Sue read the instructions and then, blushing, undressed. And then tried to pull on her suit. It wasn’t easy. She had to pull each leg on, with the suit resisting every inch of the way. Finally she got both legs on and then, as the instructions had said, put her left arm in the ‘sleeve’, and pushed, and pulled, and pushed and, finally, she got it in. All the way into the glove part, and smoothed out the wrinkles. And then, as the instructions had said, she said, “Suit assist,” and felt, with a shock, her left hand and arm suddenly feel very, very different. As if they didn’t even have a suit on!
Using her new, helpful, left hand, she got the right sleeve and glove on easily. Then she slid the sliding closer, which wasn’t really a zipper, up her front. The suit was actively helping her now, and the wrinkles all smoothed themsleves out and the suit adjusted to fit against all of her skin. And she was very thankful that there was no one here to see her. She had told her parents that they must not interrupt her, and she had locked the door.
The suit closed all the way up to her neck, she gulped and pulled the ‘helmet’ on. Which was really just more of the suit and it so looked like she wouldn’t be able to breathe…
But the second she had it over her eyes the helmet closed itself and even though she knew it must now cover her eyes and mouth and nose… she felt nothing at all. Her breathing was easy and she could see her room!
As soon as she had calmed herself, she said the next words that the instructions had told her to say. “Activate interface,” and her room faded from view and she was suddenly in Mr Madison’s studio! With him staring at her!
She had a moment’s panic at her state of dress until she realised that, over his shoulder, she could see herself in a monitor, and she was dressed, in that monitor, as she had been at their last meeting. In her regular clothes without a hint of a suit.
“Good job, Sue!” he said. “You managed first. Now, if you were a regular player, this would be the time when you would find yourself on some cloud, facing some gnome at a desk, and rolling dice to determine your attributes and all. But I have arranged for us to skip all that.”
“For this new beta test, you will all be starting at level zero, with no skills or attributes. Attribute bonuses, that is. Your attributes, there are 32 of them in this test and I’m not going to read them all to you, are fine for a woman just starting out. Weak in the body attributes, but luckily a bit of a bump for agility… always good in a healer, you will get to dodge. Low in perception, but I’m setting the automatics to focus on that for your first few bonuses. You have to be able to see what you’re doing, and perception is important for a healer anyway.”
“Well, anything to say for the audience before I send you into the world to meet your team?”
She almost forgot her lines, but then saw them over his shoulder. “I am so excited to get going with this beta test! I’m a little nervous about my build. No one wants to die their first day.”
“Don’t worry, Darling, I’m sure your teammates will protect you. Ok, counting down now. Ten, nine, eight…”
Party System:
A famous gaming producer offers four teenagers fame, fortune, and skill training through an elite gaming team. It seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Seth gets a beautiful girl. Frank becomes the leader. George develops strength and discipline. Sue gets to hang around with boys, including one she secretly loves.
But as they play, get interviewed, follow quests, and compete in tournaments… their real life starts to change as well. Neighbours invite them to serious wor- out sessions, they find themselves training with real, cool, weapons at the local gun range.
In a world where a legitimate game conceals criminal enterprises, and adolescent ambition meets organised crime, four teenagers must confront the reality of their situation: they aren’t just playing a game.
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Von