar was the same other then only having a uniform to wear, and had special privilege's to help fight hackers. Of course, that's the one I picked. After that, I had a choice of multiple worlds -you could easily craft worlds or play games like Minecraft or GTA or anything else but like in the main part of Free Life, you have all your senses. Blocks have textures you can feel, you can smell the smoke in the air from the car you blew up, stuff like that. I chose to go in the online world, the world that seamlessly connects you with everyone else. Brian didn't even consider it a big deal when he finished the worlds biggest, smoothest online server.

 Once I entered the online world, the first thing I did was open my eyes, again, stretch my fingers and take a deep breath. I was in my office, the place I last logged out. Hot water was ready for tea on the small counter against the right wall opposite the door. I was standing to the left of my desk, made to look like it was once fancy but now worn and marked. Any damage I did to it would stay unless I wanted it fixed; the same went for most things in this world.

 

 I jogged out the door and down to the first floor all the while looking for Soren. The place was fairly void of movement; for the most part, the people where either, stuck in static or rushing about themselves. Everyone had their guns out, prepared for another wave of people to lose control. It wasn't a pleasant sight and it had to be as bad, if not worse, then when Hackers in the Free Lawless hacker group made a move to take over the rest of Free Life well I was trapped in the system, another story for another time.

 Soren was in the main lobby about to leave despite not being a field agent. He seemed on edge but ready to try and help the situation. He knew tactics and strategies sure, but applying them was not something he does normally -nor well. He mainly handled paperwork for me as well as help me think out plans, ideas, and send out orders for me; so as you may guess, I was concerned... Then again, all that we could do right now is shoot people acting erratic and hope for the best. 

 I called out for him to hold up. He turned to look at me and started to say that the next wave was going to start soon, but as he spoke, her started to twitch. With in a second or two he seemed to be having a seizure, then it abruptly stopped and he pointed his gun at me, ready to fire. He looked tense and his head hung low, the black hair on his head looked strange like an electric current was running threw it. I reached for my holstered gun but I didn't get the chance to pull it out. Soren lifted his head flashing his own brown eyes that normally reminded me of polished oak -Now they reminded me of plain leather- and fired a round. He purposely missed me, it was meant as a warning. His mouth opened to speak but Guy's voice came out instead.

 He said "Hello my friend, I really am sorry about all this, my betraying your trust, abusing what you've given me out of kindness, and tampering with your wondrous creation. I know I've wronged you... But you made an offer I couldn't refuse, I needed to get my plans started and your company was the best place for the resources, far better then I needed even. Quite the boost I'll be getting from you.

 " I promise you I've done no damage that can't be repaired, though I'm sure only Brian will be the only one to get things sorted quickly enough,which means I have to hurry. Taking the time to talk to you, even threw someone in game is a fairly big risk for a number of reasons but I needed to do it, I want to make an attempt at making you understand what I'm doing..."

 He paused for a second, then continued, "You know as well as I do what the state of the world is like and has been like. We, as humans, have manipulated, destroyed, killed and abused so much of the land and animals, each other even. Your Free Life has made a tremendous difference without a doubt, but there is still so much bad happening that needs to be cleaned up. I want to clean this world up once and for all, to make it better for us and nature and in these three months, I've learned just how to do it. I won't deny that people will be sacrificed, it's a necessary cruelty. 

 "I know you will want to stop me, you must think I still just need help; no doctor can make me think this a delusional idea, dangerous, even evil to the right person, but not delusional. I will make the world a better place. I am dearly sorry for I know you will oppose me but I will not let you stop me, and I will bring you to the new world that I will create whether you want to go or not."

 Another break, and then: "now, I must be off before I can be tracked. Prends soin de toi." 

 With that he was gone and Soren's avatar collapsed. 

 "Instant voice messages" I thought to myself, "He was still IRL, he knew it wouldn't be safe to come in to give his speech to me..."

 I dropped to my knees beside Soren and tried to wake him, it took a minute but he did come out of it. I explained what happened and then the two of us agreed to head out and try to help the situation. 

 We were at it for a full day before I got a voice message from Brian.

 "What was that? an hour?" I asked him as I took aim at another avatar -A black business man with dreads and a fancy suit. I recognize d him from an ad on TV. He was making it big time as a provincial judge.

 It was a hot minute before I got a reply, like with Guy.

 "An hour and fifteen about, actually. Listen, I've figured things out and I can kick everyone now, but the kick will only remove everyone, Senta is still working on an actual fix for everything, well I'm working on a lock down so no one can jump in right after the boot. From what we understand, you will need to do something on the inside as well; reason one for why I'm messaging you instead of just keeping pace making the lock. 

 "Some of the more intelligent hackers in Free Lawless country have found a way to tether themselves into Free Life so that they can't be kicked by force or by timing out. I didn't notice it until now because I thought we had taken that bit of code away from them, It looks like someone else remade it shortly after you got free of the console and went away.

 "We need you to find them and convince them to logout on their own or else the fix will most likely kill them as well as cause errors in the system. I can handle errors but we can't do anything about the loss of life bit. From what I can find, there are only five people in right now with the tether and they're all within a mile of each other so it shouldn't be terrible. I have tried to contact them but they don't respond."

 "I can do that. Just give me time, an hour real time tops."

 "That's a fair bit of time in Free Life but if that's what you need then its what you got. After two hours, I'll flip the switch, hopefully before anything to serious gets out. Make sure you get them out in time."

 "Got it, I know someone who can help, One last thing, Guy was voice messaging me threw Soren trying to avoid detection, look into that once your done with the lock, see if you find anything interesting there." I finished, then quickly began to reach a friend of mine, the leader of Free Lawless.

Author's Note

Remember that this is only the first chapter of what hopefully will be a long running story. I think I've done the best I can with what time I had to make it worth it but it will get more exciting and interesting over time.