《Gemini Plot》 Intrusion Detected On a bustling street in a medieval village stood two figures arguing. One was decked out in shiny chrome armor from head to two. With short dark hair and a stoic jawline, he looked every bit the image of a knight. Standing across from him was a skinny man with long blonde hair wearing something like a robe. ¡°This is only three quarters of my share! Pay up!¡± the knight demanded, glaring angrily at the blonde man. ¡°I couldn¡¯t get as much for the item, so this is what you get,¡± the blonde man protested. ¡°That¡¯s bullshit!¡± the knight exclaimed. ¡°This isn¡¯t what you promised, merchant!¡± ¡°What are you going to do about it?¡± the merchant taunted, smiling smugly. Seeing the knight¡¯s dumbfounded expression, he turned to leave. ¡°GAAAAAAHH!¡± the knight roared at the sky. ¡°What good is a game with no PvP combat?¡± he shouted at nobody in particular. Watching the smug merchant leave, the knight helplessly punched a wooden post outside of a shop. In the beginning, this game was what everybody had expected. It was immersive. It was beautiful. The cities were well-developed. The monsters were terrifying. Hunting them was exciting. Exploring dungeons was beyond thrilling. How had things gotten so boring so quickly? This game was quickly turning from an action game to a medieval life simulation game. Fighting monsters was still exciting, but many players had begun getting caught up in building their homes. Coming from a world of gruesome first person shooters, the knight was unprepared for what he had found in this world. What was this kind of peace? This wasn¡¯t what he had come here for. What kind of unreal world was this where people never killed each other? Lately the knight had started thinking that the real world was more exciting and dangerous than this. The knight lamented his boredom as the city swarmed around him, buzzing with life. Suddenly, everything stopped. The hum of the city had been silenced in an instant. The entire world was frozen. The knight couldn¡¯t even move his eyes. He stood transfixed, his gaze resting upon the mountain range in the distance. These mountains happened to mark the edge of the map. climbing them was impossible. Without warning, a pure white light began shining on the crest of one of the mountains. With neither a whisper, nor a roar, the light grew in size, racing out in all directions in a massive surge. The wave of light encompassed the land in an instant, passing through the entire town in a fraction of a second. Just as quickly as it came, it vanished. The city stood where it always had, and the people were unharmed. The city returned to life as if nothing had happened. The knight, however, still fixed his eyes upon the mountain range where an anomaly had formed. Ringing the mountain peak like a halo, was a ring of light, and through that ring, movement could be seen. Figures began spilling out of the portal and darting down the mountain. Was this some kind of demon hoard? Was it a game event? Players began to notice and excitedly ran towards the incoming wave of invaders. NPCs and weaker players began running in the opposite direction. The chaos was causing traffic jams all throughout the streets. The townsfolk in particular were gripped with panic as they grabbed their belongings and ran. As the figures reached the town, cries could be heard. The battle had begun. Yearning for adventure, the knight raced towards the source of the screaming. As he got closer, he began to make out faces. The figures racing towards the town weren¡¯t demons. The were¡­ human? Humans shouldn¡¯t pose any threats. There weren¡¯t even any bandits in this joke of a game. Even so, as the knight watched as one of the invaders shoved his sword through the helmet of a city guard. The NPC dropped helplessly to the ground as the invader continued his rampage, slaughtering player and NPC alike. Countless others raced into the city. Had PvP been implemented? Why hadn¡¯t there been some kind of announcement? There was only one thing he could do. The knight raised up his sword and swung down at the surly, armor-clad invader. The man dropped helplessly to the ground, surprised at the knight¡¯s actions. In the knights view, a familiar transparent box appeared, informing him of the experience he had gained. The knight curiously inspected the body. This wasn¡¯t a bandit. It wasn¡¯t even an NPC. The icon by the dead man¡¯s name indicated that he was a player. This was PvP. How? The knight immediately brushed his concerns aside. For now he had bigger plans. He darted through the crowd, cutting down anybody who stood in his way. In his view, a map was displayed showing a little moving dot. It was time to get even with a certain blonde merchant. As the madness ensued, countless fell to the siege. Some players stood and fought, while others died quickly without even bothering to defend. Other players, frustrated with the game, even joined with the invaders, cutting down their own kind. As player after player died, they each entered their personal lobby to suffer the death penalty. It would be several hours before they would be able to log in again. Some angrily quit out of the game, but others stuck around and used the lobby to browse the forums, looking for some clue as to what had happened. There was more than just a clue. At the very top of the forum a video announcement had been posted. Those who watched the video would see two players. Both players wore the same clean black robes and smooth white masks. One player had black hair, the other had white. Regardless of color, the hair on both hung jaggedly at the players jawlines. The top part of the hair had been pulled back into a sort of half top knot. Both players stood atop an ornate stone platform. ¡°Greetings players of Solaris!¡± the dark haired figure began. ¡°I am Nils, God of Bloodshed.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°And I am Eira, God of Deception,¡± the white haired figure calmly interjected as they took turns speaking. ¡°As many of you have noticed, a Player vs. Player system has been implemented in this game. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re probably wondering how this came to be.¡± ¡°As it turns out, Virtech¡¯s security AI was sorely lacking. Solaris¡¯s servers have been gutted and the game is now running on servers belonging to us.¡± ¡°This is a revolution! May all of Solaris bear witness! Virtech no longer holds authority in this realm. We do, and we plan on making some changes, PvP being the first of many.¡± ¡°We¡¯re sure Virtech isn¡¯t exactly thrilled about this, but just think of all of the free improvements this game is going to get. Things are about to get a lot more extreme!¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t like it. You¡¯ll have to defeat us. Several battles will be arranged between our forces and the players of Solaris.¡± ¡°These battles will all concern certain issues in the game. The winners will determine which features stay and which features go.¡± ¡°If you love something, fight to protect it. If you loathe something, fight to destroy it. This world has been blessed with the gift of choice. Do not waste it.¡± ¡°If Virtech can manage to capture the two of us, they will receive keys that will return control of the servers to them.¡± Finally the two figures ended their speech with a blessing. ¡°Best of luck!¡± the two exclaimed in unison as the video ended. By the end of the day, the video had spread to the entire world. On the Player after player struggled to take the message in. Two figures claiming to be gods have hacked the very first virtual reality game and taken ownership of it. They plan on making the game more and more extreme. They will stage battles to decide the way things will be run. Some players decided that day that they were done with Solaris. They couldn¡¯t handle such a chaotic game. Thanks to the rumor mill, a few even feared that the game would become some kind of supernatural death game. Most however, were ecstatic. Even if the game had been hijacked, why should they care? A PvP system was being implemented and there would be several large-scale battles to decide the fate of the world. The future couldn¡¯t be any more¡­ interesting. Meanwhile in Virtech¡¯s offices, a group in suits sat around a conference table with solemn expressions. Their baby, the game that they had sacrificed decades of their lives toward, had been ripped away from them in an instant and taken over by psychopaths. How could they not be upset? Suddenly a man spoke from the top of the table. He was terribly handsome with neat, blonde hair and cold, green eyes. Beside him was an equally stunning woman with platinum blonde shoulder-length hair and mesmerizing, blue eyes. Her expression was dark and riddled with worry. Looking at them, the people around the table were gripped with apprehension. When was the last time that these two had personally attended a meeting? When was the last time that they had even left their development room? ¡°How did this happen?¡± the man began. ¡°There was a backdoor in the security AI! That¡¯s how!¡± a short man with dark hair exclaimed, bringing his fist down on the table. ¡°This is what we get for outsourcing something important like security! You just couldn¡¯t be bothered to dedicate the time necessary to do it in-house. You just had to hold that stupid contest that a bunch of outsiders won.¡± ¡°JON!¡± the blonde man interjected. ¡°We held a contest. We tested the entries and picked the one that was most secure. We ran background checks on the applicants. Once we picked a winner, YOU tested it. Hell, we even ran a bug bounty on it. We didn¡¯t ignore security. We put a considerable amount of effort into it. Now where are the winners? We still have their information on record. They had to be the ones to create the backdoor.¡± ¡°They. Don¡¯t. Exist,¡± the short man fumed. ¡°All of their information just disappeared. They were probably never real. We got taken for fools. Whoever these Eira and Nils people are, they¡¯ve been planning this for a long, long time. Even putting security aside, you should know more than anybody how hard it should be to implement human combat in this game. It¡¯s not something that happens overnight. It¡¯s not something that happens with just two people, either. They probably have a team. So, what are we going to do about it?¡± ¡°It may take some time, but our first objective will be getting the servers back. It doesn¡¯t matter if they hid their tracks well. We will recover. No matter what it takes, we will eventually find these criminals and arrest them,¡± the man declared. To his side, the woman¡¯s gaze bored holes in the sleek, mahogany table. ¡°In the meantime, we¡¯ll have to make an additional request of the Twelve Chairs. Contact the beta testers that chose to reincarnate as well. We¡¯ll put together a task force to defeat them in-game. We need to address the Chairs first though. Call a meeting for both servers, immediately. And somebody, contact the twins,¡± she stated calmly. The rest of the table nodded their assent and immediately went about their duties. Virtech was a well-oiled machine. They were the pinnacle of efficiency. This incident would surely be resolved soon. Right? ~~~ AN: Thanks for reading! I''ve been working on this project for a while and I think I''ve finally gotten the plot to the point where I''m ready to start writing real chapters for it. Please let me know your thoughts! Next chapter will be the beginning of several chapters showing the events that led up to this incident. We will probably jump back and forth between the past and the present quite a bit. I''ll have to figure out some way to communicate which time period this is occurring in. An Eventful Morning 11 Months Ago James Marcel woke up to cheering. His household had always been a lively one, but even so, this was abnormal. He rubbed his blue eyes, still heavy with sleep, as he weighed the pros and cons of continuing his slumber. It was a school day, but it was only 7:15, so he had the time to burn. The cheers were distracting though. What could be so exciting this early in the morning? Driven by curiosity, James rolled out of bed. He winced slightly as his warm feet hit the cold, polished-stone floor. He hurriedly slid his feet into a pair of slippers before heading down the modern, white, marble staircase. Reaching the kitchen, James was greeted with the sight of both of his parents struggling to pop a bottle of champagne while still in their bathrobes. Katy Marcel had shoulder length dark-golden blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was known for her energetic and friendly personality. Jeff Marcel was also known for his kind demeanor, though he was a fair bit more introverted than his wife. His dark brown hair was cut in a serious fashion, but his ochre eyes shone with playfulness. Despite their ages, both parents were still quite young-looking and James wondered to himself if they would ever grow old. ¡°What¡¯s all of the commotion about?¡± James asked gruffly, still half-asleep. Finally noticing him, Katy peeled herself away from the war with the champagne bottle and eagerly wrapped her arms around her son, kissing him squarely on top of his messy, chestnut brown hair while giggling wildly. ¡°They¡¯ve finally fucked up beyond repair!¡± she exclaimed gleefully. Behind her, Jeff had finally managed to uncork the Champagne and the cork flew across the room, shattering a decorative ceramic vase. Neither of the parents payed the newly deceased vase any mind as they shoved their glasses under the stream of champagne that was now flowing from the bottle. ¡°Who fucked up?¡± James asked, reaching to pour himself a glass. He was still only sixteen, but he saw an opportunity to drink alcohol and took it. His instincts proved right as his giddy father happily lifted the bottle to pour for him. ¡°We just got the call! Look at the screen!¡± Katy exclaimed, gesturing emphatically at a small flatscreen television on the kitchen wall. The window showed a news reporter covered in gaudy makeup wearing a sleek white dress sitting at a desk. A title bar flashed across the bottom of the screen as the woman began her report. It read, ¡°Virtech Rejects Morphix Deal.¡± James¡¯ jaw dropped as he listened intently to the flamboyant newscaster. ¡°After months of careful courting, Virtech- the company behind the first virtual reality game set to debut in a little more than a year, has decided to issue a third rejection to Morphix¡¯s proposal of a collaboration between the two. Virtech will instead continue development of their in-house virtual reality gear. Morphix, the modest and secretive leader in virtual reality hardware, is well known for their lack of transparency regarding their technology and employees. Virtech has stated that they were unable to trust Morphix and that Morphix was unwilling to reveal many aspects of their technology and business practices, including the identities of the founders and developers. Virtech also claims that bringing in outsiders to work on their project this late in the game would be a logistical nightmare. Experts find this hard to believe though, considering Morphix¡¯s claims that they have already adapted their hardware to run Virtech¡¯s software. A representative from Morphix states that Morphix is ¡®disappointed¡¯ with Virtech¡¯s unwillingness to even attempt cooperation with anybody outside of the Vallimont family, claiming that ¡°Nepotism has made them blind to talent.¡± As it is evident that Morphix has put a lot of effort into tailoring their product to be purchased by Virtech, many economic experts have expressed pessimism regarding Morphix¡¯s future. How will this powerful little startup adapt to such massive setbacks? I guess we¡¯ll just have to wait and see.¡± The reporter quickly segwayed into another topic, leaving James¡¯ mouth ajar. ¡°Holy shit,¡± James mumbled incredulously, ¡°Do those Vallimont bastards even have eyes? What have they done?¡± ¡°I know! Isn¡¯t it wonderful?¡± Katy giggled, her eyes glossed over with pure Schadenfreude-fueled ecstasy. Katy and Jeff Marcel happened to be CEO and COO of Tripwire, a virtual reality company in steep competition with Virtech. Virtech¡¯s misfortune was definitely Tripwire¡¯s fortune. While they had both started out on equal footing, Virtech¡¯s monstrous speed had led them to having an advantage over Tripwire. Tripwire had decided to put an even stronger emphasis on quality and completely forget about winning in terms of speed. Before they knew it though, Virtech had already announced their game, Solaris- Empire of the Sun, a fantasy MMORPG. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Ever since the game was announced, Virtech was all that the industry had focused on. The title of First Virtual Reality Game certainly carried a lot of weight. Despite the excitement surrounding Solaris, there had been one bit of controversy. According to Virtech, Solaris would strictly prohibit Player vs. Player fighting. Virtech feared the possibility of violent tendencies cultivated in the game spilling into the real world. To avoid potential liability, they had decided to cut a feature that many players had been eagerly awaiting. This was the first nail in the coffin. Suddenly, however, Morphix emerged. They were a virtual reality hardware company, but nobody seemed to know anything about their product. Was it a helmet like Virtech¡¯s current model? Maybe a capsule? Did it just offer better graphics? What was it that made the beta testers praise it so highly? All anybody knew, was that it was lightyears ahead of anything else currently in development. From the moment rumors about Morphix¡¯s godly hardware began to spread, Katy and Jeff had been infatuated. This was the leg up that they needed over Virtech. These hopes were quickly crushed though, upon hearing that Morphix had tailored their hardware to Virtech¡¯s software. Shockingly though, Virtech had just rejected them. After a moment of stupor, James snapped back to attention. ¡°What the hell are you doing just sitting here sipping champagne like you¡¯ve already won?¡± James demanded, snatching the glass from Katy¡¯s fingers. ¡°You need to get on the phone right now and arrange a meeting!¡± he exclaimed, grabbing a phone from the counter and shoving it into her hands. Katy of course knew the number to Morphix¡¯s office. She had been fangirling over them for quite some time, but had never actually called the number listed on their website. Her fingers flew across the keypad. She could feel her heart beating in her throat as she listened to the dial tone. She had no idea what to expect. Suddenly a voice rang out. ¡°Is this Tripwire?¡± a groggy voice inquired. The voice was female, and it had a low, sultry quality to it. Katy wasn¡¯t sure quite how to respond. It could be surmised that the voice on the other end had recognized their family name from caller ID, but it was still such an odd way to answer the phone. ¡°Umm, yes! Hi! My name is Katy Marcel and I¡¯m from Tripwire. I was hoping to arrange a meeting to talk about building a relationship between our companies. Would this be possible?¡± Katy requested politely. ¡°HEY! IT¡¯S TRIPWIRE. I¡¯M GONNA SET UP A MEETING.¡± the voice shouted on the other end, nearly blowing Katy¡¯s ear off. ¡°THAT¡¯S FINE! STOP SHOUTING INTO THE PHONE AND TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY,¡± a muffled male voice replied. ¡°Sorry about that,¡± the female voice replied, seemingly realizing her mistake. The tone was now significantly more professional. ¡°We would be thrilled to arrange a meeting! I¡¯m sure you¡¯re a busy woman. When would work for you?¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯d like to meet as soon as possible!¡± Katy responded enthusiastically. ¡°Whenever that is for you, I¡¯ll make it work.¡± ¡°Today then?¡± the voice inquired. Katy was shocked. She hadn¡¯t expected to be able to land an appointment this quickly. Surely there were other companies in the same position as her. Had they simply been first? ¡°Today is great!¡± Katy exclaimed, thinking nervously about all the rescheduling she¡¯d need to do. ¡°We can come to your office then, if that¡¯s fine. What time works best for you?¡± the voice asked without bothering to wait for an answer. ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll have a lot to talk about. Let¡¯s do morning so that we know we¡¯ll have time.¡± Katy suggested. ¡°Does 10 work?¡± ¡°10 sounds great!¡± the voice replied. ¡°I¡¯ll bring some demo units and documentation.¡± Katy was floored. So far, nobody outside of Morphix and Virtech had seen the devices. Katy was practically drooling at the thought. ¡°I can¡¯t wait!¡± Katy replied, cordially. ¡°See you then!¡± the voice responded, ending the call. Katy slammed the phone back onto its station and wrested her champagne glass from her son¡¯s hands, downing it in an instant. ¡°Ten o¡¯clock today and they¡¯re bringing demo units!¡± she declared proudly, lifting her glass in the air. ¡°Yessss!¡± her husband exclaimed, lifting the entire bottle. As his parents began to awkwardly dance around the kitchen, James returned to his room to get ready for the day. The Benign Insider It was almost time for summer vacation, and the weather was starting to get hot. James pulled on a pale green t-shirt and khakis and wrestled briefly with his bedhead before grabbing his backpack and heading out. As he walked past the kitchen on the way to the front door, he noticed that his parents had also sobered up enough to get themselves ready for work. ¡°I¡¯m heading out!¡± he called as he opened up the front door. ¡°Okay, sweetie! Have a nice day today! Say, ¡®Hi,¡¯ to Luke for us! Oh! And don¡¯t forget that your father and I are probably going to be home late today! Make sure to eat dinner!¡± Katy called down in response. ¡°I will, Mom! Love you!¡±, he replied, shutting the door and heading down the street. About a block away, he ran into his best friend, Luke Anderson. Luke stood tall for a high school student at about 6¡¯ 1¡±. His blonde hair was, as usual, styled meticulously and he wore an outfit far more fashionable than the average high school male. Part of this was due to Luke¡¯s troublesome reputation as a player and a flirt. The other half was due to Luke¡¯s high-paying part-time job. While most high school students with jobs were making minimum wage flipping burgers, Luke had managed to get himself a job as one of 100 beta testers for a certain virtual reality company. Luke worked for Virtech. ¡°I¡¯m so, so, terribly sorry for your loss,¡± James mockingly lamented as he patted his friend¡¯s shoulder in a comforting manner. ¡°You can go straight to hell, alright, James?¡± Luke snapped, looking thoroughly unamused. ¡°I was seriously looking forward to testing that Morphix gear,¡± he continued. James just laughed. ¡°Well if you still want to test it, you could always turn traitor and come work for my parents!¡± James offered, grinning slyly. ¡°They didn¡¯t!¡± Luke exclaimed. ¡°I haven¡¯t heard anything about Tripwire making a deal with Morphix!¡± Luke was one of the only students at James¡¯ school that knew about his parents¡¯ occupations. People connected to the VR industry tended to get a lot of attention. Even Luke who loved attention more than almost anything kept his part-time job to himself. ¡°Between you and me, my parents have a meeting scheduled today with Morphix to talk about building a partnership,¡± James confided. James and Luke had an agreement. They had been friends since long before Luke had gotten his job. Any conversations they had were kept between the two of them. James could talk about Tripwire¡¯s progress and Luke wouldn¡¯t tell Virtech. Likewise, Luke could talk about testing Solaris and James wouldn¡¯t tell his parents, not that they were at all interested in copying Solaris. ¡°If Tripwire gets the Morphix deal, promise me you¡¯ll let me be a tester,¡± Luke pleaded. ¡°Don¡¯t you have some sort of non compete clause for Virtech?¡± James asked. Usually companies would ban employees from working for their competitors for a certain period of time after quitting. James thought this would be the case with Virtech. ¡°Hardly,¡± Luke responded. ¡°Apparently there¡¯s something like a community of professional beta testers. Once you¡¯ve gotten used to testing, you know what kind of things to do try to find bugs in a game. It¡¯s a pretty valuable skill. There¡¯s nothing that says that I can¡¯t use my Virtech job as experience to apply to Tripwire. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s true,¡± James acknowledged. He had heard of a few famous pro-beta testers before. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t really have a say in company matters, but regardless of your connection with Virtech, I¡¯m sure my parents trust you enough to let you test for them. They say, ¡®Hi,¡¯ by the way.¡± ¡°Your parents are the best!¡± Luke exclaimed. ¡°Can I come over today?¡± ¡°Yeah, but my parents won¡¯t be there. Besides, don¡¯t you have work?¡± James asked. ¡°Nah!¡± Luke responded. ¡°I took the week off. We have finals starting tomorrow, remember? I was thinking we could study. Besides, I want to be there when they get back from this fancy meeting you were talking about.¡± ¡°Haha!¡± James laughed. ¡°That¡¯s fine. Though I don¡¯t know how much studying I¡¯ll get done with a distraction like you around.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°For my sake, please study with me. I hate to admit it, but I haven¡¯t been paying very close attention in most of my classes,¡± Luke confessed. ¡°I could use a little help.¡± ¡°I figured as much,¡± James sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll get you caught up. You better be ready to work hard though.¡± The rest of the day passed without incident. Luke and James arrived at school and headed to their first hour calculus class where they spent the period reviewing for their final tomorrow. At the end of class, the professor reminded the students that the two distance-learning students who had been taking the class online would be joining them to take the final in person. The rest of the classes offered similar reminders. James was curious as to what type of person would even want to attend high school through video lessons. Luke, too, was caught up in imagining what the distance-learning students might be like, although he was hoping at least one of them would be the frail princess type. Like this, their classes passed uneventfully. Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Marcel were having a much more interesting day. A little bit before 10, a shiny black car pulled up in front of Tripwire¡¯s office. The building was lavish and modern, encased in a shiny mirrored-glass shell. The company name ran vertically up the building in a vivid shade of orange. It was located in a rapidly-developing region on the western side of the city. The first person to step out of the car was a man. His short, auburn hair was gelled up in a messy style. His eyes were covered with shades and he wore a sharp-looking suit. He was about 6¡¯2¡± and looked young enough to still be a college student. Katy had done her homework. This man was Samuel Coulter. He was Morphix¡¯s lawyer and had been their sole representative during the discussions with Virtech. This time, however, he wasn¡¯t alone. Samuel exited the passenger side of the car and moved towards the back to help the second passenger out. As he opened the door, a skinny arm clutching a bulky, silver, briefcase shot out. The man grabbed the briefcase with one hand and as the other hand extended towards the delicate wrist. The thin fingers slipped into his hand and a figure was hoisted from the car. If Samuel was attractive, the second figure could be considered breathtaking. The young woman was probably no older than the man, but she possessed an ageless grace as her slender limbs lifted her out of the car. She stood at about 5¡¯6¡± and wore silver pencil skirt with a conservative hemline matched with a sleek, silver, blazer that highlighted her slender frame. Beneath the blazer, she wore a black blouse fastened with a silver tie. In addition to the suit, the woman¡¯s hair was also dyed silver. It spilled down her back in lustrous rivers and landed at her lower back. The front of her hair was cut short, just above the eyebrows. The woman¡¯s eyes were also covered by shades. Hers had small round lenses that would have seemed old-fashioned if it weren¡¯t for the chunky frames. She wore very little makeup and didn¡¯t even bother to color her tender, pink, lips. As beautiful as she was, Katy¡¯s thoughts were not on her appearance, but on her identity. Katy had no idea who she could be. Katy was pretty well-informed when it came to the VR industry. A woman with this unique of an appearance should surely have been talked about. How come Katy couldn¡¯t place her? Could this be one of Morphix¡¯s mysterious executives? Why hadn¡¯t she appeared before? The car door closed and the Morphix duo walked towards the Tripwire building where Katy and her assistant and one of Tripwire¡¯s top lawyers stood waiting. As they entered the shade of the building, the guests removed their sunglasses and Katy could see that Samuel had stunning, deep blue eyes, and the woman had pale green eyes with bluish tones. Katy wasn¡¯t sure it was possible for there to be two human beings so beautiful. Recovering from her stupor, Katy stuck a hand forward. A Silver Blessing ¡°Hello! My name is Katy Marcel, CEO of Tripwire. This is my assistant, Clark Edwards and our lawyer, Helen Dulles.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you Katy! My name is Charlotte Burke,¡± the woman answered in a familiar voice, returning the handshake. ¡°I¡¯m the CEO and Co-Founder of Morphix. I believe we spoke over the phone earlier. I apologize for my previous conduct. This is my lawyer Samuel Coulter.¡± The silver woman¡¯s warm expression stood in stark contrast to her neat and rigid attire. Katy was stunned to discover that this young lady was the mysterious CEO of Morphix. As incredible as it was that she had decided to personally attend this meeting, it was even more incredible that this woman was the owner of the groggy voice that had personally answered the phone this morning. What is a CEO doing answering phones? After a short round of hand shaking and introductions, the party entered the building and was seated in a conference room on one of the upper floors. Charlotte Burke immediately took control of the meeting. ¡°I figure we might as well start off with what Morphix has to offer,¡± she began, placing her delicate hands on the silver briefcase. As she spoke she began fiddling with the clasps. ¡°Without any further ado, I would like to formally introduce you to the Morphix Regalia.¡± Charlotte reached into the silver case and lifted a thin metal contraption into the air above the table. Lowering the object, Charlotte handed it to Katy on her right. Katy inspected it vigorously. There was a small silver box with symmetrical silver appendages branching off of it in all directions like a tree. On the ends of the branches were small circular nodes, about 5mm in diameter. The box itself was maybe 4mm thick and was about the size of a credit card. The branches were even less than a millimeter thick. The whole thing was almost weightless. It looked like some kind of elaborate crown. As Katy examined it, Charlotte turned around and lifted up her long silver hair. Stuck to the back of her head was a little black box that looked just like the object in Katy¡¯s hands. The tendrils reached up through Charlottes hair all the way to her temples. Here and there, small circular nodes could be seen. With her hair down, the Regalia could hardly be noticed. Samuel, too, pulled a silver box out of his pocket and demonstrated the process of attaching it. All that was required was the push of a button as the tiny branches grew out of the box and branched out forming a silvery maze over the back and sides of his head and using the nodes on the temples to hold itself in place. Pulling two more units out of the case, Charlotte distributed them to Clark and Helen and instructed the Tripwire party to power them on. Katy was a little bit hesitant, but her curiosity overpowered her sense of restraint. As they booted up, Charlotte explained a little bit about the technology behind the Regalia. She couldn¡¯t explain too much without running the risk of sharing trade secrets, but it was enough for Katy to get a rough idea of what was going on. The Regalia used waves to interfere with electrical signals in the brain, just like any other VR helmet currently in development by Virtech or Tripwire. There was a big difference in Morphix¡¯s machine though. The Regalia didn¡¯t require the user to be unconscious. Katy was stunned when a transparent blue menu appeared on the edges of her vision, but as Charlotte continued her explanation, she became even more amazed. The Regalia was a combination of virtual reality and augmented reality. It was like hooking up a computer to your brain to assist you. Charlotte walked the Tripwire crew through the different applications that had the Regalia had been tested for. It could replace lost senses. The hearing-impaired could hear again. The vision-impaired could see again. It could directly translate foreign speech into the language of the user. Users could communicate with telepathy. There was even a math engine that could autocomplete any equations it witnessed. This alone was groundbreaking. It was already enough for the Regalia to stand on its own as a product when Charlotte got to virtual reality applications. In addition to a massive improvement in graphic quality, a huge bombshell was dropped. One of the biggest complaints the public has with the entire VR industry is that it encourages laziness. You have to be comatose for long periods of time. Charlotte called her answer to this ¡®training mode¡¯. It is the ability to transfer real-world tasks into game stats. If you study for an exam, your wisdom stat could increase. If you run a marathon, your endurance stat could increase. If you practice a sport, your agility or strength stat could go up. It was amazing. This would completely separate Tripwire from the rest of the VR industry. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°How could Virtech have walked away from this?¡± Katy asked incredulously. ¡°Virtech never even let us explain,¡± Charlotte answered with a complicated expression. ¡°They took one look at our product and called it useless. They said that they were above doing business with punks like us. They said that our helmet might be a little bit shinier and their game¡¯s graphics might be a bit better on it, but that didn¡¯t make it any more useful.¡± Katy¡¯s jaw dropped open. She knew that Virtech wasn¡¯t exactly welcoming of outsiders, but she had no idea they could be this brusque. Back when she knew the Vallimonts, they would never have acted this way. What had happened? After they had finished oohing and aahing over the Regalia, the conversation became serious. Charlotte mentioned that as long as she could have access to Tripwire¡¯s codebase, Morphix would take care of writing a wrapper to allow the Regalia to handle their current code without rewriting anything. Once the code was wrapped, they would even supply the developers with special testing devices that had higher privileges. Morphix also owned their own factory, so Tripwire didn¡¯t need to worry about manufacturing costs. The Regalia was made from a lightweight metal alloy which they produced themselves, which did drive up costs somewhat, but in the end, the Regalia only cost about $100 to produce. Morphix did want to assist in the alpha and beta testing periods, but that was just for the sake of testing their wrapper and making sure that their devices were performing up to their standards. They also wanted the chance to provide input on the game, but did not want any of the rights for it. It was eventually decided that Tripwire would purchase exclusive rights to development on all Morphix products for the next twenty five years. They would also order an initial 1,000,000 Regalias at $300 a piece to be distributed with their game. They would charge $500 for the final product. This was already half of the price of Virtech¡¯s product and some users might not even want the game. They might just want the Regalia for use in their everyday lives. As progress continued on the game, the would update their initial order based upon estimates for the size of their user base and they would continue to purchase more as needed. It was also decided that Morphix would be allowed to sell a stripped down version of the Regalia called the Providence for a cheaper price to users who wanted the Regalia to help with health issues. This version would only assist the user with sensory perception problems. Charlotte also disclosed that there were already several units that had been used for testing out in the wild, but Katy wasn¡¯t worried about that. Morphix offered to take extra security measures to ensure that users would not be able to wrap Virtech software for use on their machines. The final arrangements would be made between the lawyers. With that, negotiations were over for the day and Katy called her husband up to the conference room with the other senior officers in the company to share the good news. The entire company was abuzz with the exciting news. Charlotte excused herself to make a phonecall to the other co-owner to inform them of the result of the meeting. The silver case that Charlotte had brought with her held an astounding 50 units which she offered to leave with the office as a goodwill gesture to let the employees get used to the devices. Tripwire decided that it would be for the best to keep the exact appearance and capabilities of the Regalia a secret until the project was a little further along. Charlotte agreed. Unable to wait, Katy and Jeff did snap one picture of themselves wearing Regalias and making victory signs with their fingers to send to James. James understood the victory signs, but didn¡¯t even notice the devices on his parents¡¯ heads. He sent back a quick, ¡°Congrats,¡± before continuing to listen to the review lecture for his physics class. James and Luke continued their uneventful day before finally heading back to James¡¯ house with their backpacks stuffed full of textbooks that they wouldn¡¯t normally need. James shared the picture he had received with Luke on the way home. When they arrived, they immediately seated themselves in the spacious living room and reluctantly applied themselves to studying. It wasn¡¯t until 7 that Mr. and Mrs. Marcel wandered through the front door with a fair bit of celebratory alcohol in their blood and a certain silver briefcase in their hands. ~~~ AN: Probably should have spaced out releasing these chapters, but I wanted to get them all out quickly since most of this is pretty basic exposition. I hate exposition. Anyways, let me know what you think. Mysterious Distance Students As soon as the car pulled away from Tripwire, Charlotte frantically shrugged out of her blazer, completely destroying any image of the elegant and refined woman who had entered the vehicle. Samuel frowned at the woman miming a seizure on the seat next to him as he loosened his tie. ¡°Piece of shit straitjacket,¡± she grumbled to herself, finally freeing herself of its embrace. ¡°Get used to it,¡± Samuel remarked dryly in response. ¡°I''m just glad that our new partners didn''t have to see you like that. You really know how to shatter a man''s dreams, you know?¡± ¡°If I gave a shit about your dreams, Samuel, I wouldn''t have blackmailed you into being our lawyer,¡± Charlotte replied, her eyes glimmering with a cold light. ¡°You really know how to win someone over don''t you?¡± Samuel grumbled. ¡°If I was good at winning people over, I wouldn''t have had to resort to blackmailing you,¡± Charlotte replied with a smirk as she loosened her tie and unfastened the top two buttons on her blouse. Samuel grimaced. ¡°You know, I''m happy and all that you''re willing to acknowledge your wrongdoings, but as your lawyer, I''m going to have to ask you to omit the word ¡®blackmail'' from your vocabulary while you''re on the job, especially in the context of admitting to it,¡± Samuel chided, a wry smile playing across his lips. ¡°Oh come on,¡± Charlotte chuckled, ¡°You know me. I''m not going to let myself get caught just yet. We haven''t even gotten to the fun part.¡± Their conversation drew to a close as Charlotte began staring into space and drumming her fingers rhythmically against the armrest. To anyone else, it might look like she was listening to a song in her head, but Samuel had been around long enough to know that she was actually typing a message to her partner, no doubt informing him of the day''s events. All in all, today wasn''t bad. The folks at Tripwire had been ecstatic at the thought of working together. It had been a far cry from the welcome he had received at Virtech. Charlotte had told him that they would refuse, but insisted on making an attempt. She had called it a spider''s thread, one last chance for Virtech to achieve salvation. Samuel knew otherwise, but the public didn''t need to know Morphix¡¯s real motives. Hell, most of the time, even he didn''t know Morphix''s real motives. He didn''t even know the identity of Charlotte¡¯s partner. All he knew was that the bad blood between Morphix and Virtech was hardly something caused by recent events. They had been planning whatever this was for a long time. Somewhere across town, two mildly inebriated startup owners were barreling through the door of their home, briefcase in hand. ¡°Look what weeee haaaaave!¡± the idiot couple sang as they danced through the living room swinging the case. ¡°You actually brought it home with you?¡± James exclaimed. ¡°Why not?¡± Katy replied. ¡°There were enough of them,¡± she explained as she set the case down on the coffee table and opened the lid victoriously. ¡°This is it?¡± James asked lifting one of the boxes from the crate. ¡°Use it like this,¡± Katy explained vaguely as she stuck the box on the back of James¡¯ head and pushed the button. James was a little bit unsettled to feel the branches expanding to encompass his head. As they waited, Jeff gave them a quick brief on the device. Both James and Luke were stunned to hear about the augmented reality aspect of the Regalia. James held up a sample Calculus exam and his jaw dropped as the problems began solving themselves and the correct answers were highlighted one by one. Luke begged to be allowed to borrow one for the exams tomorrow, but even Jeff wasn¡¯t drunk enough to let that one slide. The idea was immediately rejected and the machines were confiscated so that the boys could continue studying and Jeff and Katy headed upstairs to get some sleep. Luke¡¯s studies weren¡¯t going as well as they would have liked, so around 10, Luke called home to tell his parents that he would be staying the night at James¡¯ house. Early in the morning they finally felt satisfied enough to get some sleep of their own. The next morning was marked by a general lack of energy. Katy and Jeff were still recovering from yesterday¡¯s excitement and helped themselves to dangerous amounts of coffee. James and Luke, who were suffering from a lack of sleep, also indulged themselves in the steaming, caffeine-laced beverage before heading to school together. They put their bags in their locker and headed to calculus class. There was still quite some time before class would begin so they decided to review what they had gone over last night. Upon arriving at the classroom, they were greeted with a surprise. Two unfamiliar students stood in the front of class trying to figure out where to sit. The distance students were here. James and Luke greeted the new students with smiles and pointed out the seats that were empty on the roster. One was a boy and the other was a girl. The girl was seated in a wheelchair that was being pushed by the boy. Her name was Sara Howe. She had short dark hair and big, brown eyes. Her entire body was extremely slender. She was stunning. Luke was staring intently and could hardly stop himself from drooling. Apparently, she had been hospitalized for some time and a good portion of her muscles had atrophied. She would be able to walk again someday, but while she was going to physical therapy, her doctors thought it would be better for her to study from home. She did most of the talking while the boy remained silent behind her. She introduced him as Oliver Belloc. He was deaf and preferred to learn off of videos because he could pause and rewind them to better read the teacher¡¯s lips. Despite the weather, he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and jeans. He even had the hood up which was typically not allowed at school. Tufts of long, dark blonde, hair stuck out from under his hood. His hazel eyes were framed by thick-rimmed glasses. Despite the obstructions, it was easy to see that Oliver had a prettyboy face. His only problem was the deadpan, disinterested, expression he wore. Although they seemed to be close, it turned out that they were practically strangers. They had met in the front office earlier and the boy had started making strange hand gestures at her. Eventually, she realized that he was trying to communicate using sign language and got a paper for him to write on. It turned out that he was offering to push her around since they were heading to the same classes. She gladly accepted and had taken up the role of talking for the both of them. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. As she was explaining his deafness, she even gestured to two shiny, black lumps above his ears that could barely be seen. James internally recoiled in shock. Those weren¡¯t hearing aids. Why was this kid wearing a Regalia? Was he pretending to be deaf? No. That¡¯s jumping to conclusions. There might be some other explanation¡­ Suddenly, James recalled Luke¡¯s rejected proposition from last night. Oliver was going to use an unreleased technology to cheat on his exams. James wrestled with his conscience. Cheating didn''t sit well with him, but it wasn''t really his place to say anything. Besides, speaking up would mean revealing the appearance of Morphix¡¯s mysterious device, and revealing a connection between himself and the VR industry. It could cause a whole host of problems for both his personal life, and his parents¡¯ company. Ultimately, it wasn''t worth the trouble, so he chose silence. James couldn''t help but to shoot a few glances over at Oliver during the exam. As expected, he was completing the questions with an unnatural ease. It only took him half of the time allotted to finish the exam. As he sat back down after turning in the exam, James noticed him take a small black box out of the pocket of his jacket and slip it into his hood. James tried his best not to stare as he noticed the nodes appear once again over Oliver''s ears. He had been mistaken. Oliver hadn''t been wearing Regalia during the exam. Questions flooded James¡¯ mind as he struggled to direct his thoughts back toward the test. As James handed in his exam, Oliver was drumming his fingers against his knees. James watched curiously and wondered whether or not he should mention something. His thoughts were disrupted as a pair of hazel eyes spun to glare at him from behind Oliver''s glasses. Realizing how creepy he must have seemed, James panicked as he tried to think of a way to explain himself. Summoning the little sign language that he knew, He pulled his hands into the sign for ¡®why'', pointed at Oliver, and spelled out ¡®Regalia''. As he was wondering to himself whether or not his message had been understood, a flash of excitement ran through Oliver''s eyes followed by a slight smile. His hands moved in response, and although James didn''t understand the signs themselves, he understood the meaning: How do you know what this is? As James was beginning to spell out ¡®Tripwire¡¯ he heard a cough from the front of the room and looked up to find his teacher shaking his head disapprovingly. James cast an apologetic glance at Oliver before spending the rest of the hour feeling frustrated and scratching doodles into his worn notebook. When the bell finally rang, James took the opportunity to offer to lead Sara and Oliver to their next classroom. James and Sara made small-talk as they walked. Oliver kept quiet as usual. As they moved to their seats, Oliver slipped James a scrap of paper with a ten digit number on it. Once again, Oliver finished the exam first, but this time, as soon as James finished, he pulled out a paperback novel and hid his phone inside. Pulling out the scrap of paper, he punched the number into his phone and shot it a message containing only two words: ¡°You first.¡± The response came within seconds, Oliver''s fingers tapping skillfully against his knee. ¡°I''m a Morphix beta tester,¡± it started simply. James was surprised at the ease with which he admitted this. There are people who would kill for such a job. At the very least, he no longer had any reason not to share his source with Oliver. ¡°My parents work for Tripwire,¡± he replied. It wasn''t the whole truth, but it would have to do. ¡°Makes sense,¡± Oliver responded simply. James couldn¡¯t help his curiosity. ¡°How''d you get a job at Morphix?¡± he queried. ¡°I knew the right people.¡± Another simple answer. ¡°Are you really deaf?¡± This time, James¡¯ question drew a pause from the dirty-blonde teen as a brief frown crossed his face. ¡°No,¡± Oliver continued, ¡°I feel bad about that misunderstanding.¡± Oliver continued to explain how he had been typing on his Regalia when Sara walked into the office. He hasn''t noticed her enter and didn''t realize he''d been looking at her as he typed. Before he knew it, she''d brought over a pass of paper for him to write on. It was far easier to go along with her story than to explain that he''d been messing around in augmented reality, and he wasn''t even allowed to explain what the Regalia was, so he just let it be. James had to resist the urge to laugh while reading these messages. He wondered if misunderstandings like this would become more common in the future. More likely, the Regalia and similar devices would make hearing loss and sign language a thing of the past. ¡°What if you were a pianist who spaced off while practicing for his recital?¡± he suggested absentmindedly. His idea was met with a small puff of laughter from across the room as Oliver struggled to maintain his composure in the silent classroom. ¡°Most people with the balls to call me out on a lie wouldn¡¯t suggest patching things up with another lie. You¡¯re interesting,¡± Oliver mused. ¡°I''ll clear things up at lunch,¡± he promised as the bell rang, signaling the end of their last morning class and the beginning of their lunch period. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AN: Long unannounced hiatus, I know. I could make excuses, but I''m not really going to bother. Life happens. Sometimes it happens to fuck you up the ass until there''s nothing left of you but a bloody pulp. Regardless, I''m back. I''ll be updating both of my fictions regularly on here again. Also, I''m writing on mobile and my autocorrect is being a lil betch, so if you see something, say something. I tried to proofread, I really did, but there''s only so much I can do with a screen this big. Also, this chapter is a little boring. A much more interesting chapter will be up either later tonight or tomorrow.