Solabeds were amazing in that they had both an entertainment and a medical factor to them. As a person used their solarbeds, they could scan his body for any radiation, ailment, or malformation and, given the number of resources one had on hand, they could even cure disabilities and regrow limbs.
Bor did not know what kind of contaminants he had been exposed to, despite all the protective gear he had on. They had been on a surface mission, a mission to the surface of the planet.
Gamar Corporation was a gargantuan conglomerate that dealt in everything. Even the solarbed he was using was built by them. Bor worked in the Assets Acquisition Department of the corporation.
While it sounded fancy, his position was no more prestigious compared to the miners and recyclers, only more dangerous. Bor and his crew, under the leadership of Susanne, their captain, would go to the surface to collect items and equipment that was supposedly lost.
While this was a relatively new position, Bor had jumped at the chance. His skills as a mechatronics engineer would prove extremely valuable to any crew.
Soon, the two formed a crew and embarked on rushing to dangerous places to retrieve many valuable items and resources that would definitely be useful to the folks above.
It was a profession filled with danger and excitement. In case one struck gold, they'd be set for life. Even Bor had been looking for something like that to set him up for life.
Ding!
His solarbed was charged and ready for use. Without much ado, Bor climbed in his bed and wore the helmet. Then with his mind, he thought: "Log in."
Polaris was the name of the 'main' virtual world. The virtual world, much like the internet, had multiple sites. However, due to the less than ideal conditions of the real world, most people loved to spend time online. Therefore, a 'main' virtual world was born.
Mirroring the functions of the main world, Polaris would replicate exact appearances of the user onto their avatars. Moreover, the avatars were linked to their official information. One could not just create an account, it was given during birth, along with their Social Security number.
Also, to promote fairness and equality, all Polaris avatars had as much ability as the individual in real life. Since one could not fly in real life, then none of the avatars could. However, there were machines built for the user's convenience in Polaris.
Polaris as a world was built by Marcus Briggs, a famous Game developer. This was in the time before the crisis, when man still lived on the surface. He'd been a fan of some book, so when he built his game, he named the world after the make-believe world in the book. Bor couldn't remember which book that was.
Polaris generally evolved to be much more than a gaming platform. Even court proceedings and elections were held in Polaris. A curious case occurred where the users of Polaris had more property in their Accounts compared to IRL (In real Life).
Bor wasn't an exception. While he did not spend a lot of time online given the nature of his profession, Bor had quite a fortune saved up, some so well hidden that even the Money Sniffer AIs and Anti-Money Laundering Service Worker AIs could not detect them, but that was his safety net.
Like most people, Bor found himself in this private apartment in Polaris. From here, he could choose directly where to go without having to walk there, after all, they were in a virtual world.
Clicking on a few porn sites, Bor clicked on his "Shield" button, which in turn tunneled through hundreds of sites while adding layers of encryption. This was a way to avoid being tracked by the authorities or anyone else who might be tracing him.
Suddenly, Bor found himself in a black stickman avatar standing in a shadowy hall. The first time he'd been here, he was quite creeped out by the place, but now, as a veteran, he just walked forward to the bar.
Everyone there was a stickman. The idea was to prevent anyone from knowing who they were interacting with, IRL. Similarly, one could not hear anything people were saying, and if they did, all they would get was gibberish. This was another form of encryption.
Even though it was virtual, Bor knew to keep his guard up. Everyone here was conducting nefarious deeds, so he just needed to get in, and get out.
Sitting at a table, Bor sent the agreed upon signal to the person he was supposed to meet. He checked the time and found that he was early, so all he could do was wait. There was a plethora of entertainment to keep him company until the person he was meeting arrived.
It didn't take long for someone to send the signal back, and by the time Bor was done pausing the fun he'd been having with the two orc maidens, he realized another stickman was sitting across from him.
The new arrival stickman even came with a golden viking's helmet, making Bor's plain old looking stickman avatar look impoverished. While these were just accessories added to the avatars, based on the level of encryption, such ad-dons were extremely expensive and also served other purposes.
Bor never really thought of getting one, not unless he was so rich that he wouldn't know what to do with his money. Such luxuries were left for the richie-rich. Something he was not at the moment.
"I heard you guys got quite a big haul," The helmet-wearing avatar said.
"We did alright," Bor answered, "Besides, you guys know more about what we got than even we do, after all, you're the ones appraising the materials."
"Hehe, naturally," Helmet, as Bor thought of him, chuckled, "I noticed some items were not on the manifest." Bor frowned, as the conversation was taking a different turn that usual.
Usually, the guy would just appraise their contraband and transfer the money to their Prime Accounts. Prime Accounts were accounts that not even law enforcement agencies could get to easily.
Much like the olden days' off-shore accounts, they were also heavily encrypted and hard to track, catering to the not-so-clean clientele. Even in the advanced age, crime and the underworld was still thriving.
"Must have been a mistake then. We include everything we find in the manifest. We are prepared to forgo any payments for items not on the manifest." This was Bor covering his ass. Something did not smell right.
The downside of dealing with stickmen was that one could not tell their facial features. They could be laughing or scared but you'll never know.
"Don't fret too much," Helmet said, "The money is in the account."
Bor did not bother staying there any longer. Even without confirmation, he would still walk away, making sure to warn off Susanne. Something was definitely off-script here.