Digitas Chapter 3

More than just a game now

“Yes sir, we have been trying to contact HQ every 5 minutes. No results.”

 

“Keep trying. This is a multi-million dollar contract we are talking about here. Make sure the data gets through. And for Pete’s sake are there any responses from the GM’s?”

 

“None of them are contactable sir.”

 

“F**k. Henry, keep your eyes permanently on the data cube, I will contact them myself.”

 

“Sir yes sir!” Henry replied as he tightened his grip around the hardened prismatic ball he was been holding.

 

Henry. He never really liked that name, but it made his business partners more comfortable to have a relatable name and so it came to being. It has been 2 days since he was stuck here unable to log out. What timing too. He had a big project and it was crunch time, this delay would be unacceptable. His boss was already frantic; he would do best to keep his composure. Yes, it was after all just his first major project that could make or break his entire career. Great. Just great. Real good timing.

 

So there he sat, in the central leather chair of Pru-HQ which is located right at the heart of Pru-City, waiting for the greyed out button to turn solid again, but it never did. His mind wandered. How did it come to this?

 

When Digitas came out after its 10-year long ambitious project to create the world’s first full non-linear no holds barred virtual reality game, he wasn’t really excited about it. The possibilities were endless but such possibilities could just as easily be abused.

 

However, the tidal wave it caused in the world was not to be ignored. Humans could now live for a long time in cyrosleep, and yet still experience learning, growth, emotions, exactly as they would in reality. The sleep reduced the body’s need for daily intake and only the mind remains active. Already, the Other World became a hub for schools and training. Even businesses have expanded into it. Ever since pixels were announced as a tradable commodity, any company who is anybody must have a presence in the Digitas and his was no exception.

 

Pru-City, home to Prudential Assurance, built from scratch from hard-invested Pixels was a multi-billion dollar investment. It was truly a beautiful city funded indirectly from almost every player in the game. Turns out, the art of dungeon raiding was a tough business and every right minded adventurer knows the value of Pru-E-insurance to recoup at least some of their pixel losses or investments in a botched raid.

 

Henry was never meant to be here, but fate drew him in towards his unavoidable destiny in the virtual world. Gaming was a word of the past to him; he had a career now and of course there was his engagement with Rebecca. Things were good. Why oh why now?

 

Just then, a brief radial interference snapped him out of his thoughts. “Attention all virtual world employees, please remain calm and at your stations. Our team is working on the logout problem as we speak and we are sure that we will all be back before the day is out. Thank you.”

 

Henry wishes it was true, but he knew better. In the world of online gaming where the possibilities were endless, so were the variables. Anything can happen and anything that can happen will happen.

 

“Henry! Come on we are done waiting. Joseph found a way out of this mess. It’s pretty easy, just getting yourself killed out there and the game logs you off. Brian and Adam are already out, their avatars disappear right before me and they finally appear as offline on my buddy list.” A boy spoke excitedly as he barged slightly through the decorated double doors, his head sticking in. “We will be doing it in the Grand Hall. Picture it man, mass suicide in virtual world; netizens sue for trauma. It sure makes a heck of a headline and a whole lot more for compensation.” The boy added pulling his hands in a circle to create an imaginary frame with a cheeky wink.

 

Henry paused for a second. Was it true then? It has been a long time. Rebecca will be waiting for him. Their big night was to be soon; he cannot be fooling around here in cyberspace. No he can’t. Henry stood up and looked at the boy. “Take me there.”

 

The Grand Hall was abuzz with bells; players were dueling to the death, taking turns to ‘win’ and ‘lose’. The bright lights of vanishing pixels were aplenty. Liberated. Free.

 

“Come on man. I will do you first.” The boy smiled as he opened up his menu. Henry gulped, it didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel right at all. He still had to take care of this data cube. It was his responsibility and no one can be sure that the data will still be there in the office when he wakes up. That is if he does indeed wake up. The data was crucial, a program made to check the track the status of every player in the virtual world. The technology was hard researched and made to prevent fake claims of failed ventures; it was to be a game changer, his ticket to career acceleration. He was torn.

 

“Wait a minute, the cube. I …. I �" I got it!” Henry stuttered as the idea hit him. “Stop right there, I have to do something.” He added, his voice trailing as he ran down the stairs and doubled his way to the labs. He rammed the door open and immediately woke up his sleeping computer, slamming the data cube into its drive. “Come on, come on.”

 

The program booted up and the usual greeting came up. “Greetings Prof-“ the voice shut off as Henry spammed the skip key. His eyes were glued to the screen, watching every pixel move as the program booted up the status of all the players connected to the world. 21,156,242. It seemed like many are affected by this malfunction. Immediately he pulled up the search bar and hastily typed in his query.

 

Henry dropped his console, his jaws wide open in disbelieve; his program is very accurate and according to it thousands have died in the past few minutes. Mind dead. Their consciousness never returned to their bodies.

Author's Note

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