Chapter 3: Welcome to ACME

During their first session with the new pods, they got to look at their characters. They weren't actually logging into the game, just making sure nothing was wrong with the pods, running through tests to make sure their minds integrated correctly, and all the machinery that kept their bodies alive worked at 100%.

Name: Ozzy Race: Mixed race, Human:96% Heritage Bonus +3STR, +1CON Heritage can change based on actions and choices. Class: Contract Worker Specialty: Butcher Level: 0 Experience: 0 Health

250 200+200 per level, +10 per point of STR, +20 per point of CON Stamina 810 (200+200 per level, +10 per point of CON, +20 per point of STR) x3 Mana 200 200+200 per level, +30 per point of INT, CHR, or WIS SkillExperienceLevelP/S/T Contract Worker NA NA Primary Slaughter 0 0/5 Tertiary Hack Flesh 0 0/5 Tertiary Chop Bone 0 0/5 Tertiary Perks Sleepless in Seattle For every one hour of sleep, you will get two hours of rest. Tastes like Chicken Anything you are eating can, at your option, be converted to, and taste like delicious boiled chicken. Endure VI You can easily shrug off effects such as boredom, mental fatigue, anxiety and other negative mental effects. Be happy and keep working! Haul III When moving heavy objects by hand, you may pick up and move an object four times heavier than normal. Dig II Ditches and tunnels are your specialty. When working in earth, clay, sand or other soft materials you may move four times as much material as normal. Push Onward If you run out of stamina before a job is finished, you may burn health at a ratio of 1 health to 2 stamina in order to keep working. You may also increase your STR by 1 point for 1 minute at the cost of 50 Stamina. I could do this all day! You were made for this! You have a large bonus (x3) to Stamina and Stamina Regeneration.

Ozzy wasn't all thrilled with his first look at his character sheet. There had to be a lot more to character creation than just ! Did they have to earn all their weapons skills in game? Shouldn't a Butcher at least start with a meat hook, or choppers or something? Ginzu knives?

He sighed heavily. This wasn't a role that he would have picked for himself. He had worked in many kitchens over the years as a chef, but the meat usually came to him in smaller pieces and no longer alive. Was there some way to later upgrade the skill to Chef? And there had to be more to being a Butcher than hacking up carcasses. Ozzy had spent hours in a kitchen carefully slicing up the choicest cuts of meat before cooking them for his clients.

This just seemed to be working in a VR slaughterhouse. It was going to smell horrible. He wondered if Rolly could show him how you turn off smell in the options. He always found little cheats in the system.

There would be a way to turn things around, there always was. He and his friends had worked a lot of jobs, in a lot of worlds. Systems differed, but people stayed the same. He just had to find the ways that he and his friends could twist the rules a bit and get ahead. The basic pay for the five year contract wasn't bad at all, but they wanted to come away from the job with a lot more than that.

One of the ACME managers, Vern, had mentioned they'd be starting at the bottom and building things up, but he hadn't quite expected things to be this mundane. He was just a butcher, working each day cutting up meat. No weapon skills, but surely he could use a cleaver? Or the large hammer he used in the stockyards?

He had played other games before with primitive starting conditions. In one he'd been naked with just a spear. But the thrill of hunting, fighting, and leveling his character up made up for the pain of the primitive conditions. This seemed different, more mundane and boring. He shrugged. Plenty of time to figure things out once they were actually loaded into their pods for real, and in the game.

They had arrived just that morning. Getting ready for the move from their habitat to the workers' dormitory for their new jobs hadn't been difficult. You didn't own much if you were one of the couple billion people in the world who were living in a Habitat Building Block, (Hab blocks as everyone called them). Each Hab Block was a mile square building that reached up 50 stories and downwards another 100.

The designers of the massive arcologies claimed that there was space inside for a quarter million people to work, go to school, shop, and enjoy recreation. Maybe the first one had been set up that way, but not the thousands erected around the world after that. Jobs were scarce and if you lived in a Hab Block you probably didn't have one. So the design changed to fill the office and work space with more people. Schools can be left out too, and just shift every kid to online learning from his home. Room for more people. Eventually each Hab Block held over a million people. If they were full, that is. Most had decayed so much that many sections were unlivable.

But living in a Hab gave someone a place to sleep and three meals of synthetic food a day. Maybe even a job in one of the factories in the lower levels. There were shops to take what money you might earn on every level. You might be born, live, and die, and never leave your Hab.

Ozzy and many of his friends were a bit better off. A job in a VR game was still a job. As long as they had jobs, living in a Hab Block was somewhat bearable. Ozzy's 600 square foot apartment was meant for a family of 3-5. His video hook up worked, and water came out of the tap. He even had his own bathroom.

Ozzy, Suzette, Rolly, and Ben all had rooms on the same floor and section of their Hab. They'd been friends for a couple of decades and watched out for each other. They worked 6 floors below in a large warehouse area that housed the MK 2 gaming pods that they used to work online in EQO3.

Working in VR, and living in a Hab meant you didn't own much. It was easy to get ready to move to the location ACME wanted them at. Most of their few possessions they sold or gave to neighbors. There was no need to even throw anything out as their tiny living spaces would be swept clean by scavengers within an hour of them walking out the doors.

A moving crate was sent to each of them by their new employer and the sum total of their worldly possessions were packed into a 3ft plastic cube and shipped off to storage near their dormitory. If your life didn't fit into one cubic yard, you could pay for another cube, pay for shipping and pay for storage. If you had that kind of money you weren't living in a hab.

Oswald had spent years slowly collecting old style pots and pans to cook his own food and not rely as much on the over processed food cubes. He put his favorite copper pots in storage and gave the rest away. Taped to the lid of one pan was a storage drive with all the information he'd gathered over the years, but not yet sold. He didn't dare store the information online, and had to hope it wasn't discovered. It might be useful in five years.

Suzette packed away an assortment of fancy gowns and exotic clothing she had made over the years. Copies of what she wore online. None of them would fit her any longer. Old age had made her thin and frail. But she couldn't bear to give away the memories of the times she had been a femme fatale, dancing across roof tops with stolen diamonds, or a pretend-princess as she bodyguarded a prince with enemies. She had always picked a role in VR dramas that led to excitement and espionage. Those had grown slimmer as AQO3 became smaller and smaller until working a kitchen with Ozzy was the best she could do. Waitress or cook wasn't exciting, but it paid the bills.

Benedict impressed the others with his collection of replica, leather-bound Louis L'amour western hardbacks and an extensive library of historical novels stored on several bubble drives. He ended up giving most of his extra space to Rolly, who couldn't bear to part with his poke-pet collection and vintage action figures. Rolly also had one large item: a wall-mounted moose head. It was actually real and quite moth eaten. It needed the services of a taxidermist, or possibly an undertaker. The large horns had fallen off the head, which at least made it possible to fit it into his crate. When the memories and mementos from four lives were packed away, the crates were sealed and stuffed down the pneumatic mail chute. They'd arrive at the ACME storage facility and stored for the next five years.

Each person had the clothes on their backs and a small bag.They made their way to the local mag-lev station with no problems. Normally they'd have attracted people interested in relieving them of their bags and money. But Oswald had solved that problem by hiring a half dozen large young men from his habitat to escort them to the station. Better to pay for protection than to risk an unfortunate accident. Fares paid, they joined hundreds of others standing in the mag-lev cars and were whisked away to their future home.

This turned out to be a large collection of buildings surrounded by a high fence topped with barbed wire. Observation towers were spaced along the walls, each bearing the ACME logo. At one time this had been a federal prison. Empty and abandoned since the collapse of most government programs, the ACME corporation had bought the land, moved out the squatters (or hired them) and turned the prison into a center to house its VR workers. The walls and wire that used to keep prisoners inside now functioned to keep anyone but ACME employees outside. The mag-lev station was twenty yards from the front gates of their new home. Officially named the ACME CENTER FOR PROGRESS AND INDUSTRY, it was referred to by all as 'The Jailhouse.'

The obligatory tour of the facilities by a bored employee quickly showed the 625 new arrivals the locations of the dormitories, the medical station, corporate offices, recreation hall, and cafeteria. Each employee had a 'cell' in the dormitories with a bed and a computer workstation on a small desk. The other half of the room was taken up by a shiny, black MK7 pod. Gone were the bars on the front of the cells; they were replaced with a plastic wall and door.

For the people living in the Habitat Blocks these accommodations were actually an upgrade. Few of them had a private bedroom in the Habs. Usually a family of 2-5 got one 600 square foot room. A family of six or bigger was assigned two rooms. Unless you could pay to get better, you didn't get better.

Instead of a FoodChute bringing food to your room, the jailhouse had an actual cafeteria that boasted several types of synthetic meals. A huge upgrade in living. This one served meals all hours of the day. In the habs you stood by the FoodChute at 6am, noon, and 6pm and hoped food came out.

None of the workers expected to be out of their pods much. This was a long-term job and they'd be under for months at a time.

They arrived at their last stop on the tour. Six hundred and twenty five people took their seats on the hard metal benches and within a minute, two dozen people walked onto the small stage that had been placed at the front of the room.

The first person to speak was familiar to Ozzy.

Billy Horvacs had a winning smile and eyes that said, "Trust me, I'm here to help." This had made him a highly successful recruiter of new employees; and occasionally helped him get three steps towards the door when one of his wives decided she'd rather be an ex-wife - or possibly a widow.

"Welcome friends. Glad to see how many of you made the right decision. It thrills me to see each of you here because you trusted in me, or another ACME manager, and trusted in ACME Corporation." This was actually the truth, since each person here meant a bonus for Billy. He was VERY happy to see all 625 of them.

"For some of you, I'll be staying on here at the Jailhouse as your employee liaison. Other groups will have one of these fine managers you see here on the stage with me. We'll get you settled in tonight, make sure you sync up nicely with your pods, and get you online. I know you're itching to see where you'll be working. And don't worry, we'll be available to you in-game as well. If you have a problem it means we have a problem. We'll get things fixed for you, trust me on that."

"Now let me turn over the podium to one of our supervisors. Mr. Throckmeyer is in charge of all Contract Workers who will represent the ACME Corporation inside of Genesis Engine." A heavy-set man approached the podium. A few people nervously clapped; most simply watched, hoping to get some info about what their online roles would be.

Vernon Throckmeyer adjusted the old fashioned microphone, scowling. Talking to the hired help really wasn't his preference. "Right. Let's get this over with. I'll be honest with you and tell you that I'm not happy. Neither is the ACME Board of Directors. And I doubt you'll be happy either. But we're in this together so let's put aside any complaints until we can get online and fix these little problems."

"We assumed this game would be starting out like the EQO 1-3 did. In those games, Corporations and Guilds could buy virtual land and buildings and be doing business immediately - not the case with Genesis Engine. We don't have access to large cities, and beyond the Empires capital and the four Ducal strongholds, we're not sure if there even are any."

"There's nothing but a small rustic villages in the areas assigned to us. They double as our entry point and a starting area for players. Right now, ACME's head office is a small hut that used to house goats. We put our logo on the door and hired the goats."

"While we hired you for your expertise as entertainers and household staff, we aren't using you in the roles at first. We've got no need for a Castellan if we don't have a castle. We don't need secretaries without offices. And we don't need actors if we don't have a stage. We need hard manual labor - builders, ditch diggers, masons and bakers."

"But there's a silver lining to all of this. The other Corps and Guilds have it just as bad. Worse even, because they don't have the knowledge and drive of ACME Corporation. We'll get ahead and stay ahead, claim the land, and build the cities.

"And we won't forget those people who had to work their fingers to the bone to make it happen!"

"So don't worry if your character seems a bit limited in skills. This is because we need you focused on your job and getting better at it. We've moved things around a bit. Pruned some things you could do so we could give you special abilities that even the players don't have. Speaking of which, let's let Billy back up here to tell you about some of those special abilities. I should get back to work sorting out this mess. They're all yours, Billy."

"Thank you, Mr. Throckmeyer, always great to work with you."

"All right folks, take out your pads and look at your character sheet - top left icon. This is pretty basic, you'll get more detailed information when we get online. I just want to go over the changes and special stuff."

"The game normally lets a character swap some skills for special perks. As part of your contract, which I know you all read, ACME corporation has the authority to make those changes for you. You won't have to mess with your character at all. We've done all the work!

"The first change is we swapped out all of your Primary abilities for Contract Worker. It's a place holder skill that essentially moves some of your Primaries down to Tertiary and swaps others for special abilities. Let's go over those. All contract workers get the following:

"Sleepless in Seattle is a perk that essentially counts each hour of sleep as two. So you should only need about 3 hours of sleep a night - more time to finish your work, or more recreation time to unwind."

"Endure is a stamina buff. Each of you will start with a much larger amount of stamina than a Player. Your base stamina and any bonuses from your stats gets multiplied by a factor of three. You won't be nearly so tired at the end of the day and can work longer hours to make more bucks."

"Push onward is also sort of stamina related. It's a boost to your stamina or other stat that lets you keep going when you run low. Be careful, as it will burn down your health in the place of your stamina if you run out. You'll hurt the next day, but you'll be able to finish the job."

"Dig II and Haul III are pretty explanatory. We need a lot of manual labor done. These skills will enhance your physical ability to pick up and move anything and to dig and shape the landscape."

"I could do this all day!" gives you a three times multiplier to your stamina. This makes the job so much easier, even when you have to work a little overtime now and then.

"Finally, my favorite! Tastes like chicken! The food isn't going to be that great at first. We won't have tasty synthetics - and you can only eat so much boiled grain and vegetables before you'll be going crazy. This skill is awesome. It took a lot to get it designed and implemented, but it's worth it. Basically any food you are eating can be turned into chicken. Isn't that great? Who doesn't like chicken?!

A few grumbles were heard. Ozzy had the foresight to place his hands over Rolly's mouth to muffle his scream. Rolly had never been a big fan of chicken.

As Billy finished with his lecture, Benedict stood up and asked a question. "Mr. Horvacs, perhaps you can fill us in on things. Why are the developers starting things out this way? I'd expect that surely with the clout that many of the corporations have, especially ACME, that the developers would take your advice."

"Ah, Benedict! Loved you in The Haunting of Halcyon-7, - great show. I'll level with you Benedict, we tried. And I mean tried hard. The biggest 37 corporations in the world brought an immense amount of pressure to bear. We were joined by the top streaming guilds for EQO3."

"But the developer is immune to pressure; doesn't want or need our money; can't be threatened or bribed or talked into any changes. I was part of the team, and trust me, we got nowhere at all. All of the corporations were asked to give input, and believe me, we did. And none of us are happy with the final set-up. But the developer has a vision of what he wants this world to be, and he isn't budging."

"But you're part of ACME now, and ACME wins no matter what the rules are or who thinks they're running the game. This is just going to be more hard work and less twisting arms to get what we want."

"The game and the world are totally being created and run by an AI, the same one that runs most automated systems in the world. WALLY has created a world and has invited us all to play his game."

"You've got two hours to settle in, and then I expect everyone to be in their pods for an initial log-in and test run. As a bonus, you get to take a look at who you're going to be for the next five years.

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