Category: writing

Sorry about not posting this sooner!  I’m writing chapter 8 at the moment, so tonight you’ll get a few more chapters out of me.

  

Five

“This is incredible,” Joslyn said, stopping in a clearing in the woods a little way out from the outskirts of Coronet. She turned slowly in a circle, face tilted toward the sky. Her avatar was dressed in her usual attire—dark brown leather armor, high boots, a sword at one hip and a long, scarlet mantle draped around her. This was the Scarlet Dame, Calia Freydin, Lady of Grovesong Keep, known throughout Elfaedil as one of its leading nobles.

That had been part of the deal, something that backers had the option to do as part of the crowdfunding campaign—become part of the story, become one of the leaders of a particular providence or nation-state or megacorp depending on which world you were based on. Of course, you had to perform well enough to keep it, had to be behaved enough to maintain it, and you had to be good enough to fend off anyone looking to supplant you.

It could get a little cutthroat in that regard.

“It feels real,” Elaine said, hugging herself as she looked around. It even smelled real, with the scent of pine and woodsmoke and the distant tang of the sea. She could almost taste it. She could feel the weight of her armor, the tug of the cloak she wore against her shoulders and chest. The breeze was chill, though not enough so that it gave her goosebumps—those were coming from the reality of this experience.

They really did deliver on what they promised.

“It does,” Joslyn agreed, still grinning. “So incredible. I can’t believe it.”

“I can,” Elaine said softly. “They said they’d do it and they did. These guys haven’t disappointed yet.”

“I know,” Joslyn said, nose wrinkling. “I’m kind of waiting for the inevitable let-down.”

“Maybe there won’t be one,” Elaine said, shucking off one of her gloves to brush her fingertips along leaves and branches. The detail was exquisite. “Maybe this is just how it’s going to be.”

“Maybe,” Joslyn said, then shrugged. “We can hope, anyway.”

“Absolutely.” Elaine smiled, shifting her shoulders so her staff rested a little more comfortably against her spine. Idly, she wondered if she would be sore later—if they would both be sore later, even though their bodies hadn’t actually done the work of wearing and carrying their gear. If they got hurt in a fight, would there be bruises in real life?

I doubt it. They must have tested for that. This never would have launched if there were safety concerns at that level.

Right?

Joslyn turned back toward the city again, peering through the trees toward Coronet. “How long do you think before it’s available outside of gaming cafes?”

Elaine quirked a brow, crossing her arms again. “Probably never. They seem pretty heavy-duty.”

Joslyn shrugged. “You could be right.” She glanced back toward Elaine. “You ready to go back?”

“Back to the city?” Elaine arched a brow. “Sure. There a particular reason we’re going to head back so fast, though? You don’t want to see what we can tangle with out here and the consequences might be?”

Joslyn snorted a laugh. “Maybe not the first time out, especially if it’s just the two of us.”

Elaine grinned. “What, you don’t have confidence in my magical abilities?”

“Let’s just say I’d feel better with a second blade at our backs,” Joslyn said, shooting her a sly smile. Elaine’s own smile grew.

“Oh,” she said. “You want Ascalon to be along for that ride.”

Joslyn’s cheeks flamed and Elaine laughed.

“I don’t blame you,” Elaine said. “I think I’d want the same thing if I were you.”

“Well, that’s reassuring. Guess I haven’t turned into some kind of total hopeless case.”

“You, a hopeless case?” Elaine shook her head. “Never. Come on. If you want to go back, let’s go back.” She turned, heading for the edge of the clearing, finding the deer trail they’d followed to get to where they’d been standing. Joslyn jogged the couple steps it took to catch up to her, the pair falling into step as they started down the track, moving along it back toward the city.

“I wonder if the food will taste real,” Joslyn mused as they walked. “That could be an interesting experience, right?”

Elaine shrugged. “It could be. All of this might be enough to get me to check out other worlds.”

“You barely have time for this one,” Joslyn observed. Elaine inclined her head.

“True story, but there’s a such thing as making time—as you so commonly like to remind me.” Elaine hip-checked her gently and Joslyn laughed, returning the gesture. Elaine stumbled a few steps off the path, laughing as she stepped back up onto it again.

“Well, I would be lying if I said I didn’t think it’d be good for you. You spend way too much time in books and in your own head and you need to remember that there’s more to life than your school work. There’s got to be some kind of balance, grad school or not, Ph.D candidacy or not.”

“You’re right,” Elaine admitted. “You’re right. I’ve always figured that once I got through all of it, maybe then I’d be able to relax. But you’re right, if I don’t do it now, I’m going to forget and honestly, what kind of life is that? I can’t forget how to live.”

“You have no idea what a relief it is to hear those words.” Joslyn’s voice grew quieter as they got closer to the edge of the city. “There’s a ball tomorrow at Lord Caius’s keep,” she said. “You should come.”

Elaine’s brow quirked. “That’s oddly well-timed.”

Joslyn shrugged. “I have no explanations. Ascalon asked me if I’d come with him.” She leaned into Elaine’s ear. “We could come back, do the immersion thing again. It could be fun?”

“I don’t know,” Elaine hedged. “I mean, I’ve never really met Lord Caius, just seen him. And then there’s the matter of lacking an invitation.”

“If you ever checked your mail, I’m sure you’d find one,” Joslyn said archly, smirking. “Come on. Half the realm is invited. You should come. You’re a lady of the realm. It’s practically expected.”

The lines were blurring between their out of character and in character conversations, but that was for the best as they drew closer to the edge of Coronet. Verbal communications were expected to be in character in public areas of cities, with out of character chatter limited to subchannels and private spaces—or out in the wild, as long as no one else was around to overhear, or overhear much. But in the cities, immersion was the rule, and despite the occasional inconvenience, Elaine could appreciate the dedication of both the game designers and the players.

It was fun to be someone else for a while.

“Expected, huh?” Elaine sighed, staring up at the canopy of tree branches above them, at the foliage that was just starting to show the faintest glimmers of autumn. “I’ll think about it.”

“That’s all I ask,” Joslyn said, grinning. She twined her arm through Elaine’s. “Come on. Let’s go see if the food at the tavern is as good as it looks.”

“Or as bad as it looks,” Elaine muttered.

Joslyn laughed and dragged her onward, Elaine only too happy to tag along. She could only hope that she was pleasantly surprised—with both the food at the tavern and what decision she made about the invitation to a ball.

Only one way to find out exactly how it all shakes out, I guess.

She wouldn’t tell Joslyn, though, not yet—that way, there would be room to change her mind if she somehow lost her nerve.

There was a small part of her that hoped she wouldn’t. Who knew? Maybe it would be fun.

Either that, or it would be some kind of disaster. In either case, she’d find out tomorrow.

One way or another.

Four

“With that said, let me join my brother Peter in thanking all of you for your support over the past two years, from our crowdfunding campaign to today’s launch. We and everyone here at GreySoft look forward to exploring the stories buried in Universe with you for years to come.”

Mouth dry but smile still full-wattage, Jason reached over to a switch on the control board. It was mostly for show, of course, for dramatic effect—all of the back-end coding was ready and loaded, it just hadn’t been switched on yet.

That was what the switch was for—the switch and a dozen software engineers upstairs, watching the broadcast and ready to jump into action at the slightest sign of a hiccup in the Universe engine or servers.

After a moment’s hesitation, Jason flicked the switch, turning back to the cameras with a smile that was a little more sad than it had been a moment before—he couldn’t help it. Really, it was all he could do to keep his voice steady. “Welcome to the full-immersion Universe experience. May the road rise up to meet you and all of your adventures be fulfilling ones.”

The director motioned beyond the lights and the cameras, just barely in his range of vision. The lights went dark.

“We’re clear,” the director said, then turned to start talking to the production crew.

Jason sighed and slumped into a chair, leaning forward and scrubbing his hands over his face. He took one breath, then another, willing his eyes to stop stinging, fighting to master himself before anyone could notice.

“Well done.”

He glanced up at the sound of Brannon’s unmistakable brogue and smiled. “You think so?”

Brannon Marsden, his brother-in-law and the last of the quartet that stood at the heart of GreySoft’s foundations, nodded, leaning against the boards and server racks that ran the length of the wall that had been Jason’s backdrop for the broadcast. “I do. Better than I could have done. Peter’s going to be pleased.”

Jason blew out a quiet breath, his voice low. “It should’ve been him.”

“It should have been,” Brannon agreed, his voice quiet, so they wouldn’t be overheard. “But it didn’t work out that way. Stream numbers looked good—a lot of YouTube and Twitch traffic. We’ll see how the numbers look in a few days.”

“Subs or replays?”

Brannon smiled crookedly. “Both.” He extended a hand and Jason took it, letting his brother-in-law pull him out of the chair and upright. “It’s about both, right?”

Jason smiled faintly and shrugged. “Maybe.” He dug his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans, thumbed the screen on. No new messages.

Brannon’s smile shrunk. “I’m sure it’s okay.”

“Yeah.” Jason took a deep breath, stretching until his back cracked. “You’re right. C’mon, let’s get upstairs to the office. Curious to see what’s what now that systems are up.”

The smile returned. “Going to log in yourself?”

“Later,” Jason said. As much as he loved what they’d built, it didn’t feel right to log in while they were still waiting to hear from Peter about how bad his situation might be. “Might wait to jump in when Peter’s ready to log in.”

The production crew was packing up most of their equipment and Jason and Brannon left them behind, heading down a hallway toward the elevators up. The third floor corridor’s right hand wall was dominated by floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking carefully tended trees that gave way to managed forest beyond. Jason’s pace slowed for a moment as he stared out at those trees, at that forest, taking in the blaze of autumn colors, not quite yet at their peak for the season. His throat got tight for reasons he couldn’t quite articulate and he drifted toward the window, just staring.

Brannon stayed quiet, watching, leaning against the gray-painted left-hand wall, just watching.

“How long do you think they’ll stay in the trees?” Jason asked softly.

“Huh?”

“The leaves,” he said. “How long do you think they’ll stick around?”

Brannon straightened, moving to join Jason at the window. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “Guess it depends on how much rain we get and any wind. That side’s pretty sheltered. Could stick around for a long time. Maybe even until we see the first snow.”

“It’d be nice,” Jason said, then shook his head. “I don’t think they’ll make it that long, though.”

“Storms?”

“They always come,” he said. “And the leaves are always gone well before the snow flies.” He glanced toward Brannon. “Did Peter ever tell you why he liked this spot better than anywhere you guys looked at for headquarters?”

Brannon shook his head. “No, but I never asked, either. It didn’t matter. I liked it well enough and it’s near enough to things that Marissa doesn’t feel trapped and there’s options for schools when we’re ready to send Wynter.”

“It mattered to him,” Jason said, watching the wind ruffle distant branches. “It reminded him of where we grew up.” Happier times, the places we escaped to, where we pretended everything was fine and nothing would go wrong. It reminded him of days by the lake, afternoons in the woods, autumn bonfires and summer farmer’s markets, of artificial simplicity that we still cling to because it’s easier than remembering the parts the sucked, the parts that hurt more than we’re willing to admit.

“Oh,” Brannon said, his voice quiet. He, too, watched the wind in the trees, then sighed, reaching to squeeze Jason’s shoulder. “Do you want me to lie?”

“It might be easier,” Jason whispered. “It could be easier on all of us if you did.”

“Marissa didn’t ask how he looked when I picked him up,” Brannon said, then glanced up and down the corridor to make sure they were alone. “I don’t think she wanted to know.”

“There’s a lot of things that we don’t want to face, Brannon. Peter’s fragility is one of them.” We fooled ourselves into thinking that everything was going to be okay from here on out. It’s been years since anything went sideways, years since a whisper of anything wrong. Now this—this, now, when all of us should be at our highest.

We’re right back to where we were when I was seven and this hit him again and Mom and Dad stopped worrying about Rissa and I and their whole world was nothing but Peter. Jason’s eyes began to sting again but he blinked away the tears. No one was more angry at their parents for that than Peter was—the resentment and anger and hurt had even faded to a dull ache for Jason, who’d suffered the worst of their neglect, one year younger than his genius brother whose health always seemed to teeter on a razor’s edge.

“Peter is one of the strongest people I’ve ever met, Jason,” Brannon said, his voice gentle. It wasn’t as if Jason had never heard those words before, but something about them this time made his throat tighten uncomfortably, as if his heart and his gut knew something the rest of him didn’t—or didn’t want to accept. “It’ll be all right, no matter what. You know him.”

“Yeah,” Jason said, looking down. “Yeah, I do.” He knew that his brother would worry more about taking care of everyone else than taking care of himself. It made him ache to think of it, but was a reality he’d lived with since childhood. His older brother never asked for much beyond what he thought would benefit all of them. Jason had always thought it had something to do with the way their parents had always been more concerned with Peter rather than the rest of them, something that he suspected his brother had always secretly felt guilty about. It had never really mattered to Jason—as long as he had his brother and sister, that was all he needed. Brannon had come as an added bonus when Marissa had brought him home from school one Christmas and introduced him—by then, he and Peter had been legally emancipated from their parents and were living on their own, together, Peter already racing through college coursework and Jason finishing high school, already decided on a stint in the service after graduation. Four years later had come baby Wynter, and she’d seemed like a miracle to both Jason and Peter, a tiny, fragile piece of their sister and Brannon, and suddenly, it was the five of them, not the four.

His phone buzzed in his back pocket and Jason shivered, exhaling a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “It’s probably Peter,” he murmured as he dug around for the phone.

Brannon squeezed his shoulder. “Likely. Let me know if he wants me to come pick him up.”

Jason shook his head. “I can do it. They’ll need you here more than they’ll need me if something starts to slip sideways.”

“Eh,” Brannon said as he started walking down the hall. “Half of them still can’t understand me when I speak anyway. I think it’s the language barrier.”

“Language barrier?” Jason blurted, his attention dragged away from his phone a moment before he could register the words on the screen. “You’re speaking English. So are they.”

Brannon shrugged. “Must be the accent and the bloody slang.” He shot John a cheeky grin over his shoulder and continued on toward the elevator.

Jason sighed and shook his head. “Bastard,” he muttered, then glanced down at his phone. The words glowed white against the blue starscape background.

Home safe. Will be in soon. Good job.

Jason slumped against the windows for a second, worry-tinged relief washing through him, leaving knees momentarily weak. He took a slow, deep breath and forced himself upright again, starting to walk toward the elevator even as he texted his brother back.

Thanks. Be safe.

He got an emoticon in the shape of a thumbs-up as a response.

Some of the weight he’d felt tugging at his shoulders lifted away as he put his phone back into his pocket and stepped into the elevator—Brannon had held it for him and watched him now with an arched brow.

“He’s home,” Jason said simply as the doors slid shut. He leaned against the back wall of the elevator. “Said he’d be in soon.”

“Doesn’t need a ride, then,” Brannon said, tucking his hands into his pockets. “That’s probably a good sign.”

“Maybe.” Jason shrugged. “Could mean any number of things, but his neurologist didn’t keep him, so that’s something.” Last time Peter’s condition had flared up, his neurologist had immediately admitted him to the hospital downtown. That had been just before Wynter was born, three and a half years ago. “You know him, though. He’ll probably walk here.”

Brannon grinned. “Yeah, probably.”

Jason tilted his head back, closing his eyes as the elevator carried them upwards. “You were worried about what he looked like, though.”

“Well, I’ve seen him look worse,” Brannon said. “Don’t hop back on that worry train just as quickly as you’ve gotten out of it, Jason. Seriously, leave it alone. If there’s something we need to worry about, Peter will tell us as much. Until then, let’s just be happy that everything seems to be going well with the launch and let’s enjoy that we’ve done it. We delivered on what we promised when we jumped into this.”

Jason had to smile, the spirits that had begun to sag suddenly buoyed again. “You’re right,” he murmured. “We did it.” He thought about two nights before, the three AM conversation with Scarlet in the game, at her hold in Elfaedil. They’d stepped out of character after a particularly intense roleplaying session with a few other players and retreated to her sanctum, talking about work and life and how she was worried her roommate was getting too wrapped up in things that maybe didn’t matter as much as she thought they did and forgetting to have fun. Jason had just let her talk because he liked it when she did, he liked hearing about her life and what was happening in it, he liked having her to talk to when he needed someone to vent to, when he needed someone to share just about anything with. He wasn’t sure what that meant but figured eventually he’d figure it out.

She’d mentioned that she was going to the launch today. He’d said something stupid and inane in response and part of him still wondered why he hadn’t told her that he’d find her later in game, after the initial excitement and any kinks had been worked out. It was dumb and he’d wished that he’d thought about it then.

The elevator stopped and he startled. Brannon was grinning at him.

Jason’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that look for?”

“You should see your face,” Brannon said, still grinning, then stepped out of the elevator. “You’re off somewhere right now.”

Jason snorted softly. “If you say so.”

They walked out into the open expanse of GreySoft’s top floor, seven storeys up, commanding a view of the managed forestland to the west and south, farmer’s fields to the north, and the sprawl of the nearest city to the east. Windows ran the length of all four exterior walls, only a few partitions set up inside aside from a large square in the center of the building that housed things like the elevators, restrooms, an experimental gaming suite, and a conference room. In the northwest corner was Peter’s office, partitioned off from the rest of the space. Brannon’s was downstairs, on the sixth floor, and Jason was more likely to kick back on one of the couches up here on the seventh floor with his tablet or his sketchpad, or to start plastering the walls of the conference room or the central column with huge sheets of paper and hand-drawn storyboards. He wasn’t even sure if he had an office anymore, or if they’d converted it into something else since he never seemed to use it.

A few of the senior techs were scattered among the desks, monitoring server statuses and killing bugs as soon as they cropped up. A cluster of three stood around a fourth and Jason arched a brow at the sight. Next to him, Brannon shook his head.

“Can’t be anything that serious,” he murmured. “No one called me.”

Their senior gamemasters were clustered in the southeast corner, some kicked back on the couches with their feet up on the square coffee table between them, others at the long desks along the windows, each immersed in their work—or perhaps just in the game. Sometimes, it was hard to tell, and in truth, the game’s community was more self-policing than any of them cared to admit—but were secretly proud of. There was certain hot spots, certain worlds that were more troublesome than others, but for the most part the game’s population was well-behaved and the problems that cropped up were minimal based on the comparisons they’d run with other massively multiplayer games. Jason watched them for a moment, nodding absently in response to Brannon.

“Seems pretty quiet.”

Brannon nodded, gaze wandering before he wandered over to the coffee table, snagging a remote to turn on one of the monitors, tapping a few buttons and scrolling through realms until he finally settled on the first one they conceptualized, the heart of everything he and Jason and Peter had ever put together for the game. Triskelion had been the first, and while each of them worked hard to give equal attention to all of the worlds they’d developed for the game, each of them would admit that Triskelion remained the nearest and dearest to their hearts.

“Everything seems like it’s going according to plan, though,” Brannon said as he watched the screens, the camera tracking one of the senior gamemasters in his wanderings through the forests in Elfaedil. Teasing glimpses of Coronet, the province’s principal city, flashed between the trees. As Brannon turned up the volume, they could hear the faint sound of spacecraft soaring overhead of the gamemaster they were tracking, likely headed either for the port on the far side of Coronet or perhaps one of the ones on the outskirts of Elfaedil. Brannon glanced sidelong at Jason, brow quirking. “What do you think this is going to do with the player base, with what they’re playing? Think we’re going to see a shift?”

“Maybe,” Jason said, pursing his lips. “Might see an increase in cross-genre and some more travel between worlds, just so folks can experience something a little different. Not sure if we’ll see a lot of rerolls or additional characters, but we’ll see what happens there. Depends on how compelling we’ve managed to make everything else.”

“The story team’s been on their game,” Brannon murmured. “So has the art team.”

Jason inclined his head. He appreciated the compliment to both of his teams and would likely pass the information along to them when he headed down to the fourth and fifth floors later to check in with them. It was only a matter of time before he headed down to do that—but probably not before his brother made it into the office. “We’ll see what the base decides.”

Brannon nodded, studying him sidelong for a second as Jason watched the screen. “You’re distracted,” he observed.

Jason shrugged and Brannon continued.

“You’re distracted but it’s not because of what we were talking about downstairs. It’s something else.”

That made him startle a little, glancing at his brother-in-law with brow furrowed and jaw slack. “Huh?”

Brannon smiled and shook his head. “Just what I said. Whatever it is, I hope it’s a good thing.”

Jason blinked at him, then caught sight of a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. A figure had just moved across the screen, dressed in a familiar red cloak. The gamemaster they followed tracked the figure for a few seconds, watching her as she crossed the path and plunged deeper into the woods, a smaller figure in a gray cloak trailing her.

Jason smiled.

“Maybe it is,” he murmured, gazing at the screen. “I guess we’ll see.”

 Three

“What the hell am I supposed to wear to this?” Elaine asked aloud, rummaging through her closet, cursing under her breath as she dug around. Her best friend lounged on the bed, playing with her phone and waiting for her.

“Normal clothes?” Joslyn Ballard suggested, glancing up. She was dressed in skinny jeans and a long sweater, dark hair swept up into an artfully messy bun. “It’s a launch, not a cocktail party.”

“I just—” she stopped, turning toward Joslyn. “Am I overthinking this? Am I somehow confusing this for ComiCon or something random like that?”

Joslyn stared at her for a moment, then nodded once. “Yes.”

Elaine stared back for a moment, then bobbed her head. “Kay. Jeans and a jacket it is.”

“Are you suddenly worried about geek street cred or something else?” Joslyn asked as she glanced back to her phone again. “Because trust me, if any gamer boy even starts to question that I’m pretty sure that between the two of us we can knock him on his proverbial ass. Hell, you can do that on your own. You don’t need me for that.”

“No,” Elaine said, feeling her stomach twist uncomfortably.  “No, that’s not it.” It was, of course, part of it and both of them knew it. She whipped off the shirt she’d been wearing, exchanging it for a cami with a hint of sparkle, then started hunting around for a particular jacket that was probably buried in some forgotten corner of her closet. “I just—this isn’t something I do.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Joslyn glanced up from her phone again. “This is new for pretty much everyone. No one’s done this before—not at this level. That’s what makes it so special.”

“Do you think it’ll work the way they promised in the pitch video?” Elaine asked, making a quiet sound of triumph as she found the jacket she’d been looking for. She shrugged into it, stepping out into her bedroom and regarding her friend with a curious look. “Will it really feel real?”

Joslyn shrugged, pushing herself into a sitting position and tossing her phone onto the bed beside her. “I don’t know. I know what I’ve read in all of the game mags and it sounds like maybe it will but they’ve kept everything so damn close to the vest no one knows for sure. I don’t even know how they did it—how they’ve managed to pull off that level of secrecy. It’s mind-blowing. It shouldn’t be possible and somehow they pulled it off.”

“How many rigs are there at the café, do we know?” Elaine moved to the full-length mirror in the corner of her room, straightening her jacket slightly before she went hunting for socks that would be appropriate with her ballet flats.

“Not sure,” Joslyn said, getting up to check her hair once Elaine vacated the space in front of the mirror. “There’s only been speculation about it. Still, launch day? Place is reserved for backers and I can’t imagine there’ll be that many around here that donated enough to get passes for today.”

“You’re probably right,” Elaine said, tugging on her socks. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous.”

“Because that’s how you get when you’re about to try a new thing. Always been that way, Laney. That’s why you keep me around, to tell you to relax and try to enjoy yourself.”

Elaine laughed. “I keep you around for more than just that.”

“Oh, well, yeah. There’s also pushing you out of your comfort zone and telling you that everything’s going to be okay.” Joslyn grinned. “You ready?”

“As long as my hair looks okay.”

Joslyn reached up to adjust something, then nodded. “You look great—not that anyone’s going to be looking at us.”

“Probably not,” Elaine agreed. “But it doesn’t hurt to double check, right?”

“Right.” Joslyn threw an arm around her shoulders as they headed out into the hall and downstairs to their living room. “Drive together or separate?”

“Might as well save the gas,” Elaine said. “You want to drive, or should I?”

“I’ll drive,” Joslyn said, unwrapping her arm from around Elaine’s shoulders so she could snag her keys and purse from where she’d tossed them on the kitchen table. “You okay?”

Elaine nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Just nervous.”

“I’d be a little worried about you if you weren’t, to be honest. It wouldn’t be like you.” Joslyn grabbed her leather jacket from a peg hanging near the front door, shrugging into it on her way out of their townhouse and into the chill mid-October air. “I was worried you weren’t going to come.”

“Hadrian had to talk me into it,” Elaine admitted as she locked the front door and followed Joslyn out toward the car. She glanced up at the gray sky. The air was thick with damp and the scent of threatening rain. She sighed, glancing back toward the townhouse, then shook her head at herself. An umbrella would just be one more thing to worry about carrying beyond her purse, phone, and keys—and keeping track of those three things would likely be more than enough to handle. “I was set to stick around in the library with him and do research.”

“And he rescued you from that? I think he might be my hero,” Joslyn said, her tone only mildly teasing. Elaine gave her a mock glare over the roof of the car and Joslyn just grinned, sliding into the driver’s seat.

“Cute,” Elaine said as she got in on the passenger side and slammed the door. Joslyn sighed, shaking her head as she buckled up and started the engine.

“Relax. I was just teasing.”

“I know,” Elaine said, staring at the ceiling for a moment. Joslyn watched her for a few seconds more, chewing her lower lip—Elaine could see her in the rearview mirror.

“I know it’s not the happiest day for you—” Joslyn began. Elaine interrupted her.

“That’s why I’m going,” she said. “That’s why I’m obsessing and trying to think about everything and anything other than that. Hadrian’s right. I need to find ways to make the hard days happier.”

“It’s only been a few years,” Joslyn said gently. “It’s okay to still hurt.”

“Yeah,” Elaine said. “But it’s not okay to dwell and to live in the past and if I keep letting losing them rip me up, that’s all I ever do. I need to figure it out.”

“We’ll be here,” Joslyn said, watching her. “You know that, right? I will be and I’m willing to bet Hadrian will be, too.”

“I don’t think you’re wrong,” Elaine said softly, then smiled. “Come on. We’d better get going or we’ll never find a decent parking spot and then we’ll be late and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss a second of this thing today.”

Joslyn grinned and grasped her shoulder, giving her a little shake and a squeeze before she got both hands on the steering wheel and pulled out of the parking spot. “Good,” she said firmly. “Good.”

Elaine laughed and relaxed. Joslyn turned on the radio as they cruised out of the parking lot, heading toward one of the major area thoroughfares. Either way, parking would be utter hell at the mall, but at least they were on their way early enough that it shouldn’t matter one way or the other.

Somehow, she was going to make sure this was a good day.

GreySoft’s gaming café was on the top floor of the three-floor mall, tucked down one of the side wings a few storefronts down from one of the anchors. It was nestled between a high-end outdoor apparel store and the standard ubiquitous accessory store and took up much more space than Elaine had expected when she’d first heard about the company’s ambitious plan when she’d backed the Universe project—two years ago, now. The immersion rigs—what they could see of them from the entrance, anyway—didn’t look like anything that impressive, just semi-reclined chairs with headsets and gloves not so different from the headsets she and Joslyn had at home.

Elaine glanced sidelong at her friend. Joslyn looked back and shrugged slightly, her thoughts probably paralleling the ones going through Elaine’s head.

It’s a lot of hype for what doesn’t seem like much. Maybe they’ll surprise us, though. Elaine checked her watch. Twenty minutes. Joslyn took her by the hand and tugged her toward the GreySoft employee manning the door, scanning phones and playing gatekeeper. A soft curse dropped from Elaine’s lips as she dug her phone out and started searching for the email with her QR coded pass for the event.

“I should have reminded you in the car,” Joslyn said, letting go of Elaine’s hand. She slowed only slightly as she beeline for the gatekeeper.

“It’s fine,” Elaine said, finally finding the appropriate message. “I’ve got it.”

“Good,” Joslyn said, then grinned over her shoulder as the employee scanned her phone. Elaine came next, holding her smartphone out toward him. He scanned her QR and nodded slightly.

“Welcome to the launch of the GreySoft Immersion Experience,” he said with a smile. “Once we officially go live, you’ll be able to try out the rigs for yourselves. As original backers of the project, you’re both entitled to six months free full immersion experience.”

“How many times have you had to say that today?” Joslyn asked him. The GreySoft employee shrugged.

“About a dozen so far. We’ll see how many more times I have to say it. If you head on back, there are some refreshments set up for the launch party.”

Elaine nudged Joslyn gently. “C’mon. Let’s go see what’s there.”

She nodded, flashing a smile at the employee. Elaine gave him a slightly more shy smile to match her friend’s and then headed back toward the rear of the storefront’s footprint.

The place was actually more subdivided than she suspected, with several banks of rigs separated from each other by partitions. Hanging from the ceiling in the center of the storefront was a series of monitors showing realtime gameplay on various Universe worlds, couches set up in a ring around those monitors, set up at optimum viewing angles and distances. Along the back wall was a massive monitor that currently displayed the GreySoft logo spinning lazily on a pale gray background. Tables laden with food were spread out in that back quarter of the gaming café and there was a temporary bar set up in the corner. About a dozen people—most of them looking like they weren’t employees—milled around there, some seated at more permanent appearing tables, laptops out, playing the game, others deep in conversation, haunting the space between the food and the bar.

“This is a little swankier than I thought it might be,” Elaine murmured.

“Yeah,” Joslyn agreed, canting her head to one side. “But the initial launch has gone well and sub numbers have been good. This is a big deal for the company, too.”

Elaine nodded, glancing back toward the ring of monitors hanging in the center of the café. “It’s a nice setup.”

“Seems like it.” Joslyn straightened her sweater. “I’m going to get a drink. You want something?”

“Whatever you’re going to have is fine.”

Joslyn nodded and headed for the bar, leaving Elaine to watch the gameplay monitors. She crossed her arms, gaze flicking between the screens. Science fiction worlds—Titan and Extremis, unless she missed her guess—were displayed side-by-side with fantasy realms Acadia and Tuatha. One of the larger screens was showing gameplay in the world she and Joslyn played on, Triskelion, a cross-genre world—one of the more unique places, largely shaped by backers of the project even before the beta for the original version of Universe had launched. It wasn’t one of the more popular realms, though it had been gaining players recently. There was a part of her that half wished it wouldn’t, that the community there could stay small and close-knit. She knew it wouldn’t, but it was nice to hope. Elaine was more than half certain that Joslyn knew most of the people who played on Triskelion and most of those people liked her. As for herself, Elaine knew a far smaller number but got along with most of them.

Most of them.

“What are you—?” Joslyn broke off as she followed Elaine’s gaze to the screens even as she nudged her friend’s elbow with a glass of white wine. “Oh. That’s actual—huh. I wonder how they choose who to follow.”

“Employees, maybe?” Elaine guessed as she took the glass. “Or maybe we’re watching things through NPC eyes. Pick an NPC in one of the cities or in the wilds at random and just…watch.”

“Maybe,” Joslyn said, then lifted her glass. “Salut.”

Elaine mirrored her friend’s actions and took a sip of the wine. It was cool and sweet and she knew it would be more than enough to help start taking the edge off her nerves—probably part of the reason why Joslyn had suggested it in the first place.

He best friend knew her far too well in some ways.

“I didn’t read the whole email about this,” Elaine said, still watching the screens. “How’s this going to work?”

“Well, café’s open all night for us if we want to stay all night—which I doubt but who knows, right? Launch is after some telecast speeches, and those are supposed to start in like fifteen minutes. Then they officially flip the switch and the immersion experience is live.” She glanced sidelong toward the rigs, brow furrowing. “They really don’t look much different than what we’ve got at home, do they?”

“No,” Elaine said, studying them. “But I’m sure they must be.”

“For sure,” Joslyn said, though she sounded as uncertain as Elaine felt.

Give it a chance. They’ll probably surprise you.

At least that would be the nice kind of surprise.

Elaine took another sip of wine. “Was Ascalon going to do the immersion experience?” Her gaze slanted toward Joslyn, who blushed slightly, staring into her own glass.

“He and I honestly didn’t talk about it.”

“Seriously?” Elaine blinked. “I think I’m shocked.”

Joslyn gave an eloquent shrug. “It just didn’t come up, not really. I mentioned that I was going to do it and he said that was cool, but he didn’t say anything about doing it on his end and honestly, I didn’t want to ask.”

“Why not?” Elaine asked, brow arching. “There must have been a reason.”

“It just didn’t feel right,” Joslyn said, then smiled a little. “It wasn’t the time and it didn’t feel like the place.”

“You guys seem to talk a lot,” Elaine said, staring at her over the rim of her glass. “How close have you two been getting? You sure talk about him enough.”

A faint blush stole across her cheeks and she shook her head. “It’s really nothing major.”

“That blush says otherwise.” Elaine watched her, smirking slightly. “Come on, Joss.”

“I don’t even know his real name,” she said, rolling her eyes and tossing back half of the wine in her glass in one unbroken swallow.

“Does he know yours?”

“No. It hasn’t come up.”

“Is that by design?”

Joslyn shot her a look, brow furrowed and lips pursed slightly. “What do you mean?”

“Have you just decided not to?”

“Not to what? Talk about real life? Of course we talk about real life. We just don’t know each other’s real names, that’s all. It’s not a big deal either way. He’s a nice guy.”

“So you’ve said.” Elaine shrugged. “I was just curious.”

Joslyn smiled crookedly. “Trust me, if it becomes more than being friends, you will be the first person I tell.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Oh, you were totally going in that direction and it’s okay. It’s fine that you were going in that direction. Hell, if it were me, I would be, too.” Joslyn shrugged, swallowing the rest of her wine. “Not like any of the guys I’ve dated the past few years have been keepers in any sense of the word.”

“There haven’t been many of them,” Elaine said, watching the images on the screens in front of them instead of watching Joslyn’s face. “For either of us.”

“Well, there’s good reasons for that.” Joslyn nudged her gently and Elaine glanced at her, managing a smile. “I’m going to go get some more wine. Think we should check out the food?”

“Probably,” Elaine said, checking her watch again. Ten minutes. “Think we’ll want to be sitting for the speeches and whatnot?”

Joslyn shrugged. “Maybe. Probably be fine not sitting, though—and probably get a better view.” She looked toward the tables nearer to the screen at the back. “I’m sure there’ll be enough seats either way.”

Elaine looked back toward the doors. There were only a few more people trickling in, two girls and a guy, all around their age. Her attention drifted back to the screens for a moment, recognizing the city on the screen. “Look. Coronet.”

Joslyn followed her gaze and cocked her head to one side. “Huh. Guess they’re running around in Elfaedil. That’s cool.” She pointed to Elaine’s glass. “Want some more wine?”

She shook her head. “Not yet.” Her glass was still half full. Joslyn nodded.

“I’m going to get more,” she said again, then walked away, wandering back toward the bar in the corner. Elaine exhaled, watching the screen for a few moments longer, the vaguely familiar streets and buildings, the winding path up toward the coastal cliffs where the Lord of Elfaedil’s manor perched overlooking the sea. The frame focused on that view—looking up the rocky hillside and winding path toward the manor—then the screen faded to black, apparently switching perspectives to someone else on Triskelion.

She turned away, drifting toward the refreshments table. The spread was generous, hot appetizers and meat skewers, fresh fruits and vegetable plates, snacks and desserts. Elaine snagged two plates, balancing one on her arm and holding the other in hand as she started loading both, one for herself and the other for Joslyn. Her brief stint waitressing had paid off in that regard, and she smiled wryly as she finished loading the plates and reclaimed her glass from the edge of the refreshments table. Joslyn was already on her way back, a fresh glass of wine in hand. A few of the people who’d been idling across the room had gotten up for refills on their drinks—more than a few beers, but a few other things in the mix, too.

Joslyn plucked the plate from Elaine’s arm with a smile. “Thanks.”

Elaine nodded. A flicker to her left drew her attention and she turned, looking at the large screen at the back of the café. It had gone blank, the GreySoft logo no longer spinning there, replaced now by a dark screen.

“Guess it’s starting,” she said softly.

Joslyn grinned. “Guess so.” She hooked an arm through Elaine’s and tugged her away from the refreshments table and toward the center of the floor for a better view of the big screen. An excited flutter raced through Elaine’s stomach and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and then back again. It was exciting.

I’m glad Hadrian made me come.

He was right, she probably would have regretted not being there for it.

The screen stayed dark for a few more seconds, long enough for the lights to dim and for the last threads of conversation to fade. The employee watching the doors closed them, further dimming the café.

Then, a voice: “Thank you.”

Two

Books hit the table with a thud and her friend glanced up from his notebook, brow arching delicately as his pen stilled against the paper. Hadrian Bridger straightened slightly, leaned back, and regarded her with a puzzled look to match that arched brow.

“What?” Elaine Cavanaugh asked as she dropped into the chair across from him, sequestered in one corner of the university library—their usual spot up on the fourth floor, near the windows and hidden amidst the seemingly endless stacks. She let her bag slide from her shoulder to drop gently to the floor alongside her chair, pens and notebooks and her laptop rattling against each other as it settled.

“I didn’t think you were coming today,” he said simply, watching her as she started unstacking books, sorting them into separate piles. “Isn’t that launch or whatever today?”

She stared at him for a few seconds, blinking, trying to figure out what he meant. “What?”

“Universe or whatever. The VR immersion launch or whatever. Didn’t you back that?”

“Oh.” Elaine wet her lips, staring down at the table for a few seconds. “Yeah, I did.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she said, the word coming perhaps a bit too fast—no, definitely too fast, because Hadrian’s brow had only climbed higher after she’d said it. Elaine slumped, sighing. “It’s Thursday. We always do this on a Thursday.”

“Trust me, missing one Thursday buried in the library working on research projects won’t kill you,” Hadrian said gently. “There are a lot more important things than this.”

“This is our careers,” she protested lamely. “Our future.”

“Not for you and I in our second year,” he said, watching her. “Believe me when I say it. There are more important things.”

“A game launch isn’t more important than this research.”

“You can’t hide from everything, Laney,” Hadrian said gently. “Stop trying. Burying yourself in all of this isn’t going to change what you’re feeling.”

“I’m not hiding from anything,” she lied, starting to sort the books again. She was fully aware of the weight of Hadrian’s gaze on her, though she tried to ignore it.

She couldn’t. A sigh escaped her and she shook her head slightly, brow furrowing as she looked up to meet his eyes. “Sometimes I feel like I have to try.”

“It’s an anniversary,” he said quietly. “I understand that. But maybe you should think about making better memories than hiding from the painful ones. You’re allowed to have fun, y’know. Wouldn’t they want you to?”

“I don’t know,” she said, even though she knew he was right. Her parents would have wanted her to be happy, to make new memories and not to dwell on their loss. After all, it was like her mother had always said—life was for the living, and she was still alive. Her father would have reminded her that happiness was a thing worth fighting for, no matter how much the world tried to make it hurt instead.

Across the table, Hadrian smiled a little. “What time is the launch?”

“Not until two,” she said.

“They’re opening one of the gaming cafes at the mall, right?”

Elaine nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, they are. Joss is going.”

“Yeah, I thought you were going with her,” Hadrian said. He tapped one of the stacks of books. “This can wait, Laney. One afternoon isn’t going to hurt, especially if it helps you make a new memory to help ease the pain of an old one.”

She stared at him across the table, stomach feeling hollow. “How the hell do you know how to talk like this, Hadrian?”

A wry smile curved his lips and he shrugged with one shoulder. “I’ve seen some shit, I guess.”

“I guess so,” she echoed, shaking her head and sighing. “Is it experience? Is that how you know that making new memories will help?”

He hitched one shoulder in a shrug, bending to his notebook again. “You could say that.”

They’d met the year before, both as first year graduate students and bonded over coffee and reading loads that would have crushed mere mortals—or at least, that was the running joke. She knew a little about him, knew that he was married and had two kids and he was their stay-at-home dad while his wife worked—in law enforcement, she thought, based on what little he’d mentioned. She also knew that something bad—or several somethings—had happened to him in the past, things that had delayed his education. He was a little older than she was, though not too much, and was slightly quiet and withdrawn with most people. Elaine wasn’t sure what made her different from everyone else, but she was silently grateful for it. Hadrian was great company and they worked well together. Their friendship wasn’t something she wanted to endanger.

“Right,” she said softly, deciding not to press. This wasn’t the time. “Maybe I will go.”

“You should,” he said. “Go, have fun, enjoy yourself for once. No one’s going to begrudge you that, especially the people you think you’re honoring by not having fun today.”

“Let’s be honest, Hadrian. I don’t have fun that often to begin with.”

Hadrian smiled. “Maybe that’s something you should think about changing, too.”

That was a familiar refrain—he’d been on her to figure out how to live for months now. She’d started to wonder why it mattered so much to him but again had never quite found the courage to ask. She’d convinced herself it didn’t matter and maybe it was true, maybe it didn’t matter.

“Joss says the same thing,” she murmured, digging her laptop out of her bag. In fact, Joslyn had been saying it more and more often since December, and even before when she’d talked Elaine into backing GreySoft’s experimental MMO even before that, the summer after graduation from undergrad.

“Joss is a good friend,” Hadrian said. “You should listen to her more often.”

Elaine snorted a laugh and Hadrian grinned.

“It’ll take you, what, two hours to get ready and get out there?” Hadrian glanced up from his notebook again. “Work until noon, then go home, get ready, and go there. Enjoy it and quit worrying about all of this for a little while. It’s not like you’re behind.”

She winced, watching him as he bent back to his work. She knew what he was referring to and it made her ache a little. He was right, she wasn’t behind, but he was—though not nearly so much as she thought he might think he was. He’d been gone for most of September and though there had been quiet suggestions that maybe he should take the semester off, but he’d been back by the time October began and was working harder than any other grad student in his department.

As far as she was concerned, that alone was telling.

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” she said, watching him for a few seconds. “You’re already way ahead of everyone else in the cohort and you’re smarter by half than most of them.”

“Yeah, well,” he murmured. “That may be, but I think I’ve got plenty to worry about.”

Elaine took a breath, intending to argue, then thought better of it and shrugged. “You would know better than I would, I guess.”

“Not all the time,” he said, glancing up again with a faint smile. “Sometimes friends need to pull other friends out of their own heads and up for air before they drown.”

“Is that what all of this was about this morning?”

He shrugged and she smiled.

“Thanks, Hadrian,” she said. “I do appreciate it, even if I maybe don’t seem like it.”

“Most people don’t, even when it’s something they need.” His attention was already back to his work. “Sometimes it’s like that. I don’t take it personally.”

“Do you want to come?”

He blinked, then looked up. “What?”

“To the launch. Do you want to come? I’m sure we can get you in if you want to tag along.”

Hadrian thought about it for a moment, then shook his head slightly. “Some other time maybe I’ll tag along with you to the café. I promised Ky I’d be home early today.”

Ky was his wife. Elaine studied him for a moment, then smiled. “Well, I wouldn’t dream of getting you in trouble with your wife. Some other time.”

He nodded. “Absolutely. I’m not going to lie, what they’ve proposed sounds incredible and I’m more than a little curious. You’ve played the actual game already, right?”

“Yeah,” Elaine said, booting up her laptop and reaching for one of the books she’d sorted. “Yeah, since launch—Joss hopped into beta but I just didn’t seem to have time. I’ve played enough to get a feel but I don’t have a ton of time for it, you know?”

“Yeah, I could see that,” he said. “Still, I’m glad you allow yourself that much of a break.”

“Such as it is,” Elaine said, starting to thumb through the book in front of her. “Still. It’s a nice escape when I can afford it.”

“Everyone needs one,” he said, lips curving into a slight smile. “Even hardworking graduate students.”

Elaine grinned. “True story.”

“Always is,” Hadrian said, watching her for a second. “One hundred percent always is.”

Then he bent to his work again and she did, too. A few hours’ work was better than none, and he really was right. She did work too hard and she did deserve to be happy. Playing Universe made her happy most of the time, but she wondered if it was what she really needed, what she really wanted, or if it was something else.

Even if it was, for the moment, it was what she had, and would have to be enough for now.

On Facebook, my friend EJ challenged me (and other friends) to describe my NaNoWriMo project badly.  My description was this: MMORPG brings together a dying programmer and the love of his life, who might be able to solve the mystery of why he’s dying.  She said it made her intrigued (others have since agreed).

This month, I’ll be posting chapters as they’re finished.  Hope you enjoy!

  

One

The phone rang.

Halfway through shaving, Jason Grey nearly dropped his razor, startled at the sound. He blinked blankly at his cell, perched on the corner of the bathroom counter, its screen turned toward the Formica countertop. He wiped one hand on the towel around his waist, reaching for the phone before whoever was on the other end hung up.

Who the hell would call me this early in the morning?

His fingers brushed the corner of the phone and sent it toppling off the edge of the counter. He lunged for it, the phone still ringing as it flipped end over end and hit the floor with a thwap that suggested finality. The ringing stopped. Jason cursed, dropping his razor into the sink and crouching down to retrieve the phone. It buzzed in his hand and he exhaled a sign of relief, flipping it over to glance at who was calling.

Peter.

“Hey Peter,” he said as soon as the phone reached his ear. “What’s up?”

“I had a seizure,” his brother said. That was it—no greeting, no preamble, just the words that made Jason’s blood run cold, made his stomach twist back on itself and bile rise in his throat.

“When?”

“This morning.”

“How bad?” Jason leaned against the counter, heart feeling like lead in his chest. Peter was calm, too calm. That was more terrifying than anything else.

“Hit my head,” Peter said. “Bled a little. Definitely loss of consciousness.”

The fingers of his free hand curled around the edge of the counter. It was hard to breathe. “Then—”

“Yes.”

His stomach dropped and Jason squeezed his eyes shut. “Then we—”

“No.”

That jarred him. His eyes snapped open and he stared into the sink, watched the water as it swirled down the drain, carrying whiskers and shaving foam with it. “You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“You were going to say we need to delay or cancel the launch and the press conference.”

He wasn’t wrong. “How did you know?”

“Marissa said the same thing. It’s not an option, Jason. You know it—your gut knows it and your heart knows it, too. It can’t wait. We launch today. We have to keep our promises and this was our biggest promise.” Peter paused and his voice got quiet and for the first time that morning, Jason heard real emotion breaking through his brother’s mask of calm. “This launch is something I want, Jason. It’s what I’ve always wanted, from the first minute we started dreaming about this. It’s time and we’ve worked so hard for it. I need you to make it happen. Please.”

Jason squeezed his eyes shut again, this time against the sting of threatening tears. “Okay. Okay. What do you want me to do? Is Marissa on board?”

“Barely,” Peter said. “She fought me on it.”

“What changed her mind?”

“I had to play the Wynter card.”

A weak laugh escaped Jason’s lips. “Bet she loved that.”

“If she wasn’t terrified, I think she wouldn’t speak to me for a couple weeks.” Peter took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “I told her to use the video we did—the taped dress rehearsal for my remarks. You’ll make a speech at the live thing at headquarters. Don’t tell anyone what’s going on with me. Let them—” he stopped for a moment, then sighed. “Let them think I’m just the reclusive genius or some shit. I don’t know. We’ll figure out a cover story later.”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Jason said quietly.

“No,” Peter agreed. “No, it wasn’t, but it did and now we just—we just have to figure it out. And we will. I promise, we will.”

“Are you going?”

“Already called. Neurologist is on his way in and once I’m off the phone with you, so will I.”

“Who’s driving you?”

“Brannon. He’s going to drop me off and join the rest of you. No muss, no fuss.”

Jason exhaled, reaching to turn off the water. “I hope it’s nothing.”

“Me too.” Peter sighed. “But I think we both know that’s a vain hope.”

“Yeah,” Jason whispered. “But let’s hang onto it anyway.”

“Love you, little brother.”

“Right back at you,” Jason said, scrubbing his hand over his eyes. “Be careful, okay? Call me once you know more.”

“I’ll wait until after all the launch events. I’ll text you when I get to HQ.”

If you get there today at all. Jason closed his eyes and nodded. “Okay.”

“Hey.” Peter’s voice was gentle. “Listen to me. You can do this. You’re the hot one, remember? Poster-perfect hero and the face of this company. You can do this. You’re better at it than I ever could be.”

“That’s because you’re too busy being the brains and beating heart of this thing,” Jason murmured.

“Give Brannon some credit. He’s at least half the brains here.”

It made him laugh and some of the tension eased from his limbs. “That’s true.”

He could hear the smile in Peter’s voice. “I’ll let you finish getting ready. Try not to worry, huh? It’ll be okay.”

“Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”

“Nah,” Peter said. “I’m the big brother. It’s my job. Knock’em dead, Jason.”

“For you, anything,” Jason said.

His phone beeped as the call disconnected from his brother’s end. Jason gave a shaky sigh, setting his phone aside and lifting his gaze to the mirror. There was still shaving cream all over his face, face half-shaven. He closed his eyes again, leaning against the counter.

For you, big brother. For your dream.

He turned the water back on, rinsed his razor, and got back to it, trying not to think about what they’d initially planned for that afternoon and how every single one of those plans had changed in an instant.

After some due consideration and weighing several options for this year’s encroaching NaNoWriMo project, I have settled on one — and it will be familiar to anyone who was around last year.

That’s right.  I’m going to pick up the project I abandoned when Girl from a Brigadoon began to consume my thoughts last October.

As of this moment, it’s tentatively titled UNSETIC Files: Universe, though that’s definitely subject to change and I am very open to suggestions (UNSETIC Files: Neverland is also an option I’m toying with).

I’ll be posting prep and notes here throughout the month, so stay tuned!  For today, everyone gets a treat, though: my gathered notes from last year before I switched gears.  Enjoy.

 The Characters

Peter Ezecaius Grey
Elaine Cavanaugh
Jason Grey
Joslyn Ballard
Marissa Grey
Brannon Marsden
Hadrian Bridger (not sure how expansive his role will be)
Ezecaius Koerpel-Schliemann

Initial notes

• Story set in 2015, about a year after a successful crowdfunding campaign brought GreySoft’s Universe game to the masses. Virtual reality integration is an offering of the game starting in December 2014. The company starts testing full-immersion options starting in September 2015, with a few “gaming cafes” set up in test markets.
• Peter and Jason Grey are largely estranged from their parents. Marissa has a somewhat better relationship with them at this time, though she respects her brothers’ reasons for distance.
• Marissa and her husband, Brannon, have a young daughter at the outset of the story (Wynter Marie, born in 2012).
• Marissa is several years older than the boys and met Brannon while studying abroad in the UK. She half raised the boys, especially Jason, who their parents never seemed to have time for (focusing most of their attention on Peter, who resents them for it).
• Peter has been in and out of hospitals since childhood. He has a rare neurological disorder that in part inspired the full-immersion technology he developed with Jason and Brannon.
• Jason and Peter were legally emancipated from their parents when Jason turned sixteen and Peter was seventeen.
• The work that went into the Universe game is part of Peter’s doctoral work, supplemented by Brannon and Jason’s expertise.
• Jason did a brief stint in the Navy before he went back to college. He was finishing his undergraduate work when Universe launched.
• Elaine and Joslyn are roommates and friends from their days as undergraduates. Joslyn is just finishing up at temping gig (getting ready to start another) and Elaine is doing graduate work.
• One of Elaine’s classmates is Hadrian Bridger, who is starting his graduate work as well. They have a few classes together and while Elaine doesn’t know much about him, they’re becoming friends.
• Peter’s middle name comes from Ezecaius Koerpel-Schliemann, the head of UNSETIC. Ezecaius is an uncle of the Grey children and—in the view of Peter, at least—has been there more for them than their parents.
• The company that Joslyn was temping at helped set up the gaming café where GreySoft is going to test its full-immersion gaming experience. She was also a donor to the crowdfunding campaign that helped launch the game, so she got passes to come in and try the experience. Both she and Elaine have dabbled in the game before and she brings Elaine along with her to try it out.
• The Grey siblings have a sizable trust that they inherited from their mother’s late parents. This trust was partially depleted in the name of Peter’s care when he was a teenager. The siblings successfully sued their parents as a result (which played a role in both their estrangement from their parents and the legal emancipation of Jason and Peter when they were teenagers).
• The three siblings have a mutual agreement between the three of them that they will only tap the remaining money in trust for things that all three of them agree on.
• The Universe game world offers options for all kinds of play styles and genres. The most popular settings are the space and fantasy settings. Most settings are segregated on particular “worlds,” (ie, servers), but there is some crossover between genres and settings with game balance restrictions built into the game to prevent abuses.
• Players who helped fund the game through the crowdfunding campaign were allotted special in-game positions of power (nobility with actual power, fleet captains, town mayors, etc.). Through particular sets of game mechanics and roleplay, these individuals may be unseated, but it is a difficult task.
• Peter (as one of the creators of the game) is the Lord of a particular world (a largely fantasy world with science fiction elements and a few full-blown science fiction enclaves). Jason and Joslyn are actually both subordinate nobles on his world and Elaine was recruited by Joslyn as one of her subordinate nobles.
• Elaine and Peter meet through Joslyn and Jason in the game. Elaine is fairly certain that Peter doesn’t think much of her, which isn’t the case at all, but continues to believe this until Jason sets her straight.
• Peter’s condition flares up again—badly enough to warrant drastic action—after two years of relative quiet, right before the launch of their full-immersion gaming experiment. In a phone conversation with his brother Jason, he tells him to go on with everything as planned as if nothing is wrong.
• As far as Peter’s concerned, their work on the Universe game is more important than his survival—the game and the technology they’ve developed to supplement it is their legacy for Jason’s someday family and for their niece, Wynter (and any additional children Marissa and Brannon may have).
• Jason calls Marissa to let her know what’s going on. She’s torn between letting their parents know and keeping quiet about what’s happening. At the outset, she decides not to tell them. She does, however, call their Uncle Ezecaius.
• Peter’s condition eventually deteriorates to the point where he’s placed in a medically induced coma as the doctors charged with his care work to scrape together what’s needed to treat him.
• With the help of their uncle and Brannon, Marissa and Jason manage to get Peter into full immersion in the game during this period of time so he doesn’t suffer cognitive deterioration, a possibility that concerns some of his doctors—and his family.
• They face some legal, moral, ethical, and medical challenges before they’re allowed to do it, including arranging for Peter to be transferred to a private facility and a change to some of his medical team.
• Peter’s family faces challenges from various quarters regarding the game itself—and the VR technology they’ve developed, as well as the predictive AI that Peter and Brannon programmed together.
• The family faces some pressure to use the technology to help law enforcement and the Department of Defense in ways that they find morally questionable.
• Marissa, Peter, and Jason’s mother was exposed to something while she was pregnant with Peter which may have been the source for his disorder.
• This fact has been largely and quietly covered up to the point where even Peter doesn’t know. Ezecaius eventually finds out and is the one to tell the kids.
• That ends up part of being the key to fixing what’s going wrong with Peter.
• What Ezecaius learns about Peter’s prenatal exposure to whatever caused his illness is passed along to Elaine, setting her on a private mission to find out everything she can in the hopes of helping to find a cure for him. That results in her tangled up in a web of things she probably shouldn’t know (supernatural, conspiracy).
• The exposure was on purpose.
• Linked to Ephraim Sterling’s early experiments? An effort to create a child with abilities. The result may have been Peter’s genius level intelligence, but the side effect was the neurological malfunctions he’s suffered since childhood, the ones that have been trying to kill him.
• Marissa, Peter, and Jason’s parents broke with the Agapeistic Institute long before things got to their very worst.
• Knowing that his parents did this to him only makes Peter more angry with them.
• When Marissa finds out about what their parents did, she cuts off contact with them as well.
• Elaine doesn’t know that there’s anything wrong with Peter at first. Jason later mentions something off-handedly and she confronts Peter about it later and he admits that it’s true. He confides everything eventually, though only in bits and pieces at first.
• Peter is torn between wanting to push Elaine away and needing someone he can talk to, someone who will understand.

Finally, an anthology!  This one will feature the short stories “The Chance” and “Darkest Night of the Year” and the novelette Being Songs and Silence.  Stay tuned for more, but for now, here’s the cover and the back matter blurb!

Hope faltered on a summer afternoon in 2008 for Kate Berkshire and AJ McConaway–the day they left Tim McConaway behind in the hands of the enemy.  The pair vowed to never stop fighting to bring him home, but there has never been a chance as good as the one they lost on Mydiar.

Until one December evening in 2009, when an old friend brings word that maybe, just maybe, there’s a chance–and it’s one the pair are willing to take.

Even as Kate and AJ race to his rescue, Tim McConaway is finding his own way home–and finding a whole new world waiting for him on the world he never thought he’d see again.

Brigid O’Connell joined UNSETIC looking for answers to questions born on the flight deck of a US Navy carrier.  What she finds is far more than what she ever imagined might be possible.