Play of Shadows

Chapter 13: Intermission

Naturally, the contract was not really so easy to sign.

After the virtual conference came to an end, those who accepted the invitation to join the rescue team were visited by lawyers brandishing recording devices and yet more forms in need of formal notarization. Players were briefed in small groups overseen by harried VELES employees. Only a select few received individual attention, on account of an inconvenient identity or other special circumstances.

Ann was in this second group. She was unaware of the preferential treatment, but greatly appreciated the private nature of the process.

The lawyer spoke for some time. Ann listened quietly and provided her signature when told. The contract was digital and required a fingerprint match along with her hand-written name and identification number. By the end of it, Ann was certain she'd scraped off a layer of skin on the tablet's shiny screen.

Once the lawyer team left, VELES representatives turned the conversation to the actual game plan. Lisa, the technician who had been tasked with minding Ann after her emersion from the test instance, took charge of the meeting.

"You will work in teams," she told Ann. "A hundred and twenty-seven players signed up for the rescue team. We expect that number to decrease by half within the first round of the mission and retain a certain level of attrition thereafter."

Ann frowned. "That high?" It was not an unusual number for competitions, where players had to win a spot in order to advance. However, this was a cooperative mission and the participants were all professionals.

"That is what our models predict. Naturally, we would be delighted to be proven wrong." Lisa pushed up her glasses, the lenses flaring with the overhead light. She didn't appear too hopeful.

"The mission completion rate is expected to be in the ninetieth percentile for the first round of the mission. The efficacy rate is predicted to go down in each successive round," Lisa replied.

There were charts and numbers to support those statements. Ann's head started aching halfway through the data review.

"VELES games are unique in that they exist in the same universe. You may think of them as planets orbiting a single sun. The corruption originated in an inner world and is spreading gradually. The system walled itself off in a miscalculated defense response, effectively trapping all who happened to be within its network at the time."

"How does that work?" Ann asked. "What's it like for those inside?"

Lisa shook her head with obvious regret. "We do not know with certainty, but based on the data retrieved from scrapped worlds, it is likely that the game instance has either stalled at the time of corruption or is otherwise running in a loop. The effect on players is unknown."

Ann's gut clenched. "Then, Castle Lona..."

Lisa hesitated, looking to her colleagues for advice. Their expressions were similarly uncertain.

"The world collapsed," the woman said at last. "The fallout was too severe, and the players within did not survive. Their avatars were integrated into the corrupted instance, which repeats consistently up to the moment of death if no external force is introduced. We received permission from the affected families to use the instance in the rescue efforts."

Ann's eyes reddened. She swallowed over the lump in her throat, trying to focus on the practical implications of the conversation. "They did not act like NPCs."

She was thinking of that final moment around the table. The players had thanked her in turn, acting as if Ann had done them a great kindness. She had found it strange at the time. It was even stranger now, knowing that she was in fact communicating with strings of data unattached to a human mind.