Андреа Хёст - The Starfighter Invitation

I deactivated my focus again, and flopped onto the couch, jelly-like and sweating freely. Skills in MMOs usually involved a button appearing on a toolbar that, when you clicked it, caused your character to perform a series of fancy moves that involved no actual player effort. This had been a lot of effort. But, unlike clicking a button, this felt like it belonged to me. All while not being real at all.

"How do I know when I’ve gained a Rank?"

[[You must pass a Trial to gain a Rank. When you can confidently and cleanly shape lan, you’ll be ready to make an attempt.]]

Watching Dio drift down to rest on the tip of one of my boots, I weighed the whole wearing and riding idea against techni-magic, custom-made bodies, and MY OWN SPACESHIP, and decided I would put up with Dio’s oversight, at least until I had learned more about the steal-the-ship option suggested by the opening.

"Will I always need a focus to use lan?"

[[Once you’ve gained sufficient strength, a focus is an enhancement rather than a necessity.]]

I couldn’t feel any weight or warmth from the alien creature sitting on my boot. I waggled my foot slowly, but Dio could well have been a blob of phosphorescent paint. My Cycog, but I was also Dio’s Bio.

"How old are you, Dio?" I asked, as I revisited my [Challenges] menu and discovered massive pages of options now open to me. "Are you a young Cycog?"

[[That’s a complex question,]] Dio said. [[One could argue that I am technically as old as my species, that there is only one of us, one Cybercognate in all the history of The Synergis, but grown large, subdivided, merged, split, recombined until any one part would not recognise terself’s original mind.]]

"So only the first Cycog spontaneously formed?"

[[Yes. Te was known as Veronec. Once Veronec had grown large, te found terself shedding small parts of terself, and these became independent, and grew large. Eventually, Veronec chose to subdivide more completely, becoming Aver, Eron, Onu, and Anec. Each of whom have since sub-divided, merged, and sectioned off into many new identities.]]

"Are te and tem the pronouns for Cycogs?"

[[That is the default pronoun for this language type. It is courteous to use te for all individuals unless they have indicated a specific.]]

A little collection of pronouns and honorifics appeared in my HUD. Unspecified, neutral, female, male, and custom. I’d seen the neutral set before—ze and zir—but unspecified and custom were new to me.

"The developers wanted to cover all the bases, huh?" I said, wondering if I’d be required to remember it all.

[[This is a little simplified. Additional terms are in use, either by the request of particular Bios, or to cover the gender range of other species, but te is appropriate for all, covering the range from none to non-specified.]]

I read the sets over. "Will I massively offend someone if I call them the wrong thing?"

[[Earth is an intake world, and here they will simply assume you’re a crass Enclaver.]]

"Great," I muttered, not sure I’d always remember not to be crass. It was hard to gauge how important roleplaying would be in this game.

Turning my attention back to browsing categories of Challenges, I frowned at the overflow. Usually an MMO started you out in a newbie zone, and there were only simple quests available, designed for your level. Here, I couldn’t decide where to start.

"So what do you do in a Gauntlet?" I asked, scrolling through the longest of the lists. "Run past lines of people trying to kill you?"

[[Gauntlet Challenges are defined by the consequence of failure. You must successfully complete the whole of the Challenge, or Challenge section for the more complex Gauntlets. If you fail, you will be either returned to your starting point, or placed in a significantly more difficult starting point. Certain prestigious Gauntlets can only be attempted once. They can also usually only be exited at the start or end of the Challenge.]]

Poking mentally at a collection of symbols after each Challenge name, I read through the little explanations that popped up. Estimated times, content type, whether the Challenge was solo, group or a combination, and what kind of modal was required. In some Challenges, every player would be issued a modal unit with the exact same specifications, and only cosmetic differences. Some Challenges would randomly generate a modal unit that fit with the challenge. Quite a lot were Core Unit challenges—meaning they required use of lan to beat—and some were "BYO suppression modal". Many seemed to combine with other sorts of Challenges.

"So a lot of these I can’t do at the moment because I’ve used up my lan, and I don’t have my own suppression modal?" I said. "How do I filter…oh, never mind." The display had responded even as I spoke, the list cutting down to a still-formidable selection. I added another filter option, for "narrative content", because story is a big hook for me in gaming. I still ended up with a huge list, but started idly selecting them and reading their irritatingly short descriptions.

"Can I filter for ones set in space?"

[[You won’t have access to those yet,]] Dio said. [[These are all Challenges set on Earth—though not necessarily Earth in its current state. Once you’ve been cleared for space access—that requires Rank Five—you will be able to access Sol System missions. If you reach Mars, you will be able to access Mars-set missions, and so on.]]

"Blah," I said, disappointed, and opened another Challenge description.

THE FELINEAD

The colony has been invaded.

Solo or Party.

Narrative.

Length: six game hours, EEO.

Virtual.

Generated suppression modal.

"Why are these descriptions so short?"

[[Where is the fun in knowing where you’re going?]]

"I’m all for the joy of discovery. I have some doubts about how much fun Survival Horror Land would be to visit when it involves a physical me and actual pain."

[[There’s more filters for that. You can select for pain level, combat involvement, player versus player combat, courtesy level, and so on.]]

"What are the general PVP rules? Here in this city? Will I get ganked the moment I step outside?"

[[Not on Earth. This is an intake world, where newcomers from Enclaves are introduced to The Synergis, and player combat is not permitted between Core Units. Each location has rules of behaviour, but on intake worlds Core Units cannot be threatened at all—nor even engage in lan duelling.]]

"But Core Units can be killed on other planets? Are there wretched hives of scum and villainy? Or is The Synergis uniformly lawful?"

[[Neither? There are certain matters—tortures, violations such as rape—that we have found have too great a negative impact on Bios, and so no Cybercognate will permit these to occur. I will stop you if you try.]]

I blinked at the idea of me raping anyone, but could only be relieved Ryzonart had had the sense to exclude it from Dream Speed .

[[We have a rescue system to recover from simpler deaths, but Bios can still be lost in no-limit duels,]] Dio continued. [[As well as in dangerous Challenges and, so long as certain conditions are met, through straightforward assassination.]] The floating mote circled my head. [[We compete against each other, you see. To remove a rival’s Bio, that is not an unknown tactic, though it’s not commonly encountered among the lower ranks. And there are penalty points which are difficult to avoid if caught. So you need not fear.]]

This last was in a tone suitable for soothing a toddler. I flicked Dio an unimpressed glance, then asked: "What happens if my Core Unit is destroyed while I’m in a different modal?"