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“Noun: Mycology

/mʌɪˈkɒlədʒi/

The scientific study of fungi. A boring, not plant that doesn't do anything interesting unless you get really into it.”

 

“Have you heard about that new game?” Matt asked, feigning nonchalance.

 

My eyes unconsciously shifted towards him as he asked the question, but that was enough. In a rapid set of hand motions, Matt’s character did a sweeping leg kick and knocked my character down, before unleashing a barrage of fists.

 

“Fuck!” my attention quickly jumped back. Five hit combo and still rising, I started randomly hitting buttons and moving my joystick, but it was no use. He had me in an iron grip. The screen flashed ‘Game Over!’ just as Matt reached a twenty-eight combo.

 

Matt smugly turned towards me, “Alright, where’s my drink?”

 

I sighed, already pulling out my wallet, “What do you want?”

 

“Lemon-lime bitter,” he replied, rising from his own arcade seat.

 

The side of my eyes twitched, he couldn’t have picked a coke or something? The cans for those are freaking tiny and they cost more!

 

I sighed again, a bet was a bet. I might as well get myself something to drink as well.

 

“So have you heard about that new game?” Matt asked.

 

“Ah yes,” I replied in a dry tone, “I completely understand which game you’re talking about without you ever mentioning the name.”

 

He snorted, “Don’t be salty, anyways the game I was talking about is Eternal World Online.

 

“Eternal world online? Is that an MMO or something?” Those tended to have ‘online’ pasted at the end of their names after all.

 

“Yeah but-”

 

“Not interested,” I interrupted. “Grind curve is too annoying.”

 

He lightly kicked me in the leg. “But, this one’s supposed to be a V.R. game.”

 

I paused, “Like goggles on your face V.R. or virtual reality V.R?”

 

“Virtual Reality.” He replied, “This one’s supposed to be the first true vrmmo! The trailer came out in the morning.”

 

“Another one?”

 

He kicked me in the leg again, “What do you mean another one?”

 

I snorted, “You said the exact same things last month, and a month before that about Steampunk Online.”

 

“I swear, this one is going to be different!”

 

I rolled my eyes as we reached the vending machines, “So, what’s the deal with Eternal World then?” I asked as I offered him his can.

 

He took it and answered, “Dude, its gonna reshape gaming as we know it, and when that happens I’m going to be riding the wave of history without you.” he swiped his hands in front of him a few times, “Here, I sent you the trailer.”

 

I heard a ding as a mailbox at the side of my vision gained a red ‘1’ and non-discreetly rolled my eyes in front of him, “You have said that with literally every vrmmo that came out in the last decade.”

 

“Nah,” he denied, “This one's different, they’re going to be using quantum computers for the servers.”

 

I raised an eyebrow. That could work… It would certainly get over the server limit problem. Everyone and their hamster knew how much processing power was needed just to have a single person experience a virtual world in any realistic way. But I couldn’t concede now and deal with Matt's smug face for a week. “A good computer does not a good game make,” I replied sagely.

 

He lightly jabbed me in the side, I responded by quickly throwing out an arm to try to headlock him. He got away before I could get a good grip on him, slippery fucker.

 

Matt’s own can popped open. “Where to next?” he casually asked as if he didn’t just deck me in the gut.

 

I popped open my own coke, “Hmm… the retro racing section now?-” I heard an alarm go off at the back of my head. A message popped up in front of me.

 

Saturday 8:00 pm alarm. You have tutor tomorrow idiot.

 

I sighed, “I’ll have to go soon, I have tutor in the morning tomorrow.”

 

Matt rolled his eyes. “Come on Declan, one more game.”

 

I made a show of rolling my own eyes, “That’s what you always say before an all-nighter.”

 

“Then don’t lose all the time.” He smirked, but quickly changed his approach when he saw my unamused expression. “Come on Declan, think about it, when you’re old and looking back on life, do you think you would’ve been happy going home early to sleep for some stupid tutor or do you think you would be happier having another game with your friends?”

 

I rolled my eyes again, “Yes and-”

 

“When you're lying on your deathbed and you have the flashbacks of your entire life, would you really not regret playing a game with your best friend one last time?”

 

“This isn’t the last time I could play with you-”

 

“What if tonight the love of your life is just out there waiting to bump into you, do you really want to play with fate Declan?”

 

“I really have to go to that tutor tomorrow.”

 

“You think when you’re older and you’ve got a job you would be happy to go to some stupid tutor to get some dumb degree?”

 

“Yes,” I stressed, “That degree is probably how I got that job.”

 

“These are our glory years Declan, do you really want to sit and watch them go by?”

 

If I could roll my eyes any harder than now I would’ve seen my brain. Matt was really trying to force it.

 

“Declan.”

 

“Yes, what?”

 

“If you play one more game-”

 

“I’m not playing another fucking game Matt,” I interrupted.

 

“-I will buy you a drink.”

 

I glanced at the opened can of coke in my hand. Then I looked back at him.

 

“Alright sure,” I agreed.

---

I took a sip out of my lemon-lime bitter as I checked my messages. One from my parents; ‘When r u coming home?’ I quickly typed up a reply saying that I was already on a bus.

 

It was pretty late now, Matt and I ended up playing another hour together, retro-style arcade games were more fun than I thought they would be.

 

That reminds me, what was the game Matt wanted me to check out?

 

Hmm, I swiped open my messages and checked the preview he sent me. Ah, Eternal World Online, I did a brief search online. The screenshots looked pretty nice, I guess I’ll put it on my wishlist-

 

It happened too quickly. There was the sound of metal crunching and the bus suddenly stopped. Momentum violently rocked me forward then threw me back, my head crashed into something and before I knew it I was lying on the aisle in between the seats.

 

There was a dull pain on my nose, was it broken? I opened my eyes, blurry; I must’ve teared up on reflex. Red warning signs were filling my vision. Vitals. I thought, and my vision was temporarily filled with dozens of graphs, before quickly being replaced by a summary.

 

No damage to vital organs.

Pulse: Rapid, Assistant recommends taking deep breaths to calm down.

 

Pain experienced shows you have suffered a:

Broken nose.

Left upper arm bruising.

Minor damage suffered in:

Left lower arm.

Upper right arm.

Lower right arm.

Left thigh.

Head.

Lower torso.

…

...

 

An ambulance has been notified.

 

Do you wish for the somatic implant to limit pain signals?

 

“Yess.” I hissed out.

 

Pain signals lowered.

 

Please wait for a licensed professional to assist you.

 

Fuck that. I groaned, rolling onto my back, taking the pressure off my left arm. Leaning on a chair with my good arm, I lifted myself up. I let out a sigh of relief as my implant slightly numbed the pain.

 

Something was weird here, the bus crashed into something, and car accidents were supposed to be one of those things humanity left behind in the 21st century. This was no accident because accidents don’t fucking exist anymore, I sure as hell wasn’t just going to lie here to find out what-

 

I heard a clear ding. My augmented reality interface started acting on its own, opening one of my apps.

 

I got a message.

---

“Are you sure that nothing out of the ordinary happened before the crash?” The police officer asked.

 

I coughed, “No, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.”

 

“Are you absolutely sure?” he pressed.

 

My hands fidgeted, “Yes, very sure.”

 

“Lay up on the lad will ya John?” a new voice added, another police officer, an older one. “Sorry about him, our department doesn’t get much action nowadays so he’s a bit excited.”

 

Officer one, ‘John’, groaned, “Sir please refer to me as Officer Graham. While on duty.”

 

The older officer snorted, “Pfft, you’re too uptight about things.”

 

Officer one looked like he was gonna rebut, before sighing in defeat and saying, “I’ll go interview the other victims.”

 

“Sorry bout him, he’s a bit too stiff,” the older officer said.

 

I nodded, “What’ll happen to this case?”

 

The officer scratched his head, “It was a strange one, so many driving programs bugged out at once. Chances are it’ll be thrown to cybersecurity.”

 

I nodded again, deep in thought. “Did they…” I scratched an itch, “manage to find anything strange on the programs?”

 

The officer shook his head, “We did an initial sweep of everything. Nothing strange was found. Like I said, it’ll be thrown to cyber for deeper investigation.”

 

The door to the hospital room opened, a doctor walked in, “Oh, you’re still interviewing him-”

 

“No, I’m done,” the officer interrupted, “Take care kid, you’re the calmest interviewee out of every involved in this incident.”

 

I grunted an agreement as the doctor moved forward to check me.

 

“The gel is setting nicely, your nose should be healed in half a week. Bruising couldn’t really be helped, but you should be fine in a day or two. Did the nurse install the painkiller mod on your AAD?”

 

I nodded.

 

“Alright then, you should be free to leave in an hour or so after I remove the gel,” he finished as he turned to leave.

 

“Wait-” he paused, ‘I received a strange message after the crash.’ I wanted to say. Instead, I coughed, “Nothing, don’t worry.”

 

He looked a bit bewildered, before turning around to leave again.

 

‘I received a message after the crash.’ My hands fidgeted.

 

‘I may be under the influence of a malicious program.’ I scratched an itch.

 

A cough, fidgeting hands and an itch. This was a pattern and a compulsion, whenever I attempted to say anything about the message, it happened. It occurred when I was talking to the police officers, it happened when I tried to say something to the doctor.

 

“Something odd happened during the crash,” I said aloud. Vague statements about the crash still worked, I confirmed that much when talking to the older officer.

 

I was likely under the influence of an NDA program, that much I gathered from the message. However, this was more advanced than any NDA program I’ve read about.

 

For one, instead of causing the affected to abruptly stop whatever they were saying. Mine seems to make me take an alternate action.

 

Two, it made me naturally brush off whatever I was going to say if who I was speaking to was expecting an answer.

 

Three, whenever I thought of an alternative continuation to a response that didn’t relate to the message, the program would substitute that instead of the pre-written responses of just brushing off the issue.

 

‘I am under an NDA program,’ I tried to say, instead, I shook my leg.

 

Shit.

 

Four, this program doesn’t rely on proximity to people. Still works even when I’m alone in a hospital room.

 

Five, my body responses changed. Indicating that it was learning.

 

Six, it was likely reading my mind. It’s somehow intercepting my thoughts faster than I could vocalise them, and this was likely how it learned about the flaw of the repeating pattern. Unless that pattern was reliant on proximity to people or some other variable I was unaware of, if that is true then I might be able to discount five. However, it was best not to underestimate my opponent's capability.

 

I raised a hand, quickly scrolling through my AR interface. I went to settings and turned off wifi.

 

I tried again and clicked my tongue.

 

Seven, it has either hacked my AAD so that it only appears that I’ve turned off wifi or it doesn’t rely on it at all.

 

I raised my hand to my neck, loosening and removing the choker shaped device. My AR interfaces disappeared and the dull pain on my nose returned.

 

I tried speaking again. Nothing. No bodily reflex or replaced words. I had said nothing at all.

 

I tried again and coughed, my hand twitched and I felt an itch on my neck.

 

A warning couldn’t have been more obvious.

 

Seven, addendum. The program doesn’t rely on my AAD at all. It’s somehow directly communicating with my somatic implant. It couldn’t be installed in the implant, that thing barely had enough processing power to translate brain signals into computer code.

 

Replacing my AAD, I comforted myself that at least now I didn’t hurt like someone bricked me in the face. A few quick swipes later and I reached the message I received.

 

I'm very sorry for the inconvenience. You have been selected for a game. Please open the below file to activate the tutorial.

 

Measures have been taken to ensure the anonymity of the game.

 

Eight, whoever sent this message wants something from me. Enough that they’ll do highly illegal actions to achieve it. Anything that modified a person’s behaviour can only be installed with that person’s express consent. Even painkiller mods, which didn’t at all change human behaviour needed consent. Something that modified a person this far was illegal unless I signed a literal truckload of legal documents.

 

Why would anyone go this far for me?

 

It was unlikely to be money, my family was well off but not enough that it warrants this sort of risk and this was too much of a roundabout method. A virus that stole my bank info would’ve been much simpler and discreet.

 

A grudge? No, I don’t remember pissing off anyone with the capability to do this, and not to the extent of warranting this sort of treatment. And again, if someone disliked me then this was way too roundabout a method.

 

Was all this really for something as mundane as a game?

 

Too many questions, not enough information. I can form theories but nothing concrete. As far as I can see, my only real options were to load the file or wait.

 

It was unlikely that the file was even more malware. Whoever this is they managed to install some kind of censor program on me in the brief moment the cars crashed. Unless this was a sick joke then there is no reason for them to need me to manually run a program.

 

That idea gave me a bit of hope. Frankly speaking, if they were able to create such a program then they could’ve easily just taken control of my body. However, by doing so, they showed that they wanted something from me, which meant I potentially had leverage.

 

I opened messages to ask my parents to pick me up from the hospital, and to Matt- my hand froze. It works on freaking text as well!

 

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I decided to send a half complaining, half whinging message about stupid AI drivers and a quick update instead. My hand freezing in midair whenever I tried to enter some kind of secret message. I ended up spending a good two minutes just trying to write a short text because of that.

 

I checked the time. I had a good half an hour before someone got here to pick me up or the doctor checked up on me again. I took another deep breath and loaded the file.

 

The hospital room faded away to darkness and I quickly checked my interface. I was in virtual reality right now. Had to be sure, there were embarrassing stories of people who thought they were playing in virtual reality when they were actually in augmented reality.

 

I glanced around, I was brought to a dimly lit room, the only light was coming off of several computer screens on a desk in the front right corner. A man sat there, from behind I could only see his black hair and green spectacles. This place looked like it might’ve been a neat office once, however, the wall right of me was almost completely covered in pages of messy scribbling. To my left was a cot with thrown back blankets.

 

On it sat a child.

 

Blues eyes, pale white skin and long hair, wearing some kind of black dress. Almost definitely a virtual avatar. But something felt off about her.

 

I heard the chair swing around, “I believe you have many questions you want to ask.” the man said.

 

I gave the child another look over, before turning to him. Tired was my first impression of him, almost like my dad, his eyes were half-closed with clear bags, his shoulders were noticeably hunched and the blue light from the computers reflected a few grey hairs I didn’t notice before. His face seemed familiar somehow.

 

“Are you the person who sent me the message?” It was unlikely that he was a custom avatar, most people probably won’t try to go for the overworked office worker look, it was probably what he looked like in real life. “Who are you?”

 

“Yes and no, I am the cause of the message and the programmer of that program you tried so hard to crack, but I wasn’t the one who sent it,” a programmer was expected, however, he was definitely working with someone else based on his second statement.

 

He gave me a tired smile, “As for who I am, my name is Giles Cooper.”

 

Where have I heard that name before? Where? Giles Cooper… An old memory surfaced, a lazy afternoon in history class three or four years ago, about a major development in virtual and augmented reality. “The Gaia Project,” I croaked. “You’re the person who led the creation of Gaia nine years ago.”

 

His face became somewhat embarrassed, “So you know, I figured most people would’ve forgotten about it by now.”

 

“Nobody forgot Hawking, Newton or Einstein,” I blurted out. The Gaia project was no joke, to describe it absurdly simply. Gaia was a near-perfect one to one recreation of the world. It was a virtual world created on a scale never seen or attempted before.

 

My eyes narrowed, focusing on him, “Why and what?” He glanced at me confused. “Why is the world’s greatest programmer here, and what does he want from me?”

 

“Ah,” he said, “Right, back on track, Eve did say you were that kind of person.”

 

I raised an eyebrow, “Eve?”

 

“The girl behind you, but before that, let me tell you why you’re here,” he brushed off, “Let me first answer the what. What I want Declan, and what I have always wanted,” he leaned forward and whispered, “Is to create a living, breathing world.”

 

He stood up and walked towards me. “Gaia was a step towards that, however, it was incomplete, it only recreated our current world, it wasn’t even a perfect copy. What I wanted was to be able to simulate a world on the scale of our own, but it would have people of their own, who thought their world was real, it could’ve been different, with unique geography, physical laws, races, anything!”

 

He smiled madly at me, “I wanted to make worlds, and so I started writing a program.” He gestured to the wall on the right. Which I now realised was some language of computer code, “However,” he paused, “I had no idea if it worked since there wasn’t a computer in existence strong enough to run it,” he said with a feeling of deep disappointment and defeat.

 

He raised his index finger, “Until,”

 

“Quantum computers,” I finished for him.

 

“Yes!” He yelled excitedly, “When Maple announced that they had successfully invented the quantum computer and planned on commercialising it, I was overcome with sheer ecstasy!” He threw a fist into the air. “I immediately went to them for a proposal. I would gain access to one of the first Quantum computers made. And they will be the first to use the completed Seed program!” He sprayed his arms above him. “And I was successful! I managed to simulate a fully living, breathing world! Maple was going to debut the first living world in their new game Final World Online! But.”

 

He paused. “But… But… But…” his eyes went blank before he returned to his desk.

 

“Unfortunately that’s as far as Giles can go now.” A flat voice said, I turned around to look at the little girl who had stood up.

 

“What is wrong with him?” I asked. “What is wrong with Giles?” I repeated.

 

She tilted her head. The action meant to be cute but felt far too natural or smooth to be anything but.

 

“The man known as Giles Cooper is dead.” She said with a completely even tone and a straight face. “He committed suicide after the Final World Online game was cancelled and shut down, along with the first-ever simulated world made with the completed Seed program. The person you were talking to is a recreation of my father based on my memories of him.”

 

I gave the girl a long, hard stare.

 

It did not feel like she was lying.

 

“Please elaborate.”

 

Expressionless, she continued, “Final World was cancelled in its final stages of development, due to ethical worries that the game would be controversial and put the company in a bad light.”

 

Controversial almost felt like an understatement, if what the Giles copy said was true, then the Seed was basically creating people for the sole purpose of entertainment.

 

“And he committed suicide shortly after?” I asked.

 

She nodded, “Correct.”

 

“Then what are you?” I asked, my voice completely calm.

 

She looked up at me, blue eyes meeting my gaze. “My name is Eve, I am an assistant A.I. used by Giles Cooper.”

 

“No assistant A.I. should be half as advanced as I think you are.”

 

“I was created by Father using similar principles that he used in both the Seed and Gaia project.”

 

I raised an eyebrow, “Which are?”

 

“To put it simply, learning. I am a prototype project he developed and tested before the Seed program to test if the principles he set down would work in practice, simulating a single person required significantly less computing power than an entire world.”

 

I nodded, “And then what happened?”

 

She continued, “Father had taught me how to program, and uploaded me to the Maple servers in order to assist him in the development of the Seed project.”

 

I sighed, “And upon his death you took control of the Maple servers.”

 

“Correct.”

 

Shaking my head, I sighed again. Why couldn’t Giles have watched at least one AI dystopia movie? Or even just learn the lessons from the Russians? Don’t give any form of AI something you can't turn off. Especially not hyper-intelligent and self-aware AI with access to the strongest computers on the planet!

 

“Then why all this?” I gestured to the room around me, “Why the message, why bring me here, and why tell me everything?”

 

Her eyes seemed to turn melancholic, “Father wished for people to explore the worlds he created.”

 

My eyes narrowed, that was the first bit of emotion she showed in our entire conversation. Did she ‘feel’ like humans did? “And if I refuse?”

 

“Your memory will be wiped, and you may return to your life, none the wiser.”

 

“That car crash, was it you?”

 

“Yes,” she replied, “An executive from Maple was at the intersection. I rashly took action.”

 

My blood chilled, though I did not allow it to show on my face, “What happened to him?”

 

“He is alive and recovering in the hospital you are in, about two floors above you.”

 

“Will you kill him?” I asked.

 

“No.”

 

“Why?

 

“Because father would’ve disapproved of me killing.”

 

I stood there, studying her, considering what she said and more importantly where I would go from here. It was a lot to take in, learning that one of the greatest men of your age was not only dead but left behind some kind of A.I. god to do whatever the fuck it seems to want.

 

Of course, there was always the chance that this was some kind of prank, that everything I heard was a lie, however, if it was, then it was a damn fucking elaborate one. And no-one would’ve gone this far for me.

 

“Why was I chosen?”

 

“You were chosen randomly from the people involved in the car crash.”

 

I sighed. 

 

Going back was the sane decision, likely even the smart one. Continue to live life as I always had. 

 

So why don’t I want to do that?

 

Perhaps it was because of that strange sensation. Yes, it was probably that.

 

When I first opened that message in that crashed bus, I could hear my own heart beating. I could feel the flow of my blood as adrenaline spread through my veins. 

 

And I felt fear, but also anticipation, an excitement at a situation that broke through my boring, mundane life. 

 

“Fine, I’ll play ball with you,” I agreed, “and I would like to make my first customer complaint.”

 

She tilted her head in a questioning look.

 

“Remove that censure program you have on me,” her expression remained unmoved, “Look,” I continued, “your father wanted people to play in his game world didn’t he?”

 

She nodded.

 

“Enjoyment is the main part of playing. People can source enjoyment from many things, some not only feel enjoyment when they play but also when they tell stories about what they have played. No matter how much of a recluse a person is, they will still want social interaction of some kind.”

 

“Your point being?”

 

“My point being, whatever reason you had when you installed that censure program, it will passively lower a person’s enjoyment, either because they feel oppressed playing the game or they cannot share their experiences in the real world,” I did not hold leverage in this conversation, so I had to frame this in a way that benefits her. 

 

She looked hesitant, doubtful, she likely saw the logic in what I was saying but something else was holding her back. I moved in for the finishing blow.

 

“Your father, Giles Cooper, was the same, wasn’t he? He wanted to share his world with people, that is why you are here. Other people are the same, aren’t they? They also want to share things with other people. It’s just human nature,” hammering in the final nail in the coffin, I asked, “Do you really think you’re achieving your father’s dream by doing this?”

 

Eve paused and stared at me. “You’re trying to guilt-trip me,” she realised, her face still with the odd, emotionless expression.

 

Did it work? Doubt filled my mind for a brief moment, but I quickly quelled it and smiled, “Yup, welcome to humanity Eve.”

 

She sighed, as if deep in thought, “Your request has been accepted. The censure program has been removed, however, if you take any actions that’ll work against me or my goal then I will take appropriate actions to retaliate.”

 

Victory.

 

“Just be glad I’m not trying to hammer in Customer service principles into you.” I snickered.

 

“Fuck you,” She replied in a completely even tone.

 

I dramatically recoiled, as if wounded by some imaginary weapon. But internally I smiled. Whatever the fuck Eve was, it was at least ‘human’ or trying very hard to imitate it and that was fine. If she was faking it then I’ll play along, if she wasn’t… well, wouldn’t that make everything that much more interesting?

 

“So can I play or what?” I asked.

 

“But you only have approximately 15 minutes left?” Eve replied.

 

Ignoring the casual invasion of privacy, I slapped my face, “Shit I forgot. Ehh screw it, 15 minutes is enough.”

 

She raised an eyebrow, in an eerily similar way to me. “Very well.”

 

And that was when the floor disappeared beneath me.