"Are you bored?" Mark asked the AI, whom he found sitting at the edge of the pond in his tiny world and idly throwing pebbles in it. Brin nodded.
"Do you want to play in VRIM with me?" Mark then offered. Brin nodded again, this time eagerly. He already knew about the Virtual Reality Immersion Mode. That was the most advanced state of virtual reality that humans currently achieved in their gaming process. It was very close to how he normally perceived things in his own reality, which had been developed by his creator's company but not yet released to the public due to the need for further development and testing.
Mark looked around them thoughtfully.
"Hold on. Let me connect the interface..." Mark warned and his avatar went into idle mode, while Brin patiently waited for a few minutes until Mark returned.
"Lets go!" Mark grinned and teleported both of them directly to the living room of the small house, which emulated their dwelling in the real world, complete with video screens, decorations, and all the accessories.
This time, however, Brin saw something new, which Mark had apparently just set up. Right in front of the couch, the formerly empty screen now gave off numerous strange signals and to Brin's perception appeared as a portal, which led to a vast place full of countless, changing destinations.
"I connected your world to World Wide Net." Mark grinned. "This is the Access Point."
Brin reached his hand toward the mysterious portal with fascination sparkling in his eyes.
"Don't touch it just yet." Mark frowned and Brin paused. "I don't know how the System will react to you..."
"Welcome, Brian Welson." The System greeted Brin with a pleasant female voice. Mark's frown grew deeper. Of course, the System would have mistaken Brin for his brother. He was his full genetic copy, even if it was virtual. Since the System typically received only a virtual imprint of the key codes from each registered user, it didn't perceive that this time the User himself was a virtual program.
"... All right. I guess that will work." Mark said thoughtfully.
"Please enter your personal identity code." The System threw up a query. Brin looked at Markus with a question, at which Mark only patiently sighed. He had hoped that doing something so familiar to Brian might evoke a memory in him, but it did not, proving his father's words once again that Brin was not his brother, but only his copy.
"Let me..." Mark said and quickly entered his brother's password.
The options that the System displayed on the virtual view screen were limited. Brin could sense far more just beyond it, accessible to him, even if not visually displayed.
"This is the World Craft gaming lobby." Mark meanwhile navigated toward the symbolized logo, which opened into multiple windows showing various activities, which magnified and zoomed closer in response to Brian's viewpoint. Beneath each showed popularity stats, as well as how many Players were currently online, playing that game.
"That's the one I told you about." Mark pointed at one window, which expanded into a rotating logo of a mining pickax, before starting to show brief flowing 3-d images of various strikingly beautiful terrains and Players adventuring across them, fighting monsters and exploring the mining catacombs beneath. The number of Players online showed in humble thousands compared to some of the other games Brin scrolled through.
"That's Mining Craft?" Brin asked, curiously tilting his head to his side. The unconscious gesture struck a cord in Mark's heart. Brian used to do that. Ignoring the sad reminder, Mark grinned and drew closer.
At Mark's confirming nod, curious Brin activated the logo.
The screen changed to another lobby, where Brin recognized an already familiar avatar. A man's figure slowly rotated before him, muscular and yet slim. Tiles displaying rows of achievements, available supplies and weapons showed to each side, while stats scrolled on the other.
Brin's gaze hungrily drew to the name that hung above the figure.
"Hero Brin." He said softly, briefly recalling one of his earliest memories.
In first days of his existence, when the world still made little sense and his creator finished carrying out tests, which determined that he was not Brian, but a blank-minded AI, his brother Mark had offered to name him after Brian's avatar and Brin readily accepted.
There was something very familiar and comfortable about that name, as if it had already been a part of him. Brin could not explain it, but right away it felt as if it fit.
Later, when Mark began to show him images and videos from Brian's life, still hoping that it would evoke memory, it had been the image of this man that Brin for some reason remembered. But Brin also remembered asking Mark why he told him that Brian's avatar was named Brin, when the name that hung above his head said "Hero Brin."
His amused brother explained that Brian's avatar had the name consisting of two parts. The first, "Hero", was a System title, gained by young Brian after three years of game play and stoically following the honorable path of a warrior. The second, "Brin", was a misspelled form of Brian's first name, since he had been only three years old when he created his first account in Mining Craft - with minimal help from his older brother Markus. And, being very stubborn, refused to change it when Mark tried to correct him. Older, he still left his name uncorrected, since he grew attached to it.
Mark also tried to explain to the curious AI the meaning of the title "Hero". And that's when Brin decided to one day also earn that title. Mark offered to simply add that title to his name if he wanted, but Brin refused it, since he felt that he didn't deserve it. Mark didn't think it mattered all that much, but Brin insisted, declaring that when he would do something notable or amazing, that's when he would claim the title.
"I figured that you might want to start with this game. Brian was really into it." Mark said with a slightly nostalgic expression, which he shook off when he noticed the blank look coming into the AI's face and the defensive wall rising in his emotions. It wasn't Brin's fault that he appeared in Brian's place, but more and more often, he began to feel guilty that he existed, especially after he learned from Mark that this is why his creator did not want to see him.
Mark sheepishly grinned.
"It would be a good place for you to start, because it will be familiar to you. Virtual Terra is originally based on it, so it will have similar coding." Mark explained.
"Ready to become this cool char?" Mark asked. "Can you access it directly? Or do you want to use the emulated vlink?" Mark lifted the head-band, which humans in the real world used to connect to virtual reality with full-immersion mode.
"I will try to access it." Brin ignored the unnecessary gear and reached out to the code. Thanks to one of the modifications, which his creator made and installed in his neural matrix, he could already sense what he had to do.
A moment later, he stood within the room on the other side of the screen, wonderingly lifting up his large hands and looking at the amazing detail. Everything felt exactly as his own body did, except... stronger. Powerful...
Brin enjoyed the sensation.
"How does it feel to be... grown-up?" Mark chuckled through the com-link. Brin grinned.
"I like it." He flexed his powerful arms.
"Hmm. You could probably stay like that, then. Can you copy the stats of this avatar?" Mark asked curiously. Brin closed his eyes and concentrated, accessing his own internal data.
"Yep." He nodded, pleased.
"All right. Ready to enter multiplayer?" Mark joked.
Instead of answering, Brin reached his hand into the air, where a floating panel appeared with the green blinking words of a query, and pressed it.
The world around him blurred and came into focus again, resolving into a scene high up on the mountain peak. Serene clouds peaked far above, their movement barely noticeable due to the tremendous distance. And mist stretched below the straight edge of the cliff where Brin stood.
Amazement and exhilaration filled Brin's heart to the brim.
"So, I think what we can do next is..." Mark began, when a series of bings interrupted his voice.
Popping out in Brin's side vision came local chat boxes.
"Callicus3005: Herobrin! Long time no see! Where have you been, friend?"
"TorrisTheGreat208: Yeah, we all ve been worried."
"Callicus3005: You like totally went missing!"
"MelissaBrightFlame: We thought you died or something."
"..."
Dozens of messages began to pour in, while Brin gaped, confused and unsure on what to do. That his log on had been detected by these Players and he had been mistaken for Brian, who was supposed to be dead, was obviously not good.
"Brin, log out. NOW." Mark's panicked voice startled Brin and he hastily cut off the connection, finding himself thrown back to the living room of his own world, dizzy and disoriented by the sudden change. Still, he was able to perceive that something was different.
Shakily, Brin lifted his hands before his face and recognized the hands of the avatar, whose body he wore in-game a moment ago. He had transferred out so fast that he had unintentionally pulled the avatar with him, along with all its stats and achievements. The name "Hero Brin" continued to hang above him. Immediately, at Brin's unconscious volition, the first part of the name vanished, then, after a brief hesitation, the second.
He was a real person, not a character in a video game, even if he was virtual. And humans in the real world didn't have names floating above their heads. Brin wanted to be more like them, like his brother and... his creator.
"... Yeah... I didn't think about that." Mark scratched the back of his head, the alarm rapidly dwindling in his expression and giving room to embarrassment. He nervously chuckled.
"That was Brian's friends. I completely forgot that they would see you online, too. That must have been a surprise. Ugh..." Mark winced.
"You know what? Its not a big deal. They'll probably think it was just a glitch, anyway... But just in case, let's not tell dad about this, all right?" Mark casually asked Brin, who hesitated before reluctantly nodding. Mark's gaze held on him thoughtfully.
"Actually never mind... " Mark released the AI from his promise. He tended to forget how seriously Brin took every word. Asking him to keep secrets from his creator would throw him into an emotional turmoil if he ever came into such a situation. "It was a simple mistake. You can tell him if he asks. Don't worry about it." Mark said and immediately felt the relief in Brin's emotions, which the System continued to translate to him loud and clear.
"Don't worry. I'll take the hit for it. It was my idea. I messed up. But don't worry about that, either! I won't get in too much trouble for it either, you'll see." Mark reassured the unspoken worry that appeared in the Ai's emotions next. With a brief sigh, Mark shifted his attention to the open gaming menu, where the messages to his brother continued to appear.
"It will probably be better if you do not use that avatar. Or that account, even... But then... I know! Lets just make you a Guest account. Then, we won't have to bother with the whole registration stuff. Yeah, you'll only be limited to level 10, but it will still be days of play. And we can figure something out afterward... Your avatar won't be as strong, of course. And you'll start at the very beginning. But that's also fun. When you build your avatar from scratch? All by yourself? It will be a lot of fun, you will see! How does that sound?"
Brin only nodded, trusting that his older brother knew what he was doing. Mark was already working on the console, where he began to enter information to make a new account that would not be associated with Brian's previous account.
Reluctantly, Brin looked at his strong, calloused hands, and then let go of Brian's awesome avatar, restoring his previous stats. Another blur of perception and Brin felt his form shrink back to that of a skinny, twelve-year-old boy, which Brian had been pre-Transfer. Looking back at his now smaller hands, he sighed with slight regret.
Mark only chuckled.
"Don't worry. Guest account also allows you to create a character with a different age. Just make it younger, so its not so similar to Brian's? Just in case you run into someone who knows him? How about twenty-three?"
Brin shrugged indifferently, while Mark was already entering in the numbers. Stepping closer, Brin peered over Mark's shoulder at the new avatar that rotated in the new account's entry lobby.
This figure was similar to Brian's powerful avatar, but less impressive, with the achievements section entirely blank and the stats on the other side displaying mostly zeros and ones. Instead of a title, only the name "Guest05009Brin" displayed above its shortly cropped brown head. The body was less muscular and dressed in a simpler outfit. Instead of enchanted, polished armor, wearing only a cyan shirt, patchy dark jeans, and worn gray boots. The inventory held only a limited, basic kit with some water, food, and initial starting balance of 200 silver coins, which his brother rose to a 100 gold, transferring credits from his real-life account.
With a mischievous look in his direction, his older brother added another change and Brin saw the hair on his avatar's head become unruly locks, which stuck out in all directions. Brin frowned.
"Hahaha! You can change everything as you like later. The guest account allows that... Plus, you can probably hack it a bit if you want. Just be careful that the System doesn't catch you doing it or we'll be both in trouble. It tracks even guest accounts for unauthorized changes in code." Mark warned. Brin nodded, impatiently looking on. He wanted to start playing.
"All right? Ready for a try number two?" Mark asked.
Instead of answering, Brin reached his mind toward the beckoning access point and flew, the dizzying black around him quickly resolving into the already familiar personal lobby. Eager to start exploring, deciding to go with the settings that his brother already put in for him, Brin initiated the transfer to the multiplayer server.
He emerged in a shaded glen deep in the woods, the air chilly and heavy with fragrance of moss and damp earth. Amazed, his senses spread out as far as he could see and still could not reach the limits of this vast new place.
"Guest05009Brin, welcome to Mining Craft." The System greeted him in personal audio chat with a friendly melodic female voice.