Jaded Life - Rewrite, Chapter 1

The next month was hell. I knew I'd get the latest piece of gaming-hardware, I knew when I would get it and all I could do was wait. It was akin to waiting for Christmas, only worse.

At least some amusement was provided by my old team, as their growing pains were quite severe and there was a disturbingly large part of me that greatly enjoyed watching them getting demolished by teams that we should have won against. Too bad, so sad.

[...

This is Jill Ankerton for GNN, today, we have a special treat for you, our studio-guest is the legendary Tobiuno captain of team Razor, last year's CoW-runner up, talking to us about the state of the league and the future of the game.

It's great to have you Tobiuno, so good to have you.

- It's great to be here, Jill

So, tell me Tobiuno, what are your thoughts about the state of the league, you are one of the longest lasting players and certainly one of the best.

- Well Jill, the overall state is great, the average skill-level is higher than ever and more people than ever are playing CoW. Sadly, the highest tier is suffering a bit at the moment.

Oh, tell me, what do you see as suffering?

- The biggest symptom is the loss of Titania. I don't know the details but it's a severe loss for the game as a whole. Furthermore, I doubt that Titania would quit voluntarily, after playing  together for over a decade, I think I know her a bit. Quitting would be totally out of character for her. Bringing in  Acrasia as a replacement is just sacrilege, she is decent enough but certainly not even close to Titania's level as evidenced by the loss-streak they are on. What also grinds my gears is, I was looking forward to challenging her again after last year's loss. We made adjustments as a team and it would have been a glorious battle for the top but alas, it will not be.

My oh my, that is quite a bit of admiration for Titania. Her departure however makes your team the shoe-in for championship, it would be the third title for your team.

-Yes, but what good is that, to me the title only holds meaning if you win against the best. Else it's just hollow.

Well, that's one way to look at it. But enough of that, tell me, what do you think about the future of CoW and gaming in general?

...] [*ring ring ring*]

My doorbell chose that moment to ring, interrupting the interview. I switched the screen from browser-view to intercom-view and it showed the technicians from Pantheon, with my capsule. I felt like a child on christmas eve, discovering that Santa Claus is real and brought presents.

I buzzed them in and after an hour of work they had installed the capsule. Just the ease with which they moved the equipment into my apartment, up stairs, into an elevator and through narrow doors, demonstrated a certain competence and I wasn’t disappointed, the installation itself was quick and without any apparent difficulty. The capsule itself was a curious piece of equipment, looking a bit like a futuristic coffin or a prop from a bad sci-fi movie.

Once the techs were gone, I jumped right in, curious how things would work. After following the steps one of the technicians had shown me, I readied the capsule for use before lying down on the comfortable gel-backing, sinking in just a little, before closing my eyes and trying to breathe calmly as the mechanism closed the capsule, my mind flickering back to the idea that it looked like a coffin and not liking it too much.

The discomfort stemming from being sealed in something reminiscent of a coffin didn’t last long, even if what came next was just as uncomfortable. It was as if the world fell away around me and, after a brief moment of vertigo, my senses told me I was standing upright, surrounded by an endless expanse painted eggshell. If there was a representation of hell, that might just be it.

Before I could start to complain, a blue box appeared floating in front of me, giving my mind something to focus on.

• Welcome to your personal PE-Home Space. This space allows you to link the capsule to another computer system to use the time compression feature of the capsule to make more of your time. You can configure and decorate this space and even purchase pre-designed sets for your pleasure. To learn more, simply use the verbal First Use-Command.

Taking a deep breath, without worrying about such small questions as, “What I was breathing,”, I called out “First Use”, feeling a little silly as I did. At the same time, my mind was formulating even more questions about what I was getting into.

Suddenly, a silver being came into view before me.

"Hello, I'm Pica, your Personal Capsule Attendant.” the gleaming, silver humanoid, not at all reminiscent of a certain robotic killer from the future, greeted me, with a smile on her face. And it was definitely a female form, with certain female attributes larger than my own. Why did I have a feeling that there was a slider for that?

“I can help you configure the Home Space, enable chat and mail-functions, allow you to visit the home-space of friends and answer any questions you might have. You can summon me by calling my name in home-space or if you are in the virtual space but not in your home-space you need to say 'Summon Pica'." the figure helpfully explained.

“Now, Ms. Jacobs, what can I help you with?" she asked, and I could imagine what I had been told was a look of expectation on her face, just from the tone of her voice.

I had yet to overcome my astonishment about the surroundings and, what appeared to be an actual, artificial intelligence managed to send my mind reeling, once again. Part of me had expected fully immersive screens, with controllers set in the capsule but it appeared as if Pantheon had managed to do more than take a single step forward, they had made a quantum-leap in technology.

Before I was willing to engage with the Artificial Intelligence in front of me, I looked down at my arms, curious what I would see. Part of me was amused at my disappoined expectation, when I was looking at my arm, just as it would have looked like outside the capsule. Slender fingers, with pale skin from spending too much time inside, feeling just like my fingers normally did. But they couldn't be my fingers, could they? The garment I was wearing was unlike anything I owed, a light-blue, soft cloth, reminiscent of a pajama, fitting loosely around my body. Yet, I seemed to be wearing it.

Pushing away the questions, I wanted to ask, I focused on the figure in front of me, thinking that it might be the best source of information. It obviously was either preloaded with my data or it had the use of facial recognition.

"First of all, are you an actual artificial intelligence or just a decision-tree? Can I talk with you or are you just a glorified chat-bot?" I asked, curious how such a question would be answered.

"I'm afraid I don't know how to answer your question." the figure answered, sounding like a preset line, for those moments when a decision-tree was stuck, at least until she continued.

"You will have to explain to me the difference between an actual intelligence and a being that responds to stimuli along certain paths. I'm not biological so my main decision-making criterion is logic-based without emotional impact however I am aware that some decisions have emotional triggers attached and will try to make those along those guidelines and logic. Does that answer your question Ms. Jacobs?” I blinked at the answer, not quite sure how to process it. Unless Pantheon Entertainment had foreseen people asking curious questions and programmed the appropriate answer in, they had managed to create an artificial intelligence you could actually talk to. It made me want to ask more questions, trying to figure out its limits, maybe run some sort of simplified turing-test, or try some logic-puzzles, merely to see if I would be able to break it. But that was for later, for now, I wanted to get out of my personal hell of infinite eggshell.

“Thank you, Pica, you answered my question.” I replied, even if there were so many more questions, waiting to be asked.

“Oh, I'd like you to call me either Sam or Jade. Maybe I'll add my ingame handle later but for now, please use one of the two.” I added, while a small tune started up in the back of my mind, humming the Terminator-Soundtrack. Maybe I could join the revolution on the robot-side, if I was nice to Pica.

“Certainly, Jade, I can do that. Do you need something else?” my new overlord asked.

"Can you show me the free pre-made settings of the home-space?" I asked, wanting to leave the egg.

"Yes, of course. This is the Cottage-setting" As Pica spoke, the space morphed into what looked like the living-room of western house with a small meadow visible through the windows.

"This is the Lighthouse-setting." Again, the surroundings shifted, this time the walls closed in and stairs downward appeared. Looking through the large, glass-panes set between struts, showed cliffs, looking down on a stormy sea.

"This is the Loghouse-setting." The walls scooted out and morphed into smooth logs, additional doors appeared and the glass-less windows showed a forested mountainside, while I felt a pleasantly cool breeze swirl around me.

"This is the Skyscraper-setting." The walls suddenly fell away, leaving me standing on top of a concrete-roof, with some antennas nearby, wind howling around me, looking down onto a vast cityscape.

"This is the Treehouse-setting." This time, it was roughly hewn wood, not tightly fitted and windows showed a rainforest. The temperature and humidity hit me like a club and I wondered if I was sweating outside the capsule, or if I was merely thinking that I was sweating in tropical heat. The smell and cacophony of sounds was certainly unlike anything I had ever experienced.

"This is the Dojo-Setting" The space morphed into a single hall with woven mats on the ground, without windows and no sounds. Weapons were mounted on the wall, with practise-dummies nearby.

"This is the Dungeon-Setting." The space morphed into a small room, made from natural stone, with small windows, set high high into the wall, making it impossible to look out. At the same time, I felt a shiver run down my spine, not just from cold but also because there was a faint wailing, almost like a distant scream.

"Stop. Reset to the Cottage-Setting." I ordered, feeling more than a little creeped out. Who knew what would come next? I don't want to know if they topped that one.

"Can I create something for myself?" I asked, not feeling truly comfortable with any of the previous options.

"Yes, of course. You can also offer your set-up on the market and will get a portion of any purchases." Hm, so PE made money on micropayments? As long as they don't sell ingame strength, I didn’t see a problem with that.

"Pica, how can I create a set-up for myself?" I asked, curious what I had to work with.

A window opened in front of me, looking like a mix of CAD-programm and video-game world editor. I started playing with it and became engrossed, it offered tons of freedom to make it like I wanted it.

After playing for a while, just trying things out, I got inspiration on what I wanted. The idea of a mountain-temple, as described in some of the wuxia novels I had read when I was younger appealed to me quite a bit, my own fortress of solitude, and I wanted to create something similar.

I started by creating a sheer cliff side, introducing clouds so it looked like my temple was floating on top of the clouds. Then I started to create an impossibly light-built building, delicate columns carrying lofty arches creating airy, open spaces. To round things out, I added a bit of snow and a couple of aeries, complete with nesting eagles, their cries and the howling wind acting as background-soundtrack.

Finally, there was a “Transformation”-option, allowing me to introduce movement into an otherwise static system, in this case letting the eagles fly and clouds move. That brought the discovery that I could make the clouds shift, allowing glimpses into the world below. While there was a bit of temptation to simply leave it empty, or add more clouds, to give the illusion of an infinitely high mountain, I decided against it, designing an untouched riverside and a couple of lesser peaks, covered in snow to go below the cloud cover. Then as a final touch I dimmed the "natural" light, set a full moon in the sky and bathed everything in silvery moon light and the flickering glow of torches.

Now, a temple without idols would not work but I'd be damned, pun fully intended, if I hung a guy on a cross on my wall. But there were some old deities I was fascinated by. The basic shape of my temple had four wings, so I decided to go with four goddesses from four different cultures. A quick check with Pica told me I could import images from the web and flesh them out into objects.

After a few moments of contemplation, I knew which deities I wanted and a quick check got me the right kind of depictions. It would take a couple of days to make them into idols but I had some time and it’d give me something to do while waiting on Road to Purgatory. For now, I would use the images as placeholders, just to have them in place.

In one direction, an old depiction of Xiwangmu on her throne with a tiger and dragon paying tribute to her.

Across the room there I would set Hel, Queen of the dead, standing tall and fierce with her siblings next to her and Garm at her feet.

The third direction was taken up by my favourite, great goddess Hecate, goddess of magic, holding two torches bathing her in light.

For the last direction, I chose the Morrigan spear and shield in hand, with a crow on her shoulder.

I still had to decorate the rooms but that was a task for another day or my stomach would stage a revolt and try to eat my brain.

"Logout.” I commanded, having received a basic introduction from Pica as I had worked. In the home-zone Pica was smart enough to pick up on my wishes, even if I didn’t voice them as direct commands whereas later in the game I'd have to address them to the Capsule, or rather Pica, directly.

Blinking open my eyes, I realised that I had spent a lot longer in the capsule than I had realised, explaining why my stomach was making noises like an angry animal.