《Axis Mundi》 Chapter 1. How did I miss this?! October 5, 2030 0700 hrs. ¡°Breeep, Breeep, Breeep¡± SMACK WOOOOSH BANG. ¡°Honey, that was the 3rd alarm clock this month, now you get to get up and get the kids ready.¡± Says the muffled voice of the woman lying next to me, who is currently trying to snuggle deeper into her blankets and pillows. What can I say, I am more certainly NOT a morning person, and alarm clocks were invented as a form of inhuman torture device, whose sole purpose is to ruin my perfectly good dreams. As I lay there looking up at the ceiling, pondering on the moral values of the alarm clock and their makers for a moment, I can just relax, maybe close my eyes for five more minutes, the kids are surely up and getti¡­ I sense a disturbance¡­ Looking over I see a hand raised ready to smack me. How does she do that!! ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯m getting up, just getting fully adjusted to being awake¡± ¡°Mmmhpmmhpm sssssshhhhrrre¡± which I translate to a very sarcastic ¡° I¡¯m sure you are¡±¡­ Conscious of not grumbling, or groaning, or anything that could be perceived or sensed as dissatisfaction. Cause she will hear, and know¡­ the force is strong in this one, always has been. My friends called me crazy, only took one little week trip on the same cruise ship for them to see¡­ the¡­ I¡¯ve paused to long, mindful to not jostle the bed too much, slowly I reach down feeling for the pants, that inevitably are now on the floor due to the infernal time keeper fiasco. Struggling to get my pants up and on¡­ Did I mention I was paralyzed from below the waist? No? Well now you know. Get over it. I did 3 years ago, besides it¡¯s not so bad now-a-days, the government in its infinite ¡°wisdom¡±, finally did something right for a change. Starting in 2027, they instituted the ¡°No Veterans left behind Act¡± Which basically guaranteed continued medical and dental coverage for all service members, if they were not kicked out in disgrace. Which meant for me, a brand-new top of the line, paid in full, Exo-Soft Mark V. A soft exo-suit designed specifically for individuals with problems moving their lower extremities. Unfortunately, they still cost about as much as a high-end BM-Lex Sports car, needless to say ¡°Out of my price range¡± is putting it mildly. So, it was with great satisfaction, and a silent thank you to tax payers everywhere, That I strapped, hooked, and tightened the marvel of modern technology and stood. God that feels weird, never get used to that the feeling of standing but not standing. Feeling a slight twinge from the electrode connections in my lower back, I am ready to face the day on my ¡°million dollar legs¡± as my wife likes to say. Now to see about the kids and if I¡¯m lucky a bucket of water! Walking out and down the hall to the left I go to my eldest room. Arthur Jr., yep I am that conceded that I wanted a son named after myself, long live the glorious Pendergrass name. I suppose I should mention that my name is Arthur Wilfred Pendergrass. ¡°Darn, strike one¡± I say as I hear Arthur Jr. up and moving about the room. Quietly I turn around and make my way to the opposite end of the hall. Beatrice, my second child, a lovely girl of 14. If anyone believed that I have some bottom land off the coast to sell them as well. ¡°Aww, strike two¡± I let out a sigh. Last chance, be asleep Megan. I turn to the last door across the hall from Beatrice¡¯s room, I hear nothing, no pitter patter of feet, no tossing of clothes, nothing! Smiling to myself I quietly make my way back to my room, grabbing the large cup beside my bed I take it to the bathroom and fill it up with cold water. ¡°Excellent¡­ yes MUHA¡­¡± I cut off abruptly. Must not wake the giant. As quiet as a stalking cat I make my way back towards Megan¡¯s room. With the upmost skill, I turn the knob, slowly as to not betray my presence to the sleeping victim target child inside. Almost there¡­ Almost there¡­ YES Victory, now to open the door, and take my revenge¡­ The door opens silently, the room is dark, I smile as I see the lumps on the bed. Cautiously I move over to, preparing the delivery of the liquid payload. There are very few times in my life that I have been truly surprised. Upon seeing one of my youngest¡¯ larger than life dolls in her place in bed is one of those times. For the briefest of moments my mind shut down at the un comprehensive dilemma before me, it caused me to miss hearing the soft ¡°snick¡± behind me. I also missed the flash of a silver bucket in the light coming from the window. What I didn¡¯t miss was the ice-cold death that was now dripping down the back of my head and back. ¡°EEEYYYIIIIIIEEE¡± I bellowed in what, I will to my dying breath swear, was manly shout and not high pitched as little girl. I could hear laughter coming from behind me, and what sounded like a full-on laugh riot out in the hallway. Then breathlessly Megan manages to squeak out between breaths ¡°St.. Strike.. Th.. Th.. Three¡± and a chorus of ¡°You¡¯re out¡± rang from the mouths of three little daemons pranksters. After Drying up, the rest of the morning went by the book normal, kids get dressed, eat breakfast, and rush out to the bus, because somehow, they are always running late for it. Now was my favorite time of the morning! Getting ready for work. Otherwise known as getting ready to play video games and stream for 8 hrs. That¡¯s right, I have the dream. When the advent of FIVR (Full Immersion Virtual Reality), the smart gamers and streamers switched right away. The others, the disbelievers, the doubters, they are scrambling to get media contracts now. VR shows featuring popular worlds and characters are the new Norm now for television series. Why go around the world to film a show when you can create the entire environment in VR and it look exactly like you wanted it in the real world.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it That said, there are some things that are strictly physical still, grade school being the major one. Only colleges, and trade craft schools can offer virtual courses. It was almost global accepted with the advent of FIVR, that we teach our children how to interact outside of the pods, the last thing the world needed was a generation so addicted to VR that they forget to ¡°propagate the species¡±. Until you turned 25, or already had 3 children your allowed time connected into VR, excluding for work, was 4 hours. Me being married and having 3 kids, not to mention my age, did not have such restrictions. However, I do have a family so I tend to limit my time to work and the time my children spend logged in, unless of course they are over at a friends¡¯. Those are the marathon nights. ¡°Better start getting ready¡± Turning the power onto my Cocoon, I walk over the dive locker. That¡¯s right a dive locker, picture small gym locker room, without the smell of B.O everywhere. Getting to my cabinet, I take a seat on the bench and get my legs off, it¡¯s a hassle stripping down without legs, but I¡¯ve gotten used to it over the years. It helps that I can leave parts of exo-suit connected to give me some movement, and slowly pull the one-piece suit, similar in looks to a divers suit, just with electrode connections and body sensors everywhere, not that you can easily see them, all that stuff is embedded now-a-days with soft circuits, up and then zip up the front. Fully strapped and zipped I am ready for the day. Walking back to my cocoon I glance at the VR sync¡¯d clock and RSS feed on the wall screen. ¡°Ohh, man that¡¯s today?¡± That is the newest game to hit the market and if the hype and promises are even half right, the game will topple all the other sci-fi games out. Axis Mundi, boasting an Open Galaxy Seamless, instance less, sandbox, the end-all-be-all of sci-fi games everywhere. If everything the Devs are promising at launch is true, calling it a sci-fi gamers¡¯ Holy grail is not doing it justice. And why do you think I am bummed out? Well to be the best, it comes with the price of the best. I could afford the game, no problem. For myself. For maybe one month. Then the charges would show up, on the account. Have you ever bought anything that you know would get you in trouble once the ¡°Other Half¡± saw the cost of said purchase? Well multiply that by 10, or 20, and that is how dead I would have been had I spent that on myself. 1000 credits for the game and 150 credits a month for streamer access. Just to put this in perspective, you can pay your electric bill for 75-100 credits a month, and that¡¯s a 7000 sq foot 3 story (2 and a finished basement) house. ¡°Better go with fantasy for a while, no one who watches sci-fi will be watching anything but Axis.¡± Cursing my lot in life, I lay back into my cocoon and initiate the dive¡­ My eyes close¡­. ¡­ And open to an exact replica of my living room. However, what is not normal is the glowing blue screen that greets me. You have one Urgent message from : Vanessa Pendergrass Open? Yes / No Mentally selecting Yes. Cause it will let her know if I selected no, I swear it would even if it says it doesn¡¯t. Another lovely blue box pops up.
Arthur Happy early birthday! Hope you like it! Love, Your Wife Receive Items from User? Yes / No
Selecting Yes, a series of boxes appear on the table in front of the couch I am sitting on, all wrapped nice and neat, Blue paper and a single scarlet ribbon. ¡°What can I say, she always had the flare for the dramatic¡±, I say to myself while pondering the gift-wrapped boxes. Now first let me say that the color scheme has a very significant meaning to me, you see I am a retired United States Marine, not to be confused with the new United Globe Marines. Even though we have all the same training and the United States Marine Corps, is the ¡°Founding Father¡± of the current Generation of Marines, there is a clearly defined difference. When the UGM was created, the USMC decided upon it merger into the larger force, to deny, unless earned the rights to certain uniforms. One of those being the blood stripe on all NCO and Staff NCO blue standard issue Dress Trousers. So, looking at the packages I¡¯m thinking she must have found one of the old-school FPS games that they ported to the FIVR system. I smile she is always finding was to surprise me. Reverently I open the first package, they have little golden tags with numbers on them, gently pulling on the scarlet ribbon the wrapping falls away to reveal in all its glory.
Welcome to Axis Mundi! Time till Launch 1:30:59
I always thought that surprising me was hard, my situational awareness from my service is not easy to trick, now it happened twice, in the same day. I¡¯m standing here looking at the Holy Grail of sci-fi games, my mouth opening and closing like a landed fish. Finally, I shake myself out of the ¡°does not compute¡± loop I had seemed to have been in, and sit down on the couch, still staring at the count-down clock. ¡°Bee Boo Boop You¡¯ve got Mail!¡± Looking down I see in my HUD the blinking icon for a message, ¡°Wonder who this is from?¡± mentally selecting the icon, while glancing at the glory of glories to ensure its still there.
Thank you for purchasing Axis Mundi Your Streaming subscription is ready! You can log in to create your character now. You will be ported into the galaxy at your chosen starting point when the launch timer is up. Due to certain terms and conditions the character creation is not streamable content Your stream will start on logging into the galaxy LOGIN / CLOSE
¡°Ohh, she is so getting thanked tonight!¡± Pressing Login, my vision fades to white¡­. Chapter 2. Legends and Questions.. Chapter 2. Legends and Questions.. The area I find myself in now slowly darkens from the white wash from moments ago, just at the edge of my hearing, I hear a Theremin. Ohhh classic, a little obvious for a sci-fi scene but classic none the less. Thankfully it¡¯s not the full-blown theme of a certain trek through the stars, but a soft undertone, that is getting louder¡­ Que the Violins and trumpets. A very nice musical ensemble to begin, my... wait¡­ what is that light¡­ and why is it coming right at me! Off in the distance coming directly at me, and now that I think about it, ¡°Why am I floating?¡± If I am floating, and an object is moving towards me, but there is no wind. ¡°Crap, I¡¯m falling in a vacuum¡± After a couple of minutes, I can start to make out a circular shape, and it¡¯s not a single point of light but multiple points of¡­ I¡¯ll be damned. It¡¯s a galaxy... ¡°And I am falling speeding towards it.¡± Sucking on my teeth for a second, I ponder the speeds that are involved if that object coming towards me is as large as I think it is... Fast, really Fast¡­ Ludicrous speed, hell I might have even gone plaid. Fortunately, the it looks like it¡¯s a miniature, and by miniature, I mean the size of a football field, as is finally arrives and then rotates to position itself as the ¡°Floor¡± of my new domain.
Loading of Character Creation Complete Would you like AI assistance? Yes / No
An AI assistant? I scratch my chin, for a moment pondering the option I have. On one hand, I don¡¯t know anything about the game, well no one does really, the information on Axis was as follows. ¡°Axis Mundi ¨C The First Seamless Galaxy sci-fi VRMMORPG, Features: Open no instance sandbox galaxy, skill based, level based, class based. Are you ready for the Future of Gaming?¡± That¡¯s it, just that in gold lettering over a spiral galaxy, that¡¯s all the advertising and information there was, and is for the next 1:20 minutes. ¡°Screw it, I need information¡± I mentally smash the Yes button dreading what is about to occur.
Generating A.I Assistant . . Complete Happy Gaming!
¡°Hello Princess!!¡± Say a most definitively manly voice from behind me, it¡¯s like John Wayne and James Earl Jones, were genetically spliced together manly. Raising my eyebrows, I slowly turn around, upon seeing the shining beacon of freedom before me, I freeze and immediately and unconsciously come to attention. I cannot however keep my mouth from dropping. ¡°What?!¡± The specter of the past exclaims. ¡°You were expecting some Blonde haired 5 foot nothing bombshell with double d¡¯s Posing and saying ¡®Teee Hee¡¯?!¡± I couldn¡¯t help myself, I fell on the floor attempting to stop the current riot of laughs that are breaking my bearing and atomizing it. For the figure in front of me, dress in Dress Blue Alpha¡¯s, looks like none other than Chesty Puller, still to this day one of the most decorated Marines to have ever graced this earth. To make matters worse, he just did a flawless, Japanese Anime, ¡°cute Girl pose¡± with his finger over beside his mouth, and one leg lifted and bent back while slightly bending forward. ¡°Ju¡­ ha¡­ jus... haha... just give¡­ ha... me a moment here.¡± I say while attempt to scorch the last scene from my memory. Breathing deeply, I manage to compose myself enough to stand and be coherent again. ¡°So how did they come up with you as my assistant?¡± ¡°Shit, Son, that¡¯s easy, they just looked at your personal history, social media, and character gaming preferences, and threw all that into some fanglely-wangely procedural generator and BAM, Chesty Rides again¡± He says while waving around his cigar. Putting it back in the side of his mouth he continues, ¡°Not to mention if they stuck you with one of those ¡®women¡¯, Your¡­¡± he pauses to look around, ¡°wi¡­¡± ¡°STOP¡± I yell. ¡°Not another word, I read you loud and clear, no need to go into any more detail.¡± I say while frantically waving my arms Oh, god he almost ruined everything. ¡°Now, don¡¯t go getting your panties in a wad, we¡¯re secure. Nothing gets out during Character creation.¡± He says while trying to placate me.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Holding up a hand ¡°Still you pause and looked around if you looked through my social media and personal history, you know I am not crazy. You don¡¯t play around with The Force¡± I look at him square on not budging in my opinion. Grumbling about nonsense data that makes no real sense in modern science, he nods and agrees by mutual self-preservation to drop the subject and move on. ¡°Alright Devil Do.. ¡°BeeBoo Boop You¡¯ve got Mail!¡± ¡°What in the nine unholy levels of hell is that!¡± Chesty exclaims while jabbing his cigar at me. ¡°Seems I have a message¡± I state blandly ¡°Impossible, I said we were secure nothing in or out during character creation, that include messages!!¡± He says while breathing heavily from shouting. Suppressing a sigh, I open the inevitable.
Hi Babe! Hope you¡¯re having fun with your new present! When your done playing with your new friend, and creating your character, come on out before launch. I have something to tell you! Loves Vannesa
¡°Well, don¡¯t just stand there yapping, who¡¯s it from?!¡± Chesty inquires while attempting to look around the small wall of blue in front of me. Slowly I reach over and gesture the screen to flip for public viewing. Chesty grunts once, in thanks and starts to read, his eye narrowing as he gets through it. Still looking at the message he conspicuously glances around. ¡°There¡¯s just no¡­.¡± He pauses for a moment then straightens ¡°Right then! If your done yapping and carrying on, where were we? Ohh yes. Character Creation! I quickly close the message, and pay close attention, this is the moment that can make or break a game!I wonder what type of system they are using, will i get to model the character myself? I wonder how they do stats, and levels. Should i do a strengh build, or perhaps a intellegnce build, They probably have some type of Technomancer.. I could always go heavy weapons, love me some mayham and carnage... Ohh a how about a gunner on a ship.. yeah that would cool... Ohh what abo... ¡°So, what do want to do?¡± Chesty asks simply. ¡°Huh?¡± I respond in an intelligent manner, pretenching I wasn''''t just day dreaming of lasers and missles. Chesty sighs at my superior intellect, ¡°There are over 13 thousand species to choose from in the humanoid category alone, so it is imperative for your future sanity and success that you answer my questions both honestly and completely.¡± My mind blanks at the number of choices, Wait, he said for humanoid, so that implies there are non-humanoid playable races as well, not that I would ever choose one, I would never hear the end of it from¡­ ¡°So, what do I want to do? Well I always wanted to go into space.¡± Chesty hangs his head again, marveling at my ability to form clear and concise answers. ¡°CONGRADULATIONS!!!!¡± he shouts suddenly ¡°Dream achieved and realized, now how about telling me what you picture yourself doing in your new reality?¡± ¡°Ahhh¡­¡± I say, a light bulb going off in my head, ¡°I swear I¡¯m not usually this dense, let see¡­ ¡°What do I want to do. I know I want to travel, and see new sites, and people¡­ and... oh, that¡¯s good he¡¯ll like that. ¡°I want to do the Normal thing, you know Travel to exotic, distant worlds. Meet exciting, unusual People. And Kill Them...¡± I watch Chesty as I say the last line closely, I see the slightest uptick in his lips, the start of a grin attempting to break the stoic bearing. What do you know, an AI with a sense of humor? ¡°Tell me¡± he says slowly to not break his serious demeanor ¡°what would you say, if I said you could join the USMC again.?¡± Tilting my head to the side as the question throws me off. ¡°The United States Marine Corps, merged 10 years ago, into the UGMC...¡± ¡°Not United States son¡­ United Stars¡­ The elite of the elite, it traces its roots to the cradle of human civilization. Forrestal got it wrong when he said 500 years, he would have been better off saying 5000.¡± He smiled this time, but not in the funny way I was looking for, it was the way a predator smiles at the world when he knows he is the Apex. I paused for a moment, thinking it over. That¡¯s very tempting, I didn¡¯t leave the Marine Corps in RL Voluntarily, hell I¡¯d still be serving if that degenerate hippy dippy drunk asshat, hadn¡¯t decided it was a good idea to go joy riding after pounding down a 5th of grand pappy¡¯s home brewed moonshine. Besides, two words¡­ ¡°Space Marine¡± I say out loud not fully able to keep my enthusiasm in check. ¡°Hah! I knew I still saw the spark in you boy! Alright now we can start with the skills assessment!¡± He starts to walk off into the distance and gestures for me to follow. Suddenly he stops ¡°Ohh, Yeah just one more thing! What¡¯s your name son?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ I didn¡¯t choose one yet¡± I say while furiously thinking of names¡­ can¡¯t use Arthur, I¡¯m not that desperate, anything like shadowhandluke or ImwithStupid are out, need a real name something that will roll off the tongue. ¡°Give me a moment Chesty¡± Shrugging he replies ¡°Sure thing, but if you choose something like N00b4unt3r, I¡¯m leaving you here and you can finish this by yourself, I won¡¯t be responsible for the folks of this galaxy having to address you by some ego stroking ¡°call sign¡±. He finishes with the traditional Air quotes. ¡°No sir, none of that, could never stand naming schemes like that anyways, not good for business.¡± I think I¡¯ll go with Daniel for the first name, always like that name. Derringer? ¡°How about Daniel Derringer?¡± ¡°Well it¡¯s pronounceable, so I guess it will do. Alright Dan, Step, this way and let¡¯s get your initial assessments started.¡± He says while turning back around and walking off again. Hurrying to keep up with his long purposeful strides, I voice ¡°What are the assessments for? Shouldn¡¯t I choose a race before I allocate my stats?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t think it would be so simple as pressing a couple of buttons, and wham bam thank you ma¡¯am. No sir, character creation is like a fine wine, not some two-bit hooker!¡± He states, the I see him take a deep breath ¡°Now, the next 4 hours¡­ ¡° I can just hang my head while he describes the hell I am about to go through¡­