Opening Moves (The Gam3 Book 1) (2 page)

A message popped up in front of Alan, startling him a bit:

Alan thought for a second, then motioned at the Accept button in front of him. Whatever the presentation was, it was probably important.

Nothing happened.

Accept
, Alan sent, remembering Eve was responding to his thoughts.

He’d briefly considered enabling the ability to push buttons he saw with his hands, but figured it would probably lead to misclicks.

There was a slight disorientation, shortly followed by a sudden blinding light.

Alan closed his eyes. When he opened them he found himself standing in a cylindrical, mechanical tube, the glass in front of him sliding open.

Directly in front of him was a Caucasian male American soldier in full military gear, motioning him forward. As Alan stepped shakily out of the chamber, he looked to his left and right; he could see there was an entire row of the teleportation chambers, or whatever they were, with people stepping out into the open all around him.

As the soldier eyed Alan warily, Alan remembered the bow and knife he was holding in his hands.

“Wait, sorry, I thought there might be a survival challenge or something. So I grabbed what I found where I started when I logged in. Umm… do you have anything that might hold this knife? Actually, you can have it, and the bow and arrows.”

Alan thrust his hands forward, holding both the knife and bow out. It wasn’t like he was going to be able to do anything with them, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to go walking around carrying a kitchen knife. People would think he was crazy.

The soldier stared at him blankly for a second.

“Okay. Wait here for a moment, player.”

The soldier took the bow and knife, then started walking over to a small station of soldiers set up near the exit.

Alan glanced around, trying to get a better sense of his surroundings. It looked like they were in an airplane hangar of some sort, upwards of two hundred feet long and a hundred feet wide. There were maybe fifty chambers with players emerging out of them. In front of each chamber was a soldier holding an assault rifle. Everyone was being directed to the exit at the far end of the hangar.

Trying to see if he could spot anyone he recognized, Alan looked at around at the emerging players. Most of them were muscular, with a no-nonsense gruffness, and wore a uniform representing the company that hired them. These were not the nerdy gamers Alan had been expecting. Alan felt rather out of place in his jeans and t-shirt.

The majority also carried guns. Maybe Alan should have held onto the knife.

Still, there were a few people casually dressed like Alan, as well as people in more colorful clothing.

A pair who passed by Alan stood out, a knight and wizard. The knight wore a full set of armor and carried a sword and shield. He made a few loud clinking noises as he walked by Alan. The wizard was wearing a blue robe and a blue pointy hat, both stylized with a few silver lines in a simple pattern, making wild gestures as he walked.

Alan heard a brief part of their conversation:

“… some random place in the countryside. I spent half the day trying to get used to this bloody armor. Did you know that plate mail can really ride up your…”

Then, Alan saw the soldier who had taken his knife and bow returning, carrying something in his hands.

The soldier walked up to him, handing over a knife in a sheath.

“Here player, put this in your pocket. It’s a basic combat knife, not even ranked, my CO thought it might be useful though. Now, please follow everyone else to the auditorium.”

“Alright, thanks,” Alan said, pocketing the knife.

“Remember, stab them with the pointy end!” The soldier said in a joking manner.

Alan nodded, trying to smile in a friendly way. He didn’t want to piss off someone holding a fully automatic weapon.

Alan followed everyone else out of the hangar, still intimidated by all the weaponry being carried about. He had to walk through some sort of metal detector to exit the building. Nobody asked Alan to empty his pockets. In fact, almost no weapons were confiscated other than a few fragmentation grenades a mercenary had brought with them. Alan wondered what they were scanning for.

Emerging from the building, Alan saw that he was surrounded by at least twenty more hangars that had people streaming out of them. There were literally thousands of people heading towards a large white tent. Groups of soldiers of varying nationalities milled about, urging people that were lagging behind onwards.

Eve, where are we?
Alan asked as he continued walking forwards.

Location unknown. Current hypotheses: A new International Spaceport, or remodeled US Air Force Base.
Local network detected. May contain answers. Hack into network?

Hmm, it’s probably a bad idea, but I’m sort of interested in seeing what Eve is capable of...
Alan thought to himself.
What’s the likelihood of detection should you attempt to hack into the network? Actually, what’s the chance it’ll be traced back to me?

There is an approximate 0.05% chance of detection of intrusion. Should access logs be reviewed and intrusion detected, there is a 20.34% chance that an attempt will be traced.

Okay, so a 0.01% chance of the hack being traced back to me. Initiate the hack. Also download any data you might find on the network.

Accessing network through backdoor… 7 other users detected… Network accessed.

Masking presence… Downloading data… Monitoring incoming data streams…

You are currently outside of Washington DC, at an International Spaceport that does not exist in real life, but has been constructed in-game.

Alan felt rather smug with himself, although he had absolutely no idea what Eve was actually doing, or how she found a backdoor into the network.

While he was training Eve he had her reading books and forums on hacking, as well as many other subjects. There were a few tutorials and testing sites that treated hacking like a game, so he’d have Eve play those too. Still, if it was this easy for Eve, maybe Alan should sell her…

Alan arrived at the tent. Within, Alan saw there were tens of thousands of seats, most of which were filled. At the far back a group of important looking officials sat on a stage with a podium on it. One figure among them looked especially strange, and it took a moment for Alan to realize he was staring at an alien.

The alien looked like a human male, with pale blue hands, around seven feet tall. He, or at least Alan assumed it was a he, wore a skintight, dark blue spacesuit that covered most of his body. Covering his face was a helmet with a dark blue faceplate that had three horizontal silver strikes on it.

Next to the alien was a general, a diplomat, and a World Government senator, at least according to Eve. Alan recognized the senator from the news. Alan took one of the seats in the very back near an entrance. He sat down, and stared at the alien.

What’s the name of that species again?
 he thought to himself.

He is an Ultihaxlard, the commanders or lords of the Haxlard race.

Right, you’re listening to everything I think… not creepy at all. Well, what does Wikipedia have to say about the Ultihaxlard, and the Haxlard races? General information only.

Alan probably should have memorized all this information about aliens and whatnot before entering the Game, yet he had all of the free online encyclopedia downloaded onto Eve's memory banks. With today's modern technology, what was the point of memorizing anything, anyway?

In the end, Alan had wound up spending most of the time he was supposed to be preparing playing video games. Playing games to prepare for one made sense, right?

The Haxlards are the initial race that introduced humanity to the interstellar world and the Game,
Eve sent.
Similar to the majority of races in contact and trading with humanity, Haxlards are humanoid in appearance and biologically. The primary difference being they have blue skin. The Haxlards are ruled* by the Ultihaxlards, who are rumored to demonstrate vastly superior strength, intelligence and agility.

*The exact relationship between Haxlards and Ultihaxlards is unknown, although Ultihaxlards have been seen ordering Haxlards on multiple occasions, and seem to be the only ones in any position of power within Haxlard society.

Also, there were better ways you could have prepared for the Game.

How exactly a footnote was implanted in a thought, Alan wasn’t quite sure, yet the information still came across clearly. He also felt a bit annoyed that Eve had answered his errant thought.

Alan wondered, 
Why are Haxlards as well as most of the other alien species I remember seeing online humanoid?

According to various scientists, the leading hypothesis is—

Stop.

The senator, a woman in a navy blue pantsuit, stood up, walking up to the podium. Alan didn’t see a microphone, yet he could hear her when she spoke.

“Welcome to the Game. It is my great pleasure to speak with you today. I’m sure you are anticipating the adventures you might have, the wonders of this brave new world. But I want to stress one point. If humanity hopes to prosper in the days ahead everyone must remember this one, specific rule.”

Wait, this is just a game, right?
Alan thought.

“The Game is not just a game,” the senator said.

Affirmative,
 Eve answered.

There was a pause.

The senator raised her hands, speaking louder and faster.

“The Game is war, on an intergalactic scale. The territory and resources of every nation in the universe is based upon their standing in the Game. We are told by the Haxlards that once there was a great war between the Predecessors and another sentient race, the Lords of Life. It was the final war fought in reality; a war to end all wars.

"Countless lives were lost, planets made inhospitable, but the war continued, year after year. Then, as both sides neared mutually assured extinction, they realized their foolishness, and finished the battle within a virtual space instead, simulating all the forces they had in real life, both sides agreeing to surrender should they lose this virtual war, this game.

"To ensure whichever side lost actually surrendered, both races created a neutral machine fleet, the Enforcers, who we now know as the real life arm of the Administrators, the moderators of this game. We know little about this First Virtual War, but as far as we can tell the Lords of Life are no more, and the Predecessors still exist.

"War as we know it ceased. Every battle from that point on was fought virtually, the outcome of these virtual battles dictating reality. This virtual world grew, encompassing more of the known universe as the Enforcer fleet spread out, forcing warring planets to accept peace, and the Game.

"How large of a space the Game now encompasses no one really knows. What is known, however, is that the Enforcers hold the largest and only combat fleet in reality. Any group that attempts to create a warship of their own in reality is eradicated." The senator paused.

"That then leads us from these Enforcers to the AI that govern this game, the Administrators. There are many rules, such as not divulging certain pieces of information about the Game to people who have not yet undergone the Tutorial.

"More importantly, newly found sentient races are introduced to the Game, like humanity was, and are given a period of immunity before they are able to be attacked in-game. This will only last three more in-game years.

"Once this immunity wears off other forces within the Game may, and will, attack us. And, should another force take over the planet, take the right Control Points, they will be given the territory they conquered in-game. They will control the taxes, the laws, and the collection of natural resources." The senator gripped the podium.

"Should we not develop ample forces fast enough or forge the proper allies, Earth will be lost, gone from human control. Thus it is imperative for you"—she pointed at the crowd—"who are about to enter this game to remember Earth. Remember humanity. Remember—”

GET OUT NOW,
 Eve screamed into Alan’s brain.

Alan leapt up, looking around. A few people looked at him, but most were intent on the senator’s speech.

Suddenly, a burst of gunfire was heard outside.

What—

OUT NOW IF YOU WISH TO LIVE. FOLLOW THE GIVEN PATH.

Alan dashed outside, following a blue line that showed up on the ground in front of him. He sprinted forwards, oblivious to his surroundings, following Eve’s directions.

He didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, but continued to run along the blue line. The sound of gunfire grew louder.