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Eva’s eyes blinked slowly as she woke in a light haze. As consciousness filled her mind, something told her that things just weren’t quite right. She realized that she wasn’t in her own bed, or even in her own clothes. Instead, she was wearing some kind of skin-tight, pressurized medical suit that covered every inch of her from the neck down.
And then, words materialized in her mind’s eye, as though there was a literal computer screen inside of it.
—
WELCOME
—
Eva shot upright in absolute alarm at the sight of it, but immediately hit something with a BANG!
“What the f…”
She rubbed her head after she hit the spotless clear canopy above her, which felt far more solid than glass.
“What in hell is going on here?” she cried out.
She looked around her frantically, and saw that she was in a cocoon-like, egg-shaped bed about the size of a twin. It was covered in sterile sheets that reminded her of beddings found in a hospital. To each of her sides, just where the glass canopy met the bed’s lower shell were a couple of touch displays with a handful of readouts.
Before she could be overwhelmed with absolute confusion, more words in her mind’s eye formed.
—
DO NOT WORRY
You have been regenerated at a Tetragrammaton Regeneration Facility after your untimely demise. This facility is specifically designated TRF-Theta, located in the Hades System of the Sol Federation.
—
“Demise?” Eva muttered. “You mean I died? That makes no sense!! And actually, who the hell are you, and why the hell are you in my head?!”
—
What you are seeing is a function of your Personal Digital Interface, a computerized assistant that has been installed into your biological system. A series of nanites have been implanted into your brain stem, nervous system, and sensory organs.
Would you like a tutorial on how to operate to its full potential?
—
“Wait, you’re my DI?” Eva muttered. “And you said we’re in the Sol Federation?”
She immediately relaxed on realizing what was actually happening. This was all a dream. In fact, she came to the conclusion that she was dreaming about Bellum Aeterna, a space combat VRMMO that she had been wholly addicted to for the past few years.
It was so completely immersive and exciting that it had practically taken over her life.
Of course she was dreaming about it. Not like it was the first time. She chuckled lightly to herself on realizing it all.
“Best dream I’ve had about the game yet,” she said with a chortle. “I mean, this time I’ve got the game menu in my head.”
I am more than a simple menu, her DI told her.
It then proceeded to reveal the actual interface in her mind’s eye. It overlaid on top of the world through her eyesight, and showed various technical aspects of whatever she was looking at. More than that, it opened up a series of tabs in the interface, which showed her the usual DI functions: Status, Friends list, Ledger, Assets, Maps, Calendar, Planner, Games, and so on.
But before it could get much further, Eva waved it all away.
“Yeah yeah,” she said. “I’ll get to it later. Right now, I’d rather just wake up and actually go play the game instead of, I dunno, dreaming about it. Get me outta this… pod thing.”
To leave the regeneration capsule, you can use the touch panel to the side, or connect to the capsule directly through your DI Network Neurolink, her DI replied.
“Riiight.”
Eva then turned to the touch panel to her side, which revealed her basic medical vitals. They mirrored what appeared on her DI.
—
Condition: Conscious, Stable
Affliction: None Detected
A.Metabolics: 99%
BPM: 63
—
She swiped the readouts to the side and revealed the canopy controls, and opened up her regen capsule. The canopy above her split straight down the middle and slid down both sides with a wholly satisfying PSSHH.
Eva sat up the moment the canopy had completely slid away, and looked up and around. She was in a large, metallic, circular room whose walls and floors met in smooth curves rather than hard edges. The design was sleek and uninterrupted, as though the entire room itself was formed out of a single slab of metal.
There were a dozen regeneration capsules around the room, including hers. And of course, there were people hibernating in each of them.
Each one was exactly the same, and appeared as though they had sprouted seamlessly out of the floor, with stems that curved upwards smoothly and elegantly.
All were arranged in a ring circling the center, where some kind of sleek control station stood.
“Alright, well, it was nice knowing you, DI, but now it’s time to wake up and get to actually playing,” she said. “All I gotta do is hop out, start falling, and wake up.”
So, she hopped out of the capsule quickly. But instead of falling awake as she expected, her feet simply landed solidly on the floor. The sensation of landing on solid flooring coursed up her legs and told her that this was, in fact, not a dream at all.
Somewhat shocked, Eva absentmindedly slapped herself to double-check. And sure enough, she immediately felt a sting on her cheek, followed by a spreading warmth.
“No goddamn way,” she muttered.
Her heart began to beat hard as the reality of her situation hit her. Was she stuck in a dream? Did she actually die and wake up in the game? Or was all this something completely different altogether?
Before she could gather herself together, the entire facility shook violently with such strength that she was nearly thrown down to her knees. The lights all around her turned low and red as klaxons blared around her.
A computerized, yet oddly pleasant voice suddenly filled the room. It spoke in a calm, yet firm manner.
“Emergency,” it said. “This facility is under heavy attack. Please head to the nearest Emergency Lifeboat Chamber in a calm and orderly fashion. We at Tetragrammaton Technologies thank you for using our facilities for your continued Regeneration. Have a pleasant cycle!”
“W-what’s going on now?” Eva cried out.
You should probably leave as instructed, her DI told her.
Just as she collected herself, all of the capsules around her decompressed and beeped loudly. Their occupants were woken forcefully, no doubt part of the station’s emergency protocols. One of them was so utterly confused where he was that he began to bang on the canopy. He caught Eva’s gaze and begged her to help him. His shouts were muffled greatly by the canopy itself.
Not that Eva was particularly moved, and scowled lightly in response.
“Figure it out yourself!” she said flatly.
She then glanced around the circular room and ran out of one of the open doorways that led further to the rest of the facility. Out there, the lights were also low and red. The same klaxon echoed up and down the passageways around her.
Out of nowhere, there was a muffled boom followed by a shock wave that violently shook the station. This time it was clear that something rather large had struck it. After a third immense impact shortly after, she was absolutely sure what they were - cannon shells.
Someone was bombarding the station.
She had heard that sound hundreds, if not thousands of times before in Bellum Aeterna. It was the game that she played religiously, and often stayed in-game for multiple days straight, with only a few hours in between as breaks.
It was her only escape from a world that failed her. Her life had pretty much collapsed: Fired from her retail job. Broke up with her boyfriend. Abusive parents. No money. No friends. No social life. No nothing.
All she had were her grandparents, but they were getting sicker and sicker by the day. And their medical bills were piling up higher and higher. They took care of her as much as they could, but she couldn’t do anything to take care of them in return.
And so, Bellum Aeterna became her whole-hearted escape from reality in every sense of the word. She hoped to eke out a living by streaming the game, but she never found much success. What little she could make went to food, but not much else.
Depression and addiction were printed on both sides of her life’s coin. In the end, the game consumed her more than she consumed it, to her own detriment. To the point where she dreamt of it at night.
She had played it so much that she practically knew everything there was to know about it. Including how cannons sounded hitting armored stations. But this felt way too real. The game was only sounds and lights, after all.
Here, she felt every impact course through the station, and into her body. They all shook her to her core.
“Show the path to the closest emergency… place… thing,” she told her DI. “And quickly now!”
After a moment, the interface in her mind’s eye traced a glowing digital line across the floor towards her destination.
Eva’s heart beat faster and heavier as she ran down the passageway to the escape pods. As her blood pumped through her system, she realized that she was living in the game she loved, that she had been reborn into it. And for the first time in years, she smiled genuinely.
With every step she took, she realized that she had gotten away from that crap life. That this was all her chance to make things anew, and make something of herself.
She salivated at the thought of flying all her jets and piloting all her mechs. She dreamt of squeezing their triggers and ripping her enemies to shreds. She dreamt of rolling in piles and piles of credits. And she dreamt of having a bevy of dreamy hunks to…
Hold on, she thought to herself. In the game, we players had infinite lives, right? So what the hell am I worrying for? If I get killed now, I’ll just pop back in the regen room with a fresh body!
This is not a game, her DI refuted. And only the wealthiest citizens of the Federation have access to the Regeneration Facilities. You are far from wealthy. How you even regenerated here is a mystery.
“What do you mean I’m not rich?!” Eva cried out. “I’ve got millions in my ledger!”
As she ran, her DI opened up her digital ledger, and revealed that she did, indeed, have exactly zero credits to her name.
The sight shocked Eva so much that she practically skidded to a halt. It was so abrupt that she nearly tumbled over herself and clattered to the floor. But she caught herself just in the nick of time.
“I’m broke?!” she cried out. “Again?!!”
And you do not have another body to regenerate into, her DI reiterated. So if you wish to make something of yourself, you had better keep running.
Eva’s heart leapt up into her throat and threatened to choke her. But instead of allowing despair to hit her, this time she put one foot in front of the other and hopped back into a run.
So what if she was broke? She had a whole new life now! And she was a pretty good pilot in the game - she could make that money back no problem. Even if she had to steal it from other pilots and people.
Eva pushed away the negativity and instead embraced the limitless possibilities ahead of her. There was a whole galaxy out there waiting for her, and she wasn’t going to waste a single second of it any longer.
And so, she ran headlong into the wild unknown.
Eva’s heart thumped steadily as she ran into the busy emergency lifeboat chamber. Once there, she instinctively stepped to the side out of the way to catch her breath, but found that she really didn’t need to. Although her breathing was heavy and labored, she was actually far from tired.
Not only that, but she could physically see her stamina bar recharge through her DI’s internal display. Her breathing eased as it rose up, then went back to normal once it topped out. At which point, the stamina bar vanished.
“That’s ridiculously nice,” she breathed out. “Could I maybe improve that?”
Of course, her DI replied. All people are able to increase both their maximum stamina pool, as well as increase their regeneration rates.
“And how do I do that?”
Through the act of exerting effort. The more you do, the more you gain. Obviously.
“Well that makes sense, I guess.”
As she chatted quietly with her own DI, she watched the lifeboat chamber all around her.
The room itself was a semi-circular design that followed the curved, minimalist design as the rest of the station. Much like the room where she regenerated out of, it looked as though it was formed out of a single piece.
She came in through the apex of the curved wall, and looked towards the straight wall on the opposite side. There, five emergency portals were spaced out evenly all along it. Each one led straight into a multi-seat lifeboat beyond.
More importantly, there were dozens of people lined up or gathered around those portals, all of whom were waiting for their turn to get into the lifeboats. Most were wearing futuristic clothing, certainly nothing like the type she was familiar with. A few wore skin tight medical pressure suits just like she did, so it was easy for her to assume that they were freshly regenerated as well.
There were also station crew posted at each of the portals, and they helped usher in the panicked passengers one by one into the boats themselves.
One set of crewmembers filled up one of the lifeboats with a dozen people before they sealed up the portal. There was some kind of blast from the other side, the vibrations and force of which everyone could feel.
Although none of them could see it, the lifeboat blasted away from them with incredible velocity until those vibrations ebbed away. Then some great mechanism clicked and clacked behind the portal right afterwards. After a few moments, it opened up and revealed a fresh lifeboat on the other side.
The crew members stationed at its portal immediately began to usher people into it, even as another shell shook the station on impact.
Before Eva could get in line herself, a sudden uproar close to the middle lifeboat erupted. One of them desperately wanted to get into that specific lifeboat, but another, much larger man pushed him out of the way. The two launched into an argument which very nearly came to blows.
Thankfully a handful of crew de-escalated the situation and calmed them down. At least to some degree.
They led the disgruntled man away towards a different lifeboat, and left the gatekeeper to his own devices.
Eva was immediately irritated at seeing all that happen. As though people had a right to bully others like that. It was especially infuriating considering it was an emergency. People all around were literally panicking as they tried to flee for their lives, yet this jackass was in their way.
Not only that, but because he kept people out, the lifeboat itself wasn’t getting filled and cycled out. She peered into it and saw that there were a number of seats still open inside.
She felt a fire light up inside her, and found herself compelled to go get into that middle lifeboat. And as expected, just as she walked up towards it, the neanderthal-like bruiser got in her way. He was like a gorilla: barrel-chested with rippling muscles. One of his biceps appeared to be as big as her own head.
He held up a large, meaty palm right in front of her.
“Sorry sweetheart,” he said gruffly. “This boat’s spoken for. So get spaced.”
“I’m not your sweetheart,” she retorted. “And I go where I want.”
She quickly moved around him in an attempt to slip past, but he easily got back in her way. For a guy his size, he certainly moved fast.
He placed one of his large hands on her shoulder, and kept her from physically moving forward.
“Don’t think you get it, miss pissypants,” he said. “This behind me is Nightmare’s boat. And the only people who can get on it are who Nightmare says can get on it. And that definitely ain’t you. So you ain’t gettin’ on, no matter what you want.”
The bruiser then gave her a firm shove, which pushed her back a number of steps.
In her old life, Eva would have simply accepted the situation and moved on. Physical strength meant personal power there, and this mountain of a man seemed like the personification of it. After all, it was safer to avoid these kinds of situations rather than fighting back and getting seriously hurt.
But that flame in her wouldn’t go away. In fact, it flared up when she heard that this was one of Nightmare’s goons.
Nightmare was the callsign of one of the many griefers who played Bellum Aeterna. He and his wholly demented gang of griefers very often harassed and killed other players, wherever they went.
They never helped anyone, or even engaged in actual, proper PVP. They just went around and randomly ganged up on people just to get them angry. All because it brought them great enjoyment to do so.
Even Eva had been a victim of Nightmare and his goons. Although she was a very small-time streamer, they still stream-sniped her in the middle of a very long and involved solo mission. They harassed her and killed her over and over again, which ultimately caused her to fail said mission.
She remembered just how angry and deeply frustrated she was at the time, simply because of how much time it took to get to that point, to even get that mission in the first place. Losing it meant having to do all of it all over, from scratch.
As she stood there, it dawned on her that this was a grudge that she had never once let go.
“First things first,” she said. “No-one pushes me around.”
“You’re lucky all I did was push,” the bruiser retorted. “I coulda just pounded you flat if I wanted.”
“Yeah? Why don’t you give it a shot, then? I wanna see what happens to you if you do…”
Eva’s heart thumped wildly in her chest. A wild thrill coursed through her body as she faced off against this behemoth. Never in a million years would she have done anything like this in the past. But this was an all-new life, and that fire inside just wouldn’t go away.
The bruiser opposite her was a simple man who loved the simple things in life. Nothing gave him more pleasure than to indulge in violence, and shove his strength in other people’s faces. It was the whole reason why he joined up with Nightmare in the first place.
He grinned widely as he rushed towards Eva with one of his meaty fists reared back and ready to rock. He imagined driving it into her face and seeing her blood smeared all over his knuckles.
He wanted to throw her to the ground and gloat.
Doing things like that in the game was one thing. But here, in this new galaxy, he could actually feel bones break under his fists. And he was looking forward to finally doing so for the first time in his life.
The bruiser poured every ounce of strength he could into his entire body and thrust his fist forward. But to his absolute surprise, Eva stepped forward and to the side in the blink of an eye.
She ducked down ever so slightly, just under his barreling fist, and grabbed both his wrist and his lapel. And using his momentum, she spun in place and threw him over her shoulder with every ounce of strength that she could muster.
Before anyone could even blink, she threw him neck-first into the ground, which resulted in a loud and satisfying CRUNCH.
The rest of his body slumped into a heap on the floor, even as everyone around them gasped out of shock and awe. Many were still processing that a fight had just happened, much less that it was already over. They fully expected him to absolutely clobber her into the ground, but she had turned the tables instead.
Even Eva was completely shocked with what she had done. She had only taken a handful of judo lessons after all, and only really knew a few basic moves. Her performing one of those throws close to impeccably was already more than surprising.
More than that, she realized she had the strength to actually do the throw.
She was of course far weaker in her old life, and could hardly do a shoulder throw without using up all of energy to do so. She fully expected to throw him to the ground, then maybe pin his arm behind his back. But she didn’t expect him to simply crumple after a single move.
Eva looked down at her body and for the first time realized she was actually taut and athletic, more than she had ever been her entire life. Which made some sense - her own player avatar in the game was also similarly built.
She curled her hand into a fist, and felt a strength radiating from within her. It was something she had never felt before in her life. It was a sense of courage and confidence that previously eluded her.
And now, she actually had it for real.
“Looks like I’ve got a seat open,” said a male voice behind her. “I guess you can have it if you want. Sit right next to me, and we can get to know each other more.”
Eva spun around almost instantly, and saw a smug but relatively attractive young guy just outside the middle lifeboat.
He was wearing a medical pressure suit as well, except he somehow found a pair of futuristic sunglasses, and was sporting it boastfully. He was wearing a half-cocked grin that was filled with sheer arrogance, and she felt absolutely compelled to wipe it off.
“Why would I wanna sit next to you?” she asked. Though she already knew the answer.
“‘Coz I’m Nightmare,” the guy replied. “And this is my lifeboat. You are?”
“Not interested.”
“Don’t be like that. A babe like you could use a man like me to keep you nice and safe.”
The station rocked again from another shell impact, which shook everyone around them back into action. They absolutely needed to get the hell out of there. But those two continued to stare each other down.
He with unbridled lust, she with unending derision.
The moment he said the word ‘babe’, she felt as though numerous slugs were crawling across her skin all at the same time. She valiantly fought back the urge to vomit, and instead turned around and gave him a cold shoulder in response.
A predatory grin spread across his face as hers turned dark and filled with disgust.
Then, she walked away.
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