Zach sighed, slipping on his headset. He didn't like blowing off his dad, but he had truly been waiting for this game to be released for months. He'd arranged with his friends to show up at seven sharp and he didn't want to be late, or they'd leave him behind and skip ahead.
Nothing was worse than being several levels behind friends and having new content spoiled. He was determined to avoid the inevitable disappointment this time by spending all of his spare hours pushing ahead to the end game.
He was fairly confident in his abilities, and knew that his mother wouldn't bother him. He should have at least four to five hours to himself before bedtime.
As soon as his bedroom door had closed, he had stripped out of his normal clothing and climbed into an Encounter suit. It consisted of a two piece outfit made of synthetic material with a sensory mat built into the interior.
Extending up to his neck, it allowed virtual games to apply realistic forces to his body. Yes, it could be used for erotic stimulation, but not without special attachments that he had squirreled away back at his college dorm room. He didn't want to have that particular conversation with his parents.
The headphones surrounding his ears chimed with a soft bong, a welcome sign that he was about to enter an alternate reality where he was actually good at things. Real life had been a big drag on him lately. Sure, he was doing okay at school, but his social life had been a desert.
That's why he retreated into a virtual cocoon where he could be heroic. Save a few galaxies and kiss a few girls. Those the game would allow him to romance, anyway.
The social interface booted up, placing him in a form of purgatory. An infinite number of white blocks surrounded him, slowly building and coloring themselves in as his local world loaded.
He was standing in front of his own personal castle, at the foot of a wooden drawbridge. The portcullis was drawn up, leading to a formidable stone fortress complete with circular towers, murder holes, and crenellations.
It had taken him months to construct properly, and he was properly proud with how it had turned out. Simulated characters walked past him, donkeys carrying cart loads of goods inside.
The material they supplied could in turn be crafted into different types of blocks which he could use to expand his personal fiefdom, if he so chose.
This neutral world was a fun place to build, and since there was only a nominal monthly fee to connect, many people spent all of their time in this virtual reality, endlessly building and destroying their own creations.
Not him, though. He preferred playing more structured games, and fortunately he had a couple of friends that liked to tag along. They should be showing up soon... ah, Nate had just spawned in.
He was dressed in a full suit of plate armor, trotting towards Zach in clanking metal. "Mrmglr mrph mmm," he declared as he approached.
"Oh, come off it, man, it wasn't funny the first time," groaned Zach, shifting the bow sitting on his back.
Nate reached up and pushed his visor open with a metallic click. "Mrgl mmph hmm," he said.
Zach rolled his eyes, jumping when someone touched him gently on the shoulder. He spun around, leaping backward a few feet, heart pounding. "Dammit, Dave, that's dirty pool," he declared, shifting his glasses and blinking.
Corrective lenses weren't necessary in VR, but he thought they made him look cool. Accessories were status symbols in the virtual landscape.
"I'm very sorry, I just couldn't resist, you see - you weren't paying attention and I'm a sneaky rogue character and I thought it would be amusing," he whispered, speaking as fast as possible. His mousey face twitched, whiskers bunching furiously.
"Mmph, grph," agreed Nate, growling in his ear.
He threw up his arms. "If you guys want to be assholes, fine. I'll go play 'Drone Galaxy' by myself."
He punched the air, bringing up his virtual interface. He had preloaded the game last week and all he needed to do was hit the button. His finger itched, but he hesitated. It really wouldn't be as fun without his friends.
A heavy hand laid on his shoulder. "Don't be that way, my good sir," declared Nate in a stentorian voice. "Nobody should be forced to adventure alone."
Better. At least he was speaking now, if only in that ridiculous, ostentatious voice.
"Aw, don't be mad," said Dave normally. "We know you've been waiting for this thing to drop for ages." He opened his own interface. "Let's get this party started! See ya after the intro!" He saluted.
Zach returned the salute and punched the launch button. His avatar swirled and rippled, the world vanishing around him. The vibrant landscape was replaced with an orange loading grid in the shape of a box, a yellow progress bar stretching from the floor to the ceiling.
As the yellow bar reached the top, the loading chamber faded out, filling with a black background full of stars, his avatar drifting through space.
A sonorous voice over talked about how bad things had gotten in the galaxy and that there were billions of people crying out for a hero. A standard introduction spiel. He was tempted to skip it, but was glad he didn't when a splash screen floated in from the side.
"Drone Galaxy," it declared with an unsettling wavy spiral, white on black. Silhouetted was a figure of a man kneeling, a leather leash leading to the hand of a woman wearing stilettos.
He knew this game was adult in nature, but like most of these RPGs, he expected that it would take quite some time to get to the good stuff. He'd play around a bit, make some saves, and hopefully would have access to his sex harness at his college dorm when the good stuff came up.
He'd make do if he had to, but not in front of his friends, of course. That would be damn embarrassing.
The screen faded out and a room materialized around him. He'd never been in a ship cabin before, but he had plenty of experience from playing other games. This looked like a standard science fiction setting.
He picked up a pad from a side table and looked it over, clicking it on. He was captain of an automated ore hauler, and from the manifest he was shipping a lot of it. To some place named Praxus III, not that it mattered.
His main goal right now was to break out of the tutorial mission and get to work on leveling up his character so he could find his friends. Talking to them right now would be a distraction, so he didn't bother booting up the comm interface.
Instead, he marched through the sliding door of his quarters, looking left and right in wonder. The bridge was a literal bubble of glass, giving him excellent visibility into the blackness of space all around him, interrupted only by reinforcing structural members. In the back corner near a bulkhead was a cylindrical container containing a spacesuit. Doubtless for external inspections or emergencies.
The detail the devs had put into the game were amazing. Texturing on the interior was high quality and must have taken a large chunk of time and money to get right.
And the exterior! My goodness! He could see thousands of stars out there, and he knew for a fact that they hadn't been procedurally generated, as he recognized some of the constellations from his schooling. They had probably taken a real map of the galaxy and loaded it into the game. Yet another detail they hadn't skimped money on.
Hopefully they hadn't spent everything on making it look pretty. Good graphics were nice, but in his experience the story would make or break the experience.
A warning klaxon echoed around the small bridge, stealing his attention. Adrenaline pumping, he rushed up to the center console.
If he failed the tutorial mission or took forever to get it right, he wouldn't be able to look his friends in the face. He could already imagine the jeers, which simply increased the pressure to figure out what was going on.
He clicked on the interface, pressing on a section next to an area that was blinking. No, that displayed a picture of his ship along with his speed and cargo containers. It looked like his ship was some kind of tug, magnetically connected to the containers it was hauling.
Dropping the load would likely speed him up, but could also fail him the mission. Best to keep that as a last resort.
He clicked back, looking for the source of the alarm, which was beating itself into his brain making it harder for him to think. Intentional on the part of the devs, he was certain.
The touch screen went back to its original display, filled with irrelevant numbers. He peered more closely at the flashing section. Ah, he had pressed the wrong button. He needed to tap the red arrow.
That accomplished, the display blanked and replaced itself with a top down view of his ship, showing an arc in front of him. A red dot was approaching from starboard.
Was it an asteroid? Was he about to hit something? It did appear to be approaching at a fast rate.
He needed to steer out of danger, and quickly. He looked around for controls, spotting a large wooden wheel at a forward station.
A bit anachronistic perhaps, but this was a game, after all. Who knew? It could actually be realistic. He certainly hadn't captained a real star ship before.
He leaped over the center console, dashing to the front and spinning the wheel to the left. The ship lurched, sending him careening to the right.
Of course! The containers behind him were jackknifing, unable to follow his commands smoothly. Perhaps he should have been more gentle? He'd try that next time.
At any rate, the klaxon was still sounding, the throbbing in his temples reaching critical mass. He trotted back up to the center console and cursed. The red dot hadn't moved position. Whatever he had done hadn't been successful. Or it had adjusted course to intercept him.
