Vivid Stars Online

We each took a sip of our drinks as Peter let the words sit in the air for a minute. The worst-case scenario he put forward sounded crazy, and yet some part of me felt like it wasn’t that far from the truth.

The technology in the VR pods had to have come from somewhere, and my Technokinesis skill had recognized it as Arkathian. Unless there was some hidden cache of the technology on Earth, then it had to have come from somewhere else.

“You mentioned a transition event?" I asked, putting aside fears about alien invasions for now. That could wait until we had some evidence either way.

“Yes,” Peter responded with a nod. "Let me ask, have you noticed your abilities from VSO becoming stronger over time?”

“I have,” I said as my mind whirled with thoughts. “But I just put it down to getting stronger in VSO.”

“That is certainly part of the phenomenon, most likely the larger part,” Peter continued with a shrug. “But not all of it. There is a percentage of power that is transferred, and it is increasing."

“The increase is never stable, instead moving in jumps and starts, but our current estimates put it at roughly twenty percent. We believe that something will happen once we reach a one hundred percent transfer rate from VSO.”

“The most popular theory is some kind of transition event, likely a movement of Earth or the Solar System to the same galactic locale as VSO is set in. You may have noticed there is a highly concentrated cluster of habitable planets there. We do not believe this is a coincidence.”

I leaned back, taking his words in. “There were a lot of starting planets,” I said, nodding along with what he was saying. “At the time I thought it was just because VSO was a game, and I hadn’t rethought it since discovering otherwise.”

“That’s going to cause chaos if it happens,” I said at last as I worked through the implications. “There are dozens of space fairing polities there, many of which would be eager to add another planet to their territory.”

“With our level of technology, we’d be doomed if that happened,” I finished with a sigh.

“Indeed,” Peter said gravely. “And that is a large part of why some of us wish to jump the gun on the entire process. But I’m getting ahead of myself,” he continued as he relaxed back with a laugh.

“I mentioned how our society has split since we first understood what we were facing. We were only further split when the transition event was first posited, and there are now three distinct factions within our group.”

“If you are going to join us, I must explain each group and the differences between them,” he continued, arching an eyebrow at me.

I leaned forward as he spoke, eager to get some details at last. I knew Linnea wanted to move to VSO entirely, but I only knew bits and pieces of the why behind it.

“Things came to a head after the first round of beta testing,” he said, glancing off into the distance as if in memory. “It was the first proof of anything actually otherworldly going on.”

“Before that we had people disappearing, and disturbing findings about the lack of servers or game code, but it wasn’t until a couple of months after the testing that we saw beyond human results.”

“Only a few of our group were part of the testing, but they came back stronger, faster, and in one notable case, wielding limited Psionic powers. As soon as the results became clear, we panicked.”

I nodded at that, thinking back to how crazy I’d felt when I first used my powers on Earth. Even with the evidence of my own eyes, I’d barely been able to believe it or understand what was happening.

“This led to the first, and largest split,” he continued with a deep frown. “It was almost down the middle, with half going to each new group. The first side was desperate to stop everything from happening.”

“They wanted Earth to stay the same as it had always been and were terrified of what might happen with continued use of VSO. These days we call them the Preventionists, and they focus all their energies on attempting to hinder Vivid Industries and VSO.”

“At this point, they are little more than terrorists, and we have made a clean break from them,” he finished with a deep sigh.

“I can understand not wanting things to change,” I said. “Though I don’t agree. But how do they think it's possible? If there was some kind of central server or even a network, I could see it being possible. But as it is?”

“I don’t know either,” Peter responded with another shrug. “I’m not sure even they have a solid idea. From what we have been able to determine, they are doing little more than lashing out. Engaging in minor acts of terrorism and such.”

I nodded, leaning back in thought. They sounded like dangerous people, and I planned to stay far away from them. Hopefully, they never found a way to disable VSO either, it had become such a part of my life that I couldn’t see myself living without it.

Peter gave me a minute to process before continuing. “Those of us who remained continued to research, theorize, and gather more people as the time for the full VSO launch came closer.”

“It was during this time that the second schism began forming, a split that would only widen as people poured into the game and we could analyze the results. This led to our near confirmation of the transition event, which catalyzed our differing opinions.”

“The bulk of our comrades embraced the idea of the transition event, and what might be gained from it. Unlike the Preventionists who seek to stop the event, these Transitionists wish to gain as much as possible from it.”

“In their minds, this would ideally see them seizing control of the planet with as many powerful individuals as possible. I’m afraid they have become heavily involved with organized crime, particularly in using VSO-empowered individuals.”

“Oh,” I said as information I’d had for a while came together. “Back home there was a lot of unexplained crime that I suspected came from people using Psionics, or just being stronger and faster than usual.”

“Then one guy I accidentally used my powers in front of recognized them and it terrified him,” I continued. “The government response was really weird as well, more focused on suppressing the information than solving the crimes.”

The conversation derailed for a few minutes, as Peter asked me to explain the encounter I had. I took them through the two muggings, and how the second one forced me into using my powers for the first time on Earth.

“I believe you're correct,” Peter said at last. “While it is possible that an unrelated group discovered the secret of VSO and used it to their advantage, it is more likely to be our erstwhile comrades.”

“The government response is almost certainly Vivid Industries as well. They're scrambling to crack down on information about people getting powers from VSO, a task that is becoming harder by the day.”

I filed that information away but decided to bring the conversation back on topic. “So, what about your family, then? I know Linnea wants to somehow live in VSO completely, how does that fit in with your goals?”

“The rest of us comprise the third, and smallest of the groups I have described,” Peter began with a sad look on his face. “While we maintain reluctant ties with the Transitionists, myself and a number of my colleagues have become distinct enough in our beliefs to be recognized as a separate group.”

“We call ourselves the Ascensionists, and our goal is to transition to VSO early, to ascend from this planet to the others present there. None of us are that enamored of Earth that we wish to stay here during the increasing turmoil that is sure to come.”

It was pretty much what I’d been expecting, but it was still jaw-dropping in its scope. “So you’re talking about a physical movement over there? Not just using the VR pods full time, but leaving our bodies here behind to fully inhabit the ones over there?”

“That is the most likely outcome, yes,” Peter grinned in response. “It sounds audacious, I know, but there are a lot of advantages to be had if we can succeed. Not only will we dodge the chaos that Earth will experience, but we will have the chance to build new lives on a planet of our choice.”

“Once the transition even happens, there will no doubt be a lot of confusion on the VSO side as well. We believe it will be a lot simpler if we can be fully set up in our new lives before that happens.”

I nodded as I thought his words over. They made a lot of sense, particularly when you looked at my example. I’d already built a great life over there, with a lot of potential for future growth.

It was far less likely that I would have been able to achieve that if I’d had to start after Earth had suddenly appeared in VSO. We didn’t even know what was going to happen, even the leveling system might fade away when that happened.

If that was the case, then every second we had access to it was an incredible advantage to be used. “I can understand that position,” I responded cautiously. “And I would even say that I agree with the principles, I just don’t know if it is even possible.”

Peter shrugged in response. “Neither do we. But we believe that we have to try. We don’t know when the transition will happen, so we are putting everything we can into finding a solution as swiftly as possible.”

The conversation faded to silence at that, with the other men allowing me to think while sipping on their drinks. No matter how I thought it over, there were really only two options to choose from.

I could either stick my head back in the sand, ignoring the situation and leaving myself at the mercy of whatever happened. Or, I could attempt to do the same thing they were, and move myself to VSO in my entirety.

It wasn’t even a choice, really. I’d built a life on Altheias, and I couldn’t leave that to chance. The only way I was going to keep that life was to become it in full.

“OK,” I said at last. “I’m in. I want to work with you to make that happen.” Working with them would be a lot easier than going off on my own.

“What do you need to make that happen?”

“Good to have you,” Peter responded, his face morphing into a grin. His nephews nodded alongside him, toasting me with their beers.

“We need several things,” he continued. “First, as a group, we need to figure out the exact mechanism that the VR pods use to transport your consciousness to VSO. Then we need to figure out a way to change it to either bring our physical bodies or to leave them behind once and for all.”

“For many of us, the second would be more ideal,” he finished. While he might not have mentioned Linnea, I got the idea right away. It would be far preferable for her to keep the healthy body she was inhabiting in VSO.

“I can help with the first at least,” I responded with a grin. “I’ve detected a piece of Arkathian technology in the pods, and I should be able to remove it for examination safely. I may be able to help with the second goal as well, but I won’t know until later.”

“That would be greatly appreciated, and I look forward to facilitating it,” Peter said before his smile faded. “But on a personal level for myself, and many of my colleagues, there is another problem that must be solved before we can leave.”

From the way his face was twisting in worry, I didn’t think it was going to be anything good.

“As VSO came out, there was a lot of fear around what Vivid Industries might be able to detect through it. At the time we were still working closely with the Transitionists, and they proposed using their resources to create several hidden VR installations.”

“These would allow our members who were to enter VSO to do so in secure facilities, and it would split our people so a single member being discovered wouldn’t put us all in jeopardy.”

“It sounded sensible,” he continued, his face falling even further. “And almost all of us sent our family members or went ourselves. Near anyone who was going to enter VSO was included. Linnea only stayed with us because of her health condition.”

“I’m guessing that didn’t go well,” I said as he paused before continuing. I was pretty sure I knew where this was going, and I didn’t like it at all.

“You are correct,” he said, his voice cracking. “While all of those members have been seen in VSO, no one has seen them in person since. The Transitionists refuse to give us their locations for ‘Security Reasons’.”

“Most of us believe they are being held as hostages against our continued cooperation. Elana is among those hostages.”