《Murder Online》 Chapter 1: Non-Disclosure Jeremy Miller put the stub of his cigarette into the remainder of his scotch. He had probably had enough. "Sir, we''re closing." It was the bartender. Jeremy waved a hand dismissively and left a fifty for the five drinks he had enjoyed over the course of an hour. He felt sure his good tipping was the only reason the bartender still let him in. "Do you want me to call you a cab?" The bartender asked. His expression was one of concern. Jeremy shook his head simply and headed out before the bartender started insisting. It was raining outside, but that was alright: at least the scenery matched the way he felt. If he had come out to a clear night with lover''s holding hands on the sidewalk it''d only have pissed him off. Time for a little game called wave down a cab, he thought. One drove by without stopping, splashing him in wet, dirty water. "You fucking bastard!" Jeremy shouted, shaking his fist. A shit ending to a shit day. Then the limo pulled up. At first Jeremy thought someone was stopping at the bar for some reason. Maybe they didn''t know it was closed. He stepped out of the way to give them a path, but the limo didn''t move. After a few moments of this, the window lowered. The rain and darkness made it impossible to see within, but Jeremy could make out a voice. "Mr. Miller, I presume?" "Fuck off," Jeremy said, walking away. Whatever it was they wanted from him, he wanted no part of it. And EVERYONE wanted something. Especially people that sought you out. The limo moved alongside him, keeping pace. "Mr. Miller, a moment of your time, if you would. I have a proposition from my employer that may be of some --" "I said FUCK OFF!" and Jeremy kicked the limo and picked up his pace to emphasize his point. It had been a stupid thing to do: pissing off rich people never ended well. That was something else he had learned in recent months. The limo continued to pull alongside him. "Citadel," said the voice from within. Jeremy stopped in his tracks and turned to the half lowered tinted window. "What did you just say?" he was shivering now, and not from the cold and wet. "Enter the limo and I''ll tell you that and more." Jeremy hesitated, looking down the rain swept sidewalk. It was a long walk home. "Let me give you a ride home, Mr. Miller. I just want to chat with you until then. If you aren''t interested I won''t bother you again." Jeremy sighed. Rich people were rich because they were convincing, plain and simple. Or they hired convincing people. Still, he lived only ten minutes away. What was the harm? "You have until we reach my street." The inside of the limo was exactly what you might expect, maybe a little nicer. There was a mini bar and a small television - currently off. The voice belonged to a golden haired suit wearing man in his early thirties. Jeremy stayed quiet. If this man wanted his shot that was fine, but he wasn''t going to encourage him. "Have you ever heard of Chrysalis Online?" the man asked. Jeremy scoffed. Of course he''d heard of the game. Despite what Jeremy felt was a stupid name and gaudy play environment the game had single-handedly crushed the competition and cornered the virtual reality online market. "Excellent. That''ll make things easier. I''m going to cut to the chase, Mr. Miller." Jeremy nodded, he was paying more attention to where they were headed than anything else. "Tell your man to take a right here." The man in the suit chuckled. "Mr. Miller, ''my man'' is quite aware of where you live." It was then that it occurred to Jeremy that getting into the limo with a stranger was maybe not a great idea. "Relax, Mr. Miller. We know a lot about you. For example, you''re a man with troubles. Debts. You''ve been accused of being a part of the infamous hacking group ''Citadel''. And you have no family to speak of." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Jeremy swallowed hard. Was he being threatened? "What do you want?" The man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a card. Jeremy relaxed. "I represent Murdock Inc and Chrysalis Online. In short, we''d like to give you an off the books job. You will be compensated, Mr. Miller. A ballpark number is written on the back of the card. An appointment has been scheduled for tomorrow at our main building down town. We understand that your schedule is quite -ahem- open so we took the liberty of making an appointment. Twelve o''clock sharp. No need to call us, just show up." The limo driver knocked twice on his side of the window. "We''re here, Mr. Miller. I''d appreciate it if you made no mention of our meeting." The man''s eyes narrowed in a way that Jeremy did not like as he made this last request. Jeremy locked the doors as soon as he was inside. He popped himself in a chair and poured himself a glass of the cheap bourbon he kept at home. The card read: Murdock Inc. 2100 Absolom Ave. That was it. No zip code. No phone number. It creeped Jeremy out, somehow. It was like they didn''t want him to have any direct tie to them. On the back of the card was written a number so large that Jeremy stared at it a full minute, continuing to think that he''d made some mistake. He got up, walked to the sink, and poured the rest of the cheap bourbon down the drain, his eyes not leaving the card as he did so. He couldn''t get wasted tonight: he had a meeting tomorrow. The next day Jeremy showed up to the glass mega structure that housed Murdock Inc. At the front desk he moved to explain about his meeting, but the receptionist, a cute blonde, smiled and guided him through before he could open his mouth. "Head straight for elevator four, sir. It''s already programmed to take you to the right place." Jeremy was wearing his only suit, which he used only for interviews and occasions where he was dragged to something formal by co-workers, friends, or his girlfriend. All no longer in the equation any more. The floor where the elevator stopped was some sort of beta testing area. He was surprised they had one in the corporate building but hey, it was Murdock Inc. They had enough money to do what they liked. "Mr. Miller! Glad you could make it," said an older, robust man who more a conservative suit and tie. He patted Jeremy on the shoulder like an old friend and escorted him past the open beta floor. "This is our beta room, for testers looking for bugs. We also encourage our employees to come up here for some relaxation after work. You know, see what it is they''re working so hard for." The man guided him by the back into an office where sat the man from the car. "I''m Edwin Murdock, CEO and founder of Murdock Inc." Jeremy nodded. He knew who Edwin Murdock was. Who didn''t? Though he was still a little surprised that he was at a hiring meeting. "This is my personal assistant, Timothy. You''ve met." Jeremy nodded again. This was all just too surreal, and his mind hadn''t caught up. Edwin sat on the edge of his desk and tapped his finger on his chin. "We''ve got a little problem here, Jeremy. A bug in our game, you could say." Murdock and Timothy exchanged a significant glance. Murdock nodded and Timothy produced a sheet of paper out of his jacket. "This is a non-disclosure agreement. Before we can go any further we''ll need you to sign." Jeremy gave it the once over and signed his name. Now he HAD to know what was happening. "What the hell is going on?" he asked, folding his arms. If they were this desperate, it meant they needed him. For the first time in a long time he had the upper hand. "Well," Murdock said, exchanging another glance with Timothy. "People are dying in our game, Mr. Miller. We want you to fix it." Chapter 2: First Dive As a lab assistant attached nodes to his temples, Jeremy scratched his five o''clock shadow and considered the wisdom of what he was about to do. Then he remembered a certain small business card and a certain whole number written on the back of it. The numbers of zeros behind said whole number was the reason he was sitting here. Easy money, right? Problem was that Jeremy knew from experience that there was no such thing. "Alright Mr. Miller," the lab tech said. "Elevator two should be waiting for you. It''ll take you where you need to be." Jeremy approached the elevator lobby on his current floor. Sure enough, the second one opened up. He stepped inside, admiring the amount of control these people exerted to ensure secrecy and keep perfect tabs on everyone. He vaguely wondered what they did when people used the stairs. After his talk with Mr. Murdoch, Jeremy had been escorted to room a few floors down. He''d waited in more than a few cold rooms while half clothed, waiting for various doctors and nurses to poke prod, measure, scan, and feel him up. He was almost grateful that the dangerous part was coming up. The elevator went back up a couple of floors. It had no buttons or number indicators inside, so all he knew was that he was between the floor where he had met Mr. Murdoch and the one where had received a full physical. Jeremy had wanted to prepare for his dive, questioning people in the offices, but Mr. Murdoch wanted him to dive in straight away. The elevator doors opened to reveal a japanese teenaged girl. It was the last thing Jeremy expected to see not because of her age, but what she was wearing. Her hair was tied in twin ponytails on either side of her head. She wore black lipstick with mascara to match, and had fingernails painted different colors. She wore a shirt that was too big and read: ''fUcK oFF, fAcIst''. "Charming," Jeremy mumbled, reading her shirt. The girl gave him a raised eyebrow. "No one cares what you think old man." He didn''t have time for this. Jeremy walked around the girl and approached a two men standing together. One had a laptop under his arm. The other wore glasses. "Could you tell me where I am?" he said, interrupting the conversation. "I''m looking for a lab tech." The two exchanged a glance and pointed behind him. The girl had her hand raised with an expression that said Jeremy was the stupid person she had ever seen. "I''m Tomi. Your tech?" She didn''t explain or say anything else, but walked straight past Jeremy further into the hall. When she realized he wasn''t following she turned around. "Well, you coming or what? Time is money, bro." Tomi walked down the hall and stopped at the door with a badge sensor. She pulled her badge from inside her shirt and pressed it to the wall. Jeremy saw that the badge sported a picture of her looking half way decent and had her name written underneath: Tomiko Nagare. Jeremy followed Tomi to a back room with tech lying around everywhere, some that Jeremy was unfamiliar with. There was a computer with six screens and a reclining leather chair like the kind you might find at a dentist''s office, only more comfortable looking. "Sit there. Sorry about the mess," she said as she sat in front of her computers and began typing away on her keyboard. Jeremy sat and took another look around the dark room. The trash can was full of fast food bags and wrappers, and circuit boards, wires, and note pads were strewn and stacked everywhere. There were open computer cases and what appeared to be storage containers for nitrogen canisters. Where the hell was this kids'' parents? "Have you ever dived before?" Tomi asked. Jeremy brought himself back to reality and reminded himself that this person wasn''t his responsibility. He had his own problems. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. "No. I prefer to deal with computers from behind a screen," he said. Tomi sighed, shook her head, and tossed him a packet of tablets. "Dramamine. I keep it one hand for clueless first timers. Why did they hire you?" Jeremy grimaced and forced a tablet down, hoping this was not going to be the daily arrangement for him. Still, she had a point: he was good at what he did, but he usually did it at a desk. Why did he have to go in game? He changed the subject. "From what I''ve read, this is full audio visual, partical tactile virtual reality. Is that correct?" Tomi turned around in her chair and nodded. "That''s why you''ll need the dramamine. The partial tactile sensory mechanism, or P.T.S.M., can be incredibly nauseating on your first time. It''s what makes you feel like you''re in the game, more or less. You''ll have the sensations of moving in your virtual body and touching virtual objects, but you''ll still be able to feel things in the real world too. The guys in R and D are still working on that." Tomi pointed to a headset and odd-looking headphones mounted on the stand next to the recliner. "Put those on and we''ll get you through your first calibration as quickly as possible. Jeremy did as he was told. He put the headset on first, plunging him into darkness. Next he put on the headphones. The moment they clamped onto his ears he was in complete silence. The effect was nerve-wracking. "Can you hear me, Jeremy?" It was Tomi''s voice. At first Jeremy thought the headphones weren''t as soundproof as they had seemed, until he realized the voice was coming form the headphones themselves. "Yeah. This sound is pretty impressive," he said. "Yep. It''s fully direction, so you''ll be able to hear it come from certain sources in game. Wait ''till you see the video," she said. "Press the button on the right side of your headset." Jeremy felt around until he felt a small square button on his headset. He was beginning to wonder how in the hell players did this by themselves at home. "Got it," he said, as he pressed the button. A white room blinked into view. He was surprised to find himself standing. Wait. No, he was reclining in the chair. He could feel the recliner on his back. No, he was standing in a white room. He looked behind him and saw nothing, and yet the recliner..... Jeremy began to feel intensely ill. "Don''t fight it, Jeremy," Tomi said. "You''re resisting. The more you resist, the worse it is. Take several deep breaths." Jeremy breathed in and out, calming himself. "Good. Focus on the room. The room is what''s real. Focus and the nausea will go away." Jeremy was surprised to find that he was feeling better. "You should''ve been a shrink, kid," he said, smirking. "Naw. That''s all required training for the gig." "People do this by themselves?" "Sure. Keep in mind that most of our users are about half your age, about five years older than me is the median age. They''ve all experienced virtual or augmented reality of sort of another. You''re a bit of a luddite. That might be why they chose you." Jeremy was too busy keeping the nausea under control to ask Tomi to explain. "Okay, Jeremy. No time like the present. Dive in three.....two....." "Wait," Jeremy shouted in panic. "...One!" The floor of the white room dropped from underneath him as he was torn away and hurtled into the blue abyss that was the sign in portal for Chrysalis Online. State of the Fiction Address Hullo, all. I know I haven''t posted here in a while ( it would have been a full month, tomorrow!), so I thought I would let you know what''s going on. I started Murder Online around the same time I started Deep Space Combat Station: Nexus, not realizing just how different the two are. DSCS has always had a skeletal frame that I could change at any time as I went, building and adding what is appropriate as I follow a general road map that has been laid out (but that is still, in and of itself, subject to change as I deem necessary). While attempting to write the third chapter of M.O., I hit a giant wall. It made me realize that it''s a COMPLETELY different beast. This is the case for two reasons: 1) It takes place in a world that needs rules to be laid out for it to a fair degree in advance. 2) It''s a mystery, so it requires a large amount of advance planning. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Add the two together, and what you have is a world that is going to need to be fairly detailed and mapped out in advance. There will still be wiggle room and the ability to adjust things as necessary, but to a far less degree than in DSCS. So, I thought I''d just let everyone who''s interested know that the reason this is taking so damned long is because I am in the process of building the story and world in its entirety (at least, a fairly detailed outline that will allow me to start getting chapters up regularly). Hopefully, I''ll be done with it and posts will become weekly before the end of this month. I''m really excited about the world that I''ve got so far (especially the elements system in Chrysalis Online, the MMO of the story)! I''m working on it, guys. Thanks for your patience :). Chapter 3: Log In Jeremy was now floating in the middle of a blue, spherical space. Around him were five small colored orbs, each with an insignia floating at its center. "There. That wasn''t so bad, was it?" As he caught his breath, several registration screens auto-filled in front of him. Tomi''s doing to speed along the process. Jeremy began to wonder about in whose hands he had been left. His life would be in danger in this game. Was a teenage girl, no matter how apparently advanced she was, really ready and able to watch his back in this situation? "Just tell me what to do next," he said. "Are these obs the servers?" "Yep. Gonna have to choose one, Jer-bear. The highest rate of deaths occurred on beta server. The other teams started there." "The other teams?" Tomi either didn''t hear him or was ignoring him. "Hold on, I''ll turn on the developer overlay." A bar blinked over each server. Beta server had a large red bar under it, and the number 250. The second largest bar was on zeta server. It was labeled 99. The alpha, gamma, and delta servers were labeled <10, indicating that less than ten incidences had occurred. "Alright. We''ll start there then." "Are you sure? It''s a PvP server. That means other players will be able to challenge you. Beta server is famous for its intensity." "I''m here to solve a murder, Tomi. I don''t give a damn about some sexually frustrated prepubescent idiots." "Suit yourself, Jer-bear." "Stop calling me that." Tomi only giggled. Jeremy found that if he made a swimming motion he could move forward. He moved over to the beta orb, a black orb with a ''¦Â'' symbol inside it. He reached out to touch it, putting his hand inside. The orb began to emit a glow, a blue ring counting the time until the server was selected. When the ring met its other end a prompt popped up.
Create Character in Beta Server?
Yes?No?
Jeremy tapped ''Yes'' and the sphere and orbs all dissolved around him into blackness. "What''s going on?" Jeremy said. "Shh. It''s the intro." A voice echoed in the darkness, as it spoke, white-lettered words captioned it in front of Jeremy''s eyes. "In the beginning there was the First Esper, sleeping dreamlessly.... In the darkness appeared an enormous being, monstrous and vaguely dragon-like. It was far larger than a mega-corporation skyscraper, or even one of the smaller space stations Jeremy had read about. "Ah!" Jeremy yelped, falling backwards. Tomi giggled. He got the feeling he was going to have to get used to the sound. "It''s all virtual, Jeremy," Tomi reminded him. "Tell that to the people who lost their lives in here," Jeremy said. Tomi was silent in response. The intro continued as the enormous figure faded back into darkness. ...Then, the there was the Dream.... The Dream took form, and from it the High Espers were born. Around him five smaller beings, similar in form to the first but about half Jeremy''s size, appeared. They were all different colors. Jeremy could feel a soft breeze on his skin. It was only then that he realized that he was naked except for a generic looking pair of boxers. "What the hell, Tomi!" he said, covering himself as best he could. "Sorry, Jer-bear. You''ve got to wait for the character customization menu. Besides, you''re not really naked. Now hush." The figures faded away as Jeremy appeared in the middle of an open field, a large, ethereal sun setting in the distant mountains. The High Espers created the world within the dream, and it was good. A grand city of formed around Jeremy. Underneath his feet were cobblestone pathways, as merchants selling their goods pushed their carts along the streets. Brick buildings rose around Jeremy, one of them a bell tower that rang in the distance. Kids ran around his legs and disappeared into a side alley. He couldn''t help smiling at the sight of it. The world was beautiful and detailed. Jeremy hadn''t been a gamer since they still used controllers, but he was impressed. But the Dreamer stirs.... The scene followed the children into the alley, the world sliding around Jeremy. One of the children stopped and the other bumped into him. The were both looking at a dark corner of an alley, frightened as they backed away. In the dark corner, two red eyes opened. And nightmares threaten to wake him, destroying all the High Espers have created and protected... The children screamed as a bestial figure leapt out of the darkness. Instinctively Jeremy tried to jump in front of them to protect them, but scene switched to a group of warriors standing on a cliffside, looking at the horizon. You have been chosen to undergo the Trial of Espers and realize your destiny as a protector of the dream. Jeremy realized, with a jolt, that he was one of the figures standing on the cliffside. "Uh. Tomi?" "It''s not you. One of the cool little tricks in the game. What you''re looking at is a blank, generic mannequin. When the game senses you looking at it, it stimulates the part of your mind that recognizes an image of yourself." Jeremy found this information incredibly creepy. Try as he might, when he looked at the figure he saw only himself. The scene changed again, the cliffside fading into darkness. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Good luck, hero. May the Dream guide you to greatnes.... Jeremy appeared in a room with a full length mirror. He again saw himself in the mirror. Next to the mirror appeared a prompt: [table] "What is this prompt talking about, Tomi?" "Geez. Didn''t you do any reading up on this game?" "I didn''t exactly have time. I was hired yesterday." "Don''t worry about it right now. Just get dressed." On the other side of the mirror appeared a wardrobe. When he opened it a grid appeared. [table]
Create Character Through Trial of Espers?
Yes?No?
Select Clothing Styles (One from each row):
SexyFormalCasual
KnightNoblePeasant
ScienceFantasyBoth/Neither
"I suppose I should tell you at this point that the game is constantly psychologically assessing you. It begins building a profile from this point on. It''ll show you clothing styles based on what you choose, but it will remember those choices in preference and connect those points of data with other behaviors in game." Jeremy chose ''Casual'', ''Knight'', and ''Both/Neither''. "Were there any similarities in psych profiles for the victims?" "Hmm. Let me check." Jeremy looked at the options that appeared in a grid inside of the wardrobe. There was one that was a plain white-collared shirt and khaki slacks. Not the sort of off the wall options he had expected to be forced to chose from. He found one that had a white collared shirt, black slacks, clean dress shoes, and a shoulder gun holster and selected it. It appeared on him, a perfect size. There was another menu in the wardrobe for selecting body type, but he selected the default option. As bad as his life had been lately, he felt uncomfortable about being anyone but himself. "Alright, Jeremy, I''ve got it. Looks like there were a few points of connection. They were all introverts. Hardly surprising, given that they were all gamers that spent a lot of time online. They''re profiles also pegged them for bouts of loneliness and depression." Jeremy considered this. "They were all players that spent a lot of time online?" "Mostly, yeah. Still, that''s not much to go on. There are a lot of people in this game that are like that." Jeremy put it away in his mind to mull over later. "Alright, Tomi. What next?" "You''re going to have to choose between creating your character stats yourself or going through The Trial of Espers." "Whichever is fastest," he said. If he was going to be spending some time in the game world, he needed to understand the game to some degree. Still, he wished this could go faster. "That would be the Trial of Esper. It creates an esper for you based on a psychological assessment hidden within the trial itself. The self design option has an intentionally designed steep learning curve and intimidating amount of options to discourage its use for first time users." "Why''s that?" "The game gets to know people in order to cater the experience to them. Every decision you make in game is monitored, recorded, and sent through complex algorithms to change your experience accordingly. The deepest and most important of these test is the first one, the Trial of Espers. Taking it is mandatory for every employee. You might as well get it out of the way." Jeremy wasn''t exactly sure he was considered an employee, but if it was faster that point was moot. He walked back over to the mirror and took a good look at himself. He had to admit it: he looked good. It wasn''t exactly casual, but somehow the game had known what he wanted. He pressed yes to the Trial of Espers prompt next to the mirror, and the room faded into blackness. The first thing he heard was a blast of cheerful music as he appeared in a glen with other people. They all looked different, about as different as you could imagine. He spotted a french maid with flowing golden hair, a knight in spiked armor with an enormous sword, and a cyber-implanted punk-rock chick with a mohawk. A bit all over the place, but he supposed the amount of options was part of the appeal of Chrysalis. A mission prompt appeared in front of him.
Quest: Trial of Espers
You have been chosen to undergo the Trial of Espers. Proceed to Montebank Cave and retrieve your Esper from the Spring of Contemplation.
A red mark appeared on the mini-map in the upper right hand corner of his vision. "This is going to take you awhile. I''m gonna take a snack break," Tomi said cheerfully. Jeremy sighed. Well, he probably wouldn''t be murdered in the intervening time. He headed toward the mark on his map, following the hoards of other people moving in the same direction.