Play of Shadows

Chapter 12.1: Contract

Those who did not know the VR industry well would be surprised to find its current monarch a start-up less than a decade old, with twenty odd games under its name.

VELES tech dominated the VR field. However, VELES games were few and expensive – VR giants like INFINITE and YOMI still topped the market in terms of sheer sales. In terms of actual market weight, VELES was very much on shaky ground. It was a poor business model. Even Ann could tell, and Ann had only taken the one econ class in college.

"You should invest in building your brand," Ann told the man sitting across from her, waving a forkful of pancakes in admonishment. "A cute mascot, like a fox or a platypus or something. Swag. Non-immersive quality games for the normal gamer to play. This exclusive, rich-person-thing you've got going on is gonna flop at some point. The curve's gonna flatten. There are two lines, right? Supply and demand. And they cross..."

Ann mumbled the last of it, chewing as she thought. She hadn't done too well in that econ class.

The man watched her without a change in expression. One of the bodyguards standing at attention behind him choked on a laugh while his colleague looked at Ann like he was considering tackling her, just in case her ramblings developed into something more dangerous.

There were other people in the room. Technicians prodding at Ann's pod and medical personnel prodding at Ann. Barton, the woman who had put Ann in the pod in the first place, was checking a device attached to Ann's arm even as they spoke. Ann assumed it was recording her vitals somehow, but she wasn't sure. Much of the tech she'd seen after walking into VELES HQ was entirely new to her. This included the shiny, egg-shaped gaming pods. Ann already missed hers. It was more comfortable than her bed and it could talk. How cool was that?

"Was her brain affected?" the man in the suit spoke at last.

He was talking to Barton. Ann huffed around her pancakes and sped up her chewing so she could tell him off quicker, but the woman was faster.

"There are no problems with her readings. Some confusion and loss of inhibition is normal in the emersion period."

Ann blinked, trying to process that tidbit. Sure, she used to get nauseous and cranky after leaving a VR game, but that was back in her rookie years when VR was still rough around the edges. She'd at most get a headache after a particularly strenuous session nowadays. The honey-like fatigue that clung to her mind was absolutely not normal.

The woman's words seemed to be as good as fact for the suited man. He pinned Ann under a severe, focused stare. Ann shuffled back by instinct and didn't forget to pull her pancakes with her as she went.

There was a slight pause and another smothered chuckle from the bodyguard, then the man spoke again.

"Miss Sufort," the man began. "The contract you signed with VELES stipulates that you must recount your experience in-game to aid extraction efforts. Our conversation is now recorded. Please begin."

Ann glanced at the man's right wrist. A flash of silver peeked from under his pressed cuffs – Ann bet it was a cerebral terminal. She almost asked to see it; the outer-brain field was in its infancy and chances to interact with the actual tech were as rare as a lottery win.

It took some effort, but she managed to hold her tongue. The emersion haze seemed to be lifting.

Ann retold her time in Lona down to the most minute detail. It was a slow going, made slower by frequent questions from VELES staff.

"How did you know dying was the right way out?" a tech asked, her eyes wide behind her thick glasses.

Ann shrugged. "One of the tasks required harvesting five poisonous flowers. There were six players. The priest character in charge of exorcism didn't have the same end task as the rest of us; he had to stay until the end but didn't need to leave the castle. He only needed to finish his exorcism mission – which was to exorcise five ghosts. We put it together eventually."