Jack stood there staring into the holo-screen. The screen clarity got better as the connection improved. "JP?! Is that really you?!" Jack exclaimed, his sudden outburst caused some of the students to walk over to him. One of the guys ran over, it was JP's brother. "JP is here too?! Do you know what is going on…" Jack held a hand up to quiet everyone and the commotion that they were making.
"Hey JP, so you're here as well."
"Yeah dude, It's surreal right now, like we are in Star Citizen! It's nuts!"
"Well actually, I believe we are in another reality that is 1:1 with Star Citizen…"
Jack went on to explain his interaction with the Janitor. At that point, everyone was around him when he was on the phone, which saved him from needing to explain to everyone what conclusion he had come to.
"Well JP, where are you at? Are you here at Lorville as well?"
"No, a group of 20 or so people and I are here at Orison on Crusader."
People started talking around Jack, he had to shush them once again.
"Twenty people! Who all is there?"
"Well, everyone here are students that were on the West side of campus. We got a couple of dudes from our Org, oh a group of people are coming our way… DUDE! The Faculty and professors are here!"
"WAIT! Really?!"
"Yeah, dude! Wait, I think I see your mom…"
Jack's Mom worked at his college, it was nice since he could stop by her office once and a while and check in on her. He was about to say something but the video call glitched and dropped. Looking up there was a storm rolling in, "The storm must be affecting the signal." He turned to Gary, "Hey could you make sure that everyone stays here? I need to go check on something." Gary nodded. Jack went up the stairs to the 2nd floor and entered the elevator with 2 other guys.
"What floor?"
"Main floor please"
One of the men looked at him, "You're going to need a face covering, air is especially bad today." He reached into his bag and pulled out a ring with plastic on it. "It's a Ready-Up Helmet, it's not much but it will help you breathe from building to building. Take it, I bought like five of these suckers." Jack accepted it, "Thank you so much, I appreciate it." The man nodded and got off the elevator since he was on his floor. Jack put the ring over his head and let it slide down. Once it was at his neck a rubber ring clamped down on his neck sealing the helmet. It felt like he was in a plastic bag because he was. Once the door opened to the elevator he recognized the outside, this was his floor. He stepped off the elevator and felt the heat and thickness of the air on his exposed skin. It didn't hurt but just felt weird. "There is no way that this is a dream." He walked forward and saw that some item banks were lining the wall. Jack wondered if he had anything in there. He walked up, the screen glowed to life after his motion woke it up.
Jack placed his hand on the screen, a light hum sounded and then it unlocked. He could see different items that were in his possession that were at this location. It was strange all of his items were there. "It's strange, it's like I'm in the game. Yo! My favorite armor and helmet are here." A series of vibrations on his wrist diverted Jack's attention away from the screen. Looking down he saw that JP was calling him again. "What's up, bro?"
"Sorry, I accidentally hung up. But, some interesting things happened. The professors and faculty are also here and we gained more people, we have like 50 people here on Orison now."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Jack asked. "Like it's cool that other people are here, but most of them are separated from their families and friends."
"Yeah, how are you holding uppppp…" JP trailed off, "Yo, did you hear me say that your mom was here?"
Jack's eyes widened, he had heard him say that, but it must have not registered in his head. "Really?! Could you put her on for me?"
JP turned around and held his wrist out so Jack could see her. "Honey is that you?! What did you do?"
Jack paused, "my computer blew up, it was the source of that light. Is that what brought us here? Is this all my fault?"
"Hello? Hellooo…"
Jack snapped out of it, "Yeah! What's up?"
"You ok honey?"
"Yeah, mom… hey, me and JP need to figure some stuff out. But, I love you, stay safe ok?"
"Love you too honey, please be careful as well."
"I'll try."
JP, turned the camera around to face him. "Alright, we need a plan. I got in contact with some other org members when we were gone. Sounds like a few people are on microTech and ArcCorp."
"By the way, have you gone and checked out the inventory lockers?"
JP smiled, "Yeah dude, I have all my stuff. How is that possible?"
"I don't know bro, I also have all my stuff. It's kind of funny, if this was a book or a movie this would be a massive plot hole that the writers would have to explain. But I'm not complaining, I'm going to let you go and get changed into my armor. Then I'm going to check the ship terminals if I also have all my ships."
"Alright, I'm going to do the same. Catch you later."
"Wait, if you get a chance ask everyone to get together and meet up somewhere. Keep me informed." Jack asked before the call ended."
Jack unlocked the interface again selected his armor and helmet and pushed transfer. A whirr and mechanical sounds came from the machine. Then a door opened at Jack's feet, and the boxes that held his armor sat there. Picking up the boxes he moved to the portion of the bottom floor that was that had fresh air pumped in. After finding a secluded corner to change Jack placed down the armor crates to be changed into. Once he put on his under suit he began armoring up. He bent down and opened the lid of his core armor's case. The front of it was a rich navy blue with a Crusader symbol beneath the neck. "Ah yes, my ADP armor. I remember I took this off a dead Crusader security guard." At that moment of time, he was just playing the game. He put on the core piece and the matching arms and legs. He stood there with his armor on, Jack would have been thrilled, but he felt full of shame. "Back then the guard was just an NPC, but if he was here he would be a real person. The more I'm here the more and more I believe that this is not the game but a new world… no… a new universe just like it. These are real breathing people with minds, thoughts, and ambitions." Jack grabbed his helmet **and walked to the entrance of the building.
He stood there looking out onto the walkway that was bustling with activity. People going to and from work, guards keeping the public safe, and pilots walking towards the spaceport tram to start their flight. Jack looked down at his helmet, It was a Morningstar made of Black Steel, It was his favorite. "Is our situation permanent? I'm so glad to know my mom is here with us, but I'm sad… my dad isn't here." Jack's dad was his stepdad, but his stepdad took him in and loved him like his own son. In Jack's mind he was his real dad, "I never got to say goodbye or I love you," Jack bowed his head. "Lord, please tell my dad I love him, and thank you for being there for me when I needed him most." Tears filled Jack's eyes, after wiping them away he tossed his helmet up, rotated it around, and placed it on his head. The neck connected to the core piece with a snap, lights lit up inside the helmet and a HUD popped up. "Now it looks like I'm actually in the game"
Jack walked out of the entryway and felt the heat fill the suit, quickly a cold breeze came into the suit. "Huh, apparently the suit has AC of some sort." He walked up to a group of pilots
"Hey guys, I'm new to the area, could I join you to the spaceport?"
The three pilots looked at each other and nodded in agreement. One of them reached out his hand for a handshake. "Welcome to Lorville, my name is Nicholas Verse!" Nicholas pointed to the pilot on his left wearing red armor. "This is Big Red, and this is Concept24. What's your name newbie?
"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Jack, Jack Thorne"
The four guys started towards Tessa Spaceport.
"So Jack Thorne, what brings you to this part of the verse?" Nicholas asked.
Jack looked over towards the city seeing the beauty that he had fallen in love with in the game Star Citizen. "Oh, just some odd circumstances…"