Bad Times

Alexander settled into the game cabin and put the feeding pipes into his mouth. Though it was weird to think about, the cabin could feed the user's body food and vitamins during long play sessions. It was an important safety measure.

Since he had changed his client platform from VRI helmet to game cabin, Alexander re-entered his username and password, then connected.

System: Welcome to the Galaxy of Horus! The game needs to update. Please log out.

"Ah, shit," he grumbled. Then he paused. "Eh, where's the logout button?" He was surrounded by total darkness, with no way to disconnect. "This seems like it can't be good."

Fortunately, "Horus" had an emergency restoration system that could be activated with a thought.

System Alert: Please confirm the restoration request by saying "Yes."

Alexander did.

System Alert: Beginning restoration… Sorry. Your data is corrupted. Will you allow Horus to access your memories to restore your data?

Alexander panicked. Would his memories of his original life be taken into account? Things could get very complicated very quickly.

But his back was against a wall, so to speak. At worst, the game would restore him as an Esper of lvl 200 and rank A+.

He clicked on "Accept."

System: Restoration in progress: 10% complete...

System: Restoration in progress: 20% complete...

System: Restoration in progress: 30% complete...

System: Restoration in progress: 40% complete...

System: Restoration in progress: 50% complete...

System: Restoration in progress: 60% complete...

System: Restoration in progress: 70% complete...

System: Restoration in progress: 80% complete...

System: Restoration in progress: 90% complete...

System: Restoration in progress: 100% complete...

System: Restoration Complete.

System: System_ERROR_404: Character "Apophis" not found in the database.

System: System_ERROR_8904 detected…

System: System_ERROR_15008 detected…

Several hundred messages of the same kind appeared, until:

System: Critical_Error_1 A vital process has malfunctioned. The system will perform an emergency stop in 60 seconds.

Shit! Alexander's heart pounded as he wondered what would happen to him!

He remembered several accidents in the news about deaths caused by the original model of VRI helmet. What if it was now his turn?!

Alexander really started to panic! He frantically thought about the emergency procedure at least ten times, but nothing happened!

System: Critical_Error_1 A vital process has malfunctioned. The system will perform an emergency stop in 10 seconds.

Alexander remembered the time he was given a second chance at life, then thought about his family.

Why had he not immediately saved his family with the money he'd already collected? The regret of not having done so was almost worse than the panic.

At the very last second, Alexander wondered if an all-powerful God truly existed in this universe, and if he was going to meet him now.

System: Critical_Error_1 A vital process has malfunctioned. The system will now perform an emergency stop.

Alexander prepared himself for the worst.