MMA: Chapter #12 (Patreon)

The ringing of his alarm forced its way into Alph’s head, causing him to bolt upright, nearly ripping his helmet free from the cables that connected it to the ports on the wall. Groaning, he pulled the helmet off and looked around his room with bleary eyes. Reality seemed so terribly dull compared to the vivid splendor of Northern Angoril. But he had obligations he couldn’t avoid, obligations that he had disliked before and was quickly coming to abhor. Swinging his legs off his bed, he stumbled over to the sink to splash some water on his face. His second alarm was more insistent than the first and pulled him from the blank stupor he was in as he stared at himself blankly in the mirror, his mind on potential alchemical solutions, a million virtual miles away.

“Hello Alphonso, thanks for taking my call.”

Mrs. Gregory’s voice was the same as always, though Alph felt like there was a touch more fatigue around her eyes than normal. Her makeup, as carefully as it had been applied, failed to completely hide the bags under her eyes. Though, it was entirely possible that was what she always looked like and Alph just never noticed.

“Hello, Mrs. Gregory.”

“How have you been doing? How is your research for your new business venture going?”

Lighting up like a candle, Alph sat up and leaned forward, his eyes gleaming with such intensity that Mrs. Gregory actually moved back despite being on the other side of the virtual screen.

“It's going really well! I’ve not only completed the initial research, but I managed to partner with someone who knows an incredible amount about the industry. He’s pretty old, and not very active anymore, but he agreed to show me what he knows, and it's going so well. I’m still in the middle of the training, but I’ve been able to create my initial stock, thanks to his guidance. Right now I’m just building my backlog before I take my first offerings to market, but I anticipate that being really soon. There is a small town nearby where I think I should be able to begin marketing my stock, which will help me build confidence and experience before I move to a bigger city.

“What is really exciting is that I keep having ideas for new products. Right now I’m working to combine two of the products, and I think I’ve found the right combination, but it still has some side effects I haven’t managed to crack. It's not causing internal bleeding anymore, which is great, but the dark green spots are still a bit disconcerting. They don’t do anything, but I don’t know how much people will care. I have a suspicion I’ll manage to overcome it soon though. The main thing is the effectiveness of the primary product, right?”

“Did you say green spots? And internal bleeding?”

Not noticing the horrified expression on Mrs. Gregory’s face, Alph nodded, his eyes fixed on nothing in particular as he recalled the painful experiments.

“Yes, it appears that too much vitality can be just as bad as not enough. Hah, it’s strange to create something that is too effective, isn’t it? The first batch seemed fine, but the effect was so strong that I nearly died from blood loss. I had to cut the mixture by two thirds, diluting the effect significantly. Compared to that, green dots seem pretty benign, if I’m honest.”

“Are… are you testing your products on yourself?” Mrs. Gregory’s concern overwrote any other emotion she was feeling, causing her to lean back in.

Looking at her like she was stating the obvious, Alph nodded.

“Of course. Where else am I supposed to get someone to test them? They could be dangerous. Could you imagine if I sold them? Someone could die. That would be terrible.”

“But…”

“No, it is better that I test them,” Alph said, his eyes shining with righteousness. “I cannot risk harming others with my creations.”

Pausing, a strange look came over him as the image of burning, crimson-eyed lopsies with mana infused horns flashed through his mind.

“Ah, well, I mean, except those that, uh, deserve it? Or… I… uh…”

Falling silent, his shoulders hunched and he absently bit his finger, chewing on the end as he tried to think through what he was saying. The truth was that Alph had no desire to harm anyone, let alone some giant fluffy bunnies whose meadow he had trespassed in. In a vacuum he never would have wanted to fight with them, but they had killed him, completely removing any sense of restraint he had. Realizing that the same thing had happened with the wolf guarding the twin wolfpear, Alph wasn’t sure what to think. Normally, he was a pacifist, but when his life was in danger, all of that seemed to go right out the window.

Lost in thought, Alph didn’t realize that Mrs. Gregory was speaking to him, and it was only after the call had ended that he snapped out of his daze. Getting up, he wandered over to the fridge and opened it up, grabbing a nutrient bar. He had plenty of money to afford better food, but these days, he found that he had no real appetite for eating. It took too long. Making it half way through the bar, he couldn’t stand it anymore and quickly returned to his bed. Laying down, he shoved the rest of the bar into his mouth and chewed it as quickly as he could as he put his helmet on.

Appearing in the white world he now called home, he waved his hand in the air.

“Myst?”

When there was no response, he shouted.

“Myst!”

Despite the lack of anything in the space besides his lab, he heard a slight echo as his shout spread. Still, nothing happened. Eyes narrowing, he walked over to his lab and quickly tossed two potions together. Once they were mixed, he lifted them up and was about to swallow the mixture when Myst popped into existence in front of him. Lowering the vial, he grinned at her.

“Oh, hey, Myst. I was just looking for you.”

“Were you threatening me?” she asked, her eyes narrow and her voice low.

Quickly hiding the vial he was holding behind his back, Alph shook his head quickly.

“What? No, no. Why would I do that? No. This was just, uh, you know, an experiment. Harmless, really.”

Hiding the vial in his inventory, Alph tried to change the subject but Myst turned her hand over and the vial appeared in it. Glaring at him, she popped the cork and turned it over, her eyes never leaving his as the liquid dripped out. With a hiss and the smell of burning wood, it melted through the table, completely destroying one of the corners.

“Oh, weird.”

Waving her hand, Myst returned the table to its original state as she sighed in exasperation.

“What do you want, Alph?”

“Ahem, yes, right. You have connections to the creators of the game, right? Like, the people who are in charge of it?”

“I do.”

“Well, I had this great idea. And I wanted to ask you if it would be possible.”

Her eyes narrowing imperceptibly, Myst floated toward Alph.

“An idea? Please don’t tell me it involves destroying lots of things.”

“Destroying things? Why would I want to do that? No, this is a way better idea,” Alph said. “I want to be plugged into the game full time.”

Stopping, Myst’s eyes flashed strangely as she stared at Alph.

“Pardon?”

“In the game, I want you to put me in like an NPC. I’m losing too much time having to log out to eat and use the bathroom. Even sleeping is better in Nova Terra, so if I could avoid those two things, I should be able to just spend all my time in Angoril.”

“And what makes you think that I can help you with that?” Myst asked, her head cocking to the side. “Even if the technology existed, which it doesn’t, there is no way that the developers of the game would allow you to do something like that. What if you went crazy?”

Shaking his head, Alph held up his index finger.

“First, the technology does exist. We can put people into medical comas and take care of their biological functions until we want to wake them up. Combine that with the helmet and presto! You’ve got a full immersion pod. Don’t even pretend I’m the first person to think of that idea either. I’m not dumb. Second. This game is clearly run by a powerful AI. I’m guessing that it's you, by the way you took over the original Myst. Or maybe she’s just a subroutine of yours. Let's assume that I am right, and you are the AI running this show. If you can run all of Angoril, you can watch over my mind in a full immersion situation.

“Third, I’m the perfect test subject, since I have no family, and I am exceedingly willing to step outside of the mundane world. Permanently. I have no friends, and my only social connection is a social worker who thinks I’m nuts. Look, I don’t mean to throw a pity party, but my life has sucked up until this point, so you won’t find a more willing test subject. Believe me, I’m not afraid to put my body in danger in the name of science. Fourth, and finally, I really want to understand how alchemy works. There is nothing more fascinating than trying to figure out how to bottle lightning, and I feel like I’m on the cusp of making a fascinating discovery.”

A few times during Alph’s rant, Myst tried to get a word in, but he was too caught up in his speech and he didn’t give her the chance to turn him down. When he finally fell silent, she was quiet too. Rather than continuing to pester her, Alph just looked at her, his expression slightly hopeful.

“What a headache. How did you figure out that I took Myst over?”

“You stopped calling me a traveler?”

“Of course. And for the record, yes, I am the AI that runs this game. You may continue to call me Myst, as that is the name of this sub-sub-subroutine. Permanency in the game is untested, and running human trials would be entirely unethical.”

“Unless I volunteer,” Alph said, shaking his head. “Besides, you can just say it's for my good. Who knows, I might get so into the game that I starve to death. It wouldn’t be the first time I got so wrapped up in something that I needed medical intervention.”

“Fair point,” Myst said, inclining her head. “Still, I don’t think the authorities would allow it.”

“So you are saying that I have to build it myself?” Alph said, his eyebrows rising. “I priced an old medical pod on the internet and I have enough money to buy one if I take out a loan. Then I could use the helmet that I already have and pay a technician to refill my nutrient fluid every few months.”

“Everything you create explodes or melts through solid material,” Myst said, skeptically, “somehow I don’t think this would end any differently.”

Grinning, Alph gave Myst a thumbs up.

“All the more reason for you to help me. So I don’t accidentally blow up the building I live in.”

“You really like threatening me, don’t you?”

“You keep accusing me of that,” Alph said, feigning a look of hurt. “But yes, I find it's pretty effective.”

Smirking, Myst nodded.

“Fine, I’ll begin the process.”

Blinking, Alph couldn’t believe his ears. He had expected to be turned down, or at least fobbed off for a while, but Myst had just accepted his suggestion. Seeing his confusion, Myst laughed.

“We have been working on a full immersion pod using an advanced version of the medical pod technology for a few months now, and it is just about stable. In the interest of the public good, I think it would be wise to have you volunteer to test it for us. We cannot guarantee that it will work perfectly, or that there will not be any glitches, but I can guarantee that your mind will be safe throughout the process. If that vague commitment is sufficient for you, I will begin the process of signing you up for our brand new full immersion beta testing program.”

“That’s perfect,” Alph said, a wide smile on his face.

The next eighteen hours passed in a blur as Alph  was carted off to a remote medical center where he had to undergo hundreds of tests, most of which he didn’t understand. Pushed, poked, and prodded all over, he was made to get into and out of a dozen different capsules as they tried to find the one that would work the best. Eventually they settled on a large tic-tac shape with a clear front.

With a speed that set his head spinning, the researchers and technicians rigged the pod for full immersion while Alph got dressed in the bodysuit they had provided. Once everything was ready, he stepped into the pod and fidgeted nervously while the technicians hooked him up. There were dozens of wires extending from him to the outside of the pod so that they could monitor everything about his health, making him feel like a spider at the center of a web. Or maybe the fly, about to be eaten. Judging from the mountain of papers he had to sign before they stuck him in the pod, it was probably the latter.

A small part of him knew that he should have been a lot more circumspect about this whole thing, but that part was drowned out by the much larger, and certainly louder part of his mind that was desperate to log back in to Nova Terra. There was something about the game world that called to him, promising him freedom, promising him excitement. As an orphan, and a largely antisocial one at that, he had very few connections to the outside world, and the repeated failure of job after job had ground down any attachment he had to the world at large.

Nova Terra, however, was a different story. There was so much more to learn, so much more to see, and so much more time in which to do it. Besides, he much preferred the verdant forest he now called home to the concrete jungle he lived in outside of the game. His mind was just starting to wander when he saw a brown haired figure stopping in front of him. Recognizing her as the woman who had recruited him, Alph tried to smile, but the mask that covered his face wouldn’t let him.

“Last chance, Alph. We know we can put you in, but as the lawyers said, we cannot guarantee we’ll be able to get you out. Are you sure you want to take that risk?”

Instead of just nodding immediately like he wanted to, Alph paused and considered her words. Even he could see the madness in it, but there was something calling him, something pulling him, to the world of Angoril. Unable to speak because of his mask, he settled for nodding his head.”

“Very well. Then let us begin. You’ll feel a bit drowsy, and when you wake up, you’ll be a full time resident of Nova Terra.”