Elysium

17. DISTORTED R34LITY

System Administrator:

In a green neon room filled with smoke, a group of young people often gather to make plans and discuss the future. The location can be easily attributed to the event live, but it is displayed as the most ordinary chatroom. Chatroom with password. Entrance only for the elite. It is the only one of its kind, the only chatroom where not everyone can get into. A small room reminiscent of the basement of an abandoned school - the walls are painted with graffiti, there is a blackboard with chalk in the corner, creepy dolls without eyes are seated along the wall.There is a table in the middle of the room. Beer cans, chips, candies, an ashtray filled with cigarette butts - every few minutes they disappear, like any garbage in the virtual space. Opposite the table are several old TVs - boxes stacked on top of each other, white noise on the screen. They are just part of the scenery.It's all part of Levi's plan.

He gathered like-minded people around him, driven by some kind of an abstract plan, which seems to him as something ingenious and large-scale. In theory, it is, only he doesn't reveal all the cards. Too soon, plus they probably won't understand. All these juvenile users are essentially interested only in the very fact of some kind of rebellion. Levi knew how to attract them. He created his own hangout within the virtual world. He sets his own rules. No lies, no masks. Everyone knows a maximum of real information about each other, real names and place of residence, no avatars created from scratch, only synchronization with a real face.

Initially, he got to know the users, talked to them for a long time, figured out what they were interested in, and then made notes about everyone he came into contact with. It was important to meet someone from his hometown. Levi was also interested in socializing outside of Elysium. The list was not very impressive - only eight people, but for a start it was enough for him. He needed more than just casual users. He was looking for personalities, even if they were very faded, almost lost. If in the process of communication Levi understood that a user could be inspired by some idea and infect him with it, then he immediately added such users to his list of "like-minded people". He was also interested in hackers. And there were many of them in Elysium. Often they were blocked, but they didn't bring any special problems. They could accrue more physical minutes to themselves than allowed, or hack another user to view the history of visiting private event lives. Nothing more. Levi needed their skills and ability to do everything without being noticed. At least for starters.

"If we need a bigger chatroom, who can take over the organization?" he asks the group of assembled users. "Take an organization" means to hack and put a password on the chatroom. They didn't create their own locations, they hacked existing ones, and that was the point.

"Does a bigger chatroom equals a highly rated chatroom?" asks one of the users.

"Like Occam's Razor," Levi chuckles.

Those present are silent.

"So what, guys? Who will do it?" he asks again.

"Well, I can, but I need help. Recently I was in a good room, very dark one, with a lot of people inside, but there was a bug in the schedule due to overload. In short, the location is in demand, so it will suit us," says one of Levi's close friends, Hakim.

"Excellent. So we're having a party there? Does anyone have any other ideas?"

Another guy rises from the floor and opens a hologram of another location in front of him.

"We can have a party on the beach. This location - 'dawn till dusk' - is a good option. It is beautiful, but couples in love usually hang out there, that is, there are no attributes for a party, but we can upload them there through the catalog. I have access to it, there are more than a hundred elements free for the first use," he suggests.