CHAPTER TWO - New Friends
Cody approached the players, meeting them just as they walked onto the dirt path. There were four of them and they were, luckily, curious enough to stop and chat with him.
"Hey, guys," he said. Hardly a strong introduction, but he figured a little casualness might help when he dropped the metaphorical bomb on them: that is, when he informed them that their headsets were literal bombs.
"What's up, dude?" said the tallest of them, a guy by the username of MassiveWong. "Hey, you've got a sword. Were'd you pick that thing up? I sort of figured we'd start with weapons, but my inventory's empty."
Wong was hardly a looker to say the least. He was the sort of person that used the character creation tool to design the most monstrous appearance that a game would allow. And boy, did he outdo himself. Through means of some exploit, he had managed to exceed the number of wounds that a player was permitted to decorate their avatar with, turning himself into a hairless, wrinkly burn victim with a noseless head and two holes for eyes.
Cody saw a visored helmet in the man's future.
"Oh, this old shank?" Cody shrugged. "Bought it in the marketplace for a few talons. No biggie. Hey, just out of curiosity, did you guys notice that the logout button is missing?"
"Everyone has. That's what caused the panic in the square," said one of the others. MistyEX was her username, and, much to the relief of Cody's eyes, she and the others hadn't opted to make themselves look like residents of Hell like their pal Wong had. She did have a bust to make a statue jealous, however, and Cody had to exercise some willpower to avoid staring at it.
"A lot of players said they aren't moving until the developer does something about it," another guy in the group, Sax0bonez, added, his accent every bit as English as tea. "We're assuming it's a prank, but everyone's heard the jokes about this game turning out like Sword Art Online. Some people are rather frightened of their heads getting microwaved."
Cody stifled a sigh of relief. That was good news. If people were scared, that gave him more time before they started heading out of the gates.
"Were you guys the only ones who left the square, then?"
"Definitely not," said Wong. "Almost everyone wanted to check out the city. When Sax said a lot of players stayed in the square, he meant, like, a thousand max. This is a beta test on a Tuesday, dude — we all logged in because we're hardcore, no-life gamers. I mean, you're already grinding, so I'm sure you understand. Most of us don't even care if we do get trapped in here."
"Sad but true," agreed the last member of the group, Artyfist. His voice had the squeakiness of unfinished puberty to it, complimented well by his avatar's young appearance and meager height. Cody was almost afraid to learn his age. A man could only handle so much guilt at one time.
Cody began to work out a plan. If most of the users — upwards of nineteen thousand people — were roaming the city, then the gates would become as crowded as a convention center within the next few hours. That meant a good chunk of people would end end up wandering into the Everwoods and risk getting their brains fried.
The second step of his plan had clearly relied upon a warped idea of the human survival instinct. He was out of time already.
"What's up with that big tree dude over there?" Wong asked, pointing at the dead elderspawn.
Cody waved the question away. "Oh, that's just a little scuffle I got into, don't mind him. Nothing interesting to see."
Misty squinted at it. "Looks like an ent."
"Let's go look at him," Arty said. "Then I want to check out the forest."
"Ditto," Wong said.
"Wait!" Cody held a hand up to stop their advance. "Just wait a second. Listen, you really don't want to go out there."
Sax raised an eyebrow up his high forehead. "And why, exactly, do you say that?"
"Well, I mean — " he made a frantic gesture to the Everwoods — "just look at all that. Boring stuff, you know — just a bunch of trees and flowers, really. Why would you want to go near that when you've got an awesome city to explore? You should get some weapons first, at least. Have you checked out any of the taverns? You can still get drunk in VR, you know."
"Woah, no kidding?" Wong looked properly excited by the information.
"Is there something you'd like to tell us?" Sax asked, not taking the bait. He was clearly the brains of the bunch, and his avatar reflected it. A long face and deep laugh lines, a permanent frown of concentration, neatly combed hair — it all screamed scholar. Cody was willing to bet that he rocked a similar look in real life.
"No. Well, yes. Yes and no."
"What?" Wong asked, looking as confused as a man missing most of his face could look.
Cody sighed. He was as much of a people person as a hangman. Best he just come out and spill the beans at this point. No way around it, it seemed.
"It's not safe to go out there. Those guys in the square are right — dying in the game will kill you in real life.. Probably painfully, too, but I'm just guessing on that one — never had my head set on fire." He scratched his head. "Sorry, I use humor because I'm uncomfortable with tension."
They gave him blank looks rather than the gasps of horror he had expected. It was a little underwhelming, really, but understandable, they had no reason to believe him, after all.
"And how did you come about this news, exactly?" Sax asked.
Here was where stuff got slippery. The only proof he had was his username, and showing that off might bring along the frontier justice he had bought the cowl to protect himself from. He supposed it didn't much matter in the long run, though. Anonymity wouldn't be sustainable once he started a guild, as anyone he invited would see his username immediately. Best to pull the tooth out now and get it over with. Plus, these guys seemed a nice enough bunch.
"I could give you proof. If I did that, would you guys help me get the news out to people?"
"Well, yeah," Misty said. "We can't let people play the game thinking they can respawn if they really can't. That'd be pretty screwed up."
"I second that. Definitely don't want a bunch of dead people on my conscience. Where's your proof, bro?" asked Wong
That settled it. Cody opened his equipment menu and removed his cowl, restoring the username above his avatar's head.
"I'm Cody Hales, the developer of Gates Online. A few hours ago, my legal team told me about some issues with the headsets we shipped out. For some reason, a player dying in the game causes them to malfunction and explode. And if a headset is taken off before a clean login is performed by the player, a fatal stroke is induced. We've already had a few confirmed deaths both ways, which is why I logged in to tell everyone. What that means is — "
"We're trapped in the game," Misty said, and a smile played at her lips. It was the sort of smile one might see on the face of a person who had achieved their life's ambition whilst simultaneously orgasming and swallowing a mouthful of chocolate ice cream. Really good chocolate ice cream at that.
The other three wore similar smiles on their own faces, and Cody had a feeling that Wong had been correct — people who beta-tested on Tuesdays really must have no lives on the outside if this kind of news pleased them. It was a little alarming, to say the least, though definitely preferable to being lynched.
"Oh, man, this is sweet," Artyfist stuck his hand out for a shake. "It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Hales. I'm your biggest fan. I've read every book ever written on you."
Cody shook his hand. "Right, well, it's — it's nice to meet you too, man. I wish it were under better circumstances, but — "
"Better circumstances? This is a dream come true!"
Wong nodded. "Arty's right, dude. I put pizzas in ovens for a living, so this is basically the greatest thing that ever could have happened to me."
"I have to concur," Sax added. "I think another day of teaching hungover undergraduates might have turned me into an active shooter, so I do appreciate the rescue, Mr. Hales."
Cody held a hand up. "Okay, hold it. Hold the phone. I don't think you guys are hearing me right. I just told you that you're trapped in a video game, and that if you die in it, your heads will explode in real life. Why are you at all pleased with that, and have you considered readjusting your value systems?"
"The real world sucks." Misty held up two fingers. "It has a total of two good things in it: chocolate and video games. Now we can cut out the middle man that is reality and live in a video game forever. Well, for however long the hospital keeps us hooked up to life support, I mean."
"I've read that the government has to pay to keep us alive until we die naturally," Arty added.
Wong gestured to Arty. "Hear that, dude? You've given us a whole new life in here." He threw his long, scarred arms in the air. "Living off the government, baby! No more taxes, no more bills, no more nothing. Or will owning a house in this world still require that I pay bills? That's fine if it does — seriously, it is."
"No, you don't have to pay bills, but that really isn't important right now." Cody frowned. "Well, actually, you do if you build your own house, but it's more of a property tax, really. Scales with the value of the land."
Misty's smile grew a touch wider, threatening to stretch beyond the ends of her face. "We can build our own houses? How big can they be? Can we decorate them, too? What about a kitchen — can I have a kitchen in mine?"
"Or a library?" Sax asked.
"A jacuzzi would be cool," Wong added.
"No — no, for the love of god. I mean, yes, you can do all of that, but nobody's building any houses, alright? We're getting out of this game. I'm not letting anyone get mauled to death by giant wolves or dragons in an effort to afford a fucking condo. Not happening."
"And how do we get out, exactly?" Sax asked.
"Well, I'm still working on that. I just need people to stay inside of Odes while I figure out a plan. Shouldn't take too long."
Cody took a deep breath. Step two had been the end of his plan, really — spread the word to folks about their headsets. But what came after that? Without performing a clean logout, a player couldn't exit the game. And since a player couldn't perform a clean logout without a logout button, it seemed like they were at an impasse.
Unless . . .
Gates Online consisted of seven worlds, each possessing unique environments, monsters, and loot. Players started on World One, and they could only get to the next world by going through the gate at the very end of it. To open the gate, they had to defeat its keeper — a super powerful boss that required more than just one party or guild to take down. The whole goal was to get players to work together, to create an MMORPG that required wide-scale cooperation.
The gate in the seventh world lead to the final boss fight — the most difficult one ever put into a video game. It practically necessitated that a few thousand players be at one another's shoulders, fighting together like a real army, to beat it. And when they won, that was it: game over. The beta test would conclude, shutting down the server and forcefully logging out the testers.
That was their way out.
"Actually, scratch that. I think I already came up with something."
"We've got to beat the game, don't we?" Arty asked. "Defeat all the bosses or whatever, and then we'll get to go back to the real world."
"Well, yes, but how did you — "
"Oh, man," Wong said. "This is officially the greatest day of my life. I'm straight up in Sword Art Online. Pinch me, dude, I think I'm dreaming!" He held out his arm to Misty.
"Yeah, no. I'm not touching your gross Freddy Krueger skin," she said.
"Hurtful. Very hurtful."
"Very truthful."
Cody had to admit: there was a part of him that enjoyed their excitement. Gates Online was his life's work; it was a project he had attacked relentlessly since he dropped out of school at fifteen. All the countless hours of work and study, the social and physical deprivation he endured, the impossible amount of stress and anxiety — well, it was nice to know that it wasn't for nothing.
As for how long his new fans would appreciate being trapped in his game, however . . . well, he wagered they'd start singing a different tune before they even made it through the first gate.
"So how do we beat the game?" Misty asked.
"We defeat the gatekeepers on each of the seven worlds then take out the final boss." Cody ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't exactly plan on my game being permadeath, though, so we'll have to be smart about it. Very smart about it. First thing's first — we need to let people know what's going on with their headsets. Guild chat's the best way to do that, but I'll need another five levels before I can get that ball rolling. And since you guys said a bunch of people are already walking around Odes, I won't have time to manage it before some of them get here. Any suggestions?"
"You could just stop them and tell them what's up," Arty said.
"You think they'll listen?"
"Why wouldn't they? We listened to you. Just tell them what you told us."
"And if they decide to beat me to death when I reveal I'm the reason they're stuck in here?"
Sax stroked his chin. "That's a fair concern. I'm certain there are people in here who have lives they'd like to get back to, so emotional reactions should be expected. There's probably even some parents among us who are desperate to see their children again."
"Easy. I already feel bad enough as is."
"I recommend that you lie. Say a disgruntled rival set up this whole thing and that you jumped in to save us." He frowned. "I do have a question, though: why don't you use your administrative powers and cheat, make us all invincible or something?"
"Because I can't. Whenever I logged in, I got demoted to a regular user and spawned in the square just like you guys. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm willing to bet that it has something to do with these stupid headsets."
"Then say your rival hacked the server and stole your powers. The players will fall in behind you, I'm sure. Nothing like a common enemy and a beloved icon to unite people."
"Beloved icon, right — sounds just like me." Cody nodded. "Yeah, okay, that's the plan we're working with, then. Well, unless anyone else has a better one."
"Leonard," Wong said after a few moments of silence.
Cody and the others looked at him oddly, much like how one would eye a strange insect they hadn't seen before.
"Leonard?" Misty asked.
"Yeah, well I figure the evil rival guy should have a name. Leonard seems like a good one — sounds pretty evil."
"Leonard it is," Cody said. "Let's hope this plan works. And let's hope Leonard keeps me from getting guillotined in the square."
"It has to work; we don't have time to come up with another one." Misty pointed at a cluster of buildings beyond the gates. "Look — people. A lot of them, too."
Sure enough, what looked like hundreds players were walking into the opening before the gates, and even more were rounding the corners behind them. Now was the time to put their plan into action, while they were all gathered together and in somewhat manageable numbers. Once they broke from the pack, things would get messy.
"Alright, guys, follow my lead. Odes is a non-PvP zone, so let's meet them as far in as we can. No need to deliver bad news in a place where punches can deal damage."
Cody ran through the gates, and his new friends followed behind him. He stopped before the crowd of players, and they came to a halt. It might have been his sword and shield that did it; none of them had any equipment, so even with the cheap gear he had gotten from the marketplace, he managed to stand out.
His breaths grew quick as they always did before a speech.
"Everyone," he began, "my name is Cody Hales. I've got a couple of things I need to tell you."