Chapter 1 Life from Death

In the living room of a small apartment in Cleveland, Ohio a young man of medium height and build is sitting watching a Halo broadcast. The young man’s grey blue eyes are dull and vacant like all life has left them. His wavy long black hair is messy and oily. The young man would be called attractive by most people normally, just not today.

Today is the worst day of his eighteen year old life. Why? Because he just received his test results back from the college admissions board and he had failed the entrance requirements by only three points! That is why he is so lifeless and lost. For everyone knows you only get one chance to pass the admissions test, and if you don’t you become a ward of the social system permanently. This may seem extreme but there are only so many people needed to work and only the best and brightest can earn the right to work.

Graduating from college would have moved the young man up on the social ladder of life. He would have no longer been considered a ward of the system. Instead he would have been considered a productive member of society. Productive members of society are given better housing and more resources to live with. However, because he missed three measly more questions than acceptable on a test. He would now and forever be stuck unemployed and living in a shoe box apartment. The idea of being socially accepted and having more material things in life was appealing to the young man and he would have accepted them graciously. These things however we’re not what drove this young man to spend endless hours studying and honing his knowledge. What motivated him is his dream/obsession of going into space and working on the latest space ships and technology.

This young man’s dream/obsession is so great that some have said his dream is borderline obsessive. Why his friends would say this to him he could not understand. To him he only has a few star charts, planetariums, and model space craft decorating his apartment. To everyone else he lives in a cluttered apartment with so many models and maps of the stars that they wonder once they walk into his living space if they have not been teleported into the vastness of space. The only grounding influence in the apartment is a pile of broken electrical parts and pieces from space junk yards. He even has a vintage shower curtain in the bathroom that has all the best ships from twentieth century video games hanging prominently over the back wall of his dry shower system.

To this young man his life was over. He was forgetting the convenient fact that even if he didn’t go to college he would still never want for anything in his life. He would always have a full stomach and he would never have to work for any of it. But because he could not have his one

dream/obsession life was over for him. He was just starting to wonder when the mortician would be showing up to size him for his funeral suite and if any girls would cry at his funeral when a loud beeping sound from the Halo projector interrupted his musings.

Female Droid News Caster “We hate to interrupt you regularly scheduled program. We have just received word from the Space Exploration Institute that they have a priority message for all citizens. We will now switch to the feed from the Institute to hear what they have to say.”

A new Halo image then pops up with an older Asia gentleman on the left side of the image he looks to be around sixty years old and very short. Standing next to the old Asia guy is a young Caucasian woman with blond hair and green eyes. They are both standing behind a podium with the seal of the Space Exploration Institute on it. The seal is round with Latin words on the outside of the seal and in the middle of the seal there is a space ship in flight and behind the ship it looks like the star filled sky of outer space.

After a few seconds the old Asian guy began to talk. He was talking in Japanese but the Halo system translated and projected his voice in English. “Thank you all for your time. I am going to make this quick so that you can get back to watching your shows. My name is Ming Su Woo. I am a developer here at the Space Exploration Institute and I would like your co-operation and help with a system that will be released to the public in six months.”

Ming stopped, took a drink out of a bottle then continued his address. “This system is a virtual reality system designed for full emersion. This game is rated for 18+ users only. The setting will be what we believe is in our Milky Way galaxy. This is a space exploration and development simulation game. The time difference is set to one hour real life to six hours game time. The game has no limits so anything you dream up can become a part of the game. The game will have plenty of quests. Stats will be like a standard VRMMORPG with strength, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, charisma, and constitution as base stats with other stats which can be unlocked during game play. Group play is encouraged but not expected. The games end goal is to challenge virtual representations of real Void Entities and be able to leave our galaxy and get to the next galaxy. This is the same situation as what we currently are in just on a larger scale. The only playable race is human. Magic is an available system to play in the game. However, any user who wishes to have magic must survive the Mana injection procedure that has just been developed from our study of Void Entities. The winner or winners of this game will have the option of either having their ship or ships constructed and the right to challenge the Void Entities in real life. Or they can receive a working position here at the Space Exploration Institute and all the privileges of a working person.”

During the broadcast life in the young man’s eyes started to return and when the prize was revealed a new look was born in that young man’s eyes. They were burning with passion and hope. Life for him was not over. Life was just beginning. Blaze felt reborn and he made a vow that he would defiantly win out against the Void Entities and he would get his own ship to play around with.

The broadcast was still not over and the young lady next to Mister Ming then began to speak. “Hello. My name is Catherine Hale and I am the person who developed the Mana injection. Animal trials will be completed in the next three months. Human trials will start after that. People who receive the injection can possibly develop the ability to either cast spells or be able to have supernatural powers.”

Blaze thought ‘who cares about special powers and magic let Mr. Ming talk about his game some more! I need information!’

Blaze’s thought seemed to be disregarded by fate because Catherine continued to speak. “The results are varied so far and in the worst case scenarios some animal test subjects have disintegrated like the Void Entities do when in a solar system. I have changed the formula to prevent this and we have not lost any other subjects since the formula was changed.”

Blaze thought ‘Who would be crazy enough to risk disintegration for super powers?’

“The adjustment processes after injection is one month long and seems to be very painful. Only healthy screened individuals will be allowed to participate in the study. Also, all participants will be monitored by a droid for a minimum of four years in real life.”

Blaze thought ‘You not only risk death but will have no privacy for the next four years of your life just to gain some mystic power! That is a horrible deal! God, just let Mr. Ming talk more about his game I am defiantly not becoming some lab rat!’

Mr. Ming begins to speak again. “I will just make one suggestion and a statement before I conclude this briefing. I would seriously think about receiving a Mana injection if you are serious about winning Space Explorers. Void Entities live in deep space and this is their power we have converted to our own use. So it is safe to assume that having this power could seriously provide you an edge during the game. The AI which governs the game has all available data on Void Entities and is also going to be used to help new Mana injection subjects get use to and understand their new found powers. That concludes this public announcement have a wonderful day.”

Blaze thought ‘Well super powers seem awesome so I should give it a shot. I should also hit the gym and maybe even go to a dojo for some training. That should help with my physical fitness making me a better candidate for the injection. I should also refresh myself on ship design and piloting. I have a lot to do and only six months to do it in so I better get started. Hum, I need a shower first though.’

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