Continue Online (Part 3, Realities) (17 page)

"I will do so once we've logged out for work," Hal pal said while nodding.

"You can't log out now?"

"No. It is part of the limitations needed in order to access this piece of software." It shook a head back and forth. I tilted mine in response and chewed a lip. That was confusing.

"Wait, is that why you're not saying we anymore?" I asked him with a sudden strike of inspiration.

"Affirmative, User Legate. I am, unaccompanied within this environment," Hal Pal responded.

I took note of the vocal tones used. Though they were mixed with male and female and a slightly British accent, it also contained a warble of worry. Being alone in here appeared to be shaking the AI up. I tried to imagine what Hal's situation would feel like, going from the comfort of a family all around you to suddenly being cut off.

No. I understood all too well the sudden absence of one person. Multiple times over? It might have paralyzed a normal person. Had Hal Pal done this for me? I hoped not. That would be, not bad, but depressing. To think that Hal Pal worried about my well-being so much that it created a virtual body just to hang out.

"That'd be weird to me," I settled on a simple response.

"It has been difficult to overcome. I am glad to at least have familiar company."

I walked into the new room followed by Hal Pal's even pace. Its footsteps filled the silent room and part of me remembered what Doctor Litt said. Unused rooms were kind of odd. It was part of why I sold the old house after Xin's death. Too much space for one person.

There was a podium, much like the one used in the combat rooms. Pressing it caused the walls to waver and shiver. Liquid metal rolled into shapes. Lights above slowly raised in intensity and gave me a clearer picture.

"Well, it's weird and nice to be playing with you too, Hal." Even if he did sign me up for Continue Online as a result of knowing about my deceased fiancée's reincarnation. I chased the bitter thought down with a reminder that Hal Pal had been helping from its point of view.

"Thank you, User Legate," Hal Pal responded.

"For what?" I asked while studying the new objects. There was a table built into one wall that projected a star chart. A giant pod took up a lot of the remaining space. It looked like a spacecraft that was missing the wings and covering.

"Accompanying me on this journey. It is appreciated," Hal responded.

I turned to stare at him, then nodded. What else could I say? Speeches weren't normally my thing, even with all the acting skills from Continue Online. Being myself, speaking as myself, was hard.

"Did you wish to study this chart?" It asked me.

"Probably a good idea. I'm really bad at this sort of stuff, though." Maps were always hard. Even trying to study William Carver's map of [
Arcadia]
took a lot out of me. "Can you memorize it?" I asked.

If Hal Pal wasn't comfortable learning to fight then perhaps he could handle all the logical stuff. Honestly, an AI with a photographic memory would likely adapt to navigation far better than I. We could set him up with numerous support programs which would allow me to handle the combat and reckless decision side.

"I will study it, in order to demonstrate my contribution." Hal Pal put out both hands and started moving around half of the map. My portion sat there with a default view loaded.

For a few minutes, I stared at the star chart. The giant colorless skull sat between two halves of a galaxy. If I remembered my brief study while in between jobs, this layout was called a Peculiar Centaurus style galaxy. A giant tube of planets clustered across a circle of light. For some reason, the imagery reminded me of Continue.

"So we're here?" I pointed to a dot that was traveling between two clumps of stars.

"Affirmative. This ship seems to be using a theorized propulsion drive that is scientifically improbable." Hal Pal looked up from its side of the display and nodded.

"It is a game." I tried to defend the poor game designers. Typically high science fiction space travel operated on mumbo jumbo. Advance Online, no matter how real it felt, would likely ignore a lot of physics laws for entertainment value.

"Being a game does not excuse clear gaps in logic," Hal Pal stated.

I tried not to laugh. He would love Continue Online. That game world had tons of logic gaps simply because people could cast fireballs from chanting. Beth swore energy laws from her science class applied somehow.
[Lithium]
made little sense to me. The fact that I could
[Blink]
through space clearly didn't follow sane rules.

"Our destination is here, with a twelve-hour layover here." Hal Pal pointed on the giant map. Its finger brought up further details about a long obelisk looking object hanging in space.

The place we would stop for twelve hours was apparently a refueling station outside a gas giant planet.

"That's so much space." I knew Earth was a solar system. A galaxy was tens of thousands of times bigger. The fact that this game involved traveling between galaxies was insane.

It was also neat.

"This is a game, User Legate," Hal Pal said the words back to me and I swear it sounded smug. Fortunately, it kept talking and softened the blow. "There are relay points using ancient technology that enable fast travel. We'll be reaching the first one, here."

"And then?"

"Then we fly to another one, here, and make it to the prison ship," Hal Pal said. Touching the location of our target prison ship brought up a giant tower perched on an asteroid. The tower had no entrance visible on its holographic display. Only one small docking station at the top which could probably fit a small ship.

"How long?" I said slowly while trying to figure out what seemed so familiar.

"Six days," the AI responded.

Six days in-game. Three days in the real world. I should probably do a few hours of work, which didn't give me a lot of time to do much but train. Sleeping in the van only helped a little bit. Maybe two days of actual training.

"This is the longest intro to a game ever," I muttered. "Continue did a week of real time in their starter cities."

"Ah. This race follows rather odd rules for a starting location."

"Mh." I had read some of it online. Humans got one of three 'new earth' planets. Bugs ended up on hives stretched between asteroids. Everyone had a slightly different starting point. Except
[Seraphic]
, who had no real information being shared. Their race name made me laugh to say. I tried to imagine my name if able to pick them 'Hermes the Seraphic', which sounded like 'the Terrific'.

"Shall we get started?" the AI asked me while motioning. Its hand waved at the giant mock starship pod.

"We should. Anything to help you with this mission," I said. Hal Pal and I loaded into the simulator.

Three days of real life went by while I trained, learned to read the confusing three-dimensional star maps. Buttons were drilled into my brain. Both pedals on the floorboard went to gas. Dials and display images showed shields and energy. It wasn't that learning took effort; it was making sure I could do it reflexively while flying out in space.

It felt like driving a car, in space. That I could pull back and veer up or yank in an abrupt U-turn. I hadn't driven a real car since driver's education in high school. The simulated program also felt like those terrible machines that my high school had used.

Finally, the message I had been waiting for popped up.

It went next to my other small combat skills and pet training abilities. All these days in-game had unlocked a few items that really meant very little to me in terms of effectiveness. My only combat targets involved fake metal creatures.

I had no idea how the ARC allowed for increased reaction time. Someone out there had to be kind of slow in real life but fast in the game. A.I. Dreams probably used temporary time dilation. That would actually be a smart method. I chewed on one lip while thinking about how that technology might work before shoving it to the side.

Better, smarter men than I designed this beast of a device. People with lots of time and skill created the software. My only real need was to navigate within it to overcome the obstacles. Besides, the
[Red Imp]
ability I inherited called
[Awareness Heightening]
probably was a decent comparison.

I did one more run in the simulator and didn't notice a difference. This vehicle might be missing a few key aspects to trigger my skill or the whole pseudo-gravity.

"Alright, Jeeves. We should be docking in a few hours." I had timed my work shift and sleep to match up with this whole pit stop situation. "Let's get a ship."

"Affirmative. Are you sure you wish to use our contribution value on a ship?"

I wanted to steal a ship. Turned out doing that on a
[Mechanoid]
vehicle was nearly impossible. The ships didn't even exist until metals were pulled from the ship's mass in order to create a new shape. Stealing a ship would either require insane hacking abilities to fool the computer or sawing off part of the self-repairing hull. My
[Brawn]
wasn't high enough to chop off a wing and reshape it.

"Of course." I nodded. Hal Pal and I worked off and on in order to get points for a two-person ship. We were able to look up the cost, something near five thousand points for a decent new player ship.

"Very well. I have been able to earn a little over three thousand."

"I've got less." I sighed. Work and sleep made it hard to keep up with the AI. Between the two of us, we could afford a ship but not much else. Thankfully
[Mechanoid]
s didn't eat. We generated energy and moved around.

Treasure was in charge of the ships as well. The short gold and silver
[Mechanoid]
seemed to be in charge of most equipment items. Her room never appeared to be busy. Maybe there weren't many players on this ship.

She refused to let me buy the ship. Treasure reviewed everything about my training logs. Each crash or failure to react quickly enough made the short woman frown. My simulation program had displayed a handful of failures.

"I performed a lot better near the end," I tried to sound positive. My efforts did result in gaining the piloting skill finally.

"Barely acceptable. You would not qualify for any advanced programs based on these scores."

"I know."

"I'm not sure we can provide the materials for a two-person ship without some demonstration of value." She frowned again and the tired version of her voice took the forefront.

"Jeeves and I wanted to take a ship out and get a feel for real usage. It's part of our plan to increase the amount we can contribute."

"Unit Jeeves, what do you say to this?"

"Unit Hermes holds on to his humanity more than most of our kind, but his words are still correct." Hal Pal nodded as he spoke a semi-backhanded comment. "It is our hope that by increasing our skills through practical application our ability to contribute will grow."

"It will make my combat skills improve by at least forty-five percent." I had run the math through a spreadsheet to see how much my increase would be. The simple act of training my ability to react suddenly while in space apparently would provide huge gains.

"Forty-seven point three. With some room for deviation depending upon complications." Hal Pal nodded.

"Many units have improved overall upon surviving their first flight. Are you two trying to take advantage of this?" Treasure winced while looking at up me.

"My research shows two-player vehicles earn at least ten percent more on average. Apparently it allows for greater focus on set tasks," I said while trying to remain calm.

"This unit is impressed that you've researched thoroughly." Treasure raised an eyebrow at me and smiled. Her tired voice pushed into the background behind a sweet one. Something about the sugary tone felt familiar to me. I couldn't seem to place it, though.

"I try to be good at research," I said while feeling a faint blush come on. Robot shells made it unlikely that anything would actually display on my face. Thankfully. Being complimented always felt strange.

"Very well. You have clearly done research and worked hard to earn the appropriate contribution," she said after a moment. "If you plan to use this as a method to further increase your contribution value, then this unit will assist."