Opening Moves (The Gam3 Book 1) (48 page)

Alan wished he had Eve, to determine whether or not this deal was as good as it sounded. Still, when they had discussed earlier what the loot was worth in total, Eve had estimated 500k guild points, max. Thus, Alan readily agreed to the deal, although it took him a few minutes to locate the map of the Abyss labyrinth within Eve’s data. In the meantime, Phantom took Alan's armor and put it into the Foundry, pushing a few buttons.

Phantom soon extracted the armor in pristine condition. He handed it back to Alan, along with a small metal ball that had popped out of the machine as well. This turned out to be a backpack that could expand and contract. If the weight was too large, it could even develop wheels. In the end though, it would still be limited by how much Alan could physically carry.

A few minutes later, Alan’s “first task” was completed. Alan immediately exchanged the hundred thousand guild points for a million credits, ready to surprise Icewolf by paying off the entirety of his debt. Phantom directed Alan to his new quarters, located only a few floors away from Phantom’s laboratory. According to Phantom, the desk that it came with had a secure call function that would serve Alan’s purpose of communicating, encrypting his call. If Icewolf’s end wasn’t secure though, there was nothing to be done.

Wishing Phantom a nice day, Alan stepped back into the elevator, taking it to his quarters. The elevator rose a few floors until it emerged from the field that prevented AIs from working, opening up into Alan’s new quarters. He had expected a small dormitory at best, perhaps a cramped space similar to his bunk in the Haxlard ship. Instead, the door opened to reveal a luxurious suite, complete with bathroom, which had a sauna and bath, a kitchen with a food dispenser, meaning Alan never had to visit the cafeteria again, a small personal gym, basically a smaller version of the treadmill room Alan had trained in earlier, a king-sized bed with giant screen, and what was labeled as a communications/media room.

As it was about time to begin his meeting with Icewolf, Alan entered the communications room. With Eve’s help, Alan was able to quickly start and set up the secure communications protocols on the device, although the settings and controls were fairly self-intuitive. Alan was sure he could have set up the call himself. Probably.

He began the call to Icewolf, who answered almost immediately. A screen appeared before Alan, displaying Icewolf, as lean as ever. With large bags under his eyes, Icewolf appeared more stressed than Alan had ever seen before. He wore a battered dark suit of light power armor that looked almost identical to the basic Scout Power Armor Alan first received. Behind him there was a dimly lit metal space, like a solitary confinement cell. Alan noted that the communication protocols Eve had set up simply showed Alan with a completely black background.

“Adampwnage! Or, I guess Alan now. Great to see you in the Game. Congratulations on joining the Black Rose guild! You and Kitana are only like the thousandth or so human to join a major faction,” Icewolf said to Alan, smiling widely.

“Um, thanks, it’s good to see you too," Alan said. "It really wasn’t much, Eve did a lot of the work.”

“Nonsense! Modesty doesn’t fit one of Earth’s brightest prospects. Trust me when I say I expect you’re going to make waves. I hear you’re going to the Academy and everything! Well, anyways, I guess I’ll cut straight to the chase, I’m sure you’re wondering what your class quest will be,” Icewolf said.

“Class quest? Oh, right, you’re my rogue mentor. So you get to choose my class quest or whatever? Maybe something easy?” Alan said.

“Ha! You wish. Unfortunately it seems almost all the quests I can offer you are difficult, but with great risks come great rewards, right?”—Icewolf scrolled down, looking at a screen before him—“I decided on a specific task a while ago, one which I hope you’ll be up to. I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but things on Earth are not as stable as they appear. Have you been following the local news lately, Alan?” Icewolf asked, looking up from the screen.

“Um, not quite…” Alan said sheepishly. He silently requested that Eve send him the most recent headlines on Earth. A number of articles appeared before him. Alan read them quickly, mouth agape. Each listed a series of escalating terrorist attacks and bombings around the world, all perpetrated by the Legion of Man. Within the Game, of course.

“Wow, these Legion of Man are causing serious destruction,” Alan said, looking up to see Icewolf staring at him intently.

“Yes they are,” Icewolf said slowly. “However, their attacks may be warranted.”

“What?” Alan said.

“Look, remain calm, what I’m about to tell you is something the United World Government is trying to keep under wraps as best they can. They can try to spin it any way want, but it's clear. They’ve fucked up,” Icewolf said with dead certainty, his eyes locked onto Alan’s. A weighty gravitas filled his words.

“When the Haxlards first came to Earth, with the Enforcers and Administrators, they offered what seemed to be lucrative deals, access to technology, infrastructure, and weapons that would take us years to create. So, of course, the United World Government readily signed contracts, under the assumption that the services and technology they bought could be paid for with resources found on Earth and within the solar system. What they have been trying to hide is that they do not have the full authority to the resources they thought they had. It gets a bit complicated, so please ask me if anything doesn’t make sense.

“Due to the nature of the Game, and the fact that a faction in control of a certain sector of space may not have that sector’s best interests at heart, any faction is limited in the amount of real world resources they are allowed to mine, a yearly quota that is strictly monitored by the Enforcer fleet. Of course, the Administrators wouldn’t allow a completely one-sided contract to be signed, but as a neutral party they couldn’t point out the United World Government’s flawed assumptions. For they are unable to use Earth’s resources to the degree they wish to, and have made a number of other flawed judgments.

“A large part of any faction's income is taxes, and they hoped to tax all of humanity as more people joined the Game. What they failed to take into account is the fact that they are only able to tax those who join the United World Government within the Game. For instance, just because you and I technically live on Earth, in San Francisco, does not mean that we are required to pay the United World Government anything. They have tried to draft laws that circumvent this in the real world, but every time they have been struck down by the Administrators. People are individual entities within the Game with their own rights, their real life situation does not matter.

“Another large issue is that the cream of the crop, the elite of the elite, are all joining other factions. Like you, for instance! Any reasonably intelligent person can clearly see the advantages to joining a well established faction like the Black Rose guild as opposed to a weak, unstable government still in its infancy. The politicians are still living in the past, and have yet to adopt new ways of thinking. They have allied themselves with the Haxlards, without realizing that as soon as they are unable to pay off the interest on the loans and debts, a bankruptcy will be declared, and as the debt holders, the Haxlards will be able to slowly buy up Earth!”

“Wait, you mean in a couple of years if we can’t pay off this debt Earth will be no longer in our hands? How much money are we talking here?” Alan asked, thinking about the priceless artifacts he had recently acquired.

“It’s on the scale of tens of trillions of credits. Trust me when I say there is little you, as an individual, can do. Sure, some galactic bank or even your guild could probably bail them out, but rules governing paying back debts in the Game, as you are likely aware of, can be quite complicated. While factions, governments and guilds, can do it, while individuals cannot, I doubt anyone would see it as a worthwhile investment, and there are simply too many hoops to jump through!

"One of the main reasons that the Haxlards are investing so much into Earth infrastructure is they aim to take over said infrastructure. They will claim it through economic warfare though, something that the early Earth government had little to no experience with, especially within the galactic economy and rule set.

“To answer your other question about a timeline, the most optimistic models actually anticipate that the United World Government can last 50 years or so before declaring bankruptcy, given its capital, but even then the model displays that a default is inevitable. Others say they may run out of money as soon as five years from now! I’ll send you the data, which I’ve prepared to convince you. I’m sure your AI will come to the same conclusions.”

Icewolf tapped a few buttons in front of him, and a stream of data began to flow to Alan. He sent it to Eve to analyze.

“Wait," Alan said. "If what you’re saying is true, why isn’t this a bigger deal? Surely if this information was broadcast widely people would realize something would need to be done, right?”

“Well , there’s a number of reasons. There have been attempts to spread this information on the internet, and elsewhere, but remember that information about the Game is severely censored by the Administrators! Over 95% of humanity is still unaware of the Game’s true importance! The vast majority of players who are in-game work for major corporations or the United World Government as indebted laborers, thus the information they receive is even more heavily censored, and they have a vested interest in keeping the United World Government alive as long as possible.

"New technology makes it easier for big brother type of control too. The few that are told in-person generally have one of two reactions: they are either disbelieving or simply accept it as government working as usual! After all, many of our governments have operated on extreme budget deficits for years. They do not realize that this deficit is tied to contracts made through the Administrators. Contracts that are severely enforced in the Game. Thus far, the Haxlards have been relatively lenient, but there is overwhelming evidence they are simply biding their time.

“And, that brings us to why I contacted you, why I wanted you on Mars. I am an operative of the Legion of Man and wanted to recruit you. I was the one who arranged for the death threat to be sent to you, but only to have you stay in place. Rest assured that no such action will ever be taken, even if you decide to side with the United World Government. The message simply killed a few birds with one stone, if you will, as it cemented in people’s minds that you are in fact an enemy of the Legion of Man. At the same time it placated those within the Legion that wanted to take actual action against you, as, to be honest, you did severely damage some fairly important operations. Now
—
”

“Wait, so that was you in-game in San Francisco?” Alan asked. Despite the alarming revelation, Alan remained rather calm. The fact that the death threat wasn’t real relieved him.

“Yes that was me, and your escapade actually motivated me to get a set of the armor you were wearing. It works quite nicely, though I see yours has… a number of improvements.” Alan detected a hint of jealousy in Icewolf’s tone.

“Anyways, moving on to the whole Legion of Man, our goals, why I joined and why you should join as well. The plan is quite simple, really. It’s to overthrow the United World Government and cement ourselves in power before the immunity period is up, developing allies and not deceptive enemies. It’s quite beautiful, you see, as Haxlards will not be able to directly aid the United World Government as long as the immunity period lasts, and if we successfully overthrow the government without causing too much damage, we will be able to take over all the defenses the Haxlards paid for, debt free! A faction victorious in war does not inherit the conquered faction’s debts, just its territory. So, you see, this is the one true path to freedom!” Icewolf gestured about wildly, punctuating each remark, animatedly showing that he believed this was the correct path.

“Uh, okay,” Alain said slowly, unsure of how to react to such unbridled enthusiasm. He thought that Icewolf was oversimplifying things. “Have you perhaps considered this is what the Haxlards want? After all, war is expensive, and it is undoubtedly wearing down the United World Government’s resources even faster.”

Icewolf shrugged. “A risk we have to take. It does not matter, for if we fail, then the Haxlards will simply take over Earth, sooner rather than later. Don’t you see? This is the only path, the only true way for freedom, for an Earth under human control.”

Alan began a response, then closed his mouth, as Eve was communicating with him. “Wait, let me think this through for a second, and discuss it with my AI,” he said.

“Of course, take as long as you need, this is heavy stuff,” Icewolf responded, bringing up a few screens to work on.

What do you think, Eve? 
Alan asked.

Based upon the data received and extrapolated from information available on the globalnet, I agree with Icewolf’s conclusion. In the long term, the United World Government is destined to fail, with about 99% certainty. Even before this new information I estimated there was a 80%+ chance for it to fall in the next few years. Yet, I am cautious to join or aid this faction, this Legion of Man. Our interactions with them have been rather hostile. They seem prone to violence, and we are still unaware of their power structure, or how they plan on governing Earth. For all we know they are run by a despot.

Yeah, I agree. Except I’m not so sure Icewolf will give me more information about the Legion if I’m hesitant to join… let me talk to him some more.