Back to the Real World

My discovery about the possibility that people will leave the game world with their traits rocks my mind. My in-game alarm goes off, telling me I need to get off and eat. It has arrived at almost a perfect time. I lay on the couch and open my player interface. I go to the very end of the bar and click on the settings. I hit the logout button, and I'm pulled from the game and into a dark area.

After a couple of seconds, everything gets bright, and I'm fully pulled out of the dive equipment as the hatch to my ZSR-10k opens with a hiss. As the light shines in my eyes, that's when I know that my mind is still fully capable of the things that I used it for in-game. I step out of the gaming pod, and my mind absorbs all the information in the room.

Be it on the walls or tech that is being disassembled and memorized. "This is absolutely amazing..." While my mind works through all the information in my room, I think about what this entails. As well as other players coming out of the game. I immediately rush out of my bedroom and head for the living room.

I see Jessica sitting on the couch. She sees me rush in, and I can see the worried look on her face. It looks like my theory was right. "Go to the news gaming channel." I speak, and the T.V. obeys. It changes to the channel, and it's in a commercial break right now. I sit down next to Jess and wait for the program to start.

The female news anchor comes on, and the headline read people emerging from their gaming pods with their traits from The Aeternus Universe. "More and more reports of people coming out with new abilities are flooding the government. These new 'powers' range from highly increased strength to the ability to run faster than a car at 55 mph." The racial traits of people's in-game characters really did follow them into the real world.

I lean back on the couch, and I begin to laugh. This is fantastic! I'm capable of everything I can do in the game in real life! Jessica puts her hand on my shoulder in concern, and I realize this might look weird to her. I stop my slightly crazy laughter and turn my attention to the problem at hand.

The possible problems this will bring to everyone. "This is causing a huge boom in sales for The Aeternus Universe. Gaia's Awakening, Lost World, and Genesis Rebirth have all gone bankrupt since this even has occurred." The news reporter keeps talking, and the economic calculations shoot through my mind. They are indeed bankrupt.

All games will be bankrupt. The Aeternus Universe is going to be the only game anyone will play. "The parent company that owns The Aeternus Universe has to speak at the UN in 12 hours. GBFT Inc. is on a rocky boat right now. The world of gaming is on their side, but the government wishes to discuss possible punishment for the events that have taken place." There is no way they'll shut the game down.

Billions will riot in protests, and the government knows that. My mind goes through all the possible scenarios, and the worst that'll happen to the game is the leaders of the parent company would be put in prison. The government can't take control of the game because the hyper-intelligent A.I.'s run it. Not GBFT Inc., and that means there are no repercussions for the gamers and gaming community.

Many will be on the side of GBFT Inc. leaders. The probability of the people demanding nothing happening to the leaders of GBFT Inc. is 100%. They have an entire world behind them, and they know this. In the end, everything will work out perfectly fine. The real danger is the people that want to use their traits for less than desirable things.

The things I could do with my gifts, I could cause so much destruction if I wanted to. "Are you going to tell me if you got any of these powers or not?" Jessica's voice brings me out of my thoughts, and I look at her. What are normal people going to do? They will be at the mercy of people with powers. My sister is one of these people right now.

I stand up and go back into my room and pick up my laptop. I bring it back out into the living room and sit back down on the couch. I turn it on, and I immediately head for the ZSR website. I bought 3 ZSR's, and I confirm the purchase. Jessica sees me spend 360,000 UWDs like it's nothing, and I see her face become green. She looks like she is going to be sick.

I place the laptop on the table and look at Jessica. "You are going to get powers from The Aeternus Universe too. You don't have to play it, but it's dangerous for you to be walking around as someone who doesn't have powers. I'm going to call mom and dad. They need to do the same thing." I stand up and walk into the kitchen.

I call mom on the holo-caller, and she answers. Before she can speak, I start. "I'm sending you and dad ZSR-10k's. The robot deliverers will set them up for you. You don't have to play. Just load in and create a character, then enter the game world and log out. It'll be unsafe for you guys not to have powers will billions of people at this point in time do." She silently nods her head, and I turn off the holo-caller.

That takes care of that, for now at least. The government will try and limit people from getting on, but that won't last long. Jessica is standing up and slowly pacing around the room. The world government is going to make this difficult for a while. While nations do have independent power structures and leaders, the world government has the most power.

It was formed in 2144 after the 3rd world war. "So what does this mean for us, Scott... I'm scared..." I can understand her fear. She knows about games, even played them with me when I was little, and we were living with mom and dad still. She stopped playing after the gaming pods started getting too expensive, so she'll be rusty.

I walk over to her and try to calm her down. "Look on the bright side. You'll have powers in a few hours. The deliveries will be arriving at their destinations in 2 hours and 18 minutes." I know the exact times since my mind worked out the traffic jams and commute times from the local department.

She gives me a strange look at the oddly specific time I said. "We'll wait and watch the news for any developments. The more we know, the better I can find things out." I still need data to find answers. Just tiny bits can be monstrous for me. My mind is going to be the reason I stay safe. No person would ever be able to overcome my sheer intellect. We both sit on the couch and continue watching the news segment.

It goes to commercial break, and that's when I pick my laptop back up. I create new hacking programs from scratch, and they'll make the ones out there look pathetic. I go to the GBFT Inc. official website and start the hacking program. I'm going to find out what they know about me. I get access to everything, and I immediately look up my information. "There is nothing about me or my special race..." This is strange. That means whoever gave me access to the special race doesn't work for GBFT Inc.

I exit the site and delete any traces I was there, and I head to the dev page and do the same thing. Nothing comes up about me here either. This doesn't;t make sense. My mind works out the problem with the new information I have, and the only conclusion it's come up with is a hyper-intelligent A.I. selected me without telling anyone.

Which one is unknown to me. "How did you do all that? I didn't know you could hack anything... Let alone official websites to billion-dollar companies..." Jessica talks about the little show I just put on. I close the site and delete any traces of me. I close my laptop and relax on the couch. No actual person knows about me, but some hyper-intelligent A.I. does.

Why this has occurred is not known to me yet. The best guess is with the current information there is a hyper-intelligent A.I. going rogue. Which has never happened before in the history of A.I.'s or someone with a lot of power is pulling secret strings. Which means at least one person knows about me. Not thoughts I like, and what's worse. I have to wait to find out.