《These Games We Play》 The Node When first contact was made, it wasn¡¯t through some observatory. It wasn¡¯t through some interstellar colonization ship. It wasn¡¯t even through some kind of flying saucer landing on the White House lawn. It was through Node Sol-3, which landed in the middle of Alaska. As far as we can tell, now, it¡¯s some kind of Von Neumann probe. It lands on planets with sapient life, replicates itself, and then sends copies of itself off into the unknown. As for the original - the one that landed on the planet? It replicates, spreads itself across the different continents¡­ And it connects people to the Simulation. It goes by many names, of course - The Game, the Dimension, the Tree - I think the Reilans have a word for it that, roughly translated, goes like ¡®Second Life and Rebirth in the Dreamworld of the Ancestors¡¯. It¡¯s a bit of a mouthful. We still haven¡¯t met any alien species in person - interstellar distances are simply too great - but the Dreamworld is the next best thing. Some kid, Charles Notley, in the middle of Alaska, was the first to find it. After touching it, it ejected a little earpiece. Since he¡¯d watched plenty of sci fi movies, he knew it was clearly a terrifying mind control device that would turn him into the first of an alien invasion wave. Either that, or it was some kind of badass alien technology that would give him superpowers, or let him transform into different animals. Naturally, he put it on without a second thought. Now, I wasn¡¯t there, of course, but I assume what he saw next was something like this. The world faded to black, and he found himself in a simulated environment indistinguishable from the real world - except, of course, for the fact that this world was of some alien landscape that couldn¡¯t have existed on Earth. Welcome to the Simulation, A voice in his head would have spoken in perfect English. You are user SOL-3-000000000001. And the rest, as they say, was history. The government did its best to keep things under wraps - to keep the tech and the Earpieces contained. Letting alien technology spread across the planet wasn¡¯t really the safest thing to do. In the end, though, they had no choice, and no means of stopping it. Luckily, it wasn¡¯t hostile. Whatever the Ancients, or Precursors, or Elders wanted, it wasn¡¯t conquest. Notley got all the fame an eighteen-year old kid could ask for, of course. Media interviews, a book and a movie deal, and of course, the prestige of being User Number 1 on planet Earth. It wasn¡¯t long before everyone was playing. It was funny how random chance worked out - because it wasn¡¯t all that different from the MMORPGs of ages past, if you ignored the impossible visual fidelity and galaxy-spanning, zero latency speeds. For VR MMO enthusiasts, it was a bit of a dream come true. And humans were good. Really good. People crowded around Notley in the years that followed. After all, being User One meant he had early access to everything. He runs one of the largest Human guilds now - and they¡¯ve got more than a few alien members. I got early access to everything, too, though I kept that under wraps for as long as possible. I wasn¡¯t in it for the fame. I just wanted to play the game. I wasn¡¯t User One. I was User Two.
The day the Node landed was like any other. I woke up in a daze, went through school in a daze, and stumbled home in a daze. When I got home, I grabbed a snack and went straight to my room. It was a messy place, littered with books and posters. The only clean area was the space around my VR station, which was the latest high-end SimStation. A headset and a pair of gloves hung on a rack nearby. I slid on my equipment and booted up Striking Distance II. Though I¡¯d already beaten it three times, I¡¯d always enjoyed speedrunning, and I was looking forward to shaving a few minutes off my last time.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. And then, as I was putting my headset on, a fucking meteor landed outside town. I saw it through my bedroom window. ¡­Striking Distance could wait, I decided. Getting to the crash site was a trick and a half, and involved a dog, a rusty bike, and no small amount of shouting from my mother - but I¡¯ll tell that story another day. When I got there, I found the Node sitting in the middle of a smoking crater. Charles was on the ground nearby, with an Earpiece behind his ear. ¡°¡­Charles?¡± I called cautiously. ¡°You okay?¡± There was no response. I drew a little closer just to check his pulse, and his Earpiece blinked. Once I was satisfied that Charles was okay, I approached the Node, which whirred as I drew close. It was about three meters tall, and a roughly spherical. A stand at the bottom was already burrowing into the earth, scooping dirt and other materials into the bottom of the Node. A port on the side ejected a second Earpiece as I drew close. And naturally, since I¡¯d watched a little too much sci fi, I picked it up. A display on the side of the Node showed a glyph of a human being wearing an Earpiece, with picture instructions that showed how to properly attach the device. I was intrigued. I wasn¡¯t stupid enough to put it on right there, outside of town, though. Oh, no. After I made sure he was still breathing, I placed a call to emergency services with Charles¡¯ phone, then disappeared. When I got home, I locked myself in my room. With some amount of trepidation, I laid on my bed. I turned the Earpiece over in my hands. Would I end up in a coma if I put it on? Charles seemed fine, but there was no way to be sure that this thing was safe. Still. Every day was the same - and I¡¯d finally found something interesting. What did I have to lose? I put it on. My room dissolved into blackness. ¡°AAAAAAAAAGH,¡± I screamed into the void. The void answered. Welcome to the Simulation, a voice in my head hummed. You are user SOL-3-000000000002. Your species is new to the Simulation. Would you like to play the tutorial? A world faded in around me - only it wasn¡¯t my world. I found myself in an alien landscape. The wind brushed against my cheek, and the sun warmed my skin. A floating sign nearby read ¡®Sol 3 Starting Area¡¯. I wasn¡¯t sure what to think, at first. Some kind of prank? Some government tech? Some new VR MMO¡¯s guerilla marketing? I tried any number of standard VR exit commands. Nothing. I tried again. Then the emergency exit commands. Still nothing. Welcome to the Simulation, the voice in my head repeated. You are user SOL-3-000000000002. Your species is new to the Simulation. Would you like to play the tutorial? I tried to push down a growing sense of panic. ¡°EXIT,¡± I said. ¡°Cancel program. Emergency eject.¡± Exiting the simulation is not recommended at this time. Your Earpiece detects no physical danger around your body. Are you sure you want to exit? I wasn¡¯t sure what to think. There was no way any developer could have created something like this without any information being leaked - was there? I hadn¡¯t heard anything about a new VR device, and I read a lot of gaming news. If this was really a prank, or some guerilla marketing scheme, they¡¯d gone to insane lengths to make it look like alien technology. I could respect that. I¡¯d always liked MMOs. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Start tutorial.¡± The Game is a galaxy-spanning network built by the Ancients in order to facilitate peaceful communication between species. I grinned. It was always interesting to see what kind of lore a new game would have. I¡¯d often spent hours reading wikis for my favorite universes. The Game is a simulation. Your technology level and local language have been taken into account for this tutorial. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Had your civilization been pre-Silicon, this simulation might have been explained as a dreamworld, an afterlife, or any number of low-tech cultural equivalents. You will encounter other sapient lifeforms within the Game, including species from other worlds. Depending on your level of technological development, the existence of life on other worlds may come as a shock. Please try to remain calm. I snorted. This is possible through advanced quantum link communications with zero latency and near-infinite bandwidth across interstellar distances. Now, for a brief explanation of game mechanics and menu options. And it ran through the basic options. Waving my hand and saying ¡®Menu¡¯ opened up a menu, but I could also set macros and toggle certain menu options just by thinking about them. Strangely enough, it explained things in detail that any human gamer would have known. It could be that this game was aimed at the general population - but was it possible that¡­ No. I pushed the thought aside. Character customization took very little time - mostly because it wasn¡¯t an option. Somehow, the game had scanned my entire physical appearance. Fine by me - I usually opted to stick with the same appearance I had in the real world, anyway. Stat customization, on the other hand¡­ A stat menu appeared in midair. It displayed stats like Vitality, Toughness, Precision, Endurance, Strength, Speed, and Concentration. They¡¯d been translated into the closest cultural equivalent, the game explained. The list of stats seemed to stretch on into infinity, and many of them were determined by other stats. There were only a handful of base stats I was able to modify, though. I was tempted to start spending stat points at random, but I restrained that impulse. I sat down and had the game run through the tutorial and stat explanations again. Because if there was one thing I wanted to do in a brand new super-MMORPG with unknown hazards¡­ It was min-maxing. The Build So. Glass cannon? Healer? Tank? Support mage? Crafter? Was crafting even possible? I hadn¡¯t seen any mention of it in the tutorial. Should I just pick at random? I hadn¡¯t seen any mention of stat resets, so my choice could very well be permanent. There were only a few stats that I was allowed to spend points on, as a beginner. Tank? I¡¯d never liked playing tanks in MMOs, and I wasn¡¯t sure whether I liked the idea of standing there and taking hits. I was a speedrunner, after all. That made Vitality and Toughness dump stats. Precision determined ¡®automated skills and margin of error for movements¡¯, supposedly, but I wasn¡¯t sure what that was, and the tutorial had surprisingly little information about the topic. Endurance seemed fairly straightforward - many games I¡¯d played before had a similar mechanic. Concentration was also fairly straightforward - I¡¯d never enjoyed playing mages in games, which made that a bit of a dump stat, too.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. In the end, only one choice made sense to me. I was a speedrunner, after all. I dumped everything into Dexterity. I subtracted everything I could from everything else. My other stats were sitting at the minimum allowed by the Game, and I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if a stiff breeze would kill me. Then again - it was just a game, right? I hit confirm before I could change my mind. There was no prompt to choose a name, oddly enough. Only when I started falling did I realize I¡¯d been floating that entire time. Gravity in the game seemed to be lower, though - I had plenty of time to prepare myself. I hit the alien grass and rolled. It felt easier than it should have been. I raised my hands to check myself for scrapes or injuries - nothing. Health full, the voice in my head chimed. The simulation could read intent? Now that was interesting¡­ I took a moment to examine the world around me. I was standing on a grassy green cliffside, though there were patches of orange and purple grass mixed in with the green. There was a sandy beach below the cliff, with small waves crashing against it. Sitting on that beach was Charles. He was staring out into the waves. I almost called out to him, but for some reason - something stopped me. We were never particularly close, and the competitive streak in me pushed me to explore without him, at least for the time being. I kept scanning my surroundings. A little rocky path led down the cliffside - that must have been the route Charles took. A forest stood a few hundred yards away, around the clearing where I spawned in. I had just managed to get into the treeline when another player spawned in. He started down towards the path that Charles had gone. I decided it was time to make myself scarce, and started making my way through the forest. When I¡¯d walked for a few minutes, an extraordinarily tall tree stood before me. There was an opening in its twisted roots, with battered stone steps leading into some sort of underground cave. I grinned. I knew how to recognize a dungeon when I saw one. The Dungeon I descended into the depths of the tree-building. The first room was a dirt chamber - the walls were lined with simple weapons of all kinds. Swords, spears, shields, standard fantasy fare. Notably, there was no sign of any weapon more advanced than a crossbow. I went for a dagger. The moment I picked it up, the door shut behind me, and a two-headed beast crawled from the dirt beneath my feet. It snarled and chomped ten-inch long fangs. The fidelity was incredible - I felt like I was really in danger. You¡¯re entering combat for the first time, the voice in my head hummed. Would you like a brief tutorial? ¡°Yes,¡± I stated, scrambling backward to avoid a swipe from the beast¡¯s claws. Combat in the Simulation is similar to combat in the real world, said the voice in my head. During combat, your stat menus will be hidden, and the information will be available subconsciously. You can also enable these subconscious menus as an option out of combat. Additionally, for those who are not trained in martial combat, macros and automatic skills are available. Activate one now by swiping your weapon like so. A memory flooded into my head, though it wasn¡¯t my own. Suddenly, I knew how to a basic swipe with the dagger should look. I tried once, clumsily, then twice. Then the beast pounced on my leg and tore into my flesh. The pain was agonizing, and the world dissolved into white-hot agony. I collapsed in a wordless howl. ¡°FUCK!¡± I shouted, clawing at the dirt. High levels of stress detected, said the voice in my head. Temporarily limiting pain response. This option will not be available past level five. Player health at 75%. The pain dulled. I scrambled wildly - Heart pounding, I kicked at the beast once, then twice, then slashed at it with my dagger. The first swipe missed, then the second. The beast kept mauling my leg. Its second head grasped onto my other foot and started shaking me around, like some sort of man-sized chew toy. Player health at 50%. Player health at 25%. On the third attempt, the system registered my deranged swinging as an attempt to activate an automatic skill, and my whole body suddenly shifted effortlessly. I executed a perfect swipe and cut the beast¡¯s throats. It fell, gurgling. Excellent. The rest of the dungeon is now available. Should you die, you will wake with no memory of the past half hour. Death is not recommended. I collapsed onto the dirt. What the HELL was this game? There was no way this level of pain response was allowed - or even possible. I wasn¡¯t even wearing a haptic suit. And there was no way a game could realistically wipe my memory, or add new memories. ¡°What the fuck is this place?!¡± I shouted. You are, as stated, in the Simulation, a galaxy-spanning network built by the Ancients to facilitate peaceful communication between species. ¡°I don¡¯t care about your game¡¯s lore. Get me out of here.¡± This is not an MMO. This is a galaxy-spanning simulation network. The wound in my leg slowly began to close, and the pain began to fade as time went on. I felt my health tick back up to 100%. Was it possible? Could there really be life on other planets? Would I really be able to communicate with them through this game? The pressure suddenly seemed overwhelming. Suddenly, I wasn¡¯t just a beta tester or some guy playing a promotional demo. Exit game, I said again. This option is not available inside of a dungeon. You must continue. I went for the entrance - it was sealed off. I¡¯d never been particularly claustrophobic, but I could feel my blood pressure rising. ¡°What do you mean? Let me out! Emergency exit,¡± I called. ¡°Exit game! EXIT!¡± This option is not available inside of a dungeon. You must continue.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. ¡°¡­Is anyone else here?¡± I called. You are the first user from Sol-3 to enter this dungeon. User One and Three have yet to find this location, though they likely will within minutes. ¡°So you¡¯re saying I¡¯m the first human to ever get this far?¡± Correct. I wasn¡¯t sure how much I liked the sound of that. I¡¯d never been one for fame or glory, even in the speedrunning community. I kept my records to myself, or uploaded them under different anonymous pseudonyms. ¡°Will my identity be revealed if I beat this dungeon?¡± No. I swallowed. If this really was untreaded ground, it was a greater challenge than any speedrunner had ever faced. And if this really was an alien simulation, which seemed more and more likely - could I really ignore that just to go back to Striking Distance II? No. I couldn¡¯t. ¡°I¡¯m ready for the next room,¡± I stated. The door before me slid open, and I stepped through it. The room before me was a long chamber of darkened stone and mossy brick. The door at the other end was open, and on one side of the chamber walls was a set of little openings. I almost laughed. Anyone who¡¯d played Striking Distance - or any human game, really - would have recognized an arrow trap when they saw one. I picked up a nearby rock and tossed it, underhand, down the hallway. A few moments after it passed the first opening, an arrow shot out of the wall. Had the stone been moving any slower, it would¡¯ve been hit. I threw a second stone, then a third. Arrows kept coming out of the same opening - it didn¡¯t seem as though there was any shortage of ammunition, and I didn¡¯t intend to stay there all day throwing rocks to test that theory. Was I fast enough to run through the corridor without being hit? There wasn¡¯t any way to be sure - and with my laughably low health, a single hit would likely kill me. Then again¡­ I spent some time psyching myself up to run through the corridor. Just as I was about to try and sprint through, I paused - and laughed. The solution wasn¡¯t in this room at all. I stepped back into the previous room and grabbed a shield. I held it facing toward the wall. Then, I sprinted down the hallway. Dear God, I was fast. Faster than I had any right to be. Putting everything in Dexterity had given me incredible speed. Arrows clanged off the shield, but none made it through, and I made it into the next room without too much hassle. I dropped the damaged shield and stepped forward. One down, an unknown number of hazards to go. I could handle this. The next room consisted of a central pit and a raised platform. The door to the next room sat atop that platform. The floor was littered with giant puzzle pieces. Solve the puzzle to lower the platform, the voice in my head said. I tried putting the puzzle pieces together one way, then another. They stubbornly refused to fit into the slots in the floor. As I sat there, staring up - I had a flash of inspiration. I stacked the puzzle pieces together to form a tower - it shook and wobbled unsteadily, but I was able to climb atop it and reach the platform directly. Then, I simply stepped through the door. The next was a plain-looking room. It was filled with consumable items - health potions and currency. I loaded up on everything I could carry, then paused. There was always a room like this before a boss fight- Aalimor awaits, the voice in my head said. The guardian of this dungeon is in the next room. I poked my head into the next room and cursed. There was a towering behemoth in metal armor waiting in the next room. He was an easy seven feet tall, and wore boots with spiked soles. The purpose of those boots soon became clear - the floor of the room was made entirely of ice, making it near-impossible to fight effectively. ¡°Come, adventurer,¡± he boomed. ¡°Come face your doom.¡± This was more than I could handle, even if my dagger hadn¡¯t been damaged. ¡­Did I really have to handle him, though? I already knew I was faster than any level one player should have been. And with a little trick from speedrunning - I stepped back and pulled a puzzle piece from the previous room free. I backed up, held it in place like a shield, and waited. Aalimor pounded his sword against his shield and snarled. ¡°Your doom awaits,¡± he snarled. I sprinted forward at him. He stepped forward to meet me - and paused in confusion as I ran past him. I threw the metal plate down like a sled, then hopped onto it. I zipped past the boss at blinding speed, towards the door at the other end of the room. It was closing, but not fast enough, and I blew past it and into another chamber. I¡¯d skipped the fight entirely. Panting, I clambered to my feet, then whooped. I couldn¡¯t help myself. The fading dregs of adrenaline left me dizzy as I cheered and laughed at the closed door behind me. Eventually, I got it together. ¡°Please tell me there¡¯s something worthwhile at the end of this.¡± For every new planet to join the Simulation, an Artifact is formed, said the voice in my head. There is only ever one Artifact created per planet. As the first user to beat the Sol-3 dungeon, it is yours if you wish it. When I entered the final room, there was a glowing orb sitting on a pedestal. It should¡¯ve belonged to User One. Charles. But Charles had been busy wasting time on a virtual beach. You traded everything in exchange for speed, the voice said. You have ignored defensive stats, and given up caution in order to beat Sol-3 One to the Artifact. I was about to say that it wasn¡¯t an informed decision, but wisely - I kept my mouth shut. You will be granted an Artifact based on your decisions up to this point. And when I looked at the orb again, I suddenly knew that it had a name. Velocitas.
Gain a permanent 500% boost to all Dexterity increases. Suffer a permanent 80% reduction to all Vitality and Toughness increases. Permanently lose the ability to use macros or automatic skills. Active skill: Velocitas Eradico - Your mental clock speed scales with your Dexterity statistic. Temporarily double speed. Temporarily double physical damage.
Duration: 30 seconds Cooldown: 5 minutes
Do you wish to consume this Artifact now?
The bonus was hefty, but so were the drawbacks. What was this about a ¡®mental clock speed,¡¯ though? Whatever this Artifact was - it seemed like a speedrunner¡¯s wet dream. I knew I didn¡¯t have time to think it over. Charles and User Three were already making their way through the dungeon - towards me. So of course, I said yes.